By
Doug Cain
The trees are filling
out in all their splendor - the red and yellows of maple; crab apple pink -apple
blossom white; all the ranges of green from light to dark. The tiniest leaves
and the smallest buds ready to explode in size. Another rebirth - Another beginning.
Another round of classes finishing. New students - new energy. Its an exciting
time of the year. Main St. follows the bank of the Mississippi - alongside the
falls. I reflect back on the portage route of yesteryear - the falls have always
lured fish and birds - water fowl... and people. One sign along the Heritage Trail
marker route mentions the portage trail along Main St. where generations of canoe
travelers on the "blue highway" walked their vessels around the crumbled limestone
and heavy rapids of "St. Anthony's Falls". Main Street is still a refuge in the
heart of the city. The giant cottonwoods now shade pedestrians from downtown on
their noontime exercise loops. New producers file through regularly. They get
excited by the opportunity of producing a program - or at least seeing how some
ideas will turn out. 
A
Hmong community studio program has begun production after a special class was
arranged -as well as an advanced training and beginning certification going for
the ETBM - Eritrean
Television Broadcast of MN. - crew expansion.
Cable access programming has shown up in the StarTribune lately. Cover stories in the Variety section have featured both "Mental Engineering" and "Somali TV". The host of "Mental Engineering" (which airs in Mpls. on Ch. 33 Sundays at 7:30 pm) John Forde took our studio class before finding a production home in downtown St.Paul at SPNN - while Abdul Osman and Mohamed Mohamed - very active producers at MTN - were mentioned regarding the Somali local music scene. Their show has two segments each week which run on Ch. 32 both Mon. and Thurs. at 5 pm. Rumor has it they will soon be the focus of another article - covering the regular production of one of the only Somali television shows in the entire nation... right here at MTN. MTN is the home of two Somali television programs - the other "Somali Show" runs on Ch. 32 Fridays at 5 pm.
A resident editor over the last six months - well known to frequent visitors of MTN - Leon Mitchell - producer of the "Community At Work" program - begins editing a new season of features starting with the 5th Annual March for Peace & Justice on West Broadway - which took place at the end of April. Multiple cameras at different locations over the course of the entire day will bring much visibility of that event to the general viewing audience. He plans to continue his series with tributes to African American activists Paul Robeson and Kwame Toure' (Stokely Carmichael) by Mahmoud El-Kati, historian and professor at Macalester College, St. Paul.
Charles Bowe completed his first level training in production this past winter with a class project on surviving a hellishly cold day - something we all have some experience with. He continues his career with a debut short entitled "Metaphor Hotline", the plot of this scripted narrative revolves around a inspirational call-in phone service for "metaphors". As director, Charles gained some unexpected lessons working with actors, who were also friends. Bowe can be read weekly as film reviewer for "Pulse" - the alternative news magazine - which also runs as a weekly cable access show on ch. 33 Weds. nights at 10:30. called "Pulse TV"
Another big event this spring - which like the 25th annual May Day Parade and Festival, is an institutional mainstay of our cultural community - the 17th Annual International Film Festival sponsored by The U Film Society has just finished up bringing a whole lot of independent and international projects to our attention. Of special interest to producers were an evening of MN. Shorts with quite a range of topics. Many local freelancers are taking the time (and money) to finish their own productions. This is an exciting, albeit challenging, process - taking charge of your own product. A packed house showed its appreciation and pride, showing there is an appetite for more local independent productions.
Part of the film festival brought together visual artists and their products utilizing digital technology - a panel discussion with national producers who showed their short clips and features edited and shot in some of the new formats. This glimpse into the future of video production was called "Over-Bytes". MTN is about to take its first steps into this field. Program manager John Akre summarizes our initial forays into this area...
MTN to get Non Linear Systems!
On April 8, the MTN Board of Directors approved the purchase of two nonlinear edit systems for MTN. These two edit systems will give MTN's producers and staff a small but exciting glimpse into the future of video production. Computers are changing video production just as fast as word processing programs and desktop publishing changed writing. Our linear edit systems are beginning to look like the trypewriters & linotype machines of the T.V. world: they are useful and sturdy, but they certainly don't provide the flexibility or speed that comes from a computer (as long as your computer doesn't crash). Nonlinear editing also has a huge image and audio quality advantage over deck-to-deck editing. Last fall, a group of MTN staff began researching some of the options out there in the ever-evolving world of computer-based video editing.
MTN to get Non Linear Systems! - Continued to page
5
In this Issue:
Page One: What's on mtn?
Page Two: Cable Franchise Negotiations
Page Three: MTN Profile
Page Four: Programming Notes
Page Five: Cyber-Bytes - Continued
Page Six: What's on mtn? - Continued
Page Seven: MTN board position opening 
