CKTV Media Productions

Check out this site for some really cool examples of framing….

Click here

One of my favorite bands in Hawaii, The Green, has a cool music video out…..it’s pretty cool how they did it.  Check it out!

We were given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this weekend when we were chosen to represent Hiki No and PBS Hawaii at the launch of the Pillars of Peace Program sponsored by the Hawaii Community Foundation.  Pillars of Peace is a new program aimed at promoting peace in Hawaii and throughout the world by bringing in guest speakers to learn about Hawaii’s spirit of Aloha and our culture, and to share their thoughts and wisdom with us.  The first speaker in what is hoped to be a continuing event was His Holiness, the Dalai Lama from Tibet.  Two students and myself were offered the opportunity to be part of the official press pool that followed the Dalai Lama to two stops before his talk at the Stan Sheriff Center later in the day.  In making my decision as to who would join me, I simply chose the two students with the most experience, students that I knew I could count on, 8th graders Kasey Emoto and Laura Koga.  Both girls have been with me the longest out of my current group, all three years of middle school.  Kasey and Laura have also proven themselves over and over again with their outstanding work so it really wasn’t a hard choice to make.  I do want to say however, that there were quite a few girls in the class that would have also made excellent choices if I could have taken more students with me.

We left school a little early on Friday to meet up with Robert Pennybacker, Lawrence Pacheco, and Sue Yim from PBS Hawaii to get organized and plan what we were going to do.  We all talked about possible story leads and what we could shoot if we chose that angle.  Since we only knew that he was going to talk about “Educating the Heart” we didn’t have many choices to go with.  Robert suggested that since he was giving his talk to high school and college students and that basically Kasey and Laura were just about at that target age, that one possible angle would be to take it from the point of view of students.  That made the most sense so for the Hiki No version of this story, that’s probably what we will end up doing.  For the version that we need to get ready for this Thursday’s “Insights” show on PBS Hawaii, we’re doing more of a news type story and just reporting on what happened.  The girls and I are here on Sunday importing and transcribing footage that was shot yesterday.  Talking about yesterday….

We had a really long day on Saturday.  We had to be at the Kahala Hotel by 6 am to get our press passes and get our equipment checked by security.  It was a little weird because once we passed through security, we had to be kept together in a room and we couldn’t leave without an escort, even to the bathroom.  Thankfully they didn’t follow us inside but they remained outside until we were done to escort us back to the room while we waited to board the bus for the first stop in the Dalai Lama’s visit.  After having a continental breakfast we finally boarded the bus at about 7:45 am and drove to Bishop Museum, the first stop on the tour.  Once we got there it was a mad scramble to the location to set up our tripod and get our equipment ready.  Lawrence accompanied us that day and said that we needed to hurry to get our spot since we were essentially competing with other camera men and women on the bus with us.  Wow, it’s like we were equals to these professionals!  We’re not used to that so we boarded the bus last which meant we sat in the back, not the ideal placement to get off quickly.  As expected, we were the last to set-up but we were left with a spot that wasn’t too bad and got our gear ready.  One of the camera guys was hired by the foundation to get good footage so he was able to move closer and he was kind enough to offer his spot to us.  One thing I have to say about this is that all of the other press people were very kind and courteous to us.  Lawrence explained later that we really got the red carpet treatment from these people because it’s usually not like that.  Normally everyone fights for the best spot because they all have a job to do.  If you’re timid, you’re left with the worst location so it was nice to see that they all were actually nice to us throughout the whole day.  Once things were set up we had to wait for His Holiness to arrive which took about another 45 minutes.  He was greeted by keiki from a Hawaiian language pre-school who sang for him as well as other dignitaries from the Bishop Museum.  His entourage moved inside where we were allowed to follow him to the atrium where he was given gifts and spoke for a few minutes.  That lasted for maybe 15 minutes and we scrambled to get our gear together to get back on the bus to the next location.

We then traveled to Iolani Palace but were disappointed to see that he had already arrived.  In fact, we had just set up our camera when he walked out briefly and walked across to our left into another room.  This was the only time we saw him and Laura was still able to capture that on her camera which was amazing because it happened so fast.  We then left and headed to the Stan Sheriff Center to get settled there.  We had maybe 10 minutes to scarf down a quick lunch before we were ushered into our respective spots before the entertainment started.  Laura and Lawrence went down to the floor while Kasey and I were escorted to the student press section right above them.  The program started on time at 11:45 with entertainment by local dance groups, singers and musicians.  The highlight was the last entertainer, Hawaii’s own Jack Johnson!  He only sang a few songs before the Dalai Lama appeared on stage to greet him.  I don’t think Jack knew this and it looked like he was surprised as he stopped in mid-song to shake hands with His Holiness.  He finished his song and then was formally introduced before his talk began.

He talked for close to two hours and then answered questions before he was given more gifts.  When he left, we were taken back to the media room where Kelvin Takata, the head of the Hawaii Community Foundation, answered some questions about the event.  Once that ended, we quickly grabbed a few students to interview in the media room before heading outside to find some more.  We ended up interviewing 4 students about their thoughts on the speech and then recorded our closing on-site before packing it up at 5 pm, a long 12 hours after we originally left the hotel that morning.  We were all exhausted but we agreed it was a great experience.  Mahalo to Leslie, Robert, Sue, and Lawrence from PBS Hawaii for giving us this fantastic opportunity.  We are so super busy right now and we’re in for some long hours this week to get that first video out, but this was something we could not pass up.  We are honored to have been a part of this experience and I will post a link to the finished video after we’re done with it later this week.

Congratulations to the following students for being named finalists in this year’s Olelo Youth XChange Video Competition!

Category: Animation
Entry/Title: ANI 460 M – Angry Words
Student: Lia Yamasato

Category: Start Living Healthy
Entry/Title: HLTH 479 M – Curse of the Crinkling
Student: Kasey Emoto

Category: Start Living Healthy
Entry/Title: HLTH 485 M – It’s Up To You!
Student: Kailee Nii

Category: News
Entry/Title: NEWS 478 M – Kekaha Beach Erosion
Students: Leanna Thesken, Kasey Emoto

Category: PSA
Entry/Title: PSA 475 M – No Excuses
Student: Laura Koga

Category: PSA
Entry/Title: PSA 476 M – The View
Student: Kaelee Esposo

Category: Traffic Safety
Entry/Title: TSAFE 487 M – A Single Word
Student: Ava Wagner

All of our finalists are invited to attend the awards luncheon on Friday, April 27th at the Ko Olina Resort on Oahu!

More details to follow and congrats again!

This week’s constructed response topic is…..

What was the most memorable part of the trip for you?  What event, visit, or activity stood out the most for you and why?
Next week’s constructed response topic is…..

What are you plans for your 4th quarter project?

Have a good weekend everyone and I’ll see you on Monday!

Haven’t been able to update the blog lately but I know our students have so it hasn’t been a priority lately. It’s been a whirlwind of a trip so far. Can’t believe that we’re already almost done with Thursday and our 2nd day of the convention already. I’ll try to recap the Dallas trip so far.

When we arrived we headed to the mall and to Target to pick up some supplies. The kids got to shop again before we had dinner at the food court and settled in to our hotel.

Monday was the tour of Dallas Cowboys Stadium, my personal highlight so far. I was in heaven getting to see all of the many things that stadium has to offer. From the outside you can tell it’s huge but only when you step inside do you really realize just how big it is. The great thing is that every seat offers a good view! we got to see what one of the private suites looks like and it’s gorgeous. Like everything in Texas, their HDTV is huge. We were even granted special access to the control room where their own crew of 40 people run their cameras and the content that shows up on the big screens and the other hundreds of other TVs around the stadium. No other tour normally gets that access so we were really lucky. The head engineer who also designed the entire electronics system in the stadium gave us the tour and explained the in and outs of how everything worked. It was very impressive, even if you weren’t a Cowboy fan like Uncle Craig. We then ended up on the field where we got to take pictures on the famous star. The kids got to play on the field a bit before we left.

After the stadium we made our way to the 6th Floor Museum where JFK was shot. It was a great follow up to our Washington trip where we learned a lot about him and the White House. The students remembered seeing the places in the photos. It was a really interesting place to visit.

That night the big thunderstorm rolled in and it rained all night long. We were treated to a lightning show and at around 1:30 am, the whole building shook when a lightning bolt struck close by. At least that’s what Uncle Myron and Uncle Craig said. I was knocked out.

The next morning we ventured into Downtown Dallas once the rain stopped to buy some Texas souvenirs. Since it was still wet we postponed the Urban Adventure Quest and headed for the mall. Some of the students went to the movies and the rest shopped while the dads washed clothes. Yes, that’s not a typo. The dads washed the last set of clothes and I’m proud to say we didn’t turn any whites pink! We then headed to the hotel to drop our stuff off and did the Urban Adventure Quest. It was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of the sights in Downtown Dallas.

Yesterday was the Sweet 16 and although it was a long and grueling day, I’m happy to say the team was able to submit their entry in time. They had some bumps along the way but they pushed through it and still finished. They weren’t totally satisfied with the job they did and felt they should have done better but sometimes things happen that you just have to learn from the hard way. Finish or not, there is always something to learn and I think as a team they all learned a lot yesterday. It was a big relief to finish on time this year!

