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Cool IAWTV/YouTube Panel, This Wednesday (New York): Lights, Camera, Action! Emerging Technologies and How They Will Affect Our Space

rocketstail — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:42:41 +0000

The IAWTV is continuing our monthly panel discussions with YouTube on April 25 (NYC). This month’s subject will be “Lights, Camera, Action! Emerging Technologies and How They Will Affect Our Space.” This panel will introduce you to some professional DPs and gear rental experts who will discuss and recommend pieces of equipment for your productions. They will especially inform attendees about the best valued camera gear that is within your budget.

YOU CAN ALSO BRING GUESTS, BUT THEY NEED TO REGISTER ALSO!Registration for New York http://bit.ly/IAWTVYouTubeNYApril

Google Office

Conference Room will be sent to attendees

AFTERPARTY: Gaslight Lounge in New York

Date: April 25 for New York

Time: 7 – 9 PM New York

Panelists:

New York:

Michael Getto:

Michael Getto is the Festival Director at the New York Television Festival where he oversees operations, digital activation and creative brand strategy for the company, now in its eighth year. In addition to new business development and the execution – both legal and technical – of Festival development initiatives, Michael facilitates the delivery of Festival content for all NYTVF industry partners as well as the physical screening requirements associated with the annual event, which in total includes over 500 selections in the last seven years. Prior to joining the New York Television Festival, Michael worked for a number of leading film, music and comedy festivals across the country including the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival, AFI Fest, Jazz Aspen Snowmass, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Kelly Mena:

Kelly Mena is a New York City based filmmaker with experience in both documentary and narrative films. Currently, she is a Video Pro User in B&H Photo’s marketing department and has just finished working on the production and execution of their largest trade show, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). She has several years of experience as a videographer and editor, specializing in high-end weddings. Kelly managed a top New York event studio before breaking out on her own as a freelancer. With a background in film production and a degree in psychology, her approach to filming and editing video content and weddings is focused on bringing together a visually appealing piece with an equally completing story.

Dutch Doscher:

Dutch Doscher is a Freelance Director of after school specials, music videos and short films, For clients including Deloitte, Pfizer, National Geographic, HCCS, Sunburst and Prentice Hall.

Dutch Doscher began his career as a Casting Director for industrials, commercials and after school specials, expanding to music videos and short films.. After years of casting, one of the educational producers was impressed with Dutch’s ability to get the best performance from young actors. She decided to give him a chance to direct. He has given first acting jobs to some of the biggest young stars in the business like Frankie Munez (Malcolm In The Middle) Katrina Bowden (30 Rock) Scott Terra (Daredevil) and Lady Gaga (Pop Star), just to name a few.

Andrew Osborne:

Andrew NamChul Osborne is a freelance filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York with extensive production experience, ranging from feature films to web based content.

Andrew earned a BFA in film production from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) with a concentration in directing and editing. In 2009, Andrew was a producer on the feature film “Toe to Toe” that premiered in competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was theatrically released by Strand Releasing in 2010. Andrew continues to freelance as a director, cinematographer, producer and editor for Pureland Picutres, Inc., a Brooklyn based film and commercial production company founded in 1999 by award-winning filmmaker Emily Abt.

Andrew is the producer and videographer of Capture Your Flag, a web based interview series interviewing a set of up and coming leaders annually, charting their development over time so viewers may find relatable stories to gain insight into how aspirational careers actually develop. Interviews are segmented by theme and question, creating knowledge rich and thematic driven video learning experiences used by millions worldwide. In just under three years, Andrew has produced over 2,000 videos for Capture Your Flag.

Daniel Gurzi:

Daniel Gurzi is currently Director of Digital Cinema at Adorama Rental Company. He is responsible for understanding current and developing technologies to properly plan equipment inventory for Adorama Rentals. After graduating in 2005 with a degree in Film and Digital Media for UCSC in California, Daniel began working in camera rental departments while freelancing to gain both on set equipment experience along with pre-production planning and budgeting. Daniel has negotiated deals for full length feature films, long form TV Series, documentaries and Commercials shooting on everything from 35mm & 16mm Film to 35mm Digital Cinema, 3D, 2/3″ broadcast and DSLR camera systems.

