Rich Bartlebaugh

If you can't be deep, then be brief.

2011-12-28T09:22:00.000-08:00

I did a 20-minute interview with the curator, covering visual specifics and making a narrative that would work for a four-minute package. Then the videographer started taking the first half dozen b-roll pictures. Which is when the lights in the museum automatically turned off for the night.

I was able to come back the next day for a b-roll shoot, but was told that I only had 35 minutes to be there. That's appropriate for a news shoot, but not for the work that I produce. I managed to machine-gun 45 shots in 35 minutes and remain polite. The 20-minute interview was no good because there just weren't enough pictures to cover the words. Instead we have a music video advertisement with a few spoken bits. I'm happy with the final product and pleased that my budget expenditure was successfully recovered. Keep moving forward, team!

Back up, pivot, go forward.

2011-12-10T19:06:00.000-08:00

This is a news-style package about Meridian Gallery in Union Square. That wasn't the intention when I first left the office.

Profiling Meridian was originally recommended by a co-worker. When I saw there was a "world premiere" reading by 92 year old Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I thought I could make a great evergreen package about him.

Except… he's 92. The poem was only three minutes long and he didn't want to do any interviews. Since I had already invested four hours of labor into the story, I decided to reduce Ferlinghetti and make Meridian the focus. The PR contact was very accommodating and lined up an artist and a curator on the same evening as a performance. I could get sights, sounds, and words in another four hour trip. Adapt and overcome.

Holiday Special - ODC "The Velveteen Rabbit"

2011-12-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

The arts coverage gets a little tricky in December. I always look to create evergreen programs that we can run for a few months on SFGovTV, but there are mostly holiday-themed shows happening now. My answer was to do a story about ODC's "Velveteen Rabbit" which I know we can run again next November and December.

This was a pretty easy shoot. KT Nelson was available 15 minutes before the final dress rehearsal started. We set the camera in a spot where we could talk to her quickly and then swing the camera 180 to start shooting the show right away. John R and I took turns running the the camera and just tried to make best guesses on a program that we hadn't seen before. Later during the editing, I spent 2/3 of my time working out the narrative and the audio. The pictures were fairly easy once there was a natural story to hang them onto.

Culture Wire returns to SFGovTV!

2011-11-23T11:25:00.000-08:00

Arts coverage for the City of San Francisco returned to SFGovTV in November 2011 with the re-launch of Culture Wire.

A successful partnership with the SF Arts Commission produced 50 videos between 2009 and 2011. Due to budget constraints, the SFAC was forced to discontinue their support of the program for Fiscal Year 2011-12. After two months of budget evaluation, SFGovTV has committed to continuing Culture Wire by providing 100% underwriting for the next six months.

In the first month of Culture Wire's return to Channels 26 and 78, producer Rich Bartlebaugh has profiled three local artists:

Aron Meynell http://youtu.be/qvZS5Pm5eyM
Sanjay Patel http://youtu.be/nQMm57B7l-U
Jim Campbell http://youtu.be/bxQRLFyVifk

Upcoming programs include a visit to the Meridian Gallery near Union Square, and a look at some of San Francisco's most adventurous dance companies.

The Talking Business Card

2011-11-19T08:48:00.000-08:00

Candidate Statements are an annual ritual for government television stations. Last time, we tried to use an HD monitor hooked up to CG with a loop playing out of it. It was "okay…" I guess. The height of the monitor couldn't be adjusted, so there were only two positions- the candidate was either on the floor, or on an apple box. It was a bit sloppy.

This year we gambled on using our small folding green screen. It's a gamble because it isn't being keyed out live, so you can't feel 100% confidence. We did test shots a few days before, and we were very clear that candidates could not wear green. When they arrived we demonstrated how their hands would be "cut off" if they were too animated. It went pretty well.

I was very conservative on the lighting and gave a hard edge on the back light for a clean key. For the rest, I used three chimeras and did dance lighting- people are flooded from both sides. I must admit that one of the short candidates (and one extremely tall one) looked a bit spooky.

During editing, I made a dumb producer mistake. I had the official Department of Elections list of candidate addresses, URLs, emails and phone numbers. I used this for the background info. When I was ready to publish, I felt compelled to be a nice guy and double-check with all the candidates. This meant I had to re-type and re-render 13 of the 25 videos because they had new offices, business phones, etc. The other information would have been "correct" but the new information was more helpful to a voter. I could have saved myself three days of rendering if I had a yellow legal pad in the studio during taping and just asked them to write this all down for me.

In the end, it was a huge success. Every one of the candidates posted the video to Facebook and many put the video on their front page. The view counts were way up compared to last year. It was wonderful positive feedback for me to see the candidates supporters give "likes" to my effort. One of the people called it "Cool… It's like a talking business card!"

A Working Vacation in Greene County, PA

2011-11-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

My good friend Greg Ayersman was kind enough to buy me an airplane ticket to Pittsburgh, in exchange for doing some camera work and editing for him. We picked a ten day window in August 2011 when four tourist events were happening.

The first was a portrait of the last day of the historic Jacktown Fair. The farming communities around Wind Ridge have had this celebration for well over one hundred years. But now, as the economy changes, so does the feeling at the Fair.

We went with a classic "hands-off" documentary approach for this one. Some viewers found it gloomy, others were reminded of their happy experiences at Jacktown. For me, it was just fun to be in PA during the summer, edit to a pop song for a change, and to test out the "cinema" settings on the Canon Vixia.

A few days later, I stopped for an hour and captured the Waynesburg Farmers Market during the height of the season. My production goal was simple- get some pretty pictures and focus on one message. I came up with the line "Wednesdays in Waynesburg" as a persistent mnemonic device.

The best part of editing the Waynesburg Farmers Market video was writing the music. By doing a cut-down video edit, I was able to see how many pictures I liked and what the approximate pacing of the video would be. I had used GarageBand in "Music Project" mode and wasn't impressed. This time I opened up "Movie Score" mode and had a completely different experience. I was able to write a short song that contained the pastoral country flavor of the market, contained a faster section to show off the products, and then returned to the laid-back sound for the closing.

The next Saturday I stopped at the Historical Museum for the opening of the annual Quilt Show. This is "in their own words" event coverage. Greg and I turned it around quickly, so it could be embedded on the front page of the local newspaper to promote attendance the following weekend.

This showed the limits of the Vixia, though. It did not capture great pictures with only ambient indoors lighting. And even though we closed the door and turned off the room's fan, the built-in mic's audio is not acceptable to me.

The last video was for a small section of The Warrior Trail in western Greene County. I shot some pretty pictures and then headed for the airport and back to San Francisco. So of course it's still sitting on my computer, waiting for an edit, behind all the regular daily edits I have to keep up with. Soon. I promise. Soon.

Allan Alcorn for PBS in San Jose

2011-10-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Personally, it was a real treat for me to meet Al and spend a few hours with him.

Very similar to the structure of Guy Kawasaki's piece: there's an opening scene, a linear story of his life, then a return to the opening scene (which allows me to re-cap the story you were just told).

Graphically, it's based on the box of the Atari home version of PONG. Not an outright copy, but it uses the curved line and the bands of orange color. The rest of the graphics were a real egg hunt. Al provided a few pictures from the 1970s, but the rest came from trolling around on Atari tribute sites.

I was very sad to cut out an early section about the importance of his Berkeley years. He witnessed the tear gassing of rioters on Telegraph Avenue and considers it to be an important event in his life. It took about thirty seconds for Al to tell the story, and it was only cut because This Is Us had to fit it's running time.

Guy Kawasaki for PBS in San Jose

2011-10-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

This profile was scheduled around the same time that Guy's new book "Enchantment" was coming out. I read the book before the interview, and decided that the design of the book cover would be the design of the profile- strong red gradient and Helvetica font. When we arrived at his office, he had the original butterfly model framed in the corner. Perfect!

The main narrative is in three parts, built around his three careers. The hockey rink is a frame for the introduction and the closure. (It is also a more exciting start scene than a writer just sitting at his desk.) A moment of conflict was placed near the end of the story- where I question Guy's credibility.

The writing and editing didn't take long. The graphics were time-consuming, but I had a quick jump-off because I already knew what the general look was going to be. During the final edit, there was an early section of Guy's history that had to be deleted. I didn't have family pictures to cover up the narration, so the information had to be cut.

Edit for a national show - Nightly Business Report

2010-12-15T17:52:00.001-08:00

My friend Tom calls some jobs "making Chicken Salad out of chicken sh!#". This is one of those cases.

The story is solidly written, but it's mostly about abstract ideas. Those are harder to edit than stories about physical objects or events and happenings. This cuts-only story uses SD footage, web video, press handouts and staged shots (people talking, walking, answering phones and just pretending to work in general).

It was a total charge for me to be in "news mode" again after several years of being in "post world. You sit down to work at 9am and you know the Fed Ex office closes at 5pm. You better be done before 4:40.

End of Summer Highlight - Matt Mullenweg

2010-12-14T18:07:00.000-08:00

As Bigge Crane was winding down, I started working on a profile of Matt Mullenweg for KTEH, the PBS affiliate in San Jose.

This is built around a sit-down interview with Matt. I talked to him for nearly an hour, beginning from his religious and social background to his philosophical influences as a young developer. We also covered the facts & figures surrounding the success of WordPress and Automattic.

The challenge was finding video to cover the thoughts. Luckily for me, Matt is a photography fanatic and there are web videos from WordPress's fans around the world. By using those assets, plus Photoshop and After Effects animations, we were able to turn abstract ideas into visual expression.

The reaction to the story was VERY positive. The folks at WordPress put it on their company blog and Matt himself posted it and recommended it as a good introduction to WP. It was re-tweeted and re-posted onto other blogs around the world and received many positive compliments.

First item: Summer Job!

2010-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

I've been too busy to post during the past few months, but that means I have a bunch of good stories to share during the Christmas break. First item: Summer Job!

My full time employer, The City & County of San Francisco, had to reduce the pay of 25,000 workers by roughly 5.5%. This meant I would have 12 unpaid days of furlough coming up in the fiscal year, so I found a part-time job as a videographer and editor for Bigge Crane & Rigging.

The company is a market leader in the US for rentals of cranes, but they had no video presence on the web. Bigge wanted a half-dozen direct sales videos to be done quickly. Management was interested in creating softer videos, like recruiting and overview pieces, but they didn't want to waste time by doing those first.

The camera was a Canon Vixia 30 with a shotgun mic. By setting it the camera to "auto-everything" I had good pictures 90% of the time. The CMOS sensor "jelly" effect ruined a few shots and the auto-iris became confused by foggy weather sometimes, but for speedy production I could ignore the few bad takes. During this job I edited on Sony Vegas for the first time. It was a great product that filled the niche between Avid and low end tools like MovieMaker. For editing news-style pieces, it was a snap. The compression tools were a time-killer though. If you work with HDV and output m2t files, you'll be fine, but many people can't play m2t on their desktops. For internal review I needed mp4 or .mov, and Vegas is very slow to compress those.

After making five or six of these of these videos, we had a script template and the production process was understood by the full time Bigge staff. I knew that I was leaving in a few weeks, so I created another short piece to use as a template.

This was made from an old press realease that I found on their website and a half dozen photos from Bigge's archives. I thought it was a good example of how to turn old content into a new experience. Bigge has hundreds of photos in their archive, dating back to the 1920s. I enjoyed seeing them, so I assume that others will as well. These videos only take a few hours to knock out and can be done when other shoots are delayed. It's a good corporate image series to complement the hard sell of the other pieces.

Volunteer Work - Hacks And Hackers

2010-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Two weekends ago I helped a Meetup group by doing some volunteer camera work for them. Hacks/Hackers provides an environment for journalists to meet application developers and work together on new forms of storytelling.

I used two Sony VX2000 DV cameras from KQED, where the event was hosted. The medium shot fed the live feed for LiveStream, the wide shot was the live feed for uStream. The cameras were generally good for locked-down shots and worked well on full Auto mode. The wide shot ended up looking better than the medium shot, which I was trying to operate in manual mode. The Sony flip-out viewfinder isn't detailed enough to show you sharp manual focus. The manual iris control is also the same dial that rides the audio input levels. As I changed f stops, it didn't roll through the exposures- it clunkily stepped from one level to another. When the room's power went out for a few minutes during the first morning, the camera's settings weren't saved. It came back with auto-white turned On for the last two presenters. The bright LCD projector in the picture frame caused a continuous psychedelic effect as the camera tried to compensate for the blue, then green, then red, then back to blue. And it wasn't visible in the flip-out viewfinder.

Despite the power interruptions and my unfamiliarity with the gear, I still managed to come up with six hours of tape from the two cameras. During the next week, I ingested all the video and started locking up the audio waveforms in the timeline. I had five guest presentations, one open forum, twelve project presentations and one award ceremony.

http://www.youtube.com/hackshackers#g/u

Each of the nineteen segments were about seven minutes long. During the Memorial day weekend, it took 24 hours of labor to do all the meatball editing- cuts and dissolves, ride the audio. Forget color correction. Forget ProTools. Just keep grinding.

