Work-In-Progress: Technology for a Positive Future

PositiveFuture

PositiveFuture

I'm near halfway through making a feature length documentary that gives an overview of technology that could solve many of Earth's environmental + social problems. I'm opening this thread to get my thoughts together and see if there's any interest.

Topics covered:

Atmospheric Water generation

Advanced Agricultural techniques (Hydroponics and beyond)

The Mathematics of Viral Distribution (Viewer doubling time and The spread of Information)

Industrial Hemp as a viable alternative to toxic plastics

The Home Energy Revolution

Alternative Media Plusses and Pitfalls

The Psychology of Hopelessness

Decentralised Vs Centralised Power Structures

The Overpopulation Myth and Solutions

I have:

A 90 minute script that has received very good feedback
A great soundtrack
A good narrator
A 45 minute rough cut assembled on Adobe Elements, which I hope to port to CS4.
A Panasonic DVX AG100b
Enough money to live on for the next few months and part time work if I need it.

I would like

More footage
The license to some classical songs
Interviews with pioneers in the various fields I cover

*

If this seems interesting to you check this thread for updates. I'm not planning on releasing the film for 5-7 months.
 
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Footage of Farms etc

I have a section on advanced farming techniques, such as Hydroponics, Vertical Farms, Sprout Farming, Rooftop Gardens, etc.

It's visually the weakest section, consisting mainly of keyframed photographs. It gets the point across, but I'd like to lay in some moving pictures.

I'm looking for footage of:

Grain Silos
Farms and Fields.
Food Markets
Supermarkets

Nothing amazing, just simple, classic and well shot. A prosumer camera would be fine. Most of my footage so far is Progressive scan so it's have to more or less fit with that. I don't know if there are any issues rendering a section which has some 60i and some progressive scan.

If that interests anyone and you want your cinematographic genius seen by a wider audience it might be a good opportunity. Food and fields are great to work with. They don't show up late, always look good and don't throw a hissy fit if the shoot isn't going right...

Street Interviews

Do you have a decent camera and live in an interesting city? I'm looking for a bunch of footage from all over the world. I need to break up the looooooonggg narrative passages with interviews of people on the street. I need to establish where people's minds are at in 2010.
The U.S.A is good, but if you live outside it's even better, as I want to give the film a true international feel. Interviewing people on the street is a lot of fun and a great way to pick up chic... uh... meet interesting people. In my experience, it's best to go shooting at night as people love to talk after a few beers.

Off the top of my head, these are the kind of questions I need asked:

Do you think the world's overpopulated?
What's the ideal number of people
Do you consider peak oil a problem?
(If yes) When do you think the oil's going to run out?
Can water come from thin air?
Nutritious food can be grown organiccaly in five days, true or false?
Who's most responsible for the state of the world at present?

+more edgy interesting stuff, I don't want it too morbid. The idea is to put some life into the film.
 
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2 newb questions... Sorry if these have been asked elsewhere. If they have please link to the thread.

Capture

For the rough cut I imported from the DVX into Elements on a Vaio. I understand this is amateurish but I needed to teach myself how to cut film together.

Is the capture in CS4 significantly better than the capture in Elements? Will I need to recapture the footage in CS4 once I start using it?

RAM etc

I have 1GB RAM at the moment. I'm going to buy some more soonish to run CS4. Any tips for what brand is good, or things to watch out for? The area I'm in is notorious for rip offs and fakes so I want to know what I'm doing.

Any other ideas for getting a 2 year old VAIO ready to run CS4? I don't have the spec with me at the moment.
 
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PositiveFuture said:
I would like

More footage
The license to some classical songs
Click to expand...

Just a tip, most (if not all) classical music is in the public domain. It's simply the recordings that are copyrighted. Find the pieces you want to use, purchase the sheet music (typically not more than 5 dollars per piece) and call or go to a local college or university with a good arts program. Ask the music director who his/her best pianist is (I think it would be easier to just find one person, so piano would be your best bet, not that you couldn't try and get a string quartet) and I would offer him/her a little money, 50 bucks or something (and credit of course)to make the recording and sign a release.


Your docu sounds interesting. Let us know when it's done :)
 
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Let us know how it turns out.
Click to expand...

Let us know when it's done
Click to expand...

OK thx... the point of starting the thread was to see if there was any talent here that wanted to contribute to the production process, which'll take another few months. Audio/Visuals/Photography etc. If people aren't interested then I'll accept that.

I'll stay here with a few offers of tasks I need doing for a while... if the thread goes nowhere I'll try somewhere else. At the very least, I can draft the entire production plan here, get constructive criticism, advice and tips, and then send it elsewhere, so no effort is wasted. I like the atmosphere here so even if I'm the documentary oddball in a sea of aspiring moviemakers I'll stick around for a bit.

