Avatar - The next Citizen Kane?

[etchie]

You really shouldn't let people control you that way... you miss out on a lot of good stuff.  Would you refuse to eat the world's best tasting steak just because everybody else thinks it's the best?

That's an interesting interpretation of my opinion and decisions. Perhaps it comes across as being uniformed and a generic sort of rebellion which is not accurate. I don't automatically reject the thought of everything that's popular. I feel that Vampire Weekend and The King's Of Leon are outstanding for instance. There's no subtext to my lack of desire to be a movie buff. I don't want to be one. 15 or so years ago there was a new Fantastic Four something or other movie, I think. There was like a fat guy in it who did cool shit or something. I see why people enjoy that stuff and I don't dislike them or fault hollywood for making money, it's just not my thing. I'm a compulsive buyer of media entertainment, ie dvd's and cd's. I tried with the two most recent Batmans. It's just not my thing. The live White Stripes doesn't hit stores till Tuesday but my indie record store guy was able to sell it to me Tuesday of this week. THAT"S my thing. I would maintain that I'm not being controlled but that the millions of people who hit theaters opening week end before they even know if a film is any good, are the one's being controlled through advertising and hype.

One time a clerk accidentally sold me a Simpson's season (don't remember which one) when it wasn't for sale yet.  He unwittingly sold it to me so it's a little different, but it's an awesome feeling that you have a product in your position before you're supposed to, isn't it?  Not a feeling you get to have very often, if ever.

[FooFa]

Yes. I think it's technically illegal. His supplier won't hook him up with dvd's of concerts early, just cd's. I told about it on soulpancake's site as well. It's really kind of silly but it is a neat feeling. Are you doing anything with your film degree? I got the associate in film and video at Full Sail which is how I became acquainted with "the FL people". I should have accepted an unpaid internship but in the past I've been known to burn bridges while still standing on them. It's been my experience that the older one gets, prospective employers make a snap decision about your age without giving you a chance to even interview. People in the past made fun of me for having associate degrees and said that none of my degrees are from real schools. Ob la di ob la da.

[etchie]

Yes. I think it's technically illegal. His supplier won't hook him up with dvd's of concerts early, just cd's. I told about it on soulpancake's site as well. It's really kind of silly but it is a neat feeling. Are you doing anything with your film degree? I got the associate in film and video at Full Sail which is how I became acquainted with "the FL people". I should have accepted an unpaid internship but in the past I've been known to burn bridges while still standing on them. It's been my experience that the older one gets, prospective employers make a snap decision about your age without giving you a chance to even interview. People in the past made fun of me for having associate degrees and said that none of my degrees are from real schools. Ob la di ob la da.

They're real degrees, you just can't do anything with them.  Right now I'm just getting any work that will come along.  I have done a couple demos that people then send to political shows to get booked on the show.  My first demo they needed as soon as I compressed it and the guy got on the O'Reilly factor.  I also produce voiceover demos.  It's audio so not exactly ideal, but it pays.  I'd love to get into weddings.  I have the equipment for HD editing and everything, just trying to find work with it.  Have you gotten any opportunities?  They don't seem to come often enough, but they're there.

[FooFa]

I did some work for a local vid production guy but it didn't last long. He was fine with my work, he just needed someone that could also do things that require rendering and more digital art than something that I could snap my fingers and do instantly. Perhaps in the future I will come back to that area and be able to join some of you in these endeavors on the side.

It sounds like you are doing the right thing by coming up with your own thing and working on that growing. Day 1 at FS should have been beginning our demo reel and having it to send out in the future.

If they have any sort of plan for that now, they didn't when I was there. So I'm making no money from my degree but enjoy the work so much that I did it for a bit at the community theater. I don't care what it is, if it has anything to do with recording, audio, soundboards, lights, photos, cameras or just getting the chance to play a couple songs on a speaker where there's an audience, I like it and if I don't already know how to do it, I can learn.

[etchie]

Yeah, I still don't even have a demo.  I've been fortunate enough to get work without it.  I know FS has you make a demo in the video game creation program (or whatever they call it) but I'm not sure if their film program does it or not.  My degree hasn't really done anything for me either.  They didn't have any post production classes.  I've never used any knowledge I picked up from school and all the knowledge I use on a daily basis I learned myself from trial and error or books (mostly books).  I really should get a demo together but a collection of things I've done so far would be very strange.

[FooFa]

There's a hunger out there that's not being tapped and has been killed by corporations, concerning entertainment. That hunger is for people like me who have good taste and a vast knowledge of, in my case, music. This could apply to many other things but my point is that they need someone to present it to them who doesn't have an agenda, at least one that is sales based. I'm curious how much for instance, all these Lil Wayne fans had anything to compare him to or listen to, before they arrived at their devotion to him.

I've thought that what would make a good documentary type series is showing the steps and process of making an album, an internet radio show, performing live, etc...I mean really showing it in an in depth way while still having it be entertaining, not anything like the horse shit on MTV. Not everything has to be aimed at getting the 14 year old girls to spend daddies money. What I would come up with is something that would be interesting to any age group. I think for the right person, your demo probably wouldn't be seen as odd or strange.

[soundguy79]

I've thought that what would make a good documentary type series is showing the steps and process of making an album, an internet radio show, performing live, etc...I mean really showing it in an in depth way while still having it be entertaining, not anything like the horse shit on MTV.

The problem with that concept is that most of the steps involved in things like recording an album, or prepping for a live event are not in any way entertaining.  It is mostly sloggery.  While the end result may be entertaining, process by which it is created is not.  It is more about mediation between thieves, drunks, and hustlers.  The word tedium comes to mind.

[FooFa]

The problem with that concept is that most of the steps involved in things like recording an album, or prepping for a live event are not in any way entertaining.  It is mostly sloggery.  While the end result may be entertaining, process by which it is created is not.  It is more about mediation between thieves, drunks, and hustlers.  The word tedium comes to mind.

That is also true and the audience wouldn't be interested in watching even a full 8 minutes of say, working with a track in pro tools. It would take some brainstorming and a lot of time to do right. I don't think it would be impossible to come up with a happy medium however. I think that these are things which people would be interested in seeing how the sausage is made. I'm seeing it on a premium channel and for instance in the case of how an album comes together, talking to a known artist about the song writing, how do the members of the band contribute or do they/flash to demo work/flash to discussions of changes, etc...The person at the cam could ask humorous questions from time to time, we could show what the artist does in their spare time for a few minutes. It would take a lot of fleshing out but I think it's a solid idea.