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Down in Front Productions wants YOU! (For Film Collaboration!)
Coldbrew
Down in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered User regular
Down in Front ProductionsLake Stevens, WARegistered User regular
Some of you may know us as the Unofficial PAX Community DVD. Our goal is to film as much of PAX (at least panels and concerts) as we can, then basically just put it all up on YouTube. We used to make DVD's, but that's a lot of work so we're taking a break from that for a while.
Anyway, our team is small and can only do so much, so if anybody out there has any kind of camera/camcorder and maybe a tripod and wouldn't mind filming some panels (even just one), let us know!
Anything submitted to us will be given proper credit and will appear on our YouTube channel. Alternatively if you upload a full panel/concert recording to your own channel, feel free to provide us with a link and we will feature it on our channel.
That's the very short version of this post. If you want details (and enjoy reading) then open up that spoiler to see the original post!
Anyway, our team is small and can only do so much, so if anybody out there has any kind of camera/camcorder and maybe a tripod and wouldn't mind filming some panels (even just one), let us know!
Anything submitted to us will be given proper credit and will appear on our YouTube channel. Alternatively if you upload a full panel/concert recording to your own channel, feel free to provide us with a link and we will feature it on our channel.
That's the very short version of this post. If you want details (and enjoy reading) then open up that spoiler to see the original post!
This post is huge. I have a problem, I'm sorry. If you know who we are, or just don't want to sift through all the BS, go down to the TL;DR section. :P
Our Story
Who or what is Down in Front Productions you may ask? Some of you may know us better as the Unofficial PAX Community DVD. Well, we don't make DVD's anymore (for now anyway) and we cover tons of events these days, not just PAX, so that name doesn't really stick anymore. Anyway-
For those who don't know us, we started (as a group anyway) back at PAX09, and our main goal was to film as much of PAX as possible to help people bring the experience home with them so they can easily remember some of their fondest memories of the event, or so people that had never been to PAX could see what it was like and get their own little taste of the experience without being there. Of course, that's kind of a tall order, and we've always been a really small team so we could only do so much.
What we started doing was making threads in this very forum, asking for volunteers to help us film panels and other events around PAX. Ultimately, anything beyond panel and concert recordings gave us a huge workload, so it didn't always work out. We did manage to produce a few free downloadable DVD sets (PAX09, East2010, Prime2010), and I gotta say that I'm still quite proud of our East set. We did so much more than just put together some panel and concert recordings, we made all kinds of slide-shows of user-submitted photos and even did a really crazy awesome thing of our own where we went around and administered Voight-Kampff tests on a number of PAX celebrities and musicians. If you're familiar with Blade Runner, you should know what I'm talking about. A few of them are on our YouTube channel if you want to see.
We could find a home for the torrents for these DVD's sets if anybody wants to download them, just let me know.
Since then however, it's become too much of a hassle for our team to do so much of our own filming during PAX and then have to sift through so much user-submitted photos and videos and put something together. So we're going to keep things simple this time around. We haven't even made a thread in the forum for a couple years or more, but I figure it's time to make at least a small comeback to the community.
On top of the normal filming we do, we've also worked with a number of other groups, some much bigger than us. During this PAX we'll be working with a group that is creating a documentary on the VGM (video game music) scene called The Players Score. We've also collaborated with a documentary on Random aka Mega Ran called Mega-Lo-Mania, The Protomen with their documentary, The VGO (Videogame Orchestra) on their Live at Symphony Hall kickstarter, and more. So if you're part of a group doing something like this and want to collaborate, please come talk to us!
What We Are Doing
For each Prime and East over the last few years or more, our goal has been to film most of the concerts and whatever panels we can. Panels are easy and pretty self-explanatory. Concerts on the other hand require a lot more out of us. We have multiple people spread out along the front row, all filming the entire sets of the bands performing. When it's all said and done, we cut them all together and release full uninterrupted videos of their performance with multiple camera angles spliced together. We've got a ton of experience doing this over the years, especially with MAGFest, so we're pretty solid on that. Because of this, I typically wouldn't ask for people to submit film of concerts, but we might not cover everything this year.
Since we're not doing DVD's, all of our content goes straight to our YouTube channel as soon as it is finished. Panels are super easy to work with in post-production so those will be showing up within days of us leaving PAX and getting back home. Concerts however will take time, but will be there eventually.
This is Where You Come In
We've gone over the schedule. As always there's plenty of good panels, and as anybody that has been to PAX before will tell you, you can never see or do everything that you want to do. The main theater and one other theater will be live-streamed, but that's it, and since Twitch.tv isn't saving past broadcasts anymore, those recordings won't last either. Also it doesn't help that there will not be any more official PAX DVD's either. So now you see where we all come in at.
