Well this was #3 of 10 Library workshops. We were a small group today, but still some good work got done. I left the topic open to ‘ a message you want to share.’ responses varied from struggles of a single parent, difficult work of school, to knowledge is power. I’m a bit unsure where to go with these workshops- an hour is really not much time to do anything…
At least today with the small focused group we talked about messaging and shot types. It was great to have a young mom participate with her 2 kids… Still have some thinking to do about how make the most out of these limited encounters…

Well the 1-hour time slot is a tall order to produce a video. We are experimenting with different themes, so we went from security to support this week. I showed the video from the day before as a way to introduce the project. We talked about the topic and moments when we feel supported. We then had everyone take a moment to write a response to this prompt. We broke into groups and they improvised based on the topic- from skits to songs we created a short piece.
Here are some closing reflections…

Okay well today was the first in a series of workshops at branch libraries throughout the city. I have one hour to grab the attention of a group of 10 kids I’ve never met before and will likely never see again. The first stop was at the Cecil B. Moore branch. The first 20 minutes I explained the project and showed 2 videos- one from a oneminutejunior, which flopped- and another from NSNP titled “I am” (in which Saul, the maker does a backflip). The prompt I gave was “Security is.” Once we got out of the basement and they had the cameras in hand, they got into it. Interviewing each other and library patrons. One group took about 5 takes to get their presentation/location just right- which I admired!

Another group took to the backflip idea, and brought the camera down the street to 25th/Cecil B. Moore where a mattress lays in the middle of an empty lot makes for an impromptu gymnastic site. The kids were quite good at the backflips!

There was one odd interview with a girl who responds to the question, what does a camera mean to her? I’m not sure where this question came from, but the response was quite poetic and speaks to the fleeting nature of these exchanges while giving meaning to their documentation.

more to come… more themes to explore…

Highlighted Video!

Richie was a new participant to drop into the PPEHRC office (Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign) when I was there last week. He brought over a computer and installed Pinnacle on it so we can start editing more efficiently! After watching this short video he put together in a day, I was totally impressed by his dedication to his neighborhood and his deep understanding of the history and economic circumstances that have led to the way it is today….

You can check out his other films about Kensington on his youtube page: Kenzo FilmZ
and his new show – see the Facebook page!

Film workshops with PPEHRC youth
Workshops started today with the youth group at PPEHRC.
We will be meeting weekly with them to create short videos and document their involvement with the PPEHRC farm that is under development on an empty lot a few blocks away. Today we did a really brief intro to the class, and asked them to write from the prompt: Where do you come from and where are you going?
Their words were very insightful.
They all wrote their voiceover and created storyboards. Next week we will start filming…
stay tuned.

I’m very excited to have started a series of workshops with the folks at the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign in Kensington. After years of amazing organizing work around housing, and welfare rights issues, PPEHRC is taking control of their image and their understanding of technology. These videos were the first videos they made… with many more to come!

Playing with the webcam upload function on Youtube:

Last week I returned to Russell Byers Charter School (last summer I did a daylong class there as well).
We got to try out the new MIM toolkits, which was a useful resource have on hand.
I showed a few shorts from the one minute junior site to get us started talking about different concepts:
what do you think: (talk about environment and sequence)
Self portrait food: (talk about editing and representation)
chains: (talk about metaphor and camera angles)
Here is a 10-minute edited clip showing some of the classroom instruction.
At the end of the day, we were able to start to develop our ideas around powerful voice.
The students responded to the prompt: “With my powerful voice, I can express….”
Here are some of the storyboards… I hope the videos will get finished in the coming week!

Here are the videos we produced last year- it was useful to show these to this class to give them an idea of the finished product…

The Face of Environmental Justice:

Industry and Possibility:

Street Art:

A guided tour  with historian, autoworker and organizer Rick Feldman at the Packard and Pole Auto Plants in Detroit.

