Choosing a Topic

                Acupuncture has always been a peripheral presence in my life. My dad fell in love with the practice when I was about five. Still, I didn’t really understand how it worked, so I decided to bring it into focus and make a MiND program.

Pre-Production and Shooting

                This was not my first time picking up a camera, but this was my first time doing something documentary-like. Most of my experience has been doing things like this (http://vimeo.com/10729943), more traditional narrative shorts, and goofier stuff.

                Starting with pre-production and continuing through editing, the amount of overlap between this 5-minute piece and the narratives I’ve done was surprising. Both require planning (about twice as much as I end up doing)—technical, creative, and logistic.

                The unpredictability, however, is really where these two storytelling methods intersected for me. In the planning stages, the project drifts and swirls like cumulus ideal, pretty and exciting but not solid.  It’s not until the camera comes out and the people start talking and moving in front of it that the project becomes concrete. Mistakes and obstacles (some stupid, some inevitable) surface and yank that shiny blueprint back to reality. I “filmed” an entire acupuncture treatment for B-roll but didn’t realize that I had neglected to press “record.” One patient didn’t show up for an interview. These events necessitate heightened levels of creativity and flexibility. Since I don’t have that treatment footage, what else can I use for B-roll? How can I keep it interesting and varied? It’s not that I enjoy mistakes or obstacles or have any sort of perspective while they’re occurring, but in retrospect, they end up shaping the project in sometimes not-all-that-bad ways.

                Other than the unforeseeable potholes that sneak into every project, the production stage leads to a more enjoyable form of unpredictability: the little organic moments that only real people can produce. With a script on narrative projects, I never know what line or conversation will really jive with the actors and create something much better than what I imagined or actually wrote. During this project, those gems occurred when the interviews felt more like conversations. 

                After shooting, it is clear that the project will not be its imagined origin, but it’s concrete.

Editing

                This part starts with a digression, but bear with me.

My mom started her orthodontic journey when she was eight years old. Her 1960s braces were probably more like Lil Wayne Grills than current day braces—only less diamond-studded and nerdier. Eight years later, when she was sixteen, the braces came off. It’s not as if her mouth started as a chipped village of fallen dominos. Really, her problems were within normal limits—nothing a slightly skilled orthodontist couldn’t handle. Unfortunately for her, her orthodontist was not slightly skilled, but he was a family friend. His dental recipe: push teeth too far in and close together. Pull teeth out and apart. Repeat. A lot. The emotional and physical pain of eight years of braces was a small price to pay for not offending a peripheral acquaintance.

                At times, during the making of this five-minute program, I have felt like that unskilled orthodontist, yanking back and forth in pursuit of that five-minute smile. Luckily, my program did not have to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with a mouth full of metal. During the editing process, each minute change I made created the need for three more changes. I went over the five-minute mark then with my figurative red pen, I crossed everything out. If I were not a child of the digital era and I had to use the ol’ Steenbeck to physically cut film, editing would just be a very expensive and artsy way to make confetti.  The figurative eight years of editing orthodontia transformed the project to watch-ability.

                What kept the cutting interesting was that it was a sort of dynamic puzzle that I had created for myself. I had gone out and sought the pieces, and now I had to put them together. Every decision I made—from adjusting the volume to selecting a clip—affected the program in some way. At the last minute, I cut a 30-second anecdote about a nun on dialysis that had been one of my favorite parts and replaced it with a clip about acupuncture in animals. I hadn’t planned to use the second clip at all, but realized it worked much better in the context.  

                If you can swing it, I recommend making your own five-minute program. It’s a great way to learn by doing.

Hannah Levy

MiND TV Intern

Check out Hannah’s Program on Acupuncture

Will Monsanto Vow to Do No Harm?

Guest Blogger: Reverend Nathan Walker, First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia

Directors from Monsanto came to the First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia for dinner to discuss the ethics of biotechnology. When asked, “will you vow to do no harm,” Monsanto replied, “We already do no harm.” In the spirit of “Food Revolution” listen to Reverend Nate Walker’s summary of Monsanto’s response to the proposal to develop a modern Hippocratic Oath that could lead the entire field of biotechnology to “do no harm, to do good, and to be just.”

