Noah and Saskia is a 13-episode TV program initiated, developed and produced by Patricia Edgar for the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF) and the BBC as she stepped down after 20 years as Founding Director of the ACTF. The 13 x 24-minute drama series involves an Australian teenage girl, Saskia, and her internet-based relationship with Noah, a teenage boy living in the United Kingdom.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2001). Australian Children's Television Foundation Annual Report 2000-2001. A.C.T.F. Productions Limited. The two characters project their ideal selves to each other in a virtual world, and in the process get a little closer to reaching their ideals in the real one. The show is about the power of someone's essence and how someone can touch you from 10,000 miles away, and change your whole life.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2003). Care for kids: Television News, The newsletter of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, Issue No. 89, p. 1-4. Noah & Saskia speaks directly to today's young people about the technologies which are changing the way we communicate.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2004). Care for kids: Television News, The newsletter of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, Issue No. 96, p. 1-4. "I wanted one more crack at producing the type of television I had always believed in; not a formulaic soap-style series; not a co-produced mid-Pacific blancmange, but something that really spoke to adolescents about the issues that were on their minds," Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: a memoir of Australian Television, pg.399 .
"The Internet was the place to set much of the action as this allowed for a modern, contemporary story, which would be new territory for drama. The other appeal of online chat spaces was that they give the characters opportunities to express themselves in multiple ways. The Net is a space where young people are much more at home than their parents and increasingly it will be their world", Patricia Edgar.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2004). Care for kids: Television News, The newsletter of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, Issue No. 94, p. 1-4. Noah and Saskia commenced production in May 2003.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2003). Australian Children's Television Foundation Annual Report 2002-2003. A.C.T.F. Productions Limited. It premiered and screened in Australia on the ABC and in the United Kingdom on the BBC in 2004.
Cast Noah King – Jack Blumenau – a socially inexperienced boy from London, England. He lives with his mother, football-loving father and brother and later his cousin Eddie. He runs a webcomic called "Max Hammer", which is based on his life and the people around him. Later in the series, his personality changes into becoming more like Max, such as spending less time online, getting a girlfriend for a time and even playing football. Saskia Litras – Hannah Greenwood – A shy, musical girl from Melbourne, Australia. She lives with her single mother, works at the Chicken Coop after school. Her original reason for creating the character of Indy was to confront Max for stealing some of her music illegally, although this leads her to become Noah's partner in his webcomic "Max Hammer". As the series progresses, her personality changes into more like being Indy, such as playing music in public and even becoming more confident at school. At first, she had a crush on Max, but those feelings faded for a time when Max told her he only thought of her as a friend. Max Hammer – Cameron Nugent Indy – Teiya Moquiuti Renee – Emily Wheaton Clive – Adrian Fergus Fuller Specs – Alex Yates Eddie – Eugene Simon Deb Litras – Tracy Mann Ernesto – Bernard Angel Benny – Julian O'Donnell Gerald – Damian Neate Theresa – Alicia Gardiner
Synopsis Noah and Saskia is about an internet relationship between two teenagers and its effects on their lives. Although the teenagers deceive each other with "false personas", their relationship is shown to be positive and important. By projecting their ideal selves in a virtual world, the relationship between the two teenagers change each other's lives from opposite sides of the globe.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2004). Australian Children's Television Foundation Annual Report 2003-2004. A.C.T.F. Productions Limited.
Saskia goes into an Internet chatroom called Webweave seeking revenge on a guy who stole her music and ends up starting one of the most important relationships of her life. After meeting Max Hammer (the guy who stole her music) for the first time, she feels as though she has known him her entire life. He appears to know all that is going on in her head, her music and best of all, her soul. Max Hammer is strong, smart, sensible and sensitive and sees those qualities in Saskia herself. Saskia feels that her new relationship with Max Hammer is absolutely perfect, except for the fact that he's in the UK and she's in Australia...and that he thinks she's someone else entirely. Saskia goes by the online name of Indy, and she finds that her alter ego allows her to express aspects of her personality that she is uncomfortable with or unable to express normally. Indy is confident and sexy whereas Saskia is nervous and shy. By asking herself "What would Indy do?", Saskia learns to be more assertive and, in some ways, becomes Indy herself. Saskia knows that her relationship with Max would be over if he ever found out that she was actually a 14-year-old dork, but Max Hammer isn't who he claims to be either. Turns out he's actually a 14-year-old science dweeb called Noah who knows that Indy would run screaming if she ever learned the truth about Max Hammer.
