Interactive Projects

I’ve been staying under the radar for the past few months while working on two new projects, both of which are just about done. The first is a new travel show for Discovery and the second is a interactive, politically-focused website.

About six months back, some folks at Discovery Channel asked if I would put together a pilot for the first original Discovery web series. As I’m sure you know, for the past several years television networks have been diversifying their interests as advertising revenues plummeted. Times are tough, and media companies are scrambling to crack the safe on the web tv phenomenon.  As a result, they have begun creating original content produced specifically for the web, and the pilot I produced is POTENTIALLY to be Discovery Channel’s first stab at this manner of show.

I knew several things going into production: 1. I knew the show had to focus on hard science. 2. I knew they were interested in me specifically because they wanted it to be travel-related. 3. I knew I had an extremely small budget to shoot it. 4. I knew they wanted it to be world-shatteringly interactive.

Now, I cannot say much about the details of the show. However, what I will say is that from what I can see this show could potential bring network/viewer interaction to a new level never attempted before. I took a long hard look at Discovery viewers and tried to understand what it is they really are looking for in the Discovery/viewer relationship. What I found is that Discovery viewers seem to want to physically be experiencing what they see the host and camera crew doing in each Discovery show. Sounds a bit obvious, right? Well, I sat and watched Discovery Channel for a few hours one Saturday afternoon with friends, and what I heard coming out of their mouths were phrases like, “How cool would it be to be doing that?” “Can you imagine what that’s like?” “Man, what I wouldn’t give…”

So, after mulling over several different hooks for the show, I figured if Discovery Channel viewers want to literally seek out the camera crews and hosts they see on television, why stop them?  Anyway, that’s where I’ll leave it for now. Check back to see if and how this project evolves. Below are some screenshots from the pilot episodes. 

 

 

As for the new politically-based site, I’ve been helping a friend in New York create a site called Keeping Tabs on Obama (www.tabsonobama.org). The site focuses on evaluating and rating the Obama administration. What we’ve done is take the 26 camapaign promises that Obama featured on www.barackobama.com before the election and allow visitors rate whether Obama has stuck to his word. Visitors to the site can also rate and comment on the administration’s weekly radio addresses or cabinet members as well. 

 

 

Keeping Tabs on Obama will be launching very soon, and we’ll have to see whether or not Discovery bites on the pilot. In the meantime, please sign up on www.tabsonobama.org to receive email notifications of the site’s launch.

Save AiB

Let’s get serious.

Alive in Baghdad (www.aliveinbaghdad.org) is a project started by Brian Conley and Steve Wyshywaniuk, two 20-somethings from the Philadelphia area. Conley, a former film student with an interest in the Arabic language and the Middle East, flew to Baghdad, sought out Iraqi civilians with knowledge of videography, and equipped those he found with small consumer-level video cameras. The project’s objective–to produce Iraqi-filmed news segments for the web and, in turn, avoid the numbing filters of mainstream news media; in essence, have Iraqis film each other. In AiB’s early days, footage was shot, taken to a translator once a week in a separate area of Baghdad, and then mailed to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; therefore rerouting the content around the biased hands of network journalism. By matching up the time codes on the tapes with those noted on the translation, Conley and Wyshywaniuk were then able to subtitle the footage their correspondents captured.

Somehow, someway, the project was a success. As the war has dragged on, tapes have continued to pour in the door the past several years. And although the project has become a bit more tech heavy since its start, the same basic principals are used when shipping content between parties.

AiB has received both national and international press attention with Conley and Wyshywaniuk even finding themselves on programs like Good Morning America and CNN’s Headline News. In fact, I met the two when interviewing them for The Tokyo Shimbun, a newspaper with a circulation 4 times that of The New York Times. Point being, if you are a news buff, you’ve probably come across their names sometime in the past several years. However, despite how much attention the project has received, AiB struggles financially. It seems AiB is too controversial for a company to attach its name to, but far too important to allow it to slip into a peaceful digital nostalgia.

The reason I am writing this post today is because Alive in Baghdad, like many other journalistic endeavors, is currently in serious jeopardy of closing. Since becoming involved with AiB in March of 2008, I have watched an unparalleled degree of self-sacrifice from the AiB founders. They have truly placed the interests of Iraqis far above their own, and with thousands upon thousands of viewers, it is time to give back to this unique project. 

Alive in Baghdad is a source of news that is unmatched in it’s utilization of technology and volunteerism, and it will soon post it’s last episode unless we do something about it. Please donate whatever you can at www.aliveinbaghdad.org. Below is an episode from earlier this month. Click the image to play the video and please visit Alive in Baghdad for more information.

Thanks.

- Matt

 

Film School M.F.A.

Applications in. Stress level down.

