David Licata | April 26, 2012
We all need some kind of reassurance from time to time. One of the things I need it for is my skill as a cinematographer. So on my corkboard is a print out of an email from Andy Bowley, a very fine cinematographer who shot much of A Life’s Work. Thank you, Andy. Your email [...]
David Licata | March 27, 2012
I’m doing some work for hire that I can’t talk about just yet, but I can tell you that the other day I researched special effects legend Douglas Trumbull’s animation work on the Stargate sequence in 2001: A Space Odyssey. (I also held in my white-archival-gloved hands a copy of an early draft of 2001. [...]
David Licata | September 27, 2011
Last week I asked you to help me choose five photos for a new press kit. The results are in! Here are the five images that garnered the most votes. #5 The model of Arcosanti #4 Bristlecone Pine trees #3 Sisyphus paper weight in Jill Tarter’s office #2 Allen Telescope Array with camera #1 Digitizing [...]
David Licata | September 20, 2011
Oh, the joys of D.I.Y. filmmaking. I’m putting together a new press kit. In addition to stills of each subject pulled from the interviews, I’m going to include four or five of these at the bottom of each page. Which are your favorites?
David Licata | July 18, 2011
When the SETI Institute announced it was hibernating the Allen Telescope Array, I didn’t feel the need to say, “Production is starting up again” and fly out to California to interview Jill Tarter and shoot the dishes. (See, Is Production Really Over?) However, upon receiving the following press release from the Cosanti Foundation, I am [...]
David Licata | June 22, 2011
Yesterday’s post about SETI was in the works since last week. Soon after it went live, I found out about SETIstars, the SETI Institute’s effort to raise $200,000 so they can get the Allen Telescope Array out of hibernation and back online. And soon after that I was contacted by SETI’s PR firm, who requested [...]
David Licata | June 21, 2011
I know you enjoy seeing clips of A Life’s Work, and this post has one, but first this. The Los Angeles Times recently ran an Op-Ed by Christopher Cokinos about the SETI Institute’s financial woes. These two paragraphs jumped out at me. Certainly we don’t cotton to the idea of being alone. We yearn for [...]
David Licata | April 26, 2011
The SETI Institute announced this week that it lacks the funding to keep its pride and joy, the Allen Telescope Array, up and running. The National Science Foundation awarded the SETI Institute one-tenth of what it gave previously and the State of California slashed funding as well. SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson informed donors that [...]
David Licata | March 25, 2011
Someone else shoots and someone else edits. So what exactly do I do on A Life’s Work besides sit opposite these amazing people and ask them a bunch of questions? I make a lot of decisions. Who, what, where, when? I decide those. I come to a location with a shot list, knowing that in [...]
David Licata | June 7, 2010
I went to the World Science Festival’s Cool Jobs event early and had the opportunity to spend a few minutes catching up with Jill Tarter. Topics of conversation included the status of the Allen Telescope Array, the status of A Life’s Work, space junk, unemployed theater folk, robotics, the necessity for a support team on [...]
