As you may know I live in a college town, or city if you want to get technical. Now for the most part a college city isn't as bad as living in a college town because of the scale of the area, but that really isn't applicable here. Unfortunately in my case, I've decided to live within what is known as the "university" area, the outlying neighborhoods that surround the University, and in this particular instance it's Syracuse University. It has been my experience that one must endure the occasional college student encounter from time to time whilst living within the realm of a "university" area. I wouldn't be blogging about this if the infiltration of undergraduates within my neighborhood wasn't a blight on my neighborhood or the city itself. Since undergraduate students have been making their way further and further toward the borders of the "university" area they have increasingly been pushing more and more families out. This is a reality that I've witnessed firsthand on my block. Six years ago when I moved into my apartment, undergrads were living closer to the university and for the most part only graduate students, doctoral students, professionals and families existed within a roughly two block radius where I live.
Over the six years that I've lived where I live I have seen neighbors sell their homes and leave as if an infestation of the worst kind had occurred. And, indeed it did, undergraduate students without common sense or consideration. I admit that our youth more often than not lack common sense and possess little if any consideration outside of their perceived social niche or their own ego. But, what this mass movement has done is allowed the university neighborhoods to be overrun by youth that possess no true conscience toward anyone but their selves and their desire to drink, be loud and boisterous, invade the space that others occupy, destroy property and create a requirement for inexpensive housing, which brings me to landlords or property owners.
Property owners that rent en masse to the undergraduate student have little if any incentive to maintain their property, especially when the undergraduate students are the ones damaging the properties. I know of a phenomenon that occurs when people own property and that is if someone fixes up their property, it usually follows that their immediate neighbor in turn fixes up their property and so goes the chain (this particular phenomenon's name escapes me at the moment), unfortunately the reverse is true here.
Syracuse is a city that has suffered the physical and economical pains of industry failing. Syracuse is also a city that could, if it were wise enough, make enough money by enforcing their own codes in the neighborhoods where these undergraduates live and where the parasitic property owners prey. The winter is one of the best examples of where money could be raised by enforcing the shoveling code. In Syracuse, regardless of a renters knowledge, it is the responsibility of the renter to maintain clear and safe sidewalks through snow removal, unless otherwise specified in a lease. As a central New Yorker from birth, I grew up in neighborhoods where people shoveled first thing in the morning during and after snowfall, regardless of the amount. Now, moving throughout central NY it has been my experience as someone who walked and walks a lot that people who rent or the property management companies and/or landlords don't very often, if ever, keep their sidewalks clear. In an era of politics that is crying out for no more taxes, this particular circumstance should be exploited to its fullest in order for the city to collect revenue.
It has also been a long standing argument of upstaters that our taxes are high and we barely see where the money goes in our communities because the state is too busy spending it downstate in NYC. This may or may not be true, I think it is relatively true since our upstate communities seem to be suffering much more then our neighbors to the southeast. Upstate, central and western NY do receive their fair share of tourist dollars, but that pales in comparison to what NYC reaps annually in tourist revenue. Our communities are scattered, threatened by more industry bailing out and a standard of living that makes trailer parks winch. Poverty is rampant and the number of buildings left abandoned is staggering. I believe cities in upstate, central and western NY should more stringently enforce their codes in and around university/college areas to provide for more city revenue.
7.27.2010
U.S. premeire of Round-UP to open Santa Fe, NM August 2nd 2010.
Well, I can say it's been an adventure, after attempting to export media files for DVD authoring of my latest new works my external HD decided it didn't want to stop spinning somewhere in the middle of exporting and thus has not been accessible. So, four new pieces sit somewhere in a spinning HD unable to be located for writing. Although, after taking some time off of work I was able to reconstruct two of the four pieces for my upcoming exhibit in Santa Fe: Round-UP (originally established by the Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg in October of 2009). I always like to get new pieces out there and thought this new showing of Round-UP would be a great opportunity were it not for the rejection of technology.
I hope to get the other two and another possible piece reconstructed by end of August and sent back to the Museum of Contemporary Native Art first thing in September so they have what I intended to be shown. The two pieces I was unable to reconstruct in time are Kemosabe version 2.0 (with additional title) and an as of yet untitled F-Troop piece and another piece I was working on that's a bit of a departure for me entitled, Cayuga. So, I have a month to re-access my brain and reconstruct what/how I remember the pieces to be. My job has afforded me a G5 tower and 20 inch monitor to bring home, now I can wake up or come home and power it up and create without having to head into the office at all hours after working 8 hours just to use a more powerful machine than my PowerBook G4 from 2005--I love this little laptop (it's served me well traveling with me through the country and internationally), but it's time for a new Intel powered device, sometime when I have the money.
