Reality Leaves a lot to the the Imagination
Organic Process Productions (OPP) started life in 2005 -- telling stories and creating compelling and sustainable art and media projects. Since then we have produced award-winning documentaries, books, video projects, and multi-media events with artful insight.
In 2009, we began an active participation in our local farming community by launching a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program and a local handmade goat cheese - Giddy Goat Cheese.
We still feel our media work is important and have focused on documenting the people, places and things that make up our local food heritage. Our work in that area can be seen at GiveGround.TV.
We operate in pursuit of a vision that learns from archaic traditions while fully embracing 21st Century digital existence. We believe a balance between both is important to happiness.
Life after Giddy Goat Cheese
We are sad to announce that Giddy Goat will cease operations as of July 30, 2011. Since we started Organic Process in 2005 we have followed our instincts and drives — trying to create things people will value. But a major part of insuring the Organic Process continues is to look soberly at the reality of our situation and determine the most practical and inspired path forward. Sometimes things work; but they don’t work as a business. Giddy Goat is an example of that.
Organic Process will find it’s voice in a post-Giddy world, but right now we are sad at the disappointment we are bringing to the relationships we have formed with employees, farmers and customers. We are convinced that Giddy Goat did make the world a better place and that it will be a bit sadder (for awhile) for being gone.
Read the whole letter at -- www.giddygoatcheese.com
A great perspective on the Giddy Goat closing is available at the Charleston City Paper Site -- read article
Mitchell's Pecha Kucha Presentation
Giddy Goat Cheese Joins the Menu of James Beard Award-Winning Sean Brock's - McCrady's Restaurant
We are very happy to announce the addition of our Pure and Pimiento Goat Cheeses to the menu at McCrady's restaurant in downtown Charleston. McCrady's chef Sean Brock just became the third consecutive Charleston chef to win the coveted James Beard Award.
After working under Robert Carter at Penninsula Grill, Sean took on a number of challenges at four and five star restaurants around the Southeast, eventually ending up back in Charleston.
Brock is a passionate advocate for seed preservation and he continues to grow a number of heirloom crops, including James Island Red Corn (aka “Jimmy Red”), from which he makes grits, Flint Corn, Benne Seed, Rice Peas, Sea Island Red Peas, and several varieties of Farro.
In addition to serving our local handmade Giddy Goat cheeses, Sean is also using our Whey in his Charcuterie and meat curing processes. As we strive to reduce our waste, this is a great home for the by-product of our cheese making process.
LOWCOUNTRY LOCAL FIRST DOCUMENTARY - as part of our MEDIA work we are currently working on a documentary short focused on the "Farm to Table" relationship between Sean and local farmer Maria Baldwin @ Thornhill Farms in McCleanville. This second installment of our LLF documentary project is set for completion mid-Summer. You can see the first installment at GiveGround.tv.
As a side note, he also has one of the most rad tatoos ever. Talk about dedication to the craft!
Organic Process and Lowcountry Local First partner to document Growing New Farmers incubator program
The first video in our documentary series following the Growing New Farmers program has been posted to GiveGround.tv. This is an exciting collaboration and we appreciate being a part of this project. The video gives a good overview of what the program is all about, but for more info visit the LLF website.OPP Documentary News: Web of Water wins PBS National Education Innovation Award
The exciting thing about the Organic Process media / farm mash-up is that we use our local farming and Giddy Goat cheese as a catalyst to support our media production projects. These projects are aimed at an intelligent and constructive use of media to support our community. This week we got some great news that recognizes our efforts in this area and supports our vision.
PBS NATIONAL INNOVATION AWARD: Our environmental education project Web of Water was selected as a PBS Education Innovation Award winner. The national award recognizes innovative projects that demonstrate new ways of teaching and learning. Congratulations to Ian Sanchez (pictured here) and the crew who worked with us on this incredible project.
