Visiting 200 B.C. in 2010 D.C.

I’m typically not a procrastinator but I literally waited until the 11th hour to catch the "Terra Cotta warriors" exhibit at the National Geographic museum. On March 31st at 11 PM, I walked the few blocks over to join the line of people for the last showing of these historic statues in the United States. I fought through the crowd past the first rooms to get up close and personal with the fighting figures. I figured I could look at the photographs later online.

The story goes that back around the year 200 B.C., Qin Shi Huang came into power at the age of thirteen as the First Emperor of China. It seems typical of a teenage boy to create an eternal army of terra cotta. Qin wanted his men to help rule his empire in the afterlife. It was a man-made necropolis (I love that word, it means “a large elaborate cemetery of an ancient city.” You’re on your own with the word, necrophilia). In 1974, a group of farmers stumbled across these silent soldiers and excavated a thousand of them, it’s estimated that a total of six thousand exist.

The Italian word for terra cotta is "baked earth," we usually see this material in plant pots or Spanish-style roof shingles. I'm not sure why they used this as the material to build these guardians of the afterlife. They weigh between 200 – 300 pounds and were made on an assembly line with the feet being built first and used as a weight to build the rest of the body. Their faces were made from eight different molds like ancient-day action figures.

Maybe it was because I was tired or because it was closing night, but I got an eerie feeling at this exhibit. I doubt I'll ever get to China to see the real thing but it was fun being apart of this phenomenon and putting my history major to use.

The Interactive Life

As a Programming Committee member of Women in Film & Video ("WIFV"), I helped out at the event, “Creating Interactive Learning Adventures: An Evening with Sharon Sloane” on March 30th. Ms. Sloane, a WIFV Woman of Vision, is President and CEO of "WILL Interactive, Inc." The event showcased the premiere screening of "The War Inside," a video-based simulation that seeks to improve soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Produced in collaboration with the Army Medical Department, the interactive video allows users to manipulate actors in real-life scenarios. The purpose of this video-based simulation, a cross between a live-action movie and a video game, is to help soldiers solve stressful situations they may encounter returning from deployments.

During the screening, the audience was given the opportunity to manipulate the scenario through electronic voting which was a neat experience. We helped a soldier avoid suicide by instead getting the help he needed to cope with his PTSD. It made me think about how I could have benefited from having an audience of people make my life decisions. I wonder how my life be different if electronic voters had chosen for me. . .

Obama said it's sexy

I recently produced a web series about weatherization training and green building for the "National Center of Healthy Housing." I wrote the script, directed the interviews, and collaborated with the editor. The videos provide technical guidance on how practices and indoor environments can affect occupant health. We shot some of the interviews and broll in Washington, D.C. and then I traveled to Minneapolis and Chicago to film the on-camera host and more interviews. Even though there was a lot of technical information for me to learn in a short time period, I really enjoyed learning about ways to create cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

I produced this series through "The National Association of Home Builders Production Group," who I’ve worked with over the past couple of years. I used to produce the corporate videos for the Association’s 220,000 members. During that time, I wrote and produced a two-part series on green building for "HGTV-Pro." The series was produced in conjunction with the NAHB’s Model Green Home Building Guidelines which serve as a toolkit for builders looking to utilize green building practices. Due to my green building knowledge, I also researched and conceived story ideas for a green home-related weather segment for the Weather Channel.

It’s cool that weatherization and green building have gotten the attention of President Obama. He recently outlined a plan to offer cash incentives to consumers who make energy-efficient renovations, such as replacing doors, caulking windows and padding their attics with more insulation. Obama actually declared that he found insulation "sexy" because it will save money. The new weatherization program will help to create jobs for the beleaguered building trades. Termed, “cash for caulkers," the program will use direct government incentives to consumers to spur economic activity, similar to the "cash for clunkers" last summer.

Word to the Wordle

When I was working on a branding campaign for the U.S. Army at a communications firm, we used "Wordle" which is described as "a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide." Maybe it speaks to the graphic designer buried down deep inside of me, but I just love to see how the different words appear on the screen.

It was a fun exercise during the branding campaign to see which words popped out at us. We shared the Wordle with the client who thought we'd spent hours creating it.

There's a Gallery to view other Wordles that people created. I love the "Apartheid" one, it's like art work.

