First Time Short Film

Today I work on a movie set for the first time. It went nothing like I expected to go, however it was an awesome experience. After spending the entire weekend, battling a sick daughter, a wife with a torn rotator cuff, and my Full Sail homework deadline looming, I thought that I had time to do sound editing for an independent film. Boy was I shocked. I waited three hours outside of my school waiting on my principle to let me in the building so I can get the cameras and sound equipment. Just a little background info, I am the digital media instructor at mentorship Academy high school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With that being said, my principal was nice enough to open the school for me on a Sunday. Actors and prep time were not on schedule either, this is an extremely low budget film production. Nevertheless we had more fun then we would all like to admit.

The name of the movie is entitled Breathe, by Scott Sullivan. This is a short film and will more than likely be no longer than 30 minutes or so. My job is sound design and a film editor. I remember reading an article about editing film using Final Cut Pro, and recording a sound using GarageBand. I thought I would give this a try. After many technical difficulties, trial and error, I was able to capture pretty decent sound using a handheld Tascam sound recorder. Because everything was so I’ll schedule, we just decided that today would be a test run and that we would reconvene next week in order to finalize the production. I thought this is a great idea basically since we had already missed the golden hour to film our office scene, and we were doing me daytime scenes at night. I saw in Final Cut Pro where you can edit your movie that’s shot at night to make it look like it was in the daytime. However in my opinion, I believe there’s nothing better than the real thing.

I learned a lot from my first experience, prepare prepare, prepare. Do you have any stories about your first time on movie shoots?

References: http://www.indiewire.com/article/television/gillian-jacobs-jash-community-interview

What is Your Creative Process?

I often find myself thinking about the great endeavors that I want to encounter in the future.  Recently, I have discovered that one of my passions is writing. I have been a writer my entire life without realizing it. Being a musician, I have written songs, entire albums, soundtracks, and short stories as well. The creative process can sometimes be intimidating to the writer.

Enter Neil Strauss, 7 time New York Times Best Selling author is interviewed by Timothy Ferris, the author of the 4 Hour Workweek. In this interview, Strauss shares advice bout time management, his routines, and how he goes about his day-to-day process of writing. 

One of the principles discussed was the art of draft writing, and understanding that the first draft of anything is usually horrible. Strauss quoted Earnest Hemmingway in saying, “ The first draft of anything is usually s***. “  Strauss also covered how he handles his time management using apps like Freedom, and Net Nanny, These applications monitor and block his usage of the Internet on his computer. This keeps him on task and not easily distracted.

I learned a lot by just watching this video about the creative writing process. I learned the importance of using a new literary agent when trying to find a book deal. A literary agent will step in and negotiate with retailers and other companies on your behalf. They also usually have a built in network and working relationships with these companies. This takes a lot of the guesswork out of trying to shop your book for a publishing deal. Strauss and Ferris both said that it is sad but true; publishers are only interested in your platform. This means that publishers are interested in your ability to sell at least 10,000 copies of your book. If you can prove this, you will get a book deal. That is why many books have been birthed out of blogs and Twitter followers.

In closing, I find the entire book industry to be quite fascinating. Writing a book is definitely on my bucket list, and I hope to achieve this goal very soon after graduation. What tools do you use for your creative process? Are there any apps or websites that you would recommend to help people with their creative process?

References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Strauss

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2013/06/14/tim-ferriss-interviews-neil-strauss-7x-new-york-times-bestselling-author-on-the-creative-process/

Entertainment Law Update Blog

So, I could not rest until I completed this assignment on an entertainment law podcast. I originally attempted to locate an entertainment attorney, without success, I decided to listen to two podcasts on EntertainmentLawUpdate.com. This podcast covers many current events and topics throughout the entertainment industry. One of the stories that pertain to my business plan was the story about Robin Thicke and his song “Blurred Lines”. The heirs to the estate of Marvin Gaye are attempting to sue Robin Thicke for the song, “blurred lines”. They gave family believed that Robin Thicke took Marvin Gaye song “got to give it up”. There has been many articles and videos about the two songs something similar. There is even a video of Robin Thicke talking about the songs and comparing them together. Is yet to be determined as to whether Robin Thicke copied the song from Marvin Gaye, however Thicke did file a declarative action suit against Marvin Gaye’s family to try and stop any lawsuit from Gay’s family.

            The intellectual property at risk here is the songs copyright. Music is often a hard medium to dissect when looking for evidence in copyright infringement. The song has to be dissected piece by piece, and broken down in order to prove that Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines”, takes substantial musical quality from the original song.

            Also, Bridgeport music is claiming that the song “Blurred Lines” has similarities to one of their songs, “Sexy Ways”, performed by the group George Clinton and Funkadelic. George Clinton has come out publicly on Twitter and said there is no sample of his music in the “Blurred Lines” song.

            In my personal experience as a DJ, I have played both songs blurred lines, and got to give it up, back-to-back and no one on the floor was the wiser. The songs have very similar grooves and musical elements. However, making a claim that “blurred lines” was stolen from Marvin Gaye song is a hard bargain. There are many songs that sound similar and have the same “feel” as other songs from past popular hits. The record producer, Pharrell Williams, was very clever in the way in which he re-created the field of Marvin Gaye’s classic song. Williams understands that he could not out right take the song, but he could make a song that feels the same, with the same tempo as Marvin Gaye’s classic song.

The second podcast I listened to was from EntertainmentLawUpdate.com as well. The story that stood out to me was the story about the interns at Warner Music that that have a class action lawsuit. Justin Henry claimed that he worked for free as an intern for Warner Music. He claimed that he was treated as an unpaid employee. The claim is that Warner is in violation of the employee wage laws.  This started a snowball of lawsuits against companies who house interns, looking for a way into the entertainment business.

