Mode of Program Participation
Community Organizing and Educational Programming
Participation Type
Workshop
Presentation #1 Title
Penny P's Backyard: Where Appalachian Natural Science and Folk Art meet and morph into a Children's Television Show
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Horse Archer Productions is producing an Appalachian centric back yard natural science program for kids 8-12 years of age that also celebrates and in ways connects the science discussed to all forms of Appalachian Folk Culture. This 13 episode scripted television show will pull from Appalachian folk lore and stories for it's narrative content, while modernizing and contextualizing the structure.
Yellow Sulphur Spring (YSS) historic resort in Christiansburg will be the prime location for the show. With a full crew which includes a drone helicopter the 50 acres, will serve as the primary location and the larger metaphor for all of Appalachia.
In the story, Penny P, who lives at YSS, is a member of the Down Town Children's Film Collective. She loves two things. Art and Science. Being a kid, she makes documentaries about both.
Natural science portion of PPBY will be handled by the fact that Penny P's mom works at the yet to be determined "The University" as a scientist TBD Penny, in the interest of shooting another short documentary will ask Mom for help finding subject matter she's interested in. Mom will funnel them to the dean of natural sciences (an actor) who then answer the question with the help of actual faculty or grad students that appear in Penny P's documentaries. There will be no polar bears, tropical rain forests, or oceans. If it does not naturally occur in Appalachia, it will not be a scientific question posed or answered.
While Penny enjoys documenting scientific questions through her adventures with the Downtown Children's Film Making Collective, she also is passionate about art and the local people who make it. She receives assistance from her DAD who is caretaker of YSS, jack of all trades and knows "Just about everybody" he will serve as the point of contact within the story line for Penny P's search for folk artists.
As best we can, we will incorporate the science portion of the show thematically back into Appalachian Folk Arts. When talking about Geology and the formation of the Appalachians items like heat, pressure, minerals and metals will come into discussion. Around the bend in Penny P's world people are having the same type of conversation only they're potters, glass blowers, and blacksmiths. When talking about the various ways to identify a tree, there's a group of folks than can do it just by the grain of the wood. They're called luthiers, wood carvers, wood turners and the like. There's a group that can identify it just by the bark, they're called chair caners. When discussing Micro organisms, their life cycles, types, where are they present, why they matter, anyone who cans their own food will know a few things about that. When the colors change from season to season and the kids learn why, they'll realize there's another group of folks that see and experience the colors and changes of scenery and document it in the form of quilts. And on, and on, and on.
In between there will be paper/felt style 2D animated comedic vignettes with Appalachian Folk Art as the inspiration for characters, settings, visual aesthetic and short story lines. The source of these animations will be classmates at the Film Collective so it opens up the narrative to do specific animated shorts. The main type of music that will aurally inhabit the show will be old time Appalachian string band music. Or music made with traditionally old time string band instruments. Also we’ll be looking into the African American musical footprint of Appalachia. But, being an international town, since the "UNIVERSITY" is part of the "TOWN" we’ll do our best to include international folk music along side traditional American roots music. The concept of folk art and music will be expanded in the conversation using Appalachian folk art and music as the cornerstone. Every episode will have a roughly 90 second live multi camera old time musical performance in the gazebo at Yellow Sulphur Springs. Those performances will then be preserved for future generations of children on a youtube channel or a netflix style show that stands on it's own as a mini Song of the Mountains type show, which Horse Archer produced for 3 seasons, with the working title "The Music of Penny P's Backyard."
Penny P, and her crew of 3 friends, will serve as the vehicle with this films for the naturally scientific and artistic world of Appalachia better known as Penny P's Backyard.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Chris Valluzzo has been making films of varying local and regional subject matter with his company Horse Archer Productions, which he co owns with Sean Kotz since 2006. In 2009 Horse Archer Productions released The Henry Reed Legacy about Giles County Virginia fiddler Henry Reed, his life, and musical legacy. That same year, the company released Why Old Time? a film that looks at why people in the modern day play old time Appalachian. Both directed by Valluzzo. Why Old Time won best Appalachian Film at the Blue Ridge Film and Music Festival and played in the Asheville Film Festival. After meeting his now wife Charlotte who lived at Yellow Sulphur Springs, Valluzzo gained a passion for the history and magic of the property. They were married there in Sept 2005 and now with a 9 year old daughter and a 6 year old son Valluzzo thought his first foray into TV should some how combine his love of his children and their interest in science and art, Yellow Sulphur Springs, the natural beauty of Appalachia and all forms of it's folk culture. Valluzzo lives in Blacksburg, VA with his family and his current hobby is trying to locate 150 rail road ties to sure up the Yellow Sulphur Springs Hotel (c.1810) foundation, so it can be rebuilt, re braced and saved for another 200 years. He has the stone already donated. Please feel free to bring your own rail road ties to the discussion.
