Hi -

My name is Lishka DeVoss and since 1995 I have been growing an after-school program called Kranky Kids®. In 2005, I also started teaching in-school Tech/Video lunch-time programs.

Kranky Kids® blossomed from a little seed planted by some very persistent students and their families. Here’s the story of that little seed:

A mother asked me to do an after-school program at her daughter’s elementary school. I thought, “Hmm, what could I do? Oh! I have audio recording equipment. We could do a fake radio show and I’ll give each of the kids a tape of what we’ve done after I’ve edited it on my system!” (Students tell me that the best part about Kranky Kids® is getting a CD or DVD copy of what they've created during the program.)

Four students signed up. The first day they stood in a circle and we came up with a plan. We decided to create a show based on the idea that you don’t want to be yourself - you want to be the person next to you. Well, since they were little kids and still basically boring little humans (because they hadn’t lived very long to do anything of much interest yet), we decided that they should each adopt an identity of someone they admired. These were their choices:

• Maya Angelou - for creative license
• Cruella DeVille - for her hair, those cheekbones and a fast car
• Michaelangelo - for lying down on the job
• Amelia Earhart - for being able to disappear and yet still remain visible

Lishka DeVoss - Founder of Kranky Kids®

I have lived all over the US and I have attended a wide variety of educational institutions (see background) although the only one I "graduated" from was butler school in England. (And yes, I worked as a butler for several years.)

I am the main educator, writer, director, editor and art department for Kranky Kids®. I am constantly learning new software programs and discovering how to operate the latest video/audio equipment. I also spend a great deal of time doing research. I adore educational referential humor and I teach from that perspective.

I like to laugh. A lot.

Contact Lishka

New Hampshire Crew

Flynn Donovan - Director of Photography

Flynn Donovan has been working as a professional freelance cinematographer for over 30 years on five continents. He has filmed in the Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sweden, Europe, Central and South America. He was raised in South America and speaks fluent Spanish.

He has worked with European directors, primarily Swedish free lance film director Torgny Anderberg. Most of their principal projects have been for Save The Children and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. Volvo has also been a valuable client. Their films have won the following awards:

• Gold Medal, Public Service Award, Houston Film Festival (29 minute industrial documentary)
• Swedish PR Award, Best Overall Documentary (documentary featuring an Amazon hospital)
• First Prize, Best Children's Picture, Iran Film Festival (110 minute dramatic feature)
• Blue Ribbon, New York Film Festival (documentary featuring the Boston Common on the occasion of the Nation's Bicentennial)

He has also worked as director of photography on three low budget dramatic feature films shot in South America for European distribution.

Based with his family in New Hampshire, Flynn is presently concentrating on making short films about artists he admires and respects.

Scott McComsey - Parent of 3 Kranky Kids / New England Humorist / Occasional Videographer

"I was hitchhiking cross country and after about a mile into my trip this woman with a name I never heard of before picks me up in a fancy SAAB station wagon and asks me to help her film 15 wild kids. So I did and settled in that there town and have been living there quite happily ever since."

California Crew

Adam Wilt - Filmmaker, Meets The Eye / writer, provideocoalition.com

Adam was a video systems and software engineer. He has worked for Abekas, Pinnacle, and Louth Automation (now Accom, Avid, and Harris, respectively); CBS and ABC; and Omneon Video Networks. He has also written for DV Magazine but now writes for ProVideo Coalition; maintains a website (www.adamwilt.com); teaches video tech to a wide variety of groups; and speaks at industry events like NAB, IBC, and DV Expo. He's on the Advisory Board of the Digital Cinema Society (www.digitalcinemasociety.com) and is a filmmaker with Meets The Eye. He doesn't sleep much.

Griffin Lamachy - Production Manager/Talent

Griffin Lamachy is the Producer of Festival News Crew, a screenwriter, and has a knack at animating fruits and veggies. He presently resides in San Jose, the former agricultural center of the country.

Aaron Umetani - Videographer

Aaron Umetani is an aspiring young filmmaker who graduated from Cogswell College’s Motion Picture program in 2003. While going to school in Silicon Valley, he designed websites, animated graphics, and shot video for various clients including 3Com Corporation and Hewlett Packard. As an assistant to a portrait photographer, he learned traditional photography and development techniques. He’s also worked as a production photographer, production assistant, dolly grip, boom-operator, and driver.

He has worked as a videographer for the Christopher Coppola sponsored Duke City Shoot-Out Film Festival and the Cinequest Film Festival. He also finished principal photography on a self-produced documentary about privateer race car teams in the US Touring Car Championship.

He currently works as a freelance videographer, photographer, web designer, and grip/electric and is based in Los Angeles.