These videos were produced during the tour Eco-media Messages from Detroit tour during the Allied Media Conference. From these 3 perspectives, you can get a snapshot of the issues addressed, the challenges we face, and the possibilities for the future. Thanks to the supporting organizations who pulled the tour together, and continue this important work in their communities back home:
East Michigan Environmental Action Council
Green Guerilla Griots
Outta Your Backpack Community
Photo by Ryen Davis

I’m heading out to the Allied Media Conference in Detroit.

Stay tuned for videos and posts along the way!

I will be co-presenting this workshop on Friday afternoon:

TOUR: Eco-Media in Motion: Messages from Detroit (Kid Friendly)
Presenters: Climate Confluence Network; Green Guerrillas Youth Media Tech Collective; Messages in Motion; Outta Your Backpack Media; Remedia; Toxic Soil Busters Co-op
TRACK: Eco-Justice Media Making for Sustainable Communities

This session will encourage creative use of media tools and technology to connect social and environmental justice issues. Beginning with a short participatory discussion on the ways in which we engage with nature from a perspective of aesthetic appreciation—as well as the ways in which media can either alienate us from, or draw us closer to, connections with our environments—this two-part bus tour/media-making workshop will take us beyond the conference space to learn about, reflect upon, and co-create eco-media that connects participants local work with environmental justice issues facing residents of Detroit. Artists, beat makers, broadcasters, DJs, grease car drivers, journalists, metaphysicians, off-grid survivors, photographers, poets, videographers, and all others will be invited to document their reflections on the tour through their creative lens, and then collectively work on a multi-media collage that will be shared with AMC2010 and online.

These videos were produced in collaboration with the Asian Arts Initiative as part of a multi-week video production workshop focusing on the production of Immigrant Life Stories- in the Termite TV tradition. I facilitated one workshop with the participants today and we went to a festival that was happening at Franklin Square to record, and reflect on “What it means to feel/be ‘at home.’”
There were the videos that were produced:

Video by Xiaou

Video by Chris

Video by Annie

While I was at Franklin Square with my Van door open- waiting for a group of students to return with their videos, I had a visitor.
John asked me what was going on- and I told him what I knew. He proceeded to give me his story about how he became homeless after getting
shot in the foot last January from a stray bullet- not having enough to cover the medical expenses- losing his room, his job, and having to live out on the street. He was particularly bothered by an experience he had in the park moments before when he asked an Asian woman for some help- and she responded something to the extent of he should ask his own people for help- apparently her 8yr daughter didn’t like that answer and extended a handful of candies. After talking for awhile, he asked me too if he could do something- clean the windows, hand out flyers- something for some change. I asked him if he wanted to make a video. At first, surprised, then nervous and into it…
this was his response. I hope he makes it to the library to see it published to the world. These are the ‘renegade’ moments, I appreciate most about this work…

This collective video was made with a group of 35 students during a one-hour session at the central library as part of the annual Youth Empowerment Summit. This year’s theme was believe, belong, become- so that became the prompt for this piece.

Yesterday was my second workshop with YHEP (Youth Health Empowerment Project). I was invited by Art Works!, a program of Mural Arts to facilitate video workshops at YHEP for the OUTspoken project. OUTspoken is a mutlimedia project which aims to create safe space for the voices of LGBTQ young people and their allies in Philadelphia.

The first week, we were a small group. We started out with a conversation about safe space- facilitated by the wonderful Flip and Rachel. These conversations will make there way into a larger video piece at the end of the project…. The idea of the MIM partnership was to do 2 workshops and guide participants through the making of their own 2 minute video piece- allowing them to voice something personal with regards to their relationship with YHEP and how they define safe space and why it’s important. The activities would also serve to create broll that could then also be woven into a larger video piece…

To get us talking. I started out by showing a video made by a previous participant from last summer, Nayelah. There is a moment in the video when she goes into a corner store and talked about how much she loves to cook… The group really responded to this– Normally when you see cooking on TV- it’s in a fancy kitchen or the Reading Terminal, they said… this was really real- and they could relate to cookin meals from the corner store offerings. It was great to see how one video was starting to inspire another…

Next, I showed Contra, which I really like- I think it’s a good way to show the power of images, and how emotions can be conveyed through metaphors and symbolism.