Strutting their Stuff

Sometimes when I go to an art gallery, I’ll rent those audio tour cassette players with the headphones. I do feel like a dork, especially when I forget that I’m wearing them and accidentally shout at the person I’m with. But it’s definitely a good way to get more information out of an exhibit. I didn’t have to wear the headphones yesterday when I got a private tour of the "Conner Contemporary Art" gallery.

The gallery, located on Florida Avenue NE in D.C., is in a beautiful space and on a Wednesday afternoon, we had the whole place to ourselves. I went with my friend Megan to see the exhibit “Anyone Other Than Me” by former D.C. resident Jeremy Kost.

Kost is known as "the Polaroid artist" on the New York circuit and he's photographed club kids in places all over the world. I knew Megan was familiar with the New York scene but I had no idea she’d actually know the people in the Polaroids. I got the inside scoop on Ericka Aviance, Amanda Lepore, and Half Nelson - drag queens and club kids who know how to strut their stuff.

I liked Kost's "collages" the best. It seems like a challenge to determine which shots to take in order to build such a free-flowing collage. I used to take Polaroids of my friends when they came to my apartment. I’d make them put on a wig from my collection because I liked seeing how people’s attitudes changed once they’re wearing a wig. I read that Kost wants his audience to evaluate the artistic and societal roles their "attitudes play in the cycle of desire, opportunity, and attainment.” I wonder how my old Polaroids would fit into his exhibit.

Finding my match on Media Match

Since I work freelance, there are times when I am in between jobs or gigs. I try to make this clear to my friends outside the film and TV production industry so that they don’t think I’m constantly unemployed. When jobs aren’t being offered to me, I use all of the job search engines out there to find my next gig. I’ve set it up so that the latest jobs are emailed to me, then I just quickly scroll through the list to see what jobs I’m qualified for.

Media Match is a good search engine. It posts current job openings along with over 80,000 TV and film professionals' resumes for employers to review. I especially like it when Media Match sends me an email telling me that there are companies out there looking for me. They call it a “missed match.” It makes me hopeful. You can check out their jobs board page here: "http://www.media-match.com/jobsboard.php".

* By posting this, I received a free's month subscription to Media Match!

Little People, Snakes, Multiple Births

About a year ago, a cameraman that I was working with told me that a trend in reality TV was stories about little people, snakes, and multiple births. My experience in TV production has yet to involve all three of these story lines but I have had some interesting opportunities.

When I worked as a field producer for TLC’s “The Little Couple,” I met Bill Klein and Jen Arnold who are both under four feet tall. They were considering having children which would be considered a high-risk pregnancy due to their small stature. I conducted the interview of the Perinatologist, Dr. Judith Rossiter, who counseled the TV couple on their decision. It was amazing to witness how Bill and Jen managed their day-to-day lives in a world designed for people over four feet tall. It made me realize all of the things I take for granted: driving a car, ordering at a counter, using a public restroom.

Fortunately, I haven't worked with snakes. I did conduct research on great apes and their habitats at the Jane Goodall Institute and learned about the producing of mammalian wildlife programs. The research was used in the Animal Planet's program, "Hope in Gombe."

With an all Japanese crew, I served as the coordinator and locations manager for their filming of a historical drama, “Sakano Ueno Kumo” that was scheduled to air on NHK (which is the Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It was an interesting shoot. Only one of them really spoke any English, so I spent most of the day nodding my head with a big smile on my face.

I won't be surprised if I see a reality TV show about snake-handling little people with eight children. It'll be interesting to see where the reality TV "trend" will go.

Snowball Fight!

Snowmageddon. Snopocalypse. The snowstorm that hit Washington, DC on Friday, February 5th dropped two feet of snow - perfect for a massive snowball fight. The details of the fight were posted on Facebook and I actually had friends in other states telling me about it. I walked the few blocks over to Dupont Circle with my FLIP camera in hand. As I got closer I heard the din over the blanket of snow that turned out to be hundreds (thousands?) of people in the midst of a snowball fight. The visual was hard to take in, like a Hieronymus Bosch triptych:

Banff Film Festival at National Geographic

I love film festivals. Especially when the films are about things like kayakers narrowly bypassing hippos in the muddy rivers of Africa, a rockclimber struggling to conquer a sheer cliff in England, and a biker riding 20,000 miles on a tandem bike. I caught the February 4th screenings of the "Banff Film Festival" at National Geographic. It reminded me of the Kiwanis' Travelogue series my parents used to take me to when I was kid. The films were great but it would've been even better if the filmmakers had been there to discuss their productions.

