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  WGBH Lab 12:08 pm on November 18, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  

  This is Aravind.M (Coordinator/Co-Director) from the Indian HEATING UP team, finishing up the project: LOOK BACK, BLACK-CARBON. The Indian Peninsula, home to the great Himalayas, is an area highly threatened by global warming. Our team learned that the Chullas, or the traditional stoves, were hazardous to our health, yet there were no effective measures being taken to tackle the issue, nor was research being conducted on the issue of Black Carbon pollution in India. We took time to understand the big-picture, and spot the right support.

  In early meetings, we understood the script had to focus on the present condition, and high-time need, which are the avoidable respiratory ailments with cooking due to acute lower respiratory infections (or ALRI). During our quest, we had the opportunity to meet environmentalists like Dr.Vandhana Siva: Director of The Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Natural Resource Policy, during a conference at Loyola College, Chennai, and were given advice on the Black Carbon and global warming issue. After our meeting, we developed our script.

  We spent a lot of time recording the voice-over (which involved a lot of revisions), experimented directly in camera mic, a friend’s studio, and finally in a professional studio. Our many try-outs were in vain due to a lengthy script (around 7 minutes), nearly double the expected time.

  Once the voice over was finalized, we had no trouble shooting the scenes. We were in Delhi for the shooting of the flooded Yamuna River, and also captured some excellent shots of the slum sequences, which are areas still using the traditional stoves. We wanted to show the recent calamities of the climate change, especially that of the Yamuna River flood, which put Bihar and other North Eastern States into trouble, and contributed to the vanishing/submerging beautiful Sunderband Bio Diversity. Our idea was to get the visuals from television, but later learned that it wasn’t easy. In wondering how to show these disasters, visually, Vivek suggested we capture the videos directly from the site to the computer. I (Aravind) captured the pictures of the fishermen at Nagapatinam, TamilNadu. For the glacier shots, our dear friend Ryan (from Delhi), came forward to go to Leh and bring us some wonderful images.

  We started posting the visuals in sync with the voice overs. Our designer brought us three interesting 2-D Graphics: the graphical chart of different green house gases, the Earth and Black-Carbon effects, and the beautiful wipe Green at the Dark Earth, which may be noted in the last frame of the video. We were very happy that our collage worked out. We believe our video highlights sustainable solutions, and support from the Government and NGOs working on clean fuels.

  Additionally, as per Article 6 of UNFCCC, which calls for Education and Outreach, we organized an event called CLIMATE COLLAGE, at Chennai. Scholars from various fields such as: Bio Diversity, Coastal and Marine Eco-system conservation, Solar and LED lights, E-waste management, Air Pollution, and Rain Water Harvesting, spoke freely about the issues at hand.

  We look forward to comments from other HEATING UP teams on our video and also would like to work together for this high-time noble cause.

  Love to The WGBH Lab and Cheers to all.

  Aravind M

   

• WGBH Lab 2:29 pm on November 11, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  

  So, you’ve submitted a Life Story. Or, maybe you’re going to submit, but aren’t sure when. What now?

  Now is the time to submit, and get people to comment on it, because The WGBH Lab is “Sweetening The Pot” for you. We will be giving away 1 iPod Nano to each of 3 people who have submitted the videos that have the most comments.

  That’s right, people talk about your work – you win.

  Here’s the quick rundown:

  1) You submit to The WGBH Lab Open Call: Life Stories.

  2) Your submission follows our Eligibility and Guidelines.

  3) Your video gets comments. Lots. And remember, all comments must come from REAL people, and not from spam robots.

  (Just tell ALL of your friends that you need a favor!)

  In addition to receiving an iPod Nano, your submission will also be featured on The WGBH Lab site, and potentially broadcast with NOVA programming on life and evolution.

  Remember, We are looking for videos that capture “life”. Happy, sad, any emotive… just as long as it’s organic, it’s nature, and it’s life.

