Four sixth graders in the Shaler Area School District are wearing some cool T-shirts.
The image on the front is inspired by the “Wizard of Oz” film.
The text on top reads “I am a proud member of the team making this movie.”
“We sent the students who are part of this project T-shirts so they would have them when they returned from holiday break,” said Terry Thoren, president and CEO of Wonder Media LLC, an animation company leading the project.
Wonder Media is working with 17 Pennsylvania school districts to produce an animated movie written and planned by elementary, middle and high school students. The film, “Finding Stories of Wonder in the Land of Oz,” tells the story of Dorothy, whose worries about transitioning from elementary to middle school leads her to the magical land of Oz.
Along the way, she interacts with Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman and Cowardly Lion who help her find the wisdom, heart and courage to enter middle school with confidence.
The Oz theme was chosen because the classic “The Wizard of Oz” recently celebrated its 85th anniversary.
Also, the film “Wicked,” which was released in November, is now the first movie musical adaptation to pass $300 million in the U.S.
Student teams are writing, narrating and producing sound effects. Each team will animate one sequence from the story’s script, which then will be edited together into a complete student-generated movie.
Thoren said he and his other professional filmmakers who are working virtually with the students assigned work over the holiday break and now they are back and in full work mode.
“We are getting into the nitty gritty,” said Thoren, the former CEO of Klasky-Csupo, which produced “Rugrats” and “The Wild Thornberrys.” “They are doing table reads and listening to what the characters are saying and seeing what the backgrounds will look like. We are deep into it.”
Shaler teachers Michael Penn and Heather Oros are co-leaders for the project. Penn said the students are totally committed to making this movie. In addition to meeting five days a week during lunch, they’ve spent hours outside of school time doing things on their own, Penn said.
“They take the initiative to do what they need to do and don’t wait for us to remind them to do it,” Penn said.
The students respect the deadlines, he said.
“They’ve met independently and are so invested,” Penn said. “They’ve given up spending time with their peers to do this.”
The students accept feedback from the professionals and make the adjustments in a positive manner, Oros said.
“They don’t get discouraged, and I think working together as a group has made them all stronger,” she said. “I have been very impressed with them.”
Penn and Oros said they were a little apprehensive at first about the students taking on the task because they are some of the youngest in the project. They worried it might be overwhelming for them. Turns out, the students exceeded their teachers’ expectations.
They currently are working on the third version and have been concentrating on doing table reads, which are organized readings of a script.
Student Neva Cosentino said they’ve come such a long way. Initially, they had to make a lot of adjustments, but they’ve been told they are improving by the professional filmmakers on virtual calls.
The table reads are fun but can become chaotic at times, student Evey Mikan said.
When it gets chaotic, they have to find ways to solve that particularly chaotic situation, she said.
“I love seeing how all the characters are coming together,” Evey said. “You have to have a balance with the character dialog because, if you don’t have that balance, it will sound like one character is taking over.”
Seeing how the characters interact and how the dialog flows has been challenging, student Andrea Weisser said.
“The conversations have to flow,” she said. “We have to make sure the words sound right and that we are using the correct word.”
Student Peter Laing said he has enjoyed seeing the characters develop and take on a personality. It is his job to record the table reads.
“It’s been interesting,” he said. “And pretty rewarding to see it all coming together.”
The opportunity to make a real, animated Oz-themed movie created for children by students in grades K-12 comes courtesy of a grant from The Grable Foundation.
The Grable Foundation is covering the costs for Shaler Area as well as Beaver Area, Brownsville, Deer Lakes, Elizabeth Forward, Fox Chapel Area, Keystone Oaks, New Castle Area and South Allegheny.
The students give up their free time to participate, and they meet with their teachers and professional animators who offer feedback.
Ryan Rydzewski, spokesman for The Grable Foundation, said this is a perfect time for this project with so much interest around “Wicked” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
Rydzewski said it is a collaborative effort with Thoren, whose success in animation and skills he is sharing with the children are invaluable.
“The kids get to see their writing come to life,” Rydzewski said. “It is such a cool idea because it gets the kids excited and it engages them. There is validation is seeing your work on the big screen. It is something they will never forget.
I wish I were able to do something like this when I was their age.”
Thoren said he always wanted to be a filmmaker, noting a teacher in high school helped him find his path in life.
According to Thoren, the students have a sincere passion for the project and, through the process, are learning that in filmmaking there are several drafts to get it just right. He said the teachers and professional filmmakers let the students work out any problems so they learn how to compromise and negotiate. He said the style of learning is a way to teach them life skills they will need once they leave the classroom. Thoren said they create a space where the students learn to share ideas.
“The table reads are the ‘aha’ moment,” said Thoren, whose office is outside Santa Barbara, Calif. “The story comes alive when they read it out loud. They learn the importance of inflection and punctuation when reading out loud. That is all part of developing characters and those characters bring the animated movie to life.”
The plan is for the movie to debut during Remake Learning Days. The event will celebrate 10 years from April 19 to May 31.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region’s diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of “A Daughter’s Promise.” She can be reached at [email protected].
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