"Common Ground"

Here's a touching piece on the suburbanization of Illinois farm land by photojournalist Scott Strazzante. To tell this story the producers at Mediastorm did a great job weaving still images, video and music together.

The American family farm gives way to a subdivision - a critical cultural shift across the U.S. Common Ground is a 14-year document of this transition, through the Cagwins and the Grabenhofers, two families who love the same plot of land. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/common-ground

While the story is sympathetic to the disappearance of the family farm, thankfully the video doesn't present a maudlin nostalgic view of local agriculture. Rather it describes methods of land use through the images and voices of the people that once farmed the land contrasted with those who live there now.

"Why documentaries matter"

In this recent article published in the Guardian, Nick Fraser, series editor of Storyville on BBC4 considers the future of documentary.

Fraser writes: "Will these documentaries – low budget, clever, appealing to small, passionate audiences – be adequately funded in the squeeze on television budgets? I'm starting to worry. I'd like to know how their independent spirit can be conserved and nurtured.

In the meantime, let me suggest a way in which we might start to think about documentaries. Of the current manifestations of contemporary culture, which would you choose to preserve? Thought of as an app, documentaries wouldn't make it. They have no real cultural recognition. They will always be seen as part of something else – film, television, journalism, even real life. But you would miss them if they went. My hunch is that you would miss them very much."

A Brief History of Title Design

From the great blog, The Art of the Title Design

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

Good stuff.