The Southern Studies Documentary Fieldwork class we taught with David Wharton has wrapped up. Our students worked hard this semester and have produced some really good documentaries. Click on the images below to watch them and let us know what you think.
2009 Commencement Address
2009 Commencement Address by Bob Schieffer
Here’s the 2009 Commencement Address at the University of Mississippi with CBS anchor Bob Schieffer. Mr. Schieffer is introduced by Ole Miss Chancellor Robert Khayat.
Bob Schieffer Signing In
We were able to grab an interview with Bob Schieffer of “Face the Nation” for CBS News for our upcoming documentary about the Presidential Debate. Mr. Schieffer is in Oxford for tomorrow’s graduation ceremony where he’ll be giving the commencement address which, incidentally, we’ll be shooting as well. It was a great interview and a welcomed addition to what’s shaping up to be a well-rounded project.
Up in the air
If you’ve seen Terrico White play basketball, you know he spends a lot floating above the hardwood. Here’s version #2 of his “Are You Ready?” spot.
In a flash…
Recently we cleaned and transferred an old 16mm “Castle Films” news reel featuring the game-story of our heart-stopping 1959 football game with LSU. During the transfer process I realized that one of the frames of film actually caught the moment in which Billy Cannon had his famous snapshot taken. As you can see, that’s a lot of light in that fraction of a second when the bulb explodes. What a moment for both schools. It was the lone defeat for the Ole Miss Rebels that year, and on top of that, it was one of only three touchdowns allowed ALL SEASON by the grid-iron Rebs. The 1959 Ole Miss Rebels were one of the best teams ever fielded anywhere, as was evidenced later in that same season when they were rematched with Cannon and his Bayou Bengals in the 1960 Sugar Bowl. The Rebels came out on top that day, taking a 21 to 0 victory and holding the Heisman-winning Cannon to just 8 yards rushing.
Click below on the image to see full resolution.
Mississippi Premier of Willie Mae's and great news for John Currence and John T. Edge
May brings the great news that Saving Willie Mae’s Scotch House will make it’s Mississippi debut
and that two of the film’s stars, Oxford’s own John Currence and John T. Edge have joined Willie Mae Seaton as James Beard Foundation Award winners. Currence received a Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef: South and our partner John T. was named to the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. We are happy to see Joe York’s documentary, which has already aired on public television in several states, be the featured program on MPB for the month of May. Congratulations to Joe, John T., and to John Currence. Saving Willie Mae’s Scotch House will air statewide on MPB May 28 at 9 pm. Until then, enjoy the trailer!
Sabrina Brown Plays a Mean Fiddle
Here’s another moment from last Thursday’s Marty Stuart concert. Publications Director Sabrina Brown got into the act playing fiddle onstage with Stuart and Chancellor Robert Khayat.
A Special Tribute
Watch this great clip we shot tonight of country singer Marty Stuart singing “The Moss Point Kid” to Chancellor Khayat. Stuart wrote the song especially for Chancellor Khayat as a part of the night’s concert and celebration honoring the Chancellor and raising funds for Thacker Mountain Radio. It was a great moment and a nice and touching way of saying thank you to the Chancellor for his years of service to the University.
Coming Soon to a Theater Near You
Ole Miss Honors College student Winsor Yuan will premiere his short film “The Butterflies” at The Amp theater tomorrow night in Oxford as a part of the their grand opening. Media Production assisted Winsor with his film providing equipment and technical advice. We couldn’t be happier for Winsor and wish him the best of luck in his premiere. The film is scheduled to start at 10:30. For more info on Winsor and his film click here.
Let's End With Japanese
So here it is. The last Intensive English Program Promo…for now. Special thanks to Nelson Lopez for his help with the project. For more information on IEP click here.
How About Korean?
As promised, here’s the Korean language version of the promotional spots for the Intensive Language Program. Thankfully, I’ve been given a bit of a reprieve since they haven’t been able to round up an Arabic student yet so the last version until the summer will be Japanese. So watch out. That spot will be up here before you can say こんにちは!
Chinese Anyone?
Here’s the Chinese Language version of the Intensive English Program Promotional Video that Matthew Graves is producing for Outreach. Aesthetically it’s identical to the Spanish language version with a few changes here and there based on the translation. Come back soon for the next version: Korean!
