Ladies and Gentlemen - Story Doula

Click here for my new blog for a new decade.  I am not giving up PauletteFilms.  I just feel the need hang out over at Story Doula at least for this first semester of teaching and new adventures.  Come visit!!  And I'll be posting to PauletteFilms occasionally.   Happy New Year/Decade!

My. Favorite. Director. Of. All. Time.

Tomorrow, December 5th in London, a retrospective of director Sally Potter's work opens and lasts through December 28th.   I saw the sexy, witty, provocative film Orlando, based on the Virginia Woolf novel, at the Angelika Film Center in New York in 1993 and walked out of the theater shaken and shifted forever.  I never grow tired of watching Orlando, it is hands-down my favorite film.  And Potter's other films do not disappoint.  Ever.

Starting with Thriller's reversal of genre convention (in which the heroine lives), through Orlando's magical gender-blending, to Rage, which brings anti-globalization protests and citizen journalism into fashion, Sally Potter's films change the world in style.  

Orlando (1993), the result of seven years' work including daring location recces in Russia and Kazakhstan, helped launch Tilda Swinton's career and won awards internationally for its handsome looks and dazzling, witty play with gender, class and costume drama.   

Here is a new trailer for Orlando for the remastered film premiering at the retrospective:


And oh, how I would love to visit the new Sally Potter archive of production materials.  Yummy!  

Animation/After Effects - a Few New Adds

I'm pretty obsessed with Flash and After Effects these days.  My tech partner Pinky-Pink and I recently made a ball squish and bounce with motion tweens and such and Frida Kalho got to smoke her cigarette with bone animation.  When we figure out how to export without weird artifacting I'll post. Take a look at a music video done entirely digitally, using After Effects. Beautiful.
 
Here's the ongoing debate between film and digital brought to life in stop motion:

Film vs. Digital from Lauren Randolph on Vimeo.

Using Crochet to Solve Complex Math/Save Corral Reefs

Oh, this is blissful.  Australian science writer Margaret Wertheim combines art and science/womanscraft and research to solve complex math and save the world's corral reefs.  I'll sleep well tonight, just knowing Margaret and her sister Christine are out there.

Photo Op Protest of Pub Weekly Zero Inclusion of Women in 2009 Top Ten List

Rupert thinks A.S. Byatt is brilliant.






                                                                  
Jillie grooves on Barbara Kingsolver.

Kathleenie extols Carol Kaisuk Yoon.

Day of Action! - Protest Publishers Weekly's Zero Woman Author Top Ten List

shewrites.com posts a call to action today to protest Publishers Weekly's inclusion of zero point zero, zero women authors in their Top Ten Books for 2009.  Please take your own action and be sure to talk back to shewrites.com.

My action was a protest post on the Publishers Weekly website:

"No women in your top ten?! Please consider, what does this say about your ability to actually see, hear, or read other perspectives? No wonder there are such class, culture and gender divides in our world today. So much of the population simply gets ignored - systematically and in this case completely. You do not see their story as valid. This is tremendously damaging.

I urgently ask you to explore ways to think more deeply and creatively about this. I recommend watching a beautiful Ted.com talk "The Danger of a Single Story" by Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie.

It may help you understand why the outrage at your list. I look forward to the dialogue. Paulette"

Today's Webinar on NGOs Using Video for Social Change

Wow. That was intense. Today I spoke into my computer screen for one hour about how NGOs can create powerful video. I was a little more nervous about it beforehand - I've not done a webinar before and I do best with the energy of a crowd. But I think this first one with oneworld.net went fine and it did help me define and articulate how NGOs and video intersect.

Click here for the audio podcast of today's oneworld.net webinar.

Click here for the oneworld.net description of the podcast.

Below is my powerpoint (actually keynote). Does anyone know how to import this more elegantly into blogger?





Here's the oneworld.net description of the event:

Online video is a powerful medium for communicating about your issues. However, organizations need to overcome a few hurdles to get started and continue online video projects on a regular basis. You don't need a large budget to start, but you do need to get the basics right to create effective online videos.

Paulette Moore, Filmmaker, Journalist & NGO Consultant, will talk about how your organization can get started with video. She will talk about the tools you need, training required for staff and different types of video content you can produce.

Imogen Heap - Techno Diva

Take a look at Imogen Heap’s mastery of the digital. Poetic. Fascinating. Beautiful.

Itbeginswithme Blog Stats

Today I learned how to take computer screen shots - so thought I'd post the weekly viewer stats for the Itbeginswithme blog I created, co-author and administer for UNHCR. These are stats from day one - and views have been increasing steadily. Yay! (Bet you can pick out the weekends.. and August.)

This past week - my re-post of friend, colleague and restorative justice pioneer Howard Zehr's reflections on "The Colonizing Discourse of the Other" took the lead in viewer popularity. Click here for that post.

And click here for Howard's blog on restorative justice.

Rapping at Fear - Mixed Media

Like how the young filmmaker in this Media that Matters film from Bogata mixed animation and other methods to keep this short film moving.

Nov. 12 - Webinar for oneworld.net on Video for NGO's

Online video is a powerful medium for communicating about your issues. However, organizations need to overcome a few hurdles to get started and continue online video projects on a regular basis. You don't need a large budget to get started, but you do need to get the basics right to create effective online videos.

Paulette Moore, Filmmaker, Journalist & NGO Consultant, will talk about how your organization can get started with video. She will talk about the tools you need, training required for staff and different types of video content you can produce.

This meeting will take place online and by phone. It costs $15 for staff of OneWorld partner organizations and costs $30 for others. For more information, email roshani.kothari[at]oneworld.net.

Click here for link to oneworld.

Midsemester Feedback from Research as Art and Transformation Class

Howard Zehr and I asked for mid-semester feedback in our Center for Justice and Peacebuilding Research as Art and Transformation class yesterday. Two students Brian Gumm and Ryan Beuthin were extremely creative in their response! Yay!

Scrub - A PauletteVoodle

Oh, Jay Smooth

Would that we could all think... and speak... so clearly.

Jeff Scher - Filmmaker/Animator, NYTimes Opinion Page

Speaking of Animation - this guy is lovely.

Click here for a profile in the Motionographer blog. Love that he talks about the money side of things.

First Stop Animation Ever

Working on stop animation - to teach next semester. Here is a movie the wonderful Patience Kamau and I put together this afternoon to play with the technology and concepts.

The Playful Search for Beauty

The ceramics designer Eva Zeisel looks back on a 75-year career. What keeps her work as fresh today (her latest line debuted in 2008) as in 1926? Her sense of play and beauty, and her drive for adventure.

This Guy Cracks Me Up

I'm new to Craig Ferguson - so we are still in the honeymoon phase. His reaction to the David Letterman scandal...

Elizabeth Gilbert on Creative Process

I'm trying to figure out why I didn't like the book "Eat. Pray. Love." This TED talk by author Elizabeth Gilbert about the creative process is amazing, authentic. I am going to give the book another try!

F.O.P. Series - Annabelle Hester on Interviewing

Director, producer Annabelle Hester talks about responsibility to characters, audience and client.