I was curious how the tandem bike story, called
"Take a Seat" was filmed. A guy, by himself, seriously couldn't have filmed this whole trip alone. I found this on the site: "This idea was conceived always with filming in mind. I'd be a fool to pass up an opportunity to document not only the places but the people I encountered while I rolled south. So that is what I did, camera booms sticking out awkwardly from the bike or resting in my hand while I struggled with the free arm to control a fourteen foot, articulated bike and trailer. I couldn't begin to estimate the number of miles covered on foot, while I jogged up the rode to set the camera, then jog back to ride past it and pick it up again. Without the help of companions and new found friends however, the filming would have been nearly impossible. I have now come out the other side with nearly 200 hours of spectacular footage documenting every aspect of the journey. - Dominic Gill"

"Meet the DC Film Office" seminar

I was really excited to attend the DC Film Alliance's "Meet the DC Film office" on Wednesday. Kathy Hollinger, the director of the DC Office of Motion Picture and Television Development is working hard to get more productions here in the District and to make sure those productions hire local crews. She answered a lot of questions about how their Office is working on incentives for these productions.

I was interested in hearing about how the permit process is being streamlined for filming in DC. Obtaining the permits for the companies I work for is probably the most difficult part of my job. I haven't had a problem with obtaining permits from the film office, it's with another government agency (that I don't want to get in trouble for mentioning). When out-of-town crews don't want to abide by the permit process and they still get their shot, I sound like the squeaky wheel.

Locations Scouting

I got a call last Thursday from a client who needed help in finding a location in DC for a meeting (the meeting was for 330 people). I love the challenges of finding a needle in a haystack. I started my research thinking I should be more prepared for these kinds of searches but each search is so different and unique that it's hard to be prepped for that exact search. If anything, I'm so thankful for the research tool I have in the internet.

When I used to work as an Associate Producer for an HGTV show, my job was to find homes converted from commercial structures. Easy enough. Although, the homes could not be multi-family structures (no loft buildings, etc), they had to be converted by the homeowners who lived in them, and they had to be cool-looking places. I used Google to find the majority of the stories (of course, with help from other people and sources). Sometimes when I'd get in touch with the homeowners, they'd ask, "How did you find me?!" I was able to find enough stories, from a real-live cowboy who converted a jail in Texas to a Nebraska family living in a "underground missile silo," for 3 seasons. The show was Building Character.

Blogging

Looks like I'm a day late: HBO is developing a half-hour comedy series, "Tilda," about a hard-hitting female blogger. I did see "Julie & Julia" recently and really liked it. It was hard for me to believe that it was based on a true story because I didn't realize people were that fanatical about cooking blogs. I was also surprised by Julia Child's reaction to Julie's blog because I thought she would've been more supportive. It's nice when some stories don't have a Hollywood ending. Although I forget exactly how the movie actually ended.

FLIP camera

I got an amazing gift for Christmas from my sister and brother-in-law, the "FLIP camera." I felt like I was ten again when I had wanted so badly and then received a remote control car. From what I remember though, the car stopped working like two days after Christmas. I think subconsciously I'm scared that's going to happen with this camera. I've loved it - it is SO easy to shoot with. I just wish I had more things to shoot! The editing technology with FLIP could be a little more advanced for my taste but I was able to get a family video created from footage I shot over the holidays. This camera is great for filming kids and I did get some great clips of my niece. One of the best clips is of my niece learning to jump rope. You forget how hard it was to learn:

Michael Moore

When I worked on the Michael Moore documentary,
"Capitalism: A Love Story," I had to sneak a couple of photos. I couldn't believe I was getting this opportunity to work on one of his films. It was a whirlwind shoot but the film crew intuitively knew how to make it all go smoothly. I was involved in the pre-production by scouting locations and working on permits. During the production, I assisted in the logistics of filming that occurred on and around Capitol Hill. I used my DC connections to help line up support with the locations. The best part? Seeing my name on the big screen in the movie credits. It looked good.

Tribeca Film Festival

In the spring of 2008, I moved to the Big Apple to work for the "Tribeca Film Festival." As an Operations Manager, I managed coordinators and volunteers in carrying out the pre-to-post production needs for all of the departments’ screenings and signage needs. In that year, the festival screened 700 films in venues all over Manhattan to an estimated 155,000 attendees. On the festival’s opening night, I had the opportunity to produce a screening for Canadian Director Guy Maddin’s "My Winnipeg" which was shown in conjunction with Isabella Rossellini's "Green Porno."

