In addition to shooting a video for them, we also shot a video for Cineclectic, utilising their fluoroscopy machine.  Look out for it in the next few months.  In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these photos from the trip, and check out more at our flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cineclectic

One of the Children to Receive Surgery

A Mother and Child

Children Prepping for Surgery

Dr. Hani Hennein, founder of Pediheart

Heart Surgery

My trip there is primarily designed to document the good work they’re doing, but the surgeons have agreed to help me create a Cineclectic project around ultrasound and fluoroscopy scanning.

The use of medical equipment to create art isn’t new.  As Dr. Alex Golden (who will be participating in the Kenya Mission) pointed out to me, many people have created artwork with X-Rays.  Some of the most stunning X-Ray art comes from artist Nick Veasey.  Check out this video.

Our hope is to take the spirit of this kind of work and apply it to video.  Stay tuned to see what we come up with, and if you have any ideas to contribute, we’d love to hear them!

I found this today, and figuratively jumped for joy that the platform they use to create content is open source:

If you want to create your own interactive programming, all you have to do is download Shapeshifter Media’s free software at: http://www.shapeshift.tv

I can’t wait to give it a crack (although I’m a bit disappointed its not a Mac program, grrr).  If there’s anyone out there who’s creating content with Shapeshifter Media, or if you’re thinking you’d like to, let us know and we’ll see if we can feature it on the site.  Who knows, maybe there’s a commission in it for you.

French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways.

For his installation in The Curve, Boursier-Mougenot creates a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other musical instruments. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape.

27 February 2010 - 23 May 2010
The Curve, Barbican, London

© Extracts from Ariane Michel’s film, Les Oiseaux de Céleste. Copyright Galerie Xippas, Ariane Michel and Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, 2008

Solar rework from flight404 on Vimeo.

Solar, with lyrics. from flight404 on Vimeo.

Audio is by Goldfrapp (”Lovely Head” from her first album).

Advanced Beauty, final piece from flight404 on Vimeo.

Magnetosphere/Nebula from flight404 on Vimeo.

The site is going to be a place where we celebrate innovative video, audio, and web applications that use technology in a new or interesting way. Now I know this sounds very vague, and by its nature, it has to be, because we’re not seeking to create a platform for a bunch of videos that all look, sound, and feel the same.

But if you’re a video or film junkie like me, I bet you can think of at least one technique that someone clever in movie production thought up that changed the way you approach moviemaking. We all know about the bullet time effect from the Matrix…

... and you may know about Radiohead’s use of the lidar scanner in their music video, House of Cards, to create 3D imagery…

... but I bet you didn’t know about Surface, a film showing what life might look like from underneath the ground…

...or how about Scintillation, an innovative use of live projection mapping…

Cineclectic offers a place for you to find the new stuff that people are shooting and editing.

Please, send me content. joseph dot campo at cineclectic dot com

Next meeting was with Michael Hansen - Analyst at Bayberry Capital Group (asset backed lending).  Again, he provided an explanation of an area of the industry that is usually hard to access.  Michael deals in state tax incentives to help film projects finalise their funding and reach production.  He had just come back from Sundance.  Lots of new ideas to explore with both of these guys. 

When I got home I was watching ‘The Colbert Report’ and saw a clip of Eclectic Method.  Two weeks previous, the satirist Stephen Colbert had the lawyer Lawrence Lessig on his show and Colbert turned to the camera and threatened his audience NOT to remix the interview with “some great dance beat.”  Well of course the guys at Eclectic Method did exactly what he asked them not to do.  I updated my Facebook status to mention that Colbert had screened the clip and got an instant response from Jonny Wilson of Eclectic Method who had not yet seen the show and was obviously excited by the news.  A great example of the immediacy of social networking!

Jan 24th - Met with Simon Robinson, an old friend of Cineclectic.  Simon created the exceptional original music scores for my short films since 2000.  He owns and manages the record label Weaponsgrade Recordings which has signed to Universal.  By day he works in a high-profile position with the drinks company Diageo.  Simon released his own music in the UK as ‘The Advocate’ - a name inspired by the fact that he studied as a legal Advocate.  Smart guy, I suppose that goes without saying?  Photographed Simon in various locations in Manhattan.

Jan 27th - Met with French filmmaker / curator Marie Losier and Irish filmmaker Moira Tierney in the projection booth of the French Institute, 55 E59th St & 5th Ave.  What a great venue!  Both of these inspirational women are helping to push the boundaries with experimental film here in New York City.

Jan 29th - Met with Northern Irish photographer Lisa Carville.  Again, an old friend of Cinecletic from back in the day.  Her work speaks for itself.

Went with Lisa to see Eclectic Method at Drom, NYC.  Dance Party WTF was three hours of live video mixing featuring Eclectic Method, interactive performances, burlesque, and dancing.  It was honestly the best live gig I’ve ever seen!  This is not an overstatement.  People in the crowd were shaking their heads in disbelief.  Everyone I was there with agreed that they’d seen nothing like this before.  Even random people would start a conversation about how mesmerising it was.  I can’t recommend these guys highly enough.  Go see them if you get the chance.  You won’t be disappointed.

Armed with only a laptop computer and an HD camcorder, Hugh McGrory uses social networks to bring together creative minds from diverse fields, people that otherwise never would have met. Like a medieval alchemist pouring together base metals in a quest to create gold, this latter-day alchemist seeks nothing less than the creation of new hybrid technologies, even new industries, perhaps even solutions to today’s daunting political and economic challenges.

Could this type of impromptu collaboration be the 21st Century’s answer to the lone genius toiling in his or her garage? Could this form of human alchemy hold the key to solving today’s economic crisis, or even help bring about the elusive goal of peace in the Middle East? These are big questions, but human alchemy has worked wonders before. Greece in 500 BC, Rome at the dawn of the modern era, Rennaisance Europe, America in 1776. The Alchemist brings together the newest form of human communication—the Internet—and the oldest—live conversation—to create opportunities for a new millenium. Who knows what may happen?

This is reality TV for the Age of Obama: opportunity and hope, versus the darwinian struggle and triumphalism of prior shows

Thanks Chris, good to know Hugh is working hard!

Maybe the 21st century has actually started to kick in?