Not my best technical work, but a yeoman effort for an interesting group of locals.

Spring training continues...

2010-05-17T11:43:00.001-07:00

This season of Digital Juice jumpbacks continues with two new episodes. These shorts were inspired by the PSAs from when I was working in Washington, DC.

Police Commission neighborhood meeting announcement:

One of six voter information shorts:

Spring Training

2010-04-22T20:17:00.000-07:00

During this past Christmas holiday, I transferred some of my old Beta tapes to DVD and made mp4s to post on YouTube. There was some dodgy material in there, but also a few gems from 1999-2001.

The first PKG that I produced stands up pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhR_VMMV93U

This edit won a NATOA Award in 2001:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLxpr2f4hUo

For me, the most interesting stuff was finding all of the old PSAs that I used to make for Washington, DC's Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications. It was a very "Iron Chef" situation. You would have two hours to create something by using the materials that you could find around the office.

I realized how out of practice I've become at making :30 spots. The "tilt-shift" video for the Small Business Commission that I did last year was really cool... but it took three days to put it all together.

So this month is spring training for PSA season. Getting back into the "Part Animal, Part Machine" mindset hasn't been easy, though. There were a few edit sequences that didn't make it to tape... one dodgy PSA that actually did hit the air... and finally, a winner of sorts:

It looks and feels like 2003, but it went from an email request to a finished product in 1 hour and 56 minutes. Winner!

Local tie-ins to Ken Burns' "National Parks"

2009-12-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

After my volunteer work on the Doctor Who project wrapped, the next episode of KTEH's "This Is Us" was crunching just a little. Everything was shot, but now there was a stack of segments piled up in the edit room at KTEH. I was asked to edit two of the packages, working as a paid freelance editor this time.

First was the story of Betty Soskin. There was a good amount of new video, plenty of HD-sized pictures and some bits of SD archive video. Also, the writer was a pro who knew how to hand off a script with all the music cues marked and the stills numbered. Always a nice thing when you're editing something you didn't produce yourself.

The story of the Buffalo Soldiers was a little more challenging. The pictures were just too small for HD. There were over a hundred of them, though, so there was a workable solution. I went to KTEH for two days and didn't touch the Avid. I sat at Photoshop and constructed scenes by layering pictures on top of one another. I became good friends with Magic Lasso selector and Soft Erase brush that week.

The weekends that I was working on these two packages was probably the highlight of the year for me. My full-time job is for a great company, but it isn't a media company. It feels good to be in an environment where everybody is a media maker and speaking the same language.

The Doctor Who project at KTEH

2009-10-10T10:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry, no updates for a while... I was finally finishing all the "How Who Are You?" videos for KTEH. This was a six month project that was produced by Stacy Bond and Becca King Reed. The goal was to interact with the Doctor Who fans in KTEH's audience by having a video competition that would allow the winner to host several evenings of Doctor Who on KTEH. Behind the scenes photos and essays can be viewed at: http://blogs.kteh.org/drwho

It began with a sample "home made" video that would accompany the contest announcement email. This was to serve as an example that the participant's submission didn't have to be a professional video.

Next was an on-air :30 promo for the contest to air on KTEH. It can be seen from 2:00 to 2:30 in this Doctor Who pledge break appearance, which also promoted the competition.

The competition ran for a few months and there were nine qualified entries. These were edited into three 5:00 promo reels that ran on-air for six weeks to encourage voting.

After viewers chose their favorite, a date was set for the studio shoot with the winners. They did the wraps live to tape, and also passed-off some field tapes they had shot. There were a total of eight studio segments and three field packages to edit.

The whole project was a lot of fun for me to work on, as a fan of both PBS and Doctor Who. The commitment of the winning fans and their in-studio guests was unbelievable and it was a completion of a circle for me. I first started watching Doctor Who on the PBS channel from Ohio University in 1985 and it was one of the things that influenced me to pick a career in TV production.

A Bad Day in Golden Gate Park

2009-07-28T19:50:00.000-07:00

Getting Granicus captions onto YouTube.

2009-05-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

If you are captioning your live meetings and also using Granicus, you can put those captions on your YouTube page. You will need to download the .sami format captions from Granicus, then convert them to .srt format using the free Subtitle Workshop program, then upload to your YouTube page. This process was put together by Tom Loftus at SFGTV. The free Subtitle Workshop program is only available for Windows.

On Granicus: log into your account, go to the Archives tab, find your video and click to highlight it green. Click the "edit" button at the top of the window. When the new page loads for that video, click on the green "Captions" tab. You'll need to now scroll down slightly, so that you can see the radio button to choose Download. Click the "Go!" button.
You should have a windows pop-up and you'll choose to Save File and click "Okay." You should have a new file on your desktop called captions.sami with an unassociated file icon.

You can close Granicus and go to www.urusoft.net to download Subtitle Workshop. Under the Downloads tab, the current version is: Subtitle Workshop 4 BETA 4. Install the program and open it.

In SubWork, go to: File, Load Subtitle and open the .sami file from Granicus. It should open a spreadsheet with the IN/OUT times and single lines of captioning. If you click on any cell of caption text, it will appear in the bottom panel of SubWork. You can do text editing there, for spelling corrections or homonym mistakes.

Your SHOW/HIDE times are probably delayed by about four seconds, if you're using an off-site captioning service for your meeting coverage. Click in the first row of text. Now go to: Edit, Timings, Set Delay. A new window will pop up. You can choose to "+/-" your times by "HRS:MINS:SECS,milliseconds" but you probably want to change the SECS which are in front of the comma.

You should go to your YouTube video now and log in. Find the video you want to caption and click the Edit button. In the new window, there will be four tabs. Choose "Captions and Subtitles". In this window, find the correct time that you want the captioning to start.

Back in SubWork, you can now add or subtract a few seconds, select "For All the Subtitles" and Apply it. Don't worry about the milliseconds. Your captions will tend to float ahead or behind the actual speech, the same way that the captioning lag varies in real-time. You could go through and correct every line of your SubWork spreadsheet, but it will be extremely tedious for any spot longer than 60 seconds.

When you're done editing the text, go to: File, Save As... In the new pop-up, you'll need to scroll down to the SUBRIP (.srt) icon and double-click it. Rename and save the new file. You can close Subtitle Workshop.

On your YouTube Captions and Subtitles page, Browse for the .srt caption file you just made. You should probably name it "English" or "English subtitles available". Then select English in the Track Language drop-down. Upload the file. The caption option won't appear immediately, but should be available on your video in less than a minute. Go back to your main YouTube page to check it.

Single-line captions can be hard to read during playback. If you want double-line captions, you can open your .srt file again in Subtitle Workshop. Highlight two lines of text, then keystroke Ctrl+K (or navigate Edit, Subtitles, Combine Subtitles). You will have to do this for every two lines of text. An average video can have 200 line entries for ten minutes of speech. The repetitive process of selecting two lines and Ctrl+K (combining them) can be automated by using a free keystroke macro program like AutoHotkey.

Please, allow me to contradict myself.

2009-04-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, I was questioning some panelist's advice to "work for free" to advance your career. Too much free camera work or editing would devalue the services offered by camera ops and editors.

Except I really wanted to attend the SCAN NATOA conference in Santa Monica, coming up in May. I have a few videos entered into the competition and I'm also interested in being seen by some SoCal stations (in case I need to move to Los Angeles for career advancement).

The City isn't funding conference attendance this year, due to budget cuts. The only way to attend the conference for free is to be a speaker. So I sent a cold-call email to one of the organizers and sold myself as being knowledgeable on the subject of online video distribution. During the past month, I've been setting up the official SFGTV pages on YouTube for our different TV series. I had to make a plan for distribution, learn page layout settings and spend hours and hours comparing the look of compressed video on YouTube. I've been putting my own videos on YouTube for two years, but the standards have recently changed and the old settings aren't the best choice anymore. In addition to YouTube, I've also been comparing other online video sharing sites. Some of them have special features that would work well for educational and How-To programming. Some of them have no special draw, except that they rank well in Google search results.

By speaking at the panel in exchange for free admission, I've decided to do some free labor to bootstrap myself professionally.

And then I did it again.

The San Francisco MusicTech conference is also happening in May. The topics are interesting to me, but not $300 worth of interesting. They don't directly relate to my career, except that these events often help as sideways advice six months from now. So again I made the cold-call email to the organizer. This time I offered to crew the video production in exchange for admission. From last year's videos, it looked they could use an extra hand. And again, my offer worked.

I'm working for free and devaluing the TV production business.

I guess you could look at it that way. I'm thinking about it as being paid in terms of education and exposure. Basically, the same things I was skeptical about last time. The difference for me is that I'm doing it on another level. If I did straight labor for free, then yes, I'd be ripping myself off at this point in my career. But I'm moving past straight labor. I'm entering knowledge worker territory. Look out!

There's No Business Like...

2009-02-07T18:52:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure what is going on in the world of media production these days, but it doesn't seem good (at least for people trying to pay the rent from production work).

This year's NATAS panel at the annual Snader equipment show was about Job Hunting. After seven years of HD panels, the number one topic is jobs. Going into the meeting, I was expecting a room of recent college graduates. Instead, it was filled with dozens of people who have over 10 years experience working in production. As usual, the NATAS panelists were a combination of out-of-touch, slightly unrealistic and sometimes hypocritical comments. I love 'em, but very few times do I get an "ah-ha!" feeling from something I'm exposed to at a NATAS event.

There was some good career advice about the value of knowing everything and not being pigeoned as just Audio, or just Editing. There were also some blasts at the broadcast unions. Unfortunately, the natural extension of this advice is a vast pool of widely qualified job-seekers who will work for any money or even no money. This pool will de-value the entire ecosystem by undercutting each other in an environment without minimum standards of pay or work conditions. I understand what the panelists were saying to the individuals in the audience, but when you scale it up into the thousands of people looking to make media, it falls apart. Everybody starves.

After attending the traditional big money media event of the Snader show, I went to the Disposable Film Festival panel later the same week. Two dozen enthusiasts were having an open discussion of their concerns and issues about making media with disposable media tools. The odd part was how much they sounded exactly like the From Here To Awesome participants from last summer. The distance from Disposable Filmmaker to Independent Filmmaker is about two or three feet. I could hear the sound of grinding gears as these people tried to figure out if there was any way to make some money off of what they were doing.

I actually think the Disposable crowd may be in the best position to have a balanced life. They have Regular Jobs and they make media for fun. They are still enthusiastic and creative in their approach to their hobby and they can still pay the rent on time through their nine to five. I understand the emotional urge to go into production as a full time occupation. After seeing the older NATAS crowd, I'm just not sure I can recommend media as a sensible career choice for everybody.

Hopefully everything changes in a few years. The economy recovers to the point where it can support more media production again. In the meantime, the disposable filmmakers will be two years more experienced in their hobby. There might not be as much call for "Professionals" anymore.

No updates for awhile... but for a reason!

2008-12-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

I was holding off on the November update, so that I could do a commentary track for the big YouTube project I knew was scheduled to work on. It ended up that the project wasn't executed as I originally envisioned it to be.

Agency Boot Camp, San Francisco, October 2008.

2008-10-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

Social Marketing Lunch-inar, Agency Boot Camp, San Francisco, Oct. 2008.
Panel was reps from: Bebo, CafeMom, Izea, MySpace, RockYou.

The marketing part of social media isn't my main area of of interest. I am a video creator, and not really sales-driven. I am interested in learning about new ideas for distribution and hearing about new online tools. I tell my interns that you can't just pay attention to your editing work, you also need to be aware of the marketplace. Plus, the cheese ravioli at LuLu's are excellent. You buy me lunch, I blog you.

NOTES:
What is social media? User-generated content, tools for people to connect and share. Sharing and expressing is part of people's psychological need. The social networks provide a place and the social meida provides the tools.

Tool: Izea. They work with bloggers to do marketing. They write (both good and bad) about products. Yes, the bloggers do disclose their relationships.

Why should brands do social media? The audience has left online portals and has gone to social networks. The audience has left the station. You better go with them. Good news- the social networks are flexible and will work with you to create an ad campaign. The social networks will customize to create opportunities for you to communicate. The entry cost is cheap cheap cheap, and often free to begin a presence.

MySpace: clients have had success with contests. Many contests. Also, being a sponsor of a special event, like a concert- having your brand name built into the player template can reach a few hundred thousand people for an hour continuously.

Example: BEBO. They worked with BBC Top Gear to send the show out onto social networks and not try to drive people onto a Top Gear portal. The goal is for people to watch the show, not to come to your website and then watch the show. That's OK, of course, and you need to maintain a web presence, but herding people is more effort than simply going to where the people are. The overhead is high, so you may as well go fish where the fish are.

Why advertising on social networks is exciting? 1. Because the audience can be hyper-targeted ahead of time. Each person has told you everything about themselves and you can send your message to the people most likely to respond. 2. The analytics after the fact. Extremely detailed info about how many people clicked, watched, responded to your effort.

