TripFLIX Takes Kids on a Fun-Filled Ride

By Susan Kim, STAFF WRITER



What state is home to the only diamond mine in the U.S.? Which tasty treat was invented in Connecticut in 1865?

The answers are Arkansas and hamburgers, respectively. Any veteran viewer of TripFLIX would know that.

TripFLIX, the latest brainchild of Columbia-based Pixel Workshop, is a DVD created for kids that also draws adults into a whirlwind trip across U.S. landmarks, both famous and quirky. Teenage hosts Alex and Emily, both trained in the local River Hill High School drama department, lead kids on an interactive tour of 25 destinations.

In the famous category: Plymouth Rock, the Alamo and Mount Rushmore. On the quirky side: Nebraska's "Carhenge," a life-size replica of Stonehenge built from 38 old cars; and Rock City in Georgia, where insidious garden gnomes sneak up on Alex and Emily.

TripFLIX is educational entertainment for kids, but it's also proof that small companies can create the kinds of quality, interactive media products usually churned out by the big studios.

Ilana Bitner, chief storyteller of both TripFLIX LLC and Pixel Workshop, sent a crew across the country on a filming adventure she described as one part grueling, one part summer camp. Shooting began in mid-June 2007 and concluded about four months later.

"We typically took a crew of six to shoot the kids in a part documentary, part reality show style," she said. "With few exceptions, we shot from early morning to mid-afternoon, then traveled to the next location so that we could get up and start all over again."



Seeing the Country

Alex Fast, teen host of TripFLIX, graduated from River Hill High School, then spent the summer shooting scenes with co-host Emily Woodhouse.

Alex's goofy, improvisational style appeals to kids. He vividly imagines having a tea party with teddy bears and later makes his debut as the whip-brandishing "Afraidiana Jones," who is nearly defeated by garden gnome lawn ornaments.

Fast describes shooting TripFLIX as: "knowing my lines, remembering my cues and trying my best not to mess up or goof off too much - which is quite hard considering I spent every day acting like a kid, and I was surrounded by really fun things."

It was a dream job for a kid fresh out of high school, added Fast, now attending New York University. "Any difficulties I faced were sort of outweighed by how fortunate I felt for having been chosen to spend my last summer before college seeing this beautiful country," he said.



'In the Middle of Nowhere'

Alex's partner in travel, Emily Woodhouse, is now a senior at River Hill High School. Looking back over a summer of filming, she said she had many favorite locations.

Her most memorable? Filming the fossilized dinosaur tracks at the Black Mesa State Park in the wilderness of the Oklahoma panhandle.

"We were out in the middle of nowhere and it started to rain. With no people around, it wasn't hard to imagine that dinosaurs had really been there," she said. "We also got lost several times trying to get there, proving the point that getting there is half the fun."

Young TripFLIX viewers can visit every destination on the DVD, or they can pick and choose regions of the country. Interactive trivia questions are interspersed throughout. A Special Features section offers bloopers and a segment in which Alex and Emily teach their viewers dance moves for the "TripFLIX Cha-Cha-Cha."

The dialogue is educational but off-the-wall enough to hold a kid's attention. There's a fake gristmill explosion. Alex's face gets carved into Mount Rushmore. And a lawn mower runs directly over a teddy bear, spewing stuffing far and wide, then the bear is repaired at the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory hospital. As the narrator says, "For even the cutest teddy bear, tragedy can strike at any moment."



What the Kids Say

Noah, a 6-year-old Laurel resident, said the fake gristmill explosion is one of his favorite scenes, but that it doesn't surpass Lucy, the largest wooden elephant in Atlantic City. Six stories tall, the 9-ton elephant was once regarded as an architectural abomination but was restored after a grassroots effort by local residents.

After taking their final look at Lucy, the TripFLIX teen hosts have the last word on this destination: "Unfortunate place for a window." The camera tracks up to show a small window built directly under Lucy's tail.

"Of course the best part of TripFLIX is the elephant's window-butt," said Noah.

Never too old for this kind of humor, Fast and Woodhouse said the elephant's window was indeed the butt of many jokes. "You don't know how many times we made jokes about that elephant," said Fast.

Woodhouse added that they never saw anything fall out of the elephant's rear window. "But who knows what happens when the window is open," she said.

Order TripFLIX by visiting the TripFLIX web site at www.tripflix.com.