When I first went to community college in 1996, I knew I wanted to be in the entertainment industry but I didn't think it would be possible for me at that time. I took a few video production classes because that is all my cow-town of a city had to offer but there was no access, no community available to me. This was before everyone had computers and Internet access at home. You would have to hunt down or happen upon someone of similar interest in those days. Nowadays, any 7 year old can make a movie on his mom's iPhone, edit it in iMovie, post it to Youtube, and potentially go viral. In some cases the community comes to you now.
One such film community organization that I have come to enjoy is the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP). The IFP is a non-profit organization designed to support independent filmmakers. Through assisting with productions, workshops, screenings, networking, and more, they promote independent films and filmmaking. Since it's creation in 1979, the IFP has had a major impact on independent filmmaking. They have provided resources and supported over 7,000 productions and 20,000 filmmakers. The help spotlight films for a cause as well as regular films.
I am inspired by the work that IFP has done on the overall independent filmmaking community. In my quest to build a network of Mixed-Race films and filmmakers, I believe I could take a few tips from IFP. Above all, I want to create a safe haven for filmmakers of Mixed-Race to tell their stories. Like IFP has done for independent filmmakers in general. Be it on film or in books or even a stand up act, it is important for Mixed-Race artist to have a voice. Offering filmmaking labs, a platform for screenings (perhaps an online film festival?), connections with producers/distributors/agents in the industry is the main focus of this Mixed Girl Moving Pictures blog. I am nowhere near where I want to be to get started but I am working on getting there.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Expectations with Bobby McFerrin
I had taken some time off from blogging to enjoy the holidays but just as I was ready to get back into it, I somehow managed to get myself massively over extended over the month of January. Between work, school, screenwriting, and a few extracurricular projects I didn't know how to get back on track. Luckily for me, my school requires that I blog a few times a month and so now the time to blog has come again.
In searching for my next blog topic on Ted.com I stumbled upon a short video that was so sweet and inspiring that I had to share it with you. It is not geared towards Mixed-Race cinema as the rest of my posts are but it is fantastic and needs to be shared. I stopped at this video because my husband and I have been fans of Bobby McFerrin's classical style music for many years. I was curious what this artist was doing at a science festival. Bobby McFerrin was at the 2009 World Science Festival "playing" an audience like a keyboard.
Once he is finished, he explained that it doesn't matter where in the world he attempts this exercise, the audiences always "get it." I am curious to figure out how I might be able to apply this "playing the audience" technique in my own career path in the entertainment industry. Not necessarily jumping around on a stage to the sounds of "baaaaa" from the audience but creating the participation from the audience. At this moment, I am not certain. What I have learned is that it may take going outside of my knowledge base to trigger such a response in an audience. Bobby McFerrin is a musician, who is using his music to teach a science focused audience about how the brain works in such a simple and beautiful way.
In searching for my next blog topic on Ted.com I stumbled upon a short video that was so sweet and inspiring that I had to share it with you. It is not geared towards Mixed-Race cinema as the rest of my posts are but it is fantastic and needs to be shared. I stopped at this video because my husband and I have been fans of Bobby McFerrin's classical style music for many years. I was curious what this artist was doing at a science festival. Bobby McFerrin was at the 2009 World Science Festival "playing" an audience like a keyboard.
This 3 minute clip shows how Bobby McFerrin, with very little instruction to the audience, manages to get a whole audience to sing "Baaaaaaa" sounds at different pitches as he steps across the stage. He only shows the audience two notes, but as he moves the audience anticipates what is required of them and they sing higher or lower pitches as he moves. He even begins freestyle singing his own notes over the audiences but they stay on track. Is such a small thing, but for some reason it really touched me. The intent of the exercise was to show how the human brain anticipates expectations and can usually fall in line with very little prompting.
Once he is finished, he explained that it doesn't matter where in the world he attempts this exercise, the audiences always "get it." I am curious to figure out how I might be able to apply this "playing the audience" technique in my own career path in the entertainment industry. Not necessarily jumping around on a stage to the sounds of "baaaaa" from the audience but creating the participation from the audience. At this moment, I am not certain. What I have learned is that it may take going outside of my knowledge base to trigger such a response in an audience. Bobby McFerrin is a musician, who is using his music to teach a science focused audience about how the brain works in such a simple and beautiful way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)