Peter's Posterous

Peter's Posterous

Peter Jiang  //  Professional amateur.

 
Mar 8 / 6:48pm

Upcoming SXSW Events feat. Students from my High School

Connally students who are involved in video technology &/or the Connally Digital Media Club will be participating in all these events! We are inviting you to come out and show your support!

5th Annual SXSW Film Youth M.A.F.I.A. Day Film Festival
Saturday, March 13, 2010 @ 10:00 A.M. - Sunday, March 14, 2010 @ 10:00 A.M.
John B. Connally High School
Students from all over central Texas will participate in this twenty-four filmmaking frenzy sponsored by SXSW and The Austin School of Film. This includes about twenty-two Connally High School students. They will form groups of four that will have twenty-four hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film. All films will be screened at a special screening at the SXSW Film Festival (For information about the screening, see the next page).

DIY 3D Workshop for Youth
Saturday, March 13, 2010 from 10:00 A.M. - 3:00 P.M.
Washington Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina Street, Austin, Texas 78702
This is a free workshop for students ages 11-18. Participants will learn about 3D image making. They will turn their artistic visions into dioramas that will be presented as a 3D slide show on the big screen. Finished work will be shown at the Austin Convention Center during the SXSW Film Festival.    Connally High School will have some students participating in this workshop.

The Apple Store @ Barton Creek presents Meet The Filmmaker: Emmett Malloy, “The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights of Ninja”.
Saturday, March 13, 2010 @ 3:00 P.M. - 4:00 P.M.
The Apple Store @ Barton Creek Mall - Austin
Join filmmaker, Emmett Malloy as he discusses his new film.    The film follows Jack & Meg White as they tour every province and territory in Canada. The film about the bandʼs 2007 tour, shot mostly in black & white, offers audiences an intimacy thatʼs not usually seen under the media spotlight.    For more information visit the apple website at www.apple.com/retail/bartoncreek/

SXSW Film Festival: Texas High School Shorts World Premiere of Connally Student Film:
The Game of Ninja by Peter Jiang
Saturday, March 13, 2010 @ 5:00 P.M.
Washington Carver Museum, 1165 Angelina Street, Austin, Texas 78702
A preview of the next filmmaking generation, as Texas High Schoolers present shorts of five minutes or less. Connally High School student, Peter Jiang, will be premiering his short film, and he will be in attendance at the Carver Museum screening. For more information visit the SXSW website at: http://my.sxsw.com/search/event_results?q=peter+jiang

SXSW Film Festival: Cine Joven Film Showcase
Sunday, March 14, 2010 @ 12:00 P.M. & Monday, March 15, 2010 @ 2:00 P.M.
The Hideout, 617 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701
The following Connally students will have their short films screened at a special screening for the Austin School of Film at the SXSW Film Festival: Sofia Castellanos, Ulyses Castellanos, Flor Denova, lrving Juarez, & Johnny Olvera. These students participated in a filmmaking class, Cine Joven - Filmmaking in Spanish, taught by Humberto A. Pérez. The theme of their films revolve around, “What is your impossible?” For more information visit the SXSW website at: http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/5937

The Show Your Reel Awards Show
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 from 3:00 P.M. - 6 P.M.
GSD&M Idea City, 828 W. 6th Street, Austin, Texas
The Show Your Reel Awards presented by the Media Diversity Council recognizes high school students competing in the Show Your Reel 2010 Portfolio Contest.    Students in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas toured media facilities and developed professionally reviewed portfolios as they compete for scholarships, special prizes and intern opportunities.    Connally High School students who competed in this contest await to see if they are this yearʼs winners.    In addition, attendees will receive a tour of the GSD&M facilities.    For more information and a schedule of events, visit the Media Xperiments website at: http://www.mediaxperiments.com/events/show-your-reel-awards-media

5th Annual SXSW Film Youth M.A.F.I.A. Day & DIY 3D Workshop for Youth Screening
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 @ 11:30 A.M.
The Austin Convention Center: G-Tech
Students from all over central Texas who participated in the twenty-four filmmaking frenzy & the DIY 3D Workshop for Youth sponsored by SXSW and The Austin School of Film will have their films screened.    Students had twenty-four hours to write, shoot, and edit a short film. The 3D workshop gave students an opportunity to learn about 3D image making, as well as an opportunity to produce their own 3D diorama. For more information visit the SXSW website at: http://my.sxsw.com/events/eid/8785

