Austin and Brian Chu: Documentary Filmmakers

Brian and Austin in front of wall street.

Two brothers take a road trip across America to make a documentary.

Austin Chu was laid off in December of 2008.  Instead of dwelling on the disappointments of unemployment, Austin took inspiration from it.  Driven by this new purpose, Austin recruited his brother Brian to trek across all 50 states, while capturing stories of how Americans across the nation are getting back on their feet.

The Chu brothers captured stories of people dealing with the economic hardship of current times, dotingly referred to as our Recession.  The result is a documentary film entitled, “The Recess Ends: A Nation Back to Work“.  These recent college graduates and first-time filmmakers have made a film capturing not only the challenges and opinions of those affected, but also the landscape of the country in which they live and sympathize with.  But most importantly, Austin and Brian connect these people to their sense of optimism, thus “A Nation Back to Work.”

“As we traveled across the United States we were completely amazed by what we saw,” said Austin Chu.  “We got a chance to see how the recession was affecting the entire country and how Americans in different cities and states were dealing with the current economic crisis. We saw everything from people destroying their old homes because they were worth more to them damaged to a family taking in other people who had lost their jobs and lost their way, to even a man who was selling his own blood to get by during the recession.”

The Chus say they felt compelled to travel in the proverbial shoes of their yet-to-be-identified subjects.  Brian quit his day job and Austin opted to stay “jobless” in hopes of creating something bigger than himself.  Friends from all walks of their collective lives came together to support this project specifically created not to profit, providing their time and their couches, all for the sake of a documentary.

“Our film captures a snapshot of what our country is going through right now,” said Brian Chu. “It shows us how some Americans are struggling, while others are reprioritizing their lives and finding creative ways to get by. Some of the stories in the film will show hope as well as America’s character and resilience.  We believe in many ways the recession has brought communities together and has displayed the true hearts of the American people.”

With “The Recess Ends”, the Chu brothers take us on a cross-country roadtrip where we hear what the American people are really thinking about whats going on now and see what it looks like to actually live it.  This isn’t CNN telling us what the experts think.  These are your neighbors picking you back up and giving you a pat on the back.  The ending result is a focused account of a dramatic moment in history, a patchwork that portrays Americans in their current financial climate created from the inspiration two brothers found in each other and essentially, all of you.

The Reporting Process 2

Soundslides is becoming easier and easier to use everytime that I do.  Again it is the technical side that just requires a repetititve motion in order to memorize the order of creating a functioning soundslide.

I always have trouble with the mechanics of digital programs.  This time it was with connecting my computers server with the one available for the class blog.  Eventually I realized that I was typing in the ftp server name in different variations of what it essentially is.  Efolio also posed a problem.  I was unable to post an actual presentation of my final project.  In the end I had to settle for a link to the project presented in my class blog.

I am so sick of staring at the computer screen.  Please do not fail me.  PLEASE!

The Reporting Process

Attempt number one failed.  At first the idea was intriguing.  Ask a midwife about her life of bringing a new life into the world as a job.  The technicalities sunk the ship.  The obvious climax of showing the midwife at work would obviously breach the comfort zone of a client.  No mother wants some college kid poking his Flip camera into an otherwise spiritual gathering of family.

The second attempt was canceled by an act of god.  Rain fell upon the farmers market this past weekend making the project virtually unphotographable and otherwise unrecordable.

Desperate measures led me to seek a little help from my friends.  A friend that I’ve known since junior high school put me in touch with a team of brothers that recently put out a documentary about the recession.  Austin and Brian Chu spent the better part of 2009 traveling to every state in the United States of America documenting what they saw and the people they encountered, asking how the recession has affected each individual.  The film is called The Recess Ends.

Arranging an interview was easy.  The biggest challenge in interviewing the two was treating them as individuals that brought their own skills to the table.  Afterwards, the editing of audio was challenging in all of the expected ways, meaning technical aspects of digital editing programs.

With reporting, the challenge lay in finding an expert source.  Who could comment, in a relative way, on the documentary.  The answer was to look towards those individuals that seemed obtainable.  Associate Professor Aaron Kerner of San Francisco State University was able to provide his expert opinion on the topic of documentary film and what it means to be an aspiring film maker.

For those taking Digital Newsgathering in the spring, I would advise you to shoot for gathering as much material as possible.  In otherwords, overshoot it so that in the end it’s not a matter of gathering content but picking and choosing the most appropriate material to convey you’re message.

Steve Fainaru visits SFSU

A Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting came to San Francisco State University Tuesday to speak with students of journalism about his experience in the field.

Steve Fainaru is a Washington Post foreign correspondent most widely known for covering the lawless operations of private security contractors in the war in Iraq.  His book on his experience there from 2004-2007 is “Big Boy Rules”.  Fainaru is also the coauthor of “The Duke of Havana: Baseball, Cuba, and the Search for the American Dream”.

