NFB playlists

I recently spent a morning browsing the NFB’s excellent resource of film playlists. The playlists have been a feature of the new www.nfb.ca website since it launched in January 2009. Invited guests and their own staff have grouped together films around themes ranging from the powerful to the whimsical, the obvious to the obscure.

I have one conclusion…. You can get lost in there! The only way I can justify spending hours watching ten of these films at a time, is by rationalizing that it’s the duty of every young filmmaker to see the work of filmmakers that have gone before them.

Thanks to the playlists, it becomes a delightful chore. They are a useful tool for whittling down the wonderful selection of films available on the website. They also provide insight into the making-of certain films and in some cases, the historical context that otherwise would be lost to someone of my generation.

The NFB’s Guest Playlists include film groupings by the following people, some of whom are in-house producers and filmmakers:

* Douglas Roche: The Strength of Peace (Magnus’ film Uranium, Terry Nash’s If You Love This Planet, and Martin Duckworth’s Return to Dresden are included in this list)

* Tre Armstrong: Dance, Music and Passion

* Donald McWilliams: Norman McLaren: Hands-on Animation

* Colin Low: Recollections from a Distinguished Career

* Alanis Obomsawin: a Retrospective

* Gil Cardinal: The Aboriginal Voice

* Katerina Cizek: Manifesto for interventionist Media

* Thomas Waugh, Ezra Winton and Michael Baker: Challenge for Change

* Adam Symansky: Donald Brittain

The guest authors of their collections take one of two approaches in their selections: either they focus on a theme or a particular filmmaker. Cizek’s playlist brings together 11 films on “the philosophy and practice of ‘Art as a Hammer’.” Her picks range from 1944′s short Democracy at Work to 2008′s RiP! A Remix Manifesto.

Symansky’s collection brings together eight Donald Brittain films, each written up with a personal recollection of Symansky’s about the “making of” of the film. The writing alone is an invaluable resource for younger filmmakers like myself.

In the NFB’s Expert Playlists, their resident collections expert, Albert Ohayon, put together six useful lists:

* 10 Great Films from the last decade you may not have seen

* The 1960s: An Explosion of Creativity

* The 1950s: Television and the Move to Montreal

* Canada’s Diverse Cultures

* Bill Mason: Beyond the wild, beyond the paddle

And finally, the Thematic Playlists comprise almost sixty collections of films and clips, intriguing because there’s such a huge variety. Where else can you access groupings ranging from ‘Winter Sports Movies” to “Canada’s got Treasures!”?

Treasures indeed.

Value in barter

Honest Ed's knows bargains are where it's at.

Will trade services for goods!

I learned a valuable lesson this week in the value of trades in the current economy. The lesson comes courtesy of a local winery’s event – Township 7′s Taste the Stars – that I’m filming tonight. Because I’d already filmed their grape stomp in October, they asked if I would come back and film the making-of sparkling wine demonstration.

Since I’m always up for more time on the camera (we shoot with Sony’s PMW EX1-r) and…. because it was fascinating… and for a good cause… and… so…

I had to pull out the camera. I couldn’t not record the making of a local sparking wine.

Without going into specifics, we eventually agreed on a trade for services that didn’t involve money.

“But, but!” the business-minded entrepreneur sputters, “You’re trying to start a business! Shouldn’t you be charging for services?”

Absolutely. You cannot afford to stay afloat and actually build a business if you do pro-bono or practically free work all the time. If you provide a service, generally you get paid for it.

But I’m starting to see that credibility and providing a service can be very different things. To get to the point where we can be seen as professionals, we have to bank credibility and track record. It doesn’t just come with the website.

Our company is new. Blue Cyrus is just starting out and no one knows us from a regular wedding-video service, or that we’re professionals who have graduated a little beyond handheld camcorder status. Sometimes, to build credibility we need to work a little harder to prove our true value.

So proving ourselves as professionals can sometimes can mean going the extra mile and doing things for free. I’m ok with that.

Besides, there’s a reason I chose a winery after all…

Let’s just say Township 7′s wine is good enough for Queen Elizabeth II, and it’s said she has great taste.