Community Moderation: extremely important and taken seriously. Allow the good, the bad, but delete the ugly. MySpace has 40 people who patrol commercial interests, looking for hate and porn on client's properties. Moderators must be participants and be part of the conversation, not just butting in and interrupting people who are having a good time to say "buy my stuff." Not appreciated. Be contextual and be relevant.

Think long-term: the pages will live on, don't let them go dead. Goose the content periodically, the way you call an old friend to check in.

About The Bad: allowing bad reviews proves your site is honest and not a vanity museum. The community will generally vote down inappropriate content for you. The best is when you address or correct your bad reviews, by personally fixing the product's problem or the person's experience. The word of mouth from a converted believer is higher than from your original congregation of fans. reference: Geek Squad owner fixing a problem that was Tweeted and then getting much good bloggage from the correction.

Risks of Social Media? the risk is not doing it and letting people talk about you instead of with you.

Word of Mouth: the old word of mouth advertising is done times ten by personal networks. Videos sent by a friend have higher view rate. 50% of recipients watch it, then 50% of them send it to more friends. Allowing "tell a friend" important feature, allowing embedding even more important.

The Real World: don't forget the real world. Online should make people buy your stuff, come to your store or come meet you in person. Conversely, your real-world print should drive people to website for the engagement, and again the website should be driving people back to your stores.

...so there you go, kids. What I usually take away from these panels is an awareness of where my videos can be used. My main energy is always on the creation and producing of the video, but clients tend to ask me what to do next. Having a few suggestions on distribution helps them and helps me.

I accidentally wrote an essay.

2008-09-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is a clip from a job application.
The question was: "Describe your experience producing and/or directing live or live-to-tape television productions."
Eventually, I transitioned to answering the question... after the philosophy lecture--

I have directed talk shows, community celebrations, on-location commission meetings and in-house legislative coverage while working for the City and County of San Francisco.

The primary responsibility of SFGTV is to provide live access to government meetings. In-house coverage of city hall meetings generates approximately 30 new hours of programming each week. This coverage must be complete and impartial. Directors do not use dissolves, cutaways, reaction shots or subjective framing that is noticeably different from the coverage given to other speakers. When commissions leave city hall for community meetings, the direction changes slightly; extra cutaway wide shots are inserted at a regular rate to provide the viewer with an understanding of the remote location.

The laissez-faire approach to coverage of official meetings is a conscious choice. The flow of information during the legislative process is a "push" style of information sharing: each person speaks in turn and pushes their information towards their audience. There is not a personal or intimate relationship between the participants. Using an active directing style is inappropriate because it visually suggests nuanced relationships that do not exist.

Events that are sponsored by city departments but are not regular meetings (panels, interviews, seminars) are directed with a more dynamic style, in order to convey the "push-pull" interaction with the group. This includes audience shots, over-the-shoulder two shots, dissolves and on-air camera moves. City departments host these public events to provide a welcoming and inclusionary environment that both informs and entertains the attending audience. The television coverage should have the same effect for the viewing audience.

City-sponsored community celebrations have the most subjective coverage. During speeches and proclamations, the direction is similar to conference coverage. The direction changes to an entertainment style during the performances and includes more dissolves and on-air moves in an attempt to show as much color as possible. This again is to engage the home viewer in the same way that the city department is engaging the live audience.

SFGTV's primary talk show is a weekly political roundtable, shot in a black box studio similar to the Charlie Rose show. The program uses "peaks and valleys": there are scheduled reads from the host that brake the action and frame the topic, followed by argument between guests with opposing viewpoints. The director has to follow the action of the conversation and react to the dynamic of the table.

notes from Social Media camp last month

2008-08-15T20:44:00.000-07:00

Social Media Camp
July 15th, 2008

OPENING WELCOME ADDRESS
PRESENTATION 1
*relationships matter

*social capital must be spent, not money, to make site popular.
therefore, your personal reputation for your conduct matters.
selling puts a stink on you.

*influence is not convincing people but conversating with people.
doing better listening, in public.

*seven categories of social media--
blog (wordpress, etc.)
social networking sites (twitter, myspace, flickr, youtube)
aggregators (friendfeed)
democratized content network (digg)
virtual network platform (second life)
edited (fark)
user news (technorati)?
(....actually I lost track here. Sorry.)

*Purple Cow story
reference to Seth's book from a few ago.

*playing of a Richter Scales video
Lane Hartwell's picture? not sure
supposed to be cute jokes, but having heard Lane's story= not funny.

*"De-so" de-socialized network.
new word to me

*Facebook as silo again.
another reference to the import-only nature of Facebook.

*meritocracy
re-inforcing earlier point about listening, selling, personal conduct.

*random James Turrell and Quaker story.
cool because I like both of those things.

*books= Now is Gone, Whuffie, Never Eat Alone, Clue Train
recommended reading from the speaker

PRESENTATION 2:
YooNo - browser tool to post/read everything all at once.

PRESENTATION 3
* DigiDave: winner, Knight Foundation - community journalism
* www.spot.us pitch stories, contribute micro-money to fund the reporter.
* Other experiments - reelchanges.org, reporterist.com, representative journalism.

PRESENTATION 4
"Social Capital"
This was new stuff to me.
* Mobile is making money- more people have cell phones than any other toy or tool.
* Using the infrastructure of the telcos to be both your distribution and your international banking network.
* People buy things, it gets added to phone bill, paid 30 days later.
* Users can also trade their allotment of minutes for "cash" that gets applied to the phone bill. People can give minutes to each other, make payments to each other, all piggy-backed on the phone company.

PRESENTATION 5
Motivating contributions from users -
"please register" at front door= people walk away.
(missed this session)

PRESENTATION 6
Personal Blogging
use wordpress, be honest. wow....

PRESENTATION 7
"Social networking for people with lives"
This was pretty good, but I think the MySpace slammers are cutting off their noses to spite the Fox empire. (Anything with millions of users can't be ignored, even if it isn't your cup of tea. It still exists.)
* simple tools, no myspace, twitter, be authentic.
* don't spam. be unique, avoid mundane. tweet no more than 25 times per day.
* effective facebook - only mail, photos, events, your social map.
Do Not do all those applications, or even excessive notes.
* never forget your email is your most important social network.
* new word: BACN - not spam, but the emails associated with other network's notifications.
* apps: Twiteriffic or Twhirl - floating widget for twitter, instead of refreshing page.

PRESENTATION 8
Raines community thing
-cool introductory powerpoint that got shoved aside by time - that sucked.

PRESENTATION 9
(WOW. Bang zoom. This was clearly a very cool thing that I was seeing for the first time.)
QIK
* live videostreaming from your cell phone
* citizen journalism, life-casting, event casting.
* includes chat on the screen to the videographer.
* automagically upload videos to YouTube, etc.

PRESENTATION 10
(This was good as well.)
"Internationalize Your Business"
* European View of Web 2.0 blog = www.crueltobekind.com
* 51% English, much broadband, good exchange rate.
* europeans do not use credit cards, they use e-banking.
* europeans do not use facebook or craigslist.
* use the Euro date stamping, put the euro sign last, make phone tabs conform.
* monday is first day of the week.
* Europeans do not have social security numbers.
* don't auto-translate language, let user read english.
* always give the UTC or GMT.
* Europeans do not understand brands class associations (like WalMart vs Target)
* $30 shipping to europe is only 15 euros shipping to them. Don't let your own shock stop you from offering international shipping.

PRESENTATION 11
"Lifecasting"
Basic introduction to common ideas.
* webcam real life
* time lapse - gather, then post your videoblogs
* mobile - Qik, laptop with Sprint EVDO card or windows mobile phone.
* monetize - video overlays, banners, product placement. users= not much cash.
* examples: Justin.tv, kyte.com, qik.com

IN CONCLUSION:
Thank you to BarCamp for putting on the show. As usual, there were things I didn't like and things that were new to me. These events are put on for a diverse crowd, so you have to be patient with the things that aren't really hitting your own personal main line. I always like to believe that six months from now, somebody will ask me a question on one of these topics and it will already be vaguely familiar to me because I've seen it at one of these events.

published in NATOA journal

2008-07-04T09:22:00.000-07:00

The article I wrote about SFGTV election coverage on YouTube has been published in the NATOA quarterly journal.
I don't think you can find it at Barnes & Noble, though; this magazine is a B-to-B publication for government access channels.

Original draft version: http://richbartlebaugh.blogspot.com/2007/12/sf-votes-youth-2007.html

Actual project: http://www.youtube.com/user/SFVotesYouth2007

CurrentTV: http://current.com/items/88792892_san_francisco_youth_votes_2008

Small Business PSA

2008-05-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

2nd place award for PSA category at SCAN-NATOA 2008.
I uploaded the PSA to YouTube (but don't think the compression was very kind to it).

Side effect from a lecture about Online Social Networks

2008-03-15T14:52:00.000-07:00

Went to hear Fred Stutzman speak at USF about online social networks. He mentioned that "the rules" regarding your privacy and your content are pretty much up to the service provider. Your sense of personal space on each community is pretty arbitrary.
It crossed my mind that all of the blog diary entries I have on MySpace could disappear instantly. I've stopped keeping paper notes and have placed all trust for my memories in MySpace. When you say it out loud, it seems obvious that this is a bad idea.
Leo Laporte used to tell callers to always have a backup for their data and always store it in another physical location. So here it is.

Sunday, March 09, 2008 97
shoot Main Stage standups, meeting coverage, El Metate video shoot with Audioluxe, write proposal for PG&E educational series, BAVC forum on DRM at Delancey St., shoot Irish music. house cleaning and light packing.
DVDs= KISS Houston '77, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Sound and Fury, Night Watch, Wordplay, The Machinist, The Merchant of Venice, Juno.

Sunday, February 24, 2008 96
make video loops for dinner projection (see picture), Bay Area Media Makers roundtable at Citizen Space, presented "The High Strung" at Video Salon, getting ready for Main Stage clip show.
DVDs= Torchwood, Michael Clayton, Into the Wild, Charlie Wilson's War, Stop Making Sense.
Currently reading :
Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to Networked TV
By Shelly Palmer
Release date: 14 April, 2006

Sunday, February 17, 2008 95
Verbal 620 and Math 530, American at the Monk's Kettle on 16th, intern field trip to KGO, still photo shoot for bicycle PSA storyboard, Audioluxe production meeting.
DVDs= Weeds, Southern Comfort, Sketches of Frank Gehry.
Podcasts= the Avid Podcast, Filmmaking Central, F-Stop Beyond, Bay Area Filmmakers, SF Women's Film Festival, POV, Cool As Hell Theatre Show.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 94
I'm re-reading this. Highly recommended. Short simple truths condensed.
Learning about "portable equity" has guided me for a few years now.
Currently reading :
Radical Careering: 100 Truths to Jumpstart Your Job, Your Career, and Your Life
By Sally Hogshead
Release date: 08 September, 2005

Monday, February 11, 2008 93
study for GRE test, shoot test footage of cable cars and talking head testimonials for DTIS. the Amazing Embarassonics at El Rio, then Bootie at DNA Lounge.
DVDs= Gaslight, Torchwood, Richard III, 2046, Ray.

Monday, January 21, 2008 92
work on YouthVote with teenagers, "Meet the Producers" at SongBird Studios, visit BAYCAT and Revision3 studios, standup with Maldroid, green screen shoot at KTOP Oakland.
DVDs= Henry V, Kamikaze Girls, Children of Heaven, God Grew Tired of Us, Old Boy, New York Doll, The Warrior, Miller's Crossing, Cache, Ma Vie En Rose, Single Fin Yellow, Color Me Kubrick, Helvetica, I am Legend, Dead Again, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey.

