This week the goodfocus team was tapped by our friends at The Soap Group to produce a series of seven short films highlighting "things" one can do to be more "green." And while the task seems straight forward, it has been anything but.
Originally, NBC (the media conglomerate - is it possible for a "conglomerate" to be truly green?), asked The Soap Group to provide seven blog entries - yes, just plain text blog entries - suggesting how one might go about greening such things as their office, home, food, etc. The question was quickly raised - if blogs are good, aren't vlog's better?
And thus goodfocus was brought in to provide the "v" aspect of these vlogs.
With Soap's help - and much must be attributed to John Rooks' Gilliam-esque humor and writing style (he's the head of The Soap Group) - goodfocus set about the task of turning seven "green" tips into a series of video shorts to premier on NBC's greenweek website in November.
But how to make them sticky? That's marketing speak for how to make such inane, and perhaps overly-preached "tips" as - "eat more veggies", "buy local", "use non-toxic cleaners", "don't be an early adopter of techno-gadgets", etc.
Needless to say, we chose a surprisingly irreverent perspective (watch the finished products to see what that means, exactly). But irreverence and sarcasm are close neighbors. In this age of cynicism and sarcasm, it's difficult to make a genuine statement on something as commercial as "greening oneself" without sounding naive, hostile or both. Irreverence is perhaps the handmaiden of ubiquity. Or, less obliquely, a modicum of sarcasm and overt humor goes a long way to take the bite out of what might otherwise sound preachy or disingenuous.
And now that all seven segments have been shot, we've dug into the trenches of editing to bring these pieces to life. I'll have to update you all as to our success or failure at bringing them to life in the non-linear world. For now, I'm glad we chose this route, irreverent or not, it's better than reading yet another treatise on how one should swap incandescent bulbs for CFLs or how to use rechargeable batteries instead of... well, you get the picture.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Friday, October 31, 2008
Electronica possessed
Oh, the times in which we live. Today, in the small, sustainable world that is goodfocus, we encountered an imperfect storm of technological mayhem. Let me explain.
First, as we were busy finishing up a final preview edit of one of our web videos, the computer upon which we were working decided it was tired and needed a nap - an infinite nap. More specifically, and more technically, the system's internal hard drive - the one on which all the software lives - quit functioning in a hard drive-like manner. It started making a distinctly unhappy clicking sound and our editing software began to behave most erratically. Yes, it was a Macintosh and yes, it was Final Cut Pro. But these details are relatively unimportant as it wasn't the software that decided to go on hiatus, but the hard drive. A quick flash of genius suggested a simple reboot might fix the problem. It did not. The computer did not reboot happily, nor at all. It simply clacked out a tango beat and presented a sincere screen suggesting "I'm doing my best here, but something within me simply cannot continue." That "something" was, in fact, the little hard drive that had been replaced not six months before - when I dropped the computer from a height of about four feet onto my living room floor. But not this time - no dropping, no mishandling of any kind presaged this unfortunate turn.
So, there was a mad scramble to another editing system - our backup system, a trusty older Mac tower that has been our pride and joy for nearly five years now. A push of its power button brought it noisiness to life and we were happily heading towards finishing the project - almost ready to upload the final preview cut to our blip account when ... yes, it's internal hard drive failed as well. Same clacky tango beat, same bleating look of "I'm trying to start for you" upon reboot. Good grief.
Well, an external hard drive and a few hours later and the little Mac notebook was once again singing along - this time a nice Beethoven tune - and our preview edit was finished and sitting happily on blip for our client to enjoy. Of course we'll have to replace the internal drive - so the machine is still somewhat unhappy, but at least it was able to complete its work and feel satisfied in a job well done.
And then - we realized we weren't getting our normal preponderance of email. Oh, no - our mail server was down - not something we encounter often. Check with the mail hosting provider - no, their servers are up and running. They could send mail to us and we'd get it, but all other mail was being bounced. What does that mean? Well, we'll never know. They "rebooted" their mail server after much pleading and the problem simply vanished. Mail was back in business. We were once again connected to the world - no longer a silent island in the midst of the interweb.
