The People's Podcast

The Peoples Podcast follows Michiana native and host of The Michiana People's Podcast, Scott Curtis, as he discusses his journey into podcasting, how it all started, and what he hopes to accomplish through the medium.  

Written Treatment

Title:

The Peoples Podcast

Tagline:

Highlighting Michiana’s best humans.

Logline:

The Peoples Podcast follows Michiana native and host of The Michiana People's Podcast, Scott Curtis, as he discusses his journey into podcasting, how it all started, and what he hopes to accomplish through the medium. 

Synopsis:

The Peoples Podcast will be a documentary that focuses on Scott Curtis, an IT manager by day, and a podcaster by night. He is a Michiana local who hosts The Michiana Peoples Podcast, which is primarily about highlighting musicians, comedians, business owners, and others who make our community great through conversational interviews. This documentary will highlight Scott’s journey into podcasting, the state of podcasting as whole, and what he hopes to accomplish through his creative outlet.

Genre/Target Audience:

The genre for this film is realist documentary. This documentary is aimed at individuals who may be interested in podcasting, broadcasting, or other non-visual mediums. The aim of this film is to be an inspiration to aspiring creatives.

Locations:

The Michiana People’s Podcast studio

Various locations throughout Michiana (Scott’s favorite places in the area)

Cast and Crew:

Scott Curtis (Main subject of the film)

Interviewees of the show (b roll)

Jake Neece (DP, Co Director/Producer)

Ryan Shields (Editor, Co Director/Producer)

Resources:

Visual Elements

·     Canon T5i Dslr Camera

·     Canon T3i Dslr Camera

·     GoPro Action Camera

·     50mm prime lens

·     18-55mm zoom lens

·     75-300 mm lens

·     Multiple Memory Cards

·     Led Dimmable Lighting (3-point)

·     47” Camera Pan Track

·     Wheeled dolly

·     PVC rolling dolly

  

Audio Elements

·     Rode Shotgun Mic (Non-XLR)

·     Windscreen

·     2 Blue Spark Condenser Microphones

·     Audix i5 and om2 Dynamic Microphones

·     Zoom Z4 Field Recorder w/ Phantom power

 

Interview Questions/Script:

1) What is your name and what is the name of your podcast

2) Why did you decide to start a podcast?

3) What have been your challenges in starting this podcast and how have you overcome them?

4) How do you view podcasting from a creative standpoint?

5) Why the people of Michiana? What makes them so great?

6) What are some of your influences in podcast? (podcasts you listen to, etc.)

7) Tell us a little about you, where your from, growing up in the Michiana area, etc.

8) What kind of people do you like to interview?

9) What do you love about the Michiana area?

10) What do you hope to accomplish with this podcast?

11) Is podcasting your full time thing? If not what do you do for your day job?

12) What are some of your favorite spots in Michiana?

13) How do you meet the people you want to feature on the show?

14) What’s your favorite thing about podcasting?

15) How has the show evolved since its inception

16) If you could offer any advice to podcasters starting out, what would it be?

17) How many listeners do you typically have? How has it grown since you started?

18) What is your podcast about?

19) Are their similar podcasts to yours? Is it part of a specific genre? (Do podcasts have genres like music or other mediums?)

20) How do you feel about podcasting vs. radio? Compare and contrast.

Music Video

Virola Shoots-The Sack from Jake Neece on Vimeo.

Bronze Star

This is Rodney Shields, company factotum, combat veteran, my father.


My biggest curiosity about my dad is how he came to earn a Bronze Star while participating in the United States' Middle Eastern military campaign. I am unsure as to whether or not he would tell the story in front of a camera, but that would be my goal. As the interviewer, It would be my job to generate a comfortable atmosphere. I would attempt to accomplish this with some less delicate and intrusive questions.

Rodney Shields was born September 21, 1953 to Wilbur and Ruby Shields. He has a brother and two sisters. His third sister died when he was younger in an unsolved suicide/murder mystery. He has always been a mechanical minded man as his brother and he started rebuilding a car at age 13. By age 16, the old Studebaker ran and this would be his first car. 
He joined the Army in the early 1980's at the age of 29. He stayed in the Army for just over 30 years, doing several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He received the U.S. Bronze Star, an accolade awarded to distinguish servicemen for heroic or meritorious accomplishment. After retiring from the Army, Rodney took over a communications installation project for Lockheed Martin, and headed back to the Middle East as a civilian. After three years of civilian contract work, and seven total years in the Middle East, Rodney returned to Indiana. He now is a warehouse foremen at Morrison Industrial Equipment where one can find him rebuilding motors, fitting hydraulic hoses, or researching how to fix obscure forklift models.


Questions
(In no particular order)


As a traditional American meal enthusiast, what did you eat in the Middle East for seven years? 

What were the circumstances surrounding you starting to rebuild a car at the age of 13?

Did you enjoy the mechanical aspect of building the Studebaker?

 How did that process affect your mentality moving forward?

What is your knowledge into your sister's death?

What was your experience/outlook towards institutional learning while in school?

What is your outlook on your long transition from liberal to conservative political disposition?

How did time in the Middle East Affect this transition?

What are the circumstances surrounding being awarded a Bronze Star. 