My last creative writing sample for the Columbia University’s Film M.F.A. program is finished. During the month of November, I spent far longer than I would like to admit crazy-eyed, cooped up inside my apartment slaving over tedious graduate school applications. Nevertheless, the applications are finished, and according to a 32 dollar receipt for ice cream, I am cel-e-brat-ing.

I applied to the Film M.F.A. Programs at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University. What have I taken away from this experience? Well, I have drawn several conclusions.

One, I will make it my life’s work to avoid using a typewriter ever again. If I do nothing else with the remainder of my days on this earth than avoid any and all typewriters, I will feel fulfilled.

Two, I suffer from an acute illness known as “Annoyingly Picky Person Syndrome.” I was so nervous that the design of my application would throw off the feng shui of my writing samples that I spent around fifty dollars just on packaging materials. I went through three different types of mailing envelopes, two different widths of bubble wrap, two separate passport photographs, and four colors of Post-It notes before deciding upon an appropriate envelope/bubble wrap/passport photo/Post-It combination. Below you will find the final product before packaging commenced. Please take note of the typed Post-Its.

Three, working in the news/documentary world has killed any manner of creativity I once possessed. I have come to the abrupt conclusion that I am a realist loaf. It took me almost three entire weeks to write:

One 15-page screenplay
One 2-page dialogue
One 3-page dialogue
One 5-page silent film
Two 1-page film treatments
One 6-page autobiographical essay
One 2-page personal statement.

The hardest of these assignments was by far the 2-page dialogue scene. How one is supposed to create an intriguing dialogue with a beginning, middle, and end in a screenplay format that’s under 2-pages is in my opinion beyond the capacity of human thought. Whether or not my brain in particular is even still capable of producing any fiction-based content is arguable, let alone an entire story within two pages.

Nevertheless, one thing is clear–-if my brain is in fact able to produce such content, it is not as forthcoming as I would have hoped. After three days of shouting at my computer and using words my mother once referred to as “bathroom talk,” I churned this out:

For better or for worse, my graduate school applications are finished. If I can give any advice to future Film M.F.A. applicants, it would be to start far in advance of the application’s due date. One month does not cut it, especially if you wish to remain a functional human being during that time and do things like eat or interact with people.

Bye-bye applications. Bye-bye.

Who Would Iraqis Elect, Obama or McCain?

I cut this episode for Alive in Baghdad a few weeks ago about security checkpoints being used in downtown Baghdad. However, today’s post was cut up by Brian Conley about what Iraqi residents think about tomorrow’s elections in the US. Very interesting to hear what Iraqis think about each candidate. The rest of the story can be found below.

VIDEO – Iraq, Baghdad - This week at Alive in Baghdad, with the United States Presidential election looming and Iraq coverage dwindling dramatically, we decided to combine the two topics. Correspondents Nabeel Kamal and Ali Al-Le’abiy hit the streets of Baghdad and interviewed several Iraqis as to their opinion of the candidates. Our sampling was done in a short timeframe and by no means represents a statistically accurate cross-section of the Iraqi public. However, we do feel that you will hear an array of different opinions, and begin to gain a little insight into how the Iraqi public views the American government and electorate, more than five and years after the invasion. Please leave comments regarding your own views of the presidential candidates, and how you think they will affect the war in Iraq and how they should respond to these and other Iraqi civilians. If you appreciate the insightful content provided by Alive in Baghdad, which you won’t find anywhere else, please consider becoming a paying subscriber, or making a donation to Alive in Baghdad. You can also purchase Alive in Baghdad T-shirts and DVDs to spread the word.

Saint Michaels

As I venture into freelance territory, I was lucky enough to score a job right off the bat with St. Michaels Winery on the Chesapeake. My old boss at Discovery is the part owner of an amazing winery right on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in a small town called St. Michaels.

I spent about five days and 11 hours of tape creating this vid for the winery. I traveled all over the state of Maryland, met with eight grape growers, and even took an eight hour sailboat ride down the Chesapeake. I was to accomplish two objectives:

1. Create an informative video promoting St. Michaels Winery in a doc style.
2. Highlight Maryland’s growing wine industry, and illustrate the state’s emergence in the business.

Here is my first draft of the video. I spent hours upon hours color correcting this one. I just couldn’t help myself. Too much opportunity for beautiful shots. Gotta love Canon HD!

Scientists Turn Wood into Fuel

Here is the last video that Discovery’s Tracy Steadter shot at the University of Massachusetts. One professor along with two graduate students have figured out a way to turn biomass, which is leftover agricultural wastes that would ordinarily be discarded, into gasoline, jet fuel, and home heating oil.

