Lockbox: An Anarchist Tale

How do you make a lockbox? a good one ive had my arm broken before in a not so well made one...

Well said, onlythegooddieyoung...

in spirit I'm supportive of these guys' disorderly behavior, but the efficacy of that road blockade is really in doubt. strong edit though.

definitely one of my favorite pods

If they believe so much in what they are doing, why are their faces covered in bandanas?

Suburb journalism and incredibly inspiring story about incredible people. We hope to see you on Current Tv!

This was a faily simple edit, the kind I'm extremely familiar with. Could use some mixing and noise reduction. Image quality shouldn't be messed up with since it's documentary, so that's fine. My main problem is the length. In my opinion, this should be at least 2 minutes shorter. It drags unnecessarily, especially after 5 minutes. Too many images without speech. They made their point already. I would use shorter sequences to leave a more impactful impression.

I love these kids. It makes me so happy to see them so passionate about there beliefs. I like the explanation of anarchy and the way they stand together. They are extremist which I don't think I could do but I respect it and I think it really helps balance out the extreme right.

My man's reaction at 1:45 is priceless! I really like the overall tone of this piece. Plus I think white kids in bandanas are adorable.

Something seems ironic about Radical Right Extremists protesting a Right-Wing Party....

Go figure...

EXCELLENT pacing and a good technique of using one character's coherent comments throughout. I learned a few things. I thought the editing was very well done, the sound editing was better than most quick documentaries and the cuts were smooth, the broll and the interviews were well interwoven. I liked that it moved through a certain period of time, very immediate feeling of being there and at the same time analyzing what is happening, both culturally and in the moment

Kudos, first of all, for pulling back the curtain on an aspect of the events that day which weren't covered accurately or appropriately by corporate media.

This piece has wonderful pacing and the main character was someone that could be sympathized with. The camera work was nicely done too. You gave a very nuanced portrait of what the anarchist view on society is all about. The only thing I would have liked would be some reaction from bystanders or cops, although usually cops aren't allowed to be interviewed in uniform.

Thanks for posting this!
Excellent job

This pod weaves together a fantastic and compelling story with a sense of underground guerilla filmmaking that underscores the subject matter. If only our local news channels produced such exciting and engaging material, I think that people would be more aware of such issues and take action. My eyes were watering during the clips of the macing, and depicting such things really allows the audience to empathize. Great job!

Ya so all the people that you made late to work, late to there son or daughters first game of the year, or whatever you screwed up for them out of some pissed off teenage hormonal rage you people have are all going to agree with you and want to hear what you have to say? WHAT THE HELL!!!!! No now every person they held up is even more pist off at you anarchists all over. If that were me I would have driven right the hell over all of them!!!! And do you really think you were going to "shut down the Republican National Convention"?!?! What you people need to do is vote like every other citizen of the USA and respect your country that you have the fricking freedom you do, because not everybody has that freedom trust me I am a professional camera operator and I have traveled the entire world and you cant imagine what the hell I have seen other people across the world are going through. I think you stubborn little brats need to be shipped off to half of the places Iv been and brought back here and see how good you really have it. Sure you don't like some of the shit that goes on in our country but you don't have to be assholes about it and contribute! I don't like half the shit that goes on here but it is way better than anywhere else and if you don't think so then GET THE HELL OUT OF MY COUNTRY!!!!!!!!!!
Go do something productive, accusal make something of your life estead of just blow your entire life by bitching and moaning about how f-ing bad your county and its leaders are, besides like hell if you could ever do what they do!
Learn some respect, grow up you little teenage temper tantrum punks.

PS... as a professional to an amateur this video sucked!!! first looked like I was watching the movie Cloverfield all because some pussy got a little pepper spray in his eye what ever, and what the hell kind of editing job is that. (chop city, looks like somebody took an ax to it. or needs to anyway) looks like you need a little work on sharping you skills there bud.

I suppose I must be honest here. As a videographer and editor, I hate to say unpleasant things about other peoples work. That said...I feel the entire film is somewhat of a mess. The camera work is rather poor, but that can be somewhat understood due to the chaotic nature of the event. Still a viewer expects a certain amount of care taken. The sound is awful, making most shots suffer. The poor sound is very jarring when cutting from shot to shot. Also the constant use of jump-cuts makes for a dis-jointed mess.
The main issues then are with the editing. I came away with no real feeling of what these people wanted to achieve, and no idea as to what the filmaker wanted to tell us. I really had no idea what these people were doing, other than angering everyone. The beginning does not make it clear, and ultimately the ending comes with a whimper instead of a bang.
I edit full time for television. The story must come first, and here I think it failed. technical difficulties of course occur when shooting live events, but most of the issues I mentioned are easy to minimize.
I apologize for being so harsh. I am certain the intention was honorable. It just suffered from some poorly executed details.