From there we did an image scavenger hunt and had a short moment at the end to start to record some personal narratives. Sam’s piece was filmmed that day. I used her video to start out the next class….

We are going on to workshop 3 at the main library. Normally the regular teen workshops happen on Tuesday, so we were a little unsure about turn out and participation on Thursdays. The workshops are open to all teens between ages of 14-19 (give or take), but out of convenience most of the youth who participate are coming from schools within walking distance to the library. A group of 7 ‘regulars’ came to the first class- we had a very animated discussion about media- likes and dislikes… we watched a few videos made by prior participants and I showed Contra which seems to be a good way to explain metaphor in imagery. We had time for an image scavenger hunt and pizza!

I was a little unsure about dividing the class over 4 weeks (we meet on Thursdays from 4-6) because of the drop off of students- but I must say with the commitment of this group, so far it has worked out very well. I’ve had the help of Colette, Mendal, and the Aurora, the teen coordinator so it’s been a really smooth and enjoyable experience.
Overall we broke the class down like this:

Day 1: Intro to project (I now have a PPT with images!)- Watch some videos, discuss- do the image scavenger hunt exercise.

Day 2: Writing exercise. We used the prompt: How are our private selves, or how we think of who we are- different from our public/superficial selves? What role does the media play in shaping these perceptions. They were really excited to write- this was a dream… and after about 20 minutes, we all shared and started brainstorming imagery. We worked on the storyboards- and took the last 30 minutes to go out and film.

Day 3: Finish recording the Voiceover and start editing… Take time to reflect on the process.

Day 4: I plan to bring the Van to the front of the library and screen the videos to the public. I think this will be a really great closing!

My neighbor tipped me off to this show, which I ran over to see as it was getting dark  (even though it will still be up for a few more weeks. You can find these portraits tied to the trees in Palumbo Park, next to Fleisher Art Memorial on Catherine between 7th and 8th. The Citypaper has a nice brief description here. I really appreciated the seemingly simple work of intimate portraits with captions that provide a reflective insight into the photo. Writing captions can be a good way to start to investigate the relationship between word (audio) and image.  I can imagine taking one of the video/shot scavenger hunt exercises and adding a captioning component…

After depleting and inhaling 6 aerosol cans of various intensities of spray glue, and still having sagging fabic on the ceiling, I decided to look for a professional. After several frustrated google searches for auto interior shops, I found this comment which stated that “they are very creative. they can install allkinds of gadgets to your cars interior while they are working on it. they dont charge a lot and their work is very good. I love their customer service.” It was closeby- so I called, and that was how I stumbled upon Basem, the owner of this auto interior shop. I arrive at his shop, and we start talking about his family, Israel and Palestine, business, making videos, etc etc. He sees the van, and asks if I like fishing… I think that was his interpretation of the speech bubble squiggles.. to each his own! We find some funky headliner fabric and close the deal. By the end of it all, we are negotiating website building for seat upholstery and planning to shoot a 5-min portrait that can help his business and share his story (he already has the dramatic moments planned out). Stay tuned for more…

Here is a brief video that outlines the process of installing the solar panel on the roof. More to come as I familiarize myself with all the workings and calculations of the system….

I just completed co-teaching a filmmaking workshop in Chester with Sonia Arora who connected us to a group of homeschool kids who she had met while filmming her own short documentary on the subject of homeschooling.

We offered the class for 4 weeks (2-hr sessions) with a group of 7 students ages 8-13. The class took a different format than previous MIM workshops. We allowed the students to take the cameras home with them between classes so that they could document themselves in their home environments.

We allowed them to chose their own topic, but encouraged them to create a personal piece that reflected their interests. We required that the videos stay under 2 minutes.

The eagerness and curiosity of this group of students made the workshops very lively and exciting but also a bit more challenging to focus. There is something fresh and spontaneous about the writing, for example that often happens on the first day, that is difficult to recreate later in the process. Particularly because this group does not have a shared message or perspective that they want to communicate (a few of them were interested in creating pieces that countered the stereotypical ideas of homeschoolers),
but most of them just wanted to express something unique about their interests as kids.

