Friday in Harare
The Matrix and More...
This morning, I couldn't get online. It's hard tell
why here. It could be the lines, the membership, or any other sort of issue.
These challenges are to be expected. I had tea at the Cresta Oasis across from
ZIVA. I had not been there for 3 months and everyone remembered me! I'm not sure
what I did but I felt like a real VIP...for no apparently reason.
We spent the morning watching the "Matrix: Reloaded" on DVD...Someone had it here and I had to see a bootleg for myself. The movies don't get to the theaters here for months and sometimes never...but the DVDs arrive almost immediately. The quality was pretty good...but a clear projection booth shot. Anyway, the students loved it. The purpose was to show them how all these pieces come together. Reloaded has clear examples of compositing, photogrammetry and 3D...all things that are less often seen on Zimbabwean TV.
The Class Watching the Matrix...Alex's Titanium Theater!
After the morning class (I only have them for the morning)...Roddy and I ran a few errands...well, Roddy paid for his web service (you do much of this in person) and picked up another $25,000 in cash (something you do in person and nearly daily) at the bank...in 50s. Changing US cash is fairly interesting. There is the "official" rate of cash conversion...800:1 but the street rate is 2000:1. So if you know someone (it's not legal)...you get a rate far better. Everyone seems to have a black market contact and know one will share it...
Cash for the week...
Anyway, we had lunch with John Riber and some of the Crew for "Media For Development (MFD)". They are an NGO that has been fairly successful at creating a wide variety of media from "Jit" and "Yellow Card" to "Shanda", a film about Zimbabwean Music Star Oliver Mtukudzi, and a Radio Show. We are working with them to put together 6 shows with social themes (which usually means AIDS education)...we're not putting much together...just the effects. MFD has the scripts, the music, and locations coming together...our work is just a little icing. This project is part of what we are getting the students ready to work on. MFD is pretty well stocked...new iMacs, G4s, a Final Cut Edit Station and an Avid as well as a full, new sound studio with a ProTools set-up. Of course, none of it was working very well this afternoon...the electrical grid was turned off...no power all afternoon.
Roddy (ZIVA) and Rick, John, and Enock from MFD
After Lunch, we stopped over at the Zimbabwean International Film Festival (ZIFF) headquarters to look at some footage. We're working with the ZIVA students to produce a few small video effects for one of six music Videos ZIFF is working on. Mostly just bolts of lightning from the eyes and such. It all looked pretty straightforward. As with MFD...the territory was familiar...G4 with Final Cut...It really has revolutionized how people create movies...everywhere. ZIFF will be held in August...just in case you are in town. We began discussing finding a way to serve up some of the video promos for ZIFF in the fall.
Roddy, Rumbi, and Nakai from ZIFF
Its amazing to see how much is already going on. Just when you think it's a handful of people in a remote area of the world...you find a thriving community of artists dealing with the adversity and continuing to produce their work in spite of it. It will be very hard to complain when I return...oh...but I will... :))
Anyway, that was it for today. Tomorrow, I plan to celebrate the 4th of July with a bunch of americans and on Sunday trek into the rural areas to shoot some QTVRs.
See you then
We spent the morning watching the "Matrix: Reloaded" on DVD...Someone had it here and I had to see a bootleg for myself. The movies don't get to the theaters here for months and sometimes never...but the DVDs arrive almost immediately. The quality was pretty good...but a clear projection booth shot. Anyway, the students loved it. The purpose was to show them how all these pieces come together. Reloaded has clear examples of compositing, photogrammetry and 3D...all things that are less often seen on Zimbabwean TV.
The Class Watching the Matrix...Alex's Titanium Theater!
After the morning class (I only have them for the morning)...Roddy and I ran a few errands...well, Roddy paid for his web service (you do much of this in person) and picked up another $25,000 in cash (something you do in person and nearly daily) at the bank...in 50s. Changing US cash is fairly interesting. There is the "official" rate of cash conversion...800:1 but the street rate is 2000:1. So if you know someone (it's not legal)...you get a rate far better. Everyone seems to have a black market contact and know one will share it...
Cash for the week...
Anyway, we had lunch with John Riber and some of the Crew for "Media For Development (MFD)". They are an NGO that has been fairly successful at creating a wide variety of media from "Jit" and "Yellow Card" to "Shanda", a film about Zimbabwean Music Star Oliver Mtukudzi, and a Radio Show. We are working with them to put together 6 shows with social themes (which usually means AIDS education)...we're not putting much together...just the effects. MFD has the scripts, the music, and locations coming together...our work is just a little icing. This project is part of what we are getting the students ready to work on. MFD is pretty well stocked...new iMacs, G4s, a Final Cut Edit Station and an Avid as well as a full, new sound studio with a ProTools set-up. Of course, none of it was working very well this afternoon...the electrical grid was turned off...no power all afternoon.
Roddy (ZIVA) and Rick, John, and Enock from MFD
After Lunch, we stopped over at the Zimbabwean International Film Festival (ZIFF) headquarters to look at some footage. We're working with the ZIVA students to produce a few small video effects for one of six music Videos ZIFF is working on. Mostly just bolts of lightning from the eyes and such. It all looked pretty straightforward. As with MFD...the territory was familiar...G4 with Final Cut...It really has revolutionized how people create movies...everywhere. ZIFF will be held in August...just in case you are in town. We began discussing finding a way to serve up some of the video promos for ZIFF in the fall.
Roddy, Rumbi, and Nakai from ZIFF
Its amazing to see how much is already going on. Just when you think it's a handful of people in a remote area of the world...you find a thriving community of artists dealing with the adversity and continuing to produce their work in spite of it. It will be very hard to complain when I return...oh...but I will... :))
Anyway, that was it for today. Tomorrow, I plan to celebrate the 4th of July with a bunch of americans and on Sunday trek into the rural areas to shoot some QTVRs.
See you then
Posted: Fri - July 4, 2003 at 05:44 PM Africa, Summer (Winter) 2003 Email Comments
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Total entries in this blog: 31
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM
Total entries in this category: 31
Published On: Aug 05, 2003 10:45 AM