MAP Chat Transcript 1/07/10

deborah: basic questions - you tube has a 2 gig limit.  vimeo is free if you are putting up less than 500mb.  i did that just learning how to use it.  i'm not quite clear on the signing up for a year requirement for something i'm just learning how to use.  do you have any suggestions on that? Also, if i haven't yet figured out how to select only part of the dvd to put up, can i request that you listen to a group of selected chapters, even if they are not contiguous. 

Jay at MAP: how large is your file to upload?

deborah: file size is a gig...

Jay at MAP: so, for the first part of your question, youtube could be a free option for you.

deborah: but youtube has the limited size issue

Jay at MAP: To confirm, have you already converted your dvd to a video file?

deborah: yes.

Jay at MAP: what tool did you use to convert your dvd?

deborah: handbrake to convert dvd to video

Jay at MAP: on Mac or Windows?

deborah: Mac

Jay at MAP: do you have the dvd with you and handbrake on the computer you are at now?

deborah: yes

Jay at MAP: please put the dvd in your mac and open handbrake.

deborah: done - it's loading.

Jay at MAP: once you have selected your dvd in handbrake, please go the "chapters" tab in the middle (video-audio-subtitles-advanced-chapters)

deborah: it's having a problem finding it today.  hang on... does it make sense that i took the video file only in the folder that was available in the dvd?  now i can see the chapters buttons

Jay at MAP: when you choose your source dvd in handbrake, you can select either the DVD itself or the "VIDEO_TS" folder.

deborah: it only gave me the option of the video_ts folder so i took it

Jay at MAP: that's fine. in the chapters section, do you see multiple chapters listed that you can select or deselect?

deborah: yes i do.  the problem is, the piece is episodic, but the sections i'd like you to watch are not sequential.  what should i do about that? 

Jay at MAP: you want to rearrange the order of the chapters on the dvd? or you only want to select some of the chapters and are concerned that the resulting video will be jumpy

deborah: i don't know how to select say, 7, 12 and 19 and leave out the others. 

Jay at MAP: what version of Mac OS are you using? if you don't know, please select "About this Mac" from the apple menu

deborah: 10.5.8 and it's not an intel chip unfortunately.

Jay at MAP: Do you have iMovie or Quicktime Pro?  iMovie is an option for editing out the bits you don't want in your submission.  you create your mp4 with handbrake.  then you open iMovie, choose to Import your movie file and begin to edit it.  be sure to select "copy" so you can play with iMovie, and if you cut out too much, you can import your file again.  if you select "move" you will be editing the file you originally made with handbrake.  of course, if you have the dvd, you could always use handbrake again. Also, Quicktime pro (which costs ~$20) allows relatively easy copy/paste functions.  You can open your file in Quicktime, then these little bookend appear on the bottom of the playbar which you can move to select the portion of the file you want to copy. Then, open a new blank player window (command-N, or apple-N) and hit paste.   iMovie versions all have a bit of a learning curve. in fact, many people like the older ones.

deborah:  do you prefer vimeo or youtube for viewing online samples?

Kelly at MAP: either is fine.  no preference.

Paul: Up to what % of company annual operating budget or estimated project cost may our grant ask be? 

Kelly at MAP: we recommend that your request amount be no more than 30-35% of your total estimated project budget, not annual operating budget.

Paul: I have the first play (33 pages) of a 3 play cycle that my collaborator and I are working on now.   I think it will give you an excellent glimpse into our tone, style and how we work.  Do you need more?

Kelly at MAP: The first 33 pages is fine.

Paul: Could the artist’s statement include commitment to the collaboration in addition to the project’s result? Can you say more about what you mean by urgency?

Kelly at MAP: Yes, the artist statement should include all of that. You can also use the artist statement to talk about how the proposed work fits into the trajectory of your artistic practice.  By urgency, we mean try to answer the question "why this work now? what is this work's contemporary relevance?"

Frac: quick question: I reviewed our application and noticed that each time I used quotation marks, the marks read as junk.  Should I just avoid them?

Kelly at MAP: Yes, some characters don't seem to translate into the fields, so if you can write your text without them, leave them out.

StrawberryField: Hello, I have a question about work samples. Our lead artist is a longtime director/producer and 1st time playwright, so I do not have a previously completed play to upload. Is it ok just to upload a portion of our play-in-progress?

Kelly at MAP: Is this artist only a playwright on the proposed work?  or will they be also directing?

StrawberryField: He is also directing

Kelly at MAP: In that case, i would suggest that you submit both the work-in-progress script and a short video clip of his directing work.  That way you'll be sending samples that represent both of his roles in the work.

StrawberryField: Thank you. As far as the writing sample, 25 pages are completed. The playwright is wondering if he should also include a summary of the remainder of the play.

Kelly at MAP: No need to include the summary.  You can just briefly describe the work in the work sample description field, but a full/long summary is not necessary.

StrawberryField: One last question pertaining to the budget on the Organization section. Are you looking for FY08 as the fiscal year that began in FY08, or that ended in FY08? I am just wondering if FY08 and FY09 should be our last 2 completed years, or our last completed year and our current budgeted year

Kelly at MAP: We would like the last two completed years.

