the dotmatrix project

(originally uploaded by Rikke Moltisanti)

If you think you can capture the essence of a live show like in the above picture, we need to talk. Same thing goes for filmmakers with the following video:

The Wigg Report: It Won’t Take Long from Sean Coon on Vimeo.

We’re putting on a monthly show in the Back Bar of The Green Burro in downtown Greensboro. The bands are playing for free, a sound engineer is recording the live show for free, photographers are shooting for free and filmmakers are shooting/editing music videos for free.

Cost of admission: FREE

The idea is that if we all collaborate to create art and release it into the wild — online and off — we’ll be opening doors for each other that might never have been opened otherwise. And over time, if people dig the concept, maybe we can turn it into a sponsored event with a sustainable business model to support live, local music in downtown Greensboro.

Along these lines, we’re looking to build a community of photographers and filmmakers interested in participating at least one time. That means you’ll be joining up with a media team and collaborating with the bands before the show on shot ideas. If you want to do more than one show, we’ll do our best to schedule it. If you want to work with a specific filmmaker, photographer or band, we’ll do our best to accommodate that as well.

We’re good like that.

Photographers: We’re looking to meet photographers who have access to DSLR cameras and can really craft a shot. If you have a great eye, you’re in. There’s no pledging involved, no hazing, no sleeping with farm animals. And while that last sentence read like an extremely male perspective on stupid things adolescent men might have to do in order to join something potentially cool — though this ain’t a corny frat — we’d definitely like the talented ladies in our community to participate just as much, if not more. So I promise, no more horrible analogies, ladies.

So if you’re interested in participating, please follow these two steps:

• Join the dotmatrix project flickr group and then contact Mike Dunn or Stephen Charles to get assigned to a show
• Join our dotmatrix project Google Group to ask questions of or communicate with anyone on the project

Filmmakers: While we’d like to have professional filmmakers participate on the project, we’re very open to amateur filmmakers and videographers. All we ask is that you know how to use a modern digital video camera, have a good eye and have at least some experience editing on non-linear systems. dotmatrix HQ has a digital editing bay with Final Cut Pro, so you’ll be able to edit with your co-filmmaker on top notch equipment.

If you’d like to join up, please follow these two steps:

• Subscribe to the dotmatrix project Vimeo channel and contact either Jason Pierce or Andy Coon to get assigned to a show
• Join our dotmatrix project Google Group to ask questions of or communicate with anyone on the project

Cross-Promotions We’re currently working on finalizing deals with local establishments to cross-promote the material created from the show. I don’t want to jinx the potential deals in the works by naming names, but I will say that we’re close to finalizing we’ve finalized a deal where a major movie theater with Carousel Cinemas on Battleground in Greensboro to present still shots and music videos from our show prior to the trailers run before each film shown in the theater. We’re also working on establishing a quarterly photo exhibit in a well known downtown venue to present the best shots of the previous three shows.

Both of these cross-promotions are in the works to market the name and work of our participating media creators.

So are you down or what!?

Poster by Justin Reich.

DOGS of CHINATOWN internet trailer 1 from All Aces Media on Vimeo.

This is looking pretty damn stylish. Sin City’ish even. Great job, fellas!

Two years ago this month, I had the pleasure of catching the world premiere of The War Tapes at the Tribeca Film Festival as a guest of the director, Deborah Scranton.

If you’ve never seen TWT, the style and genre can only be described as Documentary 2.0 — soldiers on the front lines with cameras affixed to their shoulders, guns, the hoods of their vehicles, telling their stories while you watch what goes down, with Deborah IM’ing them each night from across the world to coordinate the progress of the film.

Tomorrow evening, Deborah’s latest film, BAD VOODOO’S WAR, will be broadcast by FRONTLINE at 9 P.M. ET on PBS.

If you miss the broadcast tomorrow night, be sure to catch the film, streaming, on the Frontline website.

Congratulations, Deb!

Time Squared from Matt Trecartin on Vimeo.

One of the many reasons I love visiting NYC is that I know I’ll most likely discover an inspiring indie film that has zero chance of reaching theaters back in Greensboro. Aside from the art house section within Carousel Cinemas, there just aren’t many theaters in the area that cater to such a niche.

Persepolis is a beautifully told and engaging, animated story of a young Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution and experiencing the changes that Islamic Law brought to her sense of freedom. Music is a huge element of the story, as she finds punk and metal to be the antithesis of acceptable forms of expression and a vehicle for rebellion — a similar post-puberty approach to rebellion by millions of kids back in the states, except this form of rebellion could get you hung… or worse.

The film is a tad bit long, but the story cries for details as it’s far more expansive than a coming of age story. Persepolis paints a vivid picture of life in Iran — how the Shah both entered and exited the scene, presenting a position on the United State’s role in the Iran/Iraq war and expressing day-to-day life in a country where freedom is more cherished by its people than oxygen — a complex situation often painted in broad strokes by Western media and history books.

The animation’s art direction is spot on and highly original. There were a few short war and protest scenes where the imagery seemed to be loosely referencing elements of The Wall, but much more as an ode to than a straight bite.

