Quality Kid Films on Shoe-String Budgets

“All too often children's programming carries silly slapstick humor that children either don't understand, or where the children feel as if they are being put down. This just doesn't work.” — Giff Gfroerer, Start Smarter

Children’s DVDs have become commonplace in most family homes. In today’s world, flicks by Disney and DreamWorks share TV room shelf space with those made by independent children’s studios specifically for the small screen. So, how do manufacturers make a kids’ DVD that looks a cut above the competition despite a tight budget? Manufacturers recently shared their thoughts with TDmonthly Magazine.

Beth VanStory, Avid Ideas, L.L.C. said that “putting together a solid creative draft and plan ahead of time is the best way to keep costs down.” Hiring experts in those areas where the manufacturer is weak helps build a solid product. And, she asserts, “If they believe in your product, they may be likely to work for less cash and a piece of the upside.”

Larry Kay, president and CEO of Animal Wow Entertainment Inc. (ToyDirectory), stressed the importance of a talented staff. “Our limitation was a small budget, so we developed a distinctive look that we could execute with a small, award-winning team armed with a few Mac computers,” he said. “Ten years ago this would have been prohibitively expensive, but now it’s all about the quality of the creativity.”

Robert Franki, president and owner of Classical Fun Music Inc. (ToyDirectory) , agreed that even with a small budget, it’s possible to create an educational and fun DVD that kids enjoy. “We started with music we licensed from a record company, and then we matched the mood.” Using stop-animation, nice stock photos and a pro-sumer video camera, he and his wife were able to garner five awards for the videos.

“We shoot, write and edit our productions just as we would do for any large budget, Hollywood extravaganza,” said Bill Cusick, Creator of Lots To Learn (ToyDirectory). He said it’s possible to keep the look, colors, movement and quality top-notch even as a small company on a tight budget.

“We have not skimped on any element of the product — we have not even considered price,” said Tom Parmenter in sales and marketing with Stranger in the Woods of the company’s most recent nature-based video. Even though the company is comprised in part by trained nature photographers, “It still took three years to capture the behavior we wanted for the movie,” Parmenter explained. It was worth it to create a unique DVD that is unlike any other on the market, already winning11 awards so far this year.

Bringing classic books to life has worked well for Elisa Peimer, associate director of marketing for New Video, distributors of the award-winning Scholastic Video Collection. “Classic storylines and characters will always get a child's attention,” she noted. “It's already been proven that children love these stories — they're entertaining and fun.”

However, Richard Caudle, president of Rock ’N Learn, noted that a good video is a result of many key elements, from talented animators who love what they do to having a cool soundtrack and phenomenal voice actors. In addition, it’s important to keep the product kid-friendly. “We have learned to have a ‘naughty patrol’ watch every video just to see if we accidentally put in something that might be misconstrued,” he said. “Teenage boys are excellent at finding unintentional naughtiness.”

Start Smarter owner Giff Gfroerer said there’s a fine line between kid-friendly and dumbed down, though. “All too often children's programming carries silly slapstick humor that children either don't understand, or where the children feel as if they are being put down. This just doesn't work,” he said. For that reason, he keeps stories in real life settings, and has children actors talk directly to the audience about health and safety issues. His company’s overall goal is “to motivate people to do something different” such as design ballerina costumes or spend a day at the circus.

That doesn’t mean playful characters have to entirely exit the scene, though, according to Robert Rasmussen, president, producer and series creator of Laurel Hill Entertainment (ToyShow).“One thing you can do is create great characters for kids that they will look to for education, entertainment or both.” His team went to the source, using preschoolers themselves as “both a guide and inspiration” for the main characters in his Wink & Blink series.

“What it really comes down to is the story appeal and quality of content,” according to Bill Lucas, vice president of sales and marketing for First National Pictures. “We like to use content that’s been tried and tested,” he said.

The following DVDs will be available for stores shelves by the 2006 holiday season.