SXSW Film Festival: Texas High School Shorts Connally Student Film: The Game of Ninja by Peter Jiang
Saturday, March 20, 2010 @ 11:30 A.M.
The Alamo Drafthouse - Lamar, Austin, Texas
A preview of the next filmmaking generation, as Texas High Schoolers present shorts of five minutes or less. Connally High School student, Peter Jiang, will be premiering his short film, The Game of Ninja. For more information visit the SXSW website at: http://my.sxsw.com/search/event_results?q=peter+jiang

"Safety and peace, my friend."
Peter Jiang / 江嘉辉 from Austin, TX

 
Feb 23 / 6:20pm

Snow in Austin

The last time I saw snow in Austin was at least over 12 years ago. Today, February 23rd, it snowed in Austin, TX. We halted production for our class film to play in the snow and came out with the following video at the end of the day. It was extremely cold and I could barely feel my fingers since I didn't think to bring my gloves!



"Safety and peace, my friend."
Peter Jiang / 江嘉辉 from Austin, TX
 
Feb 18 / 5:40pm

The Game of Ninja @ SXSW

About three months ago, there were three students making short films to be entered in SXSW's Texas High School Short competition. Two of them were your very own AdYouth/Media Proteges, Christian Nelson, and myself, Peter Jiang.

Last week, I received an email regarded my short documentary film, The Game of Ninja. According to this particular email, The Game of Ninja has been selected to be screened at South-by-Southwest (SXSW) as part of the Texas High School Shorts competition! Although Christian's film, 'Paradox of the Intellect,' was unfortunately not selected for screening, this is exciting news for us since The Game of Ninja is 1 out of 19 short films by high schoolers across the state being screened at the huge festival. And I say 'us' because Christian composed an instrumental track that's featured in the short. In addition, I receive a complimentary film badge to attend and participate in film-related activities at SXSW.

The Game of Ninja is a short documentary film about a game we played at my school. Like the title states, the name of the game is "Ninja." The short covers how the students featured in the video came about Ninja, and how to play it.

If you're coming to SXSW and plan on seeing my film, you can see it with a lot of other great high school shorts (which I'm sure they are) at the Carver Museum at 5:00PM on Saturday, March 30th (http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/2201), and at the Alamo Drafthouse on Lamar at 11:30AM on Saturday, March 20th (http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/6521).

"Safety and peace, my friend."
Peter Jiang / 江嘉辉 from Austin, TX

 
Jan 31 / 1:43pm

The Podcast Novel

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One night a few months ago I discovered something interesting on the Zune marketplace under the podcast section. It's not something new in the strictest sense, but the idea was completely foreign to me, much like how one discovered the magic of instant messaging. I found a series called "How to Succeed in Evil," by Patrick E. McLean, a podcast novel. (You can check out this novel's website here: http://succeedinevil.com/ )

What is a podcast novel? That's what I wondered, but since all its chapters were FREE downloads, what's wrong with checking it out? As it turns out, a podcast novel is simply an audiobook with chapters released in a serialized format. In other words, it combines the concept of a podcast and an audiobook (consequently called a podiobook). Some authors/narrators use sound effects, others don't. I listened to "How to Succeed in Evil" while working much like how people usually listen to music on their mp3 player. When I finished the story three weeks later, I hungered for more. 

The 2nd half of the episodes released also had a plea from the co-founder of podiobooks.com, Evo Terra, to buy J.C. Hutchins' "7th Son: Descent," which was originally a techno-thriller podiobook, but has been released IN PRINT due to its popularity as a podiobook. Being a sucker for "related goods," I proceeded to check this "novel" out. The very first line of this book: "The president of the United States is dead. He was murdered in the morning sunlight by a four-year-old boy..." How can that NOT hook you?

As it turns out, the concept of a podcast novel has been around since 2005, when Scott Sigler released "EarthCore" as the "first podcast-only novel," which had over 10,000 subscribers. Since then, Sigler was able to get many of his novels to be released in print (I myself ordered my copy of "Infected" and "Contagious"). If you haven't listened to a podiobook yet, go ahead and check them out. Since Scott Sigler released "EarthCore" in 2005, there have been many authors/podcasters that began releasing their own podcast novels. There are many available in different genres on podiobooks.com, the Zune marketplace, or the iTunes store, many of which are free to download and listen to.

If you're also into sci-fi stuff like myself, I suggest to listen to 7th Son: Descent by JC Hutchins and Infected by Scott Sigler. You can check them out at their sites, http://jchutchins.net and http://scottsigler.net.

This is a prime example of new media technology being used in today's world. Scott Sigler himself even uses social media to keep up with his fan base (I was even sent a few direct messages to my surprise over Twitter from him). Hopefully I've opened up your eyes to another form of media and I hope you'll participate as a listener in this movement.

