Luisa Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Since there has been talk in that other thread about the documentary (or maybe more than one) that was shown on The Learning Channel, that did not properly represent asexuality, nor, in fact, represent it at all... ...I am wondering if AVEN members should take it upon themselves to make a short documentary about asexuality? I don't know much about computers, but I know that with the proper software (etc.,) little pieces can be edited into a movie as easy as *that* (or so say the commercials.) Perhaps a group of us could meet in one area, another group in another area, etc., and film us talking about our feelings about asexuality. The people who are more knowledgable about the facts could present some of the information that is given on the website, and on the documentary, we could include a web-address, to direct people here. I'm not talking about a high-budget piece here...just a short film to show that asexual people are like everyone else, and that we're not ashamed or afraid of our identities...that we don't feel we need to be hiding our faces behind a curtain, or something. I don't like feeling like "I REALLY am an Asexual" should be a topic for Jerry Springer, but sometimes these "documentaries" that I see on TV make me feel that way. So...what do you guys think? Too big a project? Or worth our while? Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Yeah that'd be a really cool idea! Does anyone have a video camera? My dad has really fancy dancy video editing software thing on his computer but I don't know how to use it. It'd be a cool video for each of us to have. I'm assuming it would be possible to fuse the videos from each group? If a group of people want to meet in the DC area I'm all for that!! Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I'm up for it!!! Oh man, anything to be on TV :D Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 hehe , yeah itd be cool if we sent it to like pbs or tlc and they actually played it!! woah thatd be neat! Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 Yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking. Plus, if people have digital video cameras (do we?) the quality of the film will be really good. Most channels have to devote a certain amount of their time to "public service announcements," and they generally do it late at night. (I know - I'm an insomniac! :) ) Another idea is to have a series of "commercials/public service announcements" that they can run, like thirty second spots, where one of us at a time, or two of us one right after another, talk about what being an asexual means to us, and how it feels to live in a society that isn't largely aware of asexuality. ------------------------------------ Man, I would LOVE it if we made a documentary and it got broadcast on a major station, or even accepted as a "short documentary" at one of the many "outsider" film festivals that are done. We could include people from all over the globe, and emphasize that there are ALL different kinds of asexuals, just like there are all different kinds of sexual people. ------------------------------------- I don't know about the "putting it together from video to complete computer/film thingy" part, but I've worked in the arts for a long time, and could be of great help if people wanted to form teams to get this done. I feel that my particular strengths are in the conceptualizing of the documentary, and in "blocking out" the "script." (For instance, "OK, here's the spot where we have Kate talking to AvenGuy, and then we'll intersperse a little voice over thing about asexuals in history - something else we've been discussing - as we show a shot of Kate and AvenGuy leaving the filming area.." that kind of thing.) Someone else who knows about shooting films could be in charge of camera and lighting, someone else could coordinate schedules... I don't know, but I have a growing enthusiasm for this project, even if it is a little ambitious. I think that we, as a whole, can do it, and thus permanently add to the body of researchable knowledge that is out there regarding asexuality. Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Wasn't this mentioned in the other post? Hey Luisa, ever notice how most of those late night comercials were for phone sex and tapes? Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Yeah, it was mentioned, but I thought I'd start a new thread on it to see how many people were interested, seriously. Don't forget the strip clubs. They like to advertise late at night, too! ;) Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Haha! Imagine the face of any run-of-the-mill sexual person looking at the porn ads late at night if we were to air a documentary in those time slots. "Asexua . . . WHAAA!??" *thud* Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 LOL gorax. Thats a great idea luisa and im all for it. Im not great at carrying thru w/ ideas tho so im afraid ya might have to tell us what to do... hmm.... maybe the first step would be to figure who could who where? or maybe the first step is to figure out if we have a video camera. Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 vi-di-o ca-m-era ????????????????????? Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Well, I have a digital camera that can take 15 second movies . . . Oh, we would have to learn sign language too because it doesn't record sound hehe. So, who has something better? :) Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 I don't have a video camea either...so, thus far, Gorax's is our best option. C'mon guys! We're asexual heros! Surely someone has some kind of equipment here! (I'm not always the best at organizing everything, but I do have a certain amount of follow through, and if people seem serious, I'm willing to donate time and effort to what I consider a worthwhile project! :) ) Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 My dad has a video camera, I'd probably be able to use it, although not necessarily if I'm in Baltimore (for school). And if we have only one video camera I'm not sure that would do much good cus everyone would have to go to one spot... Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I say we make it a western. Everyone likes westerns :D Link to post Share on other sites
nemesis Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I also have a digital camera that takes 15 seconds of "film". But, as options go, that's a bad one. I wonder how much better it is to go digital over tape though? I do know that encoding a tape so that it can be edited in premier (or something similar) can take a very long time and have some huge file sizes. And then premier takes hours to save the changes (maybe days at the size of a documentary in good quality). It's an ambitious project you're talking about there. I'm rambling though... got distracted by the technicalities. I'd suggest... posting on a college board somewhere for a media arts student to head the technical side (if no one here can do it). College students work for cheap (and sometimes just for the experiance), plus they have access to their school's equipment. Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 So you're saying that we are going to make money and fortune off a poor struggling college student's work? Sounds good :D Vivre . . . Send me the map of your college, and the building the camera is in. I'm sure I can arrange something Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Maybe we can get goverment backing. They owe me a few favors. hehe. just kidding. My old neighbor use to make movies for a living, if we're serious he could help. Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 25, 2003 Author Share Posted January 25, 2003 I don't know...~I~ am serious but I don't want anyone to feel pressured into anything. I kind of feel that it's inevitable at some point anyway. As the knowledge of asexuality spreads, there will be more websites, books, video documentaries, etc. about it. I'm just thinking that we could get in on the ground floor. And hey - that's not a bad idea about using college students. Maybe they could do it for a homework assignment, and we could use it as a part of Aven..... Maybe it would even be award winning, if the filmmakers were good enough! The best campus for filmmakers is USC. Anyone got any "ins" there? Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 25, 2003 Share Posted January 25, 2003 If I'm in it, it will be award-winning Link to post Share on other sites