What does the Bronze Star mean to you?

Director of photography, reporting for duty.

The bar location will be the Phoenix Bar & Grill in Mishawaka. I just received the notification clearing us to shoot there on Sunday, the 26th of February. 

 

The Stage will be that of the Louise E. Addicott and Yatish J. Joshi Performance Hall in IUSB's Northside Hall

Here are some horrid thumbnail sketches of the opening scene, from the beginning of the song to the beginning of the first verse.

Style Book

Similar Perspectives to Bedroom Scene

The next photos are similar to the color pallet of the bedroom/bar sections.

Similar to Bar Perspectives

Similar to band section perspectives

Here is almost the exact opposite of what we are going for.

Emotion Video: Indecisive

Indecision Video from Ryan Shields on Vimeo.

Emotion

We have all gone through indecision in our lives. Given the modern consumer lifestyle, we are overwhelmed with options to choose from in every category. A reluctance to make a decision causes us to hesitate and waste time. Philosopher Robert Plutchik places indecision in his general emotional theory in between apprehension and anticipation. Here are 10 photographs that attempt to capture indecision in action.

Music Video Analysis

        

Music Video Analysis

Mastodon

Asleep in the Deep

         

Directed by: Skinner (http://www.theartofskinner.com), Shane Morton (http://www.silverscreamfxlab.com) and Video Rahim (https://musicvideorahim.com)

Creative Direction: Mark Szumski and Gina Niespodziani

Produced by: Shane Morton and Hey Beautiful Jerk (http://www.heybeautifuljerk.nyc)

Story and Character Design by: Skinner

*PRODUCTION:

SILVER SCREAM FX LAB
Creatures, Sets and Puppeteering by:
Shane Morton
Chris Brown
Sarah Cherney
Clay Croker 
Torrence Greene 
Victoria Kelly
Tom Pietch
Jason Feeman

Construction Department:
Rick Doucette 
Scott Fowler 
Dusty Mumma

AXIOM LIVE MEDIA 
Director of Photography/Camera Operator: Tim Reis
Assistant Camera/DIT/ B­cam Operator: John Manfredi
Key Grip/Lighting Designer: Michael Bremer
2nd AD/Best Boy Grip: Mike Morgan
Best Boy Electric: Billy Bolton
Production Assistant: Paul Katzman
Visual Effects Supervisor: Gina Niespodziani

*POST PRODUCTION

HEY BEAUTIFUL JERK 
Visual Effects and Animation by: 
Dengar
Joey Deady
Gina Niespodziani 
Mark Szumski
Mark Rubbo

Edited by: Gina Niespodziani and Jeremy Baumann
Color Grade: Ricart and Co.

Skye (the cat)
provided by Star K9
Owner/Trainer: Tracy Sargent
Wrangler/Trainer: Jenn Gagne

Production Coordinator: Ashley Simpson 

Assistant to Skinner: Hal Rotter
Assistant to Mr. Morton: Madeline Brumby
Assistant to Video Rahim: Ashley Simpson

Analysis

As we all know, cats are people. This is one of the lesser concepts found in Mastodon's music video for Asleep in the Deep. This music video is a conceptual narrative that follows a cat on an adventurous vision quest.  

Asleep in the Deep uses the rhythm of the song to use as cut points throughout the entirety of this video. The tone and color starts calm and cool and warms up for the rising action, only to resolve back to cool tone and color. A harmonious blend of practical and digital effects were used in production. This video was designed by Skinner, and is in his art style.

Concept/Story

The concept and story revolve around a linear story with conceptual elements. A cat called Skye leaves his sleeping owner and travels out of a kitty-door and begins the journey. He travels a little before reaching a cave. 

In the cave, Skye comes across a primitive sub-city of puppet men. These creatures are engaging in a ritual and offer him a drink from a ceremonial milk dish.

Upon drinking from the dish, Skye encounters a psychedelia-type state of consciousness. This allows him to unlock a wormhole inside the cave. 

He goes in. 

   The psychedelia intensifies and Skye himself becomes a distorted puppet version of himself. His visions become more prominent and he eventually meets an amphibious king whom has a hookah much like the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland. The king blows hookah smoke into Skye's face. The cat's visions persist as he wanders around this psychedelic realm. He follows a flying sword to a rat or squirrel tied to a stake. Skye immediately uses some gained powers to release the little creature, and the rat-squirrel rides on Skye's back to a volcano tower where a congregation led by a three-faced yeti. The rat-squirrel launches himself at the yeti, knocking both he and the yeti into the volcano. The action resolves as Skye travels back through the worm hole and eventually back to his sleeping human's lap.

Production

The cuts, especially in the establishing scene, use drummer Brann Dailor's kick and snare drums as the videos rhythm. To signify the change from reality to psychedelic fantasy, the camera utilizes some dutch angles, otherwise it uses traditional framing techniques. Deeply saturated hues with abstract line work in the art-style of Skinner are found throughout the video. There are 5 different puppet types: Skye, the primitive-men, the amphibious king, the rat-squirrel, and the three-faced yeti. 

Steady use of particle fields and atmospheric effects aid in the psychedelia mode of most of the video.