The Treflik Family - DIY

“The Treflik Family” is the TV series targeted at children aged 3+. One season will have 13 episodes (8:30 min). The project will be conducted using puppet animation with the support of computer graphics for post-production and special effects.
The plot is based on funny stories that often resemble sitcoms. It teaches about the world in a non-intrusive way. Scenarios are promoting a friendly and open approach to others, curiosity and discovering new opportunities. The series is created in the form of an animated musical. In each episode, there are two, one minute long songs that play along with the shown history - they are either a funny commentary to the action or development of the storyline. Happy and catchy melodies are very diverse and inspired by songs from comedies and musicals.
It broadens a range of music styles a young viewer is exposed to. The visual side of the series is also different from most of the mainstream animations. Instead of many colours and elements that dominate the movie we want to use a more toned style. On a more pastel background, the characters are better exposed. Hence we offer a more ambitious style to a young viewer.
Main characters are voiced over by well-known polish actors (e.g. Jarosław Boberek, Krystyna Tkacz, Joanna Jabłczyńska, Magdalena Różczka). This is also a way to encourage parents to get better acquainted with the show. Andrzej Krauze composes original music, created especially for the series. Natalia Kukulska sings the title song. The main aim of the series is to educate and support children's development but in a more plausible, fun way, understood also as educating them to understand better “the language of cinema”. Since I don’t see this aspect of education in Kids’ productions and the language of film art is more complex, I would like our series to have an educational impact on kids.
“The Treflik Family” consists of a few seasons and I have carefully worked on its structure. The first season is very straightforward - the plot is linear like in other fairies for kids older than 3 years old. The only extravagance that happens from time to time is the narration from the off (the person who speaks might not be visible for the audience). It doesn’t have to be necessarily the narrator, the dialogue might also be the case when the person to which the words are addressed is presented on the screen. In the screen movement, I want to apply various types of slapstick movement (where it’s needed). I assume that the kid who will be watching all of the seasons will be more and more educated so the series will develop with the viewers’ age and maturity. I would like to increase the complexity of a series bit by bit through applying different elements of a film language. I mean retrofitting series by implementing eg. parallel narration or retrospection, obviously, with common sense. I don’t want to implement intellectual film language, Einstein kind of style. I always bear in mind that I am speaking to children. It’s crucial that when you tell them to brush their teeth, you also need to teach them something more. So far, I didn’t notice any research about the film language targeted at kids. Kids production stopped their development at some level, which is often too low. It’s common for the creators to undervalue kids’ intellectual level. It’s time to change it. Finally, a little history: in the 60s, an untouched by civilisation tribe was found. They were shown a film - no one understood it. Film action was jumped from one place to another - the actor was closer, to become a background later on. All the time, something was moving and changing their place. The solution is to teach film language like an alphabet. Film creators often stop on the first letters. I would like to go further. My educational aim is not straightforward. I don’t want to repeat kids to brush their teeth, I want them to understand the reasoning behind it.