Viva Amiga’s Zach Weddington (and a bit of gear talk)

June 14, 2018 | By

Back in April I reviewed Viva Amiga (2017), Zach Weddington’s affectionate documentary on the pioneering multimedia computer which enabled musicians, graphic artists, gamers, and videographers to reach new levels of creativity.

My experience with the Amiga was brief – I used it on a few projects before taking a different turn in film production, aspects chronicled in my recurring blog (Mis)Adventures in Video at Big Head Amusements – but it remains a highlight in my own tangible experience with classic video gear, and in my podcast with director Zach Weddington  (available via Google Play, iTunes, Libsyn, and YouTube)  we discuss the doc’s production, research, and some classic video gear typical of the early 1990s.

It does get slightly technical near the end, but hopefully it’s not too dry for film fans proper. We briefly touch upon Nathan Silver’s drama Stinking Heaven (2015), which was entirely shot with a vintage Ikegami tube camera, and media artist Jennifer Juniper Stratford, who uses vintage analogue gear including the Amiga for her productions, including music videos.

Weddington’s Viva Amiga is available for download via Vimeo and on DVD via Kino Lorber, and the Vimeo site is packed with extended interviews, many free to view & download. (I covered both the extras and the doc proper in my lengthy review.)

As mentioned near the end of the podcast, at BHA I’ve posted some stills from footage of a vintage Ikegami camera turned on after 20+ years, and within the next week or two I’ll upload edited video of the camera’s return to life.

Also coming soon is an expanded review of Josh Rizzo’s Welcome to Macintosh (2008), and reviews of the Mind’s Eye, the compilation series from the late 80s / mid-90s which showcased then-cutting edge computer graphics (many done on the Amiga).

Lastly, coming shortly is a review of Philip Dunne’s Blue Denim (1959) via Twilight Time, and the next part in Bruno Mattei’s Rip-Off Trilogy: Strike Commando (1987) and Robowar (1988).

Cheers,

 

 

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

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Category: EDITOR'S BLOG, INTERVIEWS, podcast

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