Sunday, December 30, 2007 91
edit The High Strung concert, study for GRE. Chin's Sushi, St. Francis Fountain.
DVDs= Baby Doll, the Apartment, Two for the Road, Border Radio, Alphaville, Henry Rollins Show, Rescue Dawn, Everybody's Famous, Punishment Park, Left of the Dial, Man on the Train, Doctor Who, Tristam Shandy, La Vie en Rose.
Currently reading :
The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World
By Eric Weiner
Release date: 03 January, 2008

Sunday, December 23, 2007 90
DVDs part three:
Aeon Flux – okay (...at 2x viewing speed)
Andy Kaufman: From Hollywood – the bizarre original artifacts
Anniversary Party – Dogme that doesn't irritate; plot unfolds and emotion constricts.
Band of Outsiders – more entertaining than some of the better-known examples
Best Boy – good early PBS-style labor of love documentary
Birdman of Alcatraz – has really aged, but still of local interest
Bituminous Coal Queens of Penn. – Q: Small hometown? A: I'd met two people in this movie.
Blacula - Klassic
Blow Out – so meticulous, yet so terrible.
Blow Up – I don't love it because detached people are hard to be engaged with.
Bob le Flambeur – stylish and fun, better than Pepe le Moko
Bowie: Reality – confidence is attractive
Bubble – nice experiment, but location was too close to home
Bullitt – local interest, not actually McQueen's best.
Capote – a character that you will change opinions about as you keep watching
Character- interesting story in a good looking and unfamiliar location
Cobra Verde – little slow, but great location and Klaus goes off
Comic Book Confidential – recommended doc
Dark Passage – good noir, local interest,
Devo: Live Japan – don't trust me, fanboys don't judge critically
Diary of a Chambermaid – film has some sort of cloaking device, where I can't recall this at all.
Dirty Harry – I have the same calendar in my 2007 SF govt office as the one in this 1973 SF movie.
Double Indemnity – classic, even if slow
Ed Wood – done well and lovingly, lifts it from niche appeal
Elevator to the Gallows – really well done late 60s film. Not sloppy like Band of Outsiders.
Eyes of Laura Mars – they say big studio filmmaking died in the 1970s. Ever wonder why?
Fall Guy – fresh-scented Japanese comedy gets rid of stale Kurasawa
Fela: Music is the Weapon – Good. I wish it was definitive, but there's not a lot to choose from.
Fellini Satyricon – I gave it half a chance. I was robbed.
Ferlinghetti – local interest. Loved the location stuff at the beach shack.
Fitzcarraldo – knowing the backstory make watching it rewarding.
Forbidden Games- meant to be psychologically terrifying...it just isn't.
Freaks – seemed more nuanced than when I watched it at 18. just slightly.
Genghis Blues – before Planet Earth, this was the most I've ever seen of Mongolia.
Girl w/ Pearl Earring – very pretty. I've watched this again since then.
Gleaners and I – warm look at a subculture, plus a more honest follow-up next year.
Gosford Park – "good Altman", made better with captions (and after watching bad Altman).
Horrible Wonderful Life of Leni Riefenstahl – fascinating and love it when the 4th wall breaks.
In the Realm of the Unreal – unique story uses well-crafted film blended with unique animation
Inheritance – a pleasingly unhappy film.
Isle of Wight – more compelling than the Woodstock movie.
Jules & Jim – ugh. Whatever.
Kill Your Idols – messy, but a nice introduction to this scene.
KQED: The Mission – simple news-style production, with some info I had never heard.
L'Avventura – good-looking and the plot is ethereal
Last Life in the Universe- fascinating location, un-fascinating people.
Laura- first rate plot with second rate filmmaking.
Le Cercle Rouge – had to resort to 2X half way through.
Lebowski – my annual viewing
Lone Wolf and Cub – You know how people say Tarentino is a rip-off artist? Watch this.
Look Back In Anger – pretty good old collection of scenes of actors , acting. Oh, the pathos.
Lost Boys of Sudan – well-done PBS doc, carried by characters.
Love Serenade - oh, those quirky Aussies. They're so quirky.
Lovely & Amazing – what a great title. Better than the movie.
Maltese Falcon – overrated? Yep. (Still worthy of pulling sound bites from.)
Map of the Human Heart – reminds me of how people used to say "film takes you on a journey."
MC5: Kick Out the Jams – they come off as a good regional college band.
Metropolitan – doesn't seem as groundbreaking these days.
Morgan – charming for one moment in 1966 Britain. That moment has passed.
Mysterious Object at Noon – like most poetry readings, it is both illuminated and muddled.
Neil Young Heart of Gold – Neil has finally mellowed into a baby boomer. C'est la vie.
Night and Fog- speechless film makes its point, and early in the curve.
Night of the Iguana – whoa. Accidentally camp when you watch it now.
On the Beach – boring, except for the local angle.
Ossessione – not necessary viewing. Go with Umberto D.
Guns Germs & Steel – an obviously breezy compacting of the book. Perfect for me,
Pi – this movie really gets under your skin.
Planet of the Apes (68) – i cant really explain why this is so awesome.
Poison – I get your technique. I just don't like it.
Purple Noon – only if you really loved Mr. Ripley.
Quai des Orfevres – great location, like Bob le Flambeur
Quartet – i fond these unlikable characters to be unlikeable.
Rainbow Man- John 3:16 – If you can just barely remember the 70s, you'll like this.
Ramones Raw – as more great DVDs come out, their non-success story seems more criminal.
Ran – honestly, this is a "2X with subtitles" film.
Return of Living Dead – film not as awesome as when I was 19. neither am I, though.
Rize – all technique, but its a cool technique.
San Francisco – OK, lets sing it, again! OK, lets sing it, again! OK, lets sing it, again!
Sideways- way too whiney. That's not a "wine" pun, it really is too whiney.
Sonny & Cher v.1 – i cant pick just ONE snotty comment for this!
Step Into Liquid – beauteous even if you don't love surfing.
Strong Bad Emails v.2 – it burn-inated my mind with its awesomeness.
Sunset Boulevard – hoo-ray for hollywood.
Sunshine – some things are too epic for their own good.
Suspicion – it has its moments. and then it doesn't.
Tales of the City – I guess you had to be there. Here.
Team America: World Police – sometimes less is more. This is one of those times.
The 39 Steps – wish Hitchcock had access to better tools back then.
The Bicycle Thief – pretty raw-looking scenery of post-war Iraq. I mean, Italy.
The Big Knife – B level noir, except Jack Palance.
The Birds – hey, I think those birds are fake!
The Corporation – very dense if you include the extras dvd.
The French Connection – the tension makes this hold up.
The Freshest Kids – old school PBS film doc about old skool b-boys
The Hunger – still pretty cool/stylish if you're into this stuff.
The Long Good Friday- very similar to Lock, Stock and newer caper films.
The Lost Weekend – reach for the top shelf entertainment.
The Misfits – some iconic images. Good title sequence.
The Old Spaghetti Factory – could have been told in 15 minutes. And used a better mic.
The Saragossa Manuscript – almost inscrutable. You'll need wikipedia nearby.
The Tin Drum – kreepy. Long and key-reepy.
The Tunnel – cool modern German caper film.
The World of George Pal – worth the education. Bu the John Henry character ... uh oh.
Transamerica – low budget, character-driven. Success.
Umberto D – even more wretched than The Bicycle Thief.
Umbrellas of Cherbourg – I love this movie. No joke.
Un Chien Andalou – well, you need to check it off your list if you're going to talk film.
Vertigo – stylish, well-composed. Little bit cheesey, you must admit.
Viridiana – doesn't seem so blasphlemous or too obscene these days.
War of Worlds – passable, I guess. So that's not saying much, is it?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? - wow. Nails on a chalkboard made fun.
Young Frankenstein – just as useful as Lebowski for quote-mining.
Z Channel – excellent color matching, which is important for a clip film, nerds.

Sunday, December 16, 2007 89
SFSU appointment, pre-production of "Main Stage" web page, got onstage and played "Doyle Drive" at D7.tv screening, watched the Current TV pod (about me) a hundred times, ran into Dave Prager, finishing final Canada video.
DVDs: Hamlet, Doctor Who, The Trouble with Harry.

Sunday, December 09, 2007 88
See's Candy, shoot presser, direct SFGTV LegOut, edit Canada at home, update other blogs.
City In Focus finished: http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=50&clip_id=4509
Will post individual clips to YouTube this week.
DVDs= Fur, This Is England, Doctor Who.
Currently reading :
Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover’s Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations
By Jim Van Buskirk
Release date: 01 April, 2006

Wednesday, December 05, 2007 87
investigating grad school at SFSU. just investigating.
DVDs= Maxed Out, New York in the 50s.
Currently reading :
The Confessions of Max Tivoli
By Andrew Sean Greer
Release date: 07 April, 2005

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 86
IATSE classes, spy Rodney, work on City In Focus. thanksgiving at Iluna Basque in North Beach, then cable car over to see Across The Universe movie. edit Canada. dentist. shoot GG Bridge from Marin overlook.
DVDs= Knocked Up, Planet Terror, Hot Fuzz, No End in Sight, Romantico, Doctor Who.
Currently reading :
Life of Pi: Deluxe Illustrated Edition
By Yann Martel
Release date: 01 October, 2007

Sunday, November 18, 2007 85
ride home from Rainbow in Grasshopper's taxi with Josh Wolf. Doyle Drive interview and editing, library programs, interns. Marketing meetup for small business, Chevy's. run camera for American Indian Film Festival at Palace of Fine Arts. saw James Hetfield at Union Square. shoot oil spill command center. run into a mix of people at D7.tv screening. drunk waitress at Zazil. No Country For Old Men.
DVDs= Spider-man 3, Dreamgirls, the Good German, Paris is Burning.

Sunday, November 04, 2007 84
Thurston Moore at Amoeba, car engine fire, nice earthquake, Thai on 24th, El Metate burritos, Wild Pepper take-out, interviewed by Current TV for December, prepping to scrap car.
DVDs- Who the $@& is Jackson Pollock?, the Human Stain, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Public Access, Overnight.

Sunday, October 28, 2007 83
lesbian comedy night at laundromat, download Radiohead "In Rainbows", author talk at SF Library, promote election project to SFist, Calitics, CurrentTV. complete another CSIC interview. finish PAES project.

Monday, October 22, 2007 82
DA, sheriff and mayors debate. work all weekend on DTIS project. Litquake at SF library. Black Fag at Gilman Street in Berkeley, Pyramid beer with fresh chips. Writers With Drinks at the Make Out Room on 22nd. complete and posted SF Votes Youth Election 2007 social media project:
http://www.youtube.com/SFVotesYouth2007
DVDs= 28 Weeks Later, the Apostle, an Unreasonable Man, Deadline, the Front Page, His Girl Friday.

Sunday, October 07, 2007 81
usual work, Presidio walking interview, youth election questions at Larkin St.
http://youtube.com/user/SFVotesYouth2007
Portland NATOA conference::
Paddy's - okay mid-week bar food and mixed drinks
Bagdad - beauteous building, fun but slow.
Pix Patisserie - bacon wrapped dates and wine
Mulligan's? - cheap pool, bad 70s rock, indoor smokers
Ground Kontrol - really fun, even before 7pm drink time
Compound Gallery - nice! gallery was closed, loved the prints for sale.
The Farm - great date-night vegetarian
Doug Fir - amazing. SF needs a Doug Fir.
Powell's - walk in the door= instantly dazed and confused
Rogue Brewery - very tasty brews, food sloppy only in comparison.
23rd street shops - looking at trinkets and people watching.
Really enjoyed seeing old friends from DC and from Waynesburg.
Took a while to get used to all of Portland's general niceness, spaciousness and cleanliess. It was confusing for the first few days.
DVDs- Road to Guantanamo, Venus, Extras 2-2, One Day in September.
Currently reading :
Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans
By Jean Pfaelzer
Release date: 29 May, 2007

Monday, September 24, 2007 80
Interview interns, SCALA photoshop hot streak, fast commercial for public defender. Two-camera commercial for Small Business, attend AIR demo at Adobe. shoot Immigration Summit at Bill Graham, edit all day sunday. Stacy broken toe, ER at UCSF. BAVC mixer at Laszlo on Mission, then Big Mouth Burgers. Amoeba in-store by CRIME. Guerneville overnight, coffee shop, wine and cheese, skewers on porch. Korbel winery champagne lunch. visit Occidental coffee and junk shops. Loop around Sonoma coastline and back to 101. In-N-Out Burger.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 79
shoot fiber crew, Scala time, commit to election plan & start working phones. meet Betty and Rodney at Sunset State Beach near Santa Cruz. camp out saturday, surfing all morning Sunday. sea otters and dolphins.
DVDs= Lou Reed: Transformer, Mr. Death, American Gun, the Nomi Song, A Simple Plan, Letters from Iwo Jima, Brothers of the Head, Weeds, Apocalypto. Currently reading :
Crashing the Gate (Progressive Partner Special Limited Edition)
By Jerome Armstrong
Release date: 2006

Monday, September 03, 2007 78
say goodbye to SFGTV interns, Atlas Cafe, Jay & Bee. Melvin Seals at Jerry Day. equipment purchase meetings, PAES editing, DTIS project. KQED Social Media panel taping. start producing Doyle Drive video. finish old Koret tapings, begin three new ones- raguko comedy, anti-war poets, and The High Strung. get camera from Rodney at Alameda skate park. Yahoo Social Media taping Sunnyvale. group edit session for fun. New TeeVee pier screening and old TechTV crew. meet with Josh Wolf about 2.0 youth election ideas.
Main Stage - http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=57