If we were to do this again, I think we would focus on the narrative story first and then build the images from there.

Check out the Map around Chester (west of Philadelphia) to catch a glimpse of these diverse personalities.

Well now that a little money is trickling in for the project, I took the plunge and bought a 180 watt solar panel!

Here is a good article that explains a bit of the process. I purchased a AGB Deep Cycle Battery and an inverter. All I’m missing is the charger controller, and perhaps a battery charger to keep the battery alive while it is in my basement until the Spring.

I’m hoping with an 180 Watt panel, and a 150 Amp Battery to be able to charge up 2 laptops and a monitor for 3 hours a day- since I”m only going out 2-3 times a week, the summer sun should be enough to sustain this.

I’m planning on doing the installation in the Spring. Meanwhile, I’m collecting the goods, and still searching for an efficient way to keep the fabric on the ceiling from not falling down. Help!

Today we visited a wonderful oasis in West Philly, Mill Creek Farm. This working farm has a small staff  and relies on neighborhood volunteers and school groups to keep the farm alive and running. Today they were building a cobb oven when we arrived. They have a compost toilet, a living roof, bee hives and of course rows of herbs and all sorts of vegetables- all pesticide free.

Since this was our first unorganized stop, we were a bit unsure how to plan. We had hoped to give the cameras to community gardeners to document and comment on their experience on the farm. Everyone was busy working, so we ended up doing most of the filmming. We definitely need to work on our ‘pitch’ and a very easy way for people to get involved, and not feel intimidated by ‘making a movie.’

I think when we have the full set up, including the monitor to be showing videos, work stations set up- an awning and chairs for people to congregate- it will be more of an event… but for now, it’s a good learning experience to try out different scenarios and meet awesome people along the way… and of course- keep documenting and growing the connections on the map. CHeck out the map at 49th and Brown for a guided tour! Thanks to Jo and Jade for hosting our visit!

Today MIM had a fun visit to the Asian Arts initiative where Aggie is working with a few students for a week-long media camp, in which they are addressing issues of identity and representation (with a particular eye toward the Iranian American experience). It was a pleasure to work with a small group of very engaged young women. The process was much more laid back. We watched a few shorts, including this music video shot on a cell phone in Tehran which was really inspiring and well done. Soon, I will post clips from the instructional side. Check out these thoughtful videos on the map at 12th and Vine!

On Tuesday I worked again with the VOICES youth, but this time we met in their neighborhood in Southwest at a rec center at 58th and Kingsessing. We were a group of 14 and I was surprised that we got 12 videos done by the end of the day at 4pm. I said up front the simple guidelines were that each video have a message, a voice, and a sense of place.

This time I tried a combination of approaches. We still started out looking a few clips (which didn’t go over too well, because the screen was too small, and the sound was not audible with my speakers)… we reviewed image composition, shots, etc.
I gave them some golden suggestions for filming:
1. Don’t zoom, go closer
2. Let the action create movement, not your hand
3. Frame first, then record
4. No longer than 10 seconds for each shot.
The total video should be no longer than 1 minute.

We then split into 2 groups and one group wrote from the following prompts:
What’s unique about me? What’s unique about my neighborhood? Does where I live or where I come from inform who I am?

For the image group, I treated it like a scavenger hunt and gave them a storyboard with 6 shots and brief descriptions of what each shot should entail, such as
1. How do you see yourself
2. MS- show me something you value
etc…
I think this went well to create a random, but nice connection. Of course the group that wrote first, had an advantage over constructing their images to match up a bit more… but overall the pieces are very different and well represent the neighborhood. Check out the map, SW to see all the videos.

Went back to Centro and VOICES to screen their videos and get some closing reflections (video to come). We also asked them all to write a final message in a speech bubble and add it to the map on the van. I would like to start a leave a bubble, take a bubble exchange- but for now, I’m charmed by seeing the van fill up with random and thoughtful closing tags.

On Thursday I did a workshop with 10 students from the Penrose neighborhood, up by Temple. The summer program is part of a several-year leadership training organized by VOICES and offered to area high school students.

