The Garden (Scott Hamilton Kennedy, 2008, 79 min.)
This politically charged, Oscar-nominated documentary tells the story of the fourteen-acre community garden at 41st and Alameda in South Central Los Angeles which at one time was the largest urban garden in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. The film follows the South Central Farmers as they struggled to protect their urban farm from predatory real estate developers who used the Los Angeles political machinery to their advantage in order to throw the farmers off the land. The film serves as a metaphor of the environmental struggle we all face today. Links: Film web site  |  Netflix movie page (available via Streaming or DVD).

Ingredients (Robert Bates, 2009, 66 min.)
This documentary examines the shortcomings of America’s industrialized food system in comparison to the rising local-growth movement, whose proponents are shrinking the gap between farmland and dinner table.The quality, taste and nutritional value of the food we eat has dropped sharply over the last fifty years. Shipped from ever-greater distances, we have literally lost sight of where our food comes from and in the process we’ve lost a vital connection to our local community and to our health. This film will take you on a journey revealing the people behind the movement with chefs Alice Waters and Greg Higgins as guides. You’ll be introduced to growers, restaurateurs and consumers around the country who discuss their methods for bringing food production back home. Links: Film web site  |  Netflix movie page (available via Streaming or DVD).

After doing some shopping around, I’ve come to the conclusion that the Sennheiser Evolution Series provides a nice middle ground between the less expensive systems (e.g. Azden) popular among wedding videographers and the more expensive wireless systems used by location sound professionals (e.g. Lectrosonics). I’ve used the Lectrosonics on a number of professional shoots and the performance of their “Digital Hybrid” system is spectacular, but it’s a little more than I have budget for, so the Sennheiser Evolution G3 it will be it.

There are two configurations of the Sennheiser Evolution G3 100 Series to consider for documentary work:

Camera Mount Wireless Microphone System, kit number EW 112P G3-{A/B/G}, estimated price: $600 (US), this kit includes:

• SK100 G3 Bodypack Transmitter
• ME2 Lavalier Mic
• EK100 G3 Portable Receiver
• Cold-shoe adapter for Receiver
• Interconnection cables (1/8″ and XLR) for connecting Receiver to camera
• Excellent, clearly written owners manual

Wireless Microphone ENG Combo, kit number EW 100 ENG G3-{A/B/G}, estimated price: $800 (US), this kit includes all of the items in the Camera Mount Wireless Microphone System, plus:

• SKP100 G3 Plug-In Transmitter

Compared to less expensive VHF wireless systems, a UHF system provides longer range and you’ll experience fewer drop-outs and interference during use. I’ve had really good luck using the Sennheiser Evolution wireless system over the past year, and have been very pleased with its performance both in terms of sound quality and overall robustness and have not run into too many interference issues. Being able to tune the devices to one of 1,680 tunable frequencies makes it easy to find quiet spots in a electromagnetically noisy area like the Boston metropolitan area in which I live.

The EK100 receiver is designed to be attached to a camera via a cold-shoe adapter, it has a 1/8″ unbalanced TRS mini out which can be connection to camcorders with either a 1/8″ or XLR input (Sennheiser provides both 1/8″ or XLR interconnect cables in their kits). The receiver has 4 preset memory locations that can be reassigned to any of the 1,680 available frequencies, within the 42 MHz tuning range. This is handy because you can determine the frequencies least likely to have interference in your area and program these into the four presents, making it easier to pull these out and get them working quickly in documentary situations. The G3 features a new “adaptive diversity” design, it’s not “true diversity” but it does offer slightly better performance compared to the previous G2 series. There are also adjustments for audio level output and a squelch adjustment. It’s critical to set the audio level output to match your camera, otherwise you’ll get some over-modulation, which is sometimes hard to detect in the field unless you’re listening really carefully with good headphones (which you should always be doing, right?).

The system is available in two transmitter configurations: the SK100 body pack transmitter and the SKP100 plug-on transmitter, which attaches to any self-powered metal body microphone with an XLR connector (e.g. Electro-Voice RE50 reporters microphone) to be used wirelessly. The SK100 G3 body-pack transmitter has a 1/8″ locking-mini input for compatible lavalier microphones and it comes with an ME2 omnidirectional lavalier microphone. The transmitters support adjustments for audio input gain, and it’s important to adjust this properly. You want to avoid peaks (there’s an LED peak indicator in addition to an audio level on the LCD) but also not set the levels too low so you’re lost in the noise floor. In terms of functionality, the plug-in transmitter is very similar to the body-pack transmitter.

The EK100 receiver, SK100 G3 body-pack transmitter, and SKP100 G3 plug-in transmitter are each powered by two AA batteries and each sports an LCD display which makes it easy to configure and make adjustments via a logically organized menu system. When not in menu mode the LCD shows you channels and frequency information, battery status, audio level, and signal status. All three devices have metal bodies, which allegedly makes them more robust that cheaper plastic units, but I’ve never dropped any of these devices in order to find out how rugged they really are. I’m not tempted to try.

In the United States, the Evolution G3 is a UHF wireless microphone system available in three frequency ranges, A: 516 – 558MHz, B: 626 – 668MHz, or G: 566 – 608MHz, providing 1680 tunable frequencies and 12 frequency presets. Which range to get? The idea is to find a range that has the largest number of “dead spots” which all depends on your region. Sennheiser has a great calculator on their web site in which you can see all the licensed transmitters in your area in order to determine where the open slots are in the spectrum. You can use this to decide whether A, B, or G frequency ranges are best for you. It’s also handy for setting up presets that are likely to be free and clear, so there’s less fussing around in the field. The B frequency group seems to be the best option for the Boston area based on conversations with some sound people I know.