It's been a difficult month struggling after attempting to author my DVD for the exhibit. I was right there. I sat on the pieces for a month and came back to them to tweak them where I thought necessary, and then moved on to export them for the DVD and then the doomsday scenario hit. Now I can get some rest, recoup and come at the work from a more focused, less stressed mind.
I hope to get the other two and another possible piece reconstructed by end of August and sent back to the Museum of Contemporary Native Art first thing in September so they have what I intended to be shown. The two pieces I was unable to reconstruct in time are Kemosabe version 2.0 (with additional title) and an as of yet untitled F-Troop piece and another piece I was working on that's a bit of a departure for me entitled, Cayuga. So, I have a month to re-access my brain and reconstruct what/how I remember the pieces to be. My job has afforded me a G5 tower and 20 inch monitor to bring home, now I can wake up or come home and power it up and create without having to head into the office at all hours after working 8 hours just to use a more powerful machine than my PowerBook G4 from 2005--I love this little laptop (it's served me well traveling with me through the country and internationally), but it's time for a new Intel powered device, sometime when I have the money.
It's been a difficult month struggling after attempting to author my DVD for the exhibit. I was right there. I sat on the pieces for a month and came back to them to tweak them where I thought necessary, and then moved on to export them for the DVD and then the doomsday scenario hit. Now I can get some rest, recoup and come at the work from a more focused, less stressed mind.
7.18.2010
Access Denied--The Iroquois Nationals
The saga is over for the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team this 2010 tourney, while maintaining sovereignty and their identity as individuals from sovereign nations as Indigenous people living within a colonized state (read as country) on their own territory or within the greater U.S., they bowed out of the games with dignity, grace and power.
After having received verification that the team would be granted reentry back into the U.S. by Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, the English government denied them entry into the UK in the end, going back on their word. It started with the English government's seeming concern that Our team wouldn't be allowed to gain reentry back into the U.S. while traveling on their own passports, the Haudenosaunee passport, which was apparently being denied by the U.S. government due to "security measures" and possibly a new stance against tribal sovereignty--as well as the team not being in possession of a reentry visa that is a U.S. document--which conflicts with the entire concept of sovereignty as well as their own passport. This has never stopped individuals from traversing borders utilizing the Haudenosaunee passport before, although that is not to say no one has had difficulty in the past.
What was clearly evident during this entire debacle was a lack of support from other federation member teams and an absence of any official stance from the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse, the games global governing body). Maybe it was befitting that the U.S. lost to Canada and England lost to Australia on day 3, both countries responsible for the delay and ultimate forfeiture of the Iroquois Nationals.
Although this is only a sport, what was and is at stake goes much deeper than a lacrosse stick, cleats, pads and a helmet. Sovereignty and identity are at the root of this international incident that the U.S. and British deemed an issue of importance and a battle to be fought in keeping the Iroquois Nationals from participating in these global games. An issue that the U.S. claims is one of security, on a national level that is definitely debatable given past events that have allowed two individuals to have gotten close enough to the President of the U.S. at a State dinner to have posed more of a threat than the reentry of a sporting team back into the borders of the U.S. on their own passport (contemporary security measures in place on said passport or not).
This is the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team, which was recognized by the FIL and invited to participate as a team back in 1990, if I remember my lacrosse history. This is why I think the silence of FIL may have jeopardized Our team from attending in the long run. They could have threatened to revoke England's membership or the U.S.'s for that matter simply as a sign of solidarity with the struggle the Iroquois had to endure to eventually not attend. Not only that, but team members of the U.S. could have spoken out themselves, many have been teammates of individual Iroquois members at the collegiate level and within the U.S. professional arena of lacrosse (MLL and NLL). It seems we have entered an era where there is no apparent political or moral conscience by the individual athlete.
