Memes, mementos and missives by Macauley
INDEX
Rapid World Championship – Anand showed why he’s still the world’s number one player by beating Magnus Carlsen decisively in the final of the Grenke Leasing Rapid World Championship. Macauley spoke to Magnus after the event.
Chess960 Wrap-up – Macauley covers the action in Mainz with a wrap-up of the Chess960 events.
Anand in Mainz – Viswanathan Anand arrives in Mainz and talks to the media.
I was John Watson’s guest on his ICC Chess.FM show Chess Talk earlier this month. Normally this show is restricted to ICC members only, however we decided to make this one available to all.
I give behind the scenes insights into Chess.FM’s tournament coverage over the past year and discuss my video work, hanging out with the world’s top players, chess journalism and more.
FYI…The ChessVibes comments in the discussion of journalism was from the April 23rd post.
Better late than never; here are my four favorites. All thirteen days, plus a few bonus videos are available free from ICC’s Chess.FM.
Lots of variety here, trying new things out. Why did we go back to 4:3 aspect ratio, you ask? It was largely an accident — for In Transit, in the Madrid airport, I didn’t bother to crop the video from my Macbook’s webcam (that’s just iMovieHD feeding itself, by the way) back to widescreen. And I’d switched off my DV cam’s anamorphic mode too. So, I just went with it.
Both In Transit and Macauley Vs. Magnus borrow the video blogging style of The Show with ZeFrank, a true pioneer. (Sorry, I’m just not that original.) Notice the Sports Racer shirt!
In Leko Snares Carlsen, Leko’s line, “I received the domination,” cracks me up every time I watch it!
Enjoy!
When Blunder Strikes
“Vassily Ivanchuk hangs a bishop in severe time pressure against Levon Aronian in Round 4. Macauley has the video of the fateful moment, and talks to Ivanchuk’s second, Manuel Le??n Hoyos.”
A Spoiled Novelty
“Aronian’s facinating novelty on move 9 put Peter Leko into an 83 minute think. Leko survived the resulting time pressure to draw the game. The Chess.FM team has the full story.”
Macauley Vs. Magnus
“Macauley challenges Magnus Carlsen to a set of tennis, and lives to blog the tale.”
Leko Snares Carlsen
“Peter Leko discusses his Round 11 marathon win over Magnus Carlsen”
Corus, the first event of the first year of the new Chess Grand Slam, and my first chess journalism gig as an employee of the Internet Chess Club (ICC). I’ve signed on for a year packed with super-tournaments and matches which I will be covering in various media.
The video coverage for Corus 2008 was meant to make chess exciting, give viewers a chance to see the tournament and the players from a front row seat and behind the scenes.
All thirteen days, plus a few bonus videos are available free from ICC’s Chess.FM. Below are my four favorites:
Day 6 – Fischer Remembered:
More than just an ordinary ICC video, this piece turned into a 13 minute mini-documentary on the day of Bobby Fischer’s death. I was at the right place at the right time with many of the world’s top grandmasters, past and present, learning the news and commenting on Fischer’s legacy.
ICC has made the video available for cross-posting, under a Creative Commons license. For non-commercial distribution only, you can select your web site format and copy & paste the relevant code to embed the video on your site. It’s received over 10,000 views to date. I’d love to see it subtitled in various languages. Contact me if you’re interested.
Day 11 – Anand Climbing:
This was my first use of a split screen virtual demo board with video, which I also employed in Day 12 – Magnus Smiling and Irina Live From Corus for Chess Life Online. I also composed the music from scratch using loops in Apple Soundtrack. I call it Nordic Funk.
Day 4 – Topalov Upset:
Nice shots, smooth edits, and GM voiceover. ‘Nuff said.
Day 9 – Handshake?
The biggest non-chess story of the tournament was the no-handshake forfeiture of Ivan Cheparinov (Topalov’s second) in the B-group in round 8. (ChessVibes has the most thorough & succinct re-cap.) Many of the professionals guessed that this was a trial balloon for the Topalov-Kramnik game in round 9. So the question became, would there be a handshake or not? If so, who would offer it?
I got the front-row shot, and voiceover from Cheparinov and Anatoly Karpov, a bonus. Also, the best closing line of the tournament:
Topalov: I just follow the rules.
Next up: Morelia/Linares, February 14th – March 8th.
My work in Mexico City for ICC and Chess Life Online was far more hectic than I expected. After the first few days I never left the press room before 3:00 or 4:00 AM and often later, starting again at around 1:00 PM, an hour before the next round. During the day, you try to follow the chess a little, but spend most of your time shooting or capturing video, keeping tabs on people and events, recording and editing audio, and figuring out what the “story” of the day will be. I was also reporting LIVE on Chess.FM at least once per round!
Each day I wanted to do something interesting and different, topical, yet in some way cinematic. I didn’t care much for ICC’s term “video diary,” but it certainly wasn’t straight news reporting. “Short films,” or the currently in vogue, “webisodes,” seems more apt.
The important thing was that, with few exceptions, each video was about the events of that day, which is the main reason for the long hours. My work only really started after the games had finished at 7:00 or 8:00 PM. By 10:00 or 11:00 I’d have all my clips captured and selected and could start editing.
