I think it was obvious that the Streamys, honoring web-based television, is not your mother's Awards Show. For one thing, this was only the production's second year.
I really noticed the difference between the two in the days leading up to the red carpet. Preparation to attend the Academy Awards was intense. I had to go through a security check weeks ahead of time... just to sit on the bleachers before the show. And while I was never exactly sure what to expect when I got there, the information I did receive was pretty detailed.
Besides, it was the OSCARS. I didn't need a lot of background on the nominees; the movies get plenty of media coverage.
With the Streamys, I got the feeling that they were making it up as they went along. Information was slow in coming and when I did get it, it seemed incomplete.
On the other hand, when I arrived at the Orpheum Theater on Sunday, I was greeted by staffers who were actually friendly. You can tell that this isn't just a job to them - there are a lot of people working here who are passionate about being on the ground floor of a brave new media world, and that's really cool.
We felt the same positive energy when we got out to the red carpet. I haven't yet mastered the art of camcording myself for the purpose of blogging, so was relieved when my new BFF (and fellow Los Angeles Mom Blogger) Bernadette agreed to team up with me. She's an experienced actor and comedian, (and is gorgeous to boot!), so it was a no-brainer to hand her the mic and let her go. (I've always been more comfortable behind the scenes anyway).
I admire Bern because unlike me, she can think on her feet. Just prior to our red carpet setup, we were given a huge packet with the names and photos of 73 nominees plus 41 OTHER attendees.
I was surprised to discover how many well known actors and personalities were expected to attend. I checked off the ones that would impress my husband (who had not been happy Sunday morning that I was going to be away for the day): Ileana Douglas, Justine Bateman, Wil Wheaton, Cheri Oteri, Tom Arnold, Ed Begley, Jr.,Tim Meadows, Ricki Lake, Greg Proops, Kevin Pollak, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Robert Englund, "Weird Al," Keanu Reeves, Jaleel White, David Faustino, Greg Grunberg and Patrick Duffy.
I don't know how many of those folks did show up - I can tell you that few of them made it to our spot on the red carpet. The best-known one we did get to interview was Duffy, which was great for me because my husband was a HUGE fan of "Dallas"... and I had actually sort of met him before... back in 1986, when he guest hosted on the Tonight Show. No, he did not remember me delivering script pages to him in his dressing room, but he remembered the event, and I got the feeling it was a painful memory because he said he was so nervous that night.
It didn't show. He was totally professional... and really nice. And you know what? Patrick Duffy is still nice. He even posed with me so I could send a photo to my fanboy husband.
I wish I had been as familiar with the rest of the red carpet arrivals. Thankfully, each guest who came down the red carpet was preceded with an aide carrying a placard that stated who the person was and why he or she was there.
But without seeing their work, I was at a loss at what to ask them.
Since I'm a "mommy blogger," I thought I'd go the Jewish mother route and ask if their moms were proud of their nominations. But one of the Kodak reps had a better idea: Her standard question is "What was your most memorable Kodak moment?"
It's a wonderful question, and Bern ran with it. EVERYONE we approached seemed to enjoy answering, and they even seemed happy to be talking to "mommy bloggers," as you can see from this clip:
Embarassingly, I did not know who these wonderful people are! I did NOT get their names on video at the beginning of this clip, I don't recognize their faces on the cheat sheet we received and I've been searching the web for a nominated show with a robot for the last 30 minutes, and can't find them. I'm hoping someone will see this and tell me so I can credit them - because they were so cute!
UPDATE: Someone named Jake commented on this clip over at YouTube and told me they are Casey McKinnon and Rudy Jahchan and got nominated
for A Comic Book Orange. Now that I know who they are and what they were nominated for, I've got to go see their stuff. They're adorable.
I learned quickly just how tough it is to be a camera person at a live event (as evidenced in the clip above). I did take film classes when I was in college, and camera work was NOT my forte (one of the reasons I quickly switched my focus to writing). I did my best trying to Bern and the subjects in frame without shaking the little camera too much, but I'm afraid I wasn't always successful, and at one point during a really great interview, my screen went black. One of the Kodak ladies figured out that I'd had my finger over the lens.
OOPS.
This is reminiscent of our old home movies, all of which have shots of my dad's nose as he used to check a gauge in front of the camera with it still running.
Fortunately, I was mindful of the position of my finger from that point on. It's just too bad we lost that particular clip.
We ended the day with something like 35 video clips, and one of the reasons I'm this late in posting about it is that it took me the rest of the evening and all of yesterday to upload them - UNEDITED, AND UN-TITLED - to YouTube. And since my connection kept dying in my home yesterday.. I'm still not finished.
This was my first time working in HD (we were using Kodak's newest pocket Zi8 camcorder, and it's awesome... several of the video directors we interviewed told us they used it too!)
Web TV makes me all tingly, because I'm reminded of the early 80's, when MTV launched and music videos were the Hot New Thing. Low budgets fostered creativity, and it was obvious that this was a New Art Form. It was like the wild west, and very exciting. I had the same feeling again in the late '90's, after the introduction of Mozilla and the World Wide Web began developing rapidly.
Web TV is kind of like that. Although a lot of the nominated series
were underwritten by corporations (and so had enough budget to display
professional production values), there were plenty of nominees who got
there by the dint of pure creative energy...AND the winners were decided
by viewers who voted online. If these technologies had been available
30 years ago, I would so be trying to be part of this world, because
it's still something of a level playing field.
At any rate, it was nice to be visiting it... and terribly exciting.
DISCLOSURE: I was not compensated to write this post. I received press credentials to attend the Streamys as a guest of Kodak, who is a major sponsor of the show. I did receive a Zi8 camcorder to use on the red carpet, as well as a small digital camera and digital frame...BOTH OF WHICH I'm giving away this week on my Review Site, SoCal Stuff - click here to find out more and enter the drawing.








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