Digital Day 2008

This day will be filled with workshops, demonstrations and panel discussions on the changing trends in film and digital media. From the various tools for creating media - from cell phones to high-definition cameras, to the options of editing - online editing sites or Final Cut Pro, to the vast distribution methods. From video streaming, BluRay, theatrical releases, short-content paid programming on the Web or stations such as Current TV, how can this work for you? Leading film industry professionals will give some behind the scenes tips as to how and why certain scripts are picked up, and how someone can get paid $1 million a year to create a short webisode. Plus, how the idea for the film Babysitter Wanted (screening 7 pm, Friday, Sept. 5 at the Eureka Theatre) got pitched and picked up in 3 minutes !!!!

Local experts from Access Humboldt, Digital Pathways, StreamGuys, Carlson Wireless, the Humboldt Film and Digital Media Commission (FILMhumboldt) and others will also discuss how we can better position ourselves locally to compete in a global market.

There will also be a pitch session, to find out what the studios are looking for in stories to develop in to a television series, web series or movie. Find out if your idea could be the next Lost or Six Feet Under.

And then there is fair use, public domain and copyright issues. Meet professionals from organizations like archive.org to see how you know what you can use, and how to protect your own creative content. This is a must for new and experienced filmmakers.

$20 adults, $10 students. Lunch is included. Bring an open mind and an extra water.

There are many reasons why people want to be filmmakers or documentary storytellers. One reason is because you want to be surrounded by paparazzi for the rest of your life, but for many, it is because they want to shed a light on an issue of importance, or to educate or inform. Guests of all ages will tell and demonstrate how they are working to share their passions through video or film. Marnin Robbins of the California State Parks is working on one such project, the PORTS (ports.parks.ca.gov), to educate teachers and students via live videoconferencing about nature. North of Orick, Redwood Adventures Television creates stunning documentaries to share with visitors from Japan, Holland, Germany and all over the world.

Even video game designers are looking at ways to develop game content to educate and inform, while giving gamers a fun ride in the process. Game professionals will share ideas that we could incorporate here, using photography, graphic arts, green screen, cgi, video, music, acting, and the knowledge from local experts.

There are more and more grants available for filmmakers working on a project that addresses timely important issues and solutions, as a visiting expert will share.

There will be a great line-up of guests, inluding filmmaker Andy Norris, who will screen the incredible journey film Source to the Sea.

At 3 pm - Aquatic Center - SOURCE TO THE SEA
SYNOPSIS: On July 1, 2003 Christopher Swain became the first person to swim the entire 1,243 mile length of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest. His swim brought stories about the river's disrupted ecosystems and dislocated peoples to over twenty-thousand North American schoolchildren, and to a worldwide media audience of over one billion people.
A group of thirty-plus Northwest filmmakers, led by Andy Norris, followed Swain's swim, and created a modern history of the Great River of the West. The result was a ninety minute film that one reviewer called, "a heart-wrenching tale of a man and a river."
The film includes stunning pre-inundation footage of Celilo and Kettle Falls, as well as a broad spectrum of interviews with tribal members, agency representatives, fishers, authors, nonprofit leaders, and citizens who trace the natural history and present-day challenges of the Columbia River in their own words. One educator described it this way: "The interviews weren't just riveting, they made this grown man cry."