Friday, August 17, 2007 77
DVD reviews pt. 2
A Certain Kind of Death – cool doc, morbid but not offensive
Alcatraz: Lonely Island – kind of thing I'll be producing in 3 years?
All the President's Men – classic 70s and not too dated
Andrei Rublev – this film defeated me. I couldn't hang.
Art School Confidential – funny! for 10 minutes!!
Awesome... I Shot That! - fun, and a cool experiment in democratized media
Battlestar Galactica – best Sci-Fi drama of the decade?
Blind Spot – compelling storytelling overcomes low production values
Borat – most viscerally hilarious movie since Jackass I.
Born in Flames – not essential but OK for No Wave film students
Bottle Rocket – revisiting several years later... and still not charming to me
Burden of Dreams – rougher companion to Hearts of Darkness. Herzog is a hoot.
Casino Royale – surprisingly, a really good film. And I don't ever like Bond films.
Chuck Close – filled in my understanding, after seeing the SF MOMA exhibit
Corpse Bride – another Tim Burton movie-world. Self-explanatory.
Crash – OK, I guess... my socks were not rocked.
Curb Your Enthusiasm – great cruel comedy
Descent – ugh.
Dr. Who – man, I love this stupid show. And now it isn't embarrassing to say that.
Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room – for me, an easy to digest explanation
Extras – hits & misses, based on the guest. Winslet = hilario. Bowie = priceless.
Fallen Idol – maybe Brit studios were just more adventurous in the 50s and 60s?
Fast Food Nation – treatment just didn't work. Good idea as script work-around, though.
Grey Gardens – cult classic, done in a forgotten style of doc-making
Happiness – I do not like Solendz. This has confirmed it for all time.
Howl's Moving Castle – I like looking at animated steam-punk worlds.
Inconvenient Truth – a Steve Jobs keynote and a corporate doc, working together.
Indiscreet – maybe you fast forward and look a set design; maybe you never bother.
It Happened One Night – one of the top Case Studies for screwball comedy
It's All Gone Pete Tong – Great fun, until the fun stops. I guess that was the point.
Jackass II – well, it weren't no Jackass I, but it was a-ight
Killing of Sister George – whoa... you have got to see this one. Your eyes might bug.
Kiss of Death – 2nd echelon Noir, for really big fans.
La Strada – What goes with popcorn? A marathon of abuse. Actually this IS a classic.
Lady in the Water – magical if I were, like, kind of dippy. like the characters.
Lemony Snicket – pretty sets, and pretty DVD menus too.
Little Miss Sunshine – liked it, but getting tired of Tennenbaum/Magnolia stories.
Manon of the Spring – slow... nice payoff finally.
March of the Penguins – great shooting, obviously, but also emotion. wow.
My Best Fiend – Klaus equals Awesome.
Palindromes –no, really- I do not like Solendz.
Petulia - junk
Riding Giants – good pictures and good storytelling lift it from niche appeal.
River's Edge – the 80s were depressing.
Running with Scissors – and apparently so were the 70s.
Science of Sleep – I love that Gondry is always playful, and differently playful.
Secret Honor – probably just for Altman fanatics. (Not as bad as Tanner, however!)
Secret of Nikola Tesla – bad video, bad effects, bad... everything. Do not want!
Sonic Outlaws – I really like a dose of Negativland every year or so.
Stranger than Fiction – cute and....Meh. It was alright.
Strangers w/ Candy – not as brutal as TV series, but still a few gut punches.
Tarnation – a fascinating movie for many back-story reasons.
Taste of Cherry – the second movie I've seen that makes Tehran look interesting and modern.
Tell me do you Miss Me? - Yes. yes, I do miss Luna quite a bit.
Tenacious D. - your 15 minutes are just barely holding at 13:45.
Thank You for Smoking – love the opening graphics and cutting.
That Girl – was better when you were about seven years old. Maybe not even then.
the 70s Dimension – Far out, man. (& ripe for boostin' ideas)
the American Astronaut – cheap, interesting project to check out. Good soundtrack.
the Aviator – I just needed to confirm that it was crap. And it was!
the Best of Youth – much better at 2X with captions. Great locations.
The Children's Hour – What, you never heard of it? That's probably okay.
the Closing of Winterland – KQED used to be really cool.
The Eye – really spooky (not gross-out) Japanese horror
the Future of Food – quickly introduces many short issues, and keeps moving
The Island – I liked Logan's Run, so I liked this. I'm a prole.ß
The Lower Depths – depressing movies depress me. Both versions.
the Magic Flute – a special children's DVD for my developing opera mind
The Meaning of Life – not as good as remembered, still some classic bits
The Naked Kiss – early indie lo-budget trash. Probably could have inspired John Waters.
The Night Porter – Loved "Last Tango in Paris"? Nazi-themed S&M your thing? Here you go!
The Saint – this cool original was eclipsed by cooler imitators- Bond, Avengers, etc.
The Servant – takes a while to gently unfold and reveal its subtle inner "dud"ness.
the Thin Blue Line – seems slow in retrospect, but important in doc film development.
Theremin – really enjoyed. rewatched this story two more times.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated – interesting topic, premise, execution. Very cool.
Thomas Crown Affair (1968) – indie experiments used to be studio-acceptable. Wha' happened?
Thumbsucker – didn't charm me so much.
Thunderbirds v.1 – cool, for about 45 fewer minutes than you enjoyed "Team America"
Touch of Evil – best with FFWD. Stop and watch those crane shots, though.
Transgeneration – what Little Miss Sunshine and others TRY to be.
Treasure of the Sierra Madre – if you're to quote movies, maybe you should watch them.
TRON – I watched this twice. And the extras. Touch of Geek.
Wait Until Dark – Better than "Bug". Would like to see it onstage sometime.
Wall Drug – junk. But I salute the guy getting paid to crank out these turkey sausages.
Walt Disney: on the Front Lines – more like cultural research than entertainment
WattStax – 3 times better than Woodstack. It's nation time!
What Have I done to Deserve this? - it's a Pedro. ßAnother self-expanatory entry.
What the bleep do we Know? - new age fructose, but nice mash-up of narrative devices
Wings of Desire – gets better with age... and after using the commentary track for help.
Yes – No.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007 756
We only go to about one ball game a year.
I feel like I got my $25 worth of entertainment last night.

Sunday, August 05, 2007 75
DVDs Reviews (Pt. One)
49 Up – the best UP yet.
A (Aum) – intimate access to a specific foreign culture
American Hardcore – great fun
Au Revoir les Enfants – slow, but amazing that he had the chance to make it.
Babel – films where people are powerless to change things are so 2003.
Below – AKA "Jerked Around For 120 Minutes"
Bobby – you are neither Jean Renoir nor Robert Altman
Breaking and Entering - irritating
Brokeback Mountain – a real man's man kind of a movie
Coffee and Cigarettes - not one of his "legacy" films
Constant Gardener – alrighty but not engrossing
Das Rheingold – good first hour, fell asleep.
Factotum – I've seen the real guy, so this is not quite believable.
Fearless Freaks – interesting, entertaining, insightful
For Your Consideration – OK, but format starting to get old.
Forbidden Planet – pretty, genre-defining, boring.
Good Shepherd – pretty good actually
Gunga Din – white dudes playing native- whoa.
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand – I don't quite get rough Australian sensibilities.
Invisible Boy – cash-in crap, 1950s style.
Iron Maiden: Number of the Beast – inessential, but inherently awesome
Koyaanisqatsi – respect to the birth of a mini-genre
KQED Spark – some gold, some silver, lots of lead here though.
La Boheme – an early 1990s staging. I understood the story better this time.
Munich – couldn't forget I was watching fiction
Never on Sunday – from the saucy 60s when prostitution was cool and fun!
Nosferatu- Classic? Sure, but Entertaining? ...hmmm?
Notes on a Scandal – irritatingly British.
Orpheus in the Underworld – liked this (and the song stuck in my head all day).
Planet Earth 1-6 – investing time, talent, and money produces excellence.
Ravenous – this was a strange and interesting bird
Rest Stop – Dumb vs Budget-conscious. Dumb wins by TKO.
Rigoletto – disc was scratched.
Sonic Youth 92-02 – some good stuff, but music is for listening to.
Susperia – crap... yet well-photographed crap.
The Day the Earth Stood Still – classic and subtle
The Fall of the I Hotel – real SF history lesson.
The Omen 2006 – better than expected (...but watch the original)
the Puppet Masters – well... at least now I know about Iowa!
The Queen – good, and square with the PBS doc on the queen.
The Thing (1958) – classic, but I liked the remake more
Thrill Kill Kult Kollection – 1993 has come and gone...
Veronica Guerin – OK, but I am tired of "journalist as hero"
Waging a Living – problems... but no solutions?
Wal Mart- the High Cost of the Low Price – everything you already knew- nicely summarized.
We Jam Econo – nice mix of story and entertainment
What Dreams May Come - I still love these design schemes.
Who Killed the Electric Car? - information and a message, without a bludgeon.

Sunday, July 29, 2007 74
Job interview with Lawrence Livermore. Stacy birthday dinner Blowfish sushi. 101 traffic = no Social Media Club. email Santa Fe- naming new station SFGTV is a bad idea. El Metate, Brainwash, Rainbow. Planet Organics home delivery means never-ending house-made fruit slushie drinks. very nice Sonic Youth concert at Berkeley Community Theater, run into Party Ben for bubble tea and BART home. Rosalinda Tomales on 24th. visit Keith Conti and tour MediaOne master control and studios on Battery. interns finish three complete episodes of Main Stage and first one airs, plus promos made. Canadian editing at home. cut hand on wine glass, conveniently get it checked at homeless clinic three doors down.
DVDs= Munich, Brokeback Mountain, Iron Maiden: Number of the Beast, We Jam Econo, American Hardcore, Factorum, Planet Earth 1-3.
Currently reading :
Doctor Who: The Completely Unofficial Encyclopedia
By Chris Howarth
Release date: 30 November, 2006

Sunday, July 08, 2007 73
present social media election coverage ideas, edit at home, apply for Lawrence Livermore job. SF Zoo on 4th July, watch illegal fireworks in the Mission. work on 3D puzzle, guide interns.
DVDs= Babel, Breaking and Entering, Good Shepherd, Bobby, Rigoletto.

Tuesday, July 03, 2007 72
New laptop with Final Cut equals several days at home managing media and compressing files.
DVDs= Fearless Freaks, Sonic Youth 92-02, Never on Sunday, Au Revoir les Enfants, The Day the Earth Stood Still, KQED Spark, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, Coffee and Cigarettes.
Currently reading :
Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
By Alisa Smith
Release date: 24 April, 2007

Sunday, June 24, 2007 71
Normal shoots and edits, plus Indian Dance shoot and Queer Poetry shoot. Tag new intro on Asian video using archive.org download. Finalize and then compress for YouTube. Editing Canadian project at home. Watching DVDs while importing many, many hours of video into Final Cut: Who Killed the Electric Car?, A (Aum), Resident Alien, The Omen 2006, Rest Stop.
The Kearny St. Workshop video:

Sunday, June 17, 2007 70
mtgs, interns, time lapse. presser with mayor and Michael Moore. meet Keith C- tour work, then Cali Pizza Kitchen.
DVDs= Forbidden Planet, Invisible Boy, Ravenous, Veronica Guerin, What Dreams May Come, Below, Notes on a Scandal.
Finally posted some new things on YouTube, including the mini documentary for CityBuild Academy.

Monday, June 11, 2007 69
Union St. fair, then Polk St. drinks: Bigfoot, Hemlock, John de la Rocha joins us, Lush Lounge, Home Restaurant. Intern training frenzy. Social Media Club at Tied House in Palo Alto. bait a hook and reel in a new client (76% certain)? guest-direct talk show. listen to Attitude Adjustment live on KALX, drink beer, call Genji. sleep all day. do Toronto post. solar panel enviro shoot on roof of Moscone Center; pull a commercial out of my butt by 5pm.
DVDs- Das Rheingold, Susperia, 49 Up, Waging a Living, Koyaanisqatsi, Constant Gardener, the Puppet Masters, Thrill Kill Kult Kollection.

Sunday, June 03, 2007 68
driving range at Harding park Saturday, then again Monday. Rainbow & Brainwash. quick green mayor dinner video. streaming budget announce, then score big canvas backdrop for studio. Mediterranean, el Metate, Planet Organic home box delivery of groceries. Judging NATOA entries. movie BUG at Metreon, then Mel's ice cream. house clean, get Kendra from airport soon, then Union St fair?
DVDs= La Boheme, Orpheus in the Underworld, The Thing (1958), Wal Mart- the High Cost of the Low Price. Currently reading :
Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel
By Austin Grossman
Release date: 05 June, 2007

Sunday, May 27, 2007 67
interviewing new interns and the usual projects.
Asian screening- 50 ppl, Chinese press coverage, upcoming mention in Film and Tape World Magazine. Dinner at Park Chow on Church.
Two days later, won a ScanNatoa Award for "Best Magazine" for City In Focus.
El Metate burritos. Holga camera shoot for environment commercial.
DVDs- Nosferatu, For Your Consideration, The Queen, Gunga Din.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 66
Work 32 hrs straight to recover Asian video. Sleep on plane to Buffalo. Rental car to Toronto, Cosmopolitan Hotel, inexperienced staff. Over to the Royal York for set-up check, bad attitude AV staff. Errands to music stores for gear. Airport to get Dana. Average eats at Hot House near hotel.
Work next day- who brought the cameras? Nobody! Delays. Ralph Nadar says he barely recalls Waynesburg 1988. Shoot some interviews, big walk around downtown to get parts from Radio Shack (The Source) at the Eaton Centre mall. More interviews. Dinner at Richtree Market restaurant- many food stations.
Work again- smoother, ambassador Stephen Lewis keynote, interviews. Subway to Queen St. West to walk around and eat at The Hide Out. Drunk taxi ride home.
Take Dana to airport. Late start, then Casa Loma tourist mansion, Royal Ontario Museum quick stop, nice CN Tower visit around dusk, The Old Spaghetti Factory.
Errands- return gear and get paid. Niagara Falls quick stop, just make the plane in Buffalo. Long dinner inside JFK terminal.
Back to the Asian video today.