Persepolis is one of those films that really should be seen.

Along the lines of historical knowledge being dropped through art; if you’re looking for a song to provide factual, historical context to the situation in the middle east, I highly recommend Head (Of State) by The Coup.

(originally uploaded by The Best of U2)

If you’re a fan of rock and roll shows — no, make that the connection you feel with the universe as a great band rocks 50,000 plus people under the pitch black sky above — you must catch this film in the theater.

Time and time again I got caught up in the emotion of the performance. One minute I was singing along with Bono and picturing myself smack dab in the middle of thousands of crazed Argentinians — imagining that it was my homeland, with my friends surrounding me — while the next had me smacking my water bottle in step with Larry Mullin Jr. and bobbing my head to The Edge’s riffs.

(originally uploaded by The Best of U2)

The degree of detailed coverage in this film was outstanding. I mean, when Adam Clayton walked the ramp to drop his baselines, you could feel the opposite ends of the stage playing in unison. This isn’t your run of the mill concert movie; you are literally on stage while simultaneously being entrenched within the audience.

Such an intimate experience… I’ve been a casual fan of U2 for a long time now, going on 25 years, and for some reason I had never placed the harmonies dropped by The Edge on all these tunes. The guy has amazing pitch and I never made the connection until tonight because I had never experienced what it was like to be three feet in front of him as he harmonized!

(originally uploaded by The Best of U2)

The vibe of the entire show danced around themes of our common humanity and I swear I almost lost it when Pride (In The Name Of Love) came on with the likeness of Martin Luther King Jr. splashing about in 3D.

What a moving experience. Be sure to catch it.

By Lenka Clayton and James Price

(via swissmiss)

Andy just posted the first episode of The Corporate Assassin with Molly cast in the lead role.

I’ve watched Andy progress as a filmmaker since his award-winning work on Greensboro’s Child, but the execution of this series is reaching a level far beyond my expectations. It’s not that I didn’t think he had this degree of talent for writing, casting, directing, editing, etc., but to see his vision come together so succinctly? Wow.

Unfortunately, I can’t watch it again. Molly plays an annoying, coked-up bitch too convincingly — I’m still getting flashbacks when I see her in person.

(originally uploaded by CharlesMedia™)

Turn up the volume; the dotmatrix project is about to cross-over into the real world.

Beginning in April we’ll be putting on a monthly show at The Green Burro in downtown Greensboro, building upon the collaborative format of ConvergeSouth Music 2007.

Along those lines, we’re actively working to align with folks representing the diverse creative communities within this region, particularly photographers, filmmakers and musicians, to plan live events where each community can contribute to the promotion of the others by simply performing and creating art.

Here’s the ballpark concept for the project so far:

Pre-Performance

• The film and photo community leads book media creators interested in participating
• The creative team and sound engineer meets with the band(s) to collaborate on ideas and discuss strategy

The Performance

• The musicians play their set and sell enough merchandise to become filthy rich
• The filmmakers shoot songs, green room banter, the audience, etc.
• The photographers shoot the event
• A multi-track recording is made of the show
• The audience contributes by shooting via cell phones, cameras, whatever and uploads their media to specific spots online

Post-Performance

• The filmmakers edit together their videos based on pre-performance conversations, taking audience submitted media into consideration
• The photographers, well, they make each shot look great and tag/post them to flickr
• The sound engineer will mix down the recorded performance to a live CD format

Promoting the Hell out of Everything

• Our new media peeps will post the final videos across numerous online spots and distribute meat space copies of the video to regional public access channels and networks to promote the event, filmmakers, the band and original music in downtown Greensboro. We’re also working on a deal with Carousel Cinemas on Battleground to play the videos prior to each movie shown in the theater.
• Every three months we’re planning on putting on a photo exhibit of the best shots from the previous three shows to promote local photography and original music in… you guessed it, downtown Greensboro (venue TBD)
• We’ll also register each show recording with Creative Commons before uploading the tracks to numerous spots online, including the Internet Archive and Last.fm. The band will get the master for duplication purposes.
• We’re going to use each event as an opportunity to pimp media created at prior events, as well as educate the audience about how each of them can support indie artists by using the web

Aside from sponsor partnerships to help offset production costs and the dollars exchanged at the bar to quench the palette of the audience, the entire event will be run without exchanging cash. This is a barter deal for everyone involved.

Our long-term goal in putting on the dotmatrix project is to contribute to a sustainable, vibrant original music culture in downtown Greensboro. The Green Bean, Solaris, Greene Street, The Rhino, Fishers, The Press; each venue has added a dimension to the mix, but we’re not yet at the point where original acts are wading in a culture amped to listen.

In the short-term, though, I’ll be satisfied with having a blast and pimping each other into perpetuity online.

All that said, we’re looking for bands that want exposure and the rights to crafted media of their performance in exchange for a few hours of jamming for free. With photographers and filmmakers, we’re looking for talented and skilled eyes to cut their teeth on capturing the vibe of a live event and their time in post-production to receive multiple avenues of exposure in return.

If you’re any of the above — including a business or individual interested in sponsoring the event — contact me at sean at dotmatrixproject dot com.