Andrew (Television Executive)Jun 6, 2023

The clip that I shared at the top of my last thread (https://retro.social/@ajroach42/110497705648080505) was created by one of two loosely affiliated video activist groups of the 1960s and 1970s. That group, The Videofreex, went on to become Lainsville TV. They decended on a small town in upstate new york and ran a pirate television station. (They are a core inspiration for many of the things I do at #NewEllijayTelevision)

The other group, which shared some members and values but took a more mainstream commercially successful route, was TVTV.

TVTV made documentaries. Here's a documentary they made about how the 72 DNC was a nearly entirely anti-democratic affair:

https://mediaburn.org/video/worlds-largest-tv-studio/

Andrew (R.S Admin) (@[email protected])

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is currently running an exhibit on Video Art. One of the pieces they are screening is an interview the Video Freex did with Fred Hampton and some members of the Panthers just before the state murdered Fred. I've seen clips from this interview before, but I'd never seen the whole thing. https://www.moma.org/calendar/channels/1?item_id=16

R E T R O S O C I A L
Show threadAndrew (Television Executive)Jun 6, 2023

And some more information about, and footage from, their 72 DNC and RNC documentaries.

https://guerrillatv.bampfa.berkeley.edu/raw-footage/2020-07-14_worlds-largest-tv-studio.html

The World’s Largest TV Studio

105 camera original tapes from TVTV’s production of The World’s Largest TV Studio (1972) at the 1972 Democratic National Convention.

PRESERVING GUERRILLA TELEVISION
Show threadAndrew (Television Executive)Jun 6, 2023

All of those clips are backed by Archive.org.

This one, I found pretty interesting: https://archive.org/details/worlds-largest-studio-011_16222

At around the 15 minute mark, their camera person starts talking about the equipment, techniques, etc. that they use with another camera person. They mention the freex (and I think one of the TVTV folks on screen was a member of both collectives at one time or another).

The world's largest TV studio [raw footage: tape 011] : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive

[Contents:] Hudson [Marquez] himself -- Receiving press credentials -- Ocean ; Camera: Michael [Shamberg], Skip [Blumberg], Tom [Weinberg] ; TVTV Archive...

Internet Archive
Show threadAndrew (Television Executive)Jun 6, 2023

Anther TVTV documentary:

https://mountaintown.video/w/nyK4dx16Gm4AM9NxZotZxb

This one features Rennie Davis a few years after the trial of the Chicago 7, acting as the PR person for a cult leader (and a Strong rebuke from Abbey Hoffman) among other things.

It's entertaining, but it's also a hard watch.

Lord of the Universe - TVTV -

PeerTube
Show threadAndrew (Television Executive)Jun 6, 2023

I'm sharing these videos today with a purpose.

See, we're living through some stuff here in GA, and across the US, that closely mirrors the things that were happening around the country in the late 60s and early 70s.

And, similarly to the revolution in accessible and affordable video for regular people of the late 60s and early 70s we're also living through a sea change in the ability for individuals to *broadcast* rather than just produce media.

We have to learn from the successes and failures of those who came before us. We have to be ready to weather the same storm. Our educational system has failed us, we have to educate ourselves.

Show threadAndrew (Television Executive)

The videofreex and the folks behind TVTV and Guerilla Television... they failed in a lot of ways.

Today, they are remembered for their Art and not for their activism. The video they produced is suppressed, paywalled, inaccessible.

But the idea that participatory media, that #diymedia can be a force for political and social change? It's been proven again and again over the last 50 years.

Jun 6, 2023 at 4:25pmWeb