Iowa Magazine is a series I produce for the Big Ten Network, and our latest episode features four new stories about the University of Iowa:

The National Advanced Driving Simulator is a research center at the University of Iowa that houses the NADS-1, a very sophisticated research tool that is basically the world’s coolest video game.

Advancing Oral Health features the University of Iowa College of Dentistry, one of the smaller colleges at the University but very respected in the fields of oral health science.  They have some impressive facilities including a simulation clinic, but my personal highlight was interviewing Hayden Fry (a former client of the college during his years coaching the Hawkeyes).

The Science of All Things Fluid is an introduction to one of UI’s oldest and most well-known research centers, IIHR Hydroscience & Engineering.  This institute conducts education and research in everything from computational fluid dynamics, to river hydraulics, flood forecasting, and much more…”from blood to flood” as their director Dr. Larry Weber puts it…

Inside the Mind of a Mascot is a behind-the-scenes look at Herky the Hawk- a role currently handled by four or five different UI students, male and female, all dedicated performers.

Iowa Magazine: Excellence airs next on Tuesday, January 19th at 1:30pm CST.  Visit the BTN website to see their programming schedule.

I recently watched the new Star Trek directed by J.J. Abrams, and my reaction was: why?  Why did this film need to be made?  Why pretend to adhere to the established mythology of 40+ years of storytelling, and then abandon it with a gimmicky time travel script unworthy of the lamest fan film?  The answer turned out to be about $400 million gross (what do I know) but even so I hadn’t felt that gypped since the Star Wars prequels.

So this week went to see Avatar, with similarly inflated expectations, and my response was: wow.

Avatar has made news for so many innovations in feature film production, but the wonderful irony is that none of the spectacular technological achievements of this film would mean anything without a solid, satisfying story line underlying it all.

Perhaps Star Trek lowered my expectations (and everyone else’s), but I imagine Avatar would be just as exciting to read on paper as it was to watch onscreen.  That said, the visuals blew me away, and this was seeing it in old-fashioned 2D.

I can’t begin to do the visual work justice by describing it, but one problem with so much CG-heavy science fiction is that special effects are too apparent, and there is always an obvious demarcation between real and fake; one of the major achievements of Avatar is in how it integrates CG and live action so seamlessly.

Another dimension of quality to this film is the level of detail in the story’s richly developed alien world, which director Camera has said was inspired in part by the complex Star Trek/Star Wars universes that have developed over the last 40+ years.

Some reviewers have criticized the story as fairly unoriginal or a rehash- it certainly evokes Dances With Wolves - but at least this one didn’t rely on time travel; moreover, some of the underlying themes are surprisingly relevant, considering the story was written in the mid-nineties.

Regardless of what Avatar goes on to do at the box office and awards shows, what Cameron has managed to do is restore the cinematic balance of story and spectacle, within one film, and it’s a relief.  Apparently Avatar has also ushered in a new era of 3D, which I’m completely ignorant about; so I’ll see that version soon and write about it in another post.

¡Three Amigos! (1986)

In this comedy western set in the silent-film era, three famous actors are forced to become their heroic alter egos after sudden unemployment and an urgent telegram land them in a poor village that they must then defend from an ‘infamous’ tyrant.

Lots of things make this film hold up well- evocative music and great songs, the combo of Chevy Chase, Martin Short and Steve Martin arguably in their prime as comedic actors, and wry humor (young villager to an Amigo: “Can I have your watch, when you are dead?”).  But the real jewel of ¡Three Amigos! is the affably evil villain El Guapo (played by Alfonso Arau) who practices photography, appreciates birthday sweaters, and is moved by the Amigos’ panache. “I like these guys- they’re funny guys!  Just kill one of them.”

¡Three Amigos! at Netflix

some of my recent work:

Just wanted to share this great work I came across.  Pretty much sums up my feelings about the breakup.

One of the things I really enjoy about the work I do is taking complicated, complex or confusing topics and trying to make them understandable, interesting, entertaining, or simply relevant- not to 2nd graders, but to anyone outside that given niche.  When I take on a new topic, in the writing/development stage, what helps me is to first understand what the thing is, but then try and think about how to explain it to the last person I would expect to care about it.  Some might say this is a ‘lowest common denominator’ approach but I think it’s really about balance- writing with an inclusive attitude, while trying to not to do the subject a disservice by oversimplifying or trivializing it.

How many of these terms jump off the screen at you?  Each one links to a video I’ve produced:

Inbound Marketing

Electronic Futures Exchange

Human Factors Research

Sustainability

Supply Chain Efficiency

Dance- Modern & Ballet

Live-Virtual-Constructive Simulation & Training

Risk Management

Informatics

I’ve shot quite a bit of dance in the last few years and still get calls about it, so I thought I’d share some of what I’ve learned.  Depending on what the choreographer or client wants, I usually take one of three approaches:

1. Containment coverage (farthest)

 
• purpose: to document the performance and/or choreograph
• strategy: get as close as possible without losing hands or feet
• audience “engagement” factor: low, but at least you can see what happened

2. Selective coverage (medium to close)




• purpose: to highlight/sample/summarize the performance;
• technique: privilege principle dancers, facial expressions and compelling details
• audience engagement factor: better (audition reels, TV spots)

3. Interpretive coverage (all distances from CU to XLS)




• purpose: to create a derivative work from the performance
• technique: anything goes
• audience “engagement” factor: high, if done right

 

Do more with less in the economic downturn

Whether you are a freelancer, a filmmaker or new media producer you are likely having to make do with less resources during this economic recession.  Now more than ever, people want value- and producers who can make a lot of out a little are the ones people will go to (I know I will).  Here are some ways to make to do more with less: 

• DOWNSIZE

Use less gear.  If it sits on a shelf 99% of the time chances are you don’t need it.  For those specialized tools you use once in a blue moon, rent. If nothing else, downsizing means less stuff to insure and lug around on shoots.

• STRATEGIZE

More planning = more purposeful shooting = faster editing.  Thinking about your idea and writing your outline, treatment and storyboard is the least expensive- and ironically, most critical- part of the process.  Any time you spend on this phase is a wise investment.

• SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL

Compact cameras, little lights, mini mics, tiny tapes, even the screens are small- more people than ever are watching content online.  Be small so you can think big.

• REDUCE-REUSE-RECYCLE

Organizations of every size in every industry and sector use video content online.  Interviews you shoot for one video can be released as a podcast.  B-roll from this program can be re-purposed in another.  Think about the ways clients can get more mileage and shelf life out of the content you produce for them, and make that part of the value you deliver.

• LEVERAGE THE WEB

From free content-sharing platforms like Wordpress, YouTube and Flickr to streamlined, to slick production planning software like Celtx, to affordable production resources like Voices.com and Shockwave Sound, the means of video content production are readily available for anyone with ideas and initiative to take advantage of.

The urgent need for real, clear value compels both sides of the relationship- client and producer- to think twice about how they use their time and resources and also forces you, the storyteller/producer/filmmaker to be more practical, more purposeful, and more creative.

“Iowa Magazine: Vitality” premieres this Thursday February 12th at 3pm.  Stories on The Maia Quartet, Informatics at Iowa, the Iowa Electronic Markets, and Operator Performance Lab.

Produced for the University of Iowa & Big Ten Network.

Air times: 
Thursday February 12th at 3PM CST
Tuesday February 17th at 3AM CST
Wednesday February 18th at 9AM CST

I filmed and edited this piece for Leslie Nolte of the Nolte Academy of Dance.