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I talk with Charlie Breit about his Branded entertainment project “The Lines”. He’s also putting together a meetup on Thursday September 29th to bring together local Chicago filmmakers.

“The Lines” is branded entertainment sort of “The Hills” meets driver education. Allstate Insurance is the brand and safe driving is the message. Charlie cleverly weaves young adult situations with driving mishaps. Each episode ends with nice message about safe driving. The production quality is great and he’s brought together some great local actors. The project is worth watching and a good sign that brands in the Midwest might be looking for opportunities to get their messages out in different ways.

On Thursday September 29th Charlie is hosting a Meetup at Market Bar Chicago in the West Loop at 6pm. Be there or be square. Midwest Media Now always supports these gatherings. It’s a great chance to meet people you might want to work with and find out what’s going on here in Chicago.

Hope to see you there!

Find info:
Charlie Breit email – twitter – website

Watch the show:
“The Lines”

Find out more at EPhotoINC, or go Check out the spec on the CN-160 or get it for about 10 bucks less on Amazon. It’s nice to NOT have to lug around cords and 3 or 4 of these well fit nicely into my camera bag.

Or Subscribe to Midwest Media Now! On iTunes

The Intro
Yes I like cheese especially on pizza, hamburgers, fries, hotdogs and yes some of my content. Check out what one of the co-creators of Space Hospital Rob Poe has to say about making a series on a shoestring and still making sure everyone has fun doing it. Space Hospital has found that balance of cheese, story, camp and fun. It’s a fine line to walk and not many people can do it. You can try to look good and not pull it off or not now how to make it campy and just make it look bad. This kind of work needs the right ideas and the right style and Poe has manages to make it a reality.

Space Hospital is created by Sigurd Ueland and Robert Poe, is produced by Susan Stoebner.

This isn’t for everyone but if you like “Saul of the Molemen” and “Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show” then this might be for you.

On the Show – FRIEND FOLLOW FIND
Robert Poe web – Twitter – contact – blog
Sean McMenemy web – twitter

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SHOW
Space Hospital Website
Space Hospital on Facebook
Space Hospital on Twitter
Space Hospital on YouTube

Check out their Space Hospital’s Blog for Behind the Scenes details.

Shout out to Rob Gokee for for doing some cool music for Space Hospital. Follow Him on Twitter

Check out an episode right now!

Things That Came UP
Second City Chicago The Conservatory
Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog
The Victory Theater Center

Some Tools They Use
iMoive6
Garage Band
Audacity

The Intro
I’ve been lucky doing this show. I keep meeting a lot of funny people here in Chicago that are making great comedy. Maybe this dates me I’m not sure but when you listen to the Wood Sugars podcasts you really get a sense of old school comedy. When they say variety show they mean it they are all over the place. Short skits, interviews, music you name it they are doing it. They are also quick to mention their producer Jeremiah Watkins which his expertise adds to the great radio show quality.

These guys aren’t stopping there they are filmmakers, writers and musicians, I guess that’s where the variety comes from. Check out Wood Sugars and see for yourself they different projects they have going.

Like a lot of content creators here in Chicago they are looking for partners WoodSugars is one of them. They want to work with others in the budding new media community here in Chicago so if you’re looking to try something new, get hooked up these guys they want to work with you.

WARNING: These guys are one of my favorite groups. You might hear a little fanboy talk on this show from me and them. For some reason they are fans of Midwest Media Now.

On the Show
Donny Rodriguez
Eliaz Rodriguez
Jeff Phillips
Talked about a lot but couldn’t make it to the recording.
Jeremiah Watkins web – facebook
You can get all of them here they are like one mind…web – twitter

Sean McMenemy web – twitter

Things that came up!
Jeremiah Watkins web – facebook
Idiocracy Mike Judge
Lenny Bruce
SmodCAST
Indie Movie Cast
Mark Ramsey
Maybe HIP
Joe Avela
Fans of Film
Making OF founded by Natalie Portman and Christine Aylward

The Intro
That’s right we’re back! To kick off the new season of Midwest Media Now I’m starting off with some shows I recorded last year. Even though some time as past since producing some of these episodes the conversations are relevant to what’s going on in new media.

In this episode I talk with Karen and Frances. They are working to bring a community together with photography and social media to help build out it’s historical archive and start conversations and share stories about what life is like in Skokie, IL. What’s great about what they are doing is this can be done anywhere by anyone. Frances and Karen are passionate about their community and wanted to put the tools together to make it easy for the rest of their city to share it’s history and open it up to everyone.

