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Filming is wrapped! Returning volunteers included Cinematographer Jessica Young, Casting Director Megan Hsu and “Awesome Guy who Entertains the Parents” Les Fletcher. In developing Episode 2 “The Case of the Online Crush” we volunteered in schools and took advice from students. Episode 2 tackles a new challenge, “Who and what is a predator?” Our post-production team [Jeremy Castillo; John LaRosa; Bruce Drummond; Paige Bierma & Mike Heimowitz] are hard at work!

Filming is also wrapped for Episode 3 “The Case of the Plagiarized Paper!” We were lucky enough to have the same cast & crew as Episode 2, and also welcome new cast members including Cassie Jo Fastabend- Eve; Jamin Shih- Scott, Kyle Fitz- David; Craig Frank- Mr. B and David Valladeres- as Christian. In this case, we expand our series to unravel the topics of cheating & plagiarism. Working with students, our goal for the films is to answer the question “What consequences should happen to someone who plagairizes? What exactly is plagiarism?” This script was developed with the help of “Stressed out Students” expert Denise Pope, who also is featured in our Behind the Scenes Bonus Features!

Growing up with great Educational shows as well as great Detective shows certainly helped inspire Adina’s Deck. Some of our favorites are:

• Ghostwriter!
• MathNet on Square One
• Encyclopedia Brown DVD Series
• Nancy Drew books
• Babsitters Club books
• And… The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo! I’d forgotten about this one until reading that the actress Irene just got married.

I found this clip of the show on YouTube. How I miss the good ol’ Nickelodeon days! Hopefully Adina’s Deck can help re-inspire the type of programming that I want my kids to watch one day.

Today Adina’s Deck was at the YPulse MashUp at the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco.

Here is what was covered!

Preventing Cyberbullying in Online Communities for Youth

• Cyberbullying defined
• The impact of cyberbullying on youth communities
• Strategies for prevention

Panelists:
Linda Burch, Chief Education and Strategy Officer, Common Sense Media
Debbie Heimowitz, Founder, Adina’s Deck
Hemanshu Nigam, Chief Security Officer, Fox Interactive Media / MySpace
Denise Restauri, CEO, AllyKatzz

Moderator: Larry Magid, Technology Journalist and Internet Safety Advocate

Special thanks to Anastasia Goodstein & her team for putting together this terrific event and including Adina’s Deck!

There’s a terrific article about Cyber Bullying in the July 2008 Parent Paper of North New Jersey, written by Jan Wilson.  It’s a booklet, available as a PDF and you can read it here: http://adserver1.harvestadsdepot.com/bergen/ss/parentpaper/
Look for pages 48-50!

Thanks so much to Suzie Boss for writing this great article. You can read the entire article here:

 

 

Cinema vs. Cyberbullies: Using Filmmaking to Fight Online Harassment

By Suzie Boss

6/17/08
When Debbie Heimowitz talks about cyberbullying at school assemblies or presents training events for teachers, she speaks with authority. She knows the statistics. She understands the potential for real harm if bullies use the anonymity of technology to gang up on their victims.

But she doesn’t just emphasize scary stories. “I want kids to feel empowered online,” she says. “I want them to know that they can learn about technology and use it to do cool things. I want them to see role models, other kids using technology to help their friends. And if cyberbullying is happening, I want them to know that they can go to someone for help.”

To get across her dual message of empowerment and awareness, Heimowitz has created an engaging thirty-minute film and supporting resources designed to foster better-informed conversation about cyberbullying. Adina’s Deck stars four middle school girls who become cybersleuths to solve an online bullying mystery. They combine the bravado of Nancy Drew with the tech savvy of Silicon Valley veterans as they figure out who is behind a string of anonymous text messages, phone calls, and Web posts that take an increasingly threatening tone.

Heimowitz, who developed Adina’s Deck in 2007 while she was a graduate student in education at Stanford University, told me she didn’t start with a focus on cyberbullying. Her original idea, she recalls with a laugh, “was a fourth-grade project about the gold rush, a topic I found fascinating!” But conversations with a school counselor and with her mother, a middle school special education teacher, opened her eyes.

Heimowitz was surprised to learn that cyberbullying is a problem at her old middle school and at many other schools. “I thought bullying was only about boys beating up other boys,” she admits. But as she dug into the research and did additional surveys at schools serving diverse populations in the Bay Area, she learned that cyberbullying is a growing concern that cuts across genders, age groups, and socioeconomic levels.

