Politics and Definitions
Produced by JD Beltran
A short film about politics and the future which was created as a contribution to the Unconvention 2008. The film reflect sentiments of the democratic and independent American left in the summer of 2008. Mainly it is an anti-Bush statement.
The UnConvention is a non-partisan collective of citizens and cultural institutions who have come together to create a forum in which to promote the democratic and free exchange of ideas during and after the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota from September 1-4. For more information, visit http://www.TheUnConvention.com.
Following is a preview of the film.
Politics & Definitions (4 minutes)
Following is an interview with the film's producer JD Beltran.
Q: Was the original idea to produce the film for Internet as the main medium of distribution? Why did you choose Internet distribution?
JD: The film was originally shot in HD so that I would have the most flexibility in showing it at different venues. The original concept for “Politics and Definitions” was to distribute it via Youtube. I chose this because it was a film intended for as large an audience as possible, and wanted to make it accessible in this way. In addition to being distributed via Youtube, the film project was also destined to be shown as part of a project, The Unconvention 2008, which was trying to reach a politically-interested audience during the Republican National Convention. As there is a huge audience that keeps up with the news and broadcast coverage via Youtube, distributing it through this project also held the promise of greater exposure.
Q: Did a decision to distribute via Internet change the way you produced the film, for example did it influence length of the film or storytelling style?
JD: Distributing the film via the internet as an ultimate goal most definitely influenced the concept and execution of the film. The images had to be compelling and catchy, and the visuals had to be viewable on a small screen — for example, I had to test the font size of the titles to be sure they were readable at that scale. Knowing the tendency towards shorter attention spans for film pieces, I also made sure the film and text was kept short and to the point.
Q: What was your experience in using Internet for distribution? Are you pleased with the results, hopeful for the future?
JD: The experience in using the Internet for this film, and specifically Youtube, was unexpectedly challenging. I had shot and edited the film in HD, and determining the correct compression and aspect conversion to show the film at best advantage [and more importantly, work with Youtube’s compression process] took almost as long as shooting the film itself. I researched other Youtuber’s suggestions and encoded over 30 versions in different formats and compression codecs! I then uploaded it to Youtube four different times to see what their compression did to it, before getting a version I was happy with.
I am pleased with the results, but realise that uploading it to Youtube is only the first step to actually getting it seen. There are post-uploading strategies that increase your chances of viewers coming to and actually viewing your film, but that "marketing" is another process in and of itself that I’m still learning.
