Blogging for Profit

You can make money by writing about a topic that you know and love! Share your insights and information and get paid for doing it!

Monetize your blog NOW!
Create residual income today.

GREENing Productions is offering MONETIZE YOUR BLOG classes this Monday, December 28th, 2009. Attend this workshop and you will learn about:

1. Direct advertising on your site.
2. Passive advertising (example Google Adwords)
3. Affiliate marketing (Amazon Partners)
4. Fee-based members-only areas

If you haven’t put a blog up yet but are eager to do so, we will also show you how to create your own individual site with current FREE software and give you a lead on the most economical hosting options. Start the new decade by being proactive. Increase your revenues by simply sharing what you know.

GREAT GIFT!! This class is available to anyone 14 years and older.

Location: iSTORE at Dana Landing, Mesa Arizona.
Choose which time that works best with your schedule:
Morning Class: 9 to 12.
Afternoon Class: 1 to 4
Evening Class: 6 to 9

Price per class is only $40.00. Class size is limited to encourage interaction and maximum benefit for attendees. To reserve your space, email info (at) greeningproductions.com. For more information, call 480.577.6380.

One of my favorite online publications is SMASHING MAGAZINE. It’s just full of wonderful and amazing articles. It’s primarily a design magazine so it’s a visual treat to spend time with it. They also offer a lot of great freebies and links to terrific tutorials. Two that got me excited tonight were the links to ULTIMATE MAYA TUTORIALS and 50 TRADITIONAL DRAWING TECHNIQUES. Check out the tutorials and dig around in the magazine. It’s worth your time.

I was reading HOW TO WOW IN FLASH on the plane. Written by Colin Smith, the book is nine chapters of the things you most need to know and use when building a flash website … things like incorporating a dynamic image page, a scrolling text box and bitmap caching for faster image loads. Best of all, it’s written from a designer’s point of view. So, it included the code but emphasis is on how it’s going to look and work. Great book. I’m looking for more books like it.

I think I already mentioned the Rockable Press book HOW TO BE A ROCKSTAR WORDPRESS DESIGNER. Still amazed at how accessible PHP, CSS and WP became after reading that book. I’ve taught CSS in the past and, had this book been around, it would have been required reading because it takes you really far, really fast.

While I’m unpacking (groan), I also like to take time to read things for pleasure (gasp). I’m working on the Emily Dickinson story so I’ve got two wonderful pleasure books I’m perusing (now that I’ve got my books unpacked). The first is the Emily Dickinson HERBARIUM, a copy of the 400+ plants and flowers that 14-year-old Emily collected, pressed and labeled in her own inimitable hand. In later years, she would use plant and flower imagery in many of her poems. The HERBARIUM is the genus of her genius. Alec picked this up for me in Manhattan at Strand Bookstore (18 miles of rare books). I love it, absolutely love it.

I’m also reading Martha Dickinson Bianchi’s FACE TO FACE WITH EMILY DICKINSON. The daughter of Austin and Susan Dickinson, the niece of Emily, Martha has the unique perspective of someone who grew up in the presence of these two amazing women. Her firsthand account of their lives is fascinating.

There were, at the same time, things I abhorred about Facebook. I couldn’t really cover things in depth as I could on my blog. There were these things called Notes and another thing called Pages that let me write more about things I found interesting … but those things didn’t really get into the main flow of the conversation. There were sidelined and overlooked quite easily. So, if I found something related to film production or web production or wanted to discuss a new technique, I’d return to my blog. It was as media-rich or user friendly but it did have substance.

Recently, I discovered two things that are the BEST plug-ins and features ever. First, there’s a fabulous WordPress plugin called FOTOBOOK that was written by Aaron Harp. It’s a self-installing wonder that pulls my Facebook albums directly into my blog. Effortlessly. Efficiently. It’s just wonderful. AND, I also discovered that Facebook let’s me pull my BlogPosts directly into my Notes (which are then published into the general conversation). I still have to go back and forth between the blog and Facebook but, now, both venues are doing double duty so I’m getting better quality with less effort. If you look in the sidebars, you’ll see my photo albums (including my recent research trips to New England). There’s also a RANDOM photo feature that changes every time someone visits. Just something to keep it fresh. Now, I’m working on RSS feeds AND looking for a way to manage video. If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Remember, I’m Mac-based.

If you know of a FOTOBOOK-style plugin that pulls video in from Facebook as effortlessly as stills my life is perfect … however briefly.

My blogging has been atrocious, of late, and I am quite disappointed in myself. I have a really good excuse this time (of course, I always think I have a really good excuse). This time it’s a really good one. I just got back from Los Angeles where I went to see Jordan Pack, a former animation student, win a student Emmy for an animated film he produced. The film was entitled KITES. The film is the story of a boy who comes to deal with his Grandfather’s death by doing something they always did together, flying kites.