In some situations I like using the plug-in transmitter with my Electro-Voice RE-50 reporters microphone, I like having the mobility without the wire, therefore the EW 100 ENG G3-B kit is my preference. If you never see yourself using the plug-on transmitter with a hand-held or boom microphone (by the way, it has to be a metal body mic and self powered, since the SKP100 G3 Plug-In Transmitter does not provide phantom power), you can save money and get the EW 122P G3-B kit instead of the EW 100 ENG G3-B kit. Basically you’re paying an additional $200. (US) for the plug-on transmitter.

A future option to consider is upgrading the Sennheiser ME2 to a TRAM-50 (my favorite lavalier, available cabled for the EW transmitters for about $220 (US)). You many also consider adding a Sennheiser ME4 cardioid mic to your kit for use in high-noise environments (but I would not go with this as your only mic due to more critical placement issues).

You will also want to add a Rycote Lavaliere Windjammer (or equivalent) if you’re going to be working outdoors, these are available in white, grey, or black for about $25. (US) each. A windjammer is essential when using a lavalier mic outdoors when there is wind. Here’s an important pointer: use the windjammer over a foam windscreen on the lavalier, since the windjammer needs air space around the mic itself to work properly. I keep several of them in my sound kit at all times.

There is really only one down-side I’ve experienced using the Sennheiser Evolution G2 wireless microphone system (and this goes for the new G3 as well): since the receiver is designed to mount on a camera, it’s really awkward to use in a situation where you have a couple of receivers and a mixer in a shoulder-mounted pouch. The LCD display is simply in the wrong place. I really wish Sennheiser would have placed the LCD display on the top of the device (like the Lectrosonics receivers), but for mounting on a camera, I can see why the designers placed the LCD on top, and given that Sennheiser has brought these units into the marketplace at such an attractive price-point, this is but a minor inconvenience.

In the Boston area you can purchase these kits from Talamas Broadcast Systems, Rule Broadcast Systems, or The Camera Company. Online you can purchase them from B&H Photo-Video.

This post was inspired by Monika Fimpel, thanks for asking the question, and thanks to Bill Shamlian for his insights on wireless systems and frequency selections.

Note: This post was revised on February 22, 2010 to reflect that Rule Broadcast Systems is also a Sennheiser dealer. I also fixed an error in which I specified the EW 122P G3 kit (which includes ME4 microphone (cardioid) mic) instead of the EW 112P G3 kit that I intended to list that comes with the more versatile ME2 (omnidirectional) microphone. While the ME4 is better in high-noise environments, its added directionality and proximity effect make it less versatile for general use. If you’re only going to have one microphone for your wireless system, the ME2 is a more versatile choice, and if you find you need the more directional ME4 in some situations, it (or another cardioid lav) can be purchased separately.

Update:I actually went ahead and purchased two kits, one w/ an additional plug-on transmitter. I’ve been using these since April of 2010 and I’m very pleased with the kit (April 19, 2010).

I’m often asked by students, “what’s a good light kit for starting out” and I find it a very hard question to answer, because it really depends on what you want to do. There really is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all one case light kit. I find that most of the commercially available light kits I’ve seen offer too many watts and not enough versatility. After years of creating a variety of make-shift kits from my lighting collection for particular shoots, I’ve settled on one configuration when I’m “traveling light,” and I think the best approach is to put together a custom kit that meets your personal lighting needs.

Drawing from my collection of lighting instruments, I put together a subset for doing interviews on my current documentary project, which has involved air travel to do interviews, so I’ve thought about a bare essentials kit that will fit into a single, manageable case on wheels that’s not too big, but offers enough versatility for doing nicely (albeit simply) lit interviews. This kit is an attempt to balance capability, cost, weight, and size with the requirement that the case could also fit in the hatchback of my car along with tripod, sound kit, and camera gear so I can park the car without any visible evidence of gear in the hatch.All together the kit draws 1,300 Watts, which in most cases works fine on a single household circuit without tripping a breaker (unless there’s already other high-current devices in use). Here are the components in the kit:

• Kata OC-88 GDC Lighting Case with Insertrolley
• Lowel LC-55 Rifa-EX soft light (lightweight and compact, most often used as a key light, sometimes used as fill with 1/2 CTB or CTB when using window light as key)
• Lowel 40 degree Egg Crate for Rifa (reduces spill)
• Lowel Rifa Balance Bar (helps to center the weight of the Rifa light on the stand, increasing stability)



• Arri 300W Fresnel with barn doors and scrim set (Fresnels offer crisp, easy to control light with the quality of sunlight, used as a back light or kicker)
• One or two Lowel Tota-Light(s) with umbrella (often used as a background light, for overall fill, or as a fill light if needed)
• Flexfill 38″ Silver/White reflector (often used as a fill light bounce attached to a microphone stand)
• Three or four Avenger A625B Light Stands, these extend to 7.8′ but are a compact 26″ when closed (depending on the number of Totas in tow)
• Hypoallergenic transparent powder base and make-up pads (for reducing shine on the subject’s face)
• Spare lamps in plastic foam-lined case for all units
• Two or three extension cords and cube taps
• Electric circuit tester
• Gloves
• Small tool kit including a Leatherman
• Flashlight
• Expendables (gaffer tape, C-47s, black wrap, trick line, and assorted gels and diffusion including half CTB and CTB sized with holes to fit the Rifa light).