Since we're not making our own DVD's anymore, this is going to be handled so much easier. We have our own schedule of panels that we would like to cover, but there's no way that we will be able to film even half of them, and it's really not that big of a list. It just takes so much time, and we like to have our own fun and free-time at PAX too ya know? So if there is any panel that you plan on attending and you have the means to film it, please let us know. You will have the option of sending us your recording so we can upload it to our channel if you'd like, or you can just upload it yourself to your own channel and provide us with the link so we can feature it on ours. More exposure to both parties!
That's our real goal here isn't it? Exposure. For all of us, the people who are taking the time and effort to film the panels and events, as well as the people putting on said panels and events. I can't count the number of times that we have been approached over the years by random people who just wanted to thank us for what we do. Plenty of people out there seem to genuinely appreciate what we've started, and it's what keeps us going. Granted, we have been lacking quite a bit lately, at least with PAX, so I want to get things going again. But we need your help!
No experience necessary. A camcorder of some kind plus a tripod would be perfect, but lesser equipment can work too. As long as the cameras aren't flailing everywhere and the audio doesn't sound like you stuck a microphone up someone's butt when they were on the toilet, it should work. :P
Basically we wan't people to let us know if they plan on filming any panels. Or better yet, if anybody is crazy enough to want to more directly collaborate with (or join) us, we're definitely open to that too. Let's cover as much of PAX as we can!
Typical Filming Rules, Restrictions, and Guidelines at PAX
PAX, unlike most anime conventions, has few restrictions when it comes to people filming. Filming video games on the show floor or in panels is a big exception generally, but that's about it. If you plan to film a panel and use a tripod, find an isle seat. If you don't have any kind of external microphone, try to get as close to the panelists as you can. If there is a microphone stand in an isle for Q&A or something, try to get in front of it so you can turn around. Really it's up to you, anything can work, but it gets difficult for cameras to pick up voices clear enough even in small panel rooms if you're too far away.
As for concerts, tripods are generally not allowed at all, but because we are using Benaroya this year, that might not be the case. You may have to keep it folded like a monopod and hold it up, but you should still be allowed to use it from your seat. At the very least, if you are using a tripod or monopod, use an isle seat so you have some more room and so it's not so obstructing to other people sitting behind you or moving in and out of your isle.
TL;DR
Let us know if:
Everything we film goes straight to YouTube when it is finished. If we upload something filmed by a third party (any of you!), you will be properly credited however you wish.
If you want to upload something yourself, give us the link and we will feature it on our channel. When somebody views our channel and clicks on it, it will take them to your video on your channel.
Basically what we are doing is creating a central hub for PAX content, mostly panels and concerts.
Sorry we cannot provide cameras/tripods to people we don't know. Sometimes though you hardly need anything to get a decent recording! Just know how to use a camera/camcorder and keep the damn thing steady!
Robert Khoo is gracious enough to provide us with media badges and allow us to do what we do, but most of the time we still have to sit in lines and basically have the same restrictions as normal attendee's. It tends to take its toll and we like to have some of our own fun so hopefully you can see why we always appreciate outside help.
Specific Panels/Events We May Film or Want Help With
This is our "schedule" as copied from a Google doc that our team is working on. Note that we alone cannot cover even half of these, but this is more or less a list of some of the bigger panels that we think should have at least a slightly higher priority over the rest. If somebody wants to volunteer to cover something specifically, rather it's on this list or not, please say so and we will add it to the list. It is unlikely that our team will intend to film anything not on this list, so keep that in mind.
Also regarding the concerts, it is likely that we won't be filming all of them. We are friends with pretty much the entire lineup, and have filmed most of them on many occasions. It's not that we don't love them, because we do, it just gets a little tiring to film the same acts over and over. But we will be there and we will have cameras rolling at some point, it's just hard to say what all will be covered by us, so if you have a camera and you'll be at the concerts, keep that in mind.
If anything on the list has strikeout it is because our team is likely to be covering it. We can't guarantee it because sometimes shit happens, so if you want to cover something that's crossed out anyway, go ahead.
Where to Contact us
twitter
Facebook
YouTube
Feel free to PM me on this forum too.
We used to have a website, but we are building a new one now. It may be a while however.
We will hopefully be posting via twitter throughout the weekend with updates on what we are covering and things like that.
The End?
Holy shit this is a long post. Easily longer than any other we've made in the past I'm sure. Please feel free to post any kind of comments, questions, concerns, etc. in this thread.
Thank you to anybody that has read it or even skimmed through it, and especially thanks to everybody who has supported us over the years and during this coming PAX! See you all soon!
Our Story
Who or what is Down in Front Productions you may ask? Some of you may know us better as the Unofficial PAX Community DVD. Well, we don't make DVD's anymore (for now anyway) and we cover tons of events these days, not just PAX, so that name doesn't really stick anymore. Anyway-
For those who don't know us, we started (as a group anyway) back at PAX09, and our main goal was to film as much of PAX as possible to help people bring the experience home with them so they can easily remember some of their fondest memories of the event, or so people that had never been to PAX could see what it was like and get their own little taste of the experience without being there. Of course, that's kind of a tall order, and we've always been a really small team so we could only do so much.