"Safety and peace, my friend."
Peter Jiang / 江嘉辉 from Austin, TX
 
Jan 25 / 9:33am

Lessons to be Learned

Last night, I could've been injured. Or even worse, I could've been dead.

My aunt Wilma(name changed) has horrible driving skills...  She doesn't stay in the lane, she doesn't use her turn signals, she goes 10 miles over the speed limit... There have been many times I hoped a patrol car would pull her over so she could be reminded to drive safely. Granted, this is a forty-fifty something year old immigrant from Vietnam that barely spoke enough English to get a job at H-E-B, but that doesn't give her an excuse to drive recklessly, and even put my (and by extension, my cousins, her children's) life(lives) at risk. In contrast, my driving skills may be inexperienced, but I always try to stay under the speed limit, stay in my lane, and actually use my turn signals. Despite this huge difference in my aunt's and my driving attitudes, I didn't think too much of it until after this event happened last night.

She was driving us home when we came up on an intersection. The light was green but since we were turning left, the "yield when green" direction should've been applied. Two things were of concern here: the oncoming truck from the other side of the light (also green), and the left turn signal that my aunt didn't use. So when my aunt decides to turn left, the oncoming truck could've been hit on the side. She hit the brakes. My eyes widened. The truck swerved right and stopped. A man got out of the passenger seat of the truck all angry-like. My aunt rolls down the window to apologize but it didn't help the situation that she laughed as she did so. 

In her defense, she probably didn't mean to act like a... well, a bee with an itch. She was probably just trying to make light of the situation: an accident could've happened but it didn't (thank the Powers That Be). Regardless, the passengers in the other vehicle had a right to be furious and were completely justified, which I was okay with until the man got a look at my aunt after she spoke.

"Oh, typical that you're Asian too!"

I don't want to paint the people in the other vehicle in a bad light since I truly believe they're the victims here, but even though I wasn't driving, that comment, whether it was just fueled by anger or genuine prejudice, hurt me (even though I don't think my aunt understood what he meant). 

My aunt said her apology. Both vehicles were fine. All passengers were okay. And even though I may be making a big deal out of something small, I truly believe there's some lessons to be learned here...

1) Words do hurt. "Sticks and stones" is just a mantra for Elementary kids who need to toughen up after being teased. 
2) Follow the laws and rules of the road. They're not there to make criminals out of you, they're there to protect you and other drivers on the road. When you don't communicate with your turn signals, people don't know where you're going and you're putting lives at risk.
3) (And perhaps the one I'm most at fault with) If you're riding with a reckless driver, speak up. The worst thing you can do is doing nothing when something could've been done to prevent events like this (or worse).

"Safety and peace, my friends."
Peter Jiang / 江嘉辉 from Austin, TX
 
Oct 26 / 5:43pm

Stress

Applying for college can be more stressful then it should be if you have your mother breathing down your back nearly every day. Maybe I should apply for on-campus housing. More money, yes, but if I can just get away from my mother, I think I'd be living with a little less stress in the home environment. I need to learn to be more independent instead of depending on parents for stuff. Maybe I can get a part time job.

Oh and DJ Hero comes out tonight. I'm not getting it but I imagine it'd be pretty fun. A friend who works at GameStop said he's gonna get two turntable controllers so peeps can go head to head.

 
Oct 8 / 9:59pm

Still Life of Iris

My school's theatre troupe performed their last show of Still Life with Iris tonight. The directors asked me to film it for them so that they could get it on DVD. As a videographer and a friend of many students in theatre, I took on the task of filming it tonight with two other cameras being manned and a sound recorder at the front of the stage (you may see it as the long black stick sticking up on the edge of the stage).

I recorded some bonus features that may or may not show up on the DVD, depending on the space we need to use (the play's 2 hours long). I may have to just upload the bonus features online on YouTube or Vimeo. The DVD will be on sale when I finish the editing and say: "'BAM!,' said the lady."

I may have to get other people to help me edit it as well.
 
Sep 29 / 9:37pm

LEAKED Photos from the Set of Tribe 17: Ep. 2

Some photos I took during the filming of "Who Started This?" Of course I say LEAKED but I only put that there to get some attention. ;) I took some videos too but I don't know how they'll show up here unless I edit em all together later. It'll probably be titled, "Behind the Scenes of 'Who Started This?': CAMERA PHONE EDITION" or something.

I had a lot of fun helping film this. I didn't end up directing but I did get to help out as a grip and doing some extra work at the end. I also helped pack up (I needed a ride home and it's the least I could do... other then being on set most of the day). Lots of physical activity so my body ended up being sore. I spent the next day on my 360 though.

