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  Eren Isabel McGinnis 6:36 pm on September 26, 2008 | 1 | # |
  Tags: mi otro yo

  We were able to spend some time recently with Arturo Rodriguez, one of the young stars of “Mi Otro Yo”. Arturo is a freshman at The University of Arizona and he is enjoying the challenge of being a college student. 

  With Leilani, another one of the stars of “Mi Otro Yo”, he recently attended a meeting with incoming members of the Tucson Unified School Districts Governing Board.  Arturo said he was 30 or 40 years younger than anyone else in the audience.

   

  Leilani and Arturo quizzed the incoming board members on their stance towards keeping Ethnic Studies in the classroom.  

  Last year at Tucson High School, Arturo liked to dress vaquero/cowboy style to show pride in his Sinaloan roots.   A professor at the University of Arizona has encouraged him to keep up this tradition.

  Arturo’s cowboy hat features autographs from a member of the Banda Tres Rios, from Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico:

  http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=182908149

  And also the Grupo Laberinto, from Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico:

  http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=258204632

  Eren  

  http://www.dosvatos.com

   
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  WGBH Lab 11:04 am on August 18, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Election 2008, PBS.org, Vote

  WGBH Lab on PBS.org

  In a cool turn of events, “Voting Schmoting,” one of our Election 2008 Open Call shorts, got featured on the PBS Vote 2008 site. Check it out:

  

  This may be the first of many, so check back soon to hear more!

  Edit: Looks like it got changed out for another video feature over the weekend, but you can find a screenshot above and you can still watch the short on the WGBH Lab website

   
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  beckbeam 3:06 pm on June 28, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: film, final, washington d.c

  Entry_03: The End

  So as we all know – All good things must come to the end. Including my short for wgbh’s election inspired shorts collection.

  In the end – I decided to change the title of my piece from “Faith and Circumstance” to “Tell me to Believe.”. I have two big reasons for changing it. 1. To make a statement – a strong statement – encouraging people to watch and listen to the piece while offering insight about my P.O.V on the media’s influence over people 2. I don’t want to scare people away with the direct mention of faith/religion in the title. I found that the mention of faith/religion immediately turned people off from watching.

  The hardest part of final finishing was tweaking audio. I really need an audio professional to go though and make all of those kinds of adjustments but, I did what I could do.

  The most important thing to remember at the end of each project is taking the time and energy to recognize and thank each and every great person who made my project possible. THANKS ALL!

  I hope you all enjoy …… There is bound to be more exciting projects from me – beckyb – coming soon.

  http://www.beckybeamer.com > for more information about this project and more.

   
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  chrismetzler 10:53 pm on June 11, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Voting Schmoting

  Okay, as the deadline for completing get near I figured it was time to throw my baseball cap into the WGBH blogging ring.

  As to updates on the project and such.

  - In our initial submission we’d titled our piece, THE DECISION OF WHETHER & HOW TO VOTE. Yeah, it’s a moutful and just too straightforward, not really reflecting the style of the piece you’re going to watch. So, once we were selected to make the film, we’ve been letting the ideas in our head circle around like birds and see if any of them would fly off. One did, VOTING SCHMOTING, and that’s the current working title, as we liked how it conveyed some of the underlying humor that we’re trying to capture in the subject. That is, voting is a respected, serious thing, but like most things in life, there is always some underlying comedy to the complexity of life and we’d like to capture a little of that.

  - Since this piece involves reappropriating an older interview we did, a lot of the work we’re doing is on the graphics end of things, so not a lot of shooting in the field for this piece, other than for the odd still photo and such. Not a bad thing, but it’s nice to not just be in the computer all of the time. Alas, that is what a decent amount of filmmaking is though.

  - However, using that older interview has proved to be a bit problematic at the moment, as when we first did that interview with Gordon Tullock, we didn’t have him sign a release form. Very careless of us, because while he consented to the interview and was supportive of the project, having that paperwork is something that for delivery one often needs to get your film broadcast. We’re usually so good about getting signed releases, but in this incident we just got distracted and now we’re doing extra work to fix that. Right now Professor Tullock seems to be on Summer vacation, so he’s been tough to get a hold of and whether we’ll get the signed release back in time is uncertain, so hopefully WGBH legal will sign off on using the interview without it.

  - Other thoughts. The audio on the rough cut is rough, as we exported the cut with the shotgun mic, not the lav, so ignore the roughness of the rough cut and if you have suggestions about content, those would be the most helpful to us.

  Also, the ideal running time for the Open Call is 3 minutes and the rough cut is at 4:30 minutes, so suggestions on how to trim it down would be fantastic.

  Okay, that’s it for now, but we’ll be looking forward to your comments on the rough cut and finishing this thing up.

  Chris & Josh

  http://lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008/rough-cuts/voting-schmoting

   
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  WGBH Lab 1:18 pm on June 10, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Election 2008, Open Call, Rough Cuts, WGBH

  Give Your Feedback on Election Rough Cuts:

  Give your input on how to improve the shorts!

  After working hard for the past 4 weeks, our 10 selected filmmakers have finished the Rough Cuts of their shorts about the 2008 Election — and now they need YOUR input to complete them!

  Visit the WGBH Lab website and offer our Open Call filmmakers your feedback on what they have so far. Your input could be just what they need to hear to make a great piece! Shorts may be broadcast nationwide in association with P.O.V.’s summer schedule, so be sure to let the producers know what you think and make an impact on work that may air on PBS!

  You’ve got ONE WEEK to have your say, so get to it!
  http://lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008/rough-cuts

   
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  Eren Isabel McGinnis 1:25 am on June 8, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Derechos Humanos, Tucson High School Mechistas

  

  Crystal in the Barrio Viejo

  It has been great fun to work with Tucson High School students.  I love everything that shows in their faces.  The students are educated, thinking, earnest, and innocent.