  You can’t win, if you don’t submit. You can’t comment if you don’t register. Submit! Comment! Vote!

  Please visit the site for complete details, and submission deadline dates: http://thewgbhlab.org/ipod-giveaway.

  Good luck, and thanks for following!
  The WGBH Lab

   

• WGBH Lab 2:19 pm on November 11, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  

  When Charles Darwin looked at life, he saw that all living things—from the tiniest ant to the largest whale, and even human beings—are related. In his view, everything alive today descended ultimately from one common ancestor, like relatives on a family tree.

  Do you find this idea beautiful or disturbing? What do you see when you look at life?

  We’d like to know.

  This fall’s Open Call is a chance to share your vision with the world. We challenge you to make a three-minute video that offers a compelling perspective on the living world.

  Do you think life is a battle for survival? A harmonious web of interconnections? A fleeting chance to realize your dreams?

  Be creative in your thoughts. You may want to tackle something profound, something political, or just tell a story about your dog.

  This Open Call is inspired by a series of NOVA films on Darwin and Evolution that will air this fall and winter on PBS, and your work may be presented, via broadcast and broadband, in conjunction with this event.

  Visit the site for more information: http://thewgbhlab.org/nova-splash

   

• WGBH Lab 12:56 pm on November 11, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  Dear friends of The WGBH Lab, I want to take a moment to draw your attention to the POV, PBS premiere of the film The Way We Get By, produced by Filmmakers-In-Residence alum Aron Gadet, and Gita Pipillay. The Way We Get By is a touching film about 3 elderly troop greeters in Bangor, Maine, that tell their stories of living while supporting our nations troops in the best way that they can. I’m so very proud of the work that Aron and Gita have accomplished with this film. For the year and half that they spent with The WGBH Lab, we had the pleasure of witnessing amazing artists polish a wonderful film. They nurtured this story as only parents of newborn child could, and the results are telling. The Way We Get By airs today, November 11th, Veteran’s Day, at 9pm (check local listings) and will be online in the PBS Video Portal on November 12th. Thanks, Christopher Hastings Producer, The WGBH Lab

  Bill Knight, Jerry Mundy and Joan Gaude have greeted over 900,000 returning troops over the last 5 years

   
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  Jason Talbot 3:11 pm on August 3, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  The “Heating Up” team in Boston, MA

   
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  Explore The Hudson CMP 11:42 am on July 7, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

   

  Explore the Hudson Hello everyone, Josh here from Children’s Media Project in Poughkeepsie, NY working with our youth directors, Reed and Amina, on “Explore the Hudson,” our Heating Up documentary on climate change in the Hudson River Valley. We have a had a great time working on the film and have collected some really incredible material from the area: For our first shoot we were welcomed aboard the Sloop Clearwater for an educational sail. Clearwater is an environmental education organization that was started by Pete Seeger and is committed to cleaning up the Hudson River. It was a gorgeous day on the river and we interviewed Clearwater educators, crew, and staff as well as New York State Congressman Maurice Hinchey. We also went fishing, hoisted the sails, and had a great music session on the boat. Reed and Amina even got to steer the sloop! Next we interviewed Ned Sullivan, Executive Director of Scenic Hudson, one of the most active and well established environmental conservation organizations in the Hudson Valley (and in the US). Ned provided some great info about the beauty of the river as a natural resource, the effects of climate change, and steps we can take towards conservation. We filmed the interview right on the river and were lucky to see one of the crew teams practicing on the water. We also had the great opportunity to interview Dr. Stewart Findlay, a leading climate change expert at the Cary Institute for Ecosystem Studies. Dr. Findlay offered some scientific insight from his research on climate change and lent some invaluable info about the visible effects of climate change on the Hudson River. Dr. Findlay also provided us with a perspective on the future timeline of climate change, including the steps that we must take to prevent irreversible threats to our planet. Now we’re up to our necks in the editing process and are really seeing the film take shape. Reed and Amina put together a great rough cut and received permission from Bill Staines to use his song “River” in the opening sequence and as the theme song for the film. Many thanks to everyone for the feedback on the rough cut. It’s a great help as we refine our second edit. We’ve been working on improving the B-roll, flow, and timing of everything and will have to comb our sound into shape soon too. We’ll post some stills from the film soon once we pull them and I figure out how to post them in the blog (I am a blog novice here)… Good luck to everyone on their films-they all look great so far! Thanks for watching and supporting “Explore the Hudson”. Best, Josh Baum, “Explore the Hudson” Producer

