Our Reception Area

For the past six months, I’ve been working on the creation and launch of Online.tv:

Online.tv is a complete digital video solution provider for the web video era. Online.tv combines the world’s largest network of online specialty HD video channels, online third party video super-distribution, advanced scalable technology solutions for video and content delivery and presentation, and a high performance production studio optimized for web production.

Studio A - soon to be the green screen studio

Part of this project for the past few months has been the finding, designing and building out of a 3000 square foot production studio, that includes two full HD shoot studios (15×33), one designated as a permanent green screen studio (with option to be a blue screen studio), the other a white cyc that can be adapted to any color/purpose. The studios are lit by cool lights purchased from Alzo Digital, that are 5500k soft box units - they stay cool, look great, use less energy, which is important these days.

You can see a tour of the space here.

Much, much more to come.  Stayed tuned to be amazed…

Peace,
Melissa

IDTag.com Web Commercial

Images from Online.tv Stock Video shoot

So I’ve been super busy lately. Lots of great stuff to report, including a commercial for IDTag.com; and lots of great productions coming out of my new venture, Online.tv. More to tell about Online.tv once the summer rolls around and we launch. Until then, keep an eye out for happy hints dropped here.

The new clips will be on my reel shortly!

Peace,
Melissa

Why we are all here…

Peace & Much Love,
Melissa

I am thrilled to announce that a film I was Director of Photography for, “Mandatory Service”, received the award for BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival:

http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/filmguide/Mandatory_Service.html

About the film:

The cultural impact of the militarization of Israeli society has both challenged and stifled the cultivation of creativity in the country. Mandatory Service asks a series of often ignored yet important questions about how forced military service-and resistance to it-influences Israeli artists’ and activists’ efforts to re-civilize the consciousness of Israeli society.

I shot this film at a pivotal time in my development as a filmmaker, and the opportunity to shoot on such a powerful topic was life changing. Not to mention being able to shoot out of a doorless helicopter over the desert, Masada and the Dead Sea!

Much thanks and love to the director and producer of the film, Jessica Habie & Nirah Shirazipour.

Peace,
Melissa

Gregg LeFevre & Andrea Grant

I shot the pilot for Art Seen this past Saturday, with host Andrea Grant and guest Gregg LeFevre.  Gregg is a public works bronze artist and urban textures photographer, focusing on the decaying billboards around the city.

I’ll have more updates soon about the new Online.tv venture I’m a part of, with exciting invitations to participate!

Peace,
Melissa

Two more pieces about the 2008 election are now online on the Huffington Post.  Check them out here!

Peace,
Melissa

Festival Founders rock out with their docs out!

I shot press stills and interviews for the Cinema Eye Awards - the first awards show totally for documentaries. Sponsored by IndiePix, the event was a raging success, and really inspired me as a documentary filmmaker. It had me fired up to keep going, and to know that a room full of great minds knew my personal pain and joy deeply. We all share this bug, this nagging desire to communicate meaningfully.

“Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)” winners!

The big winners of the night were the crew of “Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)” - they won for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Filmmaking, Outstanding Achievement in Editing and Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography.

presenter Barbara Kopple

Lots of documentary greats in the house - presenters included Barbara Kopple, Alan Berliner, Alex Gibney…it was incredible to be face to face, shooting these folks and hearing them speak from their hearts about documentary filmmaking.

the Eyes…

This was the first year, hopefully of many more years to come! Check out the pix soon to be uploaded in the photography section.

Peace,
Melissa

The Art & Apathy Project was selected for inclusion in the next Tribeca Film Festival. Directed by Jessica Habie, this film addresses the militarized conditions artists struggle to create under in Israel and Palestine, and the complexities of occupations. I was one of the DPs for this project, and it was my great honor to help bring this conversation to Western audiences. Please check out the site and join in the dialogue:

http://www.artandapathyfilms.com

Peace,
Melissa
Multo.com

A piece I directed, edited by Vince Wallace, was picked up by The Huffington Post.  Featured on the front page, you can see the full article here.