AVENguy Posted January 26, 2003 Share Posted January 26, 2003 I actually have quite a few friends at Wesleyan who are film people, they do some pretty impressive work. And we have the film editing labs/etc here on campus to burn everything to DVD, etc. I agree that digital is a much better format, though it seems like there's a certain paucity of digital cameras out there. If we wanted to do it we'd have to have someone (Luisa) begin to plan the structure of the documentary/what everyone would talk about. Luisa, if you could type up in a little more detail what you want to do and how you want to do it I can take it around the Wes film dept and see if anyone's interested. Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 26, 2003 Author Share Posted January 26, 2003 Sounds GREAT, Avenguy! Give me a little bit of time to work things out, and I'll get back to you. As I mentioned on another thread, it's been pretty busy for me lately, but I will get to this as soon as I can. (I don't think it has to be a ~lengthy~ documentary...perhaps a half hour, with maybe an interspersed narration of some of the stuff presented on this site, along with interviews of Genuine, Real, Actual asexual people, either singly or in groups. If we want to expand the concept, we can do a "man on the street" type thing where we ask people at random what, if anything, they think of Asexuality as a concept, and then include the best of it. I've got some ideas, but I think that a shorter film might make our point hit home harder. Not to mention, it's less work for the people who are actually doing the work of filming and editing.) I, for one, would be proud to be associated with a project like this, and am excited about fleshing out the little scenario I just printed above. Can't wait until I get a couple of minutes to work on it. AvenGuy, when I get my act together, is it OK to email you with this info? Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 29, 2003 Author Share Posted January 29, 2003 Just want everyone to know...I'm hard at work on this project. :) Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 29, 2003 Author Share Posted January 29, 2003 BTW... I'm hoping for people to post input on this thread. I've already thought of a lot of the "loopholes" that we might run into, but I'm sure I can't think of them ALL! What are things YOU would like to see included? What questions do you think that we should address, besides simply defining asexuality? (Keep in mind the kinds of questions that people ask, and assumptions that they make about asexuality. We will need to refute beliefs that already exist, such as "there's something medically wrong with you" or "you'll grow out of it" or a whole list of things.) Do you have any GREAT ideas on how to make this documentary interesting and engaging to the (sexual) society at large, who generally don't care about anything if it doesn't directly change their lives? -------------------------------------- I feel that we are "on the edge" of breaking a great knowledge barrier, and that we, literally, you and I, the people of AVEN, are the ones who are among the first to seriously delve into this teritorry, with discussion of TShirts, Documentaries, and Books, not to mention the fact that the AVEN website is so informative. It's a little scary to be "on the crest" of a wave, but it's exciting, too! So...please post all of your ideas, so that the very best documentary can be made! Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites
Gorax Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Something I got more than once is "Oh my God, do you like . . . Screw yourself?" Or "How do you reproduce??" Edit: WOW! You can edit your posts on this new forum :D Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 Yeah I know, that edit feature is the wave of the future :D Seriously though, I think we should get some people that have no idea what asexuality is, tell them the general meaning of it, let them think of some questions they want to ask us, and then tape the interview. That way we would be getting real questions from real people that just found out what asexuality is. Well, okay, they wouldn't have just found out, but you get the idea. Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted January 30, 2003 Author Share Posted January 30, 2003 That's a good idea, Orpheus! Hadn't occurred to me before. Thanks! Everybody keep the good ideas pouring in! (I'll accept some bad ideas, too! ;) ) ---------------------------------- Gorax: "How do you reproduce?" GIMME A BREAK! Next time, look those people straight in the eye, and say, "My people has mastered the art of asexual reproduction, as well as shape-changing and x-ray vision. Right now, we are infiltrating the governments of your puny planet. I MEAN- OH NO!!!" ;D Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 Gees Luisa, you're starting to act more and more like me with each passing day. God I love being influential. :D Link to post Share on other sites
VivreEstEsperer Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Luisa, I'd be interested in that! I totally forget what I was gonna say but sounds awesome. I'm a college student, woohoo, we prob. have audio visual STUFF here but it seems like avenguy knows what hes doing better. I'd love to help you with anything you need help with, just email me, or we could have a conversation on AIM. I think it would be nice to have a bunch of asexual people telling their stories. Kate Link to post Share on other sites
Luisa Posted February 1, 2003 Author Share Posted February 1, 2003 Kate - cool! I am totally open to any and all of your ideas, and would love input, because generally, you get a better product when you get to "kick around ideas" with other people. When I get a chance, I'll email you the work that I've done on the project so far, which are mostly strictly my own ideas. (I have mailed this to AVENGuy, too, but I don't see any reason why NOT to mail it to others who are interested.) Then, we can continue the discussion, as you said, through email or AIM. ----------------------------- Orpheus - so, are you having a positive or negative effect upon me? Hee hee hee! (I have to say, I LIKE the answer about infiltrating the governments! If people are going to treat us like space-aliens, I say we ACT like space-aliens. Or...wait...maybe not...) ;) Link to post Share on other sites
Orpheus Posted February 1, 2003 Share Posted February 1, 2003 Well you an take your pick, but I like to think it's positive. Link to post Share on other sites
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