You might recall that last month I whipped together a lil’ video in order to apply for the Fiesta Movement – an innovative marketing effort by Ford that gave 100 entertaining and influential bloggers a new car to drive around for 6 months and share their thoughts and adventures with the world. Well, lucky for me, I got chosen – one of 4000+ applicants.

I spent a fantastic couple days up in New York City getting some information and training on the program. It does not suck to spend 24 hours with a group of people who are equally, if not more nerdy than me about blogging, Twitter and the Internet arts (shout out to my new friends Seth, Alexis, John, Sarah, Grace, Jody, Jill, Joe, Bliss, Eric and Alex). Here’s the first clip I just uploaded – an introduction to the car and a rainy training day at the racetrack.

There’s a bit more to it than simple videos and witty car quips. The best part of this is that Audrey and I are already planning some road trip adventures for this summer and we’ll be extra sure to make you some entertaining videos while we’re on the road.

My friend Hudson and his brother Michael are making a documentary film about their 93-year-old grandfather Alva B. Lines. Here’s a bit of their first trailer the put together based on interviews they filmed with him recently.

I’m certainly intrigued by the film, but I’m equally interested in the way that these fellas are promoting the project using social media marketing tactics (posting updates to a Twitter account, maintaining a production blog in lieu of a ‘coming soon’ splash page, etc). I’ve long been a proponent of indie artists taking full advantage of the tools the web has to offer in building your own audience by keeping them in the loop throughout the entire creative process. I love pointing out projects that ‘get it’ and are doing it right. Another documentary that has been really hitting home runs in this realm is my friends at Project Pedal and their film For Thousands of Miles.

Thought we’re only a few steps into producing our own documentary, Mable’s Murder (working title), Audrey and I certainly aim to do the same kind of audience building and promotion once we’re further along into production. By the way, it’s a pleasent coincidence that Hud and Michael are also exploring stories from our grandparent’s generation. We hope to follow their project closely and share their successes with you in the coming months.

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