Watch All the webisodes for the Web of Water project
GIVE GROUND FILM RECOGNITION: Our initial GiveGround.tv video Oyster Man Mike (which was also a selection in the 2009 Charleston International Film Festival) was selected for the Southern Views series at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles. All Oyster Man Mike wanted from this was "a walk down the red carpet, a couple of cold ones, and a chance to shoot the shit with some good folk." Now he can add another honor to the list. We recently saw Mike at an event on John's Island and we are happy to report he is doing great.
OYSTER MAN MIKE (documentary short)
BEN TIMPSON's Inside Nothing: Is Everything
From an upcoming biography on Ben and his art process:
"When classically trained painter Ben Timpson turned his artist's eye from large canvases to tiny bits of the natural world, his work entered a mysterious realm of fanciful, dark beauty. Flowers, insects, blood and bone – the eccentric materials Timpson collects find their way into miniature compositions he assembles into slides in painstaking marathons at his light table. These haunting and whimsical photographs, published for the first time in "End of the Roll: Goodnight 35mm," capture a style that trades traditional notions of painting and collage for an evocative visual alchemy. The result is a gallery of alarmingly original images, and the publishing debut of a remarkable young artist."
(Rough Cut) Inside Nothing from OPP on Vimeo.
POSTED BY MITCHELL: I discovered Ben Timpson's art when I was at BookSurge. I was walking through the production facility one day looking at some of the books we were printing and his book "End of the Roll" literally stopped me in my tracks. He later came and signed books at the BookSurge booth at an American Library Association conference in Chicago. We had dinner and developed a friendship. He is one of the truest and most unique artists I have ever encountered and OPP is proud to be bringing his work to a larger audience.
Ben has recently released his second book titled "Inside Nothing: Is Everything" that at 174 pages shows his more recent works and will include a DVD. Above is Farrah's rough cut of a clip from that video showing the process behind the art. The book is currently only available directly from us so contact us if you are interested in getting a copy.
Ben's work is starting to pop up around Charleston and his first large scale installation/projection project is being set up for this Winter. Please also look for him at Kulture Klash III where his originals will be on view for the first time! The audience will be able to view the projections as well as the original slide under a 1940's slide viewer in 3-D (you can see it in the video). Interacting with Ben's media is a altering experience and we encourage everyone to take the plunge.
View Ben's Online Gallery on OPP
Visit Ben's website at www.goodnight35.com
SC Burned children's Fund
We finished the cause-marketing documentary short for SC Burned Children's Fund and Camp Can Do. It was great working with Jill Evans & Betsy McMillan from MUSC's Children's Burn Hospital! Hope the promo for Camp Can Do & the short cause-doc is put to good use. Thanks also to Dan Conover who worked the camera on the opening interviews with the teenagers. Thanks most of all to the children who were so very sweet & open.
SC Burned Children's Fund & Camp Can Do from OPP on Vimeo.
Finding Pura Vida - Full Movie Post, Extra Footage and Trailer
THIS IS A FULL MOVIE POST, BUT.....Purchase the DVD and Book - A portion of every purchase goes to the kids at Casa De Suenos!
Extra footage below on the Pura Vida Entrepreurial Project
And finally... the trailer / teaser (hey, wait is this in reverse order!)
Costa Rica and Charleston International Film Festival Premiere for Pura Vida!
Footprints Journal: Finding Pura Vida Premieres in Jaco, Costa Rica
Host: PVNP and Los Amigos
Start Time: Friday, September 26 at 9:00pm
End Time: Saturday, September 27 at 12:00am
Where: Los Amigos Restaraunt
CHARLESTON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESITIVAL PREMIERE and AFTER PARTY
many thanks to everyone who came out to support the Pura Vida Media project at the Charleston International Film Festival this past weekend. We had to convince the festival organizers to sell 20 standing room only tickets and we still turned away 20-30 people. It was bedlam. And the film was very well received artistically which was very important to us.