This group has been working on projects related to an exhibition they will have at Tyler, on the topic of curating their neighborhood. Unlike the resistance I have felt from other groups regarding the possibility of positive resources and assets in one’s neighborhood- this group has been doing a lot of historical research and interviews to learn about the history and resources present in thier neighborhood- and they have really gained a sense of pride through this process. I wanted them to focus on what they have learned, and what personal impact this process has had on them- and by extension, what message do they want to share about this process with their community?  We tried out a more general postcard template for the first time:

Videos will be posted tomorrow!!

Katya and I returned to Centro today for a very successful day. Over the weekend I saw a a series of short films by Canadian experimental filmmaker Arthur Lipsett. His work really made me think deeper about how to think distinctly about the image and sound track in order to produce new meaning. I started thinking about how to do this in the context of the workshops, how to combine their writing and the ‘image scavenger hunt’ idea to produce a personal piece that can still strongly reflect a sense of place.

So what we did was divide the group into 2 and had them do a writing exercise separate from the image exercise. One group did a free write with the prompts:
Who are you and what are you about?
How does where you live/where you are from inform who you are?

The second group went out with the cameras with the following image prompts:
Establishing shot: How do you see yourself?
CU: What do you like most about yourself
Where you are coming from?
MS: Show me something you enjoy/value about your environment?
Show me something most people would not know about your community?
Final image

We then had them record their previously written audio (making edits as they wanted) and then used it as the voiceover for the image track….

It’s still a working strategy, but I think it’s on the right track, and I’m totally excited about their videos!
Check out the map to see them all.

As the rain starts let’s hope for no unexpected smudging surprises!
Bassem came over this afternoon and we transformed a working concept into a really rad painting project. We finished the map at dark which did not make it to the video, but looks really great. I’m almost done finalizing the logo which will go next to the map on the passenger side. I’m not going to tell you what all the lines mean, but I trust you enough that the most important ideas of the project will make their way into your understanding of the finished piece.

We started planning for our videos with the Seamaac group. We now have a semi-consistent group of kids. We are using the postcard structure to generate short personal narratives about each student. The outline looks like this: “Dear Philadelphia, my name is ____. I live at ____. I want to tell you about myself….”

The prompts we gave were:
What do you value in your life and why?
What does home mean to you?
How would you describe your cultural background?
What do you want to be when you are older?

From here, they picked one or all of these questions to elaborate on. After the narrative was written, they storyboarded six images that they want to use to convey their ideas. We will start filming on Thursday.

On Monday Katya and I facilitated a workshop with a group of 11 14-18 year olds at Centro Pedro Claver at 6th and Erie as part of their summer work program (yes the kids get paid to make cool art and think about how to make change in their community, and how to keep making money doing it).

We arrived at 9 and took some time to introduce ourselves, and the project, and play what has been a popular icebreaker (“I share common ground with…” – it’s like musical chairs).

We then showed a few short works with different content and styles to discuss how meaning is made through images. They really enjoyed, In Case I Disappear. They found Sofas slightly repetitive and long, but dramatic and engaging. Last we showed Contra. They enjoyed the message, and some of the visuals, but found others cliche- which made for a good discussion. A piece I didn’t get to show, but I think has a strong connection to this project is, No Man is an Island. We did not have time to ask them to suggest videos they like, but we should have. I also showed Power of Nightmares, which was a good exercise with this group.

After the scavenger hunt, we introduced the concept of story boarding, and used these handyFlickr Visual Stories as a lead. We handed out the postcards and gave them time to fill in the blanks and think about what they may want to say in their pieces. I think this part was the least successful. It seems important to have the time to move from the personal to the neighborhood, because most of them were not that interested in thinking about where they are from, as it relates to location. We did have some interesting discussions about why some neighborhoods open to fire hydrants to cool off, or move the trash to the bottom of the street, so it could be swept up, and in other (white) neighborhoods this would be unheard of.

Out of the postcard template emerged a conversation about stereotypes about the violence and drugs in Philly- how this impacts them personally, and how they are interested in presenting more positive images. When we return next week to do the actual pieces, I think we want to experiment more with the form, and give them the chance to get more personal and even more experimental… stay tuned.

