Pennington Writing

My buddy Solar caught a big mama jamma fishing out on Beaver Pond in Lincoln, a sight were we have seen many moons, drank a lot of beers, almost tipped a lot of canoes, filmed a movie, miss a friend, and catch a lot of fish.  Check out Josh and our film circa 2006.

I love this video because it goes to show how something so simple can be so goddamn funny.  I think this should be a game everyone plays….I wanna start playing, create some weird ass book that people need to say what is going on…my only fear is that most people are not as creative as girl under ten.

Pennington Education will begin hosting its Film and Video workshops this fall in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Boston.  Looking for support from just about anywhere, the workshop promotes media literacy through minimal resource filmmaking.  Our main targets are disenfranchised areas where resources are slim, and as a result we are looking for donated equipment to help the student begin their media education.

This spring, we were able to pilot the workshop in Hingham, MA, as well as Oakland, CA.  The class in Oakland went so well that we have been asked back for the fall 2010.  Below are two promo videos exemplifying the type of work that happens in the classroom.

FALL 2010- Pennington Education begins its mission to promote media literacy in disenfranchised areas to empower young voices.  Recruiting cameras for students in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Boston, PE focuses on self-expression through minimal resource video production.  During the workshop, the students learn how to be self-reliant producers of their own videos, creating a viable career.  Please donate any old digital cameras or Mac laptops for the students use.

To learn more visit, www.penningtonproductions.com/education

What does it mean to be a filmmaker anymore, when most who identify themselves as such don’t even shoot film?

Once an elitist profession, and an even more elitist hobby, the air of pretension that exists around the word “filmmaker,” has always bothered me.  It really means you don’t do much, but you have a name for being privileged enough not to hold down what can be thought of as a real job.  At least this is what it has meant for me.

Filmmaking once existed outside the realm of reality for most people because actually working with film meant a few degrees of technical skill and learnedness.  But these days, being a filmmaker exists outside of class, race, religion, and even demographics.  With the digital revolution still taking hold of how we perceive media, as well as who is producing, the game is being democratized so-to-speak.  And the result of which is that the term filmmaking is now a misnomer, and the people who once felt special to be a filmmaker, are now just like everyone else.

What I find the most interesting is how upset the original community (a generalization, I know) is getting over this democratization.  Get the fuck over yourself.  The idea of filmmaking should have never been a bourgeois hobby, but instead should have instantly been handed over to the masses to allow stories and perspectives from all walks of life inform public discourse.  However, this was not the way shit went down, and this was partly due to the technical aspect of filmmaking, but also the commodification of art.

The history of filmmaking lends itself to the fact that only people with money could fuck with it, meaning, film— actual film— cost money.  Not only did film cost a lot of money, but also there was a developing fee, and then you had to project it, and this is all without the cost of a camera.  So not only did one need money to throw away, but there was no real place outside of a theater to show anything to anyone.  Thus, the studios ruled filmmaking because they put the money down to back a picture.

But then there was a change when underground film movements in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s started to create alternative viewing spaces; rooftops, basements, outdoor venues, clubs, film houses, etc.  Then, the advent of home movies was marketed to the conspicuous consumption post-war generation.  8mm cartridges and home movie projectors became more common, and small gauge film became a part of American culture and status.  This was then superseded by Super 8mm, which was marketed as a point and shoot, automatic camera.  However, the technical process of was still a stigma.

But as we all know, the turn to digital, as well as the increasing standardization of digital pictures and videos, has really allowed a shift in the media landscape.  To be able to support and choose to practice something that can be referred to as minimal resource filmmaking, is impressive and improves upon our ability for a more genuine form of self-reliance.  My point here is to say that with the process of self-expression there is also a process of self-examination, and this in turn pushes people to understand themselves in a whole new way.

In this sense, we are a generation that has been documented like never before, and each generation after us is going to be more and more documented.  The result of which I think will be the cold fact that everyone will have experienced himself or herself in a mediated way.  Thus, it is important to push media literacy as something just as important as literacy, and to understands the way in which we, as documented subjects, we understand ourselves and the media around us, whereas for a long time, it was only filmmakers who were challenged with this dilemma.

The widespread use of media technologies and image capture devices, removes the term film in the literal sense, and instead implies a whole slew of media practices.  This is the filmmakers’ dilemma, because what is a filmmaker now?  Is it a person who makes movies for theaters in a studio?  Is it someone who makes documentaries?  Is it a wedding videographer?  Are YouTubers filmmakers?  Are directors filmmakers?  Or are producers?

This is the filmmakers dilemma, and although I have not posed an answer to the problem, the issue I want to draw attention too is that those who once thought they were filmmakers, and wanted less filmmakers around, need to know that now they should be encouraging the democratization of something they once felt sacred.  To my mind, it is very annoying to think that filmmaking was only something a select few could be functional with, however, the true innovation of media and image production is going to come out of some unseen place, where resources are slim and a great need for expression is ever-present.

In June, I got a gig shooting and producing a film about the older generation of a family during a reunion.  What could of been a disaster turned out to be a week of friendship and respect for people I did not know.  As a favor to the wonderful people who work and run the Home Ranch in Clark Colorado (www.homeranch.com) I produced these two short promos for their own promotional purposes.  And I got to ride a horse for the first time….

Here is some footage of the Barn Dance they have there every week…it was my first Virginia Reel and as it turns out, was actually done again at my friend Q’s wedding and I could throw down with it…

A consistent and great client, just wanted to give a shout out to Tyrone for helping me work, and the time he puts into establishing good lacrosse in the Boston area and beyond….

While in LA, I visited my cousin Elvis Jewell Cohen, and my Aunt Brenda.  EJC has been making beats and staying up on the scene introducing me to a list of producers that are all not only putting out avant garde music, but are breaking trends and reinforcing the inevitability that we are headed to purely digital world.  These guys and gals are mad genuises who are conductors of modern orchestras, dominators of technological sincerity, and truly want to establish this infinite medium as a realistic, and talented way to produce music.

This label here,

http://www.brainfeedersite.com/

is one of the leading examples of music that is headed in this direction.  The other influential thing about them is the visual content that is being created alongside it, specifically of one young scientist, Dr. Strangeloop

http://drstrangeloop.wordpress.com/

While hanging out with Elvis and listening to some of his music, he eventually put in Dr. Strangeloop’s 2010: [or} How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Technological Singularity. Expecting it to just be a PlayStation visual loop, the 15 minute experience was theoretically driven and prophetic.  Dr. Strangeloop does not avoid being aesthetic beautiful and aggressive to make sure his ideas on culture, media, and technology, but rather encourages the two to speak volumes to the human predicament we face today; the increasing digitalization of everything.  Working within the medium, the music only under-scores what the visual material has to offer.  Referencing the great Stanley Kubrick both in his name and the title of his work, Dr. Strangeloop’s homeage to one of the greatest film directors signals his own interest in what can be though of as the cinematic.  In this sense, his work cannot be thought of as simply effects, this DVD is more of a cinematic experience.

But the mayhem does not end here, you have to check out Flying Lotus (son of Alice Coltrane).

This video was on his website:  http://www.flying-lotus.com/