Momentshowing

Project Pedal

Mike Ambs has started his new vlog project.
check it out.

This documentary - tentatively titled 'Pedal', will bookend with the Pacific and Atlantic oceans... anchored to a small group's cross country trip and focusing on the inspiring people that cross their path.

Each week a vlog will be posted that will share stories from these people met along the way - as well as the main cast and the occasional behind-the-scenes footage. In the end, the bi-product of these vlogs will be used for a feature length documentary.

The end-goal of this project, both in it's vlog and documentary form, is to share people's reasons and motivations behind their trip. Most importantly to share what makes or drives a person to leave everything behind and to understand what they each take away from this overwhelming and painful journey.

Mike initially came to Jan over at HaveMoneyWillVlog for help in funding the effort.
He found substantial funding elsewhere, but Jan and Ryanne did an awesome job helping him shape his project to make it more clear. It was a good experience for us at HMWV because we realized that we not only offer promotion and fundraising for cool projects, but (more importantly) help the creator to craft a good pitch. Once a project is well-planned, it's usually easy to get people excited.

Check out their video explaining the process:

Recording video of your life: NOT boring

David Howell posted a video recently that you should check out.

Talk about posting, distributing, and archiving a really crazy experience from your life.

How to Videoblog

Steve Garfield let me know about a project he helped create.

It's walks you through how videoblogging works and some of the history.

I was inspired by Steve's work back in 2004. I remember he was the first person to ever email me back about videoblogging. Shit, he was the first person I knew who was really videoblogging in a regular, puroseful way. He helped me understand that blogging was about educating each other.

As the online video world grows, we have people coming from it at different angles. Though there are many similarities, I think videoBLOGGERS come at video publishing different from Youtubers. Check out the project...the videos help lay out some of the ideas.

One more year of the Dog

Chris Weagel of Human Dog has posted all his videos from last year.

I'm always amazed at the quality and quantity of his work. He has such a distinct voice and vision.
Some people may know him from his series, American King.
I hope he one day gets what he's looking for.

Using video to fight

Here's an cool use of video.
Ryanne get harassed by construction workers so she confronts them on video.
You can see her shaking she's so mad.

This construction site is across the street from Hat Factory, our coworking space.
I parked by these same guys later in day.
There were 4 grown men smoking cigarettes and cleaning the mortar off old bricks to be reused.
They were standing next to a pile of probably 20,000 bricks they needed to clean.
Drugery. Must make people mean.

Watching Ryan's video  makes me see how clueless these guys are.
And it's weird that by having a camera, the guys become respectful.
If Ryanne didn't have that camera, I bet they'd still be talking shit.

What happens when we can see it?

The independent journalist, Flux Rostrum, was recently covering a protest outside the Mexican consulate in Manhattan. People were protesting the government's harsh treatment of the movement in Oaxaca.

While he was recording, the 3 police officers literally stole his camera and the tape inside.
The amazing thing was....everyone was recording what was happening.
So Flux was able to piece together the outrageous theft by the police. It's pretty incredible.
Watch the video, and read the full story here.

Click To Play

I bet that one policeman had no idea there were so many cameras documenting what he was doing...and that a "crazy mob" could organize to piece together such a powerful document.

Wanting to find out the follow up, I emailed and then called Flux who was at home for the holidays.
The big question I had is this...
Since he has so clearly captured NYC police corruption on tape for all to see...will justice be quick and simple?

Unfortunately, the story isn't so easy.
Flux got a lawyer, who got the official NYPD response on the incident.
(You ready for this?)
They say the camera was found on the ground and reported lost to them.
All Flux has to do is come to the precinct, show ID, and get the camera.
Flux is unsure if the tape is still in the camera...and this would not do anything to fix the damaged lens.
It's going to be very interesting to see how Flux and his lawyer can use the video to prove this blatant criminal act by NYPD officers.

The takeway:
It's sad to see at 30-frames-a-second how people who are supposed to be protecting the public... actually treat the public. Anyone involved in the demonstrations at the 2004 Republican National Convention know that this kind of treatment from the NYPD is par for the course. There is an obvious institutional harassment accepted/promoted within the NYPD towards anyone legally protesting.

It's great to see how inexpensive digital cameras have now armed each of us to witness reality. And the using the internet...we can spread the info far and wide. We can also archive and organize these pieces of evidence to educate and shape policy. So they can steal one camera....but they can't steal them all. Here's a great article detailing another case of how cameras were used in a NYPD harassment cae.