But what does all this mean? Bad things come in threes? Yes, that's likely true. Our trust Mac tower still dances the tango all alone - we don't have a solution for it, so currently we're: Technology 3, goodfocus 2 (or 1.5). Our Mac notebook is still without use of its internal hard drive - an umbilical cord connects it to an external drive that keeps it alive and functioning for now. Our mail is working again, so for that we should be thankful. But should we?
The reality is that we simply expect all these Things to work. Yes, Things. They and their ilk have become so ubiquitous to our everyday life and our livelihood that we simply expect them to work without fault ad infinitum; and when they do not - well, life stops. Has anyone ever had to reboot a manual typewriter? Reformat a pen's hard drive? Upgrade the software on their legal pad? No, I seriously doubt it. Here at goodfocus we have, and regularly use, typewriters built one or two generations before we were even born. We use them for making notes, writing thank you letters, creating DVD inserts, on and on. We still use pen and paper (always recycled until there's no place left to write) to take notes or draw illustrations or simply doodle - yes, doodle (can a computer succinctly do that?). But our livelihood depends inexorably upon the kindness of technology and when it suddenly goes walkabout - when it simply stops functioning - it creates an utter stop in our ability to do what we love - to make beautiful statements and art and disperse information for clients who wish us to do so.
But should we be surprised? Today was an imperfect storm - three amazingly frustrating technological hurdles to overcome - almost simultaneously. But how many times a day do little flummoxations arise that set us back, that cause us pause in our creative process? Three, four, five? I dare hazard a guess. And why dare? Because to contemplate the impact that hastily developed software and hardware - that we use daily to express ourselves, to make our work, to create our art - has on our moment-to-moment existence is simply too much for one to bear.
So now I will go to the typewriter - the little blue one in the office - and write a small note of thanks to it for always being ready to listen - though not as often as once in its life; to listen and record the thoughts of anyone who might sit down to its brilliant white keys as it dutifully carries out its mission without need for rebooting or reformatting or software upgrades or firmware replacement.
First, as we were busy finishing up a final preview edit of one of our web videos, the computer upon which we were working decided it was tired and needed a nap - an infinite nap. More specifically, and more technically, the system's internal hard drive - the one on which all the software lives - quit functioning in a hard drive-like manner. It started making a distinctly unhappy clicking sound and our editing software began to behave most erratically. Yes, it was a Macintosh and yes, it was Final Cut Pro. But these details are relatively unimportant as it wasn't the software that decided to go on hiatus, but the hard drive. A quick flash of genius suggested a simple reboot might fix the problem. It did not. The computer did not reboot happily, nor at all. It simply clacked out a tango beat and presented a sincere screen suggesting "I'm doing my best here, but something within me simply cannot continue." That "something" was, in fact, the little hard drive that had been replaced not six months before - when I dropped the computer from a height of about four feet onto my living room floor. But not this time - no dropping, no mishandling of any kind presaged this unfortunate turn.
So, there was a mad scramble to another editing system - our backup system, a trusty older Mac tower that has been our pride and joy for nearly five years now. A push of its power button brought it noisiness to life and we were happily heading towards finishing the project - almost ready to upload the final preview cut to our blip account when ... yes, it's internal hard drive failed as well. Same clacky tango beat, same bleating look of "I'm trying to start for you" upon reboot. Good grief.
Well, an external hard drive and a few hours later and the little Mac notebook was once again singing along - this time a nice Beethoven tune - and our preview edit was finished and sitting happily on blip for our client to enjoy. Of course we'll have to replace the internal drive - so the machine is still somewhat unhappy, but at least it was able to complete its work and feel satisfied in a job well done.
