Tomorrow (Friday 11/14) is the night of our annual VCAM Producers’ Recognition Dinner, where we get everyone in a big room, feed them, and thank them for all of the time and effort they put into creating VCAM content.

As with the last few of these events, the evening will be emceed by Seven Days videographer (and VCAM producer) Eva Sollberger. Our keynote speaker will be author, blogger, VPR commentator and UVM prof, Philip Baruth.

These dinners are always a good opportunity to take a look back at some of the accomplishments of our community of media-makers. Here are a few highlights…

• Our hostess tomorrow, the afore mentioned Eva Sollberger, recently won first place in her category at the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Video Festival for her Stuck in Vermont series.
• VCAM’s own staff took home the first place prize in the “PEG Promo” category in that same festival for the first episode of our rare-but-excellent VCAM VCAST!
• In October, two BHS students who are VCAM producers were the only high schoolers to compete in the Vermont International Film Festival’s Student Showcase — and they won awards! Sophomore Graham Raubvogel took home the Best Short award for a film he co-directed called The First Supper, and freshman Keith LaFountaine won an Honorable Mention for his film, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice….
• The very same Graham Raubvogel won first place at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival this summer for his film, Keeping Time.
• At the Alliance for Community Media’s national conference this past summer, VCAM took the prize for best access center website, and VCAM production Manager, Bill Simmon, got an Honorable Mention for his short documentary about Vermont blogger, Steve Benen.
• That same short documentary, Digital Pamphleteer, screened at several film festivals in 2008 and won the Best Short Documentary award at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in July.

I hope I’m not forgetting anyone — if I am, send me a note and I’ll update the post.

Congratulations to all of the award-winners and keep up the great work! And remember, we’re giving out some awards ourselves tomorrow night, so stay tuned for that!

Two students in the BHS after school filmmaking club that VCAM Production Manager Bill Simmon runs won awards in the Vermont International Film Festival Student Showcase this past weekend!

Graham Raubvogel, who won first prize at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival this past summer, co-directed The First Supper, which won the Best Short award, and Keith LaFountaine got an Honorable Mention for the film he made last year at Edmunds Middle School, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice.

It’s worth noting that Graham and Keith were the only two high school students competing in an otherwise all-college film student competition. Congratulations, Graham and Keith! Keep up the good work!

Cross-posted from Candleblog…

So only half of my intro to filmmaking class showed up last night and it was the week I was to introduce their documentary filmmaking assignment. I went over the process for making a documentary film that I wanted them to use in class, but because so many students were absent, I wound up writing it all down as a step-by-step process in an email to them. So I figured, as long as I’m typing it out, I might as well share it broadly.

This is by no means how every doc filmmaker makes films — I don’t even follow these steps exactly in my own filmmaking — but it’s a good process that works and is easy to follow for first-timers. Were I to write a longer piece or a book on this, I would include tips about getting good picture and audio and on conducting interviews and on different doc forms and techniques.

This process assumes that the filmmaker has access to a digital video camera and a computer-based editing system.  It further assumes the doc you’re making is interview-based. Many documentaries contain no interviews at all. This may not be a very useful process for those films.