Building bridges and their difficulties

Ryanne just posted this video showing one of the workshops we taught in India.
We took a train all the way to New Dehli and ended up crowding into a local professor's apartment to teach a group of Nagas how to videoblog. Nagaland is a part of little-publicized East India, an offshoot piece of land that most people don't realize is part of India. Inhabitants look more Asian than Indian...and the Nagaland government has unsuccessfully tried to become independent from India for years. Who knew all this? The Indian media certainly doesn't discuss it much. The US media wouldn't touch this stuff.

So the woman who asked us to come teach a videoblogging workshop is a Naga Advocate...and saw the importance of getting them to start documenting themselves online through video.

We spent a whole day with about 10 young men and women who were extremely sharp.
They had no problem following the Freevlog tutorial...and had good skills editing for the first time in iMovie.
But 2 months later...their videoblogs are almost untouched.

So what's the problem?
It's such a great idea to get people from around the world to tell their own stories.
But there's a lot more at work behind this ideal.
Let me give you my take on it.

First, the Naga kids are smart and talented. So thats not the problem.
But I dont think they really understood why videoblogging was so important to the adults.
Why should they spend time to make and post video for middle-aged white people in North America?
Until they are making it for themselves and their friends...this will always be a boundary.

Second, the Naga kids had access to computer and cameras.
Internet cafes were everywhere...they all checked their email regularly...and were members of the social network Orkut (which is hugely popular with Brazilians and Indians). They did have access to video cameras as well.
But since none of them really owned their own equipment...videoblogging becomes a real chore.
Think about it....when you have a camera and computer of your own...you can work on projects.
If you're just borrowing a camera and paying hourly to get online, how do you edit and post video?

So a couple things need to happen before we really start seeing video out of developing countries.

• People got to have computers and internet in their homes.
• People got to have their own cameras. (even a $100 camera could be a month's salary or more)
• And social networks like Orkut need to incorporate video into their sites like Youtube. Instead of direct conversations between Naga kids of a US audience, I think we're more likely to watch conversations among themselves first...then we'll get to know each other.
• If someone could make even $10 dollars a month from their videoblog, they'd have much more incentive in a place where you can live off a couple dollars a day.

To give you a different example...we did also hook up with a group of Indian guys who are now videoblogging. Swajana.com
Why does this project work?

• The guys are paid a salary to make it.
• They have their own cameras, computer, and internet access.
• We have been helping them over the past 2 months. Building the blog, walking them through compression, storytelling, moral support, etc. We are essentially making work for each other.
• They are video geeks like us.

So here are some notes and experiences on building bridges.
I would love to see examples if you know of any.
I'd also love to be proven wrong in any of this thinking?

How Video changes the conversation

Some of you may have read how a recent California student was tasered
by security guards
lets see how the story plays out.

Read the Text: 
"UCLA Officer Shocks Student With Stun Gun
A UCLA police officer shocked a student with a stun gun at a campus
library after he refused repeated requests to show student
identification and wouldn't leave, police said. The student, Mostafa
Tabatabainejad, was shocked Tuesday at about 11 p.m. as police did a
routine check of student IDs at the University of California , Los
Angeles Powell Library computer lab."

Now watch the video.

Text is extremely important because it allows us to discuss the
depth and subtleties of a story.

But just watch the video taken by a fellow student using her
videophone and uploaded to the web. The video shows the real drama behind the incident that usually gets washed over in text stories. Now everything changes.

"Super Happy Dev House" x 10=cool as hell

If you remember last time, David Weekly and his gang is at it again.
Super Happy Dev House X  in SF on June 3rd and 4th (my birthday).
The idea is to bring together a bunch of smart developers and designers...and see what they can build in a weekend. Just sign up and come. It's all free.
Just watch this video (edited by the beautiful and talented Ryan).

What excites me most is the idea that anyone can build a service/tool that can be useful and influence  many people. This is the wonder that is "Web 2.0"(now trademarked by Oreilly). But these 2.0 folks got to get over themselves.

This concept is not just an empty buzzword, it's a reality.
You see a problem. You create an elegant solution.
Thousands of people use it. Other developers build on it.
Hopefully you make either some money or gain a reputation that will let you get paid to do what you love.

Bottom line: we're pushing things forward and anyone can join in.

Human Dog Rising

Chris Weagel over at Human Dog is an angry guy who's sometimes hard to get a long with. He wants to get deep down into the hole to find what doesn't exist now.
See here how his sister shows his core nature.

But I've always said that he is the unknown super talent in our midst.
This video bears witness:
WATCH.
Chris is amazing.