Manifesto for CCTV Filmmakers

Filmmakers render aspects of nature, human activity and imagination visible. The documentary film continues to be a potent form in all its variety, from the personal video diary to “objective” fly-on-the-wall shoots, to the hybrid fact/fiction (“faction”) film. But the most prolific documentarists are no longer to be found in film schools and TV stations. In some European and American cities, every street corner is under constant surveillance using recording closed-circuit TV (CCTV) cameras. Such cameras are typically operated by local government, police, private security firms, large corporations, small businesses and private individuals, and may be automatic or controlled (zoomed and panned) from a remote control room. Filmmakers, and in particular documentarists of all flavours, should reflect on this constant gaze. Why bring in additional cameras, when much private and public urban space is already covered from numerous angles?

link: http://publication.nodel.org/The-Filmmaker-as-Symbiont

link: http://www.ambienttv.net/content/?q=dpamanifesto

link: http://vimeo.com/307940

Contact microphone

A contact microphone, otherwise known as a pickup or a piezo, is a form of microphone designed to transmit audio vibrations through solid objects. Unlike normal air microphones, contact mics act as transducers which pick up vibrations and convert them into a voltage which can then be made audible. Often used as acoustic leakage probes, they also enjoy wide usage by noise music artists experimenting with sound. Plain contact microphones are passive and high-impedance and this can cause them to sound ‘tinny’ unless used with a matching preamp.

wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_microphone

google: http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&um=1&q=contact%20microphone&ndsp=18&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw