Inside Thirteen blogger: Daniel Ross, web producer, Reel 13

If you’ve visited Reel 13’s site before, you’ll probably notice we’ve undergone some pretty big changes. The old site didn’t provide much opportunity for feedback or interaction with you, the audience. But that’s all changed.

We’ve updated Reel 13 so you can discuss the films you watch with other users, share your thoughts on Reel 13 Classic and Indie films, and keep up with what’s going on in the NYC film community.

Our new blog will offer interviews with filmmakers ­both known and obscure ­ long with dispatches written by filmmakers, critics, journalists, curators, and others deeply involved in New York City’s filmmaking community. The curator of Reel 13 shorts will post weekly introductions to the films she chooses for the competition, including insights about why she chose them, what she looks for
in potential competitors, and thoughts about the winners and losers from the previous week’s competition.

Our voting on short films is a lot easier, and we’ve added some new features, like film quizzes and a place to tell us what classic and indie films you’d like to see.

Perhaps the biggest change you’ll notice on Reel 13 is our partnership with Vimeo, a fantastic community of people who make and share video. Going forward, filmmakers will submit their work to us by uploading their films via a Vimeo account. Short films selected for competition will play in Vimeo’s high quality, embeddable, linkable player. For you filmmakers, that means more eyeballs across the Internet will see your work.

In the past, once Reel 13 short films aired on television, you couldn’t view them on our site. Now we’ve added a short film library so you can watch the shorts you missed. We’re launching with 23 shorts, but we’re currently uploading our entire back catalog of­ nearly 150 films.

The idea here is to create an online community of independent filmmakers,­ a place to share your films and discover the films made by your peers. We hope you’ll stick around and watch a few films, vote on this week’s shorts, and while you’re at it, submit a film!

Inside Thirteen Blogger: Sarah Wilson, Animal Behaviorist on Nature

In this season of valentines, THIRTEEN’s Nature series explores our infatuation with our four-legged friends in Why We Love Cats and Dogs.

Americans own 73 million dogs and 90 million cats, and we each have a million and one reasons why we love our pets. Here are just a few reasons why I think people are drawn to their cats or dogs:

Sarah’s top five reasons:

We Love Cats Because They….

• Purr, giving voice to a perfect sense of peace and companionship.
• Land on their feet; an admirable trait in troubled times.
• Nap in the sun, reminding us to enjoy the simple things.
• Grace us – and only us - with their acceptance.
• Never fake it. When they are happy, they are happy and when they are not - you never have to guess.

We Love Dogs Because They….

• Wake us with a cold nose and a happily thumping tail.
• Think we are perfection…even when work’s been lousy, our loved ones are upset, a check bounced, our favorite jeans don’t fit or we’ve just done something we are glad wasn’t caught on video.
• Play with us with complete abandon and no-holds-barred joy.
• Lick away our tears.
• Show us that we don’t have to spend money to have a great time!

Tell us why you love your cat or dog. And if you think you have the cutest pet send in a photo of your cat or dog to Nature’s Why I Love Cats and Dogs photo contest.

Nature: Why We Love Cats and Dogs premieres nationally Sunday, February 15, 2009 at 8:00 pm (ET) on PBS.

Inside Thirteen Blogger: Martin Savidge, Worldfocus Anchor

We asked Dan Rather to come by Worldfocus on Monday. For me it was a personal thrill… as well as a professional opportunity to better inform our audience on Afghanistan.

I first met Dan as a young journalist on my second job in TV news, working for a local CBS affiliate in Peoria, Illinois. Yup, I played in Peoria! I was sent to New York and CBS to shoot the much-coveted promotional spot of local guy-with-Dan Rather. You can imagine for a young journalist how intimidating it might be meeting one of America’s most trusted. Before the promo shoot, he invited me into his office just to chat. He knew plenty about Peoria and central Illinois’ place in present and past political history. He made me feel at ease. Later I took a photo of he and I together on the set of CBS Evening News. I have kept it proudly on display in my home ever since.

