Clara Tale

We made this film on a shoestring budget. We used props and costumes that we had to hand (or could easily pull together at almost no expense). We used camera, lighting and sound equipment we or family members owned or could borrow. And the kids in the movie are our own kids or those of friends or family members. Editing, coloring and other post-production stuff was also done by us. And of course, we wrote the story and subsequently the script too.

But Clara Tale is intended to be a prototype for what this project is all about, which is – yes – about producing a series of these short original fairy tales starring and narrated by kids. But it’s also about much more. If you haven’t yet, we encourage you to view our Kickstarter video, which is a great summary of what it is we’re trying to achieve. If you want more details, or just a written version, you can check out our About page.

The point is that, although we want to provide meaningful, wholesome entertainment, we also want to provide a starting point for parents or other caregivers to have meaningful conversations with their kids, and also want to stimulate kids to be creative in a variety of ways.

Continue Reading

Art-based activities for Clara Tale

Here are some art-based activities designed by Samantha Kelly to go with Clara Tale. For an introduction to these activities, please hop over to this post.

“Clara Tale” introduces themes revolving around the importance of love and interpersonal relationships as being valued over material things.

The following are examples of various types of art making and creative play which support the ideas advocated in “Clara Tale.” Such activities are meant to be engaging for both the child and the parent yet relatively simple and accessible for busy families.

Parents may create their own artwork in tandem with child or, depending on the needs of the child and the project, work together with the child to create one artwork.
Continue Reading

Behind the scenes on Clara Tale

Making any movie is difficult – there are so many things that can go wrong. But when you do it with little kids, with some of them as young as six months, there are so many more things that can go wrong. But at the same time, it’s a lot of fun, and you just never know what is going to happen.

We’ve put together this short collection of “outtakes” and funny things that happened while we were filming Clara Tale. We plan to do this for all the fairy tales we film. We’d love to hear about your favorite moment, so leave us a comment below.

(And as you’ll see, the little girl in the film is named Clara in real life – that’s where the name for Clara Tale and Clara Tales comes from!)

Making the owl costume from Clara Tale

This is great if you’d like to do something a bit more involved than the art-based activities rom Clara Tale, since this takes a little more prep time and takes a little longer. But hey – at the end of it you’ll have a cute little owl costume!

Here’s the list of materials and supplies you’ll need (this list is also in the video):

  • Onesie, or a t-shirt or other top if you’re making it for a bigger kid
  • Felt sheets – to cut out shapes for the feathers on the body, and for the eyes and beak on the mask. We got these from our local craft store, Michael’s, for about 29 cents each. Get as few or as many different colors as you’d like to use.
  • Feathers – these will be used on the mask. We got a small bag from Michael’s for about two dollars.
  • Scissors, preferably fabric scissors.
  • Pins
  • A glue gun.

Continue Reading