MEDIA STUDIES > Skip's EZ Production guide
RECOMMENDED CLASSIC VIDEOS for classes
MyHero.com Cinematography How-To Handouts MyHero.com Teacher Training Video
Globalvision Body Shop Video Training Video Skip’s Raw Tape (37:45), Globalvision Edit (14:00) by Danny Schechter
Media Studies videos for media studies Courses
"Interviews with Interviewers...about interviewing" 1985 "Trailer- Mike Wallace" 1:00, Complete program 51:30, "Segment 1" 4:05, "Segment 2" 8:00. TV’s Barbara Walters and Mike Wallace, Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkel, Public Radio’s Susan Stamberg, NYC Police Detective Sean Grennan, and psycho-analyst Joel Kovel are interviewed about curiosity, style, trickery, truth and conversation. Produced during Skip’s John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship year.
"The Channel Market" 1993 6:00 On the festive convention floor, cable TV owners and operators go shopping. Blumberg is an early one-person-crew camera journalist, with a wry editorial report about the cultural shortfall of the "industry" at the end of the twentieth century.
Gil Scott-Heron: "Why the Revolution won’t be televised" 1991 1:10 Didn’t you always want to know?
“Nam June Paik: Lessons from the Video Master” 1986 Featurette 47:15, Bonus Art Video 38:00, “#1 Video Artist” short 8:00
Todd Alcott: “Television” 1992 2:00 Biting sarcastic analysis of the mass medium.
“TV In & TV Out” 1994 3:00 Andy Mann & Skip’s two-channel video art at the U.S. Capitol de-constructs camera, and exhibits the exuberance of using the powerful new portable television recording device.
Documentary Video Classics for History and Studies Courses
TVTV: "4 More Years" 1972 58:00 Quintessential guerrilla video of the Republican National Presidential Convention that re-nominated Nixon after Watergate. Blumberg's non-interview with CBS correspondent Roger Mudd is iconic. And Skip is harassed by security for playing his harmonica on the convention floor.
Jane Aaron & Skip Blumberg: "When I was a Worker Like LaVerne" 1974 29:30 Preview: 1:41 A tour of the one of the world’s longest conveyor belt systems culminates in a confrontation between worker and boss. A real-time half-hour TV show composed of 21 long clips recorded on black & white open-reel videotape portapak when coverage with the brand new medium of process, personality and social interactions was peaking.
"Pick Up Your Feet: the Double Dutch Show" 1982 29:00 "Trailer - Tigers" 1:36 “Its overwhelmingly upbeat impact is a result of not only the remarkable young jumpers but because of Blumberg’s unique documentary style.” - Deirdre Boyle (Video Classics); Museum of Broadcasting’s TV Critics Favorite Shows of All-Time; A documentary video classic.
"Flying Morning Glory (on fire)" 1985 4:00 A zany hot cooking/performance video in Thailand. “A perfect video.” ~ NY Documentary Film and Video Festival.
Disarmament Survey Committee: "Disarmament Video Survey" 1988 29:15 Color and B&W Gathered by 60 early indy video crews around the world as an early crowd-sourced and activist video, these are the most insightful and provocative (with Bella Abzug, Chaka Khan, Joseph Papp, James Taylor & 30 others) of more than 3000 interviews. Initiated & directed by Skip Blumberg with Karen Ranucci, DeeDee Halleck and Wendy Clarke. Screened 24 hours/day on Manhattan cable TV during the 1988 United Nations Disarmament Conference, in community centers with discussions, and as a 5-channel installation at JFK Center for Performing Arts (Washington DC).
Jenny Raskin & Jon Nealon with Videofreex footage: "Here Come the Videofreex" 2015 72:00 Documentary feature about the infamous video production group in the utopian 1970s from Soho NYC to their pirate TV station in the Catkill Mountains. "Critics Choice" - Village Voice.
ART VIDEO CLASSICS FOR EXPERIMENTAL FILM AND VIDEO PRODUCTION AND STUDIES COURSES
'Videofreex Pirate TV Show" 1969 - 78 64-minute variety show of 44 shorts and excerpts by the infamous video production group’s innovative black & white videos.
"JGLNG (pronounced "juggling")" 1975 5:25 This high contrast analysis of the act of juggling is an early art video. Experimental doc.
"City Beat" 1980 / 2010 7:15 3-channel art video (recently restored and combined on one screen). The repetition of urban action becomes a symphony of rhythms, leading to cacophony and back. Produced with 12 local video artists at Intermedia Arts, Minneapolis. Installation in the Crystal Court of the IDS Center – the skyscraper seenon screen – as well as Museum of Modern Art and others.
"Get Wet: the Synchro Swim Scratch Video" 1988 4:55 A catalog of early analog movie magic effects made possible by the introduction of the time base corrector and dynamic tracking.
Ant Farm: "Media Burn" 1975 23:15 A 4th of July spectacle in which the Phantom Dream Car crashes through a wall of burning TVs, with a speech by the Artist-President. A monumental performance art event produced by Ant Farm and TR Uthco. Documented by a crew of Bay Area indy videomakers including visiting Videofreex; edited by Ant Farm and Videofreex including Skip Blumberg.