In other news, I am back in New York City on a three month hiatus from Discovery awaiting a start again with the team in January. I’m taking these three months to explore graduate school applications, some television hosting opportunities (maybe?), and some other freelance work. Not too sure what these 3 months will bring, but I’m sure it will be interesting to say the least. In the meantime, you may expect more artsy videos on the site as well as some writing, as I try to understand how exactly a freelance videographer/host operates.

Robotic Arm Lends a Hand

University of Massachusetts student Dov Kats has invented a robotic mobile manipulator named UMAN. Now, you may be asking, “What in the world is a robotic mobile manipulator?” Well, it’s a robot that can manipulate foreign objects and interact with environments previously unknown to it.

UMAN uses a set of web cameras to understand it’s environment. If UMAN wants to move an object on a table, he takes note of how the color of an object differs from the table where it lays. He then pushes the object with his hand and watches to see where the pixels change both in contrast to the table and on the object itself. This allows him to understand both the size of the object he wants to interact with and whether or not the object has any joints he should take into consideration.

Click the video below to see what Discovery Channel’s Tracy Staedter and I learned while visiting UMAN.

Robotic Snails May Save Lives!

You think robotic snails used in rescue missions are crazy? While at MIT, Engineering Professor Peko Hosoi told us about an alarm clock that jumps off your night stand and hides when it goes off — forcing you out of your bed to hit the snooze button.

MIT Media Lab, I heart you.

One Year Later…

Exactly one year ago today, I began my trip around the United States for the film/Internet project Around America in 2.0. On the anniversary of the project, I thought it would be interesting to give my thoughts on what AA2.0 ended up meaning a year down the road.

During the last episode of Around America in 2.0 and at other points along the way, I explained some broad philosophical thoughts about what the project was all about. However, in retrospect and more practically speaking what Around America in 2.0 was about for me was finding that I do in fact have a passion for recording others’ stories, filming people’s lives, etc. That was definitely half of it. However, what I realized much further down the road is that journalism is in itself is a passion. It’s a compulsion. It’s not nearly as much a profession that one can be trained at as it is a sense of the world around you and an uncontrollable urge to talk about it, to revel in it, and to roll around in it. And with that understanding, it is important to acknowledge that it is not necessarily a profession everyone can make a living doing. The fact that news organizations around the country are cutting their staffs at record numbers should give college professors some indication that they should warn their students, “You’re here because you love it, but don’t expect to make a living at it. In fact, expect to have a career to finance what it is that you create.” That may be going a bit far, but you get the idea. In some regards journalism students should approach their future careers the same way art students approach theirs.

However, with all of that said if there was any time in history to become involved with journalism it is now. There are infinite ways to produce your content, to finance journalistic endeavors, and to approach your subjects through a thousand different mediums. Multimedia packaging barely seems a large enough phrase to encompass the ways in which one can put together a story these days. The fact that a journalistic project like AA2.0 was able to work out is unreal — that I, with no academic training, have personally been able to work with the companies that I have been working with in only two years time in the industry is literally unbelievable – especially considering that I’m not even half as good as so many others I’ve seen working in the same field.

What I’m getting at is that I think these fantastic journalists and others involved in the news industry need to realize is that not only has the path for a news company changed, but there is never going to be a clear path again. Just admit it. This applies for individual positions within these companies as well. The bureau chief or editor that has historically been the person making sure all journalists move up the professional ladder in a regimented, structured way is either long gone or is so confused at what’s going on in the news industry that they can care less about the ladder at this point. This has allowed those that are interested to make a quick dash to the top by finding alternatives to waiting in line for the ladder and even alternatives to the ladder itself. If you can climb, you’re golden.

So what conclusions should be made around these realizations? I personally believe that journalism should be less about learning to write, shoot, or speak for print, television, or radio and more about understanding mediums, predicting technologies, and learning to climb. How many painting classes does a college student spend learning how to dip their brush and properly coat the canvas? Maybe one? Professors spend the rest of their time teaching students how to become inspired and how to think outside the box. Painters are encouraged not fall into a formulaic rhythm. This is exactly what I think journalists should be thinking about at this point. Professors should be training students in writing for print, but these professors should then be saying to students, “Print is one of the ways we used to do things. Worked for a while, but not anymore. Anyone have any better ideas?”

I’m quite curious to see what this next year has in store. Like always, thanks to everyone that participated in AA2.0. It’s been one wild and crazy year, that’s for sure and I owe it all to AA2.0.

I write you this while living out of my backpack once again with video camera in hand from a hotel room on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

The Story that Never Made It

Below is a story I did a few months back on New York City’s waterfall installation. The story was shot in high definition, but came out a bit grainy. Unfortunately it hit the cutting room floor and never ran.

Nevertheless, check it out. The Waterfalls will be hanging around New York until mid October.

Click the photo below to watch “New York Imports Nature.”