An organization called i-SAFE conducted a survey of students in grades 4-8 and found that 42 percent of them have been bullied online and 53 percent have said “something mean or hurtful” to another person online. What’s more, most kids keep the experience to themselves; 58 percent of children who have been bullied on the Web victims admit that they did not tell their parents or another adult about the incidents.

Making a film to raise awareness about the issue was an obvious choice for Heimowitz. She studied film as an undergraduate at the University of California of Berkeley and then spent three years working in Hollywood. Her long-term goal is to create films with the production quality of the big-name studios but with an educational message that will engage students and address teachers’ learning goals.

To make sure Adina’s Deck resonated with her target audience, Heimowitz went straight to the source: middle school girls. Through Citizen Schools, a San Francisco Bay Area after-school program she has volunteered for, Heimowitz recruited a focus group of girls for a ten-week apprenticeship in filmmaking. They acted as script consultants, providing feedback that gave the film the ring of authenticity. They even suggested cool names for the characters — Skye, Melody, Clara, and Adina — and helped develop the four personas.

Although cyberbullying affects both boys and girls, Heimowitz deliberately cast girls as the ones with technology smarts. In one scene, the characters start to unravel the mystery by figuring out the IP address of a computer used to build an anonymous Web site, which the cyberbully is using to harass the “popular” girl, Skye. “We had some very tech-savvy people help us to make sure that sequence is completely realistic,” Heimowitz explains.

Most teens, she admits, are not quite so conversant with how computers work. Nor are most schools as full of technology as the one on this movie set, where kids move fluidly from a wireless laptop to text messaging on cell phones. The hyped-up technology use is deliberate, Heimowitz says. “We wanted to show an example of girls who can navigate their way around the Internet like any expert in Silicon Valley.” (And she is delighted when audiences pick Adina, “the smart one” of the foursome, as their favorite character.)

When she shows the film, kids often ask her, “Can we really figure out all that stuff?” Heimowitz notes, “That’s one of the things about cyberbullying: Kids don’t realize we can catch the bully. It opens their eyes to the fact that this is not as anonymous as they might think.”

Generating real-time conversations about cyberbullying is one of the best ways to address the problem. Childnet International, based in the United Kingdom, takes a similar approach with its film, Let’s Fight It Together, in which a teen boy is the target of cyberbullying. Both the film and a discussion guide for teachers are available online.

Meanwhile, Heimowitz and her Adina’s Deck crew are about to take on new adventures: Two more films are in the pipeline. One will address online relationships and predators, and the other will focus on plagiarism and cheating. Both will have a detective story line, with the girls from the original film, plus a new boy character, on the case.

Has cyberbullying been an issue at your school? How have you addressed it? Please share your thoughts.

 

• Suzie Boss’s blog

We are excited to welcome the newest Adina’s Deck Cast Members!
Episode 2
Michael- Sam Ison
Ally- Nyssa Smikoski
Tommy- Avery Monsen
Thelma- Nancy Sale
Asiya- Kseniya Yumasheva
Julia- Jordan Fowler
Sarah- Avra Friedman

Episode 3
Christian- David Valladares
David- Kyle Fitz
Scott- Jamin Shih
Eve- Cassie Fastabend
Announcer- Leonard Charles
Announcer- Dominic Tully
Mr. B- Craig Frank

In addition, welcome back to returning cast members: Amelia Varni; Ciera Trussell; Kelcie Stranahan; Stephanie Cameron; Donald Lett II and Greg Cala!

Extras list, coming soon! Thanks again to Megan Hsu, our rockstar Casting Director!! Also Congrats to Megan on graduating Stanford soon! Off to the STEP program she will go, but not until Adina’s Deck’s finished filming, of course

CDNetworks Net Plus — Free CDN Program for Nonprofits — Adina’s Deck First US Participant — CDNetworks Global Public Service Program Also Adds Free CDN for Nonprofits in Asia

CDNetworks Net Plus program provides free content delivery network services to nonprofit organizations that are focused on preventing or counteracting harmful Internet-enabled activities. This program is an extension of the CDNetworks Global Public Service program, which includes supporting underprivileged children and orphans, as well as offering Internet infrastructure to non-governmental-organizations in Asia.

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) June 2, 2008 — CDNetworks (KOSDAQ: 073710) a top-three global, full-service content delivery network (CDN), today announced the CDNetworks Net Plus program, which provides free content delivery network services to nonprofit organizations that are focused on preventing or counteracting harmful Internet-enabled activities. This program is an extension of the CDNetworks Global Public Service program, which includes supporting underprivileged children and orphans, as well as offering Internet infrastructure to non-governmental-organizations in Asia. Adina’s Deck, an educational media group/nonprofit initiative focused on safe Internet practices for young people, is the first US participant in the new CDNetworks Net Plus free CDN program.