1. RESEARCH - What do you think the story is? What’s the conflict? Who is the main character? Who is the audience for your film? Conduct pre-interviews by phone with potential subjects. Who will you interview on camera? What other visuals or archival materials do you have (photos, video, film, documents, etc.)?  If you’re making an argumentative piece, try to understand all sides of the issue as best you can.
2. SHOOT INITIAL INTERVIEWS - Get your main subjects talking on-camera. Make sure they answer in complete sentences — get them to say the things you want in the way you want them to. Don’t be afraid to ask them to rephrase their answers. Make sure the audio is clean and get all subjects to sign a release (MS Word doc)! Shoot targets of opportunity as you interview the subjects. If you’re interviewing an academic expert, get shots of the degrees on his/her office wall, items on the desk, etc. Does the subject mention items nearby that are easy to shoot? Don’t make yourself have to come back later to pick up missed shots. Also, allow yourself to follow unexpected paths. You may have started out wanting to make a film about an upcoming city council vote, but if you discover evidence of government corruption in your research and interviews, be willing to change the focus of your film.
3. TRANSCRIBE YOUR INTERVIEWS - Type, type, type. Include timecode information on your transcripts so the words relate to their location on the tape(s). On average, you want at least 3 or 4 references to the TC on each single-spaced page of transcribed interviews. I like to use a two-column table in MS Word with the first column containing the TC and interview questions and the second (larger) column containing the text of the responses.
4. MAKE A “PAPER EDIT” - sit down with your transcriptions (and a highlighter and a hot cup of cocoa) and select the quotes that support the story you want to tell, then arrange them in the order that best tells that story. You can literally cut them out and arrange them on the floor or you can copy and paste them — but remember to keep the TC info handy for each bit you use. This is how you make the skeleton of your film.
5. CAPTURE YOUR INTERVIEW FOOTAGE - Focus on capturing the selected parts from your paper edit using the timecode info you wrote down with your transcriptions.
6. EDIT A ROUGH CUT - Edit together your interview footage in skeletal form, making sure the audio of the interviews is clean and sounds natural — don’t worry about the picture yet. There will be some ugly cuts in your footage that you’re going to cover up with the footage you shoot in the next step. As you edit, consider the form of the finished film. Will you include voice-over narration, titles, music? What’s your hook? Are you using narrative techniques like reveals? How will the pacing work? Feel free to include placeholders for footage you have not acquired yet — usually blank frames with text describing what will go there eventually.
7. SHOOT “B-ROLL” - Listen to the what the interview subjects are talking about and make a list of “b-roll” footage to go out and shoot. If your subject is talking about the shop where she/he works, go shoot the outside of the shop (an establishing shot) and some footage of the subject doing his/her job. B-roll footage will make up a significant amount of your doc, so shoot lots of it! Make sure it relates to the things your subjects are talking about in the rough edit you made. NOTE: it’s important to shoot your b-roll AFTER you make your rough cut. Before the rough cut, you don’t know which interview bits you’ll use and you may wind up shooting b-roll that is irrelevant to your film.
8. GATHER YOUR ARCHIVALS - Shoot other targets of opportunity and gather your archival materials. Is your film about an event? Go shoot footage of the event. Are you making a film about the history of zombie culture in VT? Make sure you shoot the Church St. zombie walk tomorrow! Scan any photos or documents that may be relevant. If your subject talks about scoring the winning goal in his high school hockey championship game, does he have a photo of his team? Is there video of the game? You get the idea. Gathering these items can happen at any point in the doc-making process.
9. EDIT! - Assemble your film. Remember you’re telling a story just like in fictional narrative films. What’s your hook? Where is the conflict? Who are the main characters? Always ask yourself these questions. Does your film succeed at the goals you had when you began making it?

The Vermont International Film Festival runs from Oct. 23 - 26 at the Palace 9 movie theater and the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center’s Waterfront Theater in Burlington. They need volunteers to help run the show. They are offering free passes to films and the respect and admiration of the film-going community in exchange. Consider becoming a VIFF volunteer and contact Bridget Meyer for more info. Her email address is bmeyer1038 at aol dot com.

A complete schedule of films and events at this year’s festival is available at the VIFF website.

One of the most divisive programs in VCAM’s 24-year history in terms of viewer response is calling it quits.  Subterranean SINema, produced by Magister Matthew G. Paradise, has aired its last episode on VCAM channel 15.  Matt began producing the show back in 1997 and over the years, “SubSIN” has been notable both as one of the shows that generated the most viewer response, and as a show with particularly high production values.  Matt used to edit his episodes of SubSIN at the channel 15 studios, but as his production skills improved and editing software became more readily available, he started producing the shows totally in his own home, from soup to nuts.

Matt writes…

 … somewhere in there also lurks the reality that much of the material the show was famous for can now be seen around the world by visiting online sites such as Break.com and YouTube. Back in the late-90s, SubSIN was highly sought after, whether its live transmission, VHS copies, or, later on, the DVD. But, alas, the Internet changed all of that and I, intelligently, must change with the times. If you loved the show, the spirit of Subterranean SINema certainly permeates the online world in ways public access television never could on its own. That’s my indirect way of saying that I love you, VCAM — and you need to put a streaming feed of your programming (not just a few shows) on the Internet. Merely a helpful, if not belabored, suggestion.

