Creativity Base

I was searching on Twitter tonight for discussions on online video, and look what I turned up. KFC (or Kentucky Fried Chicken as it was known before the re-brand in Australia) has been in and out of the spotlight over the years for countless allegations of animal cruelty practised by its meat suppliers. Since hearing the claims and viewing similar video footage years ago, I changed my buying habits- one of the best methods for making your position felt. I haven’t had a Zinger Burger Deluxe for many years now, and seeing this video has reminded me exactly why. The video footage shows examples of chickens contained in dense populations with their beaks clipped, top-heavy and overweight and cruelly treated on their often slow passage to death. I’m not a militant vegan by any stretch, nor am I against the breeding of animals for human consumption. I am however against cruelty towards people and animals alike, and the video you will see below goes way beyond acceptable, by even the most relaxed standards of human behaviour.

Make your own KFC sign at KentuckyFriedCruelty.com

I find the choice of Pamela Anderson as the main spokesperson for the cause a bit peculiar and can’t help but feel Sir Paul McCartney of the Beatles (who also supports the PETA campaign against KFC’s barbaric practices) would have made a better narrator. At any rate, if the story moves you, there are many ways you can help. Start by tweeting this post, then head on over to the PETA’s Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign website to learn more. There you can sign an online petition and send various media to friends and lobbyists to help spread the word. You can even make yourself a customised banner for your own website, like the one at the top of this article.

Oh, and lets be reasonable- you don’t need to stop eating chicken to be part of the solution. Our favorite chicken shop here in Adelaide Chickens-to-Go proudly states on their welcome-window that their chickens are organically fed, free-range stock, and we can taste the difference. As commentator Brad has pointed out however, ‘free-range’ can be a far-cry from a guarantee that the animals are treated adequately, and the label doesn’t necessarily indicate that the chickens are provided with adequate space and conditions to live a low-stress life. Ask your local chicken shop where their meat comes and if they know how they’re treated. If they can’t give you an answer, write their supplier a letter asking about their chicken’s living conditions. Let your local retailers know that the well-being of the animals is important to you, and if they can’t tell you how they’re chickens are raised, you’ll be taking your business elsewhere… most certainly not to KFC!

For further reading, I recommend HumaneMyth.org. Thanks to comment poster Brad for bringing this site to my attention.

Dan Monceaux

Back in May, while touring as video operator on the childrens’ theatre production ‘WOLF’ I was able to take my new point & shoot Panasonic DMC-FT1 camera underwater and put it through its paces. I was so impressed (astonished really) by the quality of both video and stills that Emma Sterling and I decided that it was high time to commence production on a marine conservation documentary. We have wanted to make this film since way back in 2003, and at last, technology has caught up with our demands.

The cost of shooting high-quality video underwater was prohibitive back then, but now not so- as the Panasonic DMC-FT1 can be used ‘out of the box’ in water to 10 feet of depth. Wanting to go deeper, Emma Sterling and I also bought the matching waterproof housing and have since taken the camera to depths around 8 metres with brilliant results. The whole kit (camera and housing together) cost less than AUD$1000. Inside the housing, the camera is able to handle depth and pressure to 40 metres and has a cold shoe on top to mount external lights on, making it a pretty serious instrument. Panasonic was confident enough in the camera’s abilities that they shot their own TVC for the camera on the camera itself. Check out the latest one below.

When shooting in the Southern Ocean, even when the visibility is brilliant, a blue colour cast dominates. This is remedied by the FT1′s ‘underwater’ mode. Comparable to the technique of slipping an orange glass filter behind or in front of your lens in a traditional rig, the setting restores warm palettes of colours to the image in a very satisfying way. There are occasional instances where the colour balance shifts unnaturally during a shot, but these are infrequent- and a small price to pay for such an affordable and powerful 720p HD camera with 12 megapixel stills capacity. For those of you unfamiliar with the camera, it presents itself as a digital point & shoot stills camera, but offers serious punch for still and moving picture making.

Another neat feature of the camera for underwater video use is its constant white LED. Providing pleasing fill during daytime shoots, this can be switched on or off manually or set to ‘auto’ and diffuses remarkably well (despite the reputation of white LEDs for producing very directional and hard-edged beams of light). While this feature works beautifully in up to ten feet of water, the optional deep water housing’s design obscures the light, rendering it useless. The cold shoe will provide external light-mounting options though, for the serious dive photographer or videographer. Metal buttons (while poorly labelled) provide full button control of the cameras features, and a generous viewing screen make it a pleasure to wield below the briney blue.

Giant Cuttlefish camouflage

I can’t disclose too much about the film we’re making at the moment (especially while we’re still in production) but here are a couple of still photographs taken with the camera. The rocky reefs of the upper Spencer Gulf in South Australia provide the setting, and all images are taken with ambient light exclusively. Nominal photoshopping- just a little tweak of the contrast levels. If you want to know more about the camera, scoot over to Panasonic Australia’s Lumix website … there’s currently a competition running where one in five Australian buyers wins a nice widescreen HDTV with an SD card slot- ready to play your videos and photos straight off the disc!

Jellyfish

Dan Monceaux