It's Getting Intense
Check out the Spanish language promo that Matthew Graves produced for the Intensive English Program. This is the first in a series of promotions for the IEP that will offer students around the globe info about the program in their native language. Check back soon (hopefully) for more versions including Korean, Chinese, and Japanese.
Honoring Chucky Mullins…
Always a moving event, this year’s Chucky Mullins Courage Award Banquet marked 20 years since the inception of the award. Chucky Mullins will forever impact this University, and all of us at the Media and Documentary Projects Center are honored to work on the event. This year, we produced video elements that played throughout the night, featuring remembrances from friends of Chucky’s, as well as former winners of the award and members of the current coaching staff at Ole Miss. Thanks to Chuck Smith, executive producer of “Undefeated: The Chucky Mullins Story” who allowed us to use excerpts from the documentary throughout the program. We also put together highlights of the three outstanding nominees for this year’s award, as well as a highlight reel of former winners of the award. Student Noah Bunn was our lighting choreographer, and he brought a beautiful color scheme to the evening, transforming the Indoor Practice Facility into a showcase-type setting. Good job, Noah, and thanks! We have to also thank Hunter Palmer for pulling grip duty all day and Matthew Graves for coordinating the live show and manning the camera! Also, thanks to our leader Andy Harper, who worked on his birthday to help us get set up for the night. All in all, it was a great team effort and a great night!
Micah Ginn
"Hit the (five minute) showers!!"
As part of last week’s Green Week here at Ole Miss, we worked up a special commercial to run at the Sunday afternoon baseball game. Assistant A.D. Jamil Northcutt came up with the hard-charging “Skipper Green” as the green-awareness coach for the Ole Miss Athletics Offices. As you can see from the commercial, Skipper Green has an aggressive method for message delivery.
The production spanned Thursday afternoon and all day Friday for shooting and editing. Student-workers Alyssa Manhold and Hunter Palmer pitched in on the shoot and we couldn’t have done it without them. Matthew Graves was, as always, keeping the whole thing together through a frantically-paced shoot.
Thanks to Jamil Northcutt, Pete Boone, and everyone in athletics who took time out of their day to help spread the word on Green Week. We had a lot of fun making the spot.
Micah Ginn
If You Feed Them, They Will Come
This last Friday, Matthew Graves showed his film “Feeding the Soul at Jones Valley Urban Farm” for a panel discussion on sustainable agriculture for Green Week. Liz Stagg, one of the panelist who’s spearheading the new Oxford Community Garden said that the film was one of the major inspirations for creating the garden in Oxford and has helped secure a lot of its funding. In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the film that highlights the folks at Jones Valley Urban Farm right in the middle of Birmingham, Alabama. Check out their website to learn more about this incredible group.
Meet Coach Skipper Green
Producer’s Micah Ginn and Matthew Graves along with Hunter Palmer were at the Athletic offices yesterday and this morning filming footage for the upcoming “Skipper Green” commercial for Green Week. Local actor Johnny McPhail stars as the hard nosed conservationist coach. You can watch the finished commercial this Sunday at the Ole Miss Baseball game.
Tom Brokaw Chimes In
We had the chance to interview Tom Brokaw tonight for our upcoming documentary about the Presidential Debate. Mr. Brokaw was visiting Oxford to take part in a panel discussion at the Overby Center and was able to stop by and give us a great interview that will be a helpful addition to this ongoing project.
In Case You Missed It
Here’s a short overview of today’s Earth Day activities in the Grove. We’ll cut together a slightly longer package with interviews in a few days but I thought it would be fun to highlight a few of the cool things that went on today in celebration of this global event.
Earth Day Comes to Ole Miss
Andy Harper and Matthew Graves were in the Grove this morning getting footage of the festivities planned for local school kids to celebrate Earth Day. This is another in a series of events for Green Week at the University. Check back later for more updates including a post from this afternoon’s World Day Celebration.
1971 Ole Miss Recruiting Film unearthed
I don’t know much about this film. It is a part of our archive here at the Media and Documentary Projects Center, and was produced by our staff 38 years ago. The title on the film canister says “1971 Recruiting Film”. It might be missing a narration track, as there is no voice-over at all. It is a bit disjointed, but nonetheless a nice slice-of-life look at the Ole Miss campus in the early 70’s.
