Our Solution
The Movies In My Mind listening series was designed and created by a child psychologist and an Emmy Award-winning composer as an educational and entertaining alternative to TV, computers and video games. The series was also designed to actively address problems seen with children growing up in the “digital age.” Specifically, Movies In My Mind is a non-visual, listening-based form of teaching and entertainment that helps children develop listening, imagination, and visualization skills. It is also non-violent and high-quality children’s entertainment that emphasizes good values and pro-social behavior.
Movies In My Mind is similar to the entertaining radio shows that preceded television and computers. By using state-of-the-art technology from the film and television industries, Movies In My Mind was created as a high-quality feature film. However, one major detail was intentionally left out: the picture. With no images and no video, children are given the opportunity to create pictures in their minds while enjoying the educational stories.
The combination of original dramatic orchestral music, vivid sound effects and engaging stories makes Movies In My Mind especially fun and attractive for children. The “movie without pictures” format was specifically chosen for Movies In My Mind because it encourages the development of listening and attention skills, as well as imagination and visualization abilities.
The music for the Movies In My Mind series is a very important part of the recipe. The musical score for each story was originally composed and recorded with an 80-piece symphony orchestra. The music for each story is similar to what would accompany a large-scale feature film, and it plays a vital role in capturing and holding the listener’s attention.
Because it is written in a very descriptive and dramatic style, the music also helps evoke visual images in the listener’s mind. As in a film, the music in the Movies In My Mind series supports whatever occurs from moment to moment in the stories. Therefore, it is written with and to the stories, as opposed to “cutting in” existing pieces of music, which produces a very different effect on the listener.
The dialogue in the Movies In My Mind series is also written in a very descriptive style, using age-appropriate vocabulary for children. Since the dialogue, like the music, is important in engaging and holding the listener’s attention, we brought in some of the best voice actors in the business. See if you can recognize some of the voices!
Sound effects are another key element to the Movies in My Mind stories. The sound effects were designed and created to help evoke vivid pictures in the listener’s mind throughout the adventures.
So, in order to help children imagine and visualize, the dialogue, music, and sound effects are designed to be highly descriptive. For example, instead of simply mentioning a chair, the narrator might say, “Amy closed the screen door and walked across her porch toward her favorite chair, which she built together with her father last summer. After they painted it red, Amy’s father surprised her. The very next day her name was beautifully painted on the seat in bright yellow, with small blue stars all around it.”
To further help the listener visualize the “scene,” outdoor sounds reflecting a peaceful, Midwestern atmosphere would be heard softly in the background, as well as sound effects such as Amy’s footsteps on the wooden porch. The music would provide further support, as it would be composed and orchestrated in a style that complements the outdoor ambiance and general mood of the “scene.”
This combination of ingredients helps children think and create their own images in their minds, which are usually preferable to ones created by someone else. At the same time, children’s listening skills are exercised and they learn about important historical people and events in a thrilling and entertaining way.