Christmas Evening Thoughts

It is very late Christmas night and I am the only one awake in the house. At times like this, especially this time of year, it is natural to think of the past.

Reading the comments tonight on a web forum to the posting of a very graphic video from Australia about drunk driving, I thought back to my cub TV reporter days.

In 1980 in Abilene, Texas (United States) I worked as Chief Photographer and Police Reporter for the NBC TV affiliate there, KRBC-TV.

In my short career as a photojournalist up to that point I had covered more than my share of tragic traffic accidents for nightly newscasts.

One particular cold and rainy night I once again got out of a warm bed in the wee hours of the morning after my police scanner announced yet another fatal wreck outside town. I slept with my scanner on in those days. Now, I don't know how I did it.

The accident was caused by a drunk driver. A male driver of the other car - the victim in this crash - was killed. We had a rule not to show graphic film (we shot colour 16mm film back then) of dead bodies. However, this night I deviated from that rule slightly.

I wanted to make a statement about the senselessness of drunk driving. So after shooting all of the usual shots of wrecked cars, car parts strewn along the highway, police and flashing police lights to illustrate the story, I shot one more shot.

It was an extreme close-up of the dead driver's hand, hanging limply out of the shattered window. A small dribble of blood trickled down the back of his hand. I did not show his face or a wide-shot of his body slumped at the wheel.

The story aired at 6 pm the next day and created a firestorm. The local newspaper had a front-page, above-the-fold story about the controversy about this one short 2-3 second film shot in my story. The newspaper and many people in Abilene didn't approve of showing the dead man's hand.

I understood then and still understand their complaint. Looking back some thirty years now it seems like it was such an innocent time then in America compared to what is seen on television today. However, I still believe I did the right thing.

I made my point. Later, the families of the victims of drunk driving accidents thanked me also.

By the way, the drunk driver who caused the accident survived, as so many of them do.

So now through New Year's eve, please don't drive even the least bit tipsy. Your family and those of others will thank you for it.

Merry Christmas.

NOTE: I have linked the Australian DUI public service TV ad here. It is VERY graphic, but so effective in making its lesson clear.

More VAMPIRE DIARIES News

VAMPIRE DIARIES premieres in the UK January 24th, 2010 on ITV2 at 9PM.

Source

Tyler Perry's Mother Dies

Condolences and prayers for Tyler Perry upon news that his mother died this week.

USA Today article

He has been a loyal and caring client over the years and while I cannot call him a close personal friend, I do feel to be a part of his extended family. I am blessed to have my mother and father with us still. I can't imagine how Tyler is grieving right now.

Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

VAMPIRE DIARIES EPK Material Now On-Line

Check out this newly-posted EPK behind-the-scenes video posted on You Tube showing my camera work on the CW Network TV series VAMPIRE DIARIES:

Vampire Diaries EPK video.

Vampire Diaries Poster Art

For you diehard VAMPIRE DIARIES fans this news ...

... new poster art is available now.

VCGTV shot the EPK material for this new hit TV series.

Who Would Have Thunk It?

Interesting article in the New York Times about the increasing popularity of vinyl music albums. Yes. That's what I said. VINYL.

It seems that analog is cool again.

I've never really like digital audio. Now the marketplace is backing me up.

See:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/nyregion/07vinyl.html?ref=technology"

As I've said many times over the years, "It it ain't broke, don't fix it."

And then there's the other old saying: "If it's vinyl, it's final". So true.

Do you see a theme here today? What's old is new again it seems.

Makes you re-think how we view markets, clients and trends, doesn't it?

Did You Know?

I am told that this video presentation was shown to Sony executives last year. I only just learned of it this morning. So apologies if you have seen this, but if you haven't it is well worth a few minutes of your time.

The music is catchy but it is the statistics about the growth of the Internet, technology, learning, information availability and more that will make you think deeply on SO many different levels.

You will read things here that will fundamentally change how you look at the world ... and your business model.

This is an astounding video.

See:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY.

Thanks to my good friend Mark Johnson who alerted me to this.

Atlanta Now A Popular Movie And TV Show Production Center

I'll write more about how Atlanta and north Georgia have become a popular production center for motion pictures and network TV series when I have more time. But I just wanted to post this video link that shows how excited people get when a production comes to town.

This is an amateur home video shot by a young British girl (I'm guessing) who lives near the small town of Senoia south of Atlanta where scenes for Drop Dead Diva were filmed in mid-June 2009. It so happens that The EPK Guys (us) were shooting on set that day as well.

I get so tickled when I see the excitement people have about "Hollywood". Or should I say, in the case of Atlanta, Hollywood on the Hootch (for the Chattahoochee River)? Seeing that excitement is what drives me as I do EPK work. It's so much fun.

VCGTV Creates New Event Videography Division

There is a new division at Versfelt Communications Group, LLC . Atlanta Celebrity Weddings.

VCGTV uses the same creativity and television production technology for wedding, corporate and special event videography as we do for our business, Hollywood and entertainment industry clients.

Whether simply documenting your event on video for posterity or editing that video into a unique and special keepsake, VCGTV can save your memories for future generations unlike any other video production company.

We videotape the following kinds of special events and more:

Corporate events - Grand openings, CEO addresses, special ceremonies, etc.

Picnics, dinners, annual parties, seasonal parties

Weddings

Bridal showers

Bachelor parties

Anniversaries

Birthdays

Bar-Mitzvahs

Bat-Mitzvahs

Bris ceremonies

Christenings

Any and all events that you consider special to your family, friends or organization.

Life is just a documentary waiting to be made. Why not let the experts at VCGTV create the documentary of YOUR special life or business event.

Visit Atlanta Celebrity Weddings here

Mount Wilson Fire And Broadcast History

During the last 24 hours I have been watching closely the large forest fire surrounding Mount Wilson, California, which is north and east of LA with a peak of around 5,700 feet.

In case you don't know, Mount Wilson is home to two significant technological complexes:

Mt. Wilson Observatory and associated astronomy research sites dating back to near the year 1900.

A large collection of TV and radio transmitter and transmitter sites dating back to the beginnings of TV broadcasting in 1939!

This current fire is VERY close to all of this and could have a great impact on astronomy research and broadcasting in the LA area if it reaches the peak of Mount Wilson.

I have discovered some wonderful and detailed web sites tracing the history of Mt. Wilson and the activities there, including amazing pictures. This may well be the location of the largest concentration of television and radio broadcasting towers and associated facilities in the United States, perhaps the world. I'm researching this further.

Here is a link to one of several well-researched and photographed web sites (created by broadcast engineer Scott Fybush and his Northeast Radio News) detailing the broadcasting history of Mount Wilson, California.

Did you know a Packard dealer in Los Angeles built one of the first TV transmitters and towers in the western USA here?

See more ephemera about Mt. Wilson at:

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2004/site-041217.html

http://www.fybush.com/sites/2005/site-051216.html

Here is a link to a large collection of web sites about radio and TV history:

http://www.fybush.com/links.html

Live (updated every two minutes) high definition tower cam on top of Mount Wilson facing toward the tower and transmitter sites. Note the orange glow in the background on the other side of the peak. This is the fire.

http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~obs/towercam.htm

There are houses and apartments for the various broadcast engineers who live on Mt. Wilson in one-week shifts. Apparently, all staff there and at neighboring Mt. Wilson Observatory have been evacuated. The transmitters are being operated and monitored remotely from their respective broadcast studios down in LA.

Link to Mount Wilson web page:

http://www.mtwilson.edu/

Enjoy this fascinating exploration of broadcasting history in the western U.S.

Porter Versfelt III