Gathering the Puzzle Pieces

More about the process of gathering ideas, materials, technical knowledge and collaboration; I have completed my photography jaunts...taking the Canon SX120
with me on several dedicated "shoots" looking for the perfect "talk" for my short
"mini film and stills" - Then, uploading from the Canon into the Mac Book was much simpler than I anticipated..as I went along, I learned more about I Photo and how to
store previous pics as well as the newer ones within dedicated folders.

From time immemorial,man has also been fascinated with animals "talking" - therefore, I had to grab a little of Mr. Fox being shown on a wide screen television in the Best Buy Store - (I was on a TV talk show excursion -so you will hear the sound of Best Buy)- With all of this done, I set about opening I Movie - and importing all the files I decided upon. I spent several days exploring different transitions and video effects and as this was progressing, I realized that it wasn't enough - and that certain "live" segments would need to be intertwined as action against the background of images and sound track.

I am now working on a script- for myself, the solo performer, and my two collaborators from out of the country who are long time friends and artists of the spoken word, and architecture. They are from Buenos Aires Argentina, and now, we have decided to collaborate using Skype.

My next hurtle, then, is to "time" my little spoken parts and at what point, they will come in to speak theirs... and also how to end it. This is a very complex process indeed-as this must be accurate cues for the class members at the tech table .

Economic Strings of Talk -A Gaggle of New Companies

As I went searching for a few vocabulary "help"words, I found more acronyms in one paragraph,than ants on an ant hill - how interesting it is to see the new companies which deal with imposing standards on "talk".


Jingle is an extension to the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP). It implements peer-to-peer (P2P) session control (signaling) for multimedia interactions such as in Voice over Internet Protocol or videoconferencing communications. It was designed by Google and the XMPP Standards Foundation. The multimedia streams are delivered using the Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP). If needed, NAT traversal is assisted using Interactive Connectivity Establishment (ICE).

Blue Streak II - The Anatomy of Talk

OK... so it's create time--
Each of the class members are now envisioning their own Mini "Across The Ether"
A Multimedia Five to Six Minute Moment to be placed within the larger piece called Views from the Bridges.

I have always been very aware of the sound or timbre of peoples voices...hence, talk and it's function in life. Since our theme is "the bridge as a connector", then "talk " itself has a life of it's own within the Big Picture and certainly fits right in...it functions as a bridge between people... although it can be combustible, inefficient, over used...and folks aren't always on the same "page", it still is a treasure trove of connectivity. Talk also has many technical companions; the cell phone being one - not to mention the Pod cast and streaming talk shows. Other new formats such as Twitter, I Chat, and Face Book are here to stay, and it's where your finger tips do the talking.

Here are the steps I need to make to produce my segment:
1) I am inspired to take a song I wrote and produced called "Blue Streak" - which is a pop type song about "talking" - In this track are Ham Radio recorded segments - and they were mixed in with the instrumental tracks. as well as lyrics
that pertain to the subject matter-)

2) Load it into Logic ( and for this I went to work with another musician- we
took sections of the original track and created loops -and made an Mp3file
3) I loaded the Mp3 of Blue Streak II into Garage Band , where I did further editing, then into I Movie. With this , my project had begun.

4) Choosing a new Camera - It's time to have a tool which I can easily carry -and spontaneously capture videos - purchased a Cannon 10Pix SureShot for this and other
upcoming things - took the camera out for a few excursions- attempted to capture random people talking - but it was rather difficult !!

5) I then set up a few appointments with some fellow grad students, friends etc.to
film them on their call, having a conversation- I gave them a lot of freedom --

5) Collecting photos and videos to import into I Movie using the Cannon - almost finished with this process./

6) Deciding on Live Script and contacting possible overseas collaborators -
Several People come to mind and I have contacted then via email. I would like them to contribute using the "art form of talk" - A funny phone conversation, read poem... speak of something in a different language, etc.

7) Now ,I need to decide what format of web-based application for instant messaging and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) I will need to accomplish this...and that will depend on the persons involved and their physical location.

Class Project- View from the Bridges

Across the Ether and the work we, the class, did to help make it fly left me with an interesting impression: Once I had some working technical knowledge of "camera one", my body changed into a camera man's/woman's body ! -At one point I was crawling underneath seats pulling on cable and for a moment, I fit right in ! No one is just one thing -

One cannot grasp immediately the depth of information needed for all the mechanical and technical details one has to have to set up a project such as Across the Ether...it kept unfolding layer upon layer - yet, we worked together and shared information to make each of our jobs comprehensible.

Now, we are embarking on our own production and are confronted with using/choosing technical knowledge that will be needed for View from The Bridges (the title we decided upon). A Bridge is symbolic of bringing together two lands....

A thread is forming ; a creative idea for my contribution : My recording of an original song..entitled Blue Streak is about "talk" and the proliferation of it as society gobbles up wireless communication - and even now it's dated yet it's my creation and can be the sound track for mini movies of the many ways "talk" has a life of it's own.

* Today I planned to film some of the 59th Street Bridge,however, the weather and wind were slightly daunting - oh well.....

Relentless Preparation Pays Off - Sunday

From my Notes ;

I'm sitting in the theater- it's early on Sunday morning - I'm here close to 9am - sipping a coffee
and pondering the vast amount of personal energy, knowledge and collaborative "thinking" that a production tech person needs for all of this-- One has to be able to work as a piece of a big machine...in charge of an unformed puzzle.