And then - we realized we weren't getting our normal preponderance of email. Oh, no - our mail server was down - not something we encounter often. Check with the mail hosting provider - no, their servers are up and running. They could send mail to us and we'd get it, but all other mail was being bounced. What does that mean? Well, we'll never know. They "rebooted" their mail server after much pleading and the problem simply vanished. Mail was back in business. We were once again connected to the world - no longer a silent island in the midst of the interweb.
But what does all this mean? Bad things come in threes? Yes, that's likely true. Our trust Mac tower still dances the tango all alone - we don't have a solution for it, so currently we're: Technology 3, goodfocus 2 (or 1.5). Our Mac notebook is still without use of its internal hard drive - an umbilical cord connects it to an external drive that keeps it alive and functioning for now. Our mail is working again, so for that we should be thankful. But should we?
The reality is that we simply expect all these Things to work. Yes, Things. They and their ilk have become so ubiquitous to our everyday life and our livelihood that we simply expect them to work without fault ad infinitum; and when they do not - well, life stops. Has anyone ever had to reboot a manual typewriter? Reformat a pen's hard drive? Upgrade the software on their legal pad? No, I seriously doubt it. Here at goodfocus we have, and regularly use, typewriters built one or two generations before we were even born. We use them for making notes, writing thank you letters, creating DVD inserts, on and on. We still use pen and paper (always recycled until there's no place left to write) to take notes or draw illustrations or simply doodle - yes, doodle (can a computer succinctly do that?). But our livelihood depends inexorably upon the kindness of technology and when it suddenly goes walkabout - when it simply stops functioning - it creates an utter stop in our ability to do what we love - to make beautiful statements and art and disperse information for clients who wish us to do so.
But should we be surprised? Today was an imperfect storm - three amazingly frustrating technological hurdles to overcome - almost simultaneously. But how many times a day do little flummoxations arise that set us back, that cause us pause in our creative process? Three, four, five? I dare hazard a guess. And why dare? Because to contemplate the impact that hastily developed software and hardware - that we use daily to express ourselves, to make our work, to create our art - has on our moment-to-moment existence is simply too much for one to bear.
So now I will go to the typewriter - the little blue one in the office - and write a small note of thanks to it for always being ready to listen - though not as often as once in its life; to listen and record the thoughts of anyone who might sit down to its brilliant white keys as it dutifully carries out its mission without need for rebooting or reformatting or software upgrades or firmware replacement.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Climate Ride 2008
The goodfocus team has just returned from five days of shooting ClimateRide2008. It was a singularly engrossing five day event involving over 1o0 cyclists riding their bikes from New York to Washington, D.C. to bring awareness to the growing climate crisis and the possibility of mitigating said crisis with non-carbon-emitting forms of transportation - specifically, you guessed it, cycling.
While we would have loved to have trekked the entire distance on bicycles, we still found ourselves reliant upon our trusty Prius production vehicle for most of the trip. We did spend about an eighth of the ride trekking through the coutryside on our xtracycle, with producer Doug Stradley pedalling madly while DP Daniel Stephens perched precariously atop the bike's rear deck, camera in hand. And while Daniel preferred shooting from the back of the bike to sticking his body out the side window and back hatch of the Prius, Doug found the hilly terrain a bit, well, hilly. Next years ride will hopefully find us making the entire journey via bicycle alone (sorry Prius) now that we've learned a great deal about the logistics of bicycle touring.
But what is most interesting is that we were able to realize, first hand, and document with video the reality that one need not rely upon four wheels and an engine to motivate one through space and time. Yes, it seems convenient. Yes, it seems easy. Yes, it keeps one's hair and toes dry during rain showers. Yes, it keeps one's body warm and toasty in cold weather. Yes, it seems a good way to move things from point a to point b. But the reality is that if we simply change our expectations, our lifestyles, our dependencies, we can rely solely on two wheels and our own food-powered bodies to get from here to there. And in the process it can be more convenient (parking isn't a problem), incredibly easy (traffic is less an issue), dry (waterproof clothes), warm (pedalling keeps the core nice and toasty), and it can move everything from gear to passengers from point a to point b - with no emissions other than breath (ok, some CO2) and heat.