What we started doing was making threads in this very forum, asking for volunteers to help us film panels and other events around PAX. Ultimately, anything beyond panel and concert recordings gave us a huge workload, so it didn't always work out. We did manage to produce a few free downloadable DVD sets (PAX09, East2010, Prime2010), and I gotta say that I'm still quite proud of our East set. We did so much more than just put together some panel and concert recordings, we made all kinds of slide-shows of user-submitted photos and even did a really crazy awesome thing of our own where we went around and administered Voight-Kampff tests on a number of PAX celebrities and musicians. If you're familiar with Blade Runner, you should know what I'm talking about. A few of them are on our YouTube channel if you want to see.
We could find a home for the torrents for these DVD's sets if anybody wants to download them, just let me know.
Since then however, it's become too much of a hassle for our team to do so much of our own filming during PAX and then have to sift through so much user-submitted photos and videos and put something together. So we're going to keep things simple this time around. We haven't even made a thread in the forum for a couple years or more, but I figure it's time to make at least a small comeback to the community.
On top of the normal filming we do, we've also worked with a number of other groups, some much bigger than us. During this PAX we'll be working with a group that is creating a documentary on the VGM (video game music) scene called The Players Score. We've also collaborated with a documentary on Random aka Mega Ran called Mega-Lo-Mania, The Protomen with their documentary, The VGO (Videogame Orchestra) on their Live at Symphony Hall kickstarter, and more. So if you're part of a group doing something like this and want to collaborate, please come talk to us!
What We Are Doing
For each Prime and East over the last few years or more, our goal has been to film most of the concerts and whatever panels we can. Panels are easy and pretty self-explanatory. Concerts on the other hand require a lot more out of us. We have multiple people spread out along the front row, all filming the entire sets of the bands performing. When it's all said and done, we cut them all together and release full uninterrupted videos of their performance with multiple camera angles spliced together. We've got a ton of experience doing this over the years, especially with MAGFest, so we're pretty solid on that. Because of this, I typically wouldn't ask for people to submit film of concerts, but we might not cover everything this year.
Since we're not doing DVD's, all of our content goes straight to our YouTube channel as soon as it is finished. Panels are super easy to work with in post-production so those will be showing up within days of us leaving PAX and getting back home. Concerts however will take time, but will be there eventually.
This is Where You Come In
We've gone over the schedule. As always there's plenty of good panels, and as anybody that has been to PAX before will tell you, you can never see or do everything that you want to do. The main theater and one other theater will be live-streamed, but that's it, and since Twitch.tv isn't saving past broadcasts anymore, those recordings won't last either. Also it doesn't help that there will not be any more official PAX DVD's either. So now you see where we all come in at.
Since we're not making our own DVD's anymore, this is going to be handled so much easier. We have our own schedule of panels that we would like to cover, but there's no way that we will be able to film even half of them, and it's really not that big of a list. It just takes so much time, and we like to have our own fun and free-time at PAX too ya know? So if there is any panel that you plan on attending and you have the means to film it, please let us know. You will have the option of sending us your recording so we can upload it to our channel if you'd like, or you can just upload it yourself to your own channel and provide us with the link so we can feature it on ours. More exposure to both parties!
That's our real goal here isn't it? Exposure. For all of us, the people who are taking the time and effort to film the panels and events, as well as the people putting on said panels and events. I can't count the number of times that we have been approached over the years by random people who just wanted to thank us for what we do. Plenty of people out there seem to genuinely appreciate what we've started, and it's what keeps us going. Granted, we have been lacking quite a bit lately, at least with PAX, so I want to get things going again. But we need your help!
No experience necessary. A camcorder of some kind plus a tripod would be perfect, but lesser equipment can work too. As long as the cameras aren't flailing everywhere and the audio doesn't sound like you stuck a microphone up someone's butt when they were on the toilet, it should work. :P
Basically we wan't people to let us know if they plan on filming any panels. Or better yet, if anybody is crazy enough to want to more directly collaborate with (or join) us, we're definitely open to that too. Let's cover as much of PAX as we can!
Typical Filming Rules, Restrictions, and Guidelines at PAX
PAX, unlike most anime conventions, has few restrictions when it comes to people filming. Filming video games on the show floor or in panels is a big exception generally, but that's about it. If you plan to film a panel and use a tripod, find an isle seat. If you don't have any kind of external microphone, try to get as close to the panelists as you can. If there is a microphone stand in an isle for Q&A or something, try to get in front of it so you can turn around. Really it's up to you, anything can work, but it gets difficult for cameras to pick up voices clear enough even in small panel rooms if you're too far away.