Peace,
Melissa

I think it not improbable that man, like the grub that prepares a chamber for the winged thing it never has seen but is to be - that man may have cosmic destinies that he does not understand. And so beyond the vision of battling races and an impoverished earth, I catch a dreaming glimpse of peace.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

This is a piece we’re developing for UrbNews.tv.

Check it out!

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Obama Who? [3:37m]: Play Now | Download (200)

Multo.com is currently editing a short dance film featuring The Vintage DJ and his dancers.  There are a series of great stills up on the Multo.com photo page up now!

Stay tuned for the edit!

Peace,
Melissa

Broadway.tv is up and running!  Please check out the features and reviews.  The video production was done by Multo.com.

Peace,
Melissa

The Art of Love and Struggle will be screening at the Pan African Arts and Film Festival 02/11/2008 - 1:10pm, 02/13/2008 - 10:20pm, in Los Angeles, at the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15, 4020 Marlton Avenue.

Purchase tickets here!

Please do come out and support this fantastic film, which was a huge labor of love, celebrating these women and their struggle to make art.

Peace,
Melissa

Check out the three most hilarious videos of the past month for me:

The Landlord - A MUST SEE!!!

Which one of these is not like the others? And why does that make it EVEN FUNNIER?!?!?!

Peace,

Melissa

Smokifantastic dancing away…

Great news!  For those of you interested in purchasing the beautiful and moving documentary, The Art of Love & Struggle, you can now get it at Film Baby!

This was an absolute labor of love, between director Jessica Habie and I. We slaved into the wee hours to get this in the can and we were thrilled with the result.

Please scoop up your copy today!

Peace,
Melissa

Lizzie White looking down on the good work…

Great news! Updates on the progress of MHB on the festival circuit! MHB was accepted to the Independents Film Festival and the Gloria Film Festival this past fall. Nancy O’Mallon was a great director to work with and the result of our joint efforts continues to bear sweet fruit.

Peace,
Melissa

Featured Video on Gravel Site

The spots I directed and edited are getting great feedback online. From the reviews of viewers, to the amount of views on YouTube.com, the spots seem to have hit a nerve. They are also currently being broadcast in New Hampshire on WMUR and MCAM. And one of the spots is featured on Gravel’s website front page, helping bolster views well over the 2800 mark in under a week.

Peace,
Melissa

My lens and me…

I was planning to head out to Pittsburg for NYE, but I’m all blocked up, and a 6 hour train ride would do me no good right now.  So happy new year from my cozy chair, soy cocoa in hand.

Peace,
Melissa

I recently did several spots about Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel. Check out more of them on YouTube.com!

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Mike Gravel 30 Sec Spot 2 [0:31m]: Play Now | Download (207)

I’m working hard on the first pieces of video for the new site Broadway.tv.  Its going to be a fantastic resource, full of reviews, interviews and entertaining pieces on the people who make Broadway tick.

I’ll have a link up when the site launches, later this month.

Peace,
Melissa

I will be in Atlanta next week for the Hip Hop Awards and Conference.  I’ll be shooting with Misty and Vince, as we cover events and do interviews on the 2008 election, the state of Hip Hop and issues with the Anti-Snitching movement.

Look for me on the red carpet Friday night!

Peace,
Melissa

Check out this short sample of animated backdrops for an upcoming tour.  Can’t say who its for yet…but check back to see who I’m on tour with this December!

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Tour Sample [2:56m]: Play Now | Download (393)

Here is the updated trailer for “The Art of Love & Struggle”.

Enjoy!
Melissa

 

 The Art of Love & Struggle Trailer [3:00m]: Play Now | Download (343)

Does this strike include a call to independents?

Dear WGA:

As a freelance writer, who has been so for years, but not a member of your organization, I sympathize deeply with your members.  We in the independent world, particularly in internet content producing, work more with corporate bodies who have little experience in production, and little understanding of the costs or process.   Or we work on low budget productions, skewed more and more toward direct to DVD or internet broadcasting, where you are simply a gun for hire.  I cannot speak for my fellow independents and internet video makers, however I sincerely hope you will invite and include us in the fight, and in the union.