A good rule of thumb for editing is that, if the project is not too complex, you need 1 hour per minute of finished video. That was about right in Mexico with a few exceptions. E.g.: The first 2 minutes of Day 3 – Anand Vs. Kramnik took forever, because I decided to try cutting on flashbulbs — something which is almost totally lost in the crappy Flash (the compression format of most web video) version. (Download the Quicktime to get closer to the original.) Probably a dumb idea in retrospect. Game After Game (below) required going through all of Gelfand’s press conferences to find the few relevant seconds.
That 1 hour per minute doesn’t include compression, uploading, and Flash transcoding, which tended to add an extra hour. So even when you’re “done,” you’re not.
All 18 pieces are available on Macauley.blip.tv and at ICC’s Chess.FM archive.
Here are my four favorites, which are also available on SCREEN:
Day 15 – Morozevich
Alexander Morozevich is a crowd favorite with his eccentric personality and wild style. (Running time: 3:38)
Day 14 – Game After Game
On the rest day, we take a look back at Boris Gelfand’s mantra. (Running time: 1:03)
Day 8 – Anand +3
“Vishy” Anand takes the lead in the World Chess Championship with a win over Alexander Grischuk, adding to his full points taken from Svidler and Aronian. (Running time: 1:30)
Day 18 – World Champion Anand
Anand is the new World Champion. Let the celebration begin. It may be short lived, however: Kramnik awaits their 2008 match to decide who is really on top. (Running time: 5:16)
The first day of ICC’s Chess.FM webcast coverage of the Dortmund super-tournament started a little differently from the rest. But you wouldn’t know it from the ICC Chess.FM OnDemand replay (ICC membership). Ostensibly due to “sound quality issues” my intro was cut from the archived show. Yes, I know it was unorthodox, and clearly a little silly, but I hope some people were amused at least, and to that end I’m pleased to present the way the June 23rd show REALLY started…
***UPDATE – July 7***
ICC has now added this video version to their current Chess.FM offerings… 
Rotterdam didn’t want us. Cannes missed out. A three picture deal at Warner Bros. has, well, yet to materialize.
But that doesn’t stop us from spreading the word ourselves. Thursday night, to celebrate the Summer Solstice (not really, but it sounds appropriate), The Instrument takes to the screen in Amsterdam! One of the few events where the reality exceeds the (lack of) hype!
Here’s a special sneak peak at the commentary track of our upcoming eventual DVD (4 minutes):
Acclaim for THE INSTRUMENT…
“Slyly ambitious….’The Instrument,’ though, surprises most for eschewing any genre tack whatsoever….The students concoct a series of music-based rites that become increasingly compelling to watch.”
-Robert Koehler, VARIETY
“Finally, and damn near unclassifiably, comes Adam Nemett’s THE INSTRUMENT, an engaging shaggy-dog story….The music, costumes, art direction and personalities-in-formation that contribute to this lively exercise in art and/or gestalt therapy provide a potent draft of vicarious pleasure.” -Ron Stringer, LA WEEKLY
“THE INSTRUMENT is a wonderfully imaginative film with visionary overtones.” -Joyce Carol Oates, Author
‚ÄúThis is a film to watch out for‚Ķextremely artistic, quirky and fascinating. The ensemble was very well cast and engaging….Daringly explores metaphysical themes through the construct of a game which includes music, ritual, emotional interactions, and artistic expression. Best were the natural and refreshing moments of humor. This is a unique film from a filmmaker we all need to watch.‚Äù -Muriel Stockdale, Director of the Institute for Spiritual Entertainment
*UPDATE June 21*
Thanks to the 20 or so people (full house) who turned out to support the film!
Thanks for all the calls and emails of concern. No, I’m not joining the Navy. Maybe the JAG in a few years, but then there is the small manner of Law School…
Anyway, came across these on April 1st. The best pranks are those that seem real at first glance, but give you just enough hints for you to say, “wait a sec, that can’t be right” and remember the date.
For the film buffs, screenwriter John August proposed an adaptation of the children’s book, Goognight Moon! The book has no plot, and all of the sentences are ‚ÄúGoodnight (blank),‚Äù but the post was, in many ways, quite believable. Another highlight:
“There are certainly plenty of heavy-hitters involved: Gore Verbinski is directing, Joel Silver is producing, and Lucasfilm has signed on to handle the visual effects. The movie will be shot largely greenscreen, like 300, with extensive motion capture to handle the Little Bunny and the Kittens.
Probably the most innovative and challenging aspect is the casting of the Quiet Old Lady: Jessica Tandy, who passed away in 1994. Using reference photos and forensic measurement (obtained with permission of her estate), she‚Äôll be digitally recreated, a pixel-perfect reproduction.”
Hehe — Jessica Tandy — I’d pay to see that!
www.JohnAugust.com
***
NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday ran a story about the New York City Council proposing a ban on cell phone ring tones. Only four state-sanctioned rings would be permitted. And they played the whole story completely straight, including throwing in a few person-on-the-street interviews, which sounded real (probably were). I’m sure it confused a lot of people, despite the April Fools clues, like when they discuss the penalties — “we’ll stop short of imprisonment…”
Have Cell Phone Rings Gone Too Far?
Nine Inch Nails and a compilation clip that explores that latent love affair between Kirk and Spock.
“What if they hadn’t made it to Vulcan in time?”
Classy…
The “fucking” cut version of The Big Lebowski. [2 minutes]
Better than the original…