You can watch the first episode of Tribe 17, "Running Boy," at http://altheacapra.com or http://www.youtube.com/user/AltheaCapraMusic

(download)

Sorry for the pics that were supposed to be landscaped and ended up being... right side up. You can look at the pictures as they're meant to be on my Facebook, though.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=148450&id=713073823&l=921ad76a98

 
Sep 23 / 10:11pm

Yes, it's been a month

Since the last update but what that means is a bunch more updates on what I've been doing, yeah? A couple of things in this past month... We'll start with the most recent. (This will kind of sound like shameless advertising for each thing I did)

Connally High School's branch of the National Art Honor Society had its first meeting of '09-'10 today. Our members do art-related community service and hopefully I'm doing an okay job of being president so far. I think I made the mistake of forgetting who our officers are... but I'm being optimistic and hope that people will stick with the program. Doing community service can't be that bad when it's ART RELATED.

Even though I'm the president of an art type club, I am a very busy person. A friend of mine asked me to work with her on a music video. She has this whole idea of having a web series that take the form of music videos where stories are being told by her music and I've been invited to direct the second video. You can check out her site at http://altheacapra.com. The song we'll be working with this Saturday to film is "Who Started This," a jazzy-type song that I happen to dig. I've posted the first webisode and I hope you guys like it as much I as do.

Speaking of videos and... things related to videos, we've launched the Connally Digital Media Club, which I'm also the president of. It's running smoothly though the officers still need to crack down on getting jobs clients would like us to do for our members to work on (and what this would mean is revenue). If you're reading this blog, you can check out the club's posterous at http://connallydmc.posterous.com. So far, activities as a club would include learning about professional software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash. We had a movie night where we went to see 500 Days of Summer (which was an amazing movie, btw).

And if that wasn't fun enough, the previous weekend before last weekend (when we went to see 500 Days of Summer) I was invited by another friend named Ben to one of his band's shows. The band, Space Thief, is pretty awesome. I should know. I recorded the videos on their youtube that weekend. Their music is said to sound a lot like Incubus, The Police, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. And let me tell you something, I dig it. You guys keep it going! Check out their stuff at: http://myspace.com/spacethief and http://youtube.com/thespacethief. Once they give me a copy of their CD and I get more footage, I might actually make a music video for them.

That's all I can remember doing in the past month. I've been working on a script for a comedy short called Intervention, which I'm planning to fully produce soon after hopefully getting some funding. I'm planning on holding auditions for roles of six people: two of which are extras and the other four which are of the high school/college age (three guys, one chick). Once I get it going, I can put up an ad here.

So until next time!
 
Aug 29 / 12:16am

Looking at some downtime for the weekend

Unfortunately, I have a lot of reading to do. Schoolwork is not really fun, even if I do try to shift my mind into that "reading for fun" mindset... ESPECIALLY when it comes to a social studies textbook I find very unnecessarily wordy. If I wanted examples, I would've asked. Also kind of sucks if you're going to assign work along with the reading because that would only reinforce the idea that I'm not reading for pleasure, but reading for... well, work. No wonder why the number of books I've been reading declined over my middle school and high school years.

However, I don't think I have any video-related work right now other then researching Commedia... something. Commedia de'll Arte (I think is how it's spelled) some 15th century Italian theatre art form that I don't know exactly how is it going to translate realistically onto film. Need to do it if I want to participate in the Texas Thespian Short Film contest. I don't think I'll have any legitimate work until Tuesday.

In other news, I played 1 vs. 100 for the first time on Xbox Live (Felicia Day was a guest on the show). Pretty fun, but since I'm not 18 (I decided to go the "honest" way to register for Xbox Live Gold), I couldn't have the opportunity to win prizes as The One or The Mob. I, a 17 year old kid with no job or steady income, would very much like to win possibly 1700 microsoft points on a game show. Yeah, I have to wait a few more months until I turn 18, but what about all the other kids who have been honest about their age?

Somehow, I don't feel rewarded for our honesty. Can't download the good game stuff, which are usually rated M. It's total BS because the ERSB is okay with 17 year olds buying rated M stuff (if they have an ID), so why isn't it okay with Microsoft? I can't download any of the demos I'd like to try out before seeing if I want to buy the full game (i.e. WET, X-men Origins: Wolverine).

Microsoft, I feel cheated and unrewarded for my honesty, where my gamer friends (who I will not mention here) were not honest about their age during their gamertag registration. And although you're probably never going to read this, I just want others to know that I am very disgruntled about this.