I also worked on other festival activities from coordinating the festival’s permits through the various city agencies to managing some of the sponsors' needs at the screening and after-party venues. The highlight of the festival was when I was pegged to work the press junket for Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal. It was amazing to be in the same room with this legendary actor (he was in The Godfather!). He wasn't as thrilled to be there answering the same questions all day long over and over again under bright lights. At one point, I offered to get his drink, a coffee and a tea. When I nervously placed it next to him, I envisioned him engaging me in conversation and eventually inviting me over for a dinner party. But, as I headed back to my seat instead I heard him say, in a dead-on DeNiro impression squinting into the lights, "Where's my spoon? They forgot my spoon."

McCain Documentary

I met Joe McCain, the brother of Senator John McCain, while working at a production company in Alexandria, VA. The company had produced a timeline website for Senator John McCain’s campaign. Joe, who was actively campaigning for his brother, called himself "The Discount John McCain" due to their striking resemblance.

While working at the production company, I enrolled in a documentary class at "Docs In Progress" and decided to do a documentary about Joe. I called it “Joe, The Brother.” We conducted our first interview a few weeks before the election. At that time it was unknown if Joe's brother would become the Leader of the Free World.

After I finished editing the documentary, Joe invited me to the Naval Academy in Annapolis for his nephew’s graduation. It was the fourth generation of a John Sydney McCain to graduate from the Academy. Recently elected President Barack Obama would be giving the commencement speech.

After the graduation, we headed to a local Inn for a luncheon with the McCain family. I made my way to Roberta McCain, the 97-year-old monarch of the family. I had met Roberta during my filming of Joe’s documentary and was in awe of her. She had appeared on the Jay Leno show the night before.

Senator McCain entered the room and walked directly to me with his hand outstretched, “John McCain.” I introduced myself and congratulated on him on his son’s graduation. Joe later introduced me again to John while we were all fixing our plates of food from the buffet of crab cakes, asparagus, and soufflé. Joe said that I worked for the production company that created his campaign website. John retorted, “That’s why we lost the election.” Laughter broke around the room. I smiled and said, “I’ll take the blame for it.” Senator McCain smiled and winked at me.

Firsts

In the winter of 2007, I worked on my first musical docu-tragi- comedy, “Courting Condi.” Also, the first in its genre. It’s a feature film that follows an aspiring musician Devin Ratray (Buzz from the movie "Home Alone") as he tries to woo someone who doesn’t even know he exists and probably never will, the former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It was an interesting story and concept that the Director Sebastian Doggart worked passionately to carry out. It is the first film to win awards in both "Best Documentary" and "Best Narrative Feature" categories.

It was a great opportunity for me to work on this feature film. I was initially hired as the unit production manager which was a new title for me. I was responsible for scouting locations and lining up the filming permits around the nation’s capital. During the filming, I was promoted to associate producer and also took on some of the roles, like assistant director and make-up artist. It was a small crew and by the end of working two weeks of twelve-to-fourteen hour days together, we were like family.

We were the first crew to film a musical in front of the White House. The scene portrayed Devin trying to garner the attention of Dr. Rice, before walking a few blocks over to the State Department where she technically works. Through social media outreach, our production team coordinated a hundred extras to meet in front of the White House to then participate in a choreographed dance with Devin. Since I’d obtained all of the necessary permits, the White House security guards were easy to work with and actually seemed to enjoy being a part of the film.

We also filmed at the steps in Georgetown nicknamed after William Blatty's film, "The Exorcist." It’s an eerie feeling to be on those steps, at night, with smoke pouring out of a machine. We’d rented a smoke machine with the plan to pump the smoke out of PC tubing. The production assistant, who was in charge of buying the supplies, arrived with ten feet instead of the hundred feet of tubing that had been requested (similiar to the Stonehenge scene in "Spinal Tap"). The director wanted her to go back to Home Depot to get the extra tubing but it was rush hour and we were losing time so I encouraged him to consider an alternative. I think it was the first time a director had taken my advice. Fortunately, the smoke drifted down the steep steps in the right direction and he was able to get his shot.

There were a lot more firsts for me that I experienced on this production, both comical and educational. Most importantly, I learned how crucial an accurate "call sheet" can be for a day’s shoot, even if it means staying up til 4 AM to finish it; instead of informing the director of something he can’t do, figure out a way he can do it; if you put hard work into the details, things will pay off.