Moving Train sponsors “A Perfect Match”

By Naomi | Published: February 9, 2012

Great news! My film, A Perfect Match, has been selected by Moving Train to receive fiscal sponsorship – allowing the film to receive tax-deductible donations!

Moving Train’s mission is to help documentary filmmakers tell compelling, socially relevant and entertaining stories that become catalysts for change.  Through fiscal sponsorship and mentoring Moving Train will demystify and facilitate every stage of the film making process from fine tuning an idea through distribution.

Moving Train was founded by Emmy winning directors Dana Nachman & Don Hardy of Witch Hunt, Love Hate Love and The Human Experiment.

Thank you to incredible photographer Max S Gerber for donating his photographs of Erica.

The Bookstore of the Future

By Naomi | Published: February 5, 2012

The iconic & historic Independent Bookstore — Kepler’s of Menlo Park, CA — announced a prototype model for independent bookstores that would create next-generation community literary venues.   This is welcoming and timely news for the 25% of independent bookstores who are left surviving in the US.  The project aims to create an innovative hybrid business model that includes a for-profit, community-owned-and-operated bookstore and a non-profit organization that will feature on-stage author interviews, lectures by leading intellectuals, educational workshops and other literary and cultural events. This unique legal, business and financial structure will be available, open-source, to Independent Bookstores across the country.

Accompanying the press release on January 31st is the video that I produced, filmed and edited on Kepler’s 2020:

Produced, Filmed & Edited by Naomi Ture.  For more information on how to participate in the Kepler’s 2020 Movement, go to: www.keplers2020.com

TV Production Truck gets a Make-Over

By Naomi | Published: September 8, 2010

For years, our production truck, which we use for our live TV programs, and our Sports events, has looked old and dilapidated.  The time was ripe for a make-over.  Via Photoshop, I created a design for the dimensions of our truck, with the objective to attract viewers within seconds, and promote KMVT’s services.  We worked with Mission City Signs to adjust, print and install the design as a vehicle wrap.  Our “new” production truck debuted at the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival in September 2010!

Global Lives Project World Premiere Installation – Opening Night Success!

By Naomi | Published: February 26, 2010

The Global Lives Project debuted our world premiere exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco to an opening night crowd of more than 1,100 people!

For the first time ever, we screened our series of ten 24-hour videos of daily life from around the planet. We collaborated with hundreds of volunteers around the world in preparation for the exhibit – our onscreen participants, our directors and producers, translators and transcribers, renowned architects, video installation producers, as well as our sponsors, the Long Now Foundation & Adobe Foundation.

Our opening night celebration included great music by DJs Kid Kameleon, Tinker and Chief Boima, drinks, dancing, Gamelon music and chocolate tasting.

We have collaborated with hundreds of volunteers around the world in preparation for the exhibit, with a mission to build a video library of human life experience.  Initially, we have videotaped 24 ours in the lives of 10 people around the world, including their life stories.  These 10 lives have been brought together for the first time on Opening Night, featuring a large scale, immersive installation of 10 screens, showing the diverse lives from around the planet unfold simultaneously. In the Room for Big Ideas, sit in our architectural spaces to soak in the stories of Jamila, a little girl raised in a refugee camp in Beirut, Rumi, who leads an active life in Tokyo, and is a wheelchair user, or James, a cable car driver right here in San Francisco.

Global Lives Project World Premiere PartyThe exhibit is part of an artist residency that will evolve over 4 months, from February through June 20. As we move into the near future, we the Board members will work on and oversee projects to: 1) build an instruction manual for our traveling exhibit, 2) Produce a set of curriculum for use of GLP content in classrooms, 3) improve our website to provide a more immersive experience, translate into many languages, and accept new footage, and 4) Produce and edit a feature-length documentary based on our footage.

After a Hilly Marathon Challenge, the documentary seeds begin to grow!

By Naomi | Published: August 3, 2008

MY CHALLENGE
On August 3rd, I faced the biggest physical challenge of my life: running the San Francisco Marathon! The training was both grueling & exhiliarating, with each Saturday long run a new achievement in distance for me. Before I started training 4 months prior, I had never run over 8 miles, and the distance of 26.2 miles is more than 3x that amount. During my last 22-mile training run, I truly needed to muster up every bit of strength to just keep moving.

ERICA’S CHALLENGE
I ran to raise funds for a documentary on a young woman named Erica Murray. Erica has been facing even larger hurdles in her life with determination, strength and a great sense of humor. Yes, Erica has already run a marathon. But what she’s facing is an arduous challenge much longer than 4 or 5 hours. Erica is living with leukemia, and for the past 2.5 years has persisted through indescribable lengthy and painful treatments of chemo and radiation. She’s 29, and Eurasian, just like me, and this roadblock in her life is simply unfair. Just weeks ago, Erica finally received a necessary bone marrow transplant for her life. As a bi-racial individual, the search for the right donor was a difficult process, because very few minorities and mixed-race people have registered to donate their bone marrow stem cells.

THANK YOU
On August 3rd, cheered on by Erica and friends, my husband Rowan and I crossed the finish line after hours of running!

THANK YOU to all who supported me in numerous ways: with your presence on the day to cheer me on, your generous donations to this project, and your kind words of support.
We met our marathon fundraising goal of $2000! Your financial support will provide the necessary seed funds to help bring this important documentary to life.  100% of the money will go towards the making of this documentary.

DOCUMENTARY
After a few months of filming, Erica has come on board as a co-producer!  This documentary intimately reveals what it’s like to live with leukemia as a young, passionate and driven woman — and how you can help. We aim to bring awareness to the desperate need for bone marrow stem cell donations for leukemia patients, and specifically to compel people of mixed race and minority descent, to register to donate their bone marrow stem cells. This is now a VERY easy process that can save the life of someone with leukemia.

MOTIVATION to RUN
My personal motivation to run a marathon is my uncle Hiroshi, who ran his 50th marathon on his 70th birthday last year. At 70, he is healthy, happy, active, and still excelling in his career (launching a new green bio-tech company). He looks (and acts) like he is 45. Since I have some of his genes, I wanted to at least be able to run one marathon at age 30! He has shown me how important exercise is to health and well-being.

In addition, my father has become very active ever since retirement. During the week of 8-8-08, while the Olympians competed in Beijing, he completed The Oregon Bike Ride, a 500-mile endeavor, and continues to challenge himself on the bike! Go Dad! I’m proud of you!

A new documentary that hopes to save lives

By Naomi | Published: May 15, 2008

A team of talented friends, colleagues and I have begun to film a documentary on a dynamic, beautiful and articulate young woman named Erica Murray, who is living with leukemia.

The documentary aims to bring awareness and education to the need for bone marrow stem cell donations for leukemia patients, as well as highlight the difficulties of a mixed-race individual to find a perfect match. Through Erica’s story, we hope to compel people, especially of mixed race and minorities, to go out and register to donate.

The more people who register to donate their bone marrow stem cells, the better the chances for all patients in similar conditions to Erica to receive the match they need to save their life!

If we bring understanding through one person struggling with leukemia, we can bring awareness and understanding for the whole cause.

Registering to donate is as easy as a cheek swab!  And once you’re called in, it’s an easy, safe process to donate via blood (Peripheral Blood Stem Cell donation) or via a bone marrow procedure (feels like a kick in the butt). Whichever procedure you and the clinic choose, that time you take to donate can save a life!

For information and to register to donate, visit the website of any of these non-profits:

Be The Match

Asian American Donor Program (Free donor drives and home kit for minorities!)

DKMS Americas

Documentary shines light on local volunteerism

By Naomi | Published: August 17, 2007

The Mountain View VOICE writes about our video on volunteerism:

KMVT WINS VIDEO HONORS
Documentary shines light on local volunteerism
by Susan Hong

A video produced by KMVT, Mountain View’s community television station, has won the 2007 Best Professional Documentary for Public Awareness award from the Alliance of Community Media.

The 30-minute video, “If We Don’t Care Now,” addresses the need for volunteerism on social issues like the environment, homelessness and education. It profiles a local nonprofit organization, Hands On Bay Area, which helps individuals volunteer to make positive social changes.

In 2005, Hands On Bay Area approached KMVT producers Naomi Ture and Brian Szabo with the idea of making a video about volunteers. The producers jumped at the chance.

“I’ve been involved in a lot of volunteer work personally in the past, and being able to really see in depth what different nonprofits are doing in the Bay Area to help effect change is very inspiring and very exciting to see,” Ture said.

