(Mr. E is spending all his computer time working on the final editing of the the morning shows but he is emailing the broadcasting parents regularly. Here is a running account of those emails...)
EMAIL #5
Hi Everyone,
What an AWESOME DAY!
It began with our first course in Disneyland: The Disney Leadership Experience. The groups were split and the boys worked with facilitator Marie and the girls worked with Megan. The course touched on trust building, the 4 tenets of the Disney philosophy of leadership and why being a "leader" is different than being a "manager." These were done through various interactive activities that included discussing personal and professional goals. Using the park as a backdrop and the history of Walt Disney's experience in opening the park, the students were able to learn about perseverance and what it takes to find a dream and with hard work, make it a reality.
The second course was in the California Adventure Park: Disney's Animation Experience. The boys were led by Kelly and the girls were led by Tony. This was a completely immersive experience. The students had the chance to add their voices to famous animated movies. (I got to sing Hakuna Matata from The Lion King along with Meredith, Kelsey, and Tara! What a hoot!) They also worked with an animator and got to draw Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas movie. Additionally, the history of animation, from stereo-scopes, to kinetic-scopes was explored. Along the way the students got to create storyboards and design their own short film story idea.
This was perhaps my favorite day thus far. It was truly exciting for me to stand back and watch the kids get into this world of creativity and imagination.
I have attached a few pictures of the various activities from today. Hope you enjoy them!
Have a great night!
Brian (Mr. E.)
EMAIL #4
Hi Everyone,
Our morning started with a bus tour of Downtown Los Angeles. We got to see the Staples Center, the USC Campus, The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
From there were headed to Universal Studios.
Today was a great day in Universal. I think the kids had a ton of fun and also learned a lot.
We had a 45 minute back-lot tour where we got to see the Universal sets including Jaws, Psycho, Desperate Housewives and others.
We also had a pyrotechnic experience where the students learned about the intricacies of working with fire and explosions in the movies. That was really exciting and fun.
A Special Effects tour was exciting too. In that experience, the kids learned about over-dubbing audio (Tom got to portray a voice in one of the scenes!), horror special effects, and green/blue screen technology.
Of course, there were the rides at Universal, too! We also filmed our second morning show there ... look for that soon!
While we were leaving the park to do a bus tour of Hollywood, there were several news crews setting up to do live shots for the 6pm news. I spoke with them and the technician from KTLA News allowed the students to check out his mobile-news van and explained a bit about the live microwave transmission process of video and audio. That was a nice, spur of the moment learning experience.
Our evening ended with a tour of Hollywood Boulevard, Graumann's Chinese Theatre, the Kodak Theatre and other Hollywood landmarks. We also did a bus tour of Beverly Hills and the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood.
Tomorrow is a big day for us. We have two classes scheduled. The first one is the Disney Leadership Experience, where the students will learn some of the Disney tricks of the trade on successful management and leadership styles. This also covers a bit of marketing and human resources topics. This is an interesting course for all disciplines, because the students will gain insights on how to be a respected and effective leader in their future professions.
Our second course is the Art of Animation. Students will learn the history of the animation process from the early days of pencil sketches to the current Computer Generated Imaging that is used by companies like Pixar.
Each course tomorrow is between 3 and 3 1/2 hours, making it a full 6 hour day in "school!" What a great classroom -- Disneyland!
Have a great day!
Brian (Mr. E.)
PS ... Our first morning show is scheduled to be delivered to MPHS on Tuesday by 10am. Look for it, along with the Band's performance in Disneyland, on MPTV Tuesday afternoon!
All other shows will be sent along as they are completed.
Thanks!
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| Special Effects demo at Universal | MPTV and KTLA Meet up.... |
EMAIL #3
Good Morning Everyone,
After yesterday's afternoon of fun in Disney's California Adventure park and our evening of Disneyland magic, we have a bit later start this morning. (I think the kids are happy for a chance to wake up just a bit later!)
At 9:00 this morning we will be on our way to Universal Studios! This is going to be an exciting day for the Broadcasting kids! We will start with the Studio Tour where we go behind the scenes of TONS of famous productions and get to see real working sets (like Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives!) There are also other experiences in store that allow the students to get a glimpse of the "magic behind the movies!" Should be a GREAT day!
We will also shoot another Morning Show in Universal today and the kids will continue to work on getting footage for their projects.
After the day and early afternoon in Universal, we'll board a bus and do a nighttime tour of Hollywood, including the famous Chinese Theatre and a stop to view the Hollywood sign.
As always, the kids continue to be great. I've looked at some of their footage thus far, and what I have seen looks good!
Have a great day everyone!
Brian (Mr. E.)
EMAIL #2
Good Morning Everyone,
Mr. Marks is having laptop-Internet issues ... once that's remedied the mphsarts.org website will be updated.
If you speak to any Band parents who are concerned, please let them know that we are working on the issue and expect it to be fixed soon!
Thanks,
Brian (Mr. E.)
EMAIL #1
Hello Everyone,
What an exciting day!
We are all here in Sunny California and our day was jam packed. It's 11:30pm ... but for the kids it feels like 2:30am! They're on their way to bed right now to rest up for a great day tomorrow.
Our flight was a good one. It was calm for the majority of the flight and the kids took advantage of the time to sleep ... as we got closer they got more animated and excited.
Our hotel is quite nice. The kitchenettes in each room are nice touch. It is a very clean hotel and I'm confident it will be a good "home" for us for the week.
We had some scheduling snafus with our grocery delivery which meant a bit later start to get to Disneyland park ... but we made the best of our time and began shooting our 1st Morning Show! Our hotel has a beautiful koi pond out front and it was a perfect backdrop for show number one.
The kids are SUPER! They made the best of the grocery situation and really all pulled together to get the job done when the groceries were finally delivered! You really have GREAT kids!
Our day tomorrow will be spent shooting more of our 1st and 2nd Morning Shows as well as our group projects. Additionally, we will be filming the band concert as they play in Disneyland Park tomorrow morning. It will be another jam-packed day.
I can't tell you how nice it is to be told by our vendors that our kids our so polite. Our hotel manager commented on the many "pleases and thank you's" that he heard ... I've heard them too, and it's a wonderful feeling to know that the kids I am traveling with are kind, good kids. So thank you for that.
I'll send email updates as the trip progresses. Our first morning show *should* air on Monday when Fed Ex delivers it. If you don't see it Monday, it'll definitely be there by Tuesday!
Have a great day!
Brian (Mr. E.)