This kit has worked out well over the course of over a dozen interviews since I put it together. It originally started out in a larger Pelican rolling case with additional instruments, but that quickly got the nickname “the beast” and I eventually trimmed down to the configuration above.
The Rifa LC-55 (500W) produces just enough light for most situations, and it’s the right choice for a lightweight and compact kit, however, if I could spare the space and weight, I’d rather be using a Kino Flo Diva-Lite. I’m considering adding to the kit (I still have a little room left in the case) one or two LED lights. These offer the advantage of small size and practical battery operation. I’m considering the Zylight Z90 (total creative control in terms of color and wireless control, however, a tad pricy) and the Lowel Blender (more affordable than the Z90, however, not as versatile as the Zylight). Back in July, I posted a comparison of four LED lights summarizing the results of my research.

Special thanks to Joseph Ingoldsby for asking the question that resulted in this post.

Update, July 15, 2010: The Avenger A625B Light Stands are no longer available, a reasonable replacement with a new stacking feature would be the Manfrotto 1051BAC Light Stand, Black – 6.75′ extended and 26″ when closed, not quite as tall as the older stands but for a portable kit, the stacking feature means they will nest more snugly in the case. — David.

Update, December 29, 2011: If I had to do it all over again, I’d get the Lowel V-Lights instead of the Totas, but I purchased the Totas long before the V-Light existed. I’m also thinking of adding one or two 150 W Arri Fresnels to the kit as accent lights along with replacing the cords on all the Arri’s with smaller cords that will fit better in the case. Some LED lighting is also on the horizon as costs come down. — David.

1. Filmmakers Collaborative (Site | RSS). A non-profit support organization for independent media makers that provides fiscal sponsorship and hosts events including their annual Making Media Now conference. I’ve placed them first on my list because I’m biased (I sit on their board).

2. Center for Independent Documentary (Site | RSS). Another wonderful non-profit support organization for independent media makers, they provide fiscal sponsorship and host the amazing Filmmakers Workshop series on a monthly basis as well as the Filmmakers Workshop online community.

3. Center for Social Media at American University (Site | RSS | Twitter). The Center for Social Media (a part of American University’s School of Communication) investigates, showcases and sets standards for socially engaged media-making. They organize conferences and events, publish research, create codes of best practices, and incubate media strategies.

4. The Independent (Site | RSS | Twitter). The Independent was formerly The Independent Film & Video Monthly published by the AIVF (Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers), it has been resurrected as an online publication.

5. Documentary Tech (Site | RSS) An open-source collaborative project exploring documentary filmmaking techniques and technology. A project by The Rhode Island Film Festival and several sponsoring universities.

6. Cinema Tech (Site | RSS) Scott Kirsner writes about how new technologies are changing the way movies get made, discovered, marketed, distributed, shown, and seen.

7. Documentary Educational Resources (Site | RSS)A Watertown-based distributor of documentary films that also provides fiscal sponsorship and other support resources.

I suggest reading these using Google reader, which you can read as a stand-alone RSS reader or embed into your iGoogle page. If you’re not already using iGoogle, check it out, it’s a nice way to organize headlines from various sources along with a wide range of other gadgets, for example, here’s part of my iGoogle page:

Part of my iGoogle page

In the top left I have the RSS feed from the Filmmakers Collaborative web site, and below it the latest leadlines from Google Reader. I’ve also got a gadget showing the IndieWire RSS feed, as well as several Google News feeds using key words like “filmmaking” and “documentary” as well as headlines from the New York Times, NPR, etc. In the morning over a latte I scan the various headlines to see what’s going on. There are a variety of other feed readers, some online and others for Windows, Mac, or Linux, however, Google Reader is the best of the online readers by far.

Oh yes, and there’s my own site which you’re reading right now, but it would have been too cheeky to include myself, huh?

Front page photo: Steve Finer holding a Sony HVR-V1U.

The original Microtrack 24/96 and the current Microtrack II from M-Audio are nice little audio recorders, I like having a small recorder in my backpack ready for anything. I love the fact it has balanced TRS inputs so I can use it with my professional microphones, as well as 1/8″ mini-jack inputs with plug-in power for use with a wide range of inexpensive microphones (including the small stereo electret condenser it comes with). However, the little critter is far from perfect. The original Microtrack (the one I own) had three design flaws from my perspective: 1. it lacked a limiter, 2. it did not provide true 48V phantom power, and 3. unlike many other small recorders, it does have a user-replaceable battery. On the other hand, the fact it can be powered from USB is a really big plus and overall it’s a really nice device.

The newer Microtrack II added a limiter (hooray) and real phantom power, but it still has a non-user-replaceable rechargeable battery. I guess two out of three ain’t bad, and I bet the Microtrack designers disagree with me regarding #3 above. Well, like many iPod owners have discovered, non-user-replaceable rechargeable batteries are fine for the first year or so of frequent use, but then the battery starts to decline in capacity. The Lithium-Ion rechargeable batteries used in small devices are good for a certain number of charge-recharge cycles, and then their capacity declines dramatically. So after three years of using my Microtrack, it no longer holds a charge as long as I would like. One solution is that M-Audio offers a battery replacement service to Microtrack owners. But instead, after thinking about it and shopping around, I decide to spend less money for a more versatile and much higher capacity powering option: The Kensington Portable Power Pack for Mobile Devices (#K38021US available for around $50 from a variety of retailers).