A great article out of Alaska:
http://www.adn.com/2010/07/15/1368823_iroquois-nationals-stopped-by.html
After having received verification that the team would be granted reentry back into the U.S. by Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, the English government denied them entry into the UK in the end, going back on their word. It started with the English government's seeming concern that Our team wouldn't be allowed to gain reentry back into the U.S. while traveling on their own passports, the Haudenosaunee passport, which was apparently being denied by the U.S. government due to "security measures" and possibly a new stance against tribal sovereignty--as well as the team not being in possession of a reentry visa that is a U.S. document--which conflicts with the entire concept of sovereignty as well as their own passport. This has never stopped individuals from traversing borders utilizing the Haudenosaunee passport before, although that is not to say no one has had difficulty in the past.
What was clearly evident during this entire debacle was a lack of support from other federation member teams and an absence of any official stance from the FIL (Federation of International Lacrosse, the games global governing body). Maybe it was befitting that the U.S. lost to Canada and England lost to Australia on day 3, both countries responsible for the delay and ultimate forfeiture of the Iroquois Nationals.
Although this is only a sport, what was and is at stake goes much deeper than a lacrosse stick, cleats, pads and a helmet. Sovereignty and identity are at the root of this international incident that the U.S. and British deemed an issue of importance and a battle to be fought in keeping the Iroquois Nationals from participating in these global games. An issue that the U.S. claims is one of security, on a national level that is definitely debatable given past events that have allowed two individuals to have gotten close enough to the President of the U.S. at a State dinner to have posed more of a threat than the reentry of a sporting team back into the borders of the U.S. on their own passport (contemporary security measures in place on said passport or not).
This is the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse team, which was recognized by the FIL and invited to participate as a team back in 1990, if I remember my lacrosse history. This is why I think the silence of FIL may have jeopardized Our team from attending in the long run. They could have threatened to revoke England's membership or the U.S.'s for that matter simply as a sign of solidarity with the struggle the Iroquois had to endure to eventually not attend. Not only that, but team members of the U.S. could have spoken out themselves, many have been teammates of individual Iroquois members at the collegiate level and within the U.S. professional arena of lacrosse (MLL and NLL). It seems we have entered an era where there is no apparent political or moral conscience by the individual athlete.
A great article out of Alaska:
http://www.adn.com/2010/07/15/1368823_iroquois-nationals-stopped-by.html
7.15.2010
Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse
This is bigger than just lacrosse. If anyone out there has been following the news recently this is the year that the World Lacrosse Championships are being held in England, which only happens every four years. Well, the Iroquois Nationals are ranked fourth in the world and are being refused entry or reentry, however you want to look at it because they are traveling on their own passports, which they have been doing for some time now. I know faithkeeper Oren Lyons travels internationally with his Haudenosaunee passport, and the countries he visits honors that document. The last time I knew he traveled on that passport was back in 2006/07 (if memory serves) when I was responsible for recording, editing, and the DVD authoring of a yearlong educational lecture series entitled, The Onondaga Land Rights and Our Common Future, part I. Oren said so in his own words that he just made it back in time for the lecture having flown back to the US and going through customs, the customs agent said he hadn't seen, "one of these passports" in a long time. Now, this happened five or six years after the infamous 9/11 that got the U.S. all diligent about homeland security, if he could reenter the U.S. with the Haudenosaunee passport why can't Our lacrosse team exit and enter? Maybe Oren had a reentry visa? I'm not sure of that detail. I digress.
Whether the Iroquois Nationals make it to England to play in the World Lacrosse Championships is really only part of the issue. I haven't heard word one of any other country standing in solidarity with the Haudenosaunee and not attending the games. It would seem at least Ireland would be supportive given their plight with colonization. What's at stake here are the issues of sovereignty and identity. The U.S. says the team can travel to England on a U.S. passport that the U.S. would be more than happy to supply, but in doing so they negate the nationality of the individual players, which was protected by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 allowing Native Americans the right to vote in effect making them citizens of three sovereigns (tribal, federal, state), that wasn't granted in the fourteenth amendment, and the Indian Reorganization Act 1934 reestablished or appears to have reestablished tribal governments. These are U.S. laws that maintain Indigenous identity and sovereignty, which at this point in time are being challenged and reinterpreted by the U.S. to block a group of world class athletes from competing. They definitely are very menacing individuals and prove threatening to the international security of the U.S., which, let's not forget, allowed Tareq and Michaele Salahi entry into a Presidential State dinner in 2009. I'm all for secure borders, whatever that lofty and intangible concept may be, but denying access to the Iroquois Nationals to compete in England is not a battle one would think the U.S. would have chosen to fight, given the true asinine aspect of the entire issue. The Iroquois Nationals want to maintain their identity and sovereignty by not falling victim to colonization once again. Most people probably don't even realize that colonization exists, given the term post-colonial, but in effect it does exist, this recent issue is proof positive that colonization is working strong in America. Post-colonialism is a fallacy in the U.S.
