Exercises
- Check out a child development book from the library and skim the material. Focus on
the differences between age groups. What new things have you learned? - Write a fact sheet about a specific child you know or can borrow for an afternoon. What
does the child like and dislike? Does he seem to be typical of his age and gender? - Go to a school or playground and watch the children at play. What does this specific age
group like? How do they play? Summarize what you’ve seen. - Develop characters and a basic animated TV concept for a specific age group based on
child development principals. Be creative. - Compare how a television show, developed for one age group, would be different from
a similar show for a different age group. Discuss. - Develop characters and a concept for a film that might appeal to a wide range of ages
from preschool through adults. What things did you consider? How did you successfully
bridge the age gap? - Conduct your own research. Invite a small group of children to watch a video. Prepare
a list of questions for the children about the video in advance. After you’ve shown the
video, interview each child separately to get the answers to your questions. What did
you learn about their preferences? Were they age specific? Do you think you got honest
answers, or were the children telling you what they thought you wanted to hear? Could
you improve your questions the next time so that you might get more accurate answers? - Interview a child about her favorite animated television show or film. What does he
like? Dislike? What characters does he like best? What was his favorite episode? Why?
What does he think about the villain? - What was your favorite animated television show or film when you were young? Why
did you like that one best? Was there some reason why you could especially identify
with that particular one? What didn’t you like? - Was there a film that frightened you when you were young? Why? If not, why do you
think you were so fearless? - Pick an age when you were young that you can remember really well. Try to recreate
the feelings you had then. What did you feel? What do you remember seeing? Tasting?
Hearing? Touching? Smelling? What did you like and dislike then? Who were your
friends? What did you do together? What secrets did you have? How did you feel about
your parents and your teachers then? What were your disappointments? Your successes?
Save the information in your notebook of ideas. - How do human development concepts apply to your student film?
58 Animation Writing and Development