meet and greet PMN

April 28th video experience

Thursday April 28, 2011 I had a peak experience in relationship to my new passion Future City Digital Justice workshop. In order to log in more lens time several of us have volunteered our newly acquired video skills to community non-profits as producers of digital documents. To that end I met one of my colleagues at Christ the Redeemer on Junction and Vernor to video a morning pre-summit event for the Detroit Food Policy Council.

Angie Allen and I provided volunteer video documentation of their process. The weight of the responsibility was shared to cover and document as much of the presentation and breakout sessions as we could. We commiserated and began to choreograph what would be our shooting strategy.

We then followed the first shooting experience with a stop at the lab. What a fruitful session where I was assisted by Joe and Angie in downloading the footage into final cut. I took my time to select an appropriate project name and labeled it and carefully placed it in a folder for the next step in the process. Because I had shot some of the footage on the FLIP camera I was unable to transfer log-which is the procedure to take images straight from the camera and place it in final cut. I was also able to checkout head phones for the VIXIA and have an opportunity to examine all of he parts of the camera with guidance from Joe. I had missed an opportunity to shoot because I did not know where to plug in the alternative power source. Knowing the equipment better is a big part of this process.

Angie and I left the laboratory only to meet up with two other of our classmates by design Pat, & DeRainer and one by chance Charles Taylor. There at the People Movement Network The four of us worked harmoniously to document and cover all aspects of the meeting and breakout sessions. Toward the end of the evening I was able to independently setup four interviews gathering materials for our final project..

I am still processing the events of yesterdays activities but know that I have advanced in my understanding of the phenomenon I am currently experiencing.

Here's a challenge

Enter the Be an ENERGY STAR Video Challenge. Pick up your video camera and document how you save energy in your home, school, workplace and community. Selected videos will be featured on energystar.gov and ENERGY STAR social media sites. This fall, ENERGY STAR's online audience will vote for their favorite videos to be showcased in ENERGY STAR?s Energy Awareness Month video in October. Enter the challenge here.

Special Reader

Copyright and the Public Domain Authors own the exclusive rights to their compositions. This is called a copyright, and the composition is protected for many years--even if the copyright is never registered with the copyright office. A composition is considered to be "intellectual property" The copyright may be sold, transferred, or inherited--but the copyright still endures. If any music or lyrics are still under copyright protection you CANNOT reproduce the music or lyrics you CANNOT distribute the music or lyrics either for free, for no profit, or for profit you CANNOT perform the music or lyrics in public you CANNOT play a recording of the music or lyrics in public--even if you own the CD you CANNOT make a derivative work or arrangement for public use in any form Legally a copyright means that a musician, author, or artist has a "limited duration monopoly" on anything he creates. The US Constitution grants the government power "to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." (Article 1 Section 8, US Constitution). To legally enforce an author's claim to his copyright, his work must be registered with the copyright office. Registering a composition provides public notification of copyright, and you cannot use the composition publicly unless you pay royalties--which can be substantial. If you use a song under copyright without the owner's permission, you are subject to legal repercussions. Public DomainFortunately, copyrights eventually expire and the owner has no exclusive rights. Also some composers renounce their copyright and give their music or lyrics to the public, either during their lifetime or at their death. All compositions which are not protected under copyright law are said to be in the public domain. If you can prove that a composition is in the public domain, you can arrange, reproduce, perform, record, or publish it. But you cannot just "know" a song is in the public domain or just "see" the name of the song in a book or on a list. You should use a public domain composition only if you have proof of public domain from a legitimate source.