Tag: film

Top 10 Eco-Docs of the Decade

Stumbled across an awesome list on Ecorazzi. The top 10 eco-documentaries of the decade. Here’re my 3 highlights from the list.

Fuel (2008)

In the film, Tickell examines America’s addiction to oil and offers viable, sustainable solutions for the future.

Designated a Critic’s Pick by the film reviewers of the New York Times and hailed by numerous other organizations, this Sundance-winning film will change the way you look at biofuels forever.

I had the chance to catch the educational version of Fuel at the SVN Conference earlier and loved how it opened my eyes to the world of Bio-Diesel. Witness how it’s possible for us to run our vehicles on used cooking oil as we watch the Veggie Van make a cross country trip, stopping only at fast-food restaurants to re-fuel. Especially with the tremendous reduction in harmful emissions, it’s one of those things that just makes no sense to not do, really.

I personally have a dream of working with the taxi and bus companies in Singapore to switch over to Bio-Diesel. It’ll take some research and years of work,but the impact is going to be great! :)

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upTCSSkxlxE%5D

Who Killed The Electric Car (2006)

Director Chris Paine incited anger towards Big Auto with the release of his electric car documentary in 2006. In particular, General Motors was blamed for killing off their beloved EV1 and stymieing a potential “electric car revolution” in California.

The film currently enjoys am 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

A sequel, Revenge of the Electric Car, is planned for release late next year.

I haven’t watched this one, but it looks interesting! Especially with the huge hype over Hybrid cars today. This movie’s exploration of why the quiet, fast and eco-friendly cars that required no gasoline 10 years ago are gone today will set us thinking about who the big bad boys are and why the love of money is destroying our planet.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8%5D

Who Killed the Electric Car?is available on DVD.

Food Inc. (2009)

the film is divided into three segments examining the production of meat, grains and vegetables, and the economic and legal power of the businesses behind the scenes.

Said one reviewer, “You’re probably not going to like what you see here, but you’d better hold your nose and choke it down anyway. Food, Inc. is for your own good.” The doc currently has an astounding 96% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes — with near consensus on it being one of the top must-see documentaries of the year.

I have heard nothing but praise for this movie. Learn the truth about what you’re eating and start demanding good, wholesome food.

[Youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eKYyD14d_0]

Food, Inc.is available on DVD.

Check out Ecorazzi’s full list here.


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by Categories: Go Green, Learn Something New, Social ChangeTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

When one door closes, one more always opens.

When Oprah rocked the world with the announcement of the final season of The Oprah Winfrey Show come 2011, a huge grey cloud loomed over many a Chicagoan’s mind. What will the media giant’s departure mean for the city and its people? Will her employees and local suppliers be left stranded and lose their source of income?

Well, the good news is, Harpo Productions is here to stay. In an article on Ruth L. Ratny’s ReelChicago.com, it states that:

“Harpo Productions plans to develop and produce new and continuing shows for syndication, prime time, cable, digital, radio and emerging platforms from Chicago.

The transition to a large assortment of content produced out of the Washington St. studio will be a huge boon for the local industry.

To everyone’s relief, it won’t suffer the loss of millions of dollars worth of annual Harpo business that might have left with Oprah’s departure.”

(read full article here)

I guess that means good news for production peeps like me too. With the focus moving from a single show to an entire network, The Oprah Winfrey Network is bound to lead to the rise in demand for content to fill their slots… 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… you can do the math.

Add that to the stringent content selection process I’m sure she’ll put in place to maintain the positive image of her brand, the content demanded will likely be right in line with the type of production I’m passionate about – social issue media. Nice. Content on air really doesn’t always have to be about sex, drugs and violence. Whether or not I’ll still be in the city to witness these changes, I’m glad that there’ll at least be more positivity on television.

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by Categories: Personal Reflection, Social ChangeTags: , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Take shots where previously too dangerous or inaccessible.

I remember when I was in the midst of filming for Beyond The Drive last year, I wanted to get a high angle shot of traffic, but wasn’t able to because of the lack of high-rise buildings in Evanston.

Well, such barriers could become a thing of the past. Draganfly will launch the Draganflyer X8 next year. Dang, i REALLY want one of those.

With its eight main horizontal rotor blades, it has the ability to carry DSLR and video cameras of about 1kg (2.2lb) to let you get beautiful and stable shots from up in the air.

For portability, it folds up and fits into a case! And if you’re like me – someone who’s never flown a remote controlled aircraft before – and you accidentally lead your device right into a mid-air collision and cause a motor to fail, your camera’s still safe. The remaining 7 motors will still keep it up.

Though its pricetag isn’t openly available right now, we can get a rough estimate from when they launched the previous model, the X6, at $14,000. Kinda out of my budget right now, but I look forward to seeing where it stands in a couple of years. :)

*rubs hands with glee*

I haven’t been able to find videos of it in action outside of the Draganfly site, but here’s one of the X6 in action.

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Message Received… The Making Of (part 2)

After such a fun time on weekend 1 on the set of Karolyn Szot’s Message Received, I was stoked to return for another dose of movie making magic. On the agenda for the second weekend? Blood! Car Crash! Cops! Uh, exchange students!

I was lucky to get a couple of hours off Saturday morning as only a bare bones crew was needed to shoot our two actresses, Emily Marso and Blake-Briana McKay, driving. Just a couple of shots and a simple scene. Easy as pie, right? Well…

Sign reads "Movie Set! Not Real!". What we mean: please don't call the cops on us again.

The story I heard when I arrived on set? A very concerned passerby had called the cops that morning thinking that the two wrecked cars we had on set was the scene of a real accident. Oh well, at least that means a big thumbs up for prod design well-done. ;)

Karolyn gave herself multiple cuts and bruises before putting some on Johnny.

Another challenge that filming a car crash scene brings is the ridiculous number of people who deliberately slow down to get a better glimpse of your set as they’re driving by. Maybe it was to see if there was a famous actor in the vicinity. Maybe it was to get numbers to buy the American version of 4D. Maybe it was to gawk at the awesome blood effects Karolyn did for our actors. Either way, our crew definitely learned more about directing two-way traffic in one lane. It also helped that we had two actors in cop uniforms on set. I’m not sure what it was, but people tended to drive past faster when it’s a cop signaling them to move. Or so they thought! ;)

Taking a crane shot of the entire crash scene.

When it was time to set up for our beautiful crane shot, it was all hands on deck. Like a life-sized balance scale, we had to figure out the exact number of sandbags to hang on one side to counter the weight of our camera on the other. It was almost like watching a team challenge on Survivor. “Take one more bag off,” one would say. “No, you just have to move one closer to the center!” another would reason. The team eventually emerged triumphant! And our crane shot went as smooth as silk.

Shooting outdoors often means racing against time, especially when you’re dependent on sunlight. Good thing our crew heads had their act together. We completed our shots with time to spare and made some new friends with the many deer roaming the woods near us. I’d say our day was a success! :)

If you thought the shoot so far has been packed with plenty of adventure, wait until you hear about the happenings on our final day of shoot. That story to come soon.

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by Categories: My Work, Short Films, Social ChangeTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment