I've been in this business for 45 years from managing radio stations, running audio recording labs, disc mastering, Director of Photography, audio engineer, videographer and editor and this is one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Thanks for the link Jay. Very moving and my head is still spinning from the work that had to go into this - the audio and the editing. WOW!

I'm amazed - this is editing at it's finest.

for decades my wife and I had no TV; then I bought a $50 ATSC HD tuner for the USB port on my computer, so now, often, only on Friday, we watch the local PBS station. I'm rarely moved by what I see, but when Bill Moyers played that video, I was deeply touched.

We hear so much about the violence and mayhem in the world that many people believe the world is getting worse ("wars and rumors of wars" and all that stuff. . . ).

Not so. The movement toward brotherhood, respect, and love is winning. Just read a few books from the dark ages of, say, 1000 years ago from any place on earth and you'll see the difference. A book is available that documents this decline:
http://www.amazon.com/History-Force-Exploring-Worldwide-Bloodshed/dp/0915728176/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231530235&sr=1-1
A good DVD that proposes an explanation is available:
http://www.amazon.com/Great-Year-Walter-Cruttenden/dp/B0000YHVMG/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1231530703&sr=8-1
The same folks also published a book (much better than the DVD, IMO) that I read with interest:
http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Star-Myth-Walter-Cruttenden/dp/0976763117/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231530799&sr=8-1

Simply outstanding. And very moving.

I see that the filmmaker did a previous documentary along these lines, pan-global performances and interviews with the street musicians, in PLAYING FOR CHANGE: A CINEMATIC DISCOVERY OF STREET MUSIC, available on Netflix (an now in my queue).

For those who are interested...

Bill Moyers Interview - includes this video and part of One Love

A quick look at your website and work explains why you don't get this video. BTW, if all you're going to do is string together JumpBacks, VideoTraxxx and StackTraxx/other audio, you might want to state that upfront instead of implying that you actually shot/created any of this material on your own.
This is an unbelievably childish comment. Because I don't like something you criticize my work. Bizarre! The video you are referring to has nothing to do with the kind of videos I create, nor did I imply that I shot the video. My customers are extremely happy with my work and I am constantly busy. I have repeat business from virtually everyone I've done projects for. In the future when someone makes a comment don't attack them because they do not like it. I do understand that this video took a lot of work and can even agree that I would not be able to do something like this. However, I still did not enjoy watching it. No offense was implied or intended to the people who worked so hard on this.

This is an unbelievably childish comment. Because I don't like something you criticize my work.

I'll agree with that.

However, you need to realize that your initial comment directed at those of us who liked and appreciated the video was just as "unbelievably childish." Just because you don't like/understand/appreciate something we do, you criticize us?

Can you see the similarities here?

There are no similarities. I was not insulting anyone by criticizing their work. There is a huge difference between that and stating that I have a different opinion about the video.

Very nice video, I think it's cool when strangers come together (virtually anyway) and make something nice like this.

As far as video777's comment, at first I was thinking "yeah, that guy is crazy, burn him at the steak!!", but then yeah, he just had a different opinion.

I know some of my videos aren't that great, but I still may think that some of your professional videos aren't good either. Figure too, you've seen some movies that you hated, but could you do any better? Well maybe some of you could, but most couldn't.

The movement toward brotherhood, respect, and love is winning.

Indeed it is. I grew up learning that the forests are vanishing, they are not, I grew up learning that poverty and starvation is increasing, it is not, it is decreasing, even in real numbers (which is astonishing given our current growth rate) etc. There are many, many areas where improvement is needed, but overall we are doing better day by day, and anyone who uses the phrase "the good old days" is delusional, or perhaps has just hit a streak of bad luck :-)

Hopefully the main trouble spot where brotherhood, respect and love is currently struggling to find a foot hold will soon also turn around. Thinking now of parts of Africa where things are steadily getting worse and also the current situation in the news where a certain part of our world is trying to pull them selves back into the dark middle ages, and they are lashing out against anyone who try to prevent it.

This is an unbelievably childish comment.

It was a childish comment, and as such, completely appropriate. Some times you do not understand what you see, and in such cases it is appropriate to as "what is it that you liked about this video, I don't get it'. That is not what you did, you said: "I used to like that song until I watched this video", in other words, your comment was "unbelievably childish", and it was based on simple ignorance and unwillingness to find out what was going on on your part.

Despite what some people like to think, every opinion is in fact not equal. Someone who thinks that acupuncture should be equal to hospital medicine is in fact not particularly sane. You are in a forum where one talk about video editing. Obviously. This editing job is, whether you like the song or not, and whether you like the performers or not, absolutely astonishing. So, as it pertains to the topic of this group, the video is, objectively and indisputably quite a remarkable piece of work.