The CDNetworks Net Plus program provides eligible nonprofit organizations with free CDN services for up to one terabyte of traffic per month on the CDNetworks’ infrastructure. Participants are selected based on merit, need, and focus on Internet safety issues. CDNetworks is reaching out to nonprofits to introduce the service to them.

Adina’s Deck, the first US nonprofit in the CDNetworks Net Plus program, is an award winning film, social website, and curriculum focused on educating 9 -15 year olds about safe practices on the Internet. The first episode of Adina’s Deck focuses on cyber bullying. Released in January 2008, Adina’s Deck Episode One won the award for Best Educational Film in the student category at the 2008 International Family Film Festival. It also won a Global Web Award - 2008 at the World Wide Web Awards. The film has found enthusiastic audiences around the world. Adina’s Deck is planning to release two additional film episodes this fall.

“Putting Adina’s Deck on the CDNetworks network infrastructure has made a dramatic difference in content delivery speed and end-user experience,” said Debbie Heimowitz, founder of Adina’s Deck. “CDNetworks has made a big impact on the ’stickiness’ of our Web pages, tripling the amount of time people stay on our website.”
“While the Internet adds value to the world in many ways, there are also some irresponsible, harmful, and dangerous activities enabled by the Internet,” said Simon Lee, CEO of CDNetworks US. “Our goal with the CDNetworks Net Plus program is to encourage and enable nonprofit organizations, like Adina’s Deck, that are working hard to counteract this harm and promote Internet safety. We are very happy to provide our CDNetworks infrastructure and technology suite, at no charge, to encourage and support this work.”

About Adina’s Deck
Adina’s Deck is an educational media group/nonprofit initiative producing films, a website, and curriculum focused on safe Internet practices for young people. The first Adina’s Deck film episode titled, “Solving Cyber Bullying Mysteries,” was created, directed, and produced by Debbie Heimowitz for her Master’s Thesis in the Learning, Design and Technology program in the school of Education at Stanford University. Jason Azicri developed, wrote and co-directed the pilot. Over fifty crew members and one hundred actors contributed to the pilot episode which was released in January 2008. Due to the broad interest, industry recognition, and international appeal of the first Adina’s Deck initiatives, the team is working on two additional film episodes and a website update. To learn more about Adina’s Deck, please view: www.Adinasdeck.com.

About CDNetworks
CDNetworks, a top-three global, full-service content delivery network (CDN), provides technology, network infrastructure, and customer services that accelerate the delivery of Internet content and applications to end users around the world. CDNetworks provides a comprehensive suite of technology for video streaming, large-volume-files downloads and image caching, which deliver unparalleled quality of performance, service, and reliability. World-leading media and entertainment, technology, retail, and online gaming companies rely on CDNetworks to optimize their end users’ online experiences. CDNetworks, founded in 2000 in Seoul, Korea, has subsidiaries in the US, China and Japan and is publicly traded on Korea’s KOSDAQ exchange (KOSDAQ: 073710). For more information, please visit: www.cdnetworks.com.

Press contact:

CDNetworks
Frances Mann-Craik
+1 408 868-9577
frances.manncraik@cdnetworks.com

CDNetworks
2218 North First Street
San Jose, CA 95131
+1 408-432-1301 X 107
www.cdnetworks.com

Many of you asked about Callbacks. We have already made calls for today. Between 1-2 out of every 10 people who auditioned were invited back this morning.

However…

We have already cast some people that we didn’t call back.

So, everyone will be hearing from us by the end of this week. If you auditioned, we promise Megan will be contacting you.

Thank you again to everyone who auditioned & also the parents who drove and took time out of their weekend!!

Amy Jussel, founder of ShapingYouth.org wrote about us today on her blog based on an interview we had. We are flattered. We have been so busy preparing for auditions we were blown away by her thoughtful and generous account of our project. You can read her article here

Here’s the blurb about her non-profit: Shaping Youth, a new nonprofit consortium of media and marketing professionals concerned about harmful messages to children. S.Y. uses tools & techniques of industry insiders to flip creative content in a healthier direction. Her counter-marketing workshops have been a huge hit with kids and adults alike and will launch to the public soon. amy@shapingyouth.org

Parents, teachers and friends check out her wonderful blog! They promote a fantastic mission; we are so lucky to have people like Amy doing this type of work!

