The Dicer is a low-cost ($29) plug-in for Final Cut Pro that lets you make a zillion iterations of a quick-cut montage in a few seconds. You can preview and tweak them as you go, locking particularly good shot combinations together and proceeding.
Good video demo here:
Lobby group wants to make docs a priority for PSBs
by Kelly AndersonAt the recent Hot Docs festival, MercuryMedia CEO Tim Sparke took the opportunity to announce the launch of the Documentary Distributors’ Association, a group that aims to lobby public service broadcasters to consider airing more documentaries.
Sparke says the idea behind the Documentary Distributor’ Association came from MercuryMedia chairman and former ITV director of television Simon Shaps. “He felt it was something that the industry really needed,” says Sparke. Shaps will be chairman of the DDA, while Sparke’s role right now is to get the word out and get the first 10 distributor members on board.
The main goal is to approach public service broadcasters to get docs back on their schedules. “It’s about documentary fighting – and I use that word guardedly – for an enhanced position within television schedules and on other platforms,” says Sparke. “There’s no doubt in my mind that television is still the preeminent place for telling people about what’s going on in the world and documentary is the single most important tool [for] telling people that.”
Juan Diego Pérez/Entendre Films An Ecuadorean cancer victim’s reflection in an oil-polluted stream near her home in the documentary “Crude.”
5:10 p.m. | Updated
A federal judge in Manhattan on Thursday granted a petition by Chevron to issue a subpoena for hundreds of hours of footage from a documentary about the pollution of the Amazon rainforests of Ecuador and the oil company’s involvement.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court said that the director Joe Berlinger would have to turn over more than 600 hours of footage from his documentary “Crude.” The film, which was released last year, chronicles the Ecuadorians who sued Texaco (now owned by Chevron) saying the operations of the companies’ oil field at Lago Agrio contaminated their water.
Dispatch from Toronto | Hot Docs ’10: Pitch Perfect at the Toronto Documentary Forum
by Basil Tsiokos (May 7, 2010)
The scene at the Toronto Documentary Forum. Photo courtesy of Hot Docs/Joseph Michael.Hundreds of broadcasters, funders, filmmakers, and other observers convened this Wednesday and Thursday morning for the Toronto Documentary Forum, North America’s largest documentary market, as part of the ongoing Hot Docs film festival. Led for the second year by Elizabeth Radshaw, the TDF selects twenty promising new projects for filmmakers to pitch for potential co-production support, providing invaluable access to the movers and shakers of the non-fiction world and allowing them to make an early impression that may pay off with a broadcast deal or at least open a door to acquisition meetings down the line.
A number of strong-sounding docs got pitched at this year’s TDF at HotDocs… but I’m a little astounded by the proposed budgets. When producers of fiction features (generally higher grossing than docs) are being told to keep budgets to the $200K range (see Ted Hope’s comments at IFP marketplace last fall), how do documentary makers think their ever going to recoup these budgets?
How Much Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?
I was trying to explain this crisis to my six-year old son yesterday… images from the ‘net helped, but this counter really hit me in the solar plexus.
OK, this is really silly, but I’ve never actually seen what Robert Siegel, Nina Totenberg and Korva Coleman LOOK like… even though they’ve travelled 1000’s of miles in my car with me!
A couple years ago, some friends in Philly held a little screening session with a selection of films they brought back from the annual INPUT festival that features the best of worldwide public television.
After the screening, a couple films really stuck with me. One was Adam Curtis’ “The Mayfair Set”, but at the time it seemed destined to remain a UK-only film.
I was struck by the playful imagery, imaginative work-arounds for sections without direct footage and for Curtis’ willingness to tackle a bold narrative that assailed major figures in the UK power structure and even threatened his bosses at the BBC.
Thanks to the magic of the internet, we can now view much of Curtis’ work on line (albeit missing quite a bit of beauty due to web delivery limitations.) As his wikipedia entry describes, Curtis combs the BBC film vaults for archival footage that wonderfully illustrate his narratives.
Here are a couple of links in no particular order. I haven’t watched the whole of Mayfair Set yet, but look forward to working my way through.
A more recent film “The Trap”
A writeup and trailer for his most recent collaboration with an avante garde theater group:
A wonderful dialogue between Errol Morris (Fog of War; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control) and Curtis.
Finally, here’s Adam’s blog at the BBC.
Hope you enjoy his work as much as I do.
About
Mission
Guided by your aspirations, WSKG serves to inspire with the highest quality educational programming, explore the arts, culture and heritage of the region and beyond, engage in thoughtful consideration of news and issues of importance, and entertain with the very best in multimedia programming.Vision
WSKG: striving to be your trusted partner, enriching the lives of the people and communities we serve.Values
At WSKG we strongly value:· Diversity: in opinion, thought and culture;
· Creativity and Innovation: in thinking, programming, and content development;
· Integrity: in how we conduct our business, in the programming we create;
· Courage: to be different, accept failure, to take a stand;
· Transparency: to open the activities of the station to public inquiry;
· Accountability: in all our actions;
· Open Mindedness: in how we approach issues and opinions;
· Responsiveness: to community interests, needs and new ideas.These values help us to clearly define our mission as an organization serving our community.
WSKG Goals
Content and Services:
· Goal 1: Increase relevance, significance and impact of content and services.
· Goal 2: Develop partnerships to address community interests and needs.
· Goal 3: Explore new and innovative content platforms and services.Financial:
· Goal 1: Diversify revenue portfolio.
· Goal 2: Increase funding for production of content.
· Goal 3: Build Operating Reserves.Organizational:
· Goal 1: Create an organization culture that engages the community in our daily work and responds to its needs.
· Goal 2: Develop a culture of fundraising throughout WSKG.
· Goal 3: Develop and implement business policies and procedures.Brand:
. Goal 1: Develop a distinctive, relevant and consistent brand that creates a shared pride with our communities.
Thanks @AmyWoo and the Twitter Chat group #pubmedia for the tipoff to go read this statement.