Following his graduation from MCC, he was accepted in the Animation and Film program at Brigham Young University. He produced this film his senior year at BYU. He now works for Avalanche (Disney’s gaming arm) were he is a generalist (meaning he does all facets of the gaming production including design, texturing, modeling and such).

Jordan is a really terrific guy … talented, hard-working, creative, generous and kind. He even offered the director (Jed Henry, standing behind him) one-half of the prize money because of all his hard work. He’s just a really decent guy.

Anyway, the ceremony was on Saturday evening at Sony’s Culver City Studios. Fourteen awards were given out. The top three candidates in each category were in attendance. The winner was announced that evening (no one knew who would be the first prize winner). Jordan, James and Jed’s film KITES was the first place winner.

During his acceptance speech, Jordan thanked his wife, his crew and his teachers. He mentioned two professors from BYU (who were in attendance with me). He also thanked Mesa Community College professors Jim Garrison and Cyndi Greening. It was pretty cool to be called out in front of everyone.

Among the presenters were Chris O’Donnell who played Robin to George Clooney’s BATMAN, Masa Oki who plays Hiro from the television show HEROES, and Pauley Perrett who stars on NCIS. There were tons of other industry folks there. Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua (writer/producerrs of EL TIGRE: THE ADVENTURES OF MANNY RIVERA) were the presenters for the animated film category. During their speech, Jorge revealed that he had won the Student Emmy ten years earlier and it had completely changed his life.

Click on the image above to see the photos from the event.

Monica Mvula, Zambia

Yesterday, I had an exciting interview with Emily Dickinson scholar Martha Nell Smith. I woke up eager for the day because of an upcoming meeting with a film distributor. And, then, it all turned on a dime. An email from the director of BAD TIMING, Jabbes Mvula wrote about his younger sister, Monica.

She was wonderful when we were shooting the film. She let us use her car and her cell phone. A teacher with a shy smile, she helped us located children for several key scenes in the movie. She brought us the delightful Alisam Piri (see below). She was instrumental in completing the film.

We got word she died last week. “I wish she had seen the film screened and distributed in Zambia,” her elder brother wrote. Me, too. I suddenly felt the pressure of time, the weight of decisions, and the importance of completing creative projects. I am deeply saddened to hear of her passing.

————-

A post from two years ago … while we were in Africa.

BY CYNDI GREENING, PRODUCER, LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – On Friday, we had a wonderful shooting experience. The folks a ZNBC, ZNIS and ZAMNET allowed us to use a soundproof stage to shoot the classroom scenes in the film. With all of the children there, the teacher and the policeman, we really needed the space. It also allowed us to build a lot more motion into the shots. We were able to use the dolly and the glidecam. We could have used a few more area lights. Of course all of the equipment means nothing if you don’t have good actors. We had some wonderful child actors. The children are so natural on camera; they aren’t self-conscious at all. In fact, they barely seem self-aware. One of my favorites was little Alisam Piri. I learned how a Zambian child indicates he doesn’t know what to do. I asked him to write his name on a piece of paper. He quickly complied. When I asked him to write his numbers, he turned his hand palm up and waved it from side to side. Monica, his teacher, said, “He doesn’t know his numbers yet.” He was a great little actor. We even made him cry on cue.

When they were acting, Jabbes promised them each a very special present. He gave them each a brand new MCC pencil of their very own. They were very excited with that gift. I can’t imagine American actors being satisfied with a pencil. Jabbes has been doing a good job with the actors. I’m surprised how well they take direction. He tells them what he’s trying to achieve and they respond so well. Even the more seasoned actors have been really great about giving him what he wants.

Above: HURST HEADSTONE, DUBLAN, MEXICO ©2008, Jared Moschcau.
All rights reserved. High-dynamic range photograph.

Below: TIME ROLLS ON, DUBLAN, MEXICO ©2008, Jared Moschcau.
All rights reserved. High-dynamic range photograph.

After a challenging travel day, we were all worried about how the film shoot would go in Mexico. The day started with everyone feeling apprehensive and anxious. You see, EVERY film shoot is a learning experience because every film is different, ever story is distinct, every location is unique. The saving grace in filmmaking is the crew — or, more precisely — being fortunate enough to work with people you know you can count on. Pamela Jo and I have been working on film projects for over two years so we know that we can depend on the other in these stressful situations. We were fortunate enough to also have two of the crew members from the FILM ZAMBIA crew with us — Jeniece Toranzo and Jared Moschcau. We knew these two knew how to work under pressure and they didn’t disappoint us. We were hoping Michael Montesa would be able to join us but we didn’t give him enough notice.