Sunday, May 06, 2007 65
Slow week: editing Asian video at work, watching Battlestar video at home. meet J Rock at Pancho's on Polk for burrito and pitcher, then to Hemlock for two more. Toronto trip coming up soon.
DVDs= The Fall of the I Hotel.

Sunday, April 29, 2007 63
PJ's Oysters creole on Irving St., visit: Oakland KTOP & Martinez CCTV & Foster City FCTV. Digital Innovations talk at Dolby. Blowfish tempura on Bryant. Weird Fish fried pickles on Mission. work on Asian video. Bill Moyers on PBS.
DVDs= The Lower Depths, The Meaning of Life.

Sunday, April 22, 2007 62
DL Galactica and Daily Show from iTunes, research timelapse photography for upcoming commercial, Asian interviews. buddy has a Saturday night hall pass= drink & apps at Playa Azul on Mission, 1 beer Luna, 1 Phoenix, 1 Blondie's, drink & apps at Ramblas on Valencia, cab to Hemlock for 15 mins of XBXRX & drink, cab to DNA for Bootie dance night & drink. Next day hangover, Indian food on Polk St and PG Tips tea. judging NATOA entries. 1 beer at Schnitzel Haus on 9th. Dinner at Jay & Bee's on York & 22nd. some pressers, some writing, a town hall edit.
DVDs= It Happened One Night, Alcatraz: Lonely Island, the Best of Youth, the Magic Flute, Awesome.. I Shot That!, Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Borat, Tenacious D., Wings of Desire.

Monday, April 09, 2007 61
Asian Month interview, Town Hall mtg. Sick days. 311 presser & Koret lecture. drink at Farallon on Post near Union Square. Dinner at Le Colonial on Cosmo St. Scrabble. Walk laps at Potrero del Sol park, spy Frank Kozik at Sally's Diner lunch. Kevin, Prager and Digg crew at Emmy's Spaghetti Shack dinner. BAVC happy hour screening at Nihon Whisky Bar on Folsom. Future of Local Media salon at NBC11 in San Jose. Interview for teaching job at USF. Propose new 311 commercial scripts. Easter Sunday= annual drag queen Easter Bonnet Competition in Dolores Park.
Books= Resurrection, You don't love me yet, Small Is the New Big.
DVDs= Tell me do you Miss Me?, Casino Royale,The Eye,Curb Enthusiasm,Fast Food Nation, the Aviator, Petulia, Lemony Snicket, That Girl, Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction, the American Astronaut.

Sunday, March 25, 2007 60
Library shoots (x4) and edit. Anarchist book fair, J Ross art, Polk St. burrito. Animal Care shoot. Aunt Margaret= Valencia St. walk, Asian Art museum, dinner at Home restaurant on Market. Shoot b-roll of city skylines. Bernal Heights taqueria. Finished "City In Focus" episode three. Apply for USF job.
Book= Too Far From Home
DVDs= Dr. Who, Battlestar, Extras#2, Strangers w/ Candy, The Island, Manon of the Spring, Fallen Idol, Curb Your Enthusiasm, This Film Is Not Yet Rated.

Sunday, March 11, 2007 59
City In Focus stand-ups, 311 PSAs. Papalote tacos on Valencia & 24th, Sonic Youth movie at ATA on Valencia & 21st. Brainwash, Whole Foods. Editing CityBuild, Intl. Women's Day edit. Jim Swanson KRON 4 post production visit. Dinner Oakland Aunt Margaret, Cousin Tom. Lagunitas Maximus. streaming WOXY vintage channel all day.
DVDs= Extras 1-1, Dr. Who 2-1&2, Descent, Theremin, Sonic Outlaws, Secret of Nikola Tesla.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007 58
Social Media Club mtg at Cnet, then Thai dinner on 2nd St. cuts-only editing, PSA shoot, internship training. Anchor Steam and Ace Frehley videos on YouTube.
Books: Ancestor, Oil on the Brain.
DVDs: Lady in the Water, Science of Sleep, Thumbsucker, Jackass II, Inconvenient Truth, Little Miss Sunshine, Thank You for Smoking, Wait Until Dark, Battlestar ..2d3, Art School Confidential, What the bleep do we Know?, TRON.

Thursday, February 15, 2007 57
p-shop at home, Jade Cafe on Bryant after 5 years, Brainwash morning. Shoot pilot for Ted & J Burns in Palo Alto. Finish recruitment video for HR lobby display. 311 center shoots. Field shoot grafitti removal. Civil Grand Jury video at federal building. Mayor's Town Hall Meeting nut-roll cluster-frak. Valentine dinner at Lime on Market St.
DVDs= The Saint, Theremin, The Night Porter, Yes, Battlestar Galactica, The Servant, All the President's Men.

Saturday, February 03, 2007 56
5:30am CityBuild shoot. interview director of HR. 311 video campaign planning. city hall Docent Tour shoot. City In Focus screening lunch. NATAS panel at the Snader show. CityBuild graduation shoot. interviewing SFGTV production intern candidates for launch of SF Main Library lecture/performance video series.
DVDs: Battlestar Galactica (2), Corpse Bride, Touch of Evil, Indiscreet, Kiss of Death, Secret Honor, My Best Fiend, Taste of Cherry, Howl's Moving Castle, Andrei Rublev, The Naked Kiss, Crash.

Monday, January 15, 2007 55
eye Dr. visit & Chipotle San Pablo, Berkeley. Rachel (ex-KGO) now SFMOMA, Union Square Crate & Barrel. shoot at CityBuild Academy for magazine. meet DHR to outline videos. Mayor Newsom's town hall= shoot, edit, caption in one long day. Justine in town: Cafe Gratitude on 18th, beer at house, walk around 24th and Valencia. do chyron at KGO as a one-off, Mario's focaccia on Columbus.
DVDs= WattStax, Thin Blue Line, March of the Penguins, The Children's Hour, Grey Gardens, River's Edge, Blind Spot, Battlestar Galactica v. 4, Doctor Who v.4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Chuck Close, Wall Drug, Burden of Dreams.

Wednesday, January 03, 2007 54
Back from hibernation over the past month (the second episode of "City in Focus" was being delivered during this time). Asian Heritage Month video planning, Audioluxe meeting at Sugarlump on 24th. Emelie Xmas kegger, new vintage bicycle, bowling at the Presidio. make Xmas cards with Print Gocco. Taqueria San Jose on Mission & 25th. dim sum Xmas lunch and new rice cooker, new planner. Rodney's house for dessert. Steven's Café on Market and 9th. Archive tape b-roll searches and Best of Bootie CD. go to Tussle and Trans Am at Mezzanine. "The Pursuit of Happyness" at Metreon w/ Rod and Betty, Crab Shack at Pier 39, NYE at Annie's Social Lounge with Red Meat and Harold Ray Live In Concert. Mr. Burbujas laundry and choriza tortas on 24th.
DVDs= Riding Giants, the 70s Dimension, A Certain Kind of Death, the Future of Food, Tarnation, Walt Disney: on the Front Lines, Happiness, Palindromes, Transgeneration, Thunderbirds v.1, the Closing of Winterland, La Strada, Killing of Sister George, Bottle Rocket, Born in Flames, Wattstax, the Thin Blue Line, What did I do to Deserve this?, Dr. Who v.1-3, Battlestar Galactica v.1-3, It's All Gone Pete Tong, Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room.

Saturday, December 09, 2006 53
frame posters, new demo reel dvd, research digital inclusion. Hudson Bay Cafe in Rockridge w/ Audioluxe. Menlo Park skateboard w/ J Burns & Rodney. TechTV remembrance for James Kim.
DVDs= Bubble, Capote, Aeon Flux.

Saturday, November 25, 2006 52
Scrabble and wine, disaster vid shoots, spy a CRIME gigposter in a city Supervisor's office. Mission Police for advice on problem neighbor. Audioluxe mtg at Emelie's. easy turkey stew Thanksgiving, dessert at Dierdre's. Working on several project proposal papers for SFGTV over holiday.
DVDs= Laura, The 39 Steps, Lovely & Amazing, Quartet, Rainbow Man- John 3:16, Step Into Liquid, Pi, The Tunnel, Horrible Wonderful Life of Leni Riefenstahl

Saturday, November 18, 2006 51
Borat at 11am, Java Beach coffee, Miller's East Coast Deli on Polk. Staple frame & SF canvas, then hang (see pic). DSW prompter shoot, Audioluxe mtg in Rockridge at Ben 'N Nick's Bar. Make SFGTV comp reel. MTA shoot, city hall prompter shoot, DHR employee/actors shoot. ITVS screening at Koret. city hall CIF screening. Mission evening: ATA open screening, 1 beer Homestead, 1 beer The Phoenix, 1 beer and burrito Taqueria Cancun. Director for LegOut, Ferry Terminal shoot, fire house shoot. FilmArts screening and Don Ramon's on 11th St.
DVDs= Suspicion, The Lost Weekend, Team America: World Police, Fitzcarraldo, Kill Your Idols, Purple Noon, Double Indemnity, The French Connection, Metropolitan, Transamerica, The Saragossa Manuscript.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006 50
new YouTube videos, avoid Halloweeners, KQED preview screening. facebook entry, myspace pics, BaseCamp entry. the usual: editing, photoshop, writing. Audioluxe meeting, Marin overlook. Upcoming: homeland security Disaster Service Worker training video. should be a real hoot.
DVDs= Realms of the Unreal, Ossessione, Inheritance, Sunshine, Girl w/ Pearl Earring, Viridiana, Guns Germs & Steel.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 50
post more videos on YouTube, turn off lights to avoid Halloweeners. KQED "Gold Rush" preview. mixed days of photoshop, editing, writing. Finish a NERT. Setup a Basecamp for project management. New pics on myspace. Up next: Disaster Service Worker training video for homeland security.
DVDs= In the Realm of the Unreal, Girl w/ Pearl Earring, Inheritance, Sunshine, Viridiana, Ossessione, Guns Germs & Steel.

Saturday, October 28, 2006 49
Tio Grill on 24th, Chinatown health clinic shoot, dubs and marketing. conference shoot, red wine at house. State of the City Address= 24 hr turnaround (by working until 4am). Temple Bar nachos, Mission library, Valencia walk. Scala work from home.
DVDs= Best Boy, Diary of a Chambermaid, Sunset Boulevard, Poison, The Freshest Kids, Anniversary Party, Qual des Orfevres, Character.