   
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  Jason Ignet 9:51 am on July 7, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

   

  Ecopiphany The Lexington crew finished re-shoots and pick-ups today and officially wrapped the long, interesting, and exciting production experience that has been…Ecopiphany. Coincidentally, the weather in South Carolina has been perfect for the team’s “vision,” at a constant 90-100 degree heat with plenty of humidity. It really brought out the edge Harrison needed as the environmentally ignorant main character. Honestly though, several scenes had to be cut short, omitted, or completely re-worked in order to survive the long hours it took to shoot some of the scenes. Today, for example, the team wanted to add the aspect of a flower as a symbol of epiphany for the main character in the desolate, HOT, almost lifeless interpretation of a future of constant global warming. It was so hot out, that none of them could find an adequate, blooming flower that would suffice. They had to use the blooms of a large tree in order to make it work. I guess that was a good example of life imitating art… It has taken the team 5 months to prepare a rough cut of a 10 page script, and none of them ever imagined that they would need to invest so much time into the production. Since the rough cut was posted, they have received tremendous suggestions and observations to which they are reviewing each and every frame with a much more critical eye. We thank everyone for these suggestions, and welcome more! I see this as essential work to complete a nicely polished final cut, but I do wish (at times) that I was on the beach, or at the lake, or on vacation somewhere instead of sitting in front of a computer screen looking at the same few seconds of footage over and over and over and over again. Post-production takes so much more time and effort than actually filming the movie. The crew is learning a lot about matching cuts, adding sound and polishing dialogue, pacing, and most importantly – using only what is essential to the overall message of the film. Some observations from my perspective as production supervisor: People (the public) are very interested in filmmaking. I watched as several passed us by and waited – if for a moment – to check out what is going on. Their interest and curiosity overpowered their instinct to ignore us, and after talking to many who just came right up to me and asked while filming was going on, they even agreed to log on and check out our rough cut on the WGBH website! Evan, Padraig, and Ishan, even Harrison, have learned and have grown so much in the past few months. From a teacher’s perspective, I have noticed their skills increase each day, so much so that I took a much less active role in the process every time that we met. Today, they finished the parking garage scene by themselves, because they no longer needed my help and advice – it was a great accomplishment. In a much more significant sense, however, (not even having anything to do with film) I have seen these students grow socially, responsibly, and emotionally. I think this is an aspect of the process that WGBH (unknowingly?) incorporates into each Open Call. These young filmmakers are certainly learning more about specific issues of our time and providing an excellent voice for each topic covered, but they are also learning a lot about themselves, and how they fit into this great big world. I have watched as my students worked together, laughed, yelled, struggled, overcame…all to accomplish something that ultimately will prove to them that they can achieve anything. And I think that is what this is all about. Ecopiphany has not just become a chance for these three students from Lexington High School to have their voice heard on the topic of Global Warming, it has been a chance for them to find their voices – and with that, a powerful sense of confidence, enthusiasm, personal strength, and passion. What an amazing experience this has been… but it’s not over yet… More stats: Total run-time: 00:10:01 (will be shortened) 1 lost cell phone 2.58 gallons of Dr. Pepper consumed (by one person!) 8 trips around the parking garage in my car for one scene 9 Locations used (we thank everyone for their cooperation!) 4 extras – 1 not used (sorry Connor) approx. 175 miles driven by Harrison 100…MANY hours on visual effects by Evan 2 out of 3 times Padraig lost (one by me, one by Harrison) 5 GB left on our editing computer from 75 GB (that is how much we filmed)