Rather and Savidge in 1983

For me Rather is also synonymous to a deep commitment of international coverage, he understands that it is essential for American viewers. Americans came to know of many distant lands because Dan went there. His embeds with the Mujahideen in Afghanistan have become iconic, even the stuff of movies. Rather has continued to watch Afghanistan and the rest of the world through his weekly program Dan Rather Reports on HDNet. It’s the kind of reporting we strive for on Worldfocus, with depth and understanding. The world matters. So his insight and experience was perfect for our discussion of America’s new focus on an ancient land.

Before he left on Monday, I asked Dan for a favor which he graciously granted. We posed for a photo on the set of Worldfocus, side by side. For me, history had come full circle.

Rather and Savidge on the Worldfocus set

Guest Blogger: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Writer, Host, & Executive Producer of Looking for Lincoln

The following is an excerpt from a New York Times Op-Ed piece by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and John Stauffer (published January 18, 2009):

A PRAGMATIC PRECEDENT

UNTIL a martyred John F. Kennedy replaced him, Abraham Lincoln was one of the two white men whose image most frequently graced even the most modest black home, second in popularity only to Jesus. Perhaps none of his heirs in the Oval Office has been as directly compared to Lincoln as will Barack Obama, in part because Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation began freeing the slaves descended from the continent on which Mr. Obama’s father was born, and in part because of Mr. Obama’s own fascination with Lincoln himself.

Much has been written about what Mr. Obama thinks about Lincoln; but not much has been said about what Lincoln would think of Barack Hussein Obama. If his marble statue at the Lincoln Memorial could become flesh and speak, like Galatea, what would the man who is remembered for freeing the slaves say about his first black successor?

Read rest of article.

Looking for Lincoln premieres Wednesday, February 11 at 9:00 pm.

Inside Thirteen blogger: Robin Edgerton, editor, thirteen.org

African singer/activist Miriam Makeba performs,
while dancer/costume designer Judy Dearing
interprets, on an episode of Soul! from 1972

‘Broadcasting While Black’ is thirteen.org’s approach to Black History Month programming. We’ll be presenting articles and videos on thirteen.org throughout February 2009, focusing on early years of black-produced television. We’re putting up full episodes of Soul! (1968-1973) and early episodes of Black Journal, both early WNET productions we are proud of, as well as interviews and articles.

Why this topic in particular? For starters, the history of black-produced TV is neglected on the Web. We found that the source information on this theme is scant: An occasional episode list, a description of a show isolated in a producer’s bio, a clip or two on YouTube, not much else. We’d like to provide more information and hopefully a location for further discussion of these programs.

Traditionally, during Black History Month most media organizations offer content on the civil rights movement, emancipation, Jim Crow laws, and so forth—while this is absolutely valuable (and Thirteen’s BHM on-air program, Looking for Lincoln, is great), this approach skews the discussion to be about racial conflict and oppression. For instance, you can’t address Jim Crow laws without involving the lawmakers or oppressors—Black History Month then becomes, in part, White History Month.

Instead, this online project emphasizes identity—African-Americans who took control of media moving their debates and art forward—and at the same time developing a broader place and stronger voice.

Here’s what we’ll be posting during the month:

Broadcasting While Black: An Overview
Wayne Taylor looks at how these programs started, focusing on 5 of the earliest from around the country:

Say Brother at WGBH Boston
Black Journal at WNET New York
Colored People’s Time/CPT at Detroit Public Television
Soul! at WNET New York
Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant at WNEW New York

Image from an early Black Journal skit

Soul!
Many full-length, online streaming episodes (6 to start) of this groundbreaking art and politics variety show, which ran from 1968-1973 on NET and WNET.

Black Journal
Two early episodes of this flagship NET program, full-length, streaming online.

Interviews and articles:
* Director Stan Lathan about his work on Soul!, Say Brother, Black Journal (and Sesame Street)
* Producer Charles Hobson about his work on Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Black Journal
* Gayle Wald’s examination of iconoclastic Soul! producer Ellis Haizlip, whose freeform vision shaped the series.
* Devorah Heitner’s list of all(?) black-produced programs produced in the U.S. between the 1960s and the 1980s, adapted for the web with links and clips.