Even with the assistance of Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton intervening with a letter previously requested by England for the reentry of the team back into the U.S. England has now changed its mind pertaining to that specific stipulation. Thank you England for not keeping your word.
Let Our players traverse the borders so they can compete, they aren't a national security threat, they will never end up on a terrorist watch list, nor do they want anything to do with harming the U.S., many of these players' relatives were here helping the colonialists battle against the crown, some may have fought with the French, some with the crown its self, but their relations have also fought in both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, protecting the very same borders these wars were waged to protect and the very same borders they are being denied travel.
News Articles pertaining to this specific situation:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/iroquois_nationals_our_plan_is.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/07/14/sport.iroquois.passport.controversy/index.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/12/2010-07-12_iroquois_lacrosse_team_banned_from_flying_overseas_us_refuses_to_recognize_tribe.html
http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/07/14/iroquois-nationals-lacrosse-team-vsiroquois-nationals-lacrosse-team-vs-america/
http://iroquoisnationals.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:nationals-media-re-&catid=35:statistics
Whether the Iroquois Nationals make it to England to play in the World Lacrosse Championships is really only part of the issue. I haven't heard word one of any other country standing in solidarity with the Haudenosaunee and not attending the games. It would seem at least Ireland would be supportive given their plight with colonization. What's at stake here are the issues of sovereignty and identity. The U.S. says the team can travel to England on a U.S. passport that the U.S. would be more than happy to supply, but in doing so they negate the nationality of the individual players, which was protected by the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 allowing Native Americans the right to vote in effect making them citizens of three sovereigns (tribal, federal, state), that wasn't granted in the fourteenth amendment, and the Indian Reorganization Act 1934 reestablished or appears to have reestablished tribal governments. These are U.S. laws that maintain Indigenous identity and sovereignty, which at this point in time are being challenged and reinterpreted by the U.S. to block a group of world class athletes from competing. They definitely are very menacing individuals and prove threatening to the international security of the U.S., which, let's not forget, allowed Tareq and Michaele Salahi entry into a Presidential State dinner in 2009. I'm all for secure borders, whatever that lofty and intangible concept may be, but denying access to the Iroquois Nationals to compete in England is not a battle one would think the U.S. would have chosen to fight, given the true asinine aspect of the entire issue. The Iroquois Nationals want to maintain their identity and sovereignty by not falling victim to colonization once again. Most people probably don't even realize that colonization exists, given the term post-colonial, but in effect it does exist, this recent issue is proof positive that colonization is working strong in America. Post-colonialism is a fallacy in the U.S.
Even with the assistance of Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton intervening with a letter previously requested by England for the reentry of the team back into the U.S. England has now changed its mind pertaining to that specific stipulation. Thank you England for not keeping your word.
Let Our players traverse the borders so they can compete, they aren't a national security threat, they will never end up on a terrorist watch list, nor do they want anything to do with harming the U.S., many of these players' relatives were here helping the colonialists battle against the crown, some may have fought with the French, some with the crown its self, but their relations have also fought in both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, protecting the very same borders these wars were waged to protect and the very same borders they are being denied travel.
News Articles pertaining to this specific situation:
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/iroquois_nationals_our_plan_is.html
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/07/14/sport.iroquois.passport.controversy/index.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/07/12/2010-07-12_iroquois_lacrosse_team_banned_from_flying_overseas_us_refuses_to_recognize_tribe.html
http://www.longislandpress.com/2010/07/14/iroquois-nationals-lacrosse-team-vsiroquois-nationals-lacrosse-team-vs-america/
http://iroquoisnationals.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:nationals-media-re-&catid=35:statistics
6.14.2010
SuperFly 2010
Well as quickly as it arrived it was over just as fast, that's right SuperFly 2010 seems to exist as a blurred memory of sorts. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, the flight cancellations and late arrival into Seattle, the early morning departure to the Lummi Nation, the missed orientation and introductions to some new faces due to my late arrival, the surreal rush through the end of the opening day? Apparently, I'll never know.
