Category: BlogBig picture about media and what we can do to restore sanity.The Media Matrix is a massive challenge to tackle. How do we help it evolve into a healthy medium for society? Thanks to lobbyists government involvement could take until the turn of the next century so that’s out. So that leaves media and us. What can media do? Have integrity and be responsible for the messages it’s sending young audiences, especially in instances when teens and tweens are it’s main target or demographic. There are not strange machines running the media. It’s human beings, there is no longer an excuse for ‘these people’ to turn a blind-eye. What can WE do? Raise our children consciously and teach them media literacy among other key skills like how to be a kind, considerate, compassionate human beings. Instill true values and be positive role models. Discuss sex and sexuality and what it means. Discuss the history of mankind and it’s failings and strengths. Encourage them to find ways to contribute to our culture and world to leave it a better, more spectacular place. Teach them to be motivated by more than just money and fame. This sounds idyllic and like a lofty, utopian dream but when our founding forefathers set out to create America they had just as big fish to fry. If you can dream it – it’s possible. Keep the bar raised – aim high! Pushing the envelope – singers resort to S&M, violence and near nudity to sell music. What’s next…If sex sells and pushing the envelop are the keys to a successful media blitz campaign then what happens once we become desensitized to what ‘normally’ titillates, shocks and makes us gasp and whisper “What will they do next?” Pop stars, celebrities, reality stars and the like are already nearly naked and violence in music videos is expected. Video truly killed the radio star. My prediction is they will have to get 100% naked, perform soft porn and bestiality to compete for press attention. Why have we forgotten that a singer earns the title ‘singer’ for their voice? Aretha, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Momma Cass, Lavern Baker, Pasty Cline, Peggy Lee never had to bare their bodies and resort to S&M to sell music. The mark of a TRUE vocal talent is that he/she can sell songs without music videos and nearly naked photoshoots of themselves. Are there any young singers who can make this bold claim? PLEASE tell me!! Why the price difference? Lending out my film hurts. Here’s why:Many people scoff at the price difference of the HOME DVD and SCHOOL/LIBRARY. When I started my documentary I didn’t know there was a price difference in DVDs sold to home vs schools/churches. I had to become educated as to the laws and reasons why this is so. What I learned: One major reason is the number of people who will potentially watch the film at home versus at a school/library/church is drastically different. #2 reason is that it’s a PUBLIC SCREENING. $29 allows home viewing – roughly 10 people will see it. Maybe more if you have a big family or a few friends come over. $89 allows school/library/church – roughly 50-300 will see it in a year (x) times endless years. This reduces the number of home copies sold and therefore the price difference. It works out to a few cents per viewer. Some teachers/groups will download movies for free (illegally) and show it to large groups to the loss of film makers. We are a husband and wife team, not a massive film studio that can afford the loss of sales due to cutting-corners, piracy, theft or well-meaning sharing of my work. If you believe in our work – vote with your dollar and support us. 🙂 $265 for universities allows hundreds to thousands of students to see the film EVERY year for endless years. Without sales I cannot continue to make documentaries. My husband and I created this website ourselves and funded the making of the film over 5 yrs. I handle packing/shipping of dvds, maintaining the website, logging footage for new projects, accounting, marketing and other far less exciting things. If I were in this for the money, as one upset customer complained about the school price, I would have stayed in modeling or gone into another line of movie making. UPDATE: May 2011. Another issue that has come to my attention is many people are passing around my DVD to friends, with only good intentions. What happens is that for every household you lend it to it’s a potential loss of sale. A close relative enthusiastically informed me they lent it to 5+ families. While her intent is purely to spread the message to girls, it affects my ability to continue as a documentary film maker due to lost sales. If my film was embraced by media and purchased to air on TV or theatres I could afford to let all the ‘sharing’ slide. Grassroots is how Cover Girl Culture is living and breathing. Perhaps the solution is to ask those who ‘borrowed’ my film to make a donation of a few dollars to my work? Many folks don’t realize that my husband and I poured a good portion of our savings into making this film over the last 5 yrs. We hope to one day recoup it. Shero: Julia Garcia, age 19FEATURED SHERO: Julia Garcia for her incredible artistry and powerful message.“While always open to individual interpretation, the intention I had with this painting was very specific. It is the first in a body of work using animal iconography and the human form to comment on society’s warped ideals concerning physical beauty, and the ways in which we contort ourselves in pursuit of it.” -Julia (acrylic on linen, 30″x40″)When I was part of the problem…I falsely represented a permDuring my modeling days, back when I was part of the problem, I modeled for various companies/clients.
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