Students develop a new story with David and see their ideas turned into quick pencil drawings in real time.
Approximately 45 minutes
David’s description of the program:
After saying hello to the students and introducing myself on the webcam, I switch the view to a document camera directed at the paper on my drawing table, so the audience can watch me draw in real time.
When I am thinking about a new story, sketches are essential to the process - both as a means of notation, and as a way of building on new ideas. Seeing an idea on the page, outside of my own head, lets me respond to it with whatever follows in the emerging story.
Because this creative process happens naturally on paper, the document camera lets me bring the audience along.
I start by showing them the ‘scribble game’ (I’m sure it’s known by other names, too, but that’s what we called it when I was a kid). I make a scribble on the page, then listen to the children’s idea for what I could turn the scribble into. Once I select an idea, and turn the scribble into a drawing, I ask them followup questions about it, illustrating their ideas as we go, and from there we make up a story together.
Once we have an ending, I tell the story back to them, and remind them that it is their own story. So, if they have other ideas for it, they can change it around or revise it any way they think would make it better.
To close, I show them some of the very first sketches I did when coming up with ideas for some of my published books.
The sketches created during the program are mailed to the school.
One 45-minute session: $500
Two sessions in one day: $800
Three sessions in one day: $1100
Four sessions in one day: $1500
See and hear how David created the film’s visual effects with physical, mechanical objects.
Approximately 45 minutes
Historic Hudson Valley commissioned David Hyde Costello to create an online shadow puppet film interpretation of Washington Irving’s famous 1820 short story. It was filmed in his studio in Amherst, MA. Narration by Malik Work was adapted from Irving's original text by Elizabeth L. Bradley. Music on the soundtrack was created by David Hyde Costello, and by the cellist Wayne Smith. The film is suitable for all ages. The behind-the-scenes virtual program is appropriate for grades 3 and up.
David’s description of the program:
Everything you see in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A Shadow Puppet Film is the shadow of a real, physical object. Some of the puppets are complicated mechanisms, and some are very simple. After watching the film, kids (and adults) have a lot of questions about the details - “What kind of mechanism did you use to make the horses run using only one hand?” for example, or, “How did you make the scene when Icabod ran through the trees?”
With the original puppets on hand, I can give them a close-up view, via the webcam, of how the puppets work behind the scenes. The questions that come up naturally form the basis of a talk on the process of creating the film, which includes both the design of the puppets, and the decisions that shaped this interpretation of Washing Irving’s original story.
Preparation: watch the film as a class, think of the questions you’d like to ask, and write them down.
Note to teachers: absolutely any question is OK - even if it doesn’t seem to relate to the topic. The most important criterion is that their question is something they are truly curious about (and if someone doesn’t have any questions, that’s OK, too!) One of the nice things about being an artist is that all life experiences go into the storehouse of creative material, so I welcome even the non-sequitur-type questions, and I can connect them to the subject of the Sleepy Hollow film.
It would probably be most time-efficient if the class sent me the list of questions before the presentation, but we could do it in real time if they’d prefer to ask their questions directly.
This program can also be adapted to focus on the music, or on the adaptation and interpretation of Washington Irving’s original text.
One 45-minute session: $500
Two sessions in one day: $800
Three sessions in one day: $1100
Four sessions in one day: $1500
The film was produced by Historic Hudson Valley, and is available free for all. You can find it on YouTube at this link:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: A Shadow Puppet Film
