Video Conference Highlights – Michael Verdi – Lessons Learned

Click the pic to view the vid.

A number of interesting topics were discussed yesterday in a SpinFlow organized video conference about collaborative videblogging and distributed production. Michael Verdi discusses some lessons he learned about shooting direct-to-file with the newer digital video cameras.? Michael and Ryanne Hodson are the authors of “Secrets of Videoblogging” and the creators of the famous Freevlog.org site.? Michael recently joined the SpinXpress team at Outhink Media.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov), Flash Video (.flv)

Tags: michaelverdi, freevlog, videoconference, vlogging, spinxflow

Blogger Tag – 5 Things

OK, Josh Leo tagged me and so now it’s my turn:

1.  I was a cub scout.  My friend Ronnie sent a letter to JFK, inviting him to our Blue & Gold dinner.  One of his aids sent us a nice rejection note.  Here’s a picture.  I think he went to Dallas instead.

2.  I love working with ceramics, especially Raku.  I used to build kilns.  Here’s a video of a piece I made back in high school.

3.  When I was 12, my friends and I used to "cut" through the KonTiki Motel’s parking lot on our bikes.  Our parents told us never to do that.  Once, when all the other kids cut through the lot, I went around the "safe" way.  I got hit by a car.  I received a small settlement.  Through the miracle of compound interest, it grew to pay for one year of college.

4.  I started out as a studio art major in college.  Then I went into photography.  Then psychology, then social-psychology and then mathematics.

5.  I was thrown out of the boy scouts.

Ok, now I gotta go find five people to tag: Dave, Alicia, Chris, Tyler and Bill.

Carp Caviar 2006 Promo Series: Uno Mas, Part II

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A brief musical interlude in our story.  Or is it?  Here is a small little piece that highlights all the fine folks who are participating in this wonderful collaboration.  Of course, I’m way too lazy to edit this much video.  So I programmed it.  First, I used PHP to grab the text and images from Erik’s site and then wrote a small composition in Quartz Composer to manipulate the data (as javascript arrays) into the exported movie you see.  A quick trip to the Internet Archive for the lively "Ole!" spanish trance soundtrack, import into iMovie and viola! 

Question: What’s the widest, collaborative web page in the world?  See if you can find it and you will discover something really wonderful.  How does it relate to Carp Caviar.  Find the Bluesfear Worm and you will know.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: carp caviar, spinflow, bottoom union, apperceptions, digital dojo

Carp Caviar 2006 Promo Series: Uno Mas, Part I

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Erik says he needs 100 Carp Caviar promos by December.

To hear is to obey.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: bluesfear, digitaldojo, carp caviar, apperceptions, baja

Teaming Baja

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Baja California is teaming with activity. From the beaches to the mountains, Baja is all beautiful desert, teaming with life and color.  And people too, of course.  From the Baja 1000 race teams to the small teams of people working together in Internet  cafes and what are unmistakably "nodes".  As in the Node101 variety.

There was also an Outhink team exploring both the Pacific and Sea of Cortez sides of the two Mexican states.  Markus and Alicia drove down from Ojai to Loretto, where they met up with Dave, who flew in from San Jose, in (Alta) California, USA.  From there, the Outhinkers drove back up through Mulege, San Ignacio, Guearro Negro, San Quintin and other points north back to Ensenada and then down again to San Fillipe.  After a few days there, we all headed back by way of Mexicali.

We scouted a number of interesting locations and captured a LOT of audio and video. Internet access in Baja is, shall we say, challanging at times. When you do find access, wi-fi may not be available and, it often seems, laptops are NOT always welcome. Lots of great lessons in distributed media production.

Here’s a little video mash-up of some of the many clips we captured and now need to archive.  The music is called CooCoo CooCooRoo and was performed by Tito in the town of San Ignacio.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Tags: outhink, baja california, spinflow, spinxpress, spincast networks

Mexico Maddness

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We made back home at last! It feels so good here. I needed this. Been too long. Ju know?

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Tags: méxico

HMWV: Lost In Light

It’s my first time advocating a project for HaveMoneyWillVlog and I’m so excited to be promoting a truly wonderful one:  Lost In Light.

I recently came across some old amusement park footage.  It was a joy to discover.  As a child, I had played at that very same seaside fun zone.  The video triggered the recollection of so many memories that had somehow become buried over time.  Without these archives, I can’t imagine how I would have ever recalled so many important details.  It was truly a wonderful and astounding experience.

When Jen Proctor and Aaron Valdez first proposed their Lost In Light project, I immediately fell in love with the idea.  Perhaps it’s because much of my own childhood was captured on 8MM. Perhaps it is the voyeuristic thrill of experiencing "other people’s memories" and a sense of "time travel".  Perhaps it is the community aspects around film preservation.

I just know that I love it and hope you will support this fine project that aims to both educate and preserve.

Here is their description of the project and their intro video…


Click here to download video

This is a project about the 8mm film format.  But 8mm is dead, you say? On the contrary!  Not only is the format alive with innovation by filmmakers around the world, but hours and hours of Super 8 and regular 8mm film exist in attics and basements the world over—as home movies, educational films, works of art—that is slowly fading from the historical record.

We’re here to preserve that record before these films are lost, and to make those films available for viewing by the public and for use by artists seeking new, compelling footage.  Lost in Light is a project devoted to preserving, showcasing, and celebrating films created on the small-gauge 8mm film format.

To that end, we will provide free Super 8 and 8mm to video transfers to anyone who asks, in exchange for posting their video to the Lost in Light site and on the Internet Archive with their choice of Creative
Commons licenses.  In addition, Lost in Light will include articles and features by members of the filmmaking and film preservation communities, video tutorials for making 8mm films, as well as creative work, all with the goal of preserving and championing this important film format.

The site will have a soft launch with some content as soon as funding is available, with a full, hard launch set for January 2007.

Join us on this exciting visual journey through time and creativity!

LostInLight.org

Olbermann’s special commentary on Clinton vs Fox

via The Last Minute

Maria Gomez-Colombia Migration Project

This is a great HaveMoneyWillVlog.com project. Maria is looking into the forces behind migration. This promises to be a powerful and compelling story. What drives people to leave their homes and come to the US? Find out AND participate in the making of a great documentary video series. Please contribute to this project and make a difference.

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HMWV: Columbia Migration Project

 

This month’s HaveMoneyWillVlog.com project explores an interesting and important documentary about the forces that effect peoples’ lives.  Please check out this promo and consider supporting personal media makers like Maria…

Economic crisis and globalization are putting unprecedented pressure on the lives of people in Colombia. Ten percent of the population have emigrated, many to the United States. Maria Gomez, a Colombian resident of New York City, has begun a video documentary project interviewing other Colombian people affected by this period of social upheaval and change.

Maria, who is trained in ethnographic data collection for anthropological research, has already interviewed many in the Colombian immigrant community of New York. She needs financial backing for a 4 month trip through Colombia gathering the stories of those still waiting to make the journey North.

Project Site: colombiamigrationproject.net 

Click the picture to view or click here to download the video.