So, it was a wonderful success from my vantage point anyway. All the wonderfully screened pieces in the FutureWave section of the Seattle International Film Festival went over well and unfortunately the remainder of the shorts I sat through in this section of SIFF, well, had limited if any production quality. The one piece that really stood out for me was, "Omer," a documentary character study--my favorite and hopefully the audience choice award recipient. I didn't stick around for any more shorts in this program due to the poor production quality, it was self-induced torture at that point and I decided to exit.
Back to SuperFly 2010, as it is a hurried process it goes without saying that at some point it reaches a fevered pitch. This year I seemed to be the senior mentor of the group and decided early on to take a hands off approach to let two previous youth participants, now mentors, take over and run the production by giving the youth the run down and direction of production. I'm not saying that was a mistake, but in hindsight, I shouldn't have been as hands-off. I worked on some logistical aspects during our production meeting, since we lost our acting mentor somewhere in the ether. I approached another acting mentor to come speak with our youth in order to provide those that decided to act with some helpful tips and wisdom. When I returned, the pre-production meeting seemed to have gone down some unnecessary tangential path. Not to point any fingers or place blame, one of the mentors had a copy of Robert Rodriguez's fifteen year old book, Rebel Without a Crew, and was guiding the youth through it for no true purpose other than sheer excitement. It's a book that addresses making a film for around $7000 and in our particular instance we had no parallel to his situation. We were making a short, 4-5 minute narrative and we had all the technology needed without the worry of cost. I tried to bring the pre-production meeting back on point by directing the youth to decide what role, if any, they were going to play in the short production and having the other mentors decide a shot list and schedule. They seemed to do this with ease and eventually dealing with other logistics we called it a night, production was to start at 9am, or shortly thereafter once we had our equipment.
The day of production went fairly well. We met once again before getting our equipment to go over logistics, but somewhere in the thick of things the shot list seemed to be somewhat incomplete . . . this wasn't discovered until post-production when all footage had been captured. Editing was where the short was going to be won or lost. Now, I checked with our Lummi associate for a place away from traffic for us to set up our temporary editing suite. After having done this a bit of mutiny seemed to be going on in the mentor ranks and a mentor wanted to move our location in a room adjacent to another group's editing suite that had no door. Editing can be a very challenging process and I saw setting up next to another group as a distraction that would cost us in the long run, so senior mentor veto had to be put into play. We kept our current suite location and the process began. My experience as a SuperFly mentor has been centered around the youth and their desired positions within the production. At editing, we had a smattering of youth and all our mentors crammed in the suite location, which wasn't large, and didn't need to be. Since the capturing of footage was going to occur in real time I decided to let the youth editor, at this point, capture and I went for a walk through the facility that was our temporary home. I headed to the sound area to talk with the mentors there about what they would be able to offer us, at that point I was told once we had a rough cut they would sit down with us and discuss original music and sound fxs. I checked back with the group on occasion and when the editing process began I was pleasantly surprised to see our youth editor working away with minimal assistance from our other mentors, aside from the occasional input. As not seeing a need to remain I decided to visit other groups and ask how their productions went throughout the day and how their post-production was going. I also went into the room that the mentors were calling their home and sleeping, well the previous night anyway and nodding off here and there catching a few winks if one were so inclined. I met and spoke with an amazing woman and guest for a bit of time discussing art and artists mutually known. I eventually nodded off for about twenty minutes before I decided to get up and check on our group's editing progress. To my dismay and surprise there was really no true rough cut being worked on, it appeared that only three scenes had been placed within the time-line and these scenes were being edited at a snail's pace. The younger mentors asked if I wanted to see the progress, which was grossly apparent not to be true progress, but none-the-less I sat down and watched and eventually had to assume senior editor duties since our deadline for a rough cut was painfully close and the rough cut was far from near. Now disappointed as I was at the lack of forward progress, I had to step in and man the helm to assure a successfully completed rough, rough cut. About an hour to an hour and a half passed before the SuperFly heads stopped by to check on our progress and see a rough cut, and they did comment on how much we had been able to accomplish in that time frame. I believe, were it not for me getting back to the group and focusing the editing to create a viable rough cut for viewing, all might have been lost and we may have never reached our destined and appointed deadline.