Saturday, October 21, 2006 48
shoot neighborhood health clinics, car roof vandalism repair, Sean Fagan wake. videotape wedding, get Sean's chair. El Metate veggie burritos three times. Brainwash solo trip and b'fast burrito. Old school linear editing. Town Hall Restaurant on Folsom for lunch shoot. Lulu's on Folsom for dinner. Put together DVD covers, labels and write collateral package for "City in Focus" marketing. Photoshop work from comfort of home.
DVDs: The Big Knife, The Long Good Friday, Forbidden Games, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, Map of the Human Heart, Planet of the Apes (68), Night of the Iguana, Gosford Park.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 47
(Seemed to be a lot of beer on this vacation...)
Weds 9-27... Kisha & Jayna in SF, meet at Ramblas for tapas, then drink beer on back porch, they stay over.
Thurs 9-28... Miss flight, arrive in Ontario, CA around 3pm, rental car, cocktail hour, PF Chang's (ugh). Drive to LA for Sonic Youth at Wiltern Theater. Mellow evening in beautiful room.
Fri 9-30... Stacy presents Podcasting info in convention hall. My college girlfriend addressed politely. Chat with people, look at equipment, Stacy presents again at 2pm. See old TechTV ppl- Leo, Martin, Prager, etc. Cocktails at Podshow hotel, podcast awards beer. Applebee's (ugh). Beer at Odeo hotel. Old man joketeller on porch. Airport at midnight.
Sat 9-30... DC arrival, drive to Culpeper/Orange area B&B Meander Plantation at 3pm for 5:30 wedding. Mango martinis and African mud hut theme. Mixing martinis and champagne by end of evening, then poke into B&B's kitchen looking for bedtime snacks.
Sun 10-1... breakfast, sun is killing me, 3 hour nap, Thai food dinner.
Mon 10-2... more family time, strip mall laundry and pizza, truly this is the beginning of The South. Cocktail party games, Applebee's dinner (ugh).
Tues 10-3... Tour James & Dolly Madison home: Montpelier. Drive to DC, meet Nate at Capitol Lounge for Tuesday wings and beer, just like we always did. Ten Peng drinks and Japanese apps, Alero drinks and Mexican apps, Velvet Lounge beer, 930 Club beer, sleep at Kisha's apt in The Ellington on U St.
Weds 10-4... Breakfast with Greg Patsy, DC errands, OCTT= old friends and new building, terrible traffic and humidity, visit Nate at Senate TV to see the studio and stand under the dome of The Capitol. Beer on remodeled H St, Whole Foods shopping, get ready..to host..cocktail party at Kisha's with the OCTT pals.
Thurs 10-5... write lecture outline, review DVDs, drive to PA. Pizza, beer and sleep.
Fri 10-6... Stacy and I talk to three classes of kids. Mom attends. Message= work hard, make content, use web delivery, eat your vegetables. Drive to The Spring House for country dinner. Trivial Pursuit three hour slog, needed a coffee break in the middle.
Sat 10-7... nice family reunion event in Delmont. Go to Kendra and J's home in Edgewood, eat cheese & drink beer on porch, stay overnight.
Sun 10-8... early rise to see bio Dad at Eat-N-Park. First visit in 26 years... Talk Jeff Barnes while driving. Sears Halloween picture photo op with Mom and silly props. Drive to DC, dinner with Nate and kids in Silver Spring. Beer with Kisha at Alero, give back keys. Check into Crystal City Hampton Inn and pass out.
Mon 10-9. ..beat. Slack in room until airplane time. Miss flight. Take long way home through NYC. Taxi home to SF at 11:05pm PST. Find the last Anchor in fridge.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006 46
"future of local news" NATAS mtg at KPIX. Mark Taylor's animation screening at No New Theater. Japanese beer & Laurel's Cuban food in Hayes Valley. all weekend working at city hall- see and hear LoveFest through the window. early laundry on 24th, work on VLOG proposal.
DVDs= Fall Guy (japan), Bob le Flambeur, Lone Wolf and Cub, Dark Passage, Umberto D.
Leaving soon for: Podcast Expo in LA (plus Sonic Youth concert), wedding in VA, friends in DC, family in PA.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006 45
edit PKGs, write & shoot stand-ups, make graphics collage, comp everything into internal review DVD. BBQ-2 at Rodney/Betty. excellent yearly evaluation & some fun goals ahead- stark contrast to Disney treatment. shoot Mountain Lake evening gala. finish NERT-3. shoot Mayor at NERT for promo. audiotape PorchLight reading event at Cafe du Nord for podcast. make DVD of "Niko" who stole my cell phone and left a message about it- mail to police... hear nothing.
DVDs= Band of Outsiders, Jules & Jim, Gleaners and I, The Tin Drum, Cobra Verde, The Corporation, Sonny & Cher v.1.

Monday, September 04, 2006 44
Won 2 NATOA awards. photoshop messages, burn DVD to review on home TV. Avid editing "Stern Grove" and "28 Clean." Drinks at Buccaneer on Polk with KGO and KPIX buddies. Vincent's art show= Boontling Gallery in Oakland. Lauren at Whole Foods. Redwood city= Rodney, Betty, beer, tri-tip, skatepark wimp-out. hook MD recorder to DVD player. DVDs= Maltese Falcon, Neil Young Heart of Gold, Band of Outsiders, The Old Spaghetti Factory, Love Serenade. cell phone stolen from car, moron actually answered when I called him.

Sunday, August 27, 2006 43
Mclaren Park b-roll day. Transcription & off-lining many days. 2 NERT classes & one promo complete. Gather mini-disk soundbites while watching SF movies. Harding Park driving range. KQED pool party in Hillsborough. Biological Dad picture package. Boogaloo's on Valencia breakfast & Lucca's Ravioli dinner. Yard-sailing the Mission. Brainwash, triple bridge errand-running afternoon: GG, Richmond, Dumbarton. Potrero library, Mission Bay Borders. Full Sail Ambers & Emmys. DVDs: The Birds, Vertigo, Birdman of Alcatraz, KQED: The Mission, Tales of the City, War of Worlds, Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Thursday, August 17, 2006 42
Aside from the obvious, trip to Western PA excellent. Visit Bill & Dessie at Waynesburg College, and Stacy & I will give presentations there in October. Repair back porch with Ray and Jeff. Retrieve golf clubs. Panati's Pizza and Talledega Nights. Two crews shot "Project Homeless Connect": one HH, one tripod. Now doing DVD window burns of 6 hours of footage to log and repeatedly review at home before writing script.

Wednesday, August 09, 2006 41
shoot 16x9 at Jerry Garcia Day in McLaren Park, then Stern Grove nature b-roll and interview. pre-Homeless Connect shoots at businesses. logging tapes. big shoot day tomorrow w/ two crews, then fly to western PA for funeral service of Mom's husband AJ. Motorcycles suck.
http://www.observer-reporter.com/main.asp?SectionID=24&SubSectionID=91&ArticleID=25246&TM=5574.996

Tuesday, August 01, 2006 40
making contacts for 12 magazine stories, Brainwash & burrito, deliver Controller DVD. SF Podcast Meetup & Adam Curry at Sauce. SF Emmys Doc Night at Dolby Labs theater. New Mission Bay library. Cousteau podcast voice-over & El Metate chili verde. Opera at Stern Grove- first 16x9 shoot I've ever done, tricky to frame, slower production, but outstanding when correct. Another 16x9 shoot at Giants' pre-game for homeless & Mayor. DVDs= San Francisco, Elevator to the Gallows, Arrested Development, Ran.

Monday, July 24, 2006 39
30-min homelessness doc funded. monthly magazine series in pre-pro (need a host!). podcasting meeting at Leo's Audio, Oakland. shoot & edit controller's video. walked to work (X3) before heat wave moved in. DVD extremely mixed bag: Morgan, Ramones Raw, Lebowski, Last Life on Earth, Fela: Music is the Weapon, Mysterious Object at Noon, Dirty Harry, Bullitt, Eyes of Laura Mars, Blow Out, Return of Living Dead, Andy Kaufman: From Hollywood, Fellini Satyricon, Night and Fog, Bowie: Reality.

Monday, July 10, 2006 38
Quit KGO. Burrito with Christian. Drink beer on bus. Lots of photoshop layouts. AudioLuxe meeting. DVDs: The World of George Pal, The Misfits, Le Cercle Rouge, Blow Up, Z Channel, MC5: Kick Out the Jams.

Sunday, July 02, 2006 37
Applying for PT work as I'm quitting KGO soon. Doing Photoshop quickies at SFGTV, 2nd NERT class submitted for review. BART to Rockridge, Ben & Nick's bar food dinner. The Bitter End on Clement. One-n-Done at Jack's on 24th, then same at Treat St. on 24th. CalTrain to Palo Alto, Pasta? on University Ave. dinner. Temple Bar after work drink.
DVDs: Freaks, Genghis Blues, The Hunger, Young Frankenstein, L'Avventura, Isle of Wight, Comic Book Confidential, Sideways, Rize.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 36
Work, new Sonic Youth CD, more work.
DVDs: Strong Bad Emails v.2, Ferlinghetti, The Bicycle Thief, Un Chien Andalou, Blacula, Look Back In Anger, Lost Boys of Sudan, Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania, Ed Wood, Devo: Live Japan, On the Beach.
Uploaded a bunch of short promos: http://youtube.com/profile?user=richeditor

Sunday, June 11, 2006 35
Walk around Land's End & Cliff House. Mtg coverage, linear editing, photoshop. Trolley ride between jobs. Big Mouth Burgers. DVDs: Seconds, Invasion Body Snatchers, Unfinished Business, Youth of the Beast.

Saturday, June 03, 2006 34
McLaren Park/Garcia Amphitheater walk, Mt. Davidson cross walk. Savor in Noe Valley. B-roll shoots around Twin Peaks, message board photoshopping, presser on City Hall steps. Sai's Vietnamese. DVDs: Charles & Ray Eames, Bingo, The 400 Blows, Art City.
Uploaded 1st video to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kGKAQzKM7k

Sunday, May 28, 2006 33
Thirsty Bear brewery and tapas on Howard, Da Vinci Code at Metreon. Special delivery Iron City Beer and Fred Frith's Step Across the Border VHS at home. Photoshop and animate PSA messages. Land of the Dead, Wild Strawberries, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Blazing Saddles. Amici's pizza on Union. Carnival Parade staging area directly in front of house= steel drummers in driveway at 8:30am on a Sunday. See photo.

Monday, May 22, 2006 32
Editing many lectures concurrently. Bank of America HQ architecture tour. Brainwash breakfast. Videodrome, Ram Dass: Fierce Grace, Thomas in Love.

Monday, May 15, 2006 31
Paradise Lost, Kurosawa's Dreams, Adrenalin Drive. Birthday: Anchor Steam and Goat Hill Pizza. Mom and Sister in town: Ramblas Tapas on Valencia, City Hall, Asian Art Museum, Macy's, West Memphis 3 benefit art show (and poster) at 111 Minna, Agent Orange at Red Devil Lounge (and poster), Jolie Holland at Amoeba, GG Park Conservatory of Flowers, Ft. Funston hang glider watching, El Metate burritos, bay boat cruise for KFOG Kaboom fireworks, Glide Memorial Church, ferry to Sausalito for ice cream, Home restaurant on Market, Mission Dolores, Ton Kiang dim sum, Tru Spa massages. Rosa Munde sausages and Toronado beer later and maybe Girl Band at Bottom of the Hill. Back to work tomorrow.

Saturday, May 06, 2006 30
Dr. Lonnie Smith at Pearl's jazz club. Deliver NERT "review edit" DVD. SF HazMat dump. El Metate chili verde pork, The Aristocrats, Narnia. The BellRays at Amoeba Records.

Saturday, April 29, 2006 29
Last Days, Arrested Development, The King of Masks. Stream KEXP.org and finish Election PSA. Big Nate's Bar-B-Q on Folsom. Poems Under the Dome shoot. Boogaloo's chorizo brunch on 21st & Valencia. Japanese bubble tea on 19th & Valencia.

Saturday, April 22, 2006 28
A History of Violence, Good Night and Good Luck, Walk The Line. Red wine and pasta at home. Walking tour of 1906 earthquake bldgs. Steady progress on NERT editing and Dept of Elections PSA. Shopping at REI w/ gift card. Using sick days when sick instead of working through. Sunny walk from city hall all the way home. Anchor Steam.

Sunday, April 16, 2006 27
"Group clip" editing NERT, presser on city hall stairs. Back to Helmand's Afghani. Watch D6 at John's. Meet Dept of Elections ppl to discuss PSA proposal/storyboard. Shoot at Armenian church and West Portal home. Easter= Quaker church on 9th, then East Coast Deli Ruebens on Polk.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006 26
"District 6" finally finished and looking good. Worked 72 hrs/week the past two or three weeks to meet deadline. Zero time for exploring the world.
Helmand Afghani dinner on Broadway, Puerta Allegre on Valencia. Punk: Attitude, Revenge of Sith. Shepard "Obey" Fairey gallery show and Vietnamese sandwich on Larkin.

Thursday, March 23, 2006 25
House cleaning with take-out Indian. NERT multi-cam taping: rainbow over Alcatraz, breaking waves, salty air. Two pressers: shot, conformed, ingested, burned. Free thumb drive. Schnitzel Haus dark beer & venison, gerwurztraminer & chocolate cake, Rodney pops in. G4 loaner from KQED. Edited D6 to the hand-off point. iPod Nano purchase. Spartan, The Terminal, Myra Breckinridge, The Slasher.

Saturday, March 18, 2006 24
Gavin Newsom greetings, burn and deliver DVDs. B-roll shoots around SoMA. Anarchist Book Fair at GG Park. Strong Bad Email v.3, Spinal Tap.

Sunday, March 12, 2006 23
"Women's Day" PSA series & "SF LegOut" promos written, shot, edited. Work submitted for NATOA awards. Flaming Lips' "War w/ the Mystics". Pirate Cat Radio site survey. The Work of Mark Romanek, Guerilla: Patty Hearst, Antonia's Line.

Tuesday, March 07, 2006 22
The Lab gallery and Sunflower Vietnamese on 16th. Skechers and Thai on 24th. Oscars and Henry's Hunan on Sansome. Jesus of Montreal, Sin City, Real Women Have Curves.

Tuesday, February 28, 2006 21
Mission Library and Big Mouth Burger on 24th. Short films of Charles and Ray Eames, Bent, Onibaba, El Imperio de la Fortuna, Crimson Gold, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. Pirate Cat Radio 87.9.

Friday, February 24, 2006 20
lower haight errands, crepe at squat and gobble. shoot twin peaks reservoir. early morning tenderloin shoot using forced gold light. vietnamese sandwich, anchor steam. st. francis ice cream and slack day of errands with J Rock. nachos at the fillmore, picture with rogue wave singer, poster. defend NERT project. The Grand Illusion. How the Republicans Stole Christmas.

Thursday, February 16, 2006 19
DTIS fiber optic shoot, kept the orange vest. Black History PSA, Avid basics, meetings, D6 con't, D5 b-roll Lower Haight. Ghiradelli, Le Mederteree, Rogue Wave tix. Cuckoo, Willful Infringement, All the King's Men, Stephane Siderou. fuzzysquid.com Live Journal picture scraper.

