just another day

*****
UPDATE:
God, it's been a busy few days. Very low activity here. Sorry.
Thought I'd registered Twittervlog.com - turns out I hadn't completed payment and someone else has cybersquatted it. And .org. And .net. Vermin.
But screw it - at Pixelodeon, I was talking to Daniel and David and Michael about a logo for Twittervlog for the new site while we were drawing on our placemats like kids at Mel's Diner, and Daniel (I think) pointed out the obvious gag to me: that TwitterVlog was TV. So I've registered Twittervlog.tv - which is perfect. I've made a nice square red TV Guide logo and I'll be uploading everything there in the next couple of days. HURRAY! And then I'll get back on the case posting films again.
*****

When I shot this, I thought I'd end up posting this tomorrow morning, but actually posted this from their house as soon as I got there, just a few minutes later... so I haven't put my Wordpress blog online yet.
The domain will be Twittervlog.com - currently dead.
And I'm talking about ShowInABox.tv, which is the best thing to happen to videoblogging since Blip.tv

I wish I'd taken another video of what I looked like by the time I arrived. The rain didn't abate at all. It intensified. I was *soaked*. Had to borrow a t shirt and tracksuit trousers, just like John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

Lumiere Rules: Friday evening in a heavy rainstorm, moments after putting the baby to bed

A crucial inconsequential moment. The only one I've posted all week. It's been a H.A.R.D. week.

Lumiere Rules is a game I've been wanting to play for a few weeks, inspired by Andreas.

I put down my Nokia for the first time in months and picked up my old Kodak DX7440 (which, totally coincidentally and appropriately) Andreas recommended to me before I even started Fatgirlinohio, when I was looking for a camera and was admiring the colours on his photos and videos on his blog. I love that camera. I needed it for this because it has a flat bottom, unlike my Nokia.

From Andreas's blog, Solitude.dk:

"The rules are as follows:

• 60 seconds max.
• Fixed camera
• No audio
• No zoom
• No edit
• No effects

They mimic the conditions under which the Lumiere brothers made their movies in the late 1800s.

"Aske Dam, a good friend, told me about these rules last summer when we were attached to the same research project. They mimic the conditions under which the Lumiere brothers made their movies in the late 1800s. All transfer seamlessly to web-video and videoblogs except the last one. On the web we are used to compress our videos because the raw files from our cameras are too big to be practical. But is the compression not an added effect? You can certainly tweak the compression settings to provide results that differ tremendously from the raw camera files.

If you make any videos that abide by the Lumiere Rules tag them lumierevideo."

More info and Andreas's videos at: http://www.solitude.dk/archives/20070522-2202/

Also see great lumieres by Gogen and Bshoot

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Waking up

Today, I realised that everything i've been looking for is right here in front of me.

It's happening right now.

It might not be your dream, but it's mine, and I've only put the pieces together after meeting everyone at Pixelodeon and seeing all the curated sessions of films.

This is why i've fallen in love with internet video distribution. Funny how it's taken me so long to realise the obvious.

I guess i was too busy looking ahead for the one big idea, and not realising that it wasn't a 'show'.

As we say in Jedi school:
It's not the End, it's the Means Whereby.

And as the Dwarf said in Twin Peaks:
Let's rock.

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back from pixelodeon with a little bit of jet lag

Click To Play

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The end

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Q&A after SpinXpress Presentation (30 mins)

Click To Play

Again - this is not for the usual or casual viewer :) It's a Q&A after a technical presentation. And completely unedited. Shot as it was, on my phone from the front row.

Lots of questions answered - not sure how much you'll be able to hear the questioners - particularly Mike Meiser's three or four questions from the back of the room - but I hope this a useful reference for anyone interested in finding out more about SpinXpress. See the previous video for a great introduction.

Answering questions are Dave Toole, CEO; Markus Sandy and Michael Verdi

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

SpinXpress Presentation by Michael Verdi (10 mins)

Click To Play

Caveat: Not the usual personal nonsense. This is a technical presentation, and I'm posting it because it'll be useful and interesting to a select few. It's unedited, shot on the phone from the front row.