It was a very good time. Subterranean SINema, like so many things I do, serves as a roadmap through a period of my life — in this case, my 30s. SubSIN, believe it or not, prompted me to go back to college and get serious about video, and VCAM was instrumental in that regard, giving me exposure to editing, shooting, lighting, and producing an actual show. How can I not be grateful to both public access TV and that little controversial show monikered by a pentagram-trapped skull and crossbones?

VCAM is indeed looking at putting all locally-produced VCAM programming online — though probably in an on-demand way rather than as a 24/7 live stream.  There are some organizational concerns to tackle first, which are surprisingly more complex than the technical issues, which seem pretty straight forward.  Stay tuned for more info on that.

Matt also produced the show Satanism Today, which aired on VCAM’s channel 15 a few years ago.  As a result of Matt’s involvement here at VCAM, we are still sometimes asked if VCAM is the home of “that Satan channel.”   It’s interesting that featuring shows like Victory For You!, Calvary Life, Good News Broadcast, Key to the Kingdom, Time of God, Heavenly Sonshine, Revelations, Tomorrow’s World, Living Bread and the weekly Catholic mass (all shows currently in our playback rotation) doesn’t get people to ask us if we are the home of “that Jesus channel,” but I guess the word “Satan” is particularly memorable in a TV show title (take note, future VCAM producers!).

Good luck in your future endeavors, Matt!

VCAM members trying to stay abreast of the latest on copyright in the digital age will be interested in knowing Warner Brothers, Walt Disney Company and Sony recently decided to sue RealNetworks to prevent them from selling software that enables people to make digital copies of their DVD’s.

This past Tuesday Brad Stone from the New York Times reported:

RealNetworks, the company behind RealPlayer software and the Rhapsody music subscription service, said RealDVD gives users the freedom to do things like make backup copies of favorite discs or take movies along on a laptop while traveling. It has argued that RealDVD is now legal because of a favorable decision last year in a case against Kaleidescape, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of high-end media servers.

“We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in technology, rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more value and flexibility for their purchases,” RealNetworks said in a statement Tuesday.

Stone continues to say the studios argue RealDVD violates the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act because the software circumvents the encryption added to DVD’s to prevent copying.

“RealDVD should be called StealDVD,” Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel for the Motion Picture Association of America, said. “RealNetworks knows its product violates the law, and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America’s moviemakers and the technology community.”

It’s important to note that last Tuesday RealNetworks decided to countersue the studios arguing RealDVD adheres to the Millenium Copyright Act because the digital files produced by the software contain their own encryption designed to prevent unlawful online file sharing.

Using a small Flip Video camera, Final Cut Pro and judicious use of the gaussian blur filter, this clever media maker has simulated the effects of a tilt-shift photographic lens — a lens that yields an infinitesimal depth of field when shooting subjects in the distance.  The resulting images can make large objects look tiny — like they were photographed on a miniature scale.  Real tilt-shift photography requires a special lens, but this technique is much simpler.

Here’s another cute installment from the folks at Common Craft illustrating everyday benefits of Twitter. Enjoy!

Here we are again.  Since VCAM moved to the south end in December of 2001, we’ve participated every year in the South End Art Hop — the state’s largest public art event.  Each year proves bigger than the last and this year is shaping up to be no exception.  If you haven’t been down to the VCAM space for Art Hop before, you really shouldn’t miss it.  We get hundreds of people through the door, we have excellent work from lots of great artists and filmmakers, and we’ve earned a reputation for having the best food at the Hop.

The fun begins on Friday at 5 PM and runs all Friday evening and Saturday from 10-5.

Plus we’re situated in the 208 Flynn complex, which is hosting some of the best work of the whole event.  Be sure to check out RETN, Propeller Media Works and Select Design, in particular.

See you at the Hop!

RETN and VCAM are proud to present the final film projects from the 2008 Digital Video and New Media Summer Camp!

First up, the Mad Banana Production Company’s film, It’s a Girl?!?!

Next, we have the scary final project from Team Yurple…

And last, but not least, here’s The Terminators film, Mystery Celebz…