The Kensington Portable Power Pack is a rechargeable, external battery pack. Most people purchase it to add dozens of extra hours of iPod playback time, or extra hours of mobile or smartphone talk time, however, it’s also a perfect companion for the M-Audio Microtrack, and it’s about the same size. I attached my Power Pack to the Microtrack using industrial Velcro for a secure fit, and I hacked together a short USB cable to power the Microtrack without any cable clutter. I can’t tell you how long the Microtrack will record with one of these batteries, since it lasts so long I’ve not come close to reaching the end of the battery capacity, but we’re talking several hours of recording. And a nice plus is that the Microtrack still fits in it’s original little pouch with the battery attached.

The Kensington Power Pack comes with a USB to Mini-USB cable to charge and drive devices and a AC adapter (with USB connector) for charging the Power Pack. A gorgeous blue LED battery gauge tells you much power is left in the Power Pack and if it runs out, you still have reserve capacity using the Microtrack’s internal battery, which charges while connected to the Power Pack. The Power Pack contains a Lithium-Ion Polymer battery with a 5VDC (Mini USB) input (1A Max) and 5VDC (USB) output (1.5A Max). The capacity of the battery is 1800mAh (7W/h). And unlike so many of the generic electronic devices sold today, the Kensington Power Pack comes with a respectable 2-Year warranty.

Related to this presentation, see also my previous post, “Notes on the Interview” (January 23, 1006). This is a set of notes I’ve collected that I use to remind myself of things to think about when I’m preparing to do an interview.

View slides (on SlideShare): Art of the Interview PC3

Download slides as a PDF (from SlideShare): Art-of-the-Interview-PCB3

List of example clips screened and discussed (year, description, roles):

“Student Activities Midway” (2006, video podcast story segment, MIT ZigZag Episode #10, Co-Producer, Director, Editor)
“MIT Freshman Experience” (2007, video podcast episode, MIT ZigZag Episode #14, Producer, Director, Editor )
“Journey to MIT” (2007, excerpt from series produced for 2007 MIT pre-commencement show, Co-Producer, Director of Photography)

Some of these clips can be viewed at: kino-eye.com/about/reel/

Now this is delightful, like the classic “Bomb icon” the Twitter “Over Capacity” image has been seen by users far more, I’m sure, than the developers intended. This lovely sculpture pays homage to that. Thanks to Karl Long for pointing this out to me.

1. Lindcraft Gel Packs: these have one pocket that holds gels (standard sheet size and smaller) and it rolls up and secures with Velcro straps keeping your gels in order and protecting them from handling. Easy to use by laying it out on a flat surface. I have three, one for the diffusion/ND series, one for CTB/CTO/tint series, and a third for theatricals (a.k.a. party) colors. Check out Gel Packs on the Lindcraft web site.

2. Expanding File Folders: For smaller pieces (it’s handy to have small pieces ready to go for smaller lights) I keep them in three accordion multi-compartment file folders, one for the Diffusion/ND/CTB/CTO set, and another for tints and theatricals. I label the tabs with the gel type so when I ask an assistant, “put some opal on the 150 and 1/2 blue on the 300″ they can quickly find the exact gel needed. It does take some discipline to sort everything back to the right section after the shoot, but if you do it as you go, it pays off in efficiency in the moment of lighting. No more hunting for the right piece. You can find these in any office supply store and I found some plastic ones are pretty rugged. People who do theater usually use file boxes, but I don’t have that many small gels and I like to be as portable as possible, all my gels and accessories and extension cords go into a single duffel bag.

3. Another tip: write on two opposite corners with a sharpie the gel number. On the set when its dark and your in a hurry, you don’t want to try to figure out which gel is which. Writing the Rosco or Lee number on the gel will speed things up while lighting and makes putting things back much easier.

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow…

very interesting reading on the truthfulness of images.

This week’s Art Film Talk interview is with Christen McArdle, the Executive Director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the oldest festival of its kind in North America showcasing avant-garde, documentary and independent films from around the world. We talk about the festival's fundraising campaign and the censorship controversy the festival has been involved with.

Need fast, cheap, reliable storage for video editing on your MacBook Pro? Tired of paying a price premium and performance penalty with external FireWire drives? Tired of dropped frames with that USB external drive? Want to be able to move a project between the laptop and a PowerMac or MacPro and keep it on a fast SATA drive? Several interface cards are available for the MacBook Pro to interface with SATA drives.

The eSATA II 2-Port ExpressCard-M interface card from SIIG, and the Tempo SATA Express 34 from Sonnet make it possible to connect two SATA drives directly to your laptop. This allows you to buy fast and and inexpensive bare SATA drives and the enclosure of your choice and fashion your own drive systems.

If you don’t fancy being your own system integrator, the G-SATA drive from G-Technology might be the choice for you. It comes with a PCIe interface card for your desktop computer) with two SATA ports and cables (if you’ve got an older Mac with PCI or PCI-X, there’s a range of cards you you can use). With the one of these ExpressCard SATA interfaces you can take the G-SATA or other SATA drives on the road. The G-SATA may be initialized as two individual drives or configured as a software RAID 0 (striped) for the best video and audio editing performance or RAID 1 (mirror) for data security and the the peace of mind knowing that if one drive fails, the other still has your precious data.

If you’re assembling your own drives (my preference), I suggest using SoftRAID, an excellent utility for creating RAID 0 or RAID 1 volumes in software. SoftRAID features a very well thought-out interface and excellent technical support. Although a Hardware RAID solution provides better performance and plug-and play simplicity, the SoftRAID solution is good when you want to move media to a pair of portable drives in the field without special hardware. Each approach, Software RAID-1 and Hardware RAID-1 has it’s place.

