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Valencia, CA — August 31, 2002 — For many reasons, Joel Miller and the Bella Via Street Painting Festival were a perfect fit. It’s said that every picture tells a story and Miller is, above all else, an expert storyteller. At Bella Via, hundreds of pictures are literally taking shape at the same time—the ones forming on the street’s surfaces and more important, the ones forming among the people who come to experience them. Newhall Land, which sponsored the event, wanted to capture the heart and soul of those stories in a two-minute video when they hired Miller’s production company, Media Soup, in 2001. It was an easy decision. “I had been doing the Bella Via videos for Newhall Land since 1998, so there was a history already in place,” Miller said. “I knew what they were after and they knew what they were getting with me. It was a slam dunk on both sides.” According to Miller, even easier was the enviable task of capturing the festival’s splendor on tape. You could almost point the camera in any direction and find something worth seeing. Expert chalk painters creating masterpieces on the sidewalk. Children painting their own works of art just around the corner. Turn left for a taste of authentic manicotti. For the perfect glass of Chianti, turn right. “Really, you had to be a blind monkey not to do well with it; it’s such a beautiful event,” Miller said. “It’s so colorful and there are so many people—so many things are going on. You’ve got kids and professionals drawing. You’ve got food, wine, and entertainers. It’s an endless parade of activity.” With just two minutes to work with, Miller’s true task came in deciding what not to include. He spent hours at the edit bay, cutting ten good shots for the sake of the one shot that really worked. His measuring stick? Story. “Balance was important,” he said. “You can’t show too much of one thing at the expense of something else. You want to show the highlights, but each shot has got to serve a greater purpose. It has to fit nicely into the bigger picture. What’s the event? Why is it important? What does it mean for the community?” Adding complexity to the task was the absence of narration. The entire video consists of footage and music. Any stories Miller wanted to tell were done in pantomime. The camera, the cuts and the music did the telling. “Newhall Land wanted the video to give to the television networks in the Los Angeles area as a promotional piece to say this is coming up for the next year, so you had to be quick,” Miller said. “Television time is expensive. You can’t loiter. But you can fit a lot into two minutes.” You can if you know what you’re doing, and judging by the finished product, Miller certainly does. You get the overview—the camera carries you over some of the most magnificent paintings and pans across some of the most tempting food and entertainment options. And you get the subtle stuff—the camera shows a little girl kissing a parrot, then stays long enough to catch the twinkle as her eyes find mom and dad in the crowd. In two minutes, we get the plot: This is an exciting event you want to experience. And we also get the theme: Here’s where magical moments can happen. That’s Bella Via. That’s also Media Soup. It’s a perfect match. About Media Soup |
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