Also thanks to the 150 or so folks who helped us raise over $3000 at the after party fundraiser. We shipped several thousand dollars of media to Steve Sanchez in Arizona for a film premiere and media fundraiser there and there will also be one in Costa Rica in September. All proceeds benefitting the orphanage.
Here are some pics below from the event. Thanks to Chuck Heilig for his fantastic camera and post-production work, Fuzzco, Colleen Terrell and all the sponsors for making this a great project. And of course Tim McManus without whom this would have definitely never happened.
Baird Hoffmire, winner of the super sweet Dewey Weber longboard donated by McKevlins Surf Shop (and my brother in law who lives in Atlanta far from the waves. So we are getting to keep this bad boy at our house!)
Scene from the very packed after-after party at the Trusted Palate. Cary Ann Hearst and Micheal Trent are as good as old soulful country blues gets. For sure. Thanks to Beth and Ian at the Trusted Palate.
LEEP Web of Water Webisodes
Webisode 5 - THE COASTAL ZONE
Here is the final webisode for the Web of Water trip. What a great three weeks, meeting amazing people and seeing hidden gems right here in our own state. There are several more interviews to do and then we will go into final production on the DVD and photo journal. The short version will come out in late Spring and the longer version will be out this fall. Please stay tuned for our launch event. Thanks to everyone who helped make the trip possible including the South Carolina Heritage Corridor.
Ian arrived in Charleston harbor on Sunday to meet the kids from Charleston Kids with Cameras. CKWC and the LEEP photographers are putting together a photo journal for the Web of Water project. Here are some pics from Tim McManus at Pennisula Media.
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Webisode 4- THE COASTAL PLAINS
Webisode 4 is posted to Riverventure.org / MYETV.org. The trip finished up on Sunday at the SC Aquarium (pictures in the next post) and we spent Monday at Magnolia plantation with the kids from Haute Gap school, SCETV and Ed Falco from the SC Dept. of Education. Stay tuned for the final Webisode posting later this week.
Web of Water Webisode 4: In the Coastal Plains from Web of Water on Vimeo.
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Webisode 3- IN THE SANDHILLS
The third webisode produced for broadcast in SC Middle School classrooms is posted to the RiverVenture.org and MyEtv.com Web sites (here it is below also). This one features some great personalities Ian met in the mid-state - Cheif Louis Chavis of the Beaver Creek Tribe, Park Ranger Karen Kustafic, and Ian presenting to the 3rd grade class from Nursery Road Elementary at Saluda Shoals park. The next installment will feature John Rood and Ian in the Congaree National Park and Marc Epstein from the Santee Wildlife Refuge.
Web of Water Webisode 3: In the Sandhills from Web of Water on Vimeo.
Webisode 2 - IN THE PIEDMONT
We have completed the second Webisode for the Web of Water series. We also spent the weekend with some great people in the upstate including Chief Louis Chavez of the Beaver Creek nation, Karen Kustafik a ranger with Columbia Parks & Recreation and Patrick Hayes from ETV. The Chief provided some insightful context connecting the spiritual and practical role of water in the life of the American Indian. Karen was a delightful guide to the three rivers area of Columbia where the Broad and Saluda rivers meet to form the Congaree. Patrick also really helped with Saturday's shoot by helping with B-roll. We even had an improptu meeting with the geologist from Congaree National Park where we will be on Tuesday.
Stay tuned to MyEtv.org for all the educational content to go along with the Webisode and Ian's daily blog.
Web of Water Webisode 2: In the Piedmont from Web of Water on Vimeo.
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Webisode 1 - THE BLUE RIDGE & THE FOOTHILLS
The first of six Webisodes for the Web of Water Kayak adventure is online. Our partners at SCETV will be running PSA's on NPR this week to promote the trip by our local naturalist Ian Sanchez. The series is being viewed by Middle Schoolers across South Carolina as part of thier environmental education program.
Thanks to everyone workiing hard to get this real time production to happen including Ian Downie who helped as PA and our friend Chuck Heilig who did editing on this one. We will be posting these as they go up over the course of the trip.