Summertime is gazpacho time. This cold soup is popular in Spain’s Andalusia during the summer and when Alice and I were there for our honeymoon, I gained an appreciation for it. The soup has its origins in ancient Andalusian cuisine as a mixture of stale bread, garlic, olive oil, salt, and vinegar. It is not always easy to find a flavorful yet subtle gazpacho here in the states, I was once served a bowl at James Gate that tasted like salsa pored right out of an industrial sized container. The best way, by far, to experience good gazpacho is to make it yourself from fresh vine ripened tomatoes in season. Here’s my recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 or 5 Medium tomatoes, vine ripened or fresh local produce as available
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 1 Roasted red pepper
• 1 Green pepper
• 1 Cucumber
• 6 Tsp. Red wine vinegar
• 6 Tsp. Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 2 or 3 Eggs

Preparation:

Roast the red pepper over a grille and remove the skin (or purchase ready-made in a bottle) and place in blender; Dip tomatoes in boiling water to ease the removal of skins, cut into small pieces, and place in blender; Using the same boiling water, make two or three hard boiled eggs (12 minutes), once cooked, place eggs in ice water to cool, peel and slice right before serving; Put garlic through garlic press (or chop very fine) and place in blender; Slice cucumber and green pepper and place in blender; Pour red wine vinegar, salt, and olive oil in blender; Blend to perfection, taste, and add a tiny bit of additional vinegar or salt if needed (depends on the nature of tomatoes used); Place blender pitcher in refrigerator until ready to serve; Serve in chilled bowls, garnish with three thin slices of hard boiled eggs.

While tomato is an important ingredient in many variations of gazpacho, tomato need not be used, for example, white gazpacho is made with almonds, bread, garlic, vinegar and olive oil. Gazpacho is often accompanied on the side by hard boiled egg as well as other garnishes including Serrano ham, chopped onion, or parsley.

Most entries in this blog have one thing or another to do with media or film, so where’s the connection here? In Pedro Almodovar’s film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, a pitcher of gazpacho provides quite a few laughs, so I suggest preparing a blender full of cold gazpacho, invite some friends over, and put on this movie for a perfect cold soup and a movie experience, however, I’m not suggesting the addition of a sedative to the soup as depicted in the film. In the photo the soup is accompanied with two tapas based on leftovers from a meal Alice prepared the night before, grilled zucchini and squash, and grilled shrimp on a bed of wild rice medley. As Werner Herzog said in Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe, “I’m quite convinced that cooking is the only alternative to filmmaking.”

Boston Media Makers meetings are held the first Sunday of every month at Sweet Finnish in Jamaica Plain. Meeting notes include Len Edgerly’s video of Friday’s iPod frenzy, Christopher Penn’s demo of his new camera stabilization device, and many interesting updates. Here are my notes:

Steve Garfield has been webcasting the meetings using Ustream.tv, but today we’re using another tool, blog.tv which offers the additional capability of having participants link in their webcams and you can switch between the main stream and other streams. It has really livened up the meeing to have participants out on the net and offering their sending in their questions and comments during the meeting. An archive of the live stream is available.

On Friday, Len Edgerly (VideoPodChronicles.com) went to the Apple store at Cambridgeside Galleria at 3am to be first in line for an iPhone, at first security guards gave him a hard time for shooting video, but once the euphoria of people walking into the store took over, the security guards could not stop him from shooting this wonderful video of being first in line walking into the Apple store:

Click To Play

Len’s first reaction to the iPhone is that it is “unbelievably cool,” and he said, “I went to sleep that night hoding it in my hand, Steve Jobs is right.” He points out that some stuff does not work quite right yet and it’s not quite perfect, for example, notes do not sync, it does not shoot video, the headphone jack does not take his Bose headphones, and it will not play Flash video embedded in web pages. But he added, “if you were crazy enough to be there [on the first day of sales], none of this detracts.”

I’ve completed my one year contract at MIT and so I’m back doing freelance production work and media technology consulting. I just completed a short film, The Smile Boston Project, that will premiere at the 16th Woods Hole Film Festival on August 4th. I gave Steve an M4V file of the trailer to show on his fancy Vista laptop, but it crashed trying to play the video. In other news, I’ve been organizing three panels and a seminar that will take place at the Woods Hole Film Festival, visit the festival’s Panels & Workshops page for more information. Woods Hole is a wonderful festival with an amazing program in a beautiful setting, I encourage you to attending this year.

Reiko & Tom (TRB Designs) are media makers who’ve been producing video including GymSmarts.com gymnastics instructional videos. Their question to the group was they are working with a local nursing association to take seminars and PowerPoint presentations into the video realm for remote access.

Safa suggested looking over the video streaming comparisons on the Beanywood web site. I suggested that free video streaming (for example, Ustream.tv and blog.tv) solutions provide a cost-effective option if you’re on a tight budget, however, they come with many compromises. They may or may not neet the needs of the client, depending on their expectations in terms of image quality, frame rate, and licensing issues (most free sites are working on ways to monetize content, so there are content licensing and access issues to consider).

If enterprise class presentation capture is required, the Accordent Capture Station, as an example, might provide the right solution. It takes in video of the presenter and VGA of their presentation slides and makes an integrated video and slide presentation available. And for live streaming of an event to many viewers, the Accordent can provide a Real or Windows Media stream uplink to a CDN like Limelight Networks PowerStream, or Akamai who in turn can deliver multiple video streams anywhere from dozens to hundreds of viewers. Safa suggested that Adobe Connect offers a viable solution in this arena.

Frank Wing (Wings TV)does video production, sports videography, and has done work with George W. Bush. It’s quaint to meet a Republican once in a while in Democratic Party dominated Massachusetts.