J. Sibley Law (moderator)

J. Sibley Law, who goes by “Sib”, is the creator of a dozen online television series ranging from cooking shows to animation series to political spoofs to comedy. One of the first YouTube Partners (ever), he is currently launching two networks (TangoDango and Ziz). He is an Official Honoree of the Webby Awards and regularly creates commercials for broadcast (seen on ESPN, etc.). Additionally, he co-founded the NYC Web Series Writers Group for the IAWTV. His book, Streaming Media Delivery in Higher Education is available on IGI Global. His articles about the online video industry can be read on his blog (rocketstail.com) and on other industry publications. He is a co-founder of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (CT) and was its executive producer from 2005-2010. In addition to all this, he recently joined the web television dream team creating a television pilot called: Drifter (http://mobcaster.com/project/drifter).

ANIMATED SERIES DELIVERS SANTORUM RESPONSE IN LESS THAN FOUR HOURS

rocketstail — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:00:49 +0000

Stratford, CT/Richmond, VA–Puppet John Law–an online series about the process of running for president and the name of the show’s main character–did something unheard of last night. It delivered a response to Rick Santorum’s announcement that he was leaving the race for President in less than four hours, a process that normally takes weeks for an animation of this length. What makes this so impressive is that the response is animated with 3D characters, of both Puppet John Law and a puppet version of Rick Santorum. What also makes this response impressive is that the creators were able to make it by building atop freely available tools.

How They Did It

The series is the brain child of J. Sibley Law (Official Honoree of the Webby Awards), who has a long history of political spoofs. Once he knew what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it, he contacted Jason van Gumster of Hand Turkey Studios. What makes the partnership a perfect match is that van Gumster is the author of Blender for Dummies; Blender is an open source (free) animation software that can literally be run from a thumbdrive on most any computer. The two devised a plan that put their joint creative juices in the same…blender. What they came up with was a collection of virtual puppets, of John Law (Law’s visual alter-ego), each of the candidates, and a hand which has yet to appear on the series. When asked why he took this approach Law explained, “lampooning anything in politics is a game of timing, but when you are poking fun at the process itself, timing is that much more important.” If last night’s response to Santorum’s announcement is any indication, expect to see very pithy and timely observations of the political process.

The series has already spoofed President Obama’s press conference on the birth control issue and campaign finance issues. However, the series got its start with an official announcement that Puppet John Law is NOT running for president. In that video he states: “I plan to cross this nation of ours and carry the torch for all manner of puppetry, from the highest of marionettes to the lowest of sock puppets. I know that one day all puppets in office will be able to serve this land openly. Thank you.”

About the Production Companies

Saxon Mills, Stratford, CT, is a both the production company behind the series and the engine behind the YouTube network that it is a part of (ZizComedyNetwork). Saxon Mills was founded by Law in 2005 and has been on the forefront of mobile and web television since then. It currently operates two YouTube Networks TangoDango and Ziz.

Hand Turkey Studios, Richmond, VA, is a full-service animation studio based in Richmond Virginia. It is helmed by Jason van Gumster who is both the author of Blender for Dummies and an expert at pooling large groups of animation talent to create high quality animation at lightening speeds.

Puppet John Law is a collaboration between the two production companies.

Puppet John Law

Santorum’s Love Affair: Bows out of Race

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPEXBOW2pk

What about the Writer’s Guild of America?

rocketstail — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:11:40 +0000

Webseries creators have long had questions about unions. As a group, many of us write, direct, produce, some of us star in our works, run camera, and do all the editing. So the question many creators have is regarding whether to join a union (SAG, AFTRA, Writer’s Guild of America East/West, Producer’s Guild, etc.). In trying to answer this question for myself, I tracked down Ursula Lawrence (ulawrence@wgaeast.org) of Writer’s Guild East and asked her a few questions on camera at their headquarters in downtown Manhattan.