It's a great, easy-to-follow introduction to the amazing new collaborative video production tool SpinXpress at http://spinxpress.com/

and also their brilliant Get Media tool for finding media online that you can reuse.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

IHOP Dogs

Starring

David Howell as Mr Mauve

David Meade as Mr Puce

Bill Streeter as Mr Wood Ash Blonde

Jennifer Proctor as Mrs Mushroom

Michael Verdi as Mr Russet

Michael Meiser as Mr Mahogany

and Rupert Howe as Mr Black

and Not Daniel Liss

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Not Daniel Liss, talking about why if he *were* Daniel Liss, he wouldn't appear on camera

see http://pouringdown.tv/ for the real(ish) Daniel Liss.

This was at the In N Out Burger (again - everything's out of whack in my posting timing) with Cheryl Colan, David Howell and Jennifer Proctor.

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Another party full of cool people, another unfilmable inferno

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Jen's Q&A and me asking the longest question in history after six cups of coffee

This is dark, very unclear and unedited - I tried to post this yesterday, but having trouble with the old wifi. Hopefully that'll be fixed today.

It was after Jen Proctor's session - which was amazing, including great videos by Trine and Michael, who asked me to record what she said for them. Hopefully they'll post a list of the videos she showed at http://pixelodeonfest.com/

I had had SO much coffee - and had just watched a full screening of head scrambling experimental films - and I could hear myself talking... I just couldn't shut myself up.

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)

That IS a tasty burger

In N Out Burger.  I've been hearing about this for years.  Jay told me last night that was run by evangelical Christians.  I believed him.

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This is the setting - arriving at the AFI

Click To Play

Nothing very exciting - just us ambling up to the AFI. Setting the scene for those of you who aren't lucky enough to be here.

Driven by Not Daniel Liss (never late), with David Howell (seen here shooting video of downtown LA from up in the Hollywood Hills), Jen Proctor and Cheryl Colan

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Pixelodeon Lobby after Jen's session

Whoooooooooooo.  Little freaked out.  Having an amazing time but having a little trouble with the wifi here, which is driving me crazy.

Formats available: Quicktime (.mov)

Lunch at Mel's Diner with David and Gena

So I've had problems with time, and wifi connections.  I've been shooting a lot and not posting, which kind of defeats the purpose of Twittervlog... but Gena took us on a tour of Hollywood yesterday and we stopped for lunch at Mel's.  Mel's in Modesto (now demolished, amazingly) is where they filmed American Graffiti - so I imagined I was in the movie (and in Back to the Future), and ordered a chocolate malted and a Famous Melburger.  Hot damn.

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Name those vloggers

It was too dark to see anything at the party last night - which is a drag, because i met so many people.  we found a solution... of sorts.  hopefully the party tonight will be a bit more camera friendly.

a t shirt with a naked picture of jay dedman holding a cat goes to anyone who can name all the vloggers here :)

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Magic Castle - three men in a room

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where i am right now

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here i come!

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Uncool (56 secs)

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British Graffiti (50 seconds)

From my Twitter, 9.40 this morning: "At bus stop on Shepherds Bush Green, waiting for 2nd bus. Someone has written a whole Tennyson poem on the glass in magic marker."

I wanted to post this video there and then, but I was late for school, and didn't have time - so instead I cut it in my phone on the bus on the way home and whispered into my phone like a madman to record the audio :)

The Eagle.
He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ringed with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls;
And like a thunderbolt, he falls.
--- Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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2 things I'll probably want to remember when I'm old (15 secs)

from today

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making films for you, i see things as if for the first time

I take this route to the store every day, and of course i never notice any of the things in this video.

It's great to stop and try to see ordinary things through fresh eyes.

I'd love to see *your* trip to get milk, coffee, whatever... see what I and others would find strange about what you take for granted. Are you game, my friends?

Formats available: MPEG4 Video (.mp4)