Newman Center Dedication to Mike Ross

Today I went to the Catholic Newman Center at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo, California. They had raised money to expand the center, building a larger chapel and expanding the common area and kitchen. Mike Ross, who is featured in our film Men of La Mancha, was a part of the Newman Center at Cal Poly while he studied Mechanical Engineering. He volunteered working in the kitchen the entire four years making meals for the poor of the area. He was an integral part of the community and the outreach. A group of former alumni, in particular one, Mary-Catherine, started to raise money to expand the center and dedicate the newly remodeled kitchen in Mike's name. Today was the dedication. There was over 50 people there that had known Mike at the Newman Center, as well as his entire family. I arrived and wanted to lie low not knowing anyone except his family, but Mike's mother began to speak about Mike and she surprised me by telling everyone there how great the film Men of La Mancha is and how it can move people. I was brought to tears as I very rarely hear from people what the movie means to them. Many people there already saw the film, people I never met, and they also thanked me for making it. It really made my day, I cannot thank them enough, including most especially Mike's mother, who is such a kind person. Here are a few pictures. The plaque dedicates the kitchen in Mike's name and the crucifix in the new chapel also honors his life of self-giving.

A video made for his memorial 3 years ago.

Mike Ross from La Mancha Media on Vimeo.

ZDF German TV Terra X Namibia Episode

A major TV show in Germany put together a documentary on Namibia. The show is called Terra X: Fascination Earth with Dirk Steffens. The program has been running for some 30 years in Germany. According to Wikipedia, they have a viewership of about 6 million. They fly Dirk and a crew to different countries and air the show every week or so on a new country. They cannot always get all the footage they need during the filming so they buy footage from other filmmakers. They found our film The Wild West of Namibia on the internet and purchased about 40 seconds of choice clips. The clips they bought ended up in their final version. I watched most of it online as it aired online for one week after its broadcast last month. It was awesome to see our clips spread throughout the show. I wish I spoke German as the show seems really interesting.

One of our clips that made it into the German TV documentary Terra X.
This was shot on my old Panasonic GH2 in the Namibia desert in a balloon about 3000 or 4000 feet up in the air.

You can view clips from the Namibia episode and read about it (in German) on this page.

Use Google Translate to read in English.

The episode is translated as Namibia: The Magic of Desert Hell

It's great to see they discuss some of the same things we discuss in our film, the fairy circles and the German diamond hunters in Namibia.

It was also really great to be paid for all the work done getting these shots. I have been laboring away as a filmmaker for nearly 5 years with LMM and until recently was never paid anything. Unfortunately LMM cannot survive giving away everything so it is wonderful when people can provide payment or donations for our work so we can continue. A Big Thank You to Terra X!

Terra X website for Namibia episode

We Shoot With Panasonic GH Cameras

The new Panasonic GH4 has been announced and it shoots in 4K. All three of our feature films have been shot on the Panasonic GH cameras. The first was Men of La Mancha shot on the very first DSLR Hybrid for video, the Panasonic GH1. I was one of the first people in the US to get the camera as a friend in Canada sent it to me (they got it first). Then The Wild West of Namibia was shot on the Panasonic GH2. Now our third film soon to be released, The Wild Coast was shot on the Panasonic GH3. The GH3 is an amazing camera. The image is superb. The GH3 has been out only one year now and Panasonic launches the GH4 that doubles the resolution to 4K. I am very happy to have stayed with Panasonic all these years (even in the face of jeering by full frame Canon types). This new 4K camera is simply outstanding. Going to save my pennies so our fourth film, or charity videos, can be shot on this camera. Here is a video shot in the Yucatan with the camera. Even viewing on a standard 1080p monitor you can immediately tell how crisp and simply amazing the color and resolution is.

Side note: YouTube now streams in 4K! Totally under the radar, all the news is when will Netflix stream in 4K (to some households with the House of Cards series) but here YouTube already offering it. Make sure to adjust settings in the player to view full 4K.