As an editor, my first question would be. "What is the intended goal" In the case of this pod, Is it to persuade people outside of this anarchist movement to some form of action or thought? or is it to gratify those who participated or would have participated in this event? or is it simply to show the days event as a third party observer? That would lay down the basis for the edit. In any case I would have started off with something more dramatic, simply to catch the viewers attention. And I would have more footage with voice over to move the story along faster. Although the interview portion gives you a certain connection, it is a little bit redundant from a visual stand point. Some of the clips are also a little bit on the long side, (Get in make the point and get out). I also would have utilized music to create emotion (except in the case of a third party observer, which I don't think this was). There were also several shots with no audio needed and the open mic (static noise) is very distracting. A stronger concluding statement or visual would have been nice. After a slow start it built up nicely and then kinda fizzled out. The formula (Start with A Bang, tell your story, Close with a Bang)

Overall, I liked it. I was moderately enraged and baffled by the subject matter but I think it could've had more impact. Some distracting audio cuts aside, the section that was by far the strongest was the exit block. Good amount of B-Roll and it was the most effective for me. It had the most emotion from me. The beginning is weak. It's mostly talking-heads, when I really wanted to see more B-Roll. I just wish we could've been shown more of the girl being interviewed. Maybe her routine. Learn more about her through purely visual means while her dialog is continued via voice-over. The blockade in the last half was good but fell in comparison to the exit block section. It was striking but I felt it lost focus a bit. Again, I did like it. The subject matter successfully came across but not as effectively as it could've.

this piece has the right idea and an interesting story, however it is not being told properly. In order to properly cover this you would need to get more than one point of view. Next time try interviewing some of the people who are stuck on the freeway off ramp, see what there point of view is about being a a forced supporter/victim in this kind of protest. As far as the editing goes it needs major help!! If you are going to use unstable/shaky footage there are things you can do to help correct this problem, check the creativecow.net web site for video tutorials about fixing footage like this. Also the edit needs better pacing, it does not flow or feel organic like a good edit should. I would suggest that you get in touch with a professional editor to help you clean up the edit as well as give it some kind of decent sound cleaning/design. Also perhaps a cool title opening sequence would help to grab the viewers attention from the start. Well good luck with the re-edit.

This is a pretty straight forward documentary form. It delivers the basic storyline, giving the viewer a beginning, middle and end(of the day, in this case), and also let's us in on the philosophies of the people involved. Basically, it delivers the essential information.

It also gives the viewer a look into an age group and group philosophy which is not often covered by the general media.

Some of the cuts jump a bit and the sound could be cleaned up some. Every now again, it doesn't entirely hold interest. It would work better if the shots weren't held for quite so long, especially because the camera person is a bit shakey and doesn't seem to be particularly aesthetic in their shot choices. It would also be beneficial to give the viewer a brief description of the event the Anarchists are inhibiting, they mention it themselves, but it would be nice to get a conception of outsider viewpoint.

All in all, I think it supports a good cause in allowing us a unique look into a culture. Thanks.

I get so angry when I think about the anarchist. I respect their pro activity, but I disrespect their inability to communicate with the masses, who are they fighting for? Themselves? It's funny, but i can't escape the comparison between the anarchist movement and the republican party, especially during this campaign--answering no questions, arguments that avoid logic, and overwhelming selfishness. At my most emotional times, I feel that anarchist are the closest things to fascist I have ever encountered. Remember that song from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? "Don't Care How, I Want it Now" That's what I am reminded of when watching this pod.

Angry Baby Punk Teens, here is a crayon, draw on a wall, because society tells you not to.

hey, good pod.

too often we are only exposed to the absurdity of the mainstream politics, and are allowed to glorify/idealize so-called alternatives such as anarchy. here you show young activists earnestly and genuinely supporting a cause they can barely understand themselves.

it is important to remember there is absurdity on all sides, that no system devised through mere intellect can satisfy the appetite for destruction/creation within us all, for our logical minds cannot grasp the contradictions inherent in our nature, and therefore can offer no real solution to the problems we create.

it is important for young minds to confront these hard truths and to strive for a more complete understanding of reality beyond these fickle political struggles.

that is why current is so important... it is where young people can come together and bear witness
.

i hope this reaches a wide audience.

go mccain.

