Students produce children’s shows focused on health
Upcoming segments of WTIU’s children’s show, Friday Zone, will feature the work of Media School students whose mission for the semester was to capture kids’ interest in health.
Assistant professor Jessica Gall Myrick and associate professor Nicole Martins co-taught MSCH-P416 Program Analysis and Criticism, which was presented as Children’s Health Media Workshop this spring. The aim of the course was to give students experience in media research and in ways to apply that research to television production.
“The goal is to merge theory and practice into a tangible product,” said Myrick. “That way, the students will have learned something and will have a great piece to put in their portfolios.”
This is the first time this class was offered as a workshop, and it drew students of all skill levels and expertise. Each pitched an idea for a health-related topic for the show, then the class voted on the four best ones and divided into groups. The four topics were the importance of bike helmets, dental hygiene, benefits of staying hydrated and healthy snack options kids and adults can make together.
The first half of the semester was dedicated to research and theory behind certain production practices in children’s television. Once the segments were selected, students went into production mode, writing scripts, developing storyboards, recruiting actors and taking care of all the details leading up to production day April 26.
“There has been a lot building up to this, “ said Myrick. “But the students have been very gung-ho about it. It has taken everybody to make this work.”
The semester culminated in production day, when students had only a few hours to build their set and tape their shows. The team producing the segment promoting hydration was chopping fruit and rehearsing for the taping.
The segment is called “Rainbow Water” and involves a woman sharing water recipes with a young child, played by a puppet. The puppet, performed by graduate student Josh Sites, is dehydrated from playing basketball but doesn’t like the taste of water. So, the woman, played by Lindsey Zecherle, creates various fruit combinations and puts them in the water to make it tastier.
“We knew that kids don’t drink enough water so, we thought, why not drop fruit in to capture kids attention and make drinking water more fun?” said Gabriel Xu, a junior studying production, of the research behind the idea. “We’ve applied theories that kids learn through observation and that models can change behavior.”
The use of puppets is not unique to this segment. Each of the other shows uses either puppets or cartoons, because research shows children respond positively to them.
“Kids learn more from puppets because they see them as their peers, “ said Emily Ward, a junior studying design and production. “They see the human as someone they can look up to and learn from.”
Xu and Ward are working with Jessica Will and Allie Hitchcock. The group includes students from all different areas of media, including those for whom this is a first production experience. Ward said this diversity is a great collaboration, but also makes the process challenging at times.
“Getting everyone on the same page has been a bit difficult since, for some of us, this is a new experience,” said Ward, who regularly produces a Monday night sports show at Franklin Hall. “But it also allows people to work from where their strong suit is. Allie is a journalism major, so she has killed it with the research. I’m experienced in production so I’ve been contributing that way.”
Xu has enjoyed the freedom of the class. He said after the groups established their shows’ premises, they were free to take them in any direction they wanted.
“There aren’t a lot of limits,” said Xu. “We have free range in production, and the teachers don’t interfere too much, which is something I appreciate.”
After taping and some post-production editing, “Rainbow Water,” along with the three other segments, will air on Friday Zone. They also may be played in doctors’ offices around southern Indiana over the summer. That, Ward says, is her favorite aspect of the class.
“We are getting our content exposed to a real audience,” she said. “I really enjoy public programming because it helps kids get educated for free, essentially. With public programming, kids get easy access to good content. Friday Zone is trying to do the same.”
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