As for concerts, tripods are generally not allowed at all, but because we are using Benaroya this year, that might not be the case. You may have to keep it folded like a monopod and hold it up, but you should still be allowed to use it from your seat. At the very least, if you are using a tripod or monopod, use an isle seat so you have some more room and so it's not so obstructing to other people sitting behind you or moving in and out of your isle.
TL;DR
Let us know if:
- You already plan on filming any panels, even just one
- You have the means to film something and just want to help out
- You plan to film concerts
- You are crazy and want to join or just work closer with us
Everything we film goes straight to YouTube when it is finished. If we upload something filmed by a third party (any of you!), you will be properly credited however you wish.
If you want to upload something yourself, give us the link and we will feature it on our channel. When somebody views our channel and clicks on it, it will take them to your video on your channel.
Basically what we are doing is creating a central hub for PAX content, mostly panels and concerts.
Sorry we cannot provide cameras/tripods to people we don't know. Sometimes though you hardly need anything to get a decent recording! Just know how to use a camera/camcorder and keep the damn thing steady!
Robert Khoo is gracious enough to provide us with media badges and allow us to do what we do, but most of the time we still have to sit in lines and basically have the same restrictions as normal attendee's. It tends to take its toll and we like to have some of our own fun so hopefully you can see why we always appreciate outside help.
Specific Panels/Events We May Film or Want Help With
This is our "schedule" as copied from a Google doc that our team is working on. Note that we alone cannot cover even half of these, but this is more or less a list of some of the bigger panels that we think should have at least a slightly higher priority over the rest. If somebody wants to volunteer to cover something specifically, rather it's on this list or not, please say so and we will add it to the list. It is unlikely that our team will intend to film anything not on this list, so keep that in mind.
Also regarding the concerts, it is likely that we won't be filming all of them. We are friends with pretty much the entire lineup, and have filmed most of them on many occasions. It's not that we don't love them, because we do, it just gets a little tiring to film the same acts over and over. But we will be there and we will have cameras rolling at some point, it's just hard to say what all will be covered by us, so if you have a camera and you'll be at the concerts, keep that in mind.
If anything on the list has strikeout it is because our team is likely to be covering it. We can't guarantee it because sometimes shit happens, so if you want to cover something that's crossed out anyway, go ahead.
Friday
Keynote - Mikey Neumann
Rooster Teeth
Nerdcore Hip Hop Panel
Hironobu Sakaguchi Reflection: Past, Present, Future of RPGs
Friday Night Concerts (Triforce Quartet, Doubleclicks, Paul & Storm)
Saturday
Twitch Played Pokemon: A Postmorten for a Cultural Phenomenon
The Angry Video Game Nerd Panel
Chainsawsuit Live Panel
Sunday
Inside Gearbox Software
So Our Game Is Called Destiny. Now What?
Mega64 Panel
Penny-Arcade Make-A-Strip Panel
LoadingReadyRun Panel
An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss
A Mighty Chat With Keiji Inafune
Sunday Night Concerts (Bit Brigade, Super Guitar Bros, MC Frontalot)
Monday
Games Done Quick: Speedrunning for Life and Charity
Penny-Arcade Q&A
Pitch Your Game Idea Panel
Oldschool Chiptune Music in Modern Games
Omegathon Final Round
Keynote - Mikey Neumann
Rooster Teeth
Nerdcore Hip Hop Panel
Hironobu Sakaguchi Reflection: Past, Present, Future of RPGs
Friday Night Concerts (Triforce Quartet, Doubleclicks, Paul & Storm)
Saturday
Twitch Played Pokemon: A Postmorten for a Cultural Phenomenon
The Angry Video Game Nerd Panel
Chainsawsuit Live Panel
Sunday
Inside Gearbox Software
So Our Game Is Called Destiny. Now What?
Mega64 Panel
Penny-Arcade Make-A-Strip Panel
LoadingReadyRun Panel
An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss
A Mighty Chat With Keiji Inafune
Sunday Night Concerts (Bit Brigade, Super Guitar Bros, MC Frontalot)
Monday
Games Done Quick: Speedrunning for Life and Charity
Penny-Arcade Q&A
Pitch Your Game Idea Panel
Oldschool Chiptune Music in Modern Games
Omegathon Final Round
Where to Contact us
YouTube
Feel free to PM me on this forum too.
We used to have a website, but we are building a new one now. It may be a while however.
We will hopefully be posting via twitter throughout the weekend with updates on what we are covering and things like that.
The End?
Holy shit this is a long post. Easily longer than any other we've made in the past I'm sure. Please feel free to post any kind of comments, questions, concerns, etc. in this thread.
Thank you to anybody that has read it or even skimmed through it, and especially thanks to everybody who has supported us over the years and during this coming PAX! See you all soon!
Coldbrew on
0