  We did our final shoot this morning with Crystal, who is 16 and also a neighbor.  She will be going to Oakland soon to do youth training with Derechos Humanos. 

  http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net/

  Crystal told us she does not like to spend time away from her family because she gets really homesick.  Her Derechos Humanos youth group are planning a vigil at the home of Tom Horne, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, who is one of the most vocal critics of Raza/Mexican American Studies.

  We shot our short, which is now called, “Mi Otro Yo/My Other Me” in the historic part of town or the Barrio Viejo.  It is real close by Tucson High School and some of our subjects would ride their bikes to meet us for shoots.  One challenge has been the really hot, dry, and howling wind, which makes it difficult to record audio and also hold a reflector.  We have shot mostly outdoors and sometimes it sounds like a freakin’ war zone where we are shooting. The Tucson summer has arrived in force. 

  Ari slashed and cut a good six minutes down to three minutes today.  We will show our three minutes to a few of the neighbors this afternoon, to see if they can understand what is so entirely understandable to us right now. 

  http://www.dosvatos.com

   

   

   

• Eren Isabel McGinnis 1:12 am on June 8, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Dolores Huerta, Positive Representation in Education, Senate Bill 1108, Tucson High School

  Leilani, one of the young stars of our short said, “Ethnic Studies programs are always under attack. That’s history.”

  The disdain and critique of Raza/Mexican American Studies ebbs and flows but it got really unattractive when activist Dolores Huerta, who co-founded The United Farm Workers, with Cesar Chavez, told Tucson High School students that “Republicans hate Latinos.”  This was just one tiny thing that Dolores said, during a long speech.  Local and national talk show pundits had a field day with that zinger and a scorching wind, full of fine dust and microscopic cactus needles, blazed into the offices of some of our elected politicians in Phoenix. 

  Ari and I did not realize how polarizing this issue is in our community.  I think it has to do with deep-seated fears about immigration, our closeness to the border, and racism. 

  Our newspapers and radio shows are filled with discussion and the students are upset about rumors that the Fox News Network’s Bill O’Reilly has plans to launch an attack against Raza/Mexican American Studies at Tucson High School.   This sort of negative attention helps mobilize their Coalition for Positive Representation in Education.

  http://www.dosvatos.com

  Leilani at the Tiradito Shrine in the Barrio Viejo

  

   

   
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  beckbeam 11:06 am on June 6, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: planning, Production, stock footage, washington d.c

  Entry_02: Researching Stock Footage

  The best and most challenging aspect of producing my short is the large amount stock footage that I need.

  I am finding some cheap (royalty free) and free (public domain or creative commons) footage. I learned a lot about “CC” licensing for this project. It is really a neat idea. I suggest checking out this website for more info: http://creativecommons.org/.

  I also find myself doing a little bit of pleading as well.

  I spent one full day to visit the National Archive in College Park, Maryland to see what kind of Public Domain Footage I could dig up. Let me tell you – it is a gold mine. BUT you need to plan in advance – I would say six weeks in advance (which I didn’t do). Plus – there are strict guides to follow. A video camera is allowed once it is registered but you must also make sure to bring RCA cables with a BNC adapter if you plan to dub anything directly.

  Don’t even get me started on Material License agreements!

  Stay tuned for info on free music/sound fx…….

  http://www.beckybeamer.com

   
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  Mike Kogge 5:46 pm on June 5, 2008 | 0 | # |
  Tags: Ruffin' It

  I keep thinking how incredible it is to make these films in 2-3 weeks. It forces you to “ride the bullet:” get what you need and work with what you have.

  Before logging 7 hours, I wrote out a paper cut — in standard screenplay format — to lead my composer down the right path. It was a great way to imagine all the footage I (hopefully) shot!

   
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  Jean Nagy 12:46 am on June 5, 2008 | 0 | # |
  

  The Interview Shot and On To Editing

  

  I have to admit, I’m mildly obsessed with creating a dynamic interview shot. Nothing drives me more crazy than watching a documentary with a poorly thought-out interview set-up. So, with Uncle Sam, I pretty much rearranged his living room to come up with the above shot. He had two large mirrors that I knew I wanted to experiment with. Thankfully, Uncle Sam and his wife were comfortable with me moving their framed artwork around and were patient while I arranged the lights. At first I thought this shot was awesome, but the more I look at it I wonder if it’s too much of an optical illusion and slightly distracting. Either way, I’m happy that I came up with something remotely interesting and unique.

  The second part of the interview set-up that I tend to spend a lot of time on is the subjects’ line of site. I am obsessed with Errol Morris and after watching all of his films have come to love the notion of the subject looking directly into the camera. I realize this goes against the norm, but I think the audience is able to connect and engage with the characters in a deeper fashion. I do believe the viewing experience is enhanced and far more dramatic. For this interview, I chickened out a bit. I was going to have Uncle Sam look directly into the camera but I changed my mind based on his comfort level. I realized I was getting better answers from Uncle Sam by letting him make direct eye-contact with me rather than having him look into the camera. Maybe someday Errol Morris will let me borrow his interrotron.

  I really should be editing at the moment, but took a detour and decided to blog instead. The rest of the week I’ll return to my fancy editing suite (um, my bedroom) and probably not come out until my rough-cut is complete. As much as I’d like to edit in chunks, it tends to be an all-consuming marathon process for me. I think it has to do with finding a rhythm and not wanting to lose it, so I just keep going and going and going …

  Here’s another production photo for you to enjoy:

  http://www.jeannagy.com