VOX

Today’s event was MC’d by Peggy O’Lay,  and she opened with a quote from one of the filmmakers:

“When a community provides art, it creates artists.”

This really captured the spirit of the event, and it spoke to the dedication and generosity of all the volunteers and event sponsors.

The lead-off film was “Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park” by Tristan Howard. This 30-minute documentary did an excellent job of describing and showing the ecology of this area on California’s northern coast. This film was shot between September of 2008 and January of 2009, and produced from more than 6 hours of footage.

I was impressed with the excellent cinematography and natural sound, particularly of the elk. It was obvious that it took a great deal of painstaking work to get this footage.  “Prairie Creek” showed us the spectacular males, which have razor-sharp antlers and can weigh up to 1, 100 pounds. These are not animals you want to annoy. Yet Howard was able to capture the natural activities. Impressive. The film also also covered the area’s bird and plant life equally well.

Howard is a filmmaker and a scientist, and his narration did justice to his striking images. This film is more than a visual treat, it is a substantial nature documentary. For those of you who didn’t catch this fine film, or would like to see it again, it is scheduled to air on our own PBS station on April 11, 2009 at 8 pm. You also can visit his website for a DVD of this and other films. It’s worth marking your calendar. A footnote for my students, you might want to look at his collection of documentary scripts to get an idea of how you write for a documentary. Read more…

Robb Film, Lightfoot Add new tag, Chase Jensen, festival, Film, Katmandu, Lightfoot, media, Nepal, Redding, Sundial, Will Lascelles

Dave Wright MC’d today’s screenings, and he noted that the film festival was 15 months in the making.

The opening included a clip of Kathleen Kennedy sending her greetings, congratulations, and regrets on not being able to attend. This was a nice touch, and served as a living example of how it is possible to start in a small town and really go somewhere.

The first film of the day was introduced by Dr. Lang Dayton, father of Todd Dayton, who was unable to attend.

Todd’s entry for the festival was “Matsutake,” his senior project for the UC Berkeley Graduate Program in Journalism. It was an impressive film, that took us through the entire process of harvesting and production of the world’s most expensive mushroom, Matsutake.

I was impressed with how the film went beyond just recounting facts to give us a feel for what it is like for those who, at each step of the way, work to bring this exotic food to Japanese consumers. The prices can range upwards of $600 a pound. The forests of Oregon are one of the few places with the specific, volcanic soil to support this fungus.  I was more than entertained by this film, and if I had tuned across a PBS or National Geographic channel, I would not have been surprised to find it there. It was of high quality. His production company’s website is www.falloutpictures.com.

Next up was Chase Jensen. Jensen’s story is that he left Redding for Los Angeles to work in the fashion industry, but was drawn in by film and landed at Azusa-Pacific His second entry for Sundial, “Revenge of the Mouse” was three-minute long  claymation with a dark sense of humor. Read more…

Robb Film festival, Film, media, People, Redding, Shasta

Welcome to “VOX,” the blog of www.newmediatoolkit.com.

I’m Robb Lightfoot, the webmaster here, and a teacher by trade. I’m a communications instructor, teaching everything from debate and speech to journalism and multimedia.

In short, I’m a utility player. I have long had a passion for the spoken word, hence my degrees in speech. Vox is, of course, Latin for “voice.” It also has another meaning that I cherish. It’s a shorthand expression from radio, ham radio in my case, for “voice-operated transmission.”  This is where, when you start talking, the radio kicks itself on.

This was a new thing when I first hit the airwaves in 1970, and I thought it was pretty cool. Talk, and the technology is there with you.

We’ve come a long way since then, and I’ve changed with the times to follow other passions, including documentary film making and music.

The great thing about New Media is that it is a “big tent” sort of discipline. All of those pursuits will be found here as we develop this networking site. I encourage you to participate.

Thanks for checking us out. You can expect blogs on the local music, media andarts scene. Cool local businesses will be featured, too, as will interesting classes, instructors and students.

I an be reached here, or via my home web www.robblightfoot.com.

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