http://kino-eye.com "Everybody who cares for his art, seeks the essence of his own technique." -- Dziga Vertov (1922) Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:10:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en If you want to go with a wireless microphone system, and you're trying to balance between performance and price but don't want to compromise too much on performance, I would suggest taking a close look at the Sennheiser Evolution G3 Series. I've been using the previous G2 model for ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/02/18/sennheiser-evolution-g3-100/ Not to be out of step with the Biennial trend sweeping through the museum world, the long-running DeCordova Annual has been transformed this year into the new DeCordova Biennial providing a more extensive survey of New England's contemporary art scene, which will be occurring, as the name suggests, every other ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/02/15/the-2010-decordova-biennial/ I recently finished reading The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative by H. Porter Abbott (Cambridge University Press, 2nd. edition, 2008). This book is by far the best introduction to narrative currently available, encompassing the range of narrative forms including literature, cinema, and new media. Abbott emphasizes that narrative is not just ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/02/12/cambridge-introduction-narrative/ If you live in or around the Boston area, it's time to make plans to attend the 20th Annual Pro Video Show, brought to you by The Camera Company, which will take place March 12-13, 2010 at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Dedham, Massachusetts. Admission to the show is ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/02/07/20th-pro-video-show/ Back in August of 2005 I wrote a post, Transcriva makes transcribing (almost) fun, in which I reviewed the first version of Transcriva from Bartas Technologies, a delightful Macintosh application I've been using since then for transcribing audio and video interviews. Last year Bartas released the long awaited Transcriva 2 ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/01/13/transcriva-2/ The struggle for Net Neutrality has reached a critical moment. The FCC Chairman has called for new Net Neutrality rules, and he is being supported by President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and many congressional leaders. Will the Internet remain in the hands of the people? Or will a few phone and ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/01/13/fcc-comments/ 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 lighting kit. I find that most of the ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/01/08/one-case-lighting-kit/ It's a special time that comes around every ten years in which we take a moment to reflect back on the past decade and make our "favorite" and "best-of" lists. It was a good decade for documentary films, here's my own idiosyncratic list of thirty five notable documentaries released ... http://kino-eye.com/2010/01/04/notables-of-the-noughties/ Here are seven RSS feeds that I think will be of interest to New England documentary filmmakers. These suggestions come out of the discussion that took place today during theSocial Media Boot Camp for Film Professionals with Sean Fitzroy held at MassArt. There are many good feeds out there, this ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/11/07/seven-rss-feeds-documentary/ Here are some things you can do to integrate a social media component in your distribution effort. 1. Get your own web site with integrated blogging functionality if you don't already have one. If your current site does not have a blog, add one. The easy way to get started is ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/10/22/some-things-social-media/ This summer Alice Apley and I were "embedded documentarians" collaborating with mixed-media artist Sharon Haggins Dunn on her installation, Dragonflies and Angel Wings as part of the 2009 Bumpkin Island Art Encampment. An exhibition opens this weekend (part of the Fort Point Open Studios in Boston) documenting the encampment and ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/10/16/bumpkin-island-2009/ A while back I read this post by Guy Kawasaki and was inspired to write down seven habits of highly successful documentary filmmakers based, in part, on his post: 1. Tell an engaging story. It all begins with story. And whether your goal is to entertain or persuade, you need ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/08/31/seven-habits/ Students and friends often ask me for suggestions on what documentaries I recommend watching, and they are often frustrated that many of my suggestions are not easily obtainable. Many classic documentaries are hard to find: they are only available for purchase at high prices or through libraries, archives, or college ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/08/28/67-docs-netflix/ Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman is an amazing six-hour, six-part, documentary of epic proportions by Jennifer Fox in which we follow the filmmaker as she travels around the world asking her women friends how they construct and imagine their lives as she struggles to figure out her own. ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/08/27/flying/ Practically every camcorder records two channels of audio, which allows you to record in stereo (Left/Right) or two discrete channels (1/2). Lately I've been using the Sennheiser Evolution G2 wireless a lot and it started to bother me that I was only recording one channel from the wireless reciever into ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/08/13/2ch/ If you are planning to attend Podcamp Boston 4 this weekend, I invite you to help answer a question that's been on my mind during a session I will facilitate on Saturday: How does social media figure into the future of documentary film? @ 2:45 - 3:30 P.M. in the ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/08/05/social-media-future-of-doc-film/ This new documentary examines the role of anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits (1895-1963) in American history and asks important questions about the politics of scholarship and knowledge as a social construct. Herskovits, a controversial intellectual who became openly political, introduced African Studies into American academic establishment and started the first African ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/07/29/herskovits/ The Bumpkin Island Art Encampment, a weekend-long interactive art exhibition, will be open to the public on Saturday and Sunday (August 1-2, 2009). Sharon Haggins Dunn, Alice Apley, and yours truly are among the artists participating in the event this year. If you live in the Boston area, consider visiting ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/07/28/bumpkin-island/ Over the past couple of years I've had a chance to use or take a close look at various LED lighting instruments available in the marketplace. Today you will find lots of inexpensive lights suitable for on-camera use available for anywhere from $50 to $500 from a variety of ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/07/19/four-professional-led-lighting-instruments/ 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" ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/07/17/power-pack-for-microtrack/ Maria Agui Carter is teaching an excellent course this summer at MassArt: MPFV208-1 Producing the Documentary (runs Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, June 22 through June 26, 2009). You should consider attending this class if you're planning to direct or produce a serious documentary in the future. Check out ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/06/14/producing-documentary/ Judith Donath recently spoke at MassArt. In anticipation of her talk I went to see the Connections exhibition of works by Donath and her Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab. I was particularly taken by Metropath(ologies), an immersive installation that is at once beguiling and enchanting. The exhibition ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/05/23/metropathologies/ Making Media Now 2009 is a full-day conference that will take place on Friday, June 5, 2009 at Bentley University. The event will bring together filmmakers from all over New England with national industry experts for lectures, workshops, and panels confronting the most daunting challenges facing independent filmmakers today. Last ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/04/21/making-media-now/ I'm teaching two courses this summer through MassArt Professional and Continuing Education. Interested in documentary video? Documentary Video Boot Camp will give you the foundation you need to get started. Is there a documentary you'd like to make this summer and you've already got basic production experience? Documentary Project ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/04/12/documentary-classes-this-summer/ This week I had a chance to read Scott Kirsner's new book, Fans, Friends & Followers, which provides a fresh guide to building an audience in the new media landscape. The book starts out by painting with broad brush strokes the challenges artists have faced finding an audience for their ... http://kino-eye.com/2009/04/02/fans-friends-followers/