Rallying around the issue affects all of us, however, I believe that for the union to be truly powerful, it should also embrace the independent more inclusively.  The process and cost to get into any entertainment union is prohibitive to many independents, particularly documentary makers, and exclusion has turned a worker’s concept into an access-only club.   The ability to produce quality media no longer meets a pay scale rate allowing for a new media maker to afford both rent and dues.  Can these rates be more accessible to independents?  Can the initiation fee be more realistic to our times?  Can the concept of “writer” be broadened to include webisodes, podcasts, blogs and even code?  Can this concept also be embraced by the other unions, to understand that now an online content producer may do all roles professionally - write, direct, shoot, edit and stream?  Perhaps now is a time for the WGA to revisit what they see themselves as, and who they include in their mission.

For the ability of the many independents has grown exponentially in this digital age and talent is everywhere.  To harness that talent now would be a progressive action for the union to do, as the majors most certainly will, and probably already have, with contests like “America’s Next Producer”, “The Lot”, etc.  We independents need you to help us get the same rights, and you need us for numbers and solidarity with your cause.  This is not a threat but a call for inclusion.  Unions originally formed to protect the many poor laborers in this country, not just the ones who could afford entry.  Unions traditionally get their strength from the proletariat.  WGA, get yours now from the digital proles.

We are here, with you, ready to stand in solidarity.

Best,
Melissa Ulto
Independent Content Producer
Multo.com

Check out this trailer I edited for a fledgling project.  Not sure if the project itself is still happening, but the trailer I directed, animated and edited still stands up!

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Hip Hop For President Trailer [3:07m]: Play Now | Download (312)

I burn DVDs regularly from projects built in FCP, and have been doing this since the first version of FCP. DVD Studio Pro has its issues, but they are workable - the DVDs I build for clients - art installations, documentary rough cut reviews, screeners and video wallpaper - require the best out of the MPEG 2 codec. A recent project for an installation of 4 concurrently running DVDs had me testing codecs and encoders to get the best image from text and stills. Granted, the designers are print designers, and forgot the basics about images and text on video - keep it a fat font, keep on whole numbers for the x/y plane, keep it above 24 points, make sure its not WHITE white, use a keyline if you can, or deal with the faded edges versus jagged, pixelated ones. So I had work with InDesign Interchange documents, export as high res print PDF, import back into CS3’s Photoshop, exported several ways - high res JPEG, high res PNG, and finally, (what worked the best) Quicktime MOV files, using the animation codec setting.

(deep breath…slug back a coffee…sigh deeply, and…)

I then imported the files into FCP6, set the sequence codec to match (animation), and viola - tiny text that is readable when projected on a huge screen. At least according to my NTSC monitor. (more…)

This is a piece I did a few years ago - Tabla Animated - for an installation at the Chelsea Market Gallery.

Enjoy,
Melissa

 

 Miixxy - Table Animated [6:24m]: Play Now | Download (430)

Its official - I have signed on to do the sequel to “Death Before Dishonor”, as editor and writer. These days, the editor role in my case usually means heavy story direction. I am truly excited to be doing this project, as a rebuttal to our first film on the topic. I am working with Rich Murray again, of Invincible Pictures, and we are baggage free this time around.

If you are interested in being interviewed for this documentary, please do contact me at multo@multo.com.

Exciting things ahead! Stay tuned!

Peace,
Melissa

Screen shot from Nielsen CGM Summit Video

Today, I completed a video for the opening of the CGM Summit, to be shown later this week in NYC.  Check out the “Filmmaker” section of my site to see the completed cut.  It’s hot and flashy.

Peace,
Melissa

Warner Brothers Boycott

According to Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily, Warner Brothers president Jeff Robinov is no longer interested in seeing any scripts with a female in the lead. Nikki’s sources are several insider producers, who relayed to her “the official policy as expressly articulated by Robinov is that a male has to be the lead of every pic made. I’m told he doesn’t even want to see a script with a woman in the primary position (which now is apparently missionary at WB).”