This is perfect example of social and new media working together to build something great for future generations. We talk about the tools they use, and the hoops they are still jumping through to get the word out and get people talking about Skokie.

Tell us what you are doing for your town.

On the Show, Friend, Follow, Find
Karen Kring – Kring Lerner Group  web – twitter
Frances E Roehm – SkokieNet Librarian/Community Liaison  email – web – twitter
Sean McMenemy –  web – twitter

Things that came up
Skoke Net
Live From Skokie
All Skokie Photo Contest
All Skokie Photo Contest Blog
We Are Skokie on Facebook.
Skokie Library
Skokie Library on Twitter

Some tools you might be able to use to build you’re community and tell stories.
TribLocal
Patch
Maybe there’s something in your town or you can use Patch to start you’re one local newspaper.

Want to be a contributor to Midwest Media Now?

We want to partner with you the help bring this site and the stories, podcasts, tips and tricks and whatever else we can come up with a voice in the Midwest to help other content creators old and new find a new way to establish a creative foot hold in middle America and salute the ones already there. We want to help create the opportunity to not only get you’re content out there but to get your voice and your story out there as the experts you are or working towards.

What we are looking for?

Writers/bloggers

We need media bloggers. Even if you already have a blog and you want to expand your content to another channel. Let Midwest Media Now be that channel. It will be a great way to get more visibility for your story.

Photographers

Photographers, what kind of events do you go to? Share your photos of the event you think people should know about. So more will know what’s happening with content creation here in the Midwest. Maybe it’s just a Flickr slide show, or a Youtube montage.

Podcasters

Podcasters, we want you’re voice. Tell us what you’re working on, talk about your show, tell us what kind of shows you’d like to hear.

Student content creators.

Are you a high school student that’s really into new media and making you’re own voice? We are interested in your point of view and we want to share that with others.  Midwest Media Now want’s to get your perspective. The way you use tools and software is very different then other generations. Sharing you’re knowledge and seeing you’re point of view will be educational.

We want to help tell your story.

Midwest Media Now wants to help encourage new media production and promoting the skills it takes to get the job done. Have an idea for a podcast or web-show pitch it maybe we can help get the ball rolling. If you live in the Western suburbs of Chicago we want to help get you started with an audio podcast or webshow. If you have something to say about media in the Midwest then drop us a line.

1. You can be on the Midwest Media Now Podcast.
2. Write a guest blog post or if you want to be a regular contributor let us know what you want to to write about.
3. Want to talk about gear? Send us your Review
4. Send us your Press Release we want to hear about your new product or production.

Whatever it is we want to help get your story out about your latest project it will be a great way to get more people looking at what you’re doing plus help others in the Midwest figure out how to get started. Let’s encourage creativity here.

If you have a great ideas for a story drop us a line or sign up and send us your pitch!

I could have had our talent use a regular camera but I knew the small camera taped to a Netbook would work better. Why? You would carry a Netbook one way and a camera another. Plus as a prop it helps the talent visualize the webcam and use the prop more like a computer. Also the Zi8 video file format made it easy to bring into our video editor.

I only had electrical tape in my camera bag. But it’s a good idea to get some real Gaffers tape which you can get at these fine places. FilmTools narrow and wide, B&HPhoto and my local place Calumet Photo

Electrical tape got me through this shoot but try to have a roll of gaffer tape, NOT Duct Tape, while it might be fine for home repairs and mending your favorite shoe it’s not great for cables or gear. Because it leaves such a sticky mess behind. Duct tape is made to stay put and last till the end of time. Electrical tape is good to have too for that occasional wire fray.

Here’s the final result of the video. I think you’ll agree it has more of a webcam feel than it would if it was shot with a regular video camera.

The Kodak Zi8 is a great camera that should be in every video-makers back pocket. Because of it’s features which you can read about in this story you’ll see why that’s camera is a videomakers buddy.

Watching “CBS Sunday Morning” as I often do.  It reminded me of some discussions I’ve been having lately.

What got my attention about this story is the idea that a location becomes famous because it’s in a movie, music video or book. Which causes people to flock to that location because they want to experienced the same place the actor, writer or artist did when they were being creative there, or they want to hold on to that pretend moment.  Whatever the reason the content creates a special place in our hearts and sometimes we take opportunities to relive or experience the moments again.

Put it on the map, your map

What I’m proposing here is not only making great characters in your web-series but do so in a place where your location can become an integrated part of your storyline as well.  In your neighborhood, town or suburb.  Maybe in our scripts we shouldn’t make just any place that could be anywhere and be nondescript about it. Be bold and say it’s this “insert the name of your town or favorite bar” right here. Put it on the map, your map.  Your characters are part of the town and the business there.  The people in the businesses might even be characters in the background.