The key is to change our expectations of ourselves and others - to allow us the time to enjoy the ride and in the process begin the healing of our planet. If we don't start now - and I mean now, today, this moment, we won't have a beautiful, lush, incredibly diverse little orb to appreciate. And once that is the norm, does it matter if you are on time, dry or warm?
While we would have loved to have trekked the entire distance on bicycles, we still found ourselves reliant upon our trusty Prius production vehicle for most of the trip. We did spend about an eighth of the ride trekking through the coutryside on our xtracycle, with producer Doug Stradley pedalling madly while DP Daniel Stephens perched precariously atop the bike's rear deck, camera in hand. And while Daniel preferred shooting from the back of the bike to sticking his body out the side window and back hatch of the Prius, Doug found the hilly terrain a bit, well, hilly. Next years ride will hopefully find us making the entire journey via bicycle alone (sorry Prius) now that we've learned a great deal about the logistics of bicycle touring.
But what is most interesting is that we were able to realize, first hand, and document with video the reality that one need not rely upon four wheels and an engine to motivate one through space and time. Yes, it seems convenient. Yes, it seems easy. Yes, it keeps one's hair and toes dry during rain showers. Yes, it keeps one's body warm and toasty in cold weather. Yes, it seems a good way to move things from point a to point b. But the reality is that if we simply change our expectations, our lifestyles, our dependencies, we can rely solely on two wheels and our own food-powered bodies to get from here to there. And in the process it can be more convenient (parking isn't a problem), incredibly easy (traffic is less an issue), dry (waterproof clothes), warm (pedalling keeps the core nice and toasty), and it can move everything from gear to passengers from point a to point b - with no emissions other than breath (ok, some CO2) and heat.
The key is to change our expectations of ourselves and others - to allow us the time to enjoy the ride and in the process begin the healing of our planet. If we don't start now - and I mean now, today, this moment, we won't have a beautiful, lush, incredibly diverse little orb to appreciate. And once that is the norm, does it matter if you are on time, dry or warm?
Friday, September 5, 2008
The question is, do we really need packaging?
HP has just released a new series of notebook computers that ship in recycled material messenger bags instead of conventional cardboard and foam boxen. The idea being that the packaging becomes its own product that, instead of being thrown out, or at best partially recycled. But, will new HP laptop owners use the mod-styled plastic-y messenger bags? Perhaps if they're 20-something-ish or particularly environmentally conscious. However, how many of these "packaging products" will ultimately find their way to a landfill? I would guess quite a few, though perhaps with less impact than more traditional packaging - a life cycle impact assessment would be of use here.
Ultimately the question becomes: how does a company that produces a physical product get that product from its manufacturing center to the consumer without any packaging. No package production.
Ultimately the question becomes: how does a company that produces a physical product get that product from its manufacturing center to the consumer without any packaging. No package production.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
September 4th
It's still September 4th, 2008, for a few moments longer. While the date is not necessarily auspicious, it does mark the first of what I hope will be a long series of writings to document the creation of our new sustainable (production) company. We are small in number but large in ideas and more-so in the belief that there exist innumerable stories of individuals, organizations and corporations doing what is right and necessary to reduce our species' impact on our planet. With that belief firmly in hand we set out to challenge the methods and messages that are used to inform the population about the products, services and ideals they choose to support with their purchasing habits and their collective voice.
As I write this I am overly conscious of the idea that the words on the page seem less a statement of concrete idea and more a consideration of contemplative ideal. The ideal is the message, however. And I write this as much for myself as for anyone who might read it. It is the beginning of a road-map to aid in the discovery of a new method of visual communication that is already nascently extant.
As I write this I am overly conscious of the idea that the words on the page seem less a statement of concrete idea and more a consideration of contemplative ideal. The ideal is the message, however. And I write this as much for myself as for anyone who might read it. It is the beginning of a road-map to aid in the discovery of a new method of visual communication that is already nascently extant.
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