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Video creations take off for Chagrin grad
(by Sali McSherry - December 10, 2008)
Video creations take off for Chagrin grad
By SALI McSHERRY
Chagrin Falls High School graduate Michael Cappetta, now a freshman at Ohio State University, is more likely to have his nose behind a camera on location than buried in a book at the library.
At this time last year, as a high school senior, he was working nine-hour weekdays and from opening to closing time on the weekends at his own business at Beachwood Place.
With a creative mind and entrepreneurial skills, he might be found shooting video scenes at the Chagrin Falls Fire Station or on the crew of a major motion picture. The young businessman, who has represented the national franchise Kids Idol for the last several years in Ohio and sells the personalized compact discs and digital videos at his own Kids Idol Music kiosk and through the Internet, has a new venture.
Earlier this year, he proposed the idea of a personalized video to Mediak, a producer of children's products based in Louisville, Ky. "The 'You Can Do Anything' DVD is a collection of eight personalized music videos, each having a specific education and motivational message to the child," Mr. Cappetta said. "In one song, the child is in charge of the zoo, and the song teaches him or her about animals."
Last spring and summer, some scenes were shot at the fire station in Chagrin Falls, where children posed as firefighters, wearing Chagrin Falls uniforms. Other scenes were shot at Chabam in Woodmere for a Simon says-style song with each child's name dubbed in place of Simon.
The motivational and educational digital video disc stars children from the original cast of the Fox television show "Are you Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?" It includes Alana Ethridge and Jacob Hays, who appears as Sonny Raines on "The Super Short Report" on the Disney Channel.
Thousands of copies of the eight-original-songs video, which is personalized and contains each child's name more than 105 times, have been delivered to kids around the world, Mr. Cappetta said. Kids Idol has seen immense growth through the year, he said. "My biggest obstacle is that Kids Idol is a fourth-quarter holiday gift item, but, through different marketing approaches, we have changed that" to be a viable gift throughout the year, he said.
Mr. Cappetta was responsible for all video compositions and images on the screen for "You Can Do Anything" videos, and Mediak was responsible for the audio production of the personalized music.
Chabam, an educational center for young children, provided an exceptional background and lent itself well to a production like the "You Can Do Anything" video, Mr. Cappetta said. "The Chagrin Falls Fire Department was equally as helpful in allowing us to film in their fire station and teach children they can do anything, with a dream."
Earlier this year, Mr. Cappetta worked on a local crew for the soon-to-be released Dreamworks Pictures movie "The Soloist," starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. He also worked on the "The Biggest Loser," which airs on NBC.
For more information on ordering personalized digital video discs and compact discs, call (888) 617-6177.
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