Doing this could have an unexpected side effect of creating  fans willing to visit the location that your project was created in.  This could be mutually beneficial for the content creator and the location.  If you can create an experience that people want to be a part of you might be able to bring foot traffic into the town bringing in new customers and opportunities.  If everyones’ experiences is good it might even encourage your location to find ways to support your next project or at least get out of your way when you have your next crazy idea.  If the fans come by, shop at stores and use their services you might have found a new way to get locations and have them wanting to more.

Keep these things in mind when writing you next project.

1. Promoting the location and it’s local business
2. Give locals a chance to play a role
3. Talk to your local government see if they can offer support.  Even if it’s an endorsement it can go a long way to getting others to back you.
4. On your website where your audience watches your content post the locations of where you are shooting.
5. When in production tweet you locations, you might just get that crowd scene you need

Can you create a story that will make people want to seek out the location you’ve been shooting and creating at? Do they want to catch a glimpse of some sort of cool action going down. Lastly, get the fans involved too.

Advice to Brands, stores, local governments

Here’s some advice to Brands, stores, local governments. Check out what’s going on the internet in your local communities. At the very least talk to some of your friends that are in the know or just ask some kid that’s fiddling around on his phone. You might be missing out on some opportunities and local voices that could help drive interest to your town or location. It might not take much effort or money, in this day of ever shrinking budgets what do you have to lose?  You don’t just have to look for web series.  Is someone local doing podcast about their favorite restaurants or is there a camera club running around town taking great photos of your town.  These are opportunities to help the groups organize an event round their efforts that can boost their efforts while creating buzz for your brand.

Want to connect with local content creators?  Keep these things in mind.

1. Look at Twitter and look what’s going on around you.
2. Check out local Podcasts, bloggers and artists.
3. Do a quick search on Flickr.com and find your local photographers that love their town.
4. Think of ways you can help bring these voices to town.
5. Don’t feel like you have to control the message local content creators were doing fine before you came along they’ll keep doing what they do if you leave.
6. Sometimes just giving permission is more valuable and encouraging .
7. Look for content creation in all its forms.

Watch the story here, and check out some of the other stories on CBS Sunday Morning.

What kind of ideas do you have that might encourage locations in your area to participate in your next web series or new media project?

One of our regular members is building a setup that will fit in to 2 small cases and have 3 cameras, a switcher, color corrector, titles and sound mixer. That’s all that other gear you see on the table. The other systems you can see used on our uStream Channel as well. It has the feel of early radio I know but it’s funny when you can bring all that stuff together and go live right from Starbucks!

Okay so that’s not what we did with this video. This was more of a test so Midwest Media Now could start integrating video into our podcasts and articles. We had recorded nearly 45 minutes worth of video on the Kodak Zi8. There was about a 2 minute clip in there where we turned our attention to the Kodak Zi8’s and pointed out what we were doing there.

We still have a few kinks to work out but you can watch the video below to get an idea of how it turned out. This was shot with 3 Kodak Zi8’s, edited with Adobe Premiere Multicam Edit Mode. We are still working out some audio details but just wanted to see how this would work. All cameras were switched to 720p. For what we were shooting I figured we didn’t need 720p 60. Also no need to use full 1080p.

WHAT WE USED:
3 Kodak Zi8
Azden 3 channel mic mixer
Samson hand held mics.
and various cables to hook all this stuff up.

Nothing too fancy, audio is okay but not great this is because we didn’t speak directly into the mics. Leave it to nerds to play with two things at once. We were in the middle of trying out other things so we didn’t even pick up the mics or put them on the stands to use them had we done that the audio would have been even better.

There are 2 other ways you could go with the sound.

1. Use an H2 external recorder or digital recorder of your choice and sound mixer and use that to be a separate audio channel later you would bring into post.

2. Use tie clip mics directly into each camera to act like a three channel mixer.

In this video you can see the difference a mic makes. In an earlier test I used a $27 tie clip microphone from Radio Shack it really worked great but guess what you won’t see that in this example. Use it with an extension cord and you can get your subject a little farther away from the camera.

We’ll have a better example later and we’ll do a break down of all the parts involved.

Where you see a need, fill it. That’s just what he’s doing by starting an after school program supporting art programs. Now he has the attention of the City of Chicago. It all starts with an idea. Midwest Media Now says great job Jeremy Winters!