On Saturday students in the Burlington High School after school film club shot a short film in the VCAM space. The film is called “Art Lovers” and is the brain child of BHS sophomore (and award-winning filmmaker) Graham Raubvogel. Graham and fellow students Keith LaFountaine, Steven Jaramillo and Michelle Martinek were joined by a team of professional filmmakers, actors and technicians for the production day, which was a hands-on master class in filmmaking.

One of VCAM’s security cameras caught all the action, one frame per second. Below is all 12 hours of shooting — from the minute the first crew walked in the door at 8:00 AM, until the last staff person shut out the lights and left at 8:00 PM — compressed into a single minute of video. Enjoy…

We have five MacBooks that we use for training purposes here at VCAM and we have five portable hard drives to go with them. Matt named the identical computer/hard drive sets so we could differentiate them. For the MacBooks, he chose the members of the Jackson 5: Marlon, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine and Michael. For the drives, Matt picked Norse gods: Odin, Loki, Kvasir, Thor and Heimdall.

Well I (Bill) recently had to get five new drives (because of the influx of many CCV filmmaking students this spring) and I had to come up with my own naming scheme. You can tell that Matt and I have somewhat differing cultural touchstones…

Watch Eva Sollberger’s latest Stuck in Vermont featuring VCAM! Hear many local cable access producers rhapsodize about the magic of television and the freedom of self-expression.

VCAM Production Manager Bill Simmon will be running a 4-week long multi-session workshop on videoblogging and podcasting beginning next Thursday evening, February 19. The sessions will run for four consecutive weeks from 6-8 pm. This workshop is open to any VCAM member who can demonstrate basic computer competency skills (file management, web searching, cut/copy/paste, etc.). There is an enrollment limit of five. (Not a VCAM member yet? Call 802-651-9692 to get involved!)

If you would like to reserve a spot in the class, email bill (bill@vermontcam.org). Please only enroll in the workshop if you can attend ALL FOUR sessions. The workshop description follows…

This 4-week course is intended for people who are curious about making their own podcasts and/or video-blogs.  Throughout the 4 weeks, students will build a blog, produce their own podcast or video-blog episodes and publish them online with subscribable RSS feeds.  No prior blogging or podcasting experience necessary.  Only basic computer/web-surfing skills are required.

Open to any VCAM member (basic computer skills required – if you’re not sure, ask the instructor) – 5 students per class.

NOTE: VCAM will provide the computers, software and cameras for this course, but we recommend that students have their own gear as well so that they can continue to explore the world of social media beyond the class.

Want to use your own gear?  Here’s what you’ll need, at a minimum:

•    A late model PC or Mac with firewire and/or USB inputs.
•    The latest version of Apple Quicktime Pro ($30 from apple.com).
•    A digital video camera with firewire or USB outputs.

Tomorrow (Friday 11/14) is the night of our annual VCAM Producers’ Recognition Dinner, where we get everyone in a big room, feed them, and thank them for all of the time and effort they put into creating VCAM content.

As with the last few of these events, the evening will be emceed by Seven Days videographer (and VCAM producer) Eva Sollberger. Our keynote speaker will be author, blogger, VPR commentator and UVM prof, Philip Baruth.

These dinners are always a good opportunity to take a look back at some of the accomplishments of our community of media-makers. Here are a few highlights…

• Our hostess tomorrow, the afore mentioned Eva Sollberger, recently won first place in her category at the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Video Festival for her Stuck in Vermont series.
• VCAM’s own staff took home the first place prize in the “PEG Promo” category in that same festival for the first episode of our rare-but-excellent VCAM VCAST!
• In October, two BHS students who are VCAM producers were the only high schoolers to compete in the Vermont International Film Festival’s Student Showcase — and they won awards! Sophomore Graham Raubvogel took home the Best Short award for a film he co-directed called The First Supper, and freshman Keith LaFountaine won an Honorable Mention for his film, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice….
• The very same Graham Raubvogel won first place at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival this summer for his film, Keeping Time.
• At the Alliance for Community Media’s national conference this past summer, VCAM took the prize for best access center website, and VCAM production Manager, Bill Simmon, got an Honorable Mention for his short documentary about Vermont blogger, Steve Benen.
• That same short documentary, Digital Pamphleteer, screened at several film festivals in 2008 and won the Best Short Documentary award at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in July.