TB has asked the early people to turn on the projectors and camera's and see if they are working...The personal laptops are unpacked and set up on the tech table-and the Mac Pro's are disconnected and repackaged.

Someone in our team (class) has made sure we have the daily schedule - for NYU and another table that shows Across the Ether as a complete production, -an 8 column table which features six characteristics; - the names of the pieces, it's description, ensemble size, the personel - if there is visualization that goes along with it - and the time it will happen - this is a good thing. We also have a Stage Production List which is a "who does what" guide of the class members.

Aside from the production itself,and it being one of the first of it's kind, the major lesson of this experience is to fully see how important the preparation process is in matters of this kind. Unfor-see-able issues ...like the one which occurred in Across the Ether was that the new Mac Pros were incompatible with the video data...this threw us off schedule. Audio connections with the other schools was an issue - we were able to see them but not hear them.

Theater Techniques:
We had to mark the stage with special colored tape -all the instrument positions especially the 9 ft. grand had to be placed in two different locations -one must how a 9 ft grand is going to be placed when there are dancers and a percussion ensemble performing.

By 2PM The performers began drifting in - and the theater changed into "rehearsal mode" -with dancers warming up.The NYU Percussion Ensemble took stage to have a run through -

I put on my head sets and snap the controls onto my belt -and as i look through the LCD monitor, I am certainly part of this digital multimedia world -- Camera one is responsible
for recording the entire piece from the back of the house- center stage-while cameras two and three are stage left and stage right.

The Tech Table - Label Label Label

Several classes ago, Tom Beyer brought to class three boxes and asked if I would take an inventory of what was in those boxes, and from that, I should know what would be needed for set up that night: I then really and truly learned what a switch was and what a VDA ( or video distribution amp) is, also DVA's come in different flavors ... one has to look at the back to tell what sort of inputs they have.. These small pieces are part of the Tech Table set up - Everything
must be labeled - the cables which are used to connect VDA's to Switches , switches to computers -all the pieces have to be identified- artist tape was used.

VDA’S (Video Distributor Amps) - TOTAL - 9

4 TecNec brand - w/4 svideo

2 3X1 Brand? S. video

2 w/audio 2 separate imputs /TecNec

1 (configurable) -

a) 1x 3

b) 1x2 , or 1x6

_______________________________________________________________________

SWITCHES (Analogue- Passive ) TOTAL- 6

2 grey (MEM) brand svid + RCA

3 Sony brand S.Vid + RCA

1 Radio Shack RCA only

_______________________________________________________________________

MINI MONITORS TOTAL - 5

2 Marshals brand

3 Sony brand

3 AC Monitor to Camera Power chords

COMPUTER VIDEO SWITCHES - 2

1) CVG- 4x1 switcher –

2) “ “ “

Getting Ready- the Real Setup

With coffee in hand the Collaboration Class Members meet early on Saturday, Oct 31 at the Frederick Loewe Theater. We are doing our rehearsal "setup"for "Across the Ether" (Across the Ether is a four-way production across the continental U.S).- Tom Beyer and Dr. Gilbert are chatting quietly - and I feel ready to run some cable!! (By the way, The theater has an 9ft Steinway grand on the stage - and it's a good sized "house", which can hold 500 people approximately... much , MUCH bigger than the class room on the 7th floor.

From my notes:
The first thing I learned was that the schematic - the sketch of the suggested setup, was being changed....and time and scheduling is of the utmost importance, as we had to make our first test of the internet connections by 12:30/right after lunch- so, as not to waste any time, the class members who were there, assisted Tom Beyer(TB) with equipment needed at the stage.
From the 7th and 8th floors, we moved two projectors, the large mixer, 3 cameras with tripods, the boxes containing DVA's, switches, tech table lights, the video mixer ( mixer 2)- one huge cable chest(which was exclusively video cables ) and another huge case we brought - all audio cables and extra power strips. Three new Mac Pro computers in their boxes came too. Hand carts were on the scene-- (I love hand carts)- I called the big one a "Dolly"- and Tom quickly corrected me- "no, it's a hand truck"- I have used these to move music equipment and large
pieces of furniture -and always thought the two names were interchangeable-yet an hour later,
I realized that a dolly is something different-yes, so much of a profession and being professional is knowing the vocabulary...And certainly, in the AV world -there is a huge and important one.

TB called out several tasks to be completed- tripods set up and cameras set up were among those- I did the tripods, and, since I was operating camera 1, I made it my job to "meet camera one" - to get it onto the tripod, get it power, get familiar with the zoom capabilities -and most importantly, what type of cable was it going to require - I had never used this video camera in class. I saw that I had a choice between a composite cable connection to B&C and the S.Video type. Camera one also was further from the tech table - another factor to consider. From our classes with TB, I knew that B&C cable transferred "info" over longer distances with more clarity /quality than S.video and certainly composite cable. TB spent a few moments with me
to go over the procedure; Composite into B&C - composite cable (short), an adapter -to B&C -and B&C would take the signal to the tech table....we learn by doing

Meanwhile:

Video Cables had to be tested and placed in piles according to type: B&C, Composite, S.Video - video cables are stiffer than audio- and to handle them correctly is an art in itself. While several class members completed that task, I assisted at the tech table ; the dark cloth had to be secured with artists tape - ( and every simple sounding task like the latter, can be hugely important) - TB (Tom Beyer) explains; in a dark theater, the cloth has to be up -so that we can have easy access if searching for a cable connection underneath..Outlets tested: TB gave me the task of testing all outlets in the house- and all power strips -
another task that must be completed before laying the cable...