Production The series was produced as a co-production with the BBC, with seven episodes of the series filmed in Australia, and six in the United Kingdom. Patricia Edgar was the Producer and Executive Producer of the series and Elisa Argenzio was the Line Producer for the series. The series was pre-sold to the ABC in Australia, and the Foundation distributed the series worldwide [excluding the United Kingdom]. The Australian Film Finance Corporation and Film Victoria were also investors in the series. Noah & Saskia commenced pre-production in February 2003 and was the Foundation's major project in production for the following financial year.
The idea for the series came to Patricia at the turn of the 20th century, when digital media was still in its infancy. She wanted to integrate the Kahootz software that she and Paul Nichola had developed for the ACTF into the series, as well as other new technologies so that the production of the program explored the potential of digital production. "The series straddles three worlds – England, Australia, and cyberspace- as well as the fantasy space inside Noah and Saskia's minds where their alter egos live. The program asks: 'Who do you want to be? How do you want to present yourself? How much do you want others to know about you? At one level it is 'a boy meets girl story' but it is asking profound questions that young people struggle with, about 'the self' and about how you form relationships." Patricia Edgar, Bloodbath: a memoir of Australian Television.The series focuses on the introspective side of a teenager's life, and this is achieved visually by blending live action, animation and visual effects. Episodes alternate between Australia and the United Kingdom, providing contrasts between the characters day-to-day lives. Webweave, where the characters chat online, was created using the ACTF's Kahootz software package.
Writing Patricia Edgar hosted a writers' workshop to commence development of the concept for the new series in February 2000.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2000). Australian Children's Television Foundation Annual Report 1999-2000. A.C.T.F. Productions Limited. She said that being able to take an abstract philosophical concept and turn it into a story with characters that are appealing is difficult for any writer. Claire Henderson and Tammy Burnstock, from the ABC, and Elaine Sperber, from the BBC, participated in the writers' workshop. Chris Anastassiades and Robert Greenberg were commissioned to develop the concept further and continued to write scripts for the series the following year. The BBC, which was interested in the potential of the concept for Noah & Saskia also agreed to invest further development of the scripts in 2000.
Chris Anastassiades, Robert Greenberg and Philip Dalkin went on to further develop the concept and wrote a number of scripts in 2001. A writers' workshop then refined the concept and a team of writers which included John Armstrong and Sam Carroll were then commissioned to write further episodes."The central idea sounds simple, but as the concept developed, we also started to explore the notion of self-revelation. Could our two characters become such good friends precisely because they would never actually have to meet in person? Would they hide behind the idealised selves they'd created on the Internet, or gradually come to trust each other more because they felt safe from the usual peer group pressures and scrutiny?” Elaine Sperber, Head of Children's Drama at the BBC. Paul Nichola became part of the development team to devise the Web World (WebWeave) for the series and the visual effects to integrate the story ideas. In the process, the Kahootz software was to be applied and further developed. Ultimately, the project would be achieved at a low cost, but would look like expensive high-end projects using visual and digital effects.
Filming Each episode of the show follows one of the main characters in their home country - Saskia in Australia, or Noah in England. Each country has an independent cast. As a result, the two main characters never met before or during the production. Moreover, all of the Australian footage was filmed before Jack Blumenau had been cast as Noah. Furthermore, the two-halves are very different stylistically; Saskia directly addresses the camera and has flashbacks and daydreams, while Noah's side is shown objectively.
Casting for the UK-based characters took place in July 2003. The Australian portion of the shoot was completed in 2003 and production moved to the United Kingdom in August 2003.Australian Children's Television Foundation, (2003). Care for kids: Television News, The newsletter of the Australian Children's Television Foundation, Issue No. 90, p. 1-4. The UK shoot commenced on 4 August, and continued for six weeks. It was the first time an ACTF series was filmed on location outside Australia. Patricia Edgar and Pino Amenta, series' Director, worked in the UK with the BBC crew to shoot the six episodes featuring Noah and his story. The BBC's Jane Stevenson was the UK Producer.
Noah and Saskia meet in person in the last episode of the series. However, the scene was created digitally after filming Jack Blumenau and Hannah Greenwood separately. In the final shot of this scene Noah and Saskia are standing face to face. When Hannah Greenwood filmed this shot, Noah had not been cast. To ensure the two characters appeared to be looking directly at each other, three different versions of Saskia's half of this shot were filmed, with Hannah Greenwood looking at Noah stand-ins of three different heights.
To bring Noah & Saskia's world of real teens and cyber dual identities to life, the production team used a combination of live-action, animation and visual effects.