New to the crew was Justin Moschcau (yes, he is the twin to Jared). We brought him (and a new piece of portable recording equipment) along for sound. It is a bit nerve-wracking to bring new equipment along because you never know if it’s going to perform as expected. Ditto on bringing a new crew member. Justin proved to be a valuable and reliable member of the crew.

At the end of the day, Marvin — a descendant of the Allreds and the McClellans — came by and offered to take someone up in his small, two-seater plane to get some aerial shots of Colonia Dublan. When the cinematographers hadn’t yet returned from 2nd Unit shooting, Justin agreed to take the camera, fold himself into the tiny seat (he is 6′6″), had Marvin attach the gyro … and away he went. They got some great footage of the colony, the orchards, the Paquime ruins, the ranches and the sunset. He was definitely a welcome addition to the crew and I’d gladly work with him again. All in all, it was a very productive day for all of us!

While we were driving I was thinking about how long it had taken the colonists to make the journey from Snowflake, Arizona, to La Ascension. Our twelve hours were nothing compared to the month it took them in their horse-drawn wagons. Some of the journal entries we read were about losing a family member along the journey and having to bury them in these vast, vacant prairies. What an unbearable horror that would have been.

DUBLAN FIELDS, MEXICO ©2008, Jared Moschcau.
All rights reserved. High-dynamic range photograph.

So, much to my delight, I get to announce that Alec (my smart, talented, handsome boy) and his friend, Pacino, have started a production company in New York. The company, Universal Remote Productions specializes in digital media production and post-production. They edit, do 3D design and production, motion graphics and flash for web. They have a lot of contemporary music connections (because Pacino used to be in a successful touring band) and a lot independent film connections. One of the projects they worked on was Three Thug Mice. Now, they’re on to their own thing. It’s exciting for me to be able to write about what the guys are working on. Pamela Jo and I have been helping with paperwork and web spaces and all of that mundane business stuff that no one likes to do (not even us) but we want to be supportive. I wish them the best of luck and all the success in the world! I’m only a little envious.

As a filmmaker, I have always loved, loved, loved film more than digital but, if film is cost-prohibitive in rolls of 36 images, then burning through 24 of those frames per second is the equivalent of stepping into financial quicksand. So, it was to be avoided … even though we all knew our images were falling into a compressed tonal range with serious compromises in the toe and shoulder of our contrast curve.

Now, thanks to an inquisitive phone call from Alec in New York, I find myself getting very excited about HDR (high dynamic range digital photography) and wanting to try it out. According to all of the sites I’m reading, expanding the dynamic range is a matter of taking multiple exposures with f-stops set to capture detail in highlight, midtone and shadow areas … and then compositing them together (using Photoshop CS3’s Merge to HDR automate command) to assemble the images into a 32-bit file that captures the detail in all of the areas.

If you want to give it a shot …
1. Set your tripod up on a scene that won’t change for about two (2) minutes.
2. Take an initial shot in the darkest area.
3. Open the f-stop to make the shot three (3) times brighter.
4. Open the f-stop to make the shot five (5) times brighter.
5. Open Photoshop.
6. File Menu —> Automate —> Merge to HDR.
7. Browse to your images.
8. Follow the dialog boxes.
9. Admire the detail in the highlights, midtones and shadows of your digital HDR image.

Last week, Alec and I went to California to visit with Jason and talk post-production shop. It was a Friday evening and the three of us were sitting in Jason’s editing studio talking about things like multi-angle editing and color grading. Jason generally has a rant about how much better AVID is than FCP because that’s what he uses at work. At home, he uses FCP like the rest of us financially-challenged filmmakers. He was showing us what he’d learned at an Apple presentation about multi-angle editing. They’ve been touting multi-angle editing for a while but I’d never seen it used. He stepped through it and I was excited. He said (and I agreed) that there wasn’t all that much need for it in his type of work.

However, while we were in Zambia, the National Arts Council brought five (5) Native Storytellers in from other regions in the country. All five spoke a different language. There were about 25 children making up the audience. This was definitely NOT a highly-controlled nor highly-choreographed recording session. On top of that, this was the second weekend in Zambia so the student crew were all continuing to build their skills in all of the different pieces of equipment. To maximize our odds, we ran four (4) cameras during the shoot. Two cinematographers were on the storyteller, one was on the audience and one was handheld. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on a different continent. So, next week, I’ll be cutting the Zambian Storytellers using this method. I can hardly wait. If you want to check it out, you will want to read Steve Martin’s well-illustrated and very clear tutorial on Final Cut Pro Multi-Angle editing.

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