Roxanne with action figures
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

On a final note, the media committee (of which I am the figurehead) has been offered a most awesome project. Currently there are plans to implement city-wide wireless internet access in Minneapolis and, eventually, Saint Paul. The contract with whatever vendor the city of Minneapolis decides on will include a community benefits agreement, which essentially lays out what the vendor will do to ensure that this new technology benefits as much of the community as possible. This is where CTEP comes in. Several members of CTEP are involved in this process, and the media committee has begun work on a project to create a short (60-90 second) video that will be shown at the beginning of town hall meetings and other meetings with different communities in Minneapolis. The video will act as a catalyst, a conversation starter.

As awesome as this sounds, we're working on a pretty short timeline. We are supposed to complete this project by the middle of December, and we're still in the pre-production process. Fortunately, we have some really fantastic people on the media committee with a lot of creativity and talent. The picture you see here was taken at our first brainstorming session. Roxanne brought action figures to help us plan our shots. At some point The Rock started calling the shots.

I love this state so much

First snow
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

In other news, it began snowing this past week. This is a shot I took on the first day. I think the bleakness of the photo accurately reflects the way I feel about winter. As someone who spent most of his childhood fairly close to the equator, the first snowflake that hits the ground sounds more like a death knell to me. Tom, if you're reading this, I know you would agree.

It's been a long time coming

Set It Up Logo
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

It has been pretty hectic lately, and I know that all you fans out there who religiously check my blog (read: roxanne, bigflimsy, josh, and my parents) have been waiting with baited breath. So here it is, my latest blog entry, 11 days in the making. Check out this sweet logo! Bekka of Set It Up fame drew it, and a shot of her drawing it (in fast motion) will be used in the opening for the show.

Pre-production for episode one has commenced, and the theme chosen was Stereotypes. Segments include an examination of stereotypes in the media and a parody of Diddy's Making Da Band. Stay tuned, I have a couple more posts.

SPNN pics 096
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

Here's another photo from Monday's shoot. You can tell this group has an eye for color. In order to illustrate the theme of "making a difference," they are shown here picking up autumn leaves. Donald begins the shot with a close up of a leaf in a tree, and then slowly zooms out and tilts down to reveal Vanessa and Bekka. A complex shot for their first Set It Up shoot, but they pulled it off.

SPNN pics 105
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

It was a beautiful evening in downtown St. Paul for Monday's shoot. With the days getting shorter, we've had some issues. We meet from 3:30-5:30, and we start losing light at around 4:30pm. This sunset, while beautiful to some, was a bane for our amateur videographers.

SPNN pics 077
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

Wednesday's production group also got some great shots in the SPNN studio. Here they're toying with different lighting techniques.

SPNN pics 061
Originally uploaded by kevinkalla.

Yesterday was a big day. We had our first real production shoot. Wednesday's production team gathered shots for the "communicating through media" section of the Set It Up open. After a bit of a fiasco, we managed to get a security escort up onto the roof of the SPNN building in order to get shots of the satellite and the St. Paul skyline.