Archive for the ‘documentaries’ Category

Welcome to SpeakEasy
A Documentary Film About Public Speaking

Aug 23rd, 2010 | 7 comments

SpeakEasy is a documentary film about the fear of public speaking, and the 2008 Toastmasters World Championships of Public Speaking. Filmmakers Paul Galichia and Brian Weidling embarked on an almost two year journey – conducting hundreds of interviews about public speaking anxiety, and capturing every stage of the tense, highly competitive World Championships of Public Speaking.

We’ve met so many amazing people and seen so many interesting places on this continent, I think back and it seems a little surreal to have made such an odd, fascinating, arduous journey.  Williston North Dakota.  Wetaskiwin, Alberta.  Erie Pennsylvania.  Vegas.  Homeless shelters.  Angola State Penitentiary.  Magicians.  I’ll rattle on as we recount the adventure and get ready to release the film.  We’ll have pictures and videos and blog posts and communities and message boards and Tweets and favorite links and all things public speaking…. and, of course, at some point soon, the film itself.

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, documentaries, fear of public speaking, random

Mirrors are scary

Feb 9th, 2010 | 0 comments

**spoiler alert** SpeakEasy, the documentary film about the fear of public speaking and the Toastmasters World Championships of Public Speaking, has several scenes with mirrors. Scary!

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CATEGORIES | Uncategorized, clips, documentaries, editing

the New Jersey Nets have themselves a motivational speaker

Feb 3rd, 2010 | 0 comments

I’m not sure if you’ve been paying attention, but the 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets are on their way to becoming the worst basketball team in NBA history. They started the season 0-19, setting a record for the poorest start in league history, and have won 4 games since – which is sort of miraculous, because, I mean… they’re awful. So how does this relate to SpeakEasy? In our film, we have a small section (for now) about motivational speakers, and indeed the World Championships of Public Speaking could be looked at as an amateur motivational speaking contest. Most speeches are, at least, written to impart life wisdom and help the audience in some or another. And so, a motivational speaker has come to rescue the New Jersey Nets! Let’s keep track of it and see if it works! Can a powerful speaker help a team block out, hit open three pointers, make the extra pass, not turn the ball over, etc.? We shall see….

will a motivational speaker help the New Jersey Nets win more games?

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CATEGORIES | documentaries, positive energy, public speeches

big day for speeches and presentations…

Jan 28th, 2010 | 0 comments

One of the things SpeakEasy really delves into – or at least we did in the last cut – is how closely strong leadership is tied to good public speaking skills. Yesterday, two pioneers, if you will, were in front of audiences to sell themselves and and push their agendas: Barack Obama and Steve Jobs. Obama’s State of the Union address showcased many of the trademarks of an Obama speech – strong posture, an air of authority, a booming, confident voice – regardless of his policies, he’s an excellent speaker to study just in terms of physical presence. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, has a physical condition that has left him weak, so he relied on humor, charming nerdiness, and confidence in his product – I thought his content was stronger than his delivery (he effectively ripped on the Kindle, for example). And he looks relaxed, casual, and friendly. It’s engaging. Either way, here are some clips from their speeches – a big day in presentation and public speaking.

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CATEGORIES | documentaries, public speeches

and there are the awkward acceptance speeches…

Jan 18th, 2010 | 1 comment

Great filmmaker. Brilliant. Genius. But not the best public speaker. Remember his Titanic speech? This is probably worse, right?

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, documentaries, fear of public speaking

Martin Luther King

Jan 18th, 2010 | 0 comments

If anyone in American – heck, human history proved that being a great public speaker can move mountains and bring about sweeping change for the greater good, it’s Dr. King. Incredible.

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CATEGORIES | documentaries, politics, public speeches

GUEST BLOG ALERT!!! Colin William chimes in!

Jan 15th, 2010 | 0 comments

Colin William, one of the finalists of the 2008 World Championships of Public Speaking, sent us a pretty amazing account of his experience with the contest. I’ll waste no time with my own words. Great to hear from him! Here ya go:

“I never knew it would become so all-consuming.

I was one of the contestants in the 2008 WCPS, filmed by Paul and Brian and their crew. When you watch the movie you’ll see bits of me.

I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know what to expect, but there’s one thing I hope it captures – the sheer insanity of it all. See, that version of me that you’ll see on the screen isn’t so much me as it is a man possessed.

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Like most contestants, I entered with the hope that I’d contend, but never seriously thinking I’d make it all the way to the final. I did, though, and along the way I experienced something I never expected – the thrill, the fear, the excitement, the pressure and the insanity of competition.

(more…)

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, documentaries, editing, public speeches

lotsa lotsa lotsa notes

Jan 12th, 2010 | 0 comments

Over the weekend we started to give the editor our notes – this is no time to screw around, we went shot by shot, piece by piece, pulling apart almost every note of the film and making sure it’s being questioned, justified, and put in the exact right place. Painstaking, but we have the big picture right now. Most of the structure is ready… now it’s time to dig in again and do this. We basically want more of the drama that was the World Championships of Public Speaking than we wanted fear of public speaking. We’re trying to make two films become one.

However, we need more stories of bad public speaking moments!! Anything! This documentary film about the fear of public speaking and the World Championships of Public Speaking needs your help!!

In the meantime, there’s more of this going on every minute of the day:

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CATEGORIES | Toastmasters, Uncategorized, celebrities, destinations and locations, documentaries, fear of public speaking, positive energy, public speeches

the newest cut of this film about the World Championships of Public Speaking

Jan 6th, 2010 | 1 comment

… is really good. Holy smokes we were happy with where we’ve found ourselves with this film (besides being a bit behind schedule!). The home stretch has officially begun. One major change we made was we added much more of the actual contest – the speeches of the final 10, on the big stage in Calgary, weren’t getting enough play, and why not get deeper into them? You know, actually witness the great performances. It was easy to forget how good those final speeches were, as we got lost in the hundreds of hours of footage leading up to it. It’s all really compelling, funny, slightly odd, and moving.

There’s still plenty of work to do – the music needs to be added, needs to be cleaned up here and there… but when we leaned on our stars (competitors) and let them tell their stories, it’s powerful stuff. The World Championships of Public Speaking was so compelling in and of itself, we just had to get out of the way. Yep, I’m giving this rough cut, and the progress we’ve made, one of these:
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CATEGORIES | documentaries, editing, public speeches

The World Championships of Public Speaking

Dec 23rd, 2009 | 0 comments

Oh, I like the version that’s coming together, Chris Leong. We have such an embarrassment of riches, really – so many hours (415!) of great footage, and yet we only have about 90 minutes to tell our story. Themes need to be condensed and crystal clear because there’s a lot of room to cover, and little time to do it. It’s such a huge contest – the World Championships of Public Speaking has 30,000 competitors in over 100 countries. I mean…. that’s pretty incredible, I think, and also pretty impossible to fully capture in a 90 minute documentary. So our heads are spinning, yet we’re getting there.

2010, peoples. What else is going on in 2010? Anybody got any big plans they want to leave in the comments section?

2010. The year we make contact. (I look at the star-child on this poster and imagine it being our film. I’m kooky like that.)
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CATEGORIES | documentaries, editing, fear of public speaking
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