Arisia TV

Happy 20th, ARISIA!

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 20:14:00 +0000

Arisia 2009 is now in the history books. Over 2000 people came together at the Hyatt hotel in Cambridge, MA to enjoy four days of panels, events, exhibits and reunions of friends. It's hard to believe that this year's conference was Arisia's 20th. Some new and newer fans took a moment to celebrate and pass along best wishes.

This post brings the first "season" of the ARISIA TV blog to a close. We hope to be back for the Arisia 2010 season, either here or at another location. Stay tuned for channel updates, and thanks for watching!

The Museum Of Curiosities

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:47:00 +0000

During Arisia 2009, there was an interesting attraction that set up on the third floor of the convention hotel. The Museum of Curiosities recalls a day long gone, when stories of the fantastic and weird were seen in the traveling roadshow, circus and vaudeville.

The Museum of Curiosities sported an interesting collection and was worth catching. We were given a quick tour of the Museum, which focused on tales of mostly anatomical intrigue.

What Stories Do You Want To Tell?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 03:33:00 +0000

In this, our final segment with Walter Hunt, we asked Walter what stories he hasn't written yet, and would want to research, develop, and tell.

Recent and Upcoming Works - Walter Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:49:00 +0000

In our latest segment with Walter Hunt (recorded in August 2008 at the World Science Fiction Convention in Denver, CO), we asked Arisia 2009's guest of honor what was on his plate for current works and upcoming publications.

Why Is Speculative Media Important?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 07:46:00 +0000

In the second installment of our interview series with Arisia 2009's Guest of Honor, we asked Walter Hunt why he thought speculative media was important.

Why Do You Write?

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:44:00 +0000

We caught up with Walter Hunt, Arisia 2009's Guest of Honor, at Denvention earlier this year, and asked him some questions about his writing, influences, upcoming projects, and desires for the future.

In this segment, Walter talks about what some of the strongest influences are in his writing.

Visions From The Edge - Dave Seeley

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Boston-based Dave Seeley is a self-proclaimed image junkie. He's also one of the most in-demand illustrators for clients which include: LucasFilm, Hasbro, Sony, Vivendi Universal, Fox, Boeing and many others. Dave is the Artist Guest of Honor at Arisia 2009.

In the 2005 Road House Films production, "Visions From The Edge", Dave was one of five science-fiction artist / illustrators featured in a documentary which explored the techniques and inspirations of great science-fiction artists. In this segment, Dave shares details of his unique blend of brush and bits, combining traditional paint and canvas techniques with modern digital skills and tools.

We would like to thank Road House Films for their kind permission to share Dave's segment from the film.

Production Update II

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 15:06:00 +0000

Hard to believe the summer is winding down.

We've been pretty busy with a number of projects in production and post-production that you'll start seeing here in a week or so. Arisia TV is on location at Denvention 3, the 66th World Science Fiction Convention, shooting a number of pieces that will be premiered here in late August and throughout September.

Here's a sneak peek at what's coming, both from our recent location shoots, and beyond.

"Visions From The Edge: Dave Seeley"

Arisia 2009's Artist Guest of Honor Dave Seeley was recently featured in a documentary produced by Road House Films. We're very grateful to Road House Films who has given us permission to feature their interview with Dave here on Arisia TV.

"Galactica Reconstructed - Sean W. Sides"

Master model maker (yet self-professed hobbyist) Sean W. Sides spent nearly 1200 hours over 3 years to build an amazingly accurate studio reproduction of the original Battlestar Galactica. His skills and passion caught the eye of legendary starship designer Rick Sternbach, who helped facilitate Sean's exhibit at Denvention 3. We caught up with Sean for a special behind the scenes tour of his labor of love.

"Being Jimmy Neutron - John Davis"

Among the many professionals attending Denvention 3, we were fortunate enough to bump into animator, Hollywood film producer and wicked serious amateur astronomer John Davis. John is the creator of Jimmy Neutron and The Ant Bully. He is currently working on a new project, some details he shared exclusively with Arisia TV.

A late update - I'm looking at switching to Vimeo as an alternative to YouTube after a substantial series of problems they've been having. Here's an embedding test of the first episode of Star Critic.

