New CBeebies series of Magic Hands: interview with Camilla Arnold

Interview by Rebecca-Anne Withey

The new series of Magic Hands recently began on February 25th. I was particularly excited about this as although the previous series covered poetry and prose, this brand new one covers iconic songs such as Somewhere Over the Rainbow and A Million Dreams. Sign language and music, my two favourite things!

In case you’ve (somehow) not heard of Magic Hands, it’s a CBeebies series that features four deaf presenters. This time around they’ve included a presenter who uses speech as well as sign in order to represent the wide demographic of deaf children after feedback from the previous series called for a more diverse cast. The cast are all brand new to Magic Hands apart from Aimee who is a returning presenter. Flashlights Media – who devised the series – worked with the BBC to find deaf presenters who love music and dance and also communicate well to children. Mia, Nadeem, Aimee and Mae are the chosen ones!

I was intrigued to find out how the series came about and what challenges the Magic Hands team faced. I spoke to Camilla Arnold, the producer and director to find out more…

Hi Camilla! Can you tell me what your role was in this new series of Magic Hands?

I was the producer/director so I was basically responsible for pulling together the songs, working up the format points, working with the animations team to realise my vision for the background/characters, rehearsals with presenters and, of course, working with presenters/camera crew/BSL monitor and animations team on the shoot days.

How does the new series differ from previous ones?

In the previous series we covered poetry and prose but in this series we cover songs. Our introductions and outros (the dialogue before and after songs) now take place in the great outdoors to make the transition from the ‘real world’ to the poetry world more striking and exciting for our young audience.

We have a new cast! Some of our presenters sign in BSL for the whole programme whilst others will talk and sign.

Our six animated characters (Bobbles, Sheba, Dixie, Click-Clack, Pink Bird and Leapy) have more of a prominent role in the series. They appear as cuddly toys (yes- we got them specially made!) In the intros/outros we see them transformed from cuddly toys to animated characters (the Toy Story effect) which we hope will delight our young audience.

The characters are also more than just characters- they become musical symbols, making music visual for our young discerning audience i.e. Sheba the snake transforms to represent violin strings.

What inspired the idea for signed song and music?

Deaf children have the right to access iconic songs that their hearing peers have access to. The Magic Hands brand is very flexible so we thought to experiment with nursery rhymes (we did a taster) but then realised that nursery rhymes do not always have a story (BSL works best with story telling) so we then experimented with songs (‘Singing in the Rain’ was our first experiment) and we realised it did work.

We also realised that we were unlocking something very challenging but very exciting- making musical visual and accessible for deaf children.

What were the challenges planning the series – did anything trip you up unexpectedly?

It was hugely challenging to make musical visual. The team had the genius idea of using the six animated characters to represent musical elements i.e. Leapy the Lion shaking his mane to represent the cymbals or the bass. We had to work very closely with the animations team to make it work. It took weeks of trial and error i.e. there would be too much going on so we had to simplify our animations and also simplify the music to make it visually easier to follow.

Who worked with the presenters on the signed songs and what was that process like?

We had a BSL Artistic Director, Fifi Garfield, who worked (with a team of excellent interpreters) with the presenters. Fifi and the interpreters were careful to work with the presenters’ translation of the song lyrics (as opposed to forcing her own interpretation onto the presenters as it wouldn’t be natural for them and it’ll be more difficult for them to remember their lines/lyrics). The key aims were to ensure that the presenters were clear for the young audience, fun and also reflected the music’s beat, tone etc.

Did the presenters discover any unexpected challenges in the filming/production process?

The heat was very difficult for the presenters as we were filming in the green screen studio with hot lights. We also had to shut all the doors and turn off the air conditioning as we were recording sound (one of our presenter talks and signs all the presenter links and then only signs the songs). All the presenters are profoundly deaf and, at first, struggled with the concept of translating and following music.

We tried lots of different things to keep the presenter in time with the music. But we then decided to fix what we call a ‘mirror box’ on the camera which works in the similar way to that of a periscope. Our pool of interpreters would take turns to stand next to the camera and they would give the presenters visual cues to keep them in time with the music (they wouldn’t sign the whole song for fear of influencing the presenters’ signing). This worked incredibly well!

Which song was the trickiest to translate / film and why?

Each and every song had it’s own challenges for instance ‘Do-Re-Mi’ there were lots of discussion on how to translate the lyrics as they are linked to music so how do we make sure it makes sense for deaf children; ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ presented the challenge of making sure the signing was in keeping with the marching beat of the song; ‘A Million Dreams’ is a rather abstract song with abstract lyrics- there lies the problem how to translate it to something concrete in order for it to be translatable to BSL ; ‘Daring Young Man on a Flying Trapeze’ has several different interpretations to the meaning of the song so the presenters and the crew had an ongoing debate about what the song meant. We even had to stop the filming to continue the discussion to make sure we were happy with our interpretation of the song!

All the songs also had the challenge of making it work with the animations. Each song had its own storyboard/animations plan that was signed off prior to the filming. Presenters had sight of the storyboard so they understood my vision.

But, as we were filming against a green backdrop, the presenters couldn’t see where the animations were supposed to be. I had a mixer which meant I could transpose the storyboards (almost translucent with faint outlines) onto the monitor so that we could make sure the eye-line work with the presenters.

Honestly I am proud of every single song we’ve done. I remember thinking ‘oh dear, are we mad for pitching this and for taking this on’ but as time went on, as we ironed out the challenges and concerns, we became more and more confident and more and more certain of the fact that we were making a series that children will love, enjoy and cherish. Every series just gets better as we learn from the previous.

How long is the series and what’s next?

The series is 20 episodes- each ten minutes long. We still have so many other songs that we would love to translate so here’s hoping we’ll get another series. The more feedback from you guys and the higher the viewing figures, the more likely we will be commissioned another series. Mr Tumble has been running for many series now so I don’t see why Magic Hands can’t too! We are currently the only programme in the world that caters for deaf children so we should continue! We would love to take Magic Hands overseas to other countries- watch this space.

Do you think the series will appeal to both deaf and hearing children?

Most definitely. We’ve received incredible feedback already. Whilst deaf children are enjoying having access to children TV, songs and music as well as seeing presenters, just like themselves, on screen, hearing children are really enjoying being exposed to iconic, classic songs and they also love picking up sign language and they’ve built a rapport with not only the presenters but also the animated characters.

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Rebecca’s take on the new series:

I can certainly vouch for that. After watching the first few episodes of the new series with my two children, I can see how both of them absolutely loved the animated characters, joining in with the warm up dance moves and signing along to the songs. Every day they asked, “can we watch Magic Hands!?”

As my daughter is deaf and uses both sign and speech, it is so positive for her to have a role model on screen who communicates in the same way she does! For my hearing son, it’s a fantastic way for him to learn more signs and enjoy a musical programme with his sister.

The idea of having animation that depicts musical sounds is fantastic, as the presenters introduce musical concepts such as “bass” and “high twinkly notes.” This exposure to musical terms for young deaf children is highly positive as it enables them to develop an understanding of rhythm and musicality in a visual way – ensuring they are equally able to enjoy the same songs as their peers.

For days after watching Magic Hands, each dinner time my children would sign “Food Glorious Food!” after it appeared on an episode. Given that they’ve never seen the musical Oliver (where the song is from) I am very impressed that they’ve retained the song so well. They’ve even got me joining in with them!

Have you seen Magic Hands? Tune in at 11.15am on CBeebies. I bet you’ll be signing along in no time too!

Sending congratulations to the Magic Hands team for a spectacular new series!