The way I see it, documentary making hasn't even begun to hit it's stride, and there's a lot of scope for artistic expression. See Iraq in Fragments, beautifully shot on a DVX. I feel more comfortable hanging out on a movie forum because I think artistic types pay closer attention to sound and visuals. Some documentary makers treat them as throwaway aspects of the art.

*

Dreadylocks,

Thanks for the tips, I had something like that in mind as a Plan B, but there are actually specific recordings I was looking to license the copyright on. Case in point;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYxfI2Hj7_0

"Rene Leibowitz conducts the Paris Pasdeloup Orchestra (1958, Urania) (The Thieving Magpie)"

This is the best version of La Gazza Ladra out there, I need the last two minutes for an intro section and possibly a trailer. It's bombastic and massive but it fits. Royalty free recordings don't even come close to the quality of this recording. So I suppose I'll have to contact the copyright holder.

I'll get a price on that particular recording and do the section with that in mind. If I can't get funding for the internet educational rights to that track for a reasonable price, I'll just use the royalty free version. I can buy that for about 50 bucks. So I have a workable back up plan.
 
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PositiveFuture said:
The license to some classical songs
Click to expand...
Unique Tracks and many others have large collections of classical music available for licensing. The quality varies, however, and the better quality libraries can be pricey. Read the licensing agreements carefully, some are expensive if you have distribution over 10,000 copies or are putting your project on TV or in theatres.

When you are doing interviews, etc. make sure to capture quality sound, you can't ADR so it has to be right the first time.
 
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Thanks Alcove, I've thought about the audio a lot, it needs work...

One thing I need to do is sit down with a copy of Sound Forge and EQ the narrators voice, or find an aspiring audio film student that wants to have a go.

better quality libraries can be pricey.
Click to expand...

A few hundred dollars is not an issue. A couple of thousand is possible if the funding comes through. I'm going to release the thing for free online, I have no idea how that affects pricing.

I have connections in the Alternative media, and am pretty much guarunteed 50 to 100,000 views if I release it simultaneously on all the boards I'm active on. The script has already generated a lot of interest so the enthusiam is there.

When you are doing interviews, etc. make sure to capture quality sound, you can't ADR so it has to be right the first time.
Click to expand...

I have followed a lot of your posts and am paying closer attention to audio. What's the best way to mic street interviews on a DVX in a noisy city? Shotgun mic or boom? Any ideas what I can pick up for 200 bucks?
 
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Many "Royalty Free" libraries are $70 to $150 per disk (CD), so quite affordable. It's the licensing fees that can really cost you; that's why you have to read the fine print very carefully.
 
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Cool A.A,

If you know a more respectable music library please link it, if it isn't against site T+C's.

So if I got half a million views on youtube they could stick me with a huge bill? I'll be careful.

I'm also looking for a quality sound effect library where I can buy things like helicopter rotor blades whirring, etc. Plenty of stuff online but I have no idea who's supposed to be the best. For helicopter blades, I might as well save myself the hassle and go to the local heliport and get the sound myself.
 
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Dreadylocks.
I'm living in Asia at the moment, but I started the thread specifically so I could look for international collaborators. Take a look at the street interview piece above. If you have a half decent cam and are interested in that plz PM me. I want street interviews from all over the world.

Rough Draft Of the Script

Before reading, plz remember:
-The script has been rewritten a few times since it was posted. Some of the more overblown adjectives have been toned down.
-The moody intro has largely been dropped, in favour of a more positive tone.
-Arguments and facts have been sharpened since the draft was written.
-The documentary will not be called 'The Great Awakening'

****Click Here for Script****
 
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I'll get you some stock footage of farms, crops, etc. I'd also like to get you some footage from inside some local grocery stores....of course, they may not like someone capturing images in their stores.....although some "guerilla" feeling to it may be interesting?
 
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The whole thing's guerrilla mhenry. Just do what you feel and I'll sort it out in the editing room... Yup, a hidden camera look might work well for a few short sections.

What camera do you have? Can you get your hands on something half decent?

I'll give you a more detailed shot list in a week or so, quicker if you're in a rush.

People I have to Phone

I have to track down interview footage of various pioneers. Off the top of my head I should get in touch with

-Valcent
-Dickson Despommier
-Ecoloblue or other Atmospheric water pioneer

Who else?

I need snippet sentences for the intro of someone talking about

-Vertical Farming
-Atmospheric Water
-Off Grid Houses
-Future of Solar
-Home Farming

more?
 
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