Star Critic - Episode I

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 04:58:00 +0000

Episode I of "Star Critic", an original six-part micro-series has been released.

"Star Critic" features Dan Kimmel, a long time Boston-area film critic and science-fiction fan. We put Dan on the spot and asked him to give us his definitive list of the five most essential films in science-fiction to date. In this episode, Dan gives us his list. Later episodes in the series (to be released throughout the year) will go into Dan's choices.

An important technical note about this production is that it was sourced and mastered entirely in DV and converted to conform to YouTube's new high quality video standard. As of this publication, YouTube doesn't offer high quality embedding links of video in third party websites like this one, however I found this article which shows how to manually change the embedding code to enable it. The video embedded in this article uses YouTube's new high quality format. It seems to work well with Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, viewing embedded high-quality video with FireFox browsers can be problematic (you may have to click on the video (off center and away from the play button) to be taken to the YouTube channel where you can view the high quality video directly).

This original production for online distribution marks a milestone for Arisia TV. Now that the (pre through post) production details and gremlins have been worked out, future releases will appear regularly throughout the year.

Next release (later this month) is an excerpt from an interview with Arisia 2009 Artist Guest of Honor, Dave Seeley.

Production Update I

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:36:00 +0000

Here's a sneak peek at "things to come" and a few production notes. As we release new productions, we'll also release some behind-the-scenes insights we've learned along the way.

The following clip is a sneak peek at the first installment of a six-part series, answering the question, "What are the five most important films in science-fiction?"

It's hard to believe how much is still involved with putting something as straight-forward as an interview piece together when you're working on a low (out of your own pocket) budget. While the size and costs of basic equipment, systems and software have gone down dramatically compared to the early 1990's, the basic issues of lighting, sound and composition have not gone away.

For example, this clip represents a few hours of work digitally compensating for office (only) lighting. We also had to sync and master seperate audio recordings (mainly because the in-camera mic use for reference-only audio is situated about an inch from the mini-DV motors).

One surprise already is how well a USB-condenser mic plugged into a laptop and running a copy of Audacity (free audio software) worked to capture Dan's words while isolating out outside noises.

Another surprise is that in researching the best way to preserve video quality all the way to distribution (currently via YouTube), we've discovered that YouTube now supports high-quality viewing directly (no HQ embedding yet) for videos that are encoded in MPEG-4/H.264.

All original material created for the Arisia TV channel is sourced, edited, and exported in DV, and converted to MPEG4/H.264 after post-production. To view this clip in high-quality, simply click on the video (except on the center play button) and in the clip's YouTube page, click on "watch in high quality".

We're in the middle of nailing down May and June shooting schedules for a number of productions, including segments with Arisia 2009's guests of honor. We'll also be releasing the first of our full production segments as well as other independent and studio productions. Stay tuned!

And so, it begins...

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Belfiore) — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:36:00 +0000

In 1989, a group of New England science fiction fans got together and formed a small non-profit organization to host a regional conference dedicated to new and classic forms of science-fiction, fantasy and speculative media. In 1990, the group's first conference was held in Boston. In January of 2009, Arisia will celebrate its 20th conference.

Through the years, Arisia has encouraged voices from young and older generations of fans to discuss, create and shape the fabric of science fiction. In that tradition, we're trying something that we haven't done before.

Arisia TV is a video channel and blog which showcases original content being developed or permitted for broadcast here, and at Arisia. We're taking on an ambitious production schedule (ambitious while holding down full-time jobs). Pictured above is the mobile production studio I'm taking with me to squeeze in a few evening (hotel) hours of content development when I'm not teaching or conducting research with my (day job) clients.

Over the coming months, you'll see content on Arisia TV that focuses on some of the voices, stories and events shaping science fiction (and science fact), fantasy, and fandom in all forms of expression. Our goal is to release about two new productions a month. We've already got four pieces in post-production, and additional shooting schedules forming for late May and June.

First up (very soon) will be Episode 1 of a multi-part series featuring a well-known fan and film-critic.

We'll be posting more information about upcoming productions, and we'll be looking for your voices on the blog, and on the channel. While we're spinning up the first broadcast, we've put a poll on Arisia TV (on the right side of the blog) to get some opinions flowing right away. How do you like your speculative media? In a book, in your eyes, or in your pocket?