T.V. Projects

The Kid's Video Project -- Costa Mesa, California

"AquaNotes"

The students created a pilot television program and demo video. The group met for 10 months after school for a sum of 200+ hours and created a video story, AquaNotes that dealt with environmental awareness about water and our oceans. 

The program included film clips from the IMAX movie The Living Sea and music by Sting, and was produced in honor of UNICEF's 50th Anniversary and was aired on public television in Southern California in December 1996 for UNICEF's International Day of Broadcasting. 

The purpose of this project was to teach the students how to express their views through the television media. This project furthered our purpose by: (1) bringing the community to an awareness about the environment of our oceans and the kids viewpoint and expressions; (2) educating the students about the subject of the environment, education on communicating through the media, and the activities of UNICEF; (3) enhancing the students' self-worth — they were proud of their work; and (4) bringing the local businesses and schools together and improved their relationship.

The students and Costa Mesa High School won the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce Environmental Achievement Award for the environmental message of the story and for using donated and recycled equipment and videotapes.

"Inside & Out"

KIDS X-PRESS News Team -- 1998
Fort Worth, Texas Motor Speedway

In celebration of UNICEF's International Children's Day of Broadcasting, The Kids X-Press News Team produced a TV pilot called Inside & Out -- a fun news documentary that included interviews with celebrities and prominent people.

The News Team completed the first interview with Jeff Gordon, the NASCAR champion. The purpose of the Inside & Out series was to present a good role model to the world's youth to illustrate how we can live our dreams by expressing the truth, honoring others, and ourselves and by developing our relationships with friends and family.

Inside & Out covered a range of issues relevant to kids. Behind the Scenes Interview "The Kids X-Press" and Jeff Gordon discussed the topic of "teamwork."

Jeff Gordon credited his Rainbow Warriors Crew for his success and explained... "Each individual on our race team is the most important individual on the team… without teamwork we'd never make it to victory lane."

The idea for the television special was to include the viewers' ideas. They were encouraged to contribute to the subject matter as well as to draft the scripts for the interview. The kids who participated learned the importance of being a member of a broadcast team; how each team member contributes so that the group may achieve a greater goal.