Beyond the Whips and Barbed Wire – Interview with Todd Norwood (Meet the Mayfarers)

rocketstail — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:45:44 +0000

Upon first meeting the creator of Meet the Mayfarers, Todd Norwood, I was stuck by this incredibly affable guy with a quirky sense of humor. It was at the LA Tubefilter Meet-up, Tim Street introduced us, and we talked plenty of shop. Then, a month later, deep in conversation with Brian What at Slap House Radio we decided to take a look at the front page of Blip.tv. There was Todd, lying on a bed in a penguin costume next to a very dominant woman. I remember being struck at the juxtapositioning of penguin suit, whips, barbed wire, and mom walking into the room asking, “what is this?” in the episode entitled: Family Revelations. Todd has spent years crafting the many episodes of the series, Meet the Mayfarers, and has promised to keep shooting episodes as long as they keep having fun.

Todd assured Rocket’s Tail that the syndication of his show on Blip.tv has been a real boon to the work they are doing. Shooting along the short coastline of New Hampshire, Todd proves that interesting online video is coming from locations far from those A-list markets of New York and Los Angeles.

Meet Todd in this interview that was conducted in Cambridge, MA:

SpeakerText Hyperlinks to Exact Moment in Video!

rocketstail — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:44:17 +0000

Matt Mireles tells a great story about how he and his co-founders started SpeakerText. He’s a regular guy who had an interesting idea. What if the text of what was being said in a video ran along side the video in question? But, he didn’t stop there. He envisioned a set up where you could copy and paste the text and it would port over with the text a hyperlink to that exact moment in the video.

Here’s a sample that was copy&pasted from the demo video on the SpeakerText website: Highlight the quote in the SpeakerText, then either right click your mouse button and select “Copy QuoteLink” or hit the “Quote” button.

Rocket’s Tail caught up with Matt and had a chance to talk with him about SpeakerText:

Live Replay (Panel: Blip.tv, Tubefilter.tv, & Pond5.com)

rocketstail — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:36:49 +0000

Last night we hosted a panel discussion with Dana Tower (Pond5), Jamison Tilsner (Tubefilter), and Aaron Sonnenberg (Blip.tv). The night included a moderated panel discussion as well as Q&A from the audience. Some eighty or so people from Connecticut’s various industries interested in online video turned out and helped spark a lively discussion.

Many thanks to Dana, Jamison, and Aaron for trekking out from New York City to help foster greater understand and dialog around online video.

Here is a replay of last night’s panel discussion:

The 3D Year at CES!

rocketstail — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:28:27 +0000

Today Broadcast & Cable summarized this year’s CES as the 3D Year at the largest consumer electronic show. What they deem as most interesting is not the technology, which is-of course-very interesting, but the business deals that were put together to launch this new and exciting development.

Listen to the Senior Editor of Tech Talk discuss it here:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/podcast/TechTalk/3198-TechTalk_3D_CES.php?mode=player

First Open-Source Video Platform (Kaltura) – Interview with Ron Yekutiel, CEO

rocketstail — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:54:16 +0000

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to interview Ron Yekutiel about Kaltura, the company where he is CEO. The company offers the first-ever Open-Source Video Platform… and if you know what you’re doing, you can have it for free!

Hayden Black Interview – Part One

rocketstail — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:38:36 +0000

This is part one of my interview with Hayden Black of Goodnight Burbank, Abigail’s Teen Diary, and the upcoming Cabonauts. In this interview he talks a bit about what it means to “go viral” and the journey his work has taken since launching Goodnight Burbank in March 2006. He is both a gentleman and hilariously funny. It was a pleasure to interview him.

Interview with Steve Pick from CELTX

rocketstail — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:09:33 +0000

I had the pleasure of meeting Steve Pick from Celtx at the CT Film Festival and learned more about their product, which Saxon Mills used for the pre-production of The Oligarch Duplicity (due in Sept 2009). It’s a great tool and it’s free; definitely worth trying out. For a small fee there are a number of enhanced collaboration tools, etc. Take a look and get to meet one of the really excellent people from this company in Newfoundland.