David La Morte continues to work on his Teaching for the Future podcast, he’s looking for a better transcription solution. Christopher suggested using Dragon voice recognition, I suggested Via Voice might help. Any other ideas for David?

Mark, a media artist and teacher, is moving out of the Medieval era of OS 9 and getting an iMac with Intel processor, he said it’s like “Dorothy and Toto,” everything is in “Technicolor” now. Congratulations, Mark, and unlike Steve Garfield’s Windows Vista laptop that crashes and does strange things on a regular basis, Mark will not have to live in a virtual Apple ad, he’ll be able to get work done without hassles.

I myself ordered a MacBook Pro last week, I’m counting the days to it’s arrival. Every time it’s time to buy a new laptop, I ask myself, has Windows caught up? Should I go over to the dark side? And all it takes is a demo of Microsoft’s latest operating system to convince me not to switch. Maybe in another three years.

Kristen Crusius, a.k.a. kroosh (kroosh.tv) is a design student at New England Institute of Art who was doing new media marketing for a company that was doing fake blogging, and from her perspective a general disservice to their marketing clients, so she quite her job (good for her) and has moved on. She’s available for freelance design and would like to do audio and video production, podcast production, etc. Twitter has been very helpful, made friends, found work, etc. Social networking at it’s best.

Laura Fitton (Great Presentations Mean Business) has been thinking about the online equivalent of Beer O’Clock, making online gatherings more social, she was watching Chris Brogan and Jeff Pulver do their show, her daughter was learning to crawl, she turned the camera to her, and her husband was able to see the first 20 minutes of her crawling, she relayed to us that Chris Brogan made the comment, “that’s really persona media.”

Matt Searles (Asymmetric Biz Cult) is a media artist and continues to cover “the new asymmetric business of culture creation,” in his podcast.

Safa Sadeghpour (Beanywood) updated us on his New England Film Movement Digital Media Database and is looking for a Drupal programmer. Anyone out there interested in programming in Drupal for some equity in a start-up?

Christopher Penn (Financial Aid Podcast) demonstrated how he created a reasonable equivalent to the $300 Fig Rig using some PVC pipe he purchased from Loews, which he describes in his Stabilization Equipment for Handheld Video blog post. blog post. Here’s a movie of Christopher demonstrating the rig with his Sanyo CG65 Camera which can record 76 minutes of 640 x 480 H.264 video on a 1G storage card.

Click To Play

Christopher also told us that the Student Loan Network is looking for a Senior Web Developer with PHP and MySQL experience to work in their Quincy location and they are offering a $10K finders fee for anyone who refers someone they hire if the programmer stays in the position for a minimum of 3 months. They would rather pay someone in the media maker community $10K than a recruiter $30K. Both the community and the employer win. The internet in general and and social networks in particular are changing the nature of business that depend primarily on inefficiencies for their profits rather than creating real value, and recruiting firms are yet another example.

Also attending the meeting were Lindsay Shah (Beanywood), Wayne (new to Boston Media Makers and looking for some help with video production for Brookline Access Television), Philip Shevitz (who’s here to keep on top of stuff), and Mike Wall (working with audio and involved in redoing the web site of the Society for Technical Communication).

After the “going around the table” portion of th meeting participants discussed Andrew Keen’s book, The Cult of the Amateur. In our discussion we raised several interesting issues in terms of the reliability of “the wisdom of the crowds,” especially in terms of Wikipedia; how are we going to find “hard-hitting journalism” in the age of citizen journalism; and the validity of the professional vs. amateur duality. During the discussion, Christopher Penn suggested the book, The Underground History of American Education by John Taylor Gatto and I suggested The Wealth of Networks by Yochai Benkler. I also think Henry Jenkins’ Convergence Culture provides an excellent and thoughtful counter-point to Keen’s argument.

It was another wonderful meeting, a delightful mix of coffee, pastries, conversation, sharing, and learning around a table. Some photos are available on Flickr.

The Smile Boston Project is a 20 minute documentary that I recently completed. The film will premiere at the 16th Woods Hole Film Festival on Saturday, August 4th at 5:00 P.M. (screens with Justice Louis D. Brandeis: The People’s Attorney). The film follows artist Bren Bataclan through the first three years of his Smile Boston Project in which he leaves paintings in public places for people to find with a note that says, 'this painting is yours to keep if you promise to smile at random people more often.'

Click to Play

Behind the Rhyme: A Hip Hop Documentary - Conducted over the period of two years in the city of Boston, this film is a collection of interviews and performances providing a look behind the scenes of lifestyles, concepts, and expression of hip-hop culture.

Bourbon – Frank and Joe, a couple of low rent gangsters, hatch a plan to make it big by trafficking drugs cross-country. But when Joe gets greedy and brings on his pal Vince to do his errands, things go bad and everything comes crashing down…

Hidden Wounds - Psychological wounds suffered by veterans returning from war may be as hard to overcome as the physical injuries of combat. Through three disturbing portraits of Iraq veterans, this powerful documentary highlights the issue of post-traumatic stress disorder, estimated to affect as many as one in five soldiers returning from Iraq.

Make Levee Not War – Plymouth filmmaker Ted Maguire’s short film about the effects of Hurricane Katrina in support of the ongoing recovery. Interviews and comparison maps of the Boston area to the devastated regions are used to help the audience better relate.

No Match – Plymouth resident and doctor at Jordan Hospital, Peter Pillitteri produced this short film about addition. When a busy photographer cannot find a match to light his cigarette, his day is substantially disrupted. Ordinary events taunt and entice him. His need for a smoke becomes desperate.