Thursday, February 09, 2006 18
D6 shot sheet on excel, 22 minute rough cut finished. Black History PSA, SF main library photo archives. Chinese New Year proclamation. SF NATAS meeting. 8 1/2, Behind the Sun, Mary Cassatt, Richard Avedon, Absolute Beginners. Rogue Wave... maybe.

Thursday, February 02, 2006 17
equipment expo show, SF Visitor tape, MOAD museum mtg. Rite Spot dinner, el Metate, Polk St. lunch. Finished Franken book. Death in Venice, Hidalgo, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore.

Sunday, January 29, 2006 16
SF MOMA Chuck Close, seitan cheesesteaks on 21st. bookshelf assembly, logging tapes. Breaking Away, 42 Up, Anton Corbijn videos.

Thursday, January 26, 2006 15
Steelers on TV. Monterey Pop commentary, John Kerry bio-pic, Last Tango in Paris, My Beautiful Laundrette. Al Franken book "The Truth". All-day interviews with Chris Daly, District 6 activists and Party Ben.

Thursday, January 19, 2006
work, High On Fire= Sold Out, work. Chyron Duet. Amandla, M, Igby Goes Down.

Monday, January 16, 2006
meet w/ Chris Daly, chyron, dance at Bootie w/ that 70s shirt. Tuffy poster. Steelers game, Jay Ryan at Luggage Store Gallery, poster of cats and chairs. Bright Leaves, Legend, Its All Gone Pete Tong, The Wild One.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Chuck and Buck, Bruce Haack, Prick Up Your Ears.

Saturday, January 07, 2006
finish SCALA promo, finish LEGOUT topical, De Young pre-pro, D6 pre-pro, cold call NERT. Last Orders, Billy Elliot, Bread and Tulips, El Mariachi. Brainwash.

Monday, January 02, 2006
Harold Ray at Hemlock, 49ers at Monster Park, Tom Collins at the Last Supper Club. Long Day's Journey Into Night, Strangers with Candy, Immortal Beloved.

Thursday, December 29, 2005
District 6 documentary pre-production, Avid lessons. Barney's in Rockridge, ferry to Sausalito. Batman Begins. 6 ft Freddy Krueger mannequin, "Corporate Rock Still Sucks!" t-shirt, black dress socks.

Thursday, December 22, 2005
Ton Kiang dim sum. Hella at BOTH. Rodney and VER conference at Marriot. Rob and Digital Life TV studio visit. 50 First Dates, The Office.

Saturday, December 17, 2005
KQED xmas party, thee parkside patio. hitchhiker's guide, network, seven samurai.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Santastic Xmas bootleg cd, Dean Gray bootleg cd. Union Sq. Xmas shopping, Home restaurant, mailing presents. Bootie, dancing Saturday w/ disco shirt. Short Cuts, T2 commentary, Nico Icon, Village of the Giants.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005
fingerprinting, physical, photo badge, electric car and ocean beach stand-ups. all classic formal compositions of landscapes for B-roll, some forced blue, some forced golden. SF Podcast Meet-up. Steamboy, Night of the Hunter, Masked and Anonymous, T-2 commentary track.

Saturday, December 03, 2005
potrero library, ocean beach stand-ups and b-roll, paper editing. the mouse that roared, master and commander, keep the river on your right. apollo sunshine, limbeck.

Monday, November 28, 2005
linkedin.com, "it's all about me tv", the geography of nowhere, scent of green papaya, bush's brain, day for night, ani defranco, monkey business, end of the century.

Thursday, November 24, 2005
cutting construction paper, "Jesus is Magic," Ton Kiang dim sum, potluck dessert and wine.

Sunday, November 20, 2005
!!!, The Bellrays, Buena Vista lunch, Ghirardelli Sq., work, MySpace.

breakdown of the Doyle Drive video

2008-02-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

I’m proud enough of the Doyle Drive video that I actually stood up and screened it in public during Video Salon in December. The piece is just slightly different from my usual government documentary approach.

The challenge was that the subject doesn’t actually exist yet. “Doyle Drive Parkway” is only a set of drawings at this point. If you are producing a story about pumpkins, you would show pictures of pumpkins. For something that will exist in the future, I can only compare it to the things that are next to it. The neighboring land on either side of the object give an idea of what the future object will be like. The present and previous states of the object give an idea what the future object will be like.

Producing begins with calculating assets. Content is the first consideration. For a ten minute piece, I don’t want more than five talking heads. The project sponsor should be one, the neighbors would be two more, a longtime participant could give historical details and the designer could give forward-looking details.

Next is the video. I usually try to think of video as gold, silver and bronze. Gold is the best stuff, but its hard to come by and you don’t want to spend it all at once. It has to be distributed strategically. The gold for this project is the drawings and animations. Silver material is archive photos and the pretty video from Crissy Field and the Presidio. If I used the drawings as the very first thing, nobody would stick around for the other seven minutes of the video. The drawings would have to be the high action moment of the piece and occur at about the two-thirds mark.

The first third of “Doyle Drive” is the set-up and the background. It uses the three main storytellers to set up the situation. I love using archive photos in the first third as a “sparkly”- a shiny object to draw you into the story.

By the end of the first third of a story, there should be some dramatic conflict. For this piece, there isn’t much disagreement among the participants. I had to use the woman who sounds like she is being just a touch critical, without sounding like opposition. She raises her question, so that the next guy can answer it as the transition to the middle third. His answer also acts an action-braking moment between the scene location of Crissy Field and the change to a new location.

The core of the piece is the designer launching into a long explanation of what the set-up guy just introduced. This section was cobbled together from loose pieces of art that had been used in his various presentations. I organized the designer’s thoughts by having him talk me through the scene from the bridge to the Palace of Fine Arts. Then I arranged the various pictures and cut apart the animations to match his statements. The scene was pretty dry, so I added field sounds from the area to make it more realistic.

After the high moment, there is a bit of action-braking, then another location change to a neighbor. The neighbor reinforces the other neighbors argument, but they would have been redundant if they were next to each other. The two neighbors are on either side of the road in the physical world and I placed them on either side of the road in the video presentation.

The designer’s last moments on-cam has him using his hands to illustrate “tying things together.” The scene cuts to the park ranger using his hands in the exact same motion. I knew that the majority of the video would be people sitting and talking, so I made it a point to shoot the park ranger as a hand held walking scene. I had hoped that this technique would help keep some sense of action going.

The ranger’s last comment is a big picture comment. This is the transition to the last third of the story. Now everybody else piles-on with their own big picture comment. The viewer gets to recall everybody that appeared in the story so that you have closure, re-statement and forward-looking thoughts.

During the producing process I relied on my usual insurance policy. I try to do 90% of the interviews, shooting, writing and editing. Then I look and see where the weak transition spots are. I save one person for last and I do a short interview where we talk about those specific things. In this case, I used the project sponsor as the last piece. He appears to pop in at just the right time and say just the right thing.

I’m very happy with the video. I could be a buzz-kill and mention some technical things about it that I don’t like, but I have to go by a theatre adage for when things go wrong onstage: Its A Choice.

... and here's that Current TV pod I was talking about:

2007-12-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

This video was produced by Kate Valentine- a summer intern of SFGTV who went to a fall internship at Current TV.

http://current.com/items/88792892_san_francisco_election_2008

SF Votes Youth 2007

2007-12-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

Not a title that rolls off the tongue, is it?

http://www.youtube.com/sfvotesyouth2007

This was the attempt to do something "2.0" with our election coverage. My ripping off of YouChoose as a localized project. It begins with the assumption that very few young people would ever watch candidate statements or League of Women Voter debates on cable tv. There's too many great YouTube videos of cats using toilets to watch.

So I came up with the pitch: fast and cheap, as usual, plus non-linear. Or rather, user-driven. Instead of the push model of tv info, this would be pull model of internet information. You watch what you want, control the pace and are free to participate by leaving comments, linking to other pages, etc.

I set pretty small goals in the interest of time and completion: 20 questions, 2 per candidate, two minute answers. I needed to keep things manageable and within the short attention span of candidates AND online viewers.

The actual production was fairly easy. I found partners that could gather up the kids for me, instead of me hunting them down. For the candidates, I glommed onto three or four events that they would already be at. I was able to quickly get 90% of my responses this way. (The last few did have to be scheduled, but I ended up with 100% participation by doing this. The LWV official statements were all scheduled appointments and had about 70% turnout.)

One tip: don't put the random questions on slips of paper in a box. When you uncover the box for the candidate to pick a number, the wind swells up suddenly... and no more numbers.

So where did it all go wrong? In my vision of this glorious thing, I used "if you build it, they will come" when thinking of the audience. In reality, they won't come unless you tell them about it. I didn't budget any time for promotion. Without promotion, you might as well have not bothered with the effort.

I had figured that the mass of content would create its own gravity. Each video only had a half dozen hits, until I pitched it to SFist. Then we got something. A pitch to Calitics made a little more buzz. The actual candidates using links helped a little more. If I had done a proper PR campaign, I think it would have been a better social media election tool.

Current TV interviewed me about the project and the package will air in December. I'm not sure how much of the story will be about me vs. the big picture of online elections, but... its an honor just to be nominated.

311 spec commercial

2007-09-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

The goal was to be cheap, fast and have high volume. The plan was to make 12 of these, using some of the languages spoken in San Francisco.
The interview was shot on a black curtain using two cameras with matched time code. No cost (except two crew). The b-roll was a phone book in the office. Again, no cost. Editing was about 4 hours of crew time. The talent was a guy walking through the lobby of the library. No cost.

I really liked the end result. I thought they could be banged out, then expanded with more languages over time.

The client didn't like the idea of "average" people. We re-shot the same concept, but using 311 operators instead. That didn't have much punch to it. The client decided that a time-lapse project would be a more sweeping presentation. We spent many hours shooting time-lapse stills. And then the client's money ran out.

This cheap & fast YouTube clip is all that remains.

SFPL "Main Stage"

2007-09-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

This is a fun and relatively easy production. Well... at least now it is.

http://sanfrancisco.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=57

Covering San Francisco Public Library events isn't really in the mission of SFGTV. We wanted to do the program, but had to find a production model that would justify it.

First I wrote the complete proposal of how the project would operate. This isn't as hard as writing a grant application. You just need a two-page brief of your project-
The Library books the guests and the guests drive the content (so pre-production is minimal).
The Koret Auditorium stage is pre-existing (no set construction, no lighting/dressing/teardown hours).

The key to Main Stage was keeping labor costs down. I wrote the first-ever internship ads for SFGTV and advertised online. Sean Mitchell, the new Media Internship coordinator at SF State, was a huge help.

The admin of a start-up show AND a start-up intern program was a little high. Interviewing candidates and establishing library contacts took time. Equipment training took time. Using an intern to create the graphics package was a chokepoint in the process.

After the summer interns came through: Main Stage is complete, on the air and everybody's happy. It now has institutional support, established work patterns and a new piece of technology has come along- the Anycast system from Sony. (More on that later...)

I like the show. It could be better (install lighting, audio feed upgrades, more crew, rehearsals) but for the cost of production I think its great. This is the kind of content that niche narrow-casters, i.e. PEG channels and podcasters, are going to be relying on.

SF Solar Map web intro

2007-08-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

I was really happy with this because of the production backstory.
This final product is a good example of making chicken salad out of chicken s#^&. And doing it for the same cost as a static talking head shot.
This is a web-streaming only video, thus the locked-down shots.
Shoot at 9:15am, edit at 1pm, compressed and emailed at 5pm.
A satisfying day.

favorite "Celebrate Heritage" video

2007-08-05T10:47:00.000-07:00

I liked producing this segment the most from SFGTV's co-production of "Celebrate Heritage, Celebrate Unity".
The access to what we used to call "home video" is what holds it together. I added the red bars so I could have some wiggle room on re-centering shots that weren't framed quite right.
It wasn't that bad to begin with, though. Each generation of users is becoming more instinctually adept at working with video. 50 or 60 years of constant exposure to TV might do that to a culture.

new mini-documentary

2007-06-17T10:06:00.000-07:00

The last mini-doc that I did for CityBuild is now posted on YouTube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=53KV0L1ryFM

I've been working on some non-"City In Focus" projects for the past few months. Some of those will be uploaded soon.

Localism: San Francisco videos

2007-03-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

Last episode of "City In Focus" featured:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvhyyU3bM1s
An introduction to the community health network system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSWF09YOsDY
Charles and Scott's tour of Wastewater Treatment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaMSBiI7a4w
Tom's Digital Inclusion overview.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4cOiLnsJO4
McLaren Park visit by Greg and Rich.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=richeditor

2006-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Online Demo Reel:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=richeditor

Getting linkedin and more...

2005-12-03T20:12:00.000-08:00

Making an effort this week to do all the social networking: linkedin, ryze, myspace, friendster and some blog sites.

Contact me directly through email, phone, work, or my podcasting friends at www.audioluxe.org

Thanks,
Rich