Penny P's Backyard: Where Appalachian Natural Science and Folk Art meet and morph into a Children's Television Show
Horse Archer Productions is producing an Appalachian centric back yard natural science program for kids 8-12 years of age that also celebrates and in ways connects the science discussed to all forms of Appalachian Folk Culture. This 13 episode scripted television show will pull from Appalachian folk lore and stories for it's narrative content, while modernizing and contextualizing the structure.
Yellow Sulphur Spring (YSS) historic resort in Christiansburg will be the prime location for the show. With a full crew which includes a drone helicopter the 50 acres, will serve as the primary location and the larger metaphor for all of Appalachia.
In the story, Penny P, who lives at YSS, is a member of the Down Town Children's Film Collective. She loves two things. Art and Science. Being a kid, she makes documentaries about both.
Natural science portion of PPBY will be handled by the fact that Penny P's mom works at the yet to be determined "The University" as a scientist TBD Penny, in the interest of shooting another short documentary will ask Mom for help finding subject matter she's interested in. Mom will funnel them to the dean of natural sciences (an actor) who then answer the question with the help of actual faculty or grad students that appear in Penny P's documentaries. There will be no polar bears, tropical rain forests, or oceans. If it does not naturally occur in Appalachia, it will not be a scientific question posed or answered.
While Penny enjoys documenting scientific questions through her adventures with the Downtown Children's Film Making Collective, she also is passionate about art and the local people who make it. She receives assistance from her DAD who is caretaker of YSS, jack of all trades and knows "Just about everybody" he will serve as the point of contact within the story line for Penny P's search for folk artists.
As best we can, we will incorporate the science portion of the show thematically back into Appalachian Folk Arts. When talking about Geology and the formation of the Appalachians items like heat, pressure, minerals and metals will come into discussion. Around the bend in Penny P's world people are having the same type of conversation only they're potters, glass blowers, and blacksmiths. When talking about the various ways to identify a tree, there's a group of folks than can do it just by the grain of the wood. They're called luthiers, wood carvers, wood turners and the like. There's a group that can identify it just by the bark, they're called chair caners. When discussing Micro organisms, their life cycles, types, where are they present, why they matter, anyone who cans their own food will know a few things about that. When the colors change from season to season and the kids learn why, they'll realize there's another group of folks that see and experience the colors and changes of scenery and document it in the form of quilts. And on, and on, and on.
In between there will be paper/felt style 2D animated comedic vignettes with Appalachian Folk Art as the inspiration for characters, settings, visual aesthetic and short story lines. The source of these animations will be classmates at the Film Collective so it opens up the narrative to do specific animated shorts. The main type of music that will aurally inhabit the show will be old time Appalachian string band music. Or music made with traditionally old time string band instruments. Also we’ll be looking into the African American musical footprint of Appalachia. But, being an international town, since the "UNIVERSITY" is part of the "TOWN" we’ll do our best to include international folk music along side traditional American roots music. The concept of folk art and music will be expanded in the conversation using Appalachian folk art and music as the cornerstone. Every episode will have a roughly 90 second live multi camera old time musical performance in the gazebo at Yellow Sulphur Springs. Those performances will then be preserved for future generations of children on a youtube channel or a netflix style show that stands on it's own as a mini Song of the Mountains type show, which Horse Archer produced for 3 seasons, with the working title "The Music of Penny P's Backyard."
Penny P, and her crew of 3 friends, will serve as the vehicle with this films for the naturally scientific and artistic world of Appalachia better known as Penny P's Backyard.