Remembering John Marshall - A portrait of filmmaker and activist John Kennedy Marshall who began his career in the 1950s documenting the lives of the Ju/’hoansi people of Namibia—among the last remaining hunter-gatherers. He made important contributions to cinéma vérité filmmaking and leaves behind an extensive ethnographic film archive including over 20 films on the Ju/’hoansi.

The Plymouth Independent Film Festival (July 18-22) kicks off with its opening night reception on Wednesday, July 18 at 7pm at the Memorial Hall Blue Room. Live Cuban band, hors d’oeuvres. $50/$75 (supporter level). Celebrate film at the Awards Night, Saturday, July 21 at John Caver Inn, 7pm. $25/$40 supporter level. Includes appetizers. For more information on PIFF and a complete listing of films visit www.plyfilmfest.org

It’s been a media saturated weekend, first was at the Making Media Now Conference at Boston University on Friday and now its Sunday morning and I’m attending the monthly Boston Media Makers meeting held the first Sunday of every month at Sweet Finnish in Jamaica Plain. The image to the left provides a link to my meeting photos in Flickr.

Steve Garfield was webcasting the meeting using Ustream.tv which is a great way to not only share your meeting with people via the net, it’s also great to have comments and questions come in from the online audience. Including requests for pastries. Now if only we could really share the delicious Pullas available at Sweet Finnish with the web audience.

I spoke briefly about MIT TechTV, I’ve been working on this video sharing site for the MIT community, which was recently launched. To kick it off and raise awareness, the School of Engineering ran a a video contest for MIT students. One of the winning films (Best Technical Achievement) was Media Lab at Night by Leonardo Bonanni.

Steve Albanese has been creating online tutorials, his site is TutorialDEPOT. He’s also been creating “Friday videos” as a way to keep in touch with old friends.

Grace Colby is a designer who has worked in the software industry and has become interested in Filmmaking lately, she has taken courses in Rockport, and she’s looking for a community to do her work with. She discovered Boston Media Makers through my blog, cool people are finding these notes useful.

Phillipe Lejeune has been creating some amazing video creations using Flash, providing interesting mosaics of events. He does not like to use a blog, so he learned Flash and does everything in Flash, video is linear, you don’t have too much freedom, but with his video collages, he has found the creative freedom to use video in an intersting way.

Tim White, formerly a journalist with the Boston Herald, has launched two community sites, one of the sites is dahubub.com and it has 10 volunteer contributors, he’s excited with personal publishing, the site shares what’s going on community by community.

David B. has been running the Boston Video Discussin Group, they’ve been meeting a couple times a month in Harvard Square discuss video production on various levels, for the summer they will be meeting once a month on the 2nd Wednesday of every month.

Nathaniel works with David on several projects, they are doing a WNBR live shoots on their weekly show and putting it on blip.tv, they are now starting the legal process to put it out as a formal project, you can see the videos at echoplanar.blip.tv.

Matt Searles does a podcast, Asymmetric Biz Cult, on “the new asymmetric business of culture creation,” which is basically about the business of creativity with an emphasis on trying to rethink the extistential relationships between creater, content, and the market place, in light of distruptive technologies. Very interesting stuff.

Reiko & Tom of TRB Designs are media makers who are looking for new creative services that will enable them and their clients better prepare for the future. They have have been marketing on the web and producing video for the last seven years with GymSmarts.com, a successful gymnastics instructional and training site with DVDs, articles, booklets, and books for sale.

Mike Walsh is on the uncommittee of Barcamp and he talked about the upcoming dev house in Boston on June 24th to be held in a home somewhere in Central Square. This is an events for programmers to get together and collaborate on an open source project.

David La Morte continues to work on his Teaching for the Future podcast, you’ll find lots of cool stuff on his blog. He’s been working on his masters degree and sharing some great stuff along the way.

Jamie O’Brien has a a web site that looks at humor as art. He is riding his bike across the country with some friends and videoblogging the trip. He does not have nearly as much press coverage of other people doing this. Check out the Crazy Guy on a Bike and Team Northern Tier 2007 web sites. He’s looking for people to watch the blog, this will make the trip more meaningful, alot of us are escaping, that’s the motivation, getting away for a while. Good summer viewing I suspect.

Fred White does Nashua Video Tours, web design and video tours for realtors, and he’s done over 200 video tours so far. Video, web, and real-estate strikes me as a natural mix, and I’m waiting to see how the internet can help reduce the transaction costs of real-estate sales. Delivering video tours can help attract a wider audience of potential buyers. What effect will the internet have on real estate commissions is something that comes to my mind. Everything that goes to the internet gets more efficient.

Laura Fitton teaches public speaking and business presentations, she’s got a blog, a blog, Great Presentations Mean Business, where she discusses her craft. She’s interested in exploring how she can use video in her practice, for example, clients can record themselves and play back and practice, using tools like Ustream she can work with her clients remotely and see how they look, how they sound, she wants to learn about new tools.

Josh Snider showed us his web site, Democracy Elevation Force, where he mixes entertainment and politics, he does short videos, and he’s working on a documentary on the internet and open source communities. In response to this, I suggested checking out opensourcecinema.org and Beth Kanter suggested checking out penguinday.org, which is about open source and non-profits and how to use open source for social change, it’s being done in association with the grassroots media conference in Lowel, Massachusetts on Friday June 22nd.

Josh (I did not catch his last name) has been producing short films, recently competed in the 48 Hour Film Project, his goals for this year include producing 10 short films, he’s done 4 so far, three in the fire, check out his site at screwdriver.tv. Josh is looking for the collaborator to make his creative life complete. He’s also working on a short sketch comedy program, with the goal of broadcasting on CCTV and beyond.