Good job dude. The content is very interesting. I would of presented it a little different. Maybe get to the meat of it quicker and add some background music to build the energy up and grab attention. Overall it's great though. Thats the beauty of film. This is your interpretation of the subject and how YOU would edit it.

- Diego2SA

If your goal was to be fenced in your opinion, you're half way there and I liked that. However if the goal was fenced, then you might have asked the cop coordinating the containment his opinions as well as maybe one of the people coordinating the delegate’s meeting. If your goal was to push for the insider opinion only, I might have left out the lack of answer the boy at the road block gave about blocking non-delegates.
Editing is a tad slow. Although we are told what they are doing, you have to read the attached text to understand why, and even that is unclear. I would suggest in the future getting more back story and inserting it throughout the piece.
If viewing the whole thing wasn’t requires (if I was just surfing through and saw this), I would have clicked out on early. Not due to the topic, but due to the first 10 seconds. I was a part of the youtube mindset long before youtube existed, and that mindset is, capture your complete attention in the first 10 seconds and make sure to keep it up with something catching at least every minute to keep people from getting bored and walking away.

For the most part the editing is pretty choppy. There are many times that you show too much and the cuts are not quick enough. You lose interest quick because you hold on the interviews way too long so you begin not to care what they are talking about, mainly throughout the beginning. Towards the end there is a lot of good b-roll and faster edits which as said before are not there in the beginning. Many of the camera shots are way too shaky at first and then become steady later even when what is being shown is not important. Get to the point quicker too much b.s. makes me lose interest.

This is stuff we don't see on the news. While some may see these kids as naive, I am SO HAPPY they are out there.

They have strong beliefs that they act on, that's more than most people can say about their lives.

Anarchists?

I see no anarchists just a group of ordinary kids expressing their beliefs.

No violence on their part.

Sixty years ago I would have been alongside you although the music would not have been the Beatles` Yellow Submarine!

Direct action? Very interesting concept, though I must agree, there are better ways to do this.

Chanting in a protest is different from a church of people saying Amen in what way? People state that religion is full of sheep that follow without thinking....well I think people who chant at protest are doing so without even thinking of what it is they are being asked to say.

I do not have respect for those that cannot hold respect for police. Who do you call when someone breaks into your house? Your friends? And are they going to find the baddies that got into your house and took your stuff?

No.

When you initiate a battle with the police...complain that they fight "dirty" with pepper spray or anything else is not going to seek sympathy from me when you fought dirty with stances and words. You are no better nor peaceful for doing such.

Ever heard the phrase "them are fighting words"? Well it's true. You can provoke people and if you think you can't and that they are just words then think of this...it's just spray..get over it.

I understand that people are frustrated and they have every right to do as they please to display that frustration, but this doesn't work. They don't change anything. They have great cause and great ambition to get something done, they just focus all that energy on the wrong thing and get nowhere and then pretend they advanced in the direction they wanted...well no you didn't.

I like these kinds of pods because I get to hear why they decide to do this or that and it's great insight. I believe that there are far better ways of going about this than what they do....but I'm not the one that enjoys making cops irate so I suppose i just don't see the benefit or the thrill.

Wow, you guys were masturbating in public just like Pee-Wee Herman, except you don't get arrested, you just get maced.

Why is it that whenever anarchists are depicted in the media, its always on a large scale, generalized basis? I like that this pod gets so intimate with these people that the press has otherwise condemned or ignored.

idealists with no basis in reality. congratulations, you've showcased your inability to take action on your goals with any semblance of validity... no results... and you're turning off any bystanders that could be potential supporters, with your "strategy".

Great pod.

Thank you.

nice job with the video

It always saddens me that these are the people fighting for what TRUE american values.

I have nothing against these people, don't get me wrong but they are fighting without the right tools.

i loved this pod!

EXCELLENT piece.

Rarely do I see this kind of content explored and edited with such care. A really wonderful and delicate expose of the problematic of the anarchistic position in a protest situation. The Cann and Engle's direct discourse with the work is evident and engages some really great questions.

The camera op got nice and close to the pepper spray there. I hope he had goggles!

you keep the camera rolling just long enough to show same major flaws of the anarchists and there philosophy... you're not telling us which ideas to love, or even like. thank you for letting me make my own decision.

This is great! Now the lady who couldn't drive off the off ramp and get to her kid's daycare center on time can finally understand the point of view of the person who was holding her up and maybe we can get some understanding in this world after all. Thanks for documenting this perspective on anarchy!!!