            This, in my opinion, causes a great deal of problems for the Entertainment industry. I believe that interning is one of the best ways to gain experience in the industry, and it’s the proving ground for many up and coming directors, actors and producers. This makes me think twice about the growth plan for my business. I originally planned on using interns in year two. I however will not use an intern if I am in fear as a business owner that they will turn around and sue me for treating them as an unpaid employee. 

Legal Controversies in the Music Industry

I chose to write this assignment on 3 issues; copyright infringement through the use of Mixtapes, Online streaming services and the challenges they face when it comes to licensing the music they play, and music that is not properly credited in a DJ mix.

First, I would like to talk about how musicians in the Hip Hop Genre have been using other people’s music to create their own since the inception of the art form. The use of other songs to create your own is called sampling. The use of mixtapes as a form of promotion has been a main staple used by most Hip Hop artists after the rocket like success of rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.” Artists such as 50 Cent and Lil Wayne gained fast recognition for their remakes of original hip hop songs. Until recently, artists did not have to worry about getting the songs they used cleared. It was like an unspoken rule, as long as the artist does not sell the music, they could create freely.

This has changed dramatically. Record companies are suing artists for using their copyrighted music even for their “Free” music albums. Rap artists Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y pushed back their free album #LiveinConcert for fear of being sued by record companies. Mac Miller, was sued over a beat on his mixtape. This was an influencing factor in pushing back the #LiveinConcert Project.

I think this limits artist’s creativity severely. I think artists should be able to record songs no matter who made them. That keeps things fresh, without people thinking about getting samples cleared.

DJ’s may run into a similar problem. DJ’s in the past have been putting mixes out without giving any credits to the artist’s music they are using. Dubset.com is using a new technology called MixScan. This connects the artist’s music to the DJ’s mixes, giving all parties involved credit for each song submitted to Dubset.com as a promoter. Services such as Soundcloud.com allows DJs and others to upload music as long as they agree to standard copyright laws. This leaves gaps in the field of play. DJ’s such as DJPK1 releases mixes on SoundCloud without a playlist. These artists and labels get no credit for the songs played in the mix set. I think a site like MixScan helps everyone receive proper credit and decrease the chances of a lawsuit in the future.

Online radio formats are also running into obstacles. Pandora may have to pay significantly more money to Sony ATV music than to the Performance Rights Organizations (ASCAP, BMI.) There has been debate over what is actually “fair” as far as royalty payments. Other companies have attempted to go around Sony and negotiate its performance rates with the companies directly. This makes the situation even more difficult. SoundExchange has been used recently as a blanket performance rights agency that collects on behalf of all artists’ music streaming on the Internet. This website is a great tool for anyone with music that is released on any streaming sites. There may be money on the table if you do not take advantage of this resource. The battle for performance royalties is still not over. Pandora however needs to consider what it stands to lose as the industry leader in music streaming. What do you think is a considerable royalty rate per song play?

References: Music Law- Contracts and Band Agreements http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZmeTxL6h5I

Broadcast Law Blog   http://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2013/01/articles/pandora-enters-settlement-to-pay-for-public-performance-of-sonyatv-musical-works-whats-its-impact-on-licensing-for-music-services-and-rights-holders/

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/wiz-khalifa-and-currensy-s-live-in-concert-mixtape-pushed-back-news.2611.html

http://www.soundexchange.com/artist-copyright-owner/digital-royalties/

The New Orleans Film Festival

This Wednesday, I took my students on their first field trip of the year. We went to the New Orleans Film Festival to watch 3 educational screenings. The students then had a chance to meet the director and the actors involved with the film. The most inspirational documentary was “Sparkle”, directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar. This movie was about Sheri “Sparkle” Williams, who has been a star dancer with the legendary Dayton Contemporary Dance Company for nearly 40 years – a record virtually unheard of in the professional dance community. (NOFS.org) Sheri suffered from an injury that stopped her from dancing for over 8 months. This documentary was a story of personal and professional failures and triumph.

            I actually got a chance to talk with Sheri Williams, and director, Julia after the screening. Julia is sending me a copy of the film and I am so excited to share with my classes to write a summary of the short documentary as an assignment. She could tell that I had a passion for filmmaking and was more than happy to offer assistance in my journey as a budding independent filmmaker. I love having the opportunity to meet influential people in this industry. The advice and expertise I have gained from my experiences have been priceless.

            The New Orleans Film Festival was filled with over 200 movies from directors all over the World. This is the 24^th Annual New Orleans Film Festival, and Moviemaker magazine named the NOFF “Top 25 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee.” (NOFS.org)

            I gave my students an assignment to document the entire trip and take pictures and video of the experience. They will then import the footage in iMovie and create a video montage of their footage. The students were so excited to take a field trip and get a day off from school. Mentorship Academy is located in Baton Rouge, LA, about an hour from New Orleans.  We wanted to stay longer but we had to get back to the school. Other notable movies include 12 Years a Slave, and The Whole Gritty City. Ms. Skye MacDonald from the NOSF said that she would come out to Baton Rouge to show our school the movie “The Whole Gritty City.” This is a documentary about New Orleans high school marching bands. From watching the trailer, it seems to be a very good movie.

            I will create a post about the student project coming soon. Have you ever been to a film festival? If so which film festivals have you been to?

-O. Griffin

           

References: http://thewholegrittycity.com http://neworleansfilmsociety.org/pages/detail/31/film-festival