If this was a technical discussion about pianists, and someone played a work that required three hands and six fingers on each hands with two hands and the regular amount of fingers, that would also be astonishing, whether you liked the piece or not.

If you think the particular video was not a good piece of video editing, then you should elaborate on that so that we can understand why. In the same way that you should have elaborated on it if you said that it was unimpressive to see a one-handed man play the first Rachmaninoff sonata.

Terje,

I was not speaking to you. I was responding to jmeredith. If you have a specific comment about the video please share that rather than attacking me. I disagree with virtually everything you said but I don't think it's a good idea to continue this. Technically this video is incredible. I still don't like it.

I made a specific comment ABOUT the video whether you like it or not. You're right that this is a place for us to discuss the technical aspects of a video. However, how a video makes one feel is equally, if not more, important. What I care about is the experience the audience gets from watching a video. Whether you use a jump cut, dissolve, or fancy transition is a small piece of that. We learn technique so we can convey the story effectively.

"yeah, that guy is crazy, burn him at the steak!!"

Just to be pedantic... you would burn someone at the "stake" and they would become a piece of grilled meat, which is a "steak."

You know what's bad, I actually thought twice before I spelled it "steak", brain isn't working correctly tonight! :)

Hear, hear, I didn't think it was to bad of a misteak.

That was shattering!!!

A real pearl.........

With all the ..., not so great videos on the web, that one is the type of work
that keeps me looking. There still is some real talent.

I wish that they had included the credits for the crew that worked on that one.
I would love to work with and learn from those people. I've worked in this
business for 30+ years and thats the kind of talent you strive to work with.

Thanks for the link Jay. What a great way to start out the New Year.

Terry

And about the video... what a wonderful fusion of the power of creativity, music, video and the Internet to bring people together across this world of ours. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing.

Jerry

Here's Joshua Bell playing for pennies anonymously as a street musician in D.C.

Not quite the same production values..., but an interesting story.

As for the other video, I'll surprise everyone (most anyway) by defending video777's right to not like all music.

I remember an excursion in high school when the whole class took a bus to a world famous classical concert hall. On the way back, I mentioned that I didn't like the music, and the reaction from one girl really surprised me and saddened me: "Typical for engineers to not understand music!"

She didn't know that i listened to way more music than she did, and I listened and appreciated music from every conceivable genre too.

I just didn't much care for most 20th century classical composers, as I'm not able to perceive any story telling in their music, only confusion.

Personally I always thought that a person who likes only classical music, or anything but, or only techno, or whatever, doesn't really like music.

But that doesn't mean that everybody needs to love every piece of music from every corner of the universe.

We have all kinds of stuff hidden in our psyches to determine what floats our boat, and that's just part of being human.

I wish that they had included the credits for the crew that worked on that one.

Terry, go to the Playing For Change website and click on the "Filmmakers" tab.
It has a brief bio on what appears to be everyone involved with this project.
Also, have a look at the Bill Moyers interview link that jmeredith posted (her 2nd post, not the first one) as he interviews Mark Johnson, the co-director/producer on this project.

Mike

There are no similarities.

Oh, indeed there are! You simply don't recognized them, just like your didn't recognize the video for what it was.

It wasn't your dislike of the video that brought all this down upon you, it was the condescending statement you opened with: "I hope some of you are joking." You were insulting us by criticizing our ability to recognize quality work when we see it.

Think about it.

That was fantastic and like others expressed it gave me chills. I found it inspiring, not only artistically but as a fellow human being. I realized I really need to get out and start shooting (video not people).

As far as the negative comment...I recall (many, many years ago) a field trip to an art gallery that featured a sizable abstract exhibit. At the conclusion of the tour, the professor enthusiastically asked what I thought of the exhibit to which I replied (loosely quoted), "It seemed rather silly to me. Most of what I saw were items found in a kitchen junk drawer glued to paper towels and framed." I'm not sure if the professor was more mortified by my lack of understanding or offended by my comment but she went on to advise me that she was a sponsor of the exhibit. Looking back, the "works" still strike me as little more than junk glued to paper but there was something in that junk that truly moved that professor and I doubt there was any way I could have avoided offending her short of lying. I can't speak for the poster here and I'm not necessarily defending him/her but when something this fantastic moves so many people, any one person who expresses a differing opinion is likely to sound harsh or way off base (man oh man that was so close to a run-on that I just HAD to throw in a parenthetical to finish the job). Anyway, just one poster's opinion.
Again it was a fantastic piece of work. I registered on the website immediately after watching it.

Yup, saw this on PBS/Bill Moyers when it first aired.
Impressive, uplifting and paradoxically, so simple in concept (but not execution).

Simplicity and humanity.
Nice combo.