Fainaru claims to have initially been drawn to journalism because, “it seemed like a really cool job that offered you experience and passage to adventures”.

Graduating from the University of Missouri, Fainaru started his career at the San Jose Mercury News but soon found himself back in school getting another degree in international affairs with hopes to become a foreign correspondent.

Fainaru has worked for the Washington Post since 2000, previously covering civil liberties and the fight against terrorism and serving as an investigative reporter focusing on sports.

Before writing for the Post, Fainaru worked at The Boston Globe for 11 years, covering the Boston Red Sox, Wall Street and Latin America.

In front of an eager group of green student journalists, Fainaru discussed his experiences covering the war in Iraq and the implications of the decrease in coverage of how America conducts its war strategies and business abroad.

“I felt like I discovered this whole other side of the war,” said Fainaru.  “Story coverage was in real time there.  You felt like you were at the center of history at that moment”.

These days, Fainaru thinks more of his family and is more interested in hyper-local news coverage that benefits a community but still covers the Mexican drug wars to which he says is like, “a picnic” in comparison to Iraq.

Fainaru ended his speech, leaving students with a solemn but illuminating view on the future of journalism.

Kate Rosen- Noe Valley Historian

Kate Rosen is what you may call a kind of Noe Valley historian. Aside from being a resident of the neighborhood, 85 year old Rosen, gives bi-monthly walking tours on Sunday afternoons to share with tourists and residence alike, some of Noe Valley’s most important historical aspects.

San Francisco City Guides

Many of us who live in San Francisco hop from neighborhood to neighborhood in an attempt to minimize the ever increasing rent or to slyly vacate before having to deal with their excessive furniture once cherished as “vintage” now commonly known as “crap”.  What we lose in those excessive moves is getting to really know the community in which we reside.  When was the last time you asked yourself why your neighborhood is named what it is?

San Francisco Walking Tours allow tourists and natives alike to spend a part of their afternoon learning fun facts about their hood.  The tours are headed by local volunteers who love their city, it’s history and are eager to share their knowledge with listeners.  Play tourist for a day in your own backyard!

Street Art in the Mission Neighborhood

Photo Slideshow

BAD MOVIE NIGHT

Bad Movie Night at the Dark Room

Voluntarily go see a movie that you know will be terrible but have a good time anyway!

The Dark Room in the Mission neighborhood of San Francisco hosts BAD MOVIE NIGHT every Sunday at 8pm. Go see a bad movie, bring your own booze and make all the obnoxious commentary you want for just $5.

Photo Slide Show >

LitQuake LitCrawl

We all like to read, right?  No self-respecting individual would admitt to a loathing for literature.  The default answer when asked is usually a stuttered retreival of the last piece of literature one can remember having heard about or the headline to an article in the paper they saw displayed in the dispensary near the Muni station exit.

Now that we’ve got that off our chests, let’s all take a unified step forward and make that move towards clearing our collective consciousness and actually investigate what’s good in the contemporary literary world.

A good way to start is the LitCrawl.

You’ve already missed the majority of San Francisco’s literary festival showcasing hundreds of the Bay Area’s finest writers readings and discussions, presumably while waching Hulu digital shorts (that yes, do accumulate to a substantial amount of wasted time).  Since its founding in 1999, the festival has presented close to 1400 author appearances for an audience of over 32,000 in its lively and inclusive celebration of San Francisco’s thriving contemporary literary scene.

But it’s not too late to bone up on your deeply deprived literary diet!  For the conclusive night of Litquake on Saturday, October 17, listeners can enjoy a literary buffet of poets, authors, and journalists reading at various bars and restaurants in the Mission neighborhood.  Starting at 6, crawlers can make their way over to Four Barrell cafe on Valencia Street and continue to make their way through the neighborhood while enjoying the musings of their favorite Bay Area writers.  Participants are advised to arrive early for better seats and to wear comfortable shoes.

San Francisco DocFest ’09

The 8th annual San Francisco Documentary Festival takes place October 16- 29 at the Roxie Cinema. The festival presents 60 documentaries from around the world with a “truth is often stranger than fiction” theme. Documentaries visit rabbit competitions, crazy West Virginians, the early days of Burning Man, Lucha Libre and much more.

The festival kicks off tonight with a film about onetime millionaire businessman, Malcolm Bricklin, chronicling his notorious negotiation skills. The Entrepreneur is produced by Morgan Spurlock of Super-Size Me and directed by son Jonathan Bricklin.

Although showings start this Friday, a roller disco in association with the DocFest will take place at Cellspace, 2050 Bryant at 18th on October 23. The disco on wheels has a $10 admission, $5 dollars with costume but is FREE with any DocFest ticket stub.

IndieFest claims no responsibility for “alcohol influenced roller skating wipeouts”.