| Martin Kent Productions creates exceptional quality learning and educational films for both private and broadcast distribution. A sampling of our educational productions includes:
CIVIL RIGHTS MARTYRS (The Learning Channel)
IN SEARCH OF HISTORY: VIKING EXPLORERS (History Channel)
MYSTERIES OF MATING (Discovery Channel)
MODERN MARVELS: DYNAMITE (History Channel)
MODERN MARVELS: MAGNETS (History Channel)
In addition to commissioned educational productions, MKP has announced the creation of a new division dedicated exclusively to partnering with government, academic institutions and corporate sponsors in the development of contemporary educational programming.
If you can't reach them, you can't teach them.SM
The Learning ScreenSM is an exciting new concept in educational filmmaking. Targeted initially to high school-aged students (public, private, home and distance learning), the fundamental premise is to introduce a "pop sensibility" into the production of standards-based educational films.
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February 20, 2004, Los Angeles
Martin Kent exchanges learning ideologies
with Richard Riordan, former Los Angeles mayor
and newly appointed California Secretary of Education,
after a luncheon sponsored by the
Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley. |
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Martin Kent Principal for a Day at Los Angeles High School
April 1 – Continuing research for MKP's entry into standards-based educational filmmaking, Martin Kent spent March 30th as Principal for a Day at El Camino High School in Woodland Hills, California. As part of a program organized by Unite-L.A., Mr. Kent toured the highly-regarded school (student body of 3,800) and met with principal Kenny Lee. Mr. Kent discussed issues of importance to today’s high school students, learned about the challenges of running a high school, and talked to students and faculty about what works and doesn’t work in educational films.
“These kids are not just passive viewers,” says Mr. Kent. “As consumers of media in every form imaginable, they’re attuned to their likes and dislikes, and are able to articulate their cconcerns very well. I got some terrific ideas that we’re going to process and then integrate into our future productions.”
One student mentioned "The Footsoldier," a documentary she’d seen on the History Channel that she particularly enjoyed. Ironically enough, it happened to be a film written, produced and directed by Martin Kent.
But it wasn’t just the students who provided input. Mr. Kent recognized the frustrations of teachers, who complained about a lack of consistent quality in educational films.
Mr. Kent also rolled up his sleeves and taught two classes normally run by Language Arts teacher Patricia Estrin. In separate sessions, he guided a creative writing class and a filmmaking class through the various steps of the process of making a documentary film.
“These kids amazed me with their intellect, their creativity and their enthusiasm. I was so impressed by their ability to generate a wealth of really good ideas, quickly form a consensus around one in particular, and then run with it and explore all its ramifications within a documentary context”
Mr. Kent accepted an invitation by Ms. Estrin to return to El Camino in the near future to once again conduct documentary workshops with other students interested in the subject. |
The Learning Screen — An Informal Needs Analysis
PROBLEM: In California alone, Stanford test scores have been going up. But not in high school. What is happening? Do students become dumber when they get to high school? Impossible.
REALITY: The reality is that by the time they reach high school, they have watched 10,000 hours of TV versus only 100s of hours of reading. Many find reading boring. Many find learning “BORING.” They are also more distracted by thoughts of the opposite sex; they are more aware of the scary world we live in; they are beginning to worry about their future, because their future — i.e., getting a job, living on their own, paying their own way, finding a mate — is closer at hand. Furthermore, students are “learning” about their world from competing sources/media outside of the educational environment - television, movies, the internet, word of mouth, video games, magazines, etc.
SOLUTION: Instead of resisting the reality, educators need to embrace the brave new world. Well-intentioned teachers have found that they can stimulate students’ interest in a subject by presenting them with educational videos relating to the subject at hand. It is our intention to expand upon this and standardize the quality and content of the videos available to educators. As an adjunct to traditional textbooks, our goal is to create a body of educational videos in the areas of history, science and language arts that stimulate interest in the key subject areas, and actually teach students by presenting an overview of each new study area. This approach will not only be utilized with educational films, but coordinated efforts in the creation of interactive websites as well.
EXAMPLE: On day one of a new unit in Social Studies - i.e. the Civil War - the teacher will present the students with our film, providing an overview of the subject, so that when the teacher actually begins classroom instruction and the students commence reading the material in their textbooks, they will already have the overview in their minds. They will be able to relate a face and personality to the characters that walked through history. The film will be available as a quicktime movie on our website - students will be able to navigate the film interactively, looking for clues to questions on a side panel, in effect, forcing them to watch the video again. The content of the video will also be expanded on for the website, in bite-sized sections, i.e. Abraham Lincoln - A photo montage, an actor reciting the Gettysburg address (with accompanying text, so the students can READ along), Visualizations of highlights of his life - through historical re-enactments - his boyhood - his election as president - the emancipation proclamation — his decision to go to war - the Gettysburg address - the end of the war - his assassination. In short, the website will be the ULTIMATE TEXTBOOK.
Development and sponsorship opportunities for The Learning Screen are available. Please CONTACT US for details. |
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Educational Films Division