This film transfer is part of our ongoing efforts to preserve the film history of the University. I’ll try to keep posting some of these films as I get them transferred and preserved. If you have any questions about this film, give us a call at 662-915-3475.
Toyota Talks Green
Andy Harper and Matthew Graves were in the Johnson’s Commons Ballroom today filming Toyota General Manager Kevin Butt. The keynote address was sponsored by the Center for Manufacturing Excellence in conjunction with Green Week.
That's Swale!
Check out the first in a series of events we’re taping for Green Week. In this video, Landscape Architect Bob Mercier demonstrates the new BioSwale he designed on campus next to Crosby Hall.
Green Week
This week the University of Mississippi is going green with various events and programs scheduled to encourage everyone to be more energy efficient. We’ll be covering several of the events so check back for more updates. For a full list of Green Week activities click here.
Going Whole Hog in North Carolina
This past week MDP producer Joe York traveled to eastern North Carolina where he shot a short documentary about the Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC. Pictured to the left, the Skylight Inn was named the “BBQ Capitol of the World” in 1979 by National Geographic Magazine. The Jones family, who have been cooking eastern North Carolina-style barbecue since before there was an eastern North Carolina-style barbecue (they’ve been at it since 1830), took the title of BBQ Capitol seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they had a replica of the US Capitol’s dome erected atop their otherwise bare bones barbecue joint.
York’s forthcoming documentary covers this interesting eccentricity of the Skylight Inn and many, many more. The film will debut at the 2009 Big Apple Barbecue Block Party in New York City on June 13th and marks the fourth such film made for the event. Others have chronicled mutton barbecue in Kentucky, evangelical barbecue in Alabama, and so-called barbecued Hot Guts in east Texas.
Check back next month for the finished film.
And the Winner is…
Here are some pics from last night’s Chucky Mullins Courage Award Ceremony where Defensive End Marcus Tillman came home with prestigious award. This was the 20th anniversary of the event which began as a way to honor Ole Miss defensive back Chucky Mullins. Our own Micah Ginn produced the event creating video tributes to Mullins and highlight reels for the night’s finalists. It was a large effort but the night was a great success. Noah Bunn, Hunter Palmer, Andy Harper, and Matthew Graves were on hand to help the night run smoothly. For more information on Chucky check out the website for Micah’s documentary film “Undefeated – The Chucky Mullins Story”.
Cutting the Cord
Producer Matthew Graves had cameras rolling today for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies. Senator Roger Wicker was on hand for the event and offered his support to the program.
Pulling Ourselves Up by Our Gillstraps?
MPD Producer Joe York and Graduate Assistant Ben Gillstrap tackled the Oxford Conference for the Book last weekend. Together with MPD Graduate Assistant Ferriday Mansel, these intrepid videographers recorded the entire proceedings of the conference from the opening salvo at the Departments of Archives & Special Collections to the closing panel at the Nutt Auditorium. If you’re one of the lucky VistaIIIMedia customers with access to Channel 99, keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for video from the Conference. If you’re not so lucky, we suggest you keep an eye on OMTVlive.com.
Our thanks to all the staff, volunteers, and Physical Plant personnel who helped us successfully capture this wonderful slate of panels and readings.
Guilty Until Proven Innocent
This past Saturday, MPD producer Joe York had the good fortune to interview Radley Balko (above) of Reason.com, for MPD’s forthcoming documentary on the Mississippi Innocence Project.
Balko’s journalism has offered valuable insight into the Brooks & Brewer cases which the documentary seeks to chronicle. His interview will be a major piece of the film and its completion marks a major success for this ongoing project.
Thanks to Mr. Balko as well as Rob McDuff and Sybil Byrd who provided their law office in Jackson as the site of the interview.
Ello, Guvnah!
If MPD producers Joe York and Micah Ginn were British chimney sweeps, they might very well have uttered the phrase “Ello, Guvnah!” this past Friday when they traveled to Jackson to interview Governor Haley Barbour for MPD’s upcoming Debate 08 Documentary.
Good thing for MPD and everyone involved their mommas taught them better than that.
Seriously, we really did interview Governor Barbour and our sincere thanks go out to him and his staff for facilitating what will certainly be a key interview in the upcoming documentary.