John Herman will be doing a stage show based on podcast content in Portsmouth, NH, between Christmas and New Years, an intersting time to stage the show, but if he’s involved with it, it’s time to plan a trip to Portsmouth over the holiday week week. Portsmouth is a charming place to have some dinner, walk around, and catch John’s show. His work on Primary Place is now on YouTune (search for the tag, “PrimaryPlace” to find it) and he will soon be shooting a music video for band Turnpike Blow, he’s looking for a collaborator with After Effects knowledge for this project. Also, John is hosting Energy Smack Down (you can find it on MySpace), a reality TV pilot being shot in Medford sponsored by National Grid in which families compete to see who can save the most energy.

Ravi Jain continues to produce Drive Time, a video podcast he records in his car on his commute to work. He will enter a summer phase, slow down, to make time for playing some video games with his new wii. Ravi’s day job is working on the interactive portion of the PBS show, American Experience.

Randy MacLowry and Tracy Strain of Yellow Jersey Films are currently working on a documentary they expect to be a multiplatform media project about the writer, activist and public intellectual Lorraine Hansberry. They are currently in the fun and exciting fundraising phase, the project will include as the centerpiece a feature-length documentary and a public engagement & education campaign.

Lindsay Shah mentioned a gathering at the Massachusetts State House on Tuesday morning at 10am (June 5, 2007) to protest a bill that Verizon is supporting that will have an detrimental effect on community television. Save Access has posted a document titled “MA: Top 10 Reasons To Oppose the Verizon Bill” on their web site that explains their reasons why the bill is bad news. If you can’t come to the state house on Tuesday to protest, you can still contact your state legislators and those who are on the Joint Telecommunications Committee, and urge them to kill the bill.

Beth Kanter, a long time trainer who’s been involved with the internet for a long time, lead a discussion how we can use social networking tools to make our videos easiler to find and to reach our target audience. Some topics that came up include:

(1) work with existing associations and/or advocacy groups, this provides access to their audience (consider the synergy between moveon.org and the OutFoxed film, for example);
(2) Google Alerts, to see what’s up;
(3) Set up an RSS feed with watchwords on Technorati to see what’s going on, who’s linking to you;
(4) post comments on other people’s sites that are writing about realted stuff, these creates more links out there pointing back to your site;
(5) Capture email address from visitors to build a mailing list (be careful and be sure to make this opt-in;
(6) use FLickr inspector lets you see who has reblogged your photos;
(7) use Google Analytics to see where people are coming from and how your site is used, especially to see how long people are spending on your site and the path to your transcation page if you have one;
(8) Optimize your search engine search results by using all the right words in the right way;
(9) use tagging extensively;
(10) take advatage of blip.tv cross-posting to Flickr and del.icio.us.

I’m sure there was more discussed, but that’s what I caught.

It was another great meeting, a delightful mix of coffee, pastries, conversation, sharing, learning, community, all in one. Until next month, this is David writing from Sweet Finnish Cafe in Jamaica Plain.

Here are my slides from the Opening Remarks I made at the Making Media Now: Filmmaking in Transition conference held yesterday at Boston University. A special thanks to Jennifer Kaplan, Bonnie Waltch, and all the people and sponsors who made this lively and engaging event possible.

Some folks asked me what I used to make the slides, I created them using Apple’s Keynote, a beautifully designed presentation program, however, you can do the same thing with PowerPoint, it’s just more work since PowerPoint’s interface is so clunky. Image credits are on the last slide.

His big ideas are in summary:

1. a hybrid media space (as described in Benkler’s Wealth of Networks)

2. meeting point between a range of different grassroots communities involved in the production and circulation of media content

3. a site where amateur curators assess the value of commercial content and re-present it for various niche communites

4. value depends heavily upon its deployment via other social networking sites

5. operates (alongside Flickr) as an important site for citizen journalists

6. opportunity for translating participatory culture into civic engagement

7. helps us to see the shifts in the cultural economy

8. social networking emerges as an important social skills and cultural competencies

9. demonstrates that a participatory culture is not necessarily a diverse culture

Check out his post, his elaboration of each of these is interesting and reminds me just how much things have changed since I first saw YouTube in 2005 when it was a scrappy little video sharing site. And this speed of change, in addition to the speed with which we can share videos and post video or text responses, makes me think maybe there’s a tenth big idea that should be added to the list:

10. YouTube embodies the salient characteristics of McLuhan’s “global village”

the idea roughly that given the speed of digital (electronic in McLuhan’s words) communication (and post-internet we add to this the ease of building social relationships) our culture will begin to converge, and we will evolve into a way of life that has much in common with village life, and thus the term “global village” now I don’t think it’s all that simple, but it comes to mind. This relates, of course, to #9, as these tools work to homogenize culture. Interesting how it’s not just the broadcast topology that leads to homogenized culture.

Filmmakers Collaborative will present a full day conference at Boston University on Friday, June 1, 2007 consisting of master classes, panel discussions and keynote speakers focused on new technologies and the opportunities they create for film and media makers. A must-attend for cutting edge learning and networking opportunities for media, film, and video professionals throughout New England. Registration closes May 30, so register now! No walk-ins. For more information, call Filmmakers Collaborative at 781-647-1102 or visit the conference web site. Sessions include: Camera Seminar; Film Production Tax Incentives; Demystifying Digital Formats; Copyright Issues; Networking & Box Lunch; Welcome; Opening Remark; Where in the World Is Your Audience Now?; The Social Media Game; Making Content Interactive; Guide to resources on the web; and Case Studies.