Films Division
Awards
- 23rd Annual Telly Awards
- Belly Dancing II: Intermediate Instruction with Mara: Finalist (Bronze Telly) in the Low-Budget category.
- Ali Baba Costuming Series: Basic Bra and Belt Sets: Finalist (Bronze Telly) in the Low-Budget category.
- 24th Annual Telly Awards
- The Adventures of Wildfire: Winner (Silver Telly) in both the Children's Entertainment and Low-Budget categories.
- Belly Dancing III: Advanced Techniques: Finalist (Bronze Telly) in both the How-To and Low-Budget categories.
- Kids First!
- The Adventures of Wildfire:
Endorsed by Kids First.
- Ali Baba Costuming Secrets Unveiled: Creating Basic Bra and Belt Sets
- Reviewed Zaghareet!, March/April 2002 issue
- The Adventures of Wildfire
- Reviewed in School Library Journal, April 2003
Annual Telly Awards
The Telly Awards was founded in 1980 to showcase and give recognition to outstanding non-network and cable TV commercials. The competition was expanded several years ago to include film and video production as well as non-network TV programming. In the 23 years since it's beginning, the Telly Awards has become a well-known, highly respected national competition. The Telly has become one of the most sought-after awards in the TV, commercial and video industry.
The Telly Awards are judged on a 10-point scale. Entries with a score of 7.0 to 8.9 are "Finalists" and receive the bronze Telly. Entries with a score of 9.0 or higher are "winners" and receive the silver Telly. Entries do not compete against each other. Rather, they compete against a high standard of excellence.
For more information about this prestigious award, log on to their website at www.tellyawards.com.
A part of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media, which is a national, not-for-profit, non-religious organization founded in 1991. Because we believe that media profoundly affect children, our mission is to: 1) Teach children critical viewing skills that enable them to make their own good media choices. And 2) To increase the visibility and availability of quality children's programs. Our goals are: A. To teach children to become critical media users; B. To help adults recognize the importance of teaching critical viewing skills to children; C.To help children identify and know of examples of outstanding media programming; D. To develop programs for special needs audience including hospitalized children and at-risk children and families. The Coalition is a voluntary collaboration of more than 10,000 media professionals, lobbyists, policymakers, child advocates, educators, parents and families.
KIDS FIRST!® evaluates, rates, and endorses children's feature films, videotapes, DVDs, audio recordings, software, and television using a volunteer, community-based jury comprising child development professionals, teachers, librarians, and parents as well as children of diverse geographic, socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. More than 4000 titles have been evaluated to date.
For more information about Kids First!, log on to their website at www.cqcm.org/kidsfirst/.
Ali Baba Costuming Secrets Unveiled: Creating Basic Bra and Belt Sets
Review appearing in Zaghareet!, March/April 2002 issue Reviewed by Sharina
The first thing that happens when you open this video is … you find your free costume pattern that's enclosed in the case! What a great idea! So right away, you know that the producers of this video want to be sure that we have all of the tools we need to learn how to create a costume!
The video starts with models showing us several different examples of cabaret costumes that can be constructed. With the music of Harry Saroyan singing "Cairo" playing in the background, it definitely puts us in the mood to get started on our costume!
Our instructors, Joyce Daniels and Lisa LaMonica, give us some good advice before we begin, such as: don't try to accomplish too much with your first project, fit is of the utmost importance and watch the entire video before starting a project. With that, we move into our first section of Proportion & Shape. Different sized models are used here as visuals to emphasize a discussion of different body proportions and shapes, and what to think about (and what to avoid) in a costume for each of the body types. The models appear first in leotard, then in costume, so we can clearly understand the description of each body type and we can see what would be a flattering costume for each type of figure. The use of visuals here is particularly good so we're sure to understand the "do's and don’t's".
We're then ready to talk about what kind of bra we should use (with tips on where to buy one!), how a bra should fit in order to be comfortable, and how to measure for the belt. Then a list of materials needed for the project in this video is discussed.
The next section shows us how to cover the bra and includes cutting off the hook & eye, covering the stretchy sides of the bra, covering the center of the bra, and then how to cover the cup and fit the material to it. In this section the stitching is done by hand with a contrasting thread so we're sure to be able to see exactly what she is doing! We're also given advice as we go along, such as when you cut the fabric, it's better to have a little too much than too little. It's suggested to use stretch fabric for our first costume, but techniques are also demonstrated using fabrics that don't have stretch.
We're then ready to lay out our belt base patter (the pattern that came with the video!) and learn how to build the belt. Once again, good use of camera shots and contrasting thread make it very clear to see exactly how to stitch the belt and our instructors give us tips on what to watch out for while we're constructed the belt. A discussion of appliqués and decorative trims follows, with suggestions on attaching other adornments (e.g. beads or rhinestones) to the trim before it's sewn onto the costume.
A highlight of the video is the discussion of preparing beaded fringe for longevity (removing broken beads and using glue as a sealant) before it is sewn onto the costume. This is something that many dancers will wish they had thought about before they sewed their first costume!
We're finally ready for the finishing touches on the costume and suggestions on how to fit the belt to the dancer. And let's not forget to do preventive maintenance to our costume so it will last for a long time!
This video is not a "Sewing 101" film that teaches us basic sewing techniques, and it does assume some basic sewing skills such as overcastting and sewing with a machine. However, it is geared for a dancer with minimal sewing capability and it packs enough information and demonstrations into 80 minutes to enable a dancer to contruct a basic cabaret bra and belt (think: simple elegance). The video also has good information about flattering different body types and tips on adding trim that might also appeal to a dancer with higher-level sewing skills.
Zaghareet! can be found online at: http://www.zaghareet.freeservers.com
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