This is a music video that I directed/edited six months ago. It has been programmed on cable television countries all over California and in other parts of the country, but is just now making its way to my blog. I’ve been a big fan of Dead Prez for the past 10 years, so I enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with Stic.man.

This was also my opportunity to create art for and about Oscar Grant. The inclusion of the Oscar Grant imagery really came as an after thought (we shot most of that mural footage after the video had been edited, and only then though to include the BART shooting audio after that), but I also felt like it completed the video; it made the video tangible and relevant.

Kinetic Typography video that I directed and animated for Level Playing Field Institute that demonstrates how SMASH Academy is closing the opportunity gap through STEM education.

The purpose was to highlight the opportunity gap and demonstrate the ways in which SMASH Academy bridges that gap for talented young students of color. To this end, I tried to create an actual object out of the word opportunity, and split it in half at the “T”, to create what seemed likes a gaping whole in the word. This is the beauty of text based art— words are symbols for ideas as they are, but they can also be turned into images that represent the same idea, or different ideas all together. In this case, we used letters to symbolize opportunity, and the image of the word “opportunity” split in half to symbolize a gap. Throughout the rest of the video, there are other instances where a single word, or even a collection of words are arranged as an image to symbolize an additional idea. Pretty neat, huh?

The video is now being show at high schools across the San Francisco Bay Area as a recruitment tool to encourage thousands of high school freshmen to apply to SMASH.

I gave this interview at the 2008 Arizona Black Film Showcase about the Revolution music video. They just posted it to YouTube this week though.

Watching this interview gets me excited to attend more film festivals on behalf of the Michael Jackson Shining music video. Shining has already won 5 film festivals, but I still haven’t attended a single one for it. Thankfully this weekend will be the first– The San Diego Black Film Festival. We’re screening at two different times throughout the weekend, so I’m assuming we’ll have opportunities to do more interviews like this.

So, it’s my birthday today and I’m sitting here at midnite watching my new Michael Jackson music video… the first music video that I’ve shot, directed, edited, and performed in… and I can’t complain in the least. Here’s to another year of creation…

I can’t remember the first time I realized that Michael’s birthday was the same day as mine (it may have been on Entertainment Tonight), but for some reason it always seemed to make sense that we were so close on the calendar… I felt close to him as it was. Some people believe in astrology and most don’t, but regardless our personalities are similar in some ways (won’t get into it here). Still thought it was silly to think that I might have had some kind of “cosmic connection” to my favorite pop star… I think there’s a psychological term for feeling like that.

But it’s interesting now to see the fact that there is somewhat of a correlation between our two birthdays… at least for me now. Michael stepped up his creative game with Thriller, one of the first “real” music videos, and now I feel like I’ve definitely stepped up my game with my first “real” music video.

Ok… so maybe that’s all a bit of stretch, but it’s my birthday, so give it to me anyway… what can I say I’m just a big MJ fan like anyone else out there.

The truth of the matter is that I planned for everything to sort of work out this way. I must’ve decided over a month ago that I would release this video for My/Michael’s birthday weekend because I wanted to feel more “connected” to Michael, and now I do. And even for the project itself… we always wanted to be in MJ videos, ever since we were kids, and now we are (we’re in like… 12 of em). And now people all across the world (hopefully) are watching the video with me on my birthday… my little gift to myself.

Makes me appreciate even more how important it is to give gifts to yourself. Sometimes you end up getting something someone else wanted as well… and you inspire them to get something for themselves as well.

yes!

I’ve been invited to be a judge for the Mo Project youth media contest! And I’m… “honored”.

The main goal of MO Project is to give an outlet for youth who want to spotlight issues related to access to good food and safe places to play and exercise. It’s a contest about a movement and creates an opportunity for young people to think about what’s working, what’s not working, and how to make it better.

I’ve been asked to be a judge for the poster category, and have to select what I feel has the best design and the best message. Winners will be announced on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 and the winning designer can win an iPod Touch or a Wii!

I bumped into Bryant Terry at the Oasis last night, and the first thing he tells me is that I’m featured in the promo video for his book signing at the MoAD last month… so I am (1min33sec). Bryant and I had a chance to talk briefly while he signed my copy of Vegan Soul Kitchen, we have a mutual admiration for each other’s work… I got a cookbook, and he got a $25 Obama bill

Running into Bryant last night reminded me of one very important principle: I need to use cookbooks after I buy them! So this week I’m going to fore go the Souley Vegan stand at the Grand Lake farmer’s market and buy some vegetables for one of Bryant’s recipes instead. That way, I can actually talk to him about tips and techniques the next time I see him.

We took the Smashcasters to the explOratorium on Saturday to resume working on the Ice Stories project. It was a great opportunity for them to learn more about Antarctica directly from the polar scientists. But even better, it was an opportunity for me to step back from the role of “Instructor” and play “reality tv show producer” instead. We shot everything on a Canon Powershot S15 and a Canon Powershot G9.  It was a fun day, and I’m glad I took a few hours to turnaround all this great footage I got.

The video itself demonstrates how students learn more effectively when they’re doing something “hands-on”. The combination of technology and live dialogue requires them to draw on two different learning styles at once. Two opportunities for a positive feedback loop; co-dependent reinforcing factors. Had they been taught either independently (video production or arctic science), I doubt it would have been as effective. This sort of immersive, experiential learning is the key to educating this new media generation.

I spoke at my old high school last week as part of a Films for Social Justice Festival. I hadn’t been back since graduation, so it was cool to be there showing music videos and talking about new media education. I showed Revolution, We Need A President, and SMASH Technology The Future… I also gave out 250 $25 Obama bills, and introduced the Distant Dispatches website as a transition into David Gilbert’s presentation.