Masterclasses
Knowledge sharing
Storytime and Play saw Pacific media industry leaders come together with Australia media professionals for knowledge sharing, two-way mentoring and professional development in children’s media. One-on-one weekly mentoring was provided in addition to online masterclasses. The following eight masterclass videos are shared here for future learning.
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Writing
Clare Madsen
Writer
In this masterclass Clare shares concrete examples that assist a consideration of character and location, as well as tone and pitch for young audiences. Gender is also explored in a case study where characters were created for a Chinese children’s media project written by Clare and advertising provided an almost perfect example of an antagonist, a protagonist and a narrative arc.
The Brain
Jen Knoll
Australian Children’s Foundation
Jen discusses how the brain develops in children. She advocates building our awareness and understanding of children’s sensory engagement with media; what works, what doesn’t, what is age-appropriate and importantly why – a delve into children’s play and creativity and how this will help you create effective children’s media.
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Writing
Dot West, OAM
Writer
In this masterclass writer and content creator, Dot West, presented to the participants in a personal style which highlighted exactly how an episode could be presented. Dot’s session contained poetry, conversation, insights into Indigenous Cultural & Intellectual Property rights and the experience of being a first nations person creating content in Australia. She demonstrated her advice that content be delivered as if speaking to one person or child in a warm, engaging way.
Stories
Jay Laga’aia
Actor
In this masterclass Jay shares personal stories reflecting on the Pacific culture of fatherhood. He related his method of recording storytime with his children that enabled him to build stories and write books based on them later. He gave ways and reasons why he engages fathers, stating that children need permission to play from adults. Jay touches on the importance of singing and being bi-lingual. He had had wise words for participants producing children’s content gained from producing his own children’s series.
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