The Almeida females have hair style problems (i.e., none of us like to take the time to brush our hair), which I've mentioned before and been caught in lots of places putting up a quick ponytail.
But yesterday the girls decided they could let their hair down - and stay down - while swimming because they've got a new swimming game now - Hair Flipping.
Hey, I guess when you've got as much hair as they do (which they did NOT inherit from me) you might as well find a way to enjoy it.
Swimming and Hair Flipping The early June air was muggy and warm but the water was chilly!
The kids and their friend E. decided to make a movie yesterday. Like thousands of kids, they love YouTube and always seem to be planning their next video contribution to our channel.
The 'Quest for the Magical Leaf' was an interesting movie to make and I was vastly entertained by not only the kids, but their animal actors as well.
Here's the basic story line: An orphan girl Marie (played by L.) escapes the evil orphanage to find the magical leaf that will destroy the evil-doers at the orphange. But while searching for the leaf she runs into the evil chicken (voice of G.). Marie is saved from the evil chicken by Wilbeena (E.) and her magic fork. Then together Wilbeena and Marie continue the quest and find the leaf but have to get past the princess protecting it (played by G.) and the "kung fu master" (played by Toddy), which they do and everyone is happy in the end.
As one would guess, there were some interesting production issues to deal with while making this movie with our pets (and I was charged with recording with my digital camera but had little say on the plot or character happenings).
Here were some of the 'learnings':
Accomodate your actors. L. is learning to ride a bike (better late than never) and insisted it be in the movie. With much reluctance on E. and G.'s part, they agreed to have the beloved bike in every scene.
Trying to film a talking chicken without getting the handler's hands and/or body in the shot is not easy. I did my best but was told I needed to work on this skill in the future.
Being flexible and substituting actors when they prove uncooperative. A hen laying an egg had to fill in for the Evil King because the girls could not get their rooster to stay in one place long enough to film the scene. And several different chickens had to be used while filming because the kids could not keep track of the one they started out with (there was a lot of "flying" away and once the chicken did that, it was hard to track her down again).
Trying to get a chicken to curtsy is nearly impossible. But spreading its wings in a gesture of evil grandeure is much easier.
'Real life' can be helpful in getting your actors to show more emotion. There were no issues with flying insects (the kids were too busy having fun to notice) but the ticks were out. During filming L. spotted one crawling up E.'s back right at the moment that E. was doing her 'injury' scene. The look on L.'s face is one of genuine concern and a really great addition to the scene.
Heros do not need magical wands to defeat evil chickens; a kitchen fork will do just fine. And to the preteen actors, hysterically funny.
When your lead chicken doesn't fly away as originally planned, you change your dialog from, "I must fly away" to "I must fly, fly ... or walk ... away."
Kids that grow up with chickens don't say "cluck" to imitate their sound. They do a much more realistic, "bahgaaw."
You can't plan everything but sometimes things work out perfectly. Toddy meowed at a key moment when the princess handed over the leaf to the orphan. It was as if he was offering his own bit of dramatic skills with his reluctance at giving up the leaf.
Getting chickens to scatter in fear of the magical leaf proved harder than planned. The Almeida chickens simply aren't scared of the kids and therefore strut - more than run - away from them.
When the cameraperson says the movie has to stay short to adhere to YouTube guidelines, some compromises have to be made. Lines like "I've been sent by someone to get you there safely..." is used in favor of a longer explanation. Or having the princess argue with the orphan and Wilbeena that they can't take the leaf but then quickly agreeing to it. The consolation for the actors was the agreement of a sequel.
Out takes can be as funny as the actual movie when your actors forget their character's name, or a tick crawls up their back (the out takes are at the end of the movie).
Some kids have an off-beat sense of humor and L. and her cousin S. are prime examples.
A while back L. watched a Cantonese-subtitled movie with her dad called, "Mr. Vampire." It's a comedy featuring Chinese vampires who are a rest with a scroll on their foreheads. When the scroll comes off, they come to life and hunt people. With plenty of martial arts, the good guys always coming out on top. The vampires were fairly harmless anyway as they couldn't walk when they came to life, they could only hop with the arms outstretched in front of them.
The reason I explain this clearly B-movie is because L. thought it was one of THE funniest movies she had ever seen. She's a fan of Asian movies in general (she still laments Mothra's death) and since "Mr. Vampire" was still fresh in her mind, she had to share every detail of the movie with her equally spunky cousin S. while in New York City.
Then the dynamic duo proceeded to hop around Manhattan for two days like the Chinese vampires. I am really not exaggerating.
And the highlight of the entire trip for L. in NYC was not the American Girl Store (our planned highlight) but her discovery of a poster in Chinatown for another "Mr. Vampire" sequel.
Walking around Chinatown
Some kids were just made to keep life interesting.
Yesterday I was chuckling over A Dog's Life blog and Nancy's feelings about her "youngest daughter ... NOT getting the new pooper scooping Barbie."
And as strange as this seems, our doorbell rang right after I read that entry with a package delivery from the girls' uncle in California that included a "Barbie Doll & Tanner Dog" -- a.k.a. "the pooper scooping Barbie!"
So as true YouTube fanatics, the girls had to record how their new favorite toy worked.
And yes Nancy, I agree with you, Tanner is eating his own poop. Even the girls had to admit it was a bit "yucky."
And speaking of animals, Toddy our blind cat is the star of another of the girls' video productions on YouTube dubbed, "Prince Toddy." He's looks like a bored Prince but hey, at least he's a tolerant one.
As much as my kids enjoy YouTube, I never let them surf that site alone. Beware of videos with Barbie in the title ... some are REALLY inappropriate for kids.
After a quick search on YouTube to track down a video clip for a friend, I ran across some old Schoolhouse Rock cartoons. You know, the ones they played on Saturday mornings in the late-70s and early-80s that were supposed to teach kids a particular concept between the cartoons.
As I sat at my computer laughing and reliving a bit of my childhood, the kids drifted over to the computer to watch them with me. I think they enjoyed them almost as much as I did.
Subscribe
Questions/Comments
