Subdivisions

Above: a snapshot from The Whitney, taken Friday night.

At Least Until The Next Time

Above: Baldessari revisited at The Whitney.

All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival

Our documentary short Hoop Springs Eternal will screen at the All Sports Los Angeles Film Festival on Saturday, July 10th at Raleigh Studios' Fairbanks Theater. It's showing in "Short Series A" which starts at 11 a.m.

I won't be able to attend, but just for fun I'm going to move to Los Angeles a few weeks after the screening. It seems like a nice place.

Wall Street and Broad Street

Christie's Auction House is selling off a little bit of New York history. (The replacement signs are shown above, as snapped on Saturday).

Vintage Wall Street Sign To Hit Auction Block

Wall St. and Broad St. Original post-top style intersection street sign. Late-19th to early-20th Century.

You Can Do It

Now that's supportive.

Merman

Over on my other blog I've posted a snapshot from this year's Mermaid Parade. Above: the King of the Sea.

BCC Film Fest 2010

Student films tend to be .... student films. So how do you make a better experience for both filmmaker and audience? The answer: a five minute time limit. Takes away the chance to drag on. Forces the student to get to the point. Watchable, makeable. Perfect.

The films last night went beyond that, though: it was actually a good, tight set of styles, ideas and approaches. I was proud of the students I knew, and glad to see the work by the students I haven't worked with yet as well.

A fun time.

Lavalier Fail

By the end of a term in my TV Production class, everyone is able to successfully put a lavalier on an interview subject. We did 13 shows this semester, and used lavs in most of those, meaning there was a chance for everyone to get some practice.

So I was really surprised to see the above disaster during our skills test. I'm still not sure what happened. People get nervous, I guess.

I refrained from making any Viagra jokes, but had to take a snapshot for the "don't" file. Unless your subject is on the show for the ability to speak through his nipple, you might want that microphone aiming at his mouth, not hanging limply toward the ground.

(The student in question passed everything else, but clearly lost points here. Of course, the ironic thing is always that when a student makes a mistake like this and gets corrected, they end up never forgetting the right way.)

In Case You Missed It

Watch more free documentaries
In case you weren't at today's screening at the Limelight Film Showcase, you can see Blind Faith: A Film About Seeing online. Give it a "like" or "Snag" the player and put it on your blog. See more about the film on IMDB and give it a rating.

Back in Town

Left the city for a documentary shoot over the weekend, but I'm back now. Details soon. Above: a view from 34th Street.

Camera Test A

Panasonic GH1 "Stress Test" A from Ted Fisher on Vimeo.

My first session with the Panasonic GH1. The goal of the shoot was to find the camera's limits. Everything was shot handheld, seeking out conditions which might prove difficult on this type of hybrid system.

So I shot quite differently than one normally would. Rather than panning smoothly, avoiding shots with extreme or complex detail or aiming for the often-recommended shallow-depth-of-field look, I aimed to make the camera struggle.

I think it performed very well. The next test will include quite varied conditions and a different style of shooting. I'm hoping to do a low-light test as well.

Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE)

Dowser Video: Elizabeth Scharpf, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE) from Dowser on Vimeo.

The video above is the second piece I've edited for Dowser, a media organization that reports on "creative approaches to social change in order to help people understand how to build better communities and a better world."

If social change is your thing, then be sure and check out Maura Minsky, Scenarios USA as well.

Creative Approaches to Social Change

Maura Minsky, Scenarios USA from Dowser on Vimeo.

Dowser is a media organization that reports on "creative approaches to social change in order to help people understand how to build better communities and a better world." You can't go wrong with that.

Today is the soft launch of their new Web site, so I hope you'll visit them. I edited four short videos for them this year, and the movie above is the first posted online. More soon. Enjoy.

TV or not TV

I've enjoyed teaching TV production this term. Today, we did our fourth show for the term: an interview show. Essentially we were doing a copy version of "The Charlie Rose Show." It looks very simple, but I think by the second run-through many members of the class realized we weren't quite hitting it. The simplicity is deceiving, and pulling this off requires focus on every detail from the director and every member of the crew. As Director Ferrand says in Day for Night:

What is a film director? A man who's asked questions about everything. Sometimes he knows the answer.

Ah well: a very good learning experience for everyone. Above: an iPhone snap of today's Television Studio class.

"Other Side" Screening at ASU Art Museum in April

Some good news just in via email: my documentary short To Get to the Other Side will be screening at the ASU Art Museum Fourteenth Annual Short Film and Video Festival on Saturday, April 17th.

I screened a film there last year, and in my opinion it's one of the best-run and most filmmaker-friendly festivals I've been in. They handled everything very well both before and after the fest. Also, for last year's event over 1,300 people attended.

I'm looking forward to it.

Art Week

And on my other blog, we've just finished Art Week.

Sam Francis Sunday
Malevich Monday
Tuesday Title Test
Wednesday Whirls
Thursday Theory
Friday: Self Portrait with Bicycle Wheel

What's My Line Again?

I was hoping to get one short documentary out into the world each month during 2010. Ambitious, I know... but I did get To Get to the Other Side out the door in January and screened, and now it has been submitted to a few other festivals.

We're at the end of February, however, and I'm officially behind on that schedule. Also, I'm not going to be participating in this year's International Documentary Challenge -- so can I get anywhere near that goal?

We'll see. Some projects are in fact moving forward, so maybe there won't be 12 new films this year, but ... well, just check back soon.

Snow Day

Today is a snow day -- no teaching in The Bronx -- so I'm trying to catch up on several projects.

One decision I wanted to note, however: after three years of participating in the International Documentary Challenge I won't be part of it this year. The timing just wasn't going to work out, and while we will be making a film with one of the subjects we met in planning for the event, we won't get the excitement of trying to make a documentary in five days. Good luck to everyone who participates. Maybe next year.

Above: Old Yankee Stadium yesterday, as seen from the 4 train.

EgoFest: IMDB Listings

For anyone attending EgoFest Film Festival, here's a list of all the films I could locate on IMDB. I'm certain the filmmakers would appreciate it if you would sign in and give them a rating.

Definitely don't forget the last one on the list.

Absorbed
A Dark Radius
Ai
All 'Rapped' Up
An Open Door
Consensus
Dinner Date
Distractions
Don't Listen to the Cookie, Franklin
Eight Thirty
Greatest Man Alive
How To Live Better
In The Event Of A Zombie Attack
Libidoland
Love Sick
Meeting Mr. Williams
Mind Over Matter Man
My Friend Root Rot
Perfekt
Snow Bunny
Solomon Grundy
Speed Musing
The Beekeeper
The Car Wash
To Get to the Other Side

Winter Blunderland

Finished grading about 3 a.m. last night, as the snow started to fall. Today: it's pretty. Until the wind drives it, like tiny flying shurikens, directly into your eyes.