   

• Jason Ignet 10:17 am on June 15, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

   

  Ecopiphany It is always interesting how fast time flies when you are doing something that you greatly enjoy.  We started this “little” project about four months ago, and we are still going strong.  I just checked our production schedule today and I said to myself, “Wow!  We’ve been working on it for that long!?  It certainly didn’t seem like it.”  But it’s true…and we’re STILL not finished. The crew from Lexington High School consists of Evan Wu, Padraig Kelly, and Ishan Patel.  I mainly serve as their supervisor, producer (if I can be called that), and coordinator – I’ll also add blog creator too…because they are high school kids, and they have such busy lives.  Anyway, the whole idea for Ecopiphany came from a long discussion in class one day after school.  It was a group consensus that they did not want to do a documentary because they wanted to “be different,” their terms.  So they wrote up a short script, filmed the pitch, and here we are. It’s tough because they want to make it look so professional…but we just don’t have the resources yet.  We are using basic digital camcorders, makeshift equipment for dollies and depth of field, locations based on availability but mostly improvised…it’s tough.  The great thing is, they are not disheartened.  They are having fun, doing a fantastic job with what they’ve got, and producing some great footage.  On the positive side, our post production work should look amazing!  I’ve been involved with filmmaking off-and-on since college so I was able to teach them how to use the FinalCut Pro software and little things on After Effects .  Evan is a whiz-kid on After Effects (he’s the one who made the effects on the pitch reel).  I literally spent several of my planning periods at school watching the tutorials at VIDEOCOPILOT.com so that I could catch up to him.

  Stats so far (more to follow): Crewmen (Ishan & Padraig), Crutches (Evan) Footage = approx. 3 hrs. 21 mins. (which we have to edit down to 5 – 10 mins.) Lead Actor = one Harrison Ayer: a very talented student from Lexington High School who stepped up when our “professional” was unable to work with us. He is doing a great job. Trips to Columbia, SC (main location) – 5 Times Padraig forgot to start filming – 3 Times the crew forgot to turn the camera off – a lot! Days lingered of “Totally Ripped Abs” – 2 Perfect shooting days – 7 Times Ishan was in the frame of a perfect shot – 1 Times Evan said “That’s a hole in my heart!” – countless (but we do have a name for our production company now, haha!) They only have two more days of filming left, but we have already started editing some of the footage together. Now that school is out, they will meet with me in order to finish the rough cut on time. Whew…it’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun. - more later…

   
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  urbanartspartnership 10:17 am on June 15, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

   

  How to Reduce your Carbon Footprint We applied for the grant to make an animation for WGBH because we felt this opportunity would provide us with a creative way to display the important issue of global warming and how each person in the world creates an impact through their carbon footprint. We wanted to bring awareness to some of the simple steps that each individual can and should take to offset their carbon footprint, such as turning your lights, TV or computer off when not in use; taking public transportation; and recycling. I don’t think my peers realize that they can be part of the solution to decrease global warming, so we hope our film is both an engaging and educational way to inform people and activate them to make changes.-Olivia McClendon and Zanetta King As a class, we learned about Global Warming. We then asked ourselves the simplest steps we could each take to reduce our carbon footprint in our daily lives and save money while doing so. In learning the process of good storytelling, we all wrote down different ideas and presented them. Through selection and elimination, we came up with some winning ideas to weave into an entertaining story about carbon footprint. We learned key filmmaking concepts and skills (fiction vs. non-fiction, angles, framing, composition and visual design). We also talked about pop culture in filmmaking and how we could capitalize on that to evolve our story. We thought the most compelling way to get our audience’s attention and have them adopt these steps was by animating our trash turning into a monster and telling us to wake up and do something about the situation we are helping to create by non action. We used photo shop, photography, stop frame animation and adobe after effects to realize our vision.–Class Statement

