Frank Beacham interview from tvscreen.com media

exclusive tvscreen.com interview:

Frank Beacham

uncut

What is your background? What challenges did you overcome to get to where you are?

Frank Beacham: I've been a cameraman, producer, and a writer since the '70s. As a newsreel television cameraman used to shooting on 16mm, I got introduced to smaller, lightweight videocameras in 1968 at the Democratic Convention in Chicago, IL when I first came across the Sony Portipack from Japan. I was entranced by it.

I finally got myself one in 1974, a color Portipack, which I played around with. I had moved to Miami, FL and I was doing video as well as being a reporter for the Upress International and Television, Ganette Newspaper (now USA Today), and the Miami Herald. To give you a sense of perspective, at the time, one battery for one of our cameras, weighed as much as a camcorder, and we had to carry several of those on our bodies, and a whole color camera set up that we pushed around on the set or on location, was as heavy as a VW beetle. That was what we were used to in the '60s and '70s. You can see how we would want to be free of the giant television networks. I was glad when video came along! The next year, I got involved a lot into television work just as the networks were switching from film to tape.

In 1976, I bought the first E&G, an RCA TX76, a tube camera with 31/2" tape and organized five video crews and shooting footage for all the major networks through my company Television Matrix, traveling to Europe and Latin America.

Shooting on Betacam by 1982 for Entertainment Tonight out of Miami, I took up Robin Leach on a request to shoot a reality show in a small, functional Betacam studio for a budget of $100,000. I moved to Los Angeles that year, shooting the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on Sony Betacam.

I was also an editor for Orson Welles. Orson wanted to do video and was working on a show titled 'The Orson Welles Solo.' I also wrote the ASC first handbook on video, first and second editions. In 1999, I was the executive producer for Cradle Will Rock with Tim Robbins.

Any current projects you would like to share?

Now I am mainly a writer living in New York. I enjoy writing stories and currently have two feature films in the works, the Orange Burn Massacre and Charlie's Place. I am the executive producer for both of these stories. We are developing the website www.orangeburnmassacre.com, which will have audio, stills, and multimedia. covers forty years of history of the story, and is supplemental to the book and movie. I am also writing a book Whitewash: A Southern Journey through Murder & Mystery. I maintain a column online to stay up to date on film and television.

Any ideal length for videos now? Thoughts on this?

Right now, on the Internet you've got short videos, mainly due to bandwidth. I think that is temporary. Once the bandwidth increases, we'll be seeing longer videos.

What trends or predictions in webvideo coming in the future/near future? Thoughts on making videos today?

Now there are different ways of storytelling. Making a good story is what stands out, distinguishes content from the rest. I remember being fond of Gordon Park's PhotoEssays in Life Magazine. I've seen talented people make beautiful montages, setting stills to music in SoundSlides that far surpasses many movies today. It is what you do with you what you have that counts. As more bandwidth becomes available (which it will through fiber optics etc.) the possibility for watching full-length movies online becomes closer to truth.

With web video, you as an artist can create what you want without a huge amount of money. In fact, less money equates to more freedom and you can follow your own personal vision. More and more artists are opening their own personal studios.

Storytelling remains a craft, a creative process for the individual. Whether you have the latest gear or not, your ability to tell a good story is what makes your movie stand out.

I feel that there are incredible opportunities for talented people. I feel very optimistic about the future. There will be more of everything - more of talent, more of mediocre.

Any additional thoughts about the future of the Internet and video?

The Internet is the next big media outlet. What you want and when you want it.

Right now, the content is "half-baked", some good, some mediocre, some bad. As bandwidth and systems improve and increase, I have no doubt that the Internet will replace television stations and networks.

The Internet is more democratic than existing media outlets. There is more diversity and ownership of the Internet. From an individual's viewpoint, they can produce a show and directly be in communication with their audience, much sooner than previous methods.

I think the Internet is an experimental stage regarding web video such as YouTube, which I believe is a transition. I think we are moving towards videocentric websites, with websites offering as much live footage or more than television stations.

The Internet allows for quality and novelty and is far more democratic than mainstream media which is tightly controlled by a few corporations.

We've got powerful new media technology and with more people doing it, the quality has gone down in some respects. Just as you know that if you have a wordprocessor, it does not make you a writer. There is something also definitely to be said for having limitations.

Milton Burrow, Mr. Television himself, was part of the golden era of television, where it was hard to do and everything was live, and you could not fix anything. You had to know exactly what you were doing.

Now, we've got ways to change and edit everything. With such powerful editing techniques and controllable light, the possibilities for creativity are enormous. Making a video is about story, about craft, and about learning things. We have yet to see the best. That being said, we are in the golden age of the independent filmmaker or videographer.