I'm not placing blame on anyone but myself for the failure of our group to have been able to produce at 100%. In reality, these were youth and mentors on the edge of youth without time management skills or the true knowledge of what is needed to accomplish goals that have been placed before them. As hindsight is 20/20, I would have completely been involved in every aspect instead of taking a back seat and allowing the younger more novice mentors attempt to lead where they were incapable. I look back at the pre-production meetings, the production and post-production and realized exactly where things went wrong. I don't really recall the pre-production meetings having any steam or devoted involvement from our youth. Our youth seemed unmotivated, ill-equipped, unenthusiastic from years previous, which is always detrimental when needing individuals to assume certain roles with a production. The production itself seemed flawed at the start, once we were at our first location order seemed lost to boredom and indifference for the production. Although, once the initial scene was finally shot (virtually taking the longest to complete), the youth seemed to come to life and have more interest in what was taking place. Moving forward into the production it seemed that our youth lost interest, stepped out of their determined or chosen roles, and just hung on. Were it not for our wonderful lead actor, this production would have been a dismal failure. The lack of communication between the younger mentors and our youth is probably the one aspect most responsible for my criticism and my role as "hands-off" is very much to blame, although at the time I thought things were moving forward and getting accomplished. Once in that editing suite it was painfully apparent that shots were missing, neglected to have been either thought about or gotten. I don't think there was one reaction shot in the entire production, every shot focused on the character speaking or their action. It pains me to say that I think our group's final piece, although a good production, that's all it was, it could have been great and I failed in making that happen. Well, lesson learned and I truly apologize to the youth and younger mentors for having failed you in producing in the capacity we as a group could have produced.
So, it was a wonderful success from my vantage point anyway. All the wonderfully screened pieces in the FutureWave section of the Seattle International Film Festival went over well and unfortunately the remainder of the shorts I sat through in this section of SIFF, well, had limited if any production quality. The one piece that really stood out for me was, "Omer," a documentary character study--my favorite and hopefully the audience choice award recipient. I didn't stick around for any more shorts in this program due to the poor production quality, it was self-induced torture at that point and I decided to exit.
Back to SuperFly 2010, as it is a hurried process it goes without saying that at some point it reaches a fevered pitch. This year I seemed to be the senior mentor of the group and decided early on to take a hands off approach to let two previous youth participants, now mentors, take over and run the production by giving the youth the run down and direction of production. I'm not saying that was a mistake, but in hindsight, I shouldn't have been as hands-off. I worked on some logistical aspects during our production meeting, since we lost our acting mentor somewhere in the ether. I approached another acting mentor to come speak with our youth in order to provide those that decided to act with some helpful tips and wisdom. When I returned, the pre-production meeting seemed to have gone down some unnecessary tangential path. Not to point any fingers or place blame, one of the mentors had a copy of Robert Rodriguez's fifteen year old book, Rebel Without a Crew, and was guiding the youth through it for no true purpose other than sheer excitement. It's a book that addresses making a film for around $7000 and in our particular instance we had no parallel to his situation. We were making a short, 4-5 minute narrative and we had all the technology needed without the worry of cost. I tried to bring the pre-production meeting back on point by directing the youth to decide what role, if any, they were going to play in the short production and having the other mentors decide a shot list and schedule. They seemed to do this with ease and eventually dealing with other logistics we called it a night, production was to start at 9am, or shortly thereafter once we had our equipment.
The day of production went fairly well. We met once again before getting our equipment to go over logistics, but somewhere in the thick of things the shot list seemed to be somewhat incomplete . . . this wasn't discovered until post-production when all footage had been captured. Editing was where the short was going to be won or lost. Now, I checked with our Lummi associate for a place away from traffic for us to set up our temporary editing suite. After having done this a bit of mutiny seemed to be going on in the mentor ranks and a mentor wanted to move our location in a room adjacent to another group's editing suite that had no door. Editing can be a very challenging process and I saw setting up next to another group as a distraction that would cost us in the long run, so senior mentor veto had to be put into play. We kept our current suite location and the process began. My experience as a SuperFly mentor has been centered around the youth and their desired positions within the production. At editing, we had a smattering of youth and all our mentors crammed in the suite location, which wasn't large, and didn't need to be. Since the capturing of footage was going to occur in real time I decided to let the youth editor, at this point, capture and I went for a walk through the facility that was our temporary home. I headed to the sound area to talk with the mentors there about what they would be able to offer us, at that point I was told once we had a rough cut they would sit down with us and discuss original music and sound fxs. I checked back with the group on occasion and when the editing process began I was pleasantly surprised to see our youth editor working away with minimal assistance from our other mentors, aside from the occasional input. As not seeing a need to remain I decided to visit other groups and ask how their productions went throughout the day and how their post-production was going. I also went into the room that the mentors were calling their home and sleeping, well the previous night anyway and nodding off here and there catching a few winks if one were so inclined. I met and spoke with an amazing woman and guest for a bit of time discussing art and artists mutually known. I eventually nodded off for about twenty minutes before I decided to get up and check on our group's editing progress. To my dismay and surprise there was really no true rough cut being worked on, it appeared that only three scenes had been placed within the time-line and these scenes were being edited at a snail's pace. The younger mentors asked if I wanted to see the progress, which was grossly apparent not to be true progress, but none-the-less I sat down and watched and eventually had to assume senior editor duties since our deadline for a rough cut was painfully close and the rough cut was far from near. Now disappointed as I was at the lack of forward progress, I had to step in and man the helm to assure a successfully completed rough, rough cut. About an hour to an hour and a half passed before the SuperFly heads stopped by to check on our progress and see a rough cut, and they did comment on how much we had been able to accomplish in that time frame. I believe, were it not for me getting back to the group and focusing the editing to create a viable rough cut for viewing, all might have been lost and we may have never reached our destined and appointed deadline.
I'm not placing blame on anyone but myself for the failure of our group to have been able to produce at 100%. In reality, these were youth and mentors on the edge of youth without time management skills or the true knowledge of what is needed to accomplish goals that have been placed before them. As hindsight is 20/20, I would have completely been involved in every aspect instead of taking a back seat and allowing the younger more novice mentors attempt to lead where they were incapable. I look back at the pre-production meetings, the production and post-production and realized exactly where things went wrong. I don't really recall the pre-production meetings having any steam or devoted involvement from our youth. Our youth seemed unmotivated, ill-equipped, unenthusiastic from years previous, which is always detrimental when needing individuals to assume certain roles with a production. The production itself seemed flawed at the start, once we were at our first location order seemed lost to boredom and indifference for the production. Although, once the initial scene was finally shot (virtually taking the longest to complete), the youth seemed to come to life and have more interest in what was taking place. Moving forward into the production it seemed that our youth lost interest, stepped out of their determined or chosen roles, and just hung on. Were it not for our wonderful lead actor, this production would have been a dismal failure. The lack of communication between the younger mentors and our youth is probably the one aspect most responsible for my criticism and my role as "hands-off" is very much to blame, although at the time I thought things were moving forward and getting accomplished. Once in that editing suite it was painfully apparent that shots were missing, neglected to have been either thought about or gotten. I don't think there was one reaction shot in the entire production, every shot focused on the character speaking or their action. It pains me to say that I think our group's final piece, although a good production, that's all it was, it could have been great and I failed in making that happen. Well, lesson learned and I truly apologize to the youth and younger mentors for having failed you in producing in the capacity we as a group could have produced.
5.25.2010
The Digital Age will be the Death of Us
Recently, on my youtube channel, I received a request from another youtube user to subscribe to their channel because they "want to be a youtube star." I watched a portion of one of the individual's videos and as I was viewing it I noticed I was becoming more and more irritated with what I was watching. As an artist, I was critically analyzing the piece and I thought the graphic aspect was done well while the self-centered/reflective aspect was annoyingly asinine, especially given the lack of genuine humor emitting from what appeared to be a self-deprecating monologue. What bothered me most was an attempt at humor which was completely absent. In all fairness, I should provide a link to the user's channel to let you the reader formulate your own opinion, but I don't want to boost the person's view count allowing them to become a "youtube" star, nor do I want to contribute to making them a "youtube" star.
Why, you ask?
Completely fair question. The digital age has afforded us a luxury that society was completely devoid of until the mid- to late 1990s. With the advent of consumer grade/quality technology, average Americans, who never before possessed knowledge of media technology & theory, have inundated the Internet with gratuitously vapid digital media. As an artist schooled in the foundational arts (sculpture, photography, printmaking, drawing, painting, et cetera), I have been fortunate to study the masters in all disciplines getting a broad and vast education. This cannot be said with everyone bombarding the Internet with their vacuous digital media. Not only is the Internet a place guilty of aiding in the degeneration of America and the world, but television is at it in a more insidious manner. Reality TV has become a bastion for the imbecilic, the idiotic and the ignorant. What's more disturbing is that people watch these shows, some for the escapist reward that a half hour or an hour episode provides, but others watch these shows because their lives offer them no stimulation, no interest and they must feast on the moral turpitude these shows simulate for them to feel better about themselves. What people fail to understand is that Reality TV is only simulacra, but with the influx of some new technological gadget every week or so, it is all that is offered to provide some semblance of solace.