This supposedly is a knee jerk reaction by Robinov to the weak box office showing of The Brave One and The Invasion. But in review of the films with female leads put out by Warner Brothers in the last few years, there few to none. Lots of damsels in distress - Lady In The Water, Gothika, The Fountain. From 2000 to 2006, the list of films that have solely strong female leads are 2 - Catwoman, Charlotte Gray. That’s literally shameful.

It is clearly time for a female headed production studio. Our stories are not being considered, or being told mindfully and with respect. Studios focus on the biggest bang for their buck, going for the lowest common traits in us all. Instead, studios should be looking at the multiplicity of voices across the globe, male and female, and allow for artists to make smaller films that celebrate the diversity of talent and content available. Smaller productions, with better quality and mindful of its impact on our collective voice, will in the long run, be much more profitable than these huge gambles on massive features that do not uplift or engage the viewer in a meaningful way. Mass media’s goal should not be the homogenization of thought or art, and in pursuing this vigorously, they have succeeded in putting their own heads fully up their own asses, otherwise known as box office disasters.

Gloria Alred, when reached by Nikki for comment, released this statement:

“If that’s what he said, when movies with men as the lead fail, no one says we’ll stop making movies with men in the lead. This is an insult to all moviegoers and particularly women. It is truly unfortunate that women get blamed for decisions which are made by men. Instead of taking responsibility for their own lack of judgment about which scripts to make, directors to hire and budgets to OK, some men in the movie industry find it easier to place blame for their lack of success on women leads and to exclude talented female actors from the top employment opportunities in Hollywood in favor of macho males. If that studio confirms that their policy is to now exclude women as leads, then my policy would be to boycott films made by Warner Bros.”

Keep watch on SheStory.tv to monitor the boycott of Warner Brothers and any production company that works with them. Thanks to IMDB, keeping up-to-date on who is working with WB won’t be too hard.

Peace,
Melissa

Check another great piece from the DVD of videos I shot and edited for the fabulous Andrea Grant. Her spoken word hits you and flattens you, in a very efficient fashion. Check out more of her work at Copious Amounts Press.

Peace,
Melissa

Check out this swell video I shot and edited for the fabulous Andrea Grant, a couple of years back. Check her out at Copious Amounts Press.

Peace,
Melissa

Woof Wan-Bau’s “Watermelon Love”

As a vegan, I love watermelon. I loved watermelon since I was a little girl, but now I can eat it endlessly and with utter abandon.  “Watermelon Love” by Woof Wan-Bau illustrates this sweet fruit so well, with a seductive and giggly main character I find very cute.

Yummy, sweet, juicy and red.  What’s not to love?

Peace,
Melissa

Here is a piece created for the Tolerance Park Project, which seeks to create a park on Governor’s Island.

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Tolerance Park Project [4:29m]: Play Now | Download (412)

Me in the sunshine…

I’ve got a new reel page up, so check out updated samples of my work in documentaries, shorts, trailers and promos.

Peace,
Melissa

I created two versions of a Mandala video art experiment.  One is the entire color spectrum, the other is created of hues of love - pink, gold and white.  Still wondering which version is more interesting.

Let me know what YOU think.  Bonus points if you can identify the song used to animate the Mandalas by.

Peace,
Melissa

 

 Rainbow Mandala FULL [0:40m]: Play Now | Download (419)

 

 Rainbow Mandala P/Y/W [0:40m]: Play Now | Download (279)

Here is the rough and ready, cool and sassy 30th Anniversary video I created with Tish and Snooky for Manic Panic!

Peace,
Melissa

Snooky and Tish

I had the honor of working with Tish and Snooky of Manic Panic on a video piece for their 30th Anniversary event this past weekend at Fontana’s.  The result was a fantastic piece of video that spans their DYI career in cosmetics and Punk Rock!

Egg Cream Toast

The evening started off at the old St. Marks location - for an egg cream toast.  Yummy! (more…)

Joan Jett on the Hudson River

Last week, Joan Jett rocked Pier 54 on the river, in steamy rain and cracking thunder. She was hot and sweet and hard and incredible. Video clip to be online soon!

Peace,
Melissa