New Motion Tutorial- Animating a Poster Effect

Inspired by the Obama posters that are everywhere these days, I made a tutorial on animating a similar effect in Motion 3. Of Representative Jim Gerlach. Not Obama.

Poster Turn Example

Check out the tutorial here.

A multitude of approaches

Recently, I went to a showing of a documentary on immigration. Now, immigration is a topic that I’ve worked with a lot, in particular with the documentary “Fuerza,” but also as an issue that come up while I was living in Honduras and the D.R., and visiting Guatemala. So I was interested in the approach that this documentary took.

This documentary, which was developed as a curriculum for churches, took a much different approach than what we took in Fuerza. Most of the voices heard in the video were from “experts” – professors, mainly – who looked at the issue from the standpoint of theology. It worked to engage the head, whereas Fuerza worked more on telling personal stories, which engages more of the heart.

After the showing, there was a panel of people who had been involved in the making of the video. Two were professors at a theological seminary with very different approaches to educating the public. One was very soft spoken, and when talking about immigration made sure it was very palatable. He made sure to that his words would not push people away from becoming interested in immigration issues.

The other professor was much more inflammatory. He spoke what he considered the truth, things that are not easy to hear. That US foreign policy has often served to destabilize countries, often deposing democratically elected leaders and putting in dictators. That this policy is more concerned about US business interests than the people. That people immigrate to the US because they are following the trail of money that was stolen from them. That US policy encourages people to cross a dangerous desert, so that they die and discourage future migrants.

That isn’t pleasant to hear, and can serve to further alienate people from the human rights issues around immigration.

However, as someone there pointed out, there need to be a variety of approaches to spreading the message. Some people will react positively to the soft spoken professor. Some will react positively to the more inflammatory one. Some will connect with a deep theological debate. Others will connect through stories of immigrants. Others will connect through a numbers heavy, fact driven video like this one.

So while I continue to favor story-driven video, I also realize the need for a wide range of approaches to get across a message. But be careful about this- you still need to define an audience for each project. Stick to one approach per project- otherwise the message will get muddled.

Socially Aware Media and Poverty

In honor of Blog Action Day, I thought I’d write a bit about Socially Aware Media and how poverty comes into that.

I’ve found that many people get into media because they want to make the world a better place. And the media does have that power. We can create change, and do on a daily basis. Yet creating change and making the world a better place can be two completely different things. Yes, you have the power to change things for the worse. And it’s happened. I think I can safely say that media around the world has encouraged – both implicitly and explicitly – racial and gender injustice, for instance. Yet in those same areas, there has been a lot of positive change brought about by media.

An example: Today I met with a woman who I first met July 2007, at a conference in California where we showed “Fuerza”. Ben (the director) and I had a Q&A session afterwards. This woman asked what she could do about immigration. We gave some generic answers, as well as an idea to work with the Mexican economy to decrease the “push” factor of immigration.

Fast forward a year: this woman has led a discussion group on immigration at her church, traveled to the border to explore sustainable economics with Mexicans, visits undocumented immigrants at the local detention center weekly, meets with an immigrant rights group weekly, and more. And she still isn’t satisfied.

Okay, at this point, I think I must change my mind on an earlier point. The media has little to no power to make actual change. It does, however, have the power to encourage others to work for change. “Fuerza” will not change policy, comfort a mother torn from her family, or create a sustainable local economy. But its viewers can.

Now, media has a strange relationship with poverty, one unlike other genres of social injustice. Making media takes money. In general, creating media is getting cheaper, but it’s still expensive to make a movie, publish a newsletter, or even a blog.

Now, it is wrong to jump in and say, “Oh! I have a voice! I will speak for the poor!” The impoverished have a voice. They know how to speak. They simply don’t have access to the same equipment, connections, etc., that we have due to our privileges. They’re not being heard.

So you’re not a “voice for the voiceless.” Your job as a socially aware media creator is to allow the people who aren’t being heard or are being silenced to speak to those who weren’t listening. These people may be inspired by the new voice to make change.

When dealing with poverty, or any other issue of injustice, you must take into consideration the imbalance. You must realize that perhaps your video has only men, because you only interviewed politicians and other people in positions of power. Recognize the systems at work, and always look on the low side of the power totem pole for your best stories, the other side, and potential to make the world a better place.

New Video- Church Community Services

Church Community Services, of Elkhart, IN approached me about making a promotional video for them. Time was short- I would be moving across the country in 2 weeks. Budget was tight- as a non-profit, they were cash-strapped, and needed to devote their money to helping their clients. I was able to work with these constraints to deliver this promotional video. To watch the video, click here.

Also, a reminder that you can watch my other video projects here.

Video Wall Tutorial for Motion

I recently posted a tutorial on how to make a wall of photos in Motion. The effect is nice, yes, but wouldn’t it be nice to have videos instead of pictures? Well, its your lucky day.

Motion: Video Wall with the Replicator

Controlling FCP with your iPhone

The new iPhone was released yesterday, along with the much awaited App Store. Now, without going through the tedium of jailbreaking your iPhone or (in my case) your iPod Touch, you can install third party applications.

Over at The Editblog, Scott Simmons had some ideas for filmmaking applications for the iPhone. One of his ideas was a Final Cut Pro remote, similar to the iRemote for iTunes. It would allow you to control playback remotely.

You’ll need to install VNSea or TouchPad, both of which have not been added to the App Store yet (sorry). VNSea seems to work a lot better for me. Both use the VNC protocol, so you’ll need to set up Screen Sharing in your System Prefs. I also had to set up my router to handle it. Here’s a video tutorial on how to set it up.

Once you’re all set up and are connected, launch Final Cut Pro, and set the Video Playback to Digital Cinema Preview Main. Hit CMD- F12 to turn on All Frames. The video should be full screen. Now, bring up the keyboard on your iPhone in the VNC program, and go to town. J,K,L keys are good for playback. Set markers with M. Also useful will be I and O for setting the in and out points. Key combinations with shift also seem to work.

So once a VNC viewer comes out in the App Store, definitely try it out. Or don’t upgrade, and jailbreak it, and try it there.

Good idea, Scott!

UPDATE: Although I have not tried this program, Mocha VNC has appeared in the iTunes App Store. It is $5.99, but there is also a free Lite version. I assume both will be adequate for controlling FCP.

Sites I find helpful

Sorting through the massive amounts of sites online can be intimidating, especially when trying to find good info on editing and video stuff. So I’ve come up with a listing of the sites that I subscribe to, or at least frequent. They’re mostly Final Cut related, but there is a good variety. Check it out, and if you’re a FCP user, definitely subscribe to Larry Jordan’s FCS Tip of the Day.

Sites I find helpful