I hope I’m not forgetting anyone — if I am, send me a note and I’ll update the post.

Congratulations to all of the award-winners and keep up the great work! And remember, we’re giving out some awards ourselves tomorrow night, so stay tuned for that!

Two students in the BHS after school filmmaking club that VCAM Production Manager Bill Simmon runs won awards in the Vermont International Film Festival Student Showcase this past weekend!

Graham Raubvogel, who won first prize at the Santa Monica Teen Film Festival this past summer, co-directed The First Supper, which won the Best Short award, and Keith LaFountaine got an Honorable Mention for the film he made last year at Edmunds Middle School, If You Can’t Say Anything Nice.

It’s worth noting that Graham and Keith were the only two high school students competing in an otherwise all-college film student competition. Congratulations, Graham and Keith! Keep up the good work!

One of the most divisive programs in VCAM’s 24-year history in terms of viewer response is calling it quits.  Subterranean SINema, produced by Magister Matthew G. Paradise, has aired its last episode on VCAM channel 15.  Matt began producing the show back in 1997 and over the years, “SubSIN” has been notable both as one of the shows that generated the most viewer response, and as a show with particularly high production values.  Matt used to edit his episodes of SubSIN at the channel 15 studios, but as his production skills improved and editing software became more readily available, he started producing the shows totally in his own home, from soup to nuts.

Matt writes…

 … somewhere in there also lurks the reality that much of the material the show was famous for can now be seen around the world by visiting online sites such as Break.com and YouTube. Back in the late-90s, SubSIN was highly sought after, whether its live transmission, VHS copies, or, later on, the DVD. But, alas, the Internet changed all of that and I, intelligently, must change with the times. If you loved the show, the spirit of Subterranean SINema certainly permeates the online world in ways public access television never could on its own. That’s my indirect way of saying that I love you, VCAM — and you need to put a streaming feed of your programming (not just a few shows) on the Internet. Merely a helpful, if not belabored, suggestion.

It was a very good time. Subterranean SINema, like so many things I do, serves as a roadmap through a period of my life — in this case, my 30s. SubSIN, believe it or not, prompted me to go back to college and get serious about video, and VCAM was instrumental in that regard, giving me exposure to editing, shooting, lighting, and producing an actual show. How can I not be grateful to both public access TV and that little controversial show monikered by a pentagram-trapped skull and crossbones?

VCAM is indeed looking at putting all locally-produced VCAM programming online — though probably in an on-demand way rather than as a 24/7 live stream.  There are some organizational concerns to tackle first, which are surprisingly more complex than the technical issues, which seem pretty straight forward.  Stay tuned for more info on that.

Matt also produced the show Satanism Today, which aired on VCAM’s channel 15 a few years ago.  As a result of Matt’s involvement here at VCAM, we are still sometimes asked if VCAM is the home of “that Satan channel.”   It’s interesting that featuring shows like Victory For You!, Calvary Life, Good News Broadcast, Key to the Kingdom, Time of God, Heavenly Sonshine, Revelations, Tomorrow’s World, Living Bread and the weekly Catholic mass (all shows currently in our playback rotation) doesn’t get people to ask us if we are the home of “that Jesus channel,” but I guess the word “Satan” is particularly memorable in a TV show title (take note, future VCAM producers!).

Good luck in your future endeavors, Matt!

Here we are again.  Since VCAM moved to the south end in December of 2001, we’ve participated every year in the South End Art Hop — the state’s largest public art event.  Each year proves bigger than the last and this year is shaping up to be no exception.  If you haven’t been down to the VCAM space for Art Hop before, you really shouldn’t miss it.  We get hundreds of people through the door, we have excellent work from lots of great artists and filmmakers, and we’ve earned a reputation for having the best food at the Hop.

The fun begins on Friday at 5 PM and runs all Friday evening and Saturday from 10-5.

Plus we’re situated in the 208 Flynn complex, which is hosting some of the best work of the whole event.  Be sure to check out RETN, Propeller Media Works and Select Design, in particular.

See you at the Hop!

All this week RETN and VCAM are hosting a video summer camp with Burlington’s Parks and Recreations dept.  A group of 6th to 9th graders are here every day this week making movies!  As the week progresses, watch this space for video blog updates by the kids themselves.  Stay tuned!!!