Every child – indeed every adult – in Germany knows Sendung mit der Maus (Programme with the Mouse). Its “amusing and informative stories” combine information and entertainment extremely successfully. Most children’s programmes in Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia or Vietnam are animated films. Only a fraction of them communicate education and knowledge. Furthermore, most of the protagonists are light-skinned, which does not communicate a healthy feeling of self-esteem when it comes to the kids’ ethnicity. This gave Norbert Spitz, Director of Goethe-Institut Bangkok, an idea: why not produce a science programme for children with Goethe-Institut staff and UNESCO’s regional office for Southeast Asia – in co-production with seven TV stations from Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand?
This led to a plan to produce a season of ten-minute educational programmes, each with three spots lasting about three minutes. Each season will comprise 26 episodes with a total of 78 spots. After jointly deciding on the contents of the 26 episodes, each channel then only needs to produce 11 spots itself, while being able to broadcast all 78. In order to give the series a local face in every country despite the international approach, each station can design its own introductions, continuity shots and closing remarks for each programme. Project coordinator Andreas Klempin from Goethe-Institut Thailand holds all the threads of this complex co-production. He makes sure that all the contributions arrive on time, and that they are dubbed in the other six languages and sent to all the participating stations.
This ambitious TV project was launched in October. Trainers from the Cologne-based production companies tvision and gomie production have run several different workshops on subjects ranging from screenwriting, filming, imagery and the visual design of TV content for children. And, of course, how to communicate knowledge in an entertaining way. “We want to develop joint dramatizations and subject ideas together with our Asian colleagues,” says Ute Mattigkeit, one of the trainers and manager of gomie production GmbH, who has extensive experience in children’s television. “We also help with the screenwriting and give on-the-spot advice during the production of this pilot programme.” The important thing, she says, is that the participating broadcasters and their programming managers succeed in producing independent formats in the future that really appeal to the young viewers in each country. The 26 episodes will be finished and go on air in the summer of 2010. The first season is being funded and coordinated by Goethe-Institut.
