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Me and Christopher Coppola, sitting on a panel, M-O-N-D-A-Y

I was invited by the fine folks over at Social Media Club to participate on a panel about mobile video creation this Monday night in San Francisco. I guess my experience as an “assistant director” on the collaborative Spike Lee movie that Nokia Productions organized is what peeps want to hear about. Also on that panel will be Christopher Coppola, nephew to Francis, brother to Nicolas Cage, and also a director in his own right. He’s got a pretty cool thing called Project Accessible Hollywood that he’ll be talking about. Should be a fun night. If you’re in SF, stop by. Tickets are still available.

Here’s the official blurbage:

This month Social Media Club San Francisco / Silicon Valley chapter digs deep on the subject of mobile video. How it’s created, strategically deployed and consumed. The program will be divided into two separate, but related discussions:

Part one, moderated by Chris Heuer, will feature representatives from Qik, Justin.tv and our sponsor Real Player SP leading a discussion on how mobile video is really being used. Working to go beyond the hype, the panel will be turned, with the panelists asking questions of the audience and of each other. Getting beyond the hype to what’s really happening and what we really wish was happening. Together we could help shape our own future, collectively discovering new possibilities and exchanging stories of how people are really using mobile video.

After a 15 minute break, Jennifer Lindsay will facilitate a panel of creative video all-stars discussing how they are approaching the changing digital video landscape in an always on, always connected world.

During the second half, our discussion will focus on hearing some stories from the front lines of digital video. Eddie Codel is a pioneering vlogger and producer for Geek Entertainment TV. Eddie was one of five (5) people chosen from around the world to work on an innovative film project with Spike Lee entirely shot on mobile phone video cameras. We will hear what it was like to be a part of such a ground breaking project and what lessons he learned that we can all apply when thinking about our next mobile video shoot. We will also be joined by Christopher Coppola, a seasoned film and television director who is also founder and chairman of Project Accessible Hollywood (PAH), a non-profit organization that brings digital empowerment to underserved communities and individuals worldwide. Christopher will discuss PAH Fest, mobile phone films and Cellunovellas and the Latin American market.

Audience members will also be encouraged to share experiences and use cases.

Please note tickets are $10 in advance, or $20 at the door. Tickets are non-refundable, but may be transferred to another guest to attend this event.

What would you ask Spike Lee?

Spike Lee Nokia film screengrab

This user submitted cell phone film project that I’ve been helping out with for Nokia and that Spike Lee is directing is set to premiere in LA next week. I’ve haven’t seen the finished piece or have any idea how long the thing is, but I’m sure with Spike’s hand, it’ll be interesting to say the least. Nokia is doing it up big time and giving myself and the four other assistant directors 30 minutes sit down time with Spike. That’s pretty damn dope and I do have some of my own questions for ol’ Spike. What I think would be more interesting though is if you give me some questions to ask. Yes YOU, unwashed Internet masses. Now’s your chance. Anything at all. Ask him about his email habits. What are the challenges working with a million random people with cell phones? Does he like pumpkin pie? Would he ever collaborate with Clint Eastwood on a movie? Is he planning on doing an epic film on Obama? Coffee or tea? Leave your question in the comments. The whole Q&A will be live streamed and archived I’m told. Will post those deets when I know ’em.

Also, congrats to five lucky people who contributed death scenes for the film. Miss Bekah Havens for her Spaghetti Western piece, Heather Schlegel for her takes Of Mice and Men and Rebel Without a Cause, Eric Liu for his stop motion Lego version of Jurassic Park, Andrew Bennett for his Quick and the Dead inspired submission and Carlton Brightly for his interpretation of the Blair Witch Project. You’ll be going to LA and chillaxing with us and Spike.

Remake a death scene with your cell phone

Make a death scene

We are now in the final act, Act III: Death, of the Spike Lee Nokia video project I am helping out with. I posted previously about it here. To encourage greater participation we are challenging people to remake or swede (as in Be Kind, Rewind) death scenes from their favorite movies using their cell phones.

I am one of five “assistant directors” who are working to cull through the bullshit and try to highlight some of the good stuff as well as guide people through the submission process. The stuff submitted so far has been mixed, so this is where you come in. The five ADs each get to pick someone from the pool of submissions to fly out to the movie’s premiere in LA in October. Hotels and flights all covered by Nokia, anywhere within the continental US that is. You’ll get the satisfaction of seeing your remake possibly making it into the final cut, hang out in LA and shmooze it up with Spike Lee. The catch is you need to have your sweded scene done and uploaded to the Nokia Productions site by August 20th, which is in like 10 days. Any cell phone is fair game, doesn’t have to be Nokia.

I encourage anyone to give it a shot and shoot me an email or leave a comment if you need help getting going. Also point me to your stuff when it’s up so I can take a look. I’d love to be able to give away the LA trip to a reader of this blog. More details and how to upload your content is on the Nokia Productions site, which uses Jumpcut for video hosting/remixing. Make sure to tag your submission ‘famousdeathscenes’ so it’ll be considered for the free trip.

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Help me make a film with Spike Lee and Nokia

Nokia Productions film project with Spike Lee

I’ve been asked by Nokia to help with a pretty cool collaborative promotional project they’re doing with filmmaker Spike Lee. They’re encouraging people like you to use your cell phones and send in snapshots of moments from your life that fits the overall theme of HUMANITY. Spike also wants you to think of how music helps to tell the story of HUMANITY. These snapshots will be edited together into a coherent film, directed by Spike Lee himself. Well, not just himself. I’m one of five “assistant directors” who are here to help guide people in sending stuff in. As part of that, Nokia has setup a group blog for us assistants where we’ll post examples of what to submit, answer questions and help identify the pearls in the sea of submissions that are sure to flood in.

The project is broken into three Acts. The first Act BIRTH, has already come and gone. Act II is LIFE and it just opened today for submissions. Act III has yet to be announced, though it may not be too hard guess what it is. Now through July 2nd, you can submit text, pictures, music or video via the Jumpcut platform that Nokia Productions is using to build this thing. It has its limitations and the main Nokia Productions site isn’t very well integrated into the Jumpcut platform but don’t let that discourage you. As the kids say, there’s plenty of win here!

What’s really encouraged is using your crappy old cell phone to send stuff in. Take a photo or a low-res pixelated video. Do a lot with a little. This won’t be Cloverfield, but if you were being attacked by a big space monster, how would you capture it? This doesn’t mean you can’t use more pro gear. Content from any device is totally acceptable, it just needs to fit the theme of humanity in the context of music telling a story. They’ve even sent us assistants older Nokia 3555 phones to challenge us to submit stuff with low end cheap technology. No streaming N95s here! Once I figure out how to get stuff off the 3555 on to Jumpcut, I’ll post some examples to the group blog.

This NY Times article from April digs into the project a bit deeper, addressing how it fits into the greater world of social networking and “user generated content” (I really hate that term). Check the Nokia Productions site for more details and point me to anything you’ve submitted. I’d love to check out your stuff. Oh yeah, you can also win stuff.