  I‘m learning how to use photo shop, animate, create characters that can speak and create thought bubbles and other awesome things. We are focusing on the environmental issue of reducing one’s carbon footprint. This is a great opportunity and I am learning a lot of new skills.-Christopher Guillen I’m learning about what a carbon footprint is and how to animate. The main idea is to understand what a carbon footprint is and how can we show the world how to reduce it.              The US has the highest carbon footprint and we must reduce it by carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting is how to make up for your carbon footprint capacity. Every little thing you do can affect the environment greatly. Our class/crew decided that the solution we have is how can we reduce the amount of electricity, gas, and oil usage for ourselves. In the end, we are making an animation to show our ideas to the world. -Tenzin Gompo I’m learning a lot about animation and how to reduce our carbon footprint. Some of the things we are animating are bottled water and gases from cars to give people an idea of what causes a carbon footprint. -Michael Cosme

   
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  Kavita Pillay 3:39 pm on April 17, 2009 | 0 | # |
  

  Channeling the Martha Within (minus that whole megalomania and prison sentence thing)

  Monday marks the 113th Boston Marathon, which got me thinking that making a film is like running a marathon. A marathon that involves carrying a shotput in one arm and throwing a javelin with the other while running hurdles every step of the way.

  Whether these hurdles are creative, technical or financial, they can crush your epic celluloid career before you can say Camera d’Or. The important thing is to know that every filmmaker encounters hurdles. The other important thing is to figure out what gets you to clear those hurdles so that you can make it to the #%$@ finish line.

  * * *

  Like tens of thousands of other women who are part of the crafty grrrl movement, I have found that when the going gets tough, the tough get glue gunning. So much so that my family now refers to me as Brown Martha. I have a closet full of quilling paper, embroidery floss, Gocco gear, soap making molds and eight years worth of Ready Made Magazine to back up my credentials, so minus the martinet persona + insider trading that goes along with such a title, I’m sort of proud of this nickname.

  As such, when I came across something called a case bound tunnel book at a local Paper Source, I knew I had found the newest jewel in my little empire.

  

  Look mommy, it's a case bound tunnel book!

  Whee! This was my first attempt at a case bound tunnel book, which, in case you can’t tell, is the grown up version of a pop-up book. It took about four hours from start to finish and I made a number of errors along the way. I probably also have some nerve damage from gripping an Exacto knife for that long, but that’s a small sacrifice in the long quest for Empire. Regardless, four hours spent doing something creative and not related to my film helped me sit down and do other uncreative, film-related tasks (like transcribing and translating hours and hours of interviews). Which is why I thought that I would mention it here.

  * * *

  I realize that some Lazy McLazingtons skipped all of the calorie zapping, wrinkle eliminating, life transforming secrets in the first five paragraphs of this post, so here are the Cliff Notes:

  1. Like filmmaking, many crafty endeavors involve problem solving.
  2. And creative problem solving in on one project can bleed over into other projects.
  3. Besides which, a film can take years to make. In the meanwhile it’s helpful to have pursuits that offer more immediate, tangible, creative gratification.

  * * *

  If you share my penchant for decoupaging and glitter gluing your way out of your creative funks, you might also enjoy 43 Folders, a blog dedicated to “improving the quality of your career and life by managing your attention in a way that allows you to work your ass off on the creative projects that matter most to you.” Check it out then get back to work!

   

• Lab Highlights

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• Innovation Through Discussion

  It's often through discussion that some of the greatest and most innovative ideas are revealed. It is in this spirit that The WGBH Lab presents the Production Blog, a space for Lab media makers – past and present – to discuss their film projects, challenges, and accomplishments.
  
  Join in the discussion and follow the journeys through the creative process.
  
  

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