Thanks to everyone who came out and auditioned on Day 1! We will be notifying our first group’s Callbacks no later than this Thursday.

Parents- we really appreciate those of you who drove or flew up to Walnut Creek. We were overwhelmed with your dedication and generosity! If you were from Santa Monica, Burbank, Nevada or Sacramento, I’m talking about you!

We can’t wait to meet the rest of you, auditioning for the first time on Sat. May 17th.

Already this is going to be challenging… with so  many talented people who came out already… we have had over 800 submissions so far & auditioned a total of 50 already.

THANKS AGAIN!

Megan, Debbie and Jason (as well as Zoe, Katie, Kristen, Katherine and Michael)

Auditions for Episodes 2 & 3, start this upcoming Sat. May 10th in Walnut Creek, CA.

If you are between the ages of 12-16 and would like to be considered, please email: adinacasting@gmail.com with your picture, age and any acting experience. We have a lead role for the part of “Michael” a black (or black-mixed) male ages 13-16; as well as many other supporting roles.

To download our audition flier for your school, family and friends, click here ->.flyer11.pdf

We cannot wait to see you on Sat.!

NEA Today’s writer Cindy Long posted a fabulous article about Cyber Bullying. We were interviewed for the story and Adina’s Deck is one of the links. The story is below; and you can read the entire article here.

Silencing Cyberbullies

Digital sticks and stones can’t break bones—but they can hurt even more. What educators can do to curb bullying in cyberspace.

by Cindy Long

Ryan Halligan was bullied so relentlessly at school, he finally learned kickboxing to defend himself from the physical assaults. But when the attacks moved online, he had no way to fight back, and no refuge. Day and night, he received e-mails and instant messages from classmates ridiculing him and calling him a loser. When a pretty girl at school pretended to like him online but later revealed she was only joking, the taunting e-mails and instant messages increased, only with even more venom. A few weeks later, in October 2003, Ryan hanged himself in his family’s bathroom. He was 13 years old.

Now, Ryan’s father travels to schools around the country to share the events that led up to his son’s suicide and to warn educators and students about the dangers of cyberbullying. “Please don’t ever forget Ryan’s story,” he says, “or the fragility of adolescence.”

Cyberbullying is the use of electronic technology to deliberately harass or intimidate. Unlike the schoolyard bully of yesteryear, the cyberbully can hide behind online anonymity and attack around the clock, invading the privacy of a teen’s home. With young people spending most of their free time online or texting their friends, digital bullies not only have ready access to victims, but also an audience—because without witnesses, virtual bullying loses its punch.

According to Pew Research, about one third (32 percent) of all teenagers who use the Internet say they have been targets of some form of cyberbullying that ranged from receiving threatening messages and having their private e-mails or text messages forwarded to having an embarrassing picture posted or rumors about them spread online. 

We had a great time at the Sacramento film festival where Adina’s Deck was part of the “Young Visionaries” program. The film was screened at the gorgeous Crest theater on K street.

Actresses Amelia Varni “Adina” with Ciera Trussell “Clara and directors Debbie and Jason.

One of the best parts of this festival was being in Ciera’s hometown! Well, almost! This was the closest screening to her house, so her grandmother, family and friends were able to attend.

 Are you between the ages of 11-18? Are you excited for the next episode of Adina’s Deck? Do you want a special sneak peak at the scripts before they come out?

Adina’s Deck is looking for advisors for it’s pre-teen and teen advisory panels! If  you are interested, email us: info@adinasdeck.com with your name, age, location and a paragraph about why you want to be on the Adina’s Deck Advisory Panel.

Advisors will:

• Read Scripts for future episodes
• Give their opinions
• Be invited to local pizza party discussions
• Bring activities back to their schools and friends
• Get future opportunities on the set of the next films!
• Other Perks include: A free copy of the film; The ability to give your opinion to us before millions of young people see it; a special insider look at the screenwriting process; your name in the credits!

We will notify all applicants by May 15th, 2008.

We hope to hear from you!

Jason (the co-creator of Adina’s Deck) needs your help. He received news that his cousin David Azicri has been missing since March 5th.

16-year old David Azicri was last seen Wednesday, March 5, on his way to school at Villa Maria Academy.  He’s 6′2″, 175-Pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes, he was wearing a blue hoodie.  If you have information contact Millcreek Township Police Department, Erie Pennsylvania, detective Dan Goodman at 814-833-7777 or (814)838-9515. 

It’s very surreal to us. We feel like we need Adina’s help right now…

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