This is why the Digital Age will be the Death of Us. Not many people can remember a phone number aside from 9-1-1 anymore, I admittedly being one of them. I feel for the generations growing up within the Digital Age that will have no grounding in the older analog forms media was once. I not only feel for them, I fear for them. Yes, our lives and world are changing. It can be argued for better or for worse, but evolving has never been easy, just ask the old knuckle draggers and T-Rex. I remember a child that was learning how to tell time, unfortunately their parent taught them on a digital clock and when they were in a house with an analog clock they were completely at a loss. They couldn't fathom why the clock didn't tell them the time, or more accurately, why they couldn't tell time with the analog clock. This is but one example of what the Digital Age is doing to us. I am neither for or against the Digital Age per se, if I had to make a choice I'd go back to the Analog Age. We have become such a hurried and impersonal species with digital technology that I long for the days when my hand didn't cramp from filling out a check, ironic enough I know that I am blogging. I don't dislike the Digital Age, I have created some wonderful work digitally. It's the coming generations that I worry about, needlessly probably, but I still worry, they will have no recollection of things analog only what is written about them in history books or other texts and tomes. They will be borne into a world with a digital nipple in their mouths and they will be none the wiser. But, with that said, if digital technology continues to physically separate instead of connect individuals, then our species will definitely fall victim to our own constructs. We may evolve into something altogether different and adaptable to technology without the need for that physical connectivity, but as a species that is social, becoming anti- or unsocial does not seem to be part of the greater equation.
Why, you ask?
Completely fair question. The digital age has afforded us a luxury that society was completely devoid of until the mid- to late 1990s. With the advent of consumer grade/quality technology, average Americans, who never before possessed knowledge of media technology & theory, have inundated the Internet with gratuitously vapid digital media. As an artist schooled in the foundational arts (sculpture, photography, printmaking, drawing, painting, et cetera), I have been fortunate to study the masters in all disciplines getting a broad and vast education. This cannot be said with everyone bombarding the Internet with their vacuous digital media. Not only is the Internet a place guilty of aiding in the degeneration of America and the world, but television is at it in a more insidious manner. Reality TV has become a bastion for the imbecilic, the idiotic and the ignorant. What's more disturbing is that people watch these shows, some for the escapist reward that a half hour or an hour episode provides, but others watch these shows because their lives offer them no stimulation, no interest and they must feast on the moral turpitude these shows simulate for them to feel better about themselves. What people fail to understand is that Reality TV is only simulacra, but with the influx of some new technological gadget every week or so, it is all that is offered to provide some semblance of solace.
This is why the Digital Age will be the Death of Us. Not many people can remember a phone number aside from 9-1-1 anymore, I admittedly being one of them. I feel for the generations growing up within the Digital Age that will have no grounding in the older analog forms media was once. I not only feel for them, I fear for them. Yes, our lives and world are changing. It can be argued for better or for worse, but evolving has never been easy, just ask the old knuckle draggers and T-Rex. I remember a child that was learning how to tell time, unfortunately their parent taught them on a digital clock and when they were in a house with an analog clock they were completely at a loss. They couldn't fathom why the clock didn't tell them the time, or more accurately, why they couldn't tell time with the analog clock. This is but one example of what the Digital Age is doing to us. I am neither for or against the Digital Age per se, if I had to make a choice I'd go back to the Analog Age. We have become such a hurried and impersonal species with digital technology that I long for the days when my hand didn't cramp from filling out a check, ironic enough I know that I am blogging. I don't dislike the Digital Age, I have created some wonderful work digitally. It's the coming generations that I worry about, needlessly probably, but I still worry, they will have no recollection of things analog only what is written about them in history books or other texts and tomes. They will be borne into a world with a digital nipple in their mouths and they will be none the wiser. But, with that said, if digital technology continues to physically separate instead of connect individuals, then our species will definitely fall victim to our own constructs. We may evolve into something altogether different and adaptable to technology without the need for that physical connectivity, but as a species that is social, becoming anti- or unsocial does not seem to be part of the greater equation.
5.24.2010
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