Give Kids the World is a non-profit resort that creates magical memories for children with life threatening illnesses and their families. Wish granting organizations coordinate transportation to Orlando while Give Kids the World provides accommodations at its whimsical resort along with attraction tickets and meals for a week-long, fantasy vacation. Since its founding in 1986, Give Kids the World has welcomed families from all 50 states and 50 countries.

The faculty and students of the ETC worked together to revamp the GKTW theater, create a 6 minute animation based on characters of the village AND install an animateering exhibit in the Castle of Dreams. In the spring of 2006, the team's animated movie called "the Big Surprise" won a Telly award. Faculty and students from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh also contributed their time and energy to create the storybook characters and artwork in the animateering exhibit.

 

VIDEO OVERVIEW

 

Sally and Kathy roll out the red carpet for the grand opening of the Big Surprise

animateering

 

As a faculty advisor at Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center in Pittsburgh, PA, Blaine collaborated with a team of students and co-advisor Brenda Harger to redesign the Animateering experience that was initially developed for the Pittsburgh Children's Museum . Children create their own characters to create interactive storytelling experiences out the using touchscreens, buttons, joysticks, spinners and lots of imagination.

 

Brenda and Bean worked with the students to create a "toybox" approach to this form of virtual play and then expanded that to include custom "fairytale" characters conceived and developed with select students and faculty from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. These characters were housed in a custom book interface and installed in the Castle of Dreams at Give Kids the World village. There is another Animateering exhibit at the Erie Children's Museum in Erie, PA.

 

 

 

 

 

kids playing with the animateering console


Kids are able to create their own characters for interactive storytelling by "swapping" out the head, torso and/or legs of any fairytale character



 

animateering interface







Closeup of the touchscreen interface



 

 

 

© 2007 tina blaine* bean

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