Little Airplanes

This week Samuel, Ethan, their friend Natalie, and I took a tour of Little Airplane Productions, a kids TV production company downtown.

Sophia and Frankie were supposed to go too, but were sick, so this is a virtual tour for them:

Melanie, a producer, taught us about the script-writing process. (Is it just me, or does it seem like it would be a lot easier if they didn't have to type on those giant pieces of posterboard?)


I think they are used to younger kids taking the tour. When they started explaining how they use computers to make the pictures appear to move, Ethan said, nonchalantly, "I use Photoshop to create my virtual world characters." Samuel said, "I use AfterEffects for special effects."


Jeffrey, the musical director, gave us a tour of the sound studio, where they record voice-overs and live orchestra music for the shows.


Then he gave the boys and Natalie an opportunity to add their own voices to a musical soundtrack.




In what parallel universe do Emmy-winning TV producers, animators, and musical directors take an hour out of their busy afternoon to show four strangers how they make TV shows? I expected Woody Allen to pop out at any minute and say, "Wouldn't it be great if real life were really like this?"

Sophia and Frankie, we missed you--you would've liked this a lot. Feel better.

Tone and Melanie and Jeffrey and Josh and Jessica and everyone else at Little Airplane, thanks for sharing your magic with us. We had a great time, we learned a lot, and I predict that you will be seeing some animated Cocker Spaniels that look suspiciously like Wonder Pets on YouTube very soon.