Today Danica and the Movie Trailer team competed and both met their deadlines. Both felt they could have done better too though. I hope they did well enough to place! We’ll see on Saturday. The rest of the groups headed to breakout seasons. We ate dinner at a Texas BBQ place before the STN Rodeo/Dance. We’re all sitting outside the ballroom talking story while they have their fun. They all couldn’t wait to change out of their CKTV clothes before heading down. Tomorrow is another full day so wish us luck!!

Today the temperature dipped into the 50′s and the sky was overcast as we headed out the door of our hotel. It ended up being the perfect weather to visit the cemetery because we had to do a lot of walking again. The cooler temp kept us comfortable and when it finally did rain we were indoors at the Newseum.

We got to see where all the Kennedy’s are buried as well as the changing of the guard that watches over the tomb of the unknown soldier. Uncle Lane taught us about the history of Arlington and how the Lee family was forced to give up their land. We learned a lot about the protocols of the guards that constantly watch over the tomb of the unknown soldier.

After lunch at the Navy Memorial we arrived at the Newseum, 6 floors of interesting exhibits and films about the history of news. They had some really neat stuff about 9/11. The students got to try their hand at being a news reporter which was pretty cool.

We were able to cook dinner and brown bag the lunches today so the kids didn’t have to spend any food money today. We also just finished washing some clothes. My eyes are closing so I’m going to end here. Good night! Can’t believe we have just one more day in DC!

Today the temperature dipped into the 50′s and the sky was overcast as we headed out the door of our hotel. It ended up being the perfect weather to visit the cemetery because we had to do a lot of walking again. The cooler temp kept us comfortable and when it finally did rain we were indoors at the Newseum.

We got to see where all the Kennedy’s are buried as well as the changing of the guard that watches over the tomb of the unknown soldier. Uncle Lane taught us about the history of Arlington and how the Lee family was forced to give up their land. We learned a lot about the protocols of the guards that constantly watch over the tomb of the unknown soldier.

After lunch at the Navy Memorial we arrived at the Newseum, 6 floors of interesting exhibits and films about the history of news. They had some really neat stuff about 9/11. The students got to try their hand at being a news reporter which was pretty cool.

We were able to cook dinner and brown bag the lunches today so the kids didn’t have to spend any food money today. We also just finished washing some clothes. My eyes are closing so I’m going to end here. Good night! Can’t believe we have just one more day in DC!

Today was a long day….we’re at the train station now and it’s 10:21 at night. We just got through watching the circus and we all had a blast! 10 of us were down low in the 5th row while the rest of the group was in a private suite up top. We saw all kinds of things tonight, from dancing elephants to feisty lions, a human cannon ball and everything in between. It certainly was an entertaining night…..except for the horses that just walked in circles. Ask your child what the most boring part of the night was and 10 to 1 they’ll say the horses.

Earlier today we toured the Capitol and got to see where the President makes his State of the Union speech. We were assisted by the staff members of Representative Hirono and Senator Inouye’s offices. Unfortunately we weren’t able to meet Senator Inouye as planned as he was in a meeting that required his vote and could not leave to meet us. None of the other Hawaii politicians were in their offices either but we still stopped by to offer our omiyage gifts.

After our visits we headed to Chinatown to see the famous Ford Theatre where Abraham Lincoln was shot. We then had dinner at 5 Guys Burgers before heading over to the circus.

Tomorrow the forecast is calling for thunderstorms so we may need to adjust our schedule. Wish us luck!

After a long 16 hour journey from Lihue to Washington, DC, we finally arrived at around 9 am EST.  All of our bags, boxes, and coolers made it safely with us and we were met by our shuttle service as soon as we emerged from the baggage claim.  We had a short 5 minute ride to the hotel and we were happy to hear that our rooms were ready for us.  We checked in, unloaded our stuff, and then headed out to begin our tour. We learned how to buy our Metro cards and took our first ride on their train system here and managed to keep Aunty Lori with us.  So far, so good!  Uncle Lane stopped at the DC Mall and talked a little about the Washington Monument and we got to take a few pictures.  We then headed to the Old Post Office Building for lunch before going to the Smithsonian American History Museum.  Our jet lag and sleep deprivation finally caught up to us but we managed to have a few hours there to see their exhibits before we headed back to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised to learn that not only does hour hotel provide breakfast, but also a few dinners as well.  That saved us a few dollars in our meal budget which the students liked.  The meal wasn’t great, a chicken sandwich, but it was free so we can’t complain that much.  The students are now writing their blog entries for the day and will be heading off to bed soon.  Wifi is only available downstairs so you may not see a post from your child until tomorrow morning.  Some students went down with their chaperone after dinner to update their blogs.  The rest will do so in the morning during breakfast.

I’m ready to get some shut eye myself so I’ll end here.  The temperature has been warm, in the 70′s so we haven’t even needed a jacket yet…..go figure!  So far it’s been a wonderful first and second day.  Hope it continues tomorrow!!!

Mr. M