Click here for the full text: http://bit.ly/MinistryWithMonsanto 

Or click here to listen to the audio recording: http://natewalker.podbean.com/2010/07/18/ministry-with-monsanto/

Walk through Philadelphia and you won’t miss Isaiah Zagar’s prodigious mosaics. They’re all over the city, with many on South Street (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check this out: http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/). Look closely at one of Zagar’s pieces and see a rusted bicycle wheel, a shard of mirror, a blown glass bottle. Take a step back, and see the whole picture: an almost overwhelming gathering of color and texture.

Turn on MiND TV, and find stories as different as Zagar’s materials. MiND members represent myriad perspectives and subjects. MiND members tell stories about history, the economy, the culinary world, human rights issues, hip hop dancing, filmmaking, karate, politics, etc.. Take a step back, and start to see an image of our community: what is important to us, what we like to watch, and what excites us. 

Check out some of the diverse member programs on MiND now!

The Jazzy Vegetarian: Festive Zucchini Lasagna

MiND Member: Virtual Media Productions

There are two kinds of vegetarians: those with jazz and those without it—those who embrace the wonderful flavors of meatless ingredients and those who accept blandness. Join Laura Theodore, the Jazzy Vegetarian, as she prepares her delicious and nutritious ‘Festive Zucchini Lasagna.’ Her recipe features fresh basil from her garden, mock meat, and tofu. As a vegetarian, I wanted to dig in, but both vores (herbi- and omni-) could enjoy. Golden Empire, a Chinese restaurant off South Street, called claims to serve two types of food: “vegetarian” and “regular.” This lasagna reminds us that vegetarian food is regular food, and it can exceed greater-than-regular levels of deliciousness. 

Defense of Marriage – By Any Means Necessary?

MiND Member: First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia

In this personal video-letter, Reverend Nate Walker responds to Michael Geer, John Guest, and Alberta Wilson, who all created videos supporting an amendment to the PA constitution to deny marriage equality. This piece relates Christian scripture that says that homosexuals should be “condemned to death” to the motivations of the man who recently open fired during a children’s show held at a Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville, TN. With respect and eloquence, the Reverend unpacks the term “defense.” “When I hear the word defense,” Reverend Walker says, “I perceive it as if you are defending something and will do so by any means necessary. How would you respond to your constituents about the hate crime that occurred in Knoxville, TN? Would you teach them that such a violence is justified by God?”

Philadelphia’s Illadelph Legends Festival Part II

MiND Member: Rennie Harris Puremovement

Celebrate Philadelphia’s past and present of Hip Hop dancing in this visually-impressive piece. Each year Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Rennie Harris holds the Illadelph Legends Festival at the University of the Arts. The festival remains the longest continually run Hip Hop dance festival dedicated to the preservation and evolution of Hip Hop dance and features the most electrifying innovators and pioneers of the Hip Hop dance movement. Hear from local and international dancers and watch them perform.

What Kind of Person was Bernie Madoff?

MiND Member: The American College

Next to Voldemort, Dick Cheney, and Joseph Stalin, the worst person to switch brains with à la Freaky Friday might be Bernie Madoff.  Luckily, to get the inside scoop on the psychology of this record-setting embezzler, all you have to do is tune into MiND TV. In this piece, author Erin Arvedlund discusses her book, Too Good to Be True, which examines the life of Bernie Madoff, revealing the pathological liar behind the upright public façade. Who was kept in the dark, and who was responsible?

Tony Lankford’s DOWNTOWN The Actor’s Lounge: Rel Dowdell

MiND Member: Anthony Lankford

Take a seat next to up-and-coming director Rel Dowdell as he discusses his current film project, Changing the Game, a feature film about a talented boy who must escape the physically difficult world of North Philadelphia to confront the mentally challenging world of Wall Street and business. Dowdell has been compared to filmmakers Spike Lee and John Singleton. He stresses the study of film as an art and a science.

Be sure to tune in!

Hannah Levy

MiND TV Intern