A reluctant rebellion in the Utah desert: A great story from the High Country News
The Sagebrush Rebellion from the late 70’s into the 80’s has been reborn out in Nevada and Utah. But there looks to be more protests from the anti federal land groups through out the western states. Here is a link to a great article by Jonathan Thompson from the High Country News about the latest Sagebrush Rebellion in Blanding, Utah. I have become very interested in this developing story. You all will probably see some story from Ouzel Motion Pictures about the Sagebrush Rebellion in the near future.
El Inmigrante… Life and Death on the US/Mexican Border
Okay. After having the Ouzel Motion Pictures blog now for a few years, I have not really mentioned our past documentary El Inmigrante. Even though, the documentary is getting older now I am still very proud of what we accomplished as a team. El Inmigrante, went on to play over 60 film festivals, we won a handful of awards, Free Speech TV aired the film and we received some nice reviews for the film. Much more information about the film can be found at El Inmigrante’s website:
Ed Stasium and Forty Years of Loudness
This is a story I did for the BBC on Ed Stasium, one of great rock producers of our time. This was my final edit before it received some changes for the final that was posted on the BBC’s website. The music was cleared by the BBC.
Ed Stasium on leaving The Ramones for the Rocky Mountains
Here is the link to my last BBC story about Ed Stasium the great rock producer of the Ramones, Soul Asylum, Living Colour and much much more.
US scientists track what’s killing golden eagles
Here is a link to my last BBC story. This is the final edit. I hope you all enjoy.
Editing and The Story Process.
I have been in the freelance video journalism world for about five years now. Prior to entering the VJ (video journalism) world, I co directed El Inmigrante, a documentary about the US/Mexican border crisis, I did some short narrative films, and finally I used to work on film sets doing various jobs. But I eventually, during those years I became a second assistant in the camera department. I really enjoyed being a 2AC. I loved when I clapped the slate I settled in and then watched the talent and the director do their work.
However, I got into film to make stories, not just be a crew worker. So after being inspired by working on a NYU masters film project in Creede, Colorado I decided that it was time to make my own content. After a few short films El Inmigrante got launched and we were full on in making a feature documentary. For a very limited budget we did pretty good with the film. I am very proud of what we did as a team in creating that documentary. By creating your own films and producing them yourselves, you may not get all the funding that you would love to have, but you get a lot of freedom to make the film you want.
I feel that it is important to teach aspiring VJ’s that once you enter the professional world of creating content for a news agency that you have to being ready to work as a team with your producers. It is nearly impossible that your first cut will be the final cut. Some times there are minor changes, but at some times there are major edits to your original cut.
Here is an example of my first cut of a recent story I did for the BBC. Since this edit is not the final, I went back and did some minor changes to the text slates that are in this version of the story. But for the most part this is my concept of how I wanted to tell the story.
After I got my edit list from the producer, here are the second wave of changes.
Finally, here is the edit that went live on the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23845200
I you have time to watch all three versions of the story, you can see the differences. In short, video and film is a highly collaborative work environment. I love the process of it all, but still to this day I love making our own content. It is in this place that I feel free.
Lasso The Sun: Navajo Translation & Transcription Kickstarter project
We have launched our Kickstarter campaign today. Get involved, spread the word, watch the video and be apart of a great documentary.
Real Estate Video Rate Sheet
Click on the images to enlarge:
Water Wars: US states fight over Rio Grande
Water Wars: US states fight over Rio Grande was a story that I worked on for the BBC. I did the camera work. I learned a lot about the subject of the complexity of the use of water for agriculture on the lower Rio Grande river in New Mexico and Texas. I hope you all enjoy the story. The link below will send you to the BBC’s website so you can watch the piece.
ouzel motion pictures 