Martin came over today and he built the workspace area. It looks amazing…
With some tassle trim, we are almost good to roll.

I was very excited to work with a very inspiring group of 12 years olds who are attending the Russell Byers Charter School. Powerful Voices is a Media Literacy summer camp offered to the students. I worked with 7 kids on the ‘Gold Team’ for a 5 hour session. Dave Moore, the instructor, and a classmate of mine at Temple documented the entire session, so more video to come.

Since this group is working on environmental issues, particularly green roofs, we started out by watching a few short films on this general topic. The Secret Life of Paper is a good short educational doc about recycling and paper production and use. We discussed what the messages were and how the images used helped support and convey those messages. We followed that by an experimental music video by my friend Jon Shibata, in which he rephotographed images from an old children’s science book he found at a recycling center and edited it to music in imovie. Surprisingly the students found the editing too fast for their liking, but it was useful to demonstrate how still images and books can be repurposed and animated, a technique they may choose to use in their own work. We didn’t have time to show Recycle which is another quiet piece I enjoy (check it out). We then did the classic ‘Power of Nightmares’ lesson, in which I show the first minute of the opening without sound, and we talked about the ideas the images convey. They tried to guess what the themes of the film are based on this opening selection. Overall it was useful to get them thinking about images, metaphors and visual meaning.

During lunch we sent them out on the image scavenger hunt. In the afternoon we brainstormed topics for 3 short videos and agreed on recycling at the school, green roofs and pollution. An important part of this process was discussing what kinds of images we would film and how to find creative solutions to illustrate broad ideas. They story boarded with this aspect in mind first, and then followed with the narration. All the videos and the lesson from today should be posted within the coming week!

Here is a short video documenting the process of the day:

We did an image scavenger hunt today with still cameras. I think it was a successful activity. They seemed excited to get out of the classroom. The scavenger hunt was a mixture of finding shots (cu of a circular object; wide shot of something in motion) and more conceptual ideas (love, work, danger). The flip cameras arrived today, so I look forward to using them tomorrow when I am scheduled to work with Dave Moore at the Powerful Voices Media Literacy camp!

I finished the first of 6 weeks with the Seamaac summer camp. Phally and Luce have been my faithful comrades up against a wily group of 8-15 year olds who, if given the chance would be happy playing icebreaker games instead of talking about making movies… The set up is 20 or so kids Tues and Thurs for 90 minutes. We meet at a building at 5th and Washington. The curriculum as I had envisioned will not be so practical with this group because 1) we are not within walking distance to their neighborhoods and 2) it is difficult to develop continuity from week to week with such a wide range of skills and such a large group.

Tuesday we introduced the project, talked about what neighborhoods we are from, and started a mapping exercise so people could start to think about the details in their environment. Thursday, we did an activity with still images and associations, to get them thinking about how images represent ideas. That went pretty well. We then showed 2 PSAs about Philly issues and talked through the messages of each one and how images were used to convey the message.

I think we will likely end up breaking into 4 groups and working on themes within close boundaries to the site- one group may do a video about the camp, another about the street art behind the Asian Supermarket… we’ll see how far we can get. It’s a challenging beta test- but that’s the idea, right?

Yesterday I took an inspired trip to Fabric Row, where I fell in love with thick orange fuzzy fabric at Kinkus- the $30/yd price was not going to hold me back…. Until…. I discovered the much talked about JoMar in South Philly, not to be confused with JoBo fabrics in Pensauken, NJ. JoMar is a discount clothing, toy, fabric warehouse, strategically located between the Fright Factory, Forman Mills and the Mexican distributor, Jarochito off Columbus Avenue.

We found a snazzy colorful velvet pattern at $6/yd, that is sure to match the outside art, and compliment the minor interior blue. Take a look.

Well, after yesterday, I had the energy to keep going. I tested out this sprayer which seemed intimidating at first, then simple, then too much work for what it was worth… so I went back to Home Depot and called my dad from the roller aisle. We settled on a 1/4inch nap, and a pack of cute little high density foam rollers. The verdict is in…. big thin rollers work best over small foamy ones.

