At this time I'm looking over my media for the second episode while thinking of ways to trim and polish my first episode. I must admit I was a little nervous about unleashing it last week while being critiqued. However, it was constructive for me (especially coming from Evan Donn...after all he is "da man".

A few changes I've made...

I've slowed down my stills

Broken the wordy introduction into shorter individual clips and mixed it in with the stills. And of course, it's taken my 3 minute 8 second piece to 4 minutes. I hope to have it trimmed down by Wednesday night.

The next thing I need to do is figure out how to eliminate the shaky stuff happening at the top of two of my video clips. If anyone has any ideas for me I'd appreciate it.

Meanwhile, I am excited about putting my first episode of Planetary Liberation on internet TV. Trying to get kinks out as best I can, while preproduction ideas flow in for Episode 2. The two are happening simutanously. I feel good about all the footage I have. My whole story (along with the footage) was not something that I just thought of recently. It's been with me since I was in Zim in 2004. The classes I've taken with Evan and the time I've spent with the Mac Genius' have been more of a structure for me to follow while learning new techniques on how to create an educational documentary that's inspirational, educational, and uplifting to humanity as I experience my creative process and life purpose more deeply. Its kind of like the grad school student writing her/his thesis. The thesis is pretty much a book and it can be published as one, if one desires. Get it... I'm definitely enjoying the ride and it's for a good and meaningful cause.

I had no idea I would be in it. That was not a part of the plan. It just so happens that when I show up with a camera, there are those who insist I get in front of it. In this case I think it works at this point.

In the second episode I plan to use more audio from my radio interview to describe what's happening in the stills.

That's it for now. Until next time...

Peace Out!

Dinah

Hey What's Up!

Feeling pretty good about what I've created even though it is still a work in progress. I feel my content is pretty good. I like it a lot. All of my media was shot some time ago without really knowing what I'd be using it for. Some of my stills were shot by friends who were in Africa when I could not be there. Yesterday I received more footage from Rome. This will cover my next few episodes. I just took advantage of some opportunities as they come up. The editing have been long but fun. It actually helped to relieve the personal stress in my life. (smile) It just made me feel good. I'm getting the bigger picture as to what my shows will be about. The contents of my episodes that I previously blogged about are shifting and changing some. Editing keeps me ahead of myself, so it's almost as if I'm not sure where I'm going until I get there. And I'm just letting each piece I edit evolve on it's on.

I found that using my already existing media helped me a lot. I've had a lot of time to look at things in different ways and from different perspectives. The live interviews were done in June and August of 2005. I'd actually started creating some of the graphics last summer while taking After Effects class with Evan. My original plan was to work in Final Cut Pro and After Effects. However, given the time it took me think on some things, I got inspired by Mr. iPod Dad and pulled my After Effects files into iMovie. I've used iMovie and feel very comfortable with it. But things were getting down to the wire, and then last week Evan gave iMovie a few props, then I just told myself that's on now! So my 1st Episode is complete for now. It was fun. Still a work in progress.

Thanks for rolling with me.

Still looking at and trying to decide what shots to use and how I want to cut it up. Kinda been kicking it around in my head. Yes, no, and maybe. I just received word today via email from an italian couple in Rome (who also know my contact in Zimbabwe) that they sent out to me today via Fedx, footage they shot at the grand opening of the orphan center in Zim last fall, since I could not be there. This will be the second package of footage I will have received from them. Their names are Anna & Giancarlo Gigli. We all know the same folks back in Zim, however, we've never met face to face. Our relationship as humanitarians supporting the same cause with our best friend who started this organization has been developing over the past year and a half via email and a few short phone calls. So, I look forward to receiving this gift this week. I tell you, networking can be a power thing. So...it's time for me to suit up and show up. Next?

Dinah

Episode 1 PLANETARY LIBERATION

In the first episode I will present a variety of still shots of the children and Oliver with their music as a backdrop. Also a live interview with Oliver Mtukudzi filmed backstage at his 2005 performance at Yoshi's Jazz Supper Club in Oakland, CA.

The media I'm using for the first episode was all shot sometime ago. I have a lot of footage. Mostly stills. It's actually a great big challenge for me because I have so much to choose from. I didn't realize I had so much. But that's okay. Now I get to choose the most powerful pieces to tell a story in 2-3 minutes that make sense to others. The process is very time consuming. This week I will be playing around with creating effects and audio that will give it life. I will be working in After Effects and Final Cut Pro.

As far as audio goes, I will be using the original music. Ntengwe launched a music CD (Tuli Bamuchaala – which translates to We are the Orphans) in which the children wrote and composed their own songs that express their feeling of being alienated from the rest of society. The children recorded this CD along with Oliver Mtukudzi, Zimbabwe’s most popular music maker. I will also use audio from the radio interview I did with Emmanuel Nado of Radio Station KKUP.

I'm very excited at this point. It all feels good. I do feel that this is something I can do on a monthly basis provided I work my ass off getting enough footage for 2-3 episodes per month, while editing 1 episode per month.

Thanks for checking me out.