Paul: As a playwright, I'm going to submit a script as you've directed.  My collaborator (the director) will provide media for his portion of the grant.  But is it also possible for me to include a video which could strengthen my application? 

Kelly at MAP: What is the video?  Work-in-progress?

Paul: Yes.

Kelly at MAP: Then yes, you can submit it also.  All applications are allowed to submit one extra work-in-progress sample. 

Rm22: I know you ask for no promotional material for a theater ensemble work sample: would an edited piece that shows the history, review quotes, photos, & little snippets in the first minute and then goes into an excerpt from a recent show count as a promo?  Or would it be better to just give an archival performance video?

Kelly at MAP: Only archival footage/documentation of a performance is an acceptable sample. No reviews, snippets, photos or clips...we consider those to be promo material.

PS98: Question on work sample for composers: I have three artists listed in my application.  I am planning to submit 2 works per artist for a total of 6, but 2 of these are actually my own compositions which I wrote for the 2 other artists (a solo performer and an ensemble) so we're including them under their work samples.  So out of the 6, 4 are my own compositions: 2 listed under my work samples and 1 more each for the 2 other artists.  Is this ok?  I am aware of the 10 minute limit per artist.

Kelly at MAP: Yes, that’s okay to do.

Paul: Do you expect that we will revise our project descriptions or must they stay the same?

Kelly at MAP: You are welcome to revise your project description.  Add any new information that you may have.  My feeling is that most people are making small additions, but if there's nothing to add, there's no requirement that you edit it more.

Francel: For the uploaded work samples, all of our links are to audio samples on different websites and we can't test them from the online application (unlike the video link).  We've tested them and they work, but will you contact us if you have problems accessing them? 

Kelly at MAP:  Yes, we'll contact you.  But one of the reasons we are asking you to submit hard copy samples is so that we’ll have a back up if there is a problem.

Paul: Is it okay to ask in the budget for – lighting, costume, set designer fees; set,  costume and lighting materials?  Carpenter and painter fees and rehearsal stagemanager fee, producer fees, marketing staff salary?,

Kelly at MAP: Yes.  We want your budget to reflect the cost of the project in it's entirety, so include all expenses up to and including the premiere production.  Each of those things doesn't need to be it's own line item, though - you can group things into more general categories, such as "production costs", "design costs", etc.  Also, keep in mind, if you are selected to receive a grant, be aware that we are looking to cover artist fees first and then production costs.  When deciding allocation - the size of your request, the size of your artist fees and how much you money you have secured are the things we look at first to determine what you actual grant will be.

Cbjames: Is there a convenient place on the application to comment on the video I will be uploading?

Kelly at MAP: Yes, there is a work sample description field. When you go to the work sample section of the application and you click "add a work sample", you'll see it. Put all the info there.

cb02: My collaborator is the composer. He has done sound for video pieces in which the video was done by someone not involved with our proposed project.  Would something like that be okay to submit as his sample?

Kelly at MAP: That's okay to submit, as long as you are clear about that in the description of the sample....so that evaluators know they should be focusing on the sound rather than the visuals.

alice: Is it ok to use YouSendIt to send links to audio files?

Kelly at MAP: No, we won't accept samples via yousendit.

Alice: Can I put the audio samples on a private section of my website?

Kelly at MAP: Yes, that's fine to do.

PS9: Oh.  A tech concern.  I presume m4a is not the same as mp4.  How do I convert m4a files to mp4 (or mp3) files?  Can I do this through iTunes?

Jay at MAP: mp4 is a video container file, while m4a contains audio. Let me check on a converter for you.  What operating system are you using?

PS9: I'm dual platform.  I'm chatting on a Mac OS X, but I also have a PC Windows XP

Jay at MAP: Do you have mac os 10.6 or quicktime pro?

PS9: Yes.

Jay at MAP: Open your audio file in Quicktime, save as movie

PS9: Open audio file, save as movie then import through iMovie, yes?

Jay at MAP: No need to import into iMovie.  Quicktime saves movies as H.264 mp4 or mov files

PS9: ah.  even easier then.  BUT i do need to import to iMovie to extract the excerpts i'd like for the panel to listen to, yes?  otherwise they'll listen to the first 5 minutes of each track (for the 2 work samples for each artist).  is my understanding correct?

Jay at MAP: quicktime pro in 10.5 and under seemed to allow for easy copy/paste to pull excepts out and then join them. i haven't played too much with 10.6 quicktime yet, but haven't been able to do either yet.  With quicktime 10.6 you could use the "trim" feature and save-as to save out your excerpts.  Probably easier to use iMovie if you are familiar with it.

Alice: How many work samples can be sent in for each lead artist? 

Kelly at MAP: No more than 10 minutes of sample material per artist. The actual number of samples differs depending on the type of artist.  All the work sample information is here: http://apply.mapfund.org/guidelines_samples.php

alice: Thanks.  I'm asking about audio samples for composer

Kelly at MAP: For audio, it can be several shorter tracks adding up to 10 min.  Generally, they should be on the longer side, if possible....so like 2-3 min each or more....adding up to no more than 10 min.  However, if  you are not a composer and are submitting video, we recommend no shorter than 5 min.....so that would be 2 shorter samples (5 min each) or one longer 10 min one.