Another Pair of Eyes

One day Josh Selig had an idea. I'm pretty sure this happens a lot. Selig is the President of one of my favorite production companies, Little Airplane Productions, with a bundle of Emmy-awards for his writing on Sesame Street. In addition, he's created a bunch of children's programs including The Wonder Pets and 3rd and Bird.

In 2004, Selig's show Oobi debuted on Noggin (Nick Jr.). The show's characters are all bare-hand puppets. The origin of these puppets is the set of practice eyes that Muppeteers use to rehearse scenes. Those darn Muppets are way too heavy to practice with for hours on end, so simple eyes were created to be placed on one's hand. I can almost see Selig come up with the idea for Oobi as he watched performers rehearse scenes on Sesame Street.

I've seen these eyes created in three different ways:
1- Two ping pong balls with holes punched through for a piece of elastic to slide through and be wrapped around the palm. Eye pupils are drawn on with marker. I've been told this is the authentic Muppeteer way of doing it.
2- Two small styrofoam balls held together with a toothpick, which has a rubber band on either end so you can slide your hand through. Eye pupils for these are dark dot stickers. These are a Spica Wobbe classic!
3- Plastic eyes just like the ones on Oobi. These are worn like a ring on your middle finger.

Pupil placement is super important because it can impact the rehearsal of puppet focus in the camera. You have to make sure the placement is just right or intentionally off!

I was introduced to the plastic Oobi eyes by one of my favorite people, Sabrina. Through her I discovered OobieEyes.com where you can purchase many different eyes and accessories. I have spent hours practicing with the eyes and keep them on my desk as inspiration and to fill "in-between" moments. I have several pairs and love giving them as gifts!

There's something so simplistically beautiful about Oobi as a television show and the process of using the eyes to practice and play. I encourage you to look up clips of the program if you're not familiar with it!

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Little Airplane Academy

Little Airplane Academy has opened enrollment for their February 3-day seminar on "how to make a great preschool series." I highly encourage you to attend. Although the tuition is a little steep, it is worth every penny. How do I know? I attended the February 2009 session. I thought I would share a bit about my experience...

Back when I was applying for graduate programs in 2009, I was introduced to Sabrina through Julie who is currently my Tufts advisor. Sabrina had already won the Fred Rogers Scholarship and seemed to know so much about the children's media world. She provided me with such fantastic advice including encouragement to attend the Academy. I quickly signed up and spent the money. I didn't think twice. I figured that having that experience, even though it was only 3 days, would give me some kind of knowledge-base in case I didn't get into either graduate program I had applied for. Luckily, the February session overlapped with Kidscreen, a huge conference for the children's media field. Because of this, I met so many amazing people, got great advice from those who were working on their own shows, heard some fantastic ideas, learned how to make a story bible, started to understand the importance of legal representation, and fell completely in love with Little Airplane and all the great work they do.

My experience with the Academy continues to impact me! Last spring, I developed my first story bible as part of an independent study. Without the training I had received at the Academy, I would have been lost. This summer, I met one of my internship supervisors who was a speaker at the Academy in 2009 and with whom I had stayed in touch with for advice on graduate school. David Kleeman, another speaker, continues to provide me with fantastic words of wisdom and is ever-present in the world of children's media. He is officially my go-to person when I have any questions about the field or am looking for some direction. I also met two friends at the Academy. I continue to stay in touch with them and am even lucky enough to attend Tufts with one of them who helped me with my project. In short, I don't think I could have developed my show as fully as I did without the experience and training I received in those 3 long days at the Seaport.

Please apply! I promise you won't regret it...