Overall, since most of the edges were taped yesterday, it all went very quickly- about 3 hours to do the first coat (does there have to be a second?).

I think it looks great!

First collective Work Day was a big success. Thank you Lindsey, Doro, Lisa Marie and Aggie for your impeccable taping, sanding, peeling, painting, cutting job… we can all happily add these new skills to our resume. We installed some salvage carpet, a bit of a patchwork job, but very cozy. Don’t cut carpet against the grain if you don’t have to. We painted the interior walls, fabulous! The plan is to make a trip to Fabric Row and find some orange pattern soft fabric for the ceiling.

A break for Salsa Verde, Black Bean hummus and great fried tortilla chips fresh from the market sealed the deal.

Day 2. We decided to pull up the floor covering. Seemingly innocuous rubber on top. Thinner and paint-soaked layers of insulation-like cotton candy below. Now the kids don’t have to breathe in paint fumes. We finished pealing off the decal letters and sanded all the exterior walls in preparation for painting! Next task: remove pesky interior shelves which are bolted through the base metal of the truck. And yes, I am working too. It’s hard to document and get dirty at the same time…. Carlos has been a champ of a helper!

The Van arrived today. Excitement and a little anxiety. What did I get myself in to? We start by removing some of the interior shelves and digging our nails into the side decals to remove them. Parkway Painting is my dad’s business. The Van was with him for over 10 years and now it will see its second life!

The Van arrives on Wed morning. Once it’s parked outside my house, there will be no way to avoid diving in and getting dirty. I received the first round of artwork from Bassem who is creating characters and micro scenes for the exterior of the van. Here is a sneak  peak mock up of the first round of ideas: (ignore the postmark- we are sill working on the logo)

Today, I met with Kevin at SEAMAAC, and it looks like MIM will be visiting their summer camp once a week for 5 week (90 min sessions each). They hope to enroll 40 kids between the ages of 10 and 16. Immigrants from Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, West Africa, and I’m sure I’m missing a few other countries of origin. This will be a big challenge- but a good test of the potential of this project with youth…

I think we are getting close to deciding on the logo/graphic design for the title… this has been quite an interesting process to go through. Michelle and Quizayra my trusty design team from UARTS have been working with me to get this just right. What do you think?

first try:

So I’ve discovered that only youtube and google video (which is no longer taking uploads) can embed their code in Google MyMaps. Bummer! So, I reluctantly set up a Youtube page to host the test videos. And I found this site: http://www.mapchannels.com which I’m excited to play around with. It seems you can add different levels of information or ‘feeds’ to a given map. I’m still testing out the workflow between all these sites… I think this may be a good compromise given the reality that I don’t have time to learn google maps API…

Last night I met with Martin and Bruce, the tech team extraordinaires to talk about deep cycle marine batteries, chargers and fuses…Bruce calculated the amps we would need given the specs of running 2 PC laptops, a monitor, possibly computer speakers, a light? It was decided this was the way to go over a generator (too loud and expensive) and running off the car battery itself (mean the engine would have to run- also loud and expensive). They will work on a set up to connect the equipment to DC adapters- a fuse box- and create a power source with 4 input to keep everything charged up on the road.

I had a great meeting today with Ellen, Irit and Dave regarding the development of the postcard template. We seemed to agree that the more specific the better. So I am testing different questions, prompts and formats to generate a short video in 6 shots that moves from observation to analysis and action. We all like the postcard size worksheet as a storyboard/script… and I am working with Michelle to refine the logo to look more like a postmark. I can them get stamps made and it will all be awesome!

This morning lying in bed at 6am I woke in a panic afraid that the van would not fit in the parking space I was imaging.  Shit! What would I do… look for a garage? cancel the project? How could this have happened…. I throw on my sweatshirt and dig up my post it note with the dimensions 16ft x5 and half side… find the tape measure and go out in the rain to check the dimension.

It will fit.

Slight relief, but I’m still not able to fall back to bed.

Messages in Motion is a mobile media project that will launch this summer.

Stay tuned for documentation, resources and details!