The team found volunteers who planted seedlings to revitalize the Bay, painted murals in schools and taught English to immigrants. Other volunteers talked with elderly residents in assisted living centers or served food to the poor. The video provides snapshots of these individuals.

The filmmakers delved beneath the surface and asked the local volunteers how they felt about the work they were doing. All said they personally benefited from volunteer work.

“Our goal is to capture an organization’s heart and soul on video, and in a style and manner that you typically see only from high-end production houses,” said Szabo, who is executive director of KMVT.

According to Hands On Bay Area, in 2005 the group arranged for 10,000 volunteers to help with 120 projects giving 48,000 service hours.

“I’ve seen the power of volunteerism where the people who begin to get engaged start to feel a little more powerful and a little less powerless. They start to recognize that they can change and they can play a role in that change,” said Jim Pitofsky, the group’s executive director.

“They get a better appreciation of the challenges and are less judgmental about those who are going through hard times,” he added.

In the video, Patrice Tardif, the group’s community program director, attests to the positive feedback of volunteering. “You should walk away feeling great, like you’ve just been zapped with a surge of energy,” she said. “That’s the great thing about Hands On, because we are able to do that for both our volunteers and our clients.”

For more information on “If We Don’t Care Now,” or on KMVT, visit the station’s Web site at www.kmvt15.org.

Those interested in volunteering can visit Hands On Bay Area’s Web site, www.handsonbayarea.org, choose from nearly 100 different ongoing projects, and sign up to volunteer. The group can also be reached at (408) 956-1448.

Video Program puts a Focus on Learning

By Naomi | Published: May 14, 2004

The Times Union in Albany, NY writes about the stop-motion animation class that I teach for kids at the Ark’s after-school program – one of my favorite places in Troy, filled with idealistic people creating realistic programs that bring creativity and achievement for the students.

The Troy Record and RPI Online News also wrote articles.

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The Exploratorium launches its Science of Music website!

By Naomi | Published: August 25, 2003

Explore the science of music, through these online exhibits, movies and questions.  Along the way, you can compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and above all…listen.  Check out Step Re-Mix, the interactive that I developed and prototyped to engage users in a musical composition using beats and the body.

Educational Media to Prepare Children for Minor Surgical Procedures

By Naomi | Published: May 20, 2001

The Brown University Department of Education has added my thesis to their list of 14 sample honors theses!  In 2001, I believe it was the first time that a student in their department proposed  a combined multimedia and written thesis, rather than the standard written thesis.  I worked with the Hasbro Children’s Hospital in Providence, RI, to produce, then give written analysis of, a web-based video and multimedia program for children about to undergo minor surgical procedures.  This was a continuation of an animated and interactive software program that a team and I had developed and installed a year before, for the same purpose of alleviating anxiety in children visiting the hospital.  See abstract below.

Designing Effective Educational Media to Prepare Children for Minor Surgical Procedures: A Close Look at a Supplemental Web-based Program Created for the Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

By: Naomi Ture ’01

The surgical experience is often associated with negative consequences such as anxiety, stress, behavioral problems and slow and painful recovery. For children, much of this is due to misconceptions, a lack of familiarity, poor coping methods and the loss of control. Research studies and theories have shown significant value in preparing patients for potentially traumatic experiences. Children who are anticipating surgery need accurate, developmentally appropriate, and individualized information communicated to them. Surgical preparation programs can help children to find coping mechanisms, increase confidence, promote self-expression, gain an understanding of what they are about to encounter and build trust in their health care providers.

Computer technology has unique advantages that could be applied to pre- operative preparation for children. A well-designed program can effectively employ the multimedia and interactive aspects of technology to entice children to engage in an environment where they can explore at their own will and pace. With computers becoming increasingly common in homes and schools, current and future generations of children are becoming expert users. Thus, children can gain knowledge and understanding without extra adult supervision. Furthermore, the Internet can provide the opportunity for a pre-operative program to be accessible to larger audiences in their free time.

In response to a need for an alternative means of preparation at the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, I designed a hospital-specific interactive multimedia Internet program for children about to undergo minor surgery. I realized that an effective program would incorporate a solid research base rather than broad understandings. I based my design on criteria from the psychosocial perspective concerning effective preoperative preparation methods and guidelines for effectual educational technology. Though limitations such as Internet speed and some design flaws exist, I believe that my program, based on extensive research will be an effective component of the Hasbro Preparation Program.