Healthy television for children
With «Schnitz & Schwatz,» Video One and Katakult, based in Aarau, are producing a weekly youth series for Swiss regional television.
The producer and director has children of his own. The concept developers met a nutritionist at another job. One day, the idea inevitably came to their plate: instead of watching young people being fobbed off with junk food in front of the TV every day, they could develop the recipe for a tasty series themselves. The idea is to satisfy the ravenous appetite of today's kids for great TV entertainment with healthy home cooking. The concept was put on the stove around a year ago at Katakult in Aarau. Michel Erismann, currently program director at Tele M1, works in this "factory for project culture" together with writer Andreas Neeser, who also runs the Aargau literature house "Müllerhaus" in Lenzburg.
From September, "Schnitz & Schwatz" will be broadcast weekly on the regional channels Tele M1, Tele 1, Tele Top and Tele Ostschweiz, serving up tips, entertainment and exciting information on the topics of nutrition and exercise. What's new about this menu: "The local station show, which is recorded outside in a small village, is intended to meet the standards of a public television program," says director Tello Frutiger. He and his Video One are responsible for the production and the entire styling. The result is indeed impressive, as a glance at the website www.schnitzundschwatz.ch shows. There you will not only find an archive with all previous episodes. With the aim of creating a community, the portal also offers background information for teachers and parents, the recipes cooked on TV can be printed out and the kids involved in the filming post their making-of photos online.
So far, topics such as eggs, potatoes, carrots and must are planned for the 12-part season. The first episode is all about tomatoes. Five children each from the fifth primary school class in Hirschthal (AG) and Uznach (SG) visited a tomato plantation where 40 tons of paradise apples are harvested every week. The schoolchildren were allowed to help pick the apples, ask questions and then compete in a quiz to test their newly acquired knowledge. Anyone who loses can make up the points in the following sports competition. Later, the tomatoes are used to bake a delicious pizza. Lea Guidon from Optiweight, a holistic nutrition consultancy, gives the right tips as editor and presenter of the show. The prize-giving ceremony follows the meal. The winning class wins a trampoline including a workshop to introduce the new Bouncolin technique. The manufacturer of this medically recommended soft trampoline is a sponsor of the show. As is Boris Becker's Cleven Becker Foundation, which provides the losing class with a "Fit 4 future" game box.
It took the creators around a year to get Suisse Balance and the health promotion organizations of nine cantons interested in "Schnitz & Schmatz" in addition to such sponsors. The project is now also supported by the Swiss Farmers' Association, the Fruit Association and the milk producers, as well as the SV Foundation, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Cookuk, Wisa Gloria and Migros Culture Percentage. The edutainment format is to be continued next year with a further season and, if there is interest, with other TV stations.
Andreas Panzeri
Catacult
The "Fabrik für Projektkultur" in Aarau develops customized concepts for cultural events, concepts for TV formats, literary events as well as advertising appearances and campaigns for companies and institutions. Partner Michel Erismann founded the "first Swiss ideas office" back in the 1980s and headed the PR department at Keystone. He was later program director of Radio Argovia and is currently still program director of Tele M1. Partner Andreas Neeser is a multi-award-winning writer, built up the Literaturhaus in Lenzburg and has just won a Berlin scholarship from the Zug cultural foundation Landis & Gyr.
From September, "Schnitz & Schwatz" will be broadcast weekly on the regional channels Tele M1, Tele 1, Tele Top and Tele Ostschweiz, serving up tips, entertainment and exciting information on the topics of nutrition and exercise. What's new about this menu: "The local station show, which is recorded outside in a small village, is intended to meet the standards of a public television program," says director Tello Frutiger. He and his Video One are responsible for the production and the entire styling. The result is indeed impressive, as a glance at the website www.schnitzundschwatz.ch shows. There you will not only find an archive with all previous episodes. With the aim of creating a community, the portal also offers background information for teachers and parents, the recipes cooked on TV can be printed out and the kids involved in the filming post their making-of photos online.
So far, topics such as eggs, potatoes, carrots and must are planned for the 12-part season. The first episode is all about tomatoes. Five children each from the fifth primary school class in Hirschthal (AG) and Uznach (SG) visited a tomato plantation where 40 tons of paradise apples are harvested every week. The schoolchildren were allowed to help pick the apples, ask questions and then compete in a quiz to test their newly acquired knowledge. Anyone who loses can make up the points in the following sports competition. Later, the tomatoes are used to bake a delicious pizza. Lea Guidon from Optiweight, a holistic nutrition consultancy, gives the right tips as editor and presenter of the show. The prize-giving ceremony follows the meal. The winning class wins a trampoline including a workshop to introduce the new Bouncolin technique. The manufacturer of this medically recommended soft trampoline is a sponsor of the show. As is Boris Becker's Cleven Becker Foundation, which provides the losing class with a "Fit 4 future" game box.
It took the creators around a year to get Suisse Balance and the health promotion organizations of nine cantons interested in "Schnitz & Schmatz" in addition to such sponsors. The project is now also supported by the Swiss Farmers' Association, the Fruit Association and the milk producers, as well as the SV Foundation, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Cookuk, Wisa Gloria and Migros Culture Percentage. The edutainment format is to be continued next year with a further season and, if there is interest, with other TV stations.
Andreas Panzeri
Catacult
The "Fabrik für Projektkultur" in Aarau develops customized concepts for cultural events, concepts for TV formats, literary events as well as advertising appearances and campaigns for companies and institutions. Partner Michel Erismann founded the "first Swiss ideas office" back in the 1980s and headed the PR department at Keystone. He was later program director of Radio Argovia and is currently still program director of Tele M1. Partner Andreas Neeser is a multi-award-winning writer, built up the Literaturhaus in Lenzburg and has just won a Berlin scholarship from the Zug cultural foundation Landis & Gyr.
