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Making
Magic on the Box
If you thought TV was for
adults, think again. According to the Television Audience Measurement
(TAM), which monitors TV viewing patterns in India, children between 4 and
14 years form the largest segment of viewers at 23 per cent. This age
group is followed closely by 15- to 25-year-olds (22 per cent) and 25-to
35-year-olds (20 per cent). And just what are these kids watching? Cartoon
Network, Nickelodeon and Star Plus - in that order - share the top three
slots. Cartoon channels attract the highest number of kids, followed by
infotainment and music channels.
The worrisome factor however, is that children are viewing a lot of what
is not meant for them, especially the sitcoms and soaps. "Though most of
the programming is not meant for children, many programs have children as
their viewers. The option of accepting what is telecast - or developing
something better - is what parents and TV producers need to exercise,"
says Barbara Kolucki, a former scriptwriter for 'Sesame Street', a popular
American TV show for children. She was in India recently to train TV
producers on writing better scripts for children's shows.
An analysis of the genre of TV channels done by TAM shows that 30 per cent
of all programming is sports-based, followed by news at 20 per cent and
English movies, 17 per cent. Programs for children, and those on music and
infotainment have only an 11 per cent share each. That programs for
children are relatively few, even though they form the largest group of
viewers, is telling - an indication of the lack of importance accorded to
television programs designed or produced for children in India.
UNICEF and Doordarshan conducted a six-day workshop for TV producers
recently in Pune. They were trained to make a 180-degree turnaround in the
way TV shows for children are made: to write scripts that do not include
violence or stereotypical behavior, are not moralistic or preachy, and
those which shift from 'talking the talk' to 'walking the walk'.
According to Kolucki, the conventional thinking in programming has been to
teach children the three Rs or give them powerful messages - referred to
as `talking the talk'. TV shows need to move away to shows that have soft
characters children can identify and feel comfortable with. The message
ought to be one that tells and teaches each child that he or she is very
special - that would be 'walking the walk'. A simple example would be
placing a child in front of the camera and letting her talk, instead of
preaching to the child.
"A children's show should always be from the perspective of what a child
needs, not what the parents want their child to view, what the school
wants the child to learn or even what the country and culture wants of a
child. More often than not, children's shows tend to be boring. But kids
need to be kids; and to teach them through a medium like television, you
need to tap into what a child likes - adventure, play, curiosity - and
they will lean into the TV," says Annie Evans. Evans writes scripts for
'Sesame Street' and for several other children's shows on Nickelodeon,
Disney TV, Discovery Kids and a few other TV channels.
Around the world, TV shows for children are now concentrating on helping
children learn to solve problems themselves with the adults on the show
acting as guides. The stories are getting more and more child-relevant by
addressing issues children face every day. "For an adult, facing a queue
at
the market may be a problem, but for children 'how do I tie my pyjama
drawstrings?' or 'what if my friend is angry with me?' are questions they
seek answers to," points out Evans.
Says Anurupa Roy, puppeteer and producer of the show, 'Khulja Sim Sim':
"In India, we need to start evaluating existing programs for children and
begin to use more creative concepts." Roy showed the workshop participants
how entertaining and low-budget programs could be made with the use of
puppets.
The producers who were trained at this workshop will now be looking at
making programs that involve a qualitative increase in children's
participation. "It has helped me to start thinking of how to coordinate
content, scripting, words that children use and their actions, and to give
the message in a subtle but magical way," says Raman Mann, an independent
film producer.
UNICEF has been holding one such workshop every year to promote better
programming for children. "The idea," says Kolucki, "is not to get western
programs repeated in India, but to get good quality children's programs
made, meant for an Indian audience."
If TV producers in India could tap into the joys of childhood and put the
magic back in TV shows for children, they could have millions of children
virtually eating out of their hands. And if the transformation occurs,
millions of Indian adults too would watch, fascinated.
– Vidya Deshpande
September 22, 2002
By arrangement with
Womens Feature Service
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