Monthly Archives: September 2015

The first filmmaker featured in MacWorld magazine 1986

By 1986 I was using my then 2 year old Mac Classic to do word processing [with MacWrite], some graphics [with MacPaint], animations [with the brand new VideoWorks from MacroMind] and doing budgets [on the Multiplan spreadsheet software from Microsoft in 1985].  It was the budgeting software that sealed the deal for my first IMAX production job when I took a typed production budget and entered into the ever malleable spreadsheet to show several different production options with the funds available.  I recently found that spreadsheet budget analysis for the SEASONS film in my files and realized that I’d only had a working computer spreadsheet for a few months when I put it to use for that possible job.  It was the beginning of my spreadsheet way of thinking.

MacWorld 1986 Article by Jeffery B. Young    Photo by George Steinmetz. Thank you to Erfert Fenton for sending MacWorld my way.  My 1980’s USC Cinema teaching colleague Producer/Distributer Mitchell Block was also featured in this story using his Mac LISA to do database tracking of non-theatrical films and videos in distribution.  I also used my Mac in 1986 with the software Pagemaker to make the first VHS color video cover, for THE FLIGHT OF THE GOSSAMER CONDOR when Mitch’s company Direct Cinema, Ltd started distributing it when VHS just became available.

Updated 15 January 2022

My Mac Computer Museum from 1984 to now….

This is my collection of Macs, dating all the way back to the 1st Mac Classic in 1984–sitting on the left box behind the iPhone. It had 128K of RAM and a 400K Disk Drive. So much better than the IBM Selectric I bought in 1982 with 16K of memory.  I’ve been getting new Macs almost on the Moore’s Law schedule now that I look back at it, with chip density doubling every 18 months while manufacturing costs stay flat. My 2014 MacBook Air has 8GB of RAM and a 500GB Solid State HardDrive. And my first Mac and most recent MacBook Air each cost ~$2,500 … and that was also how much the IBM Selectric with the 16K of memory had cost.  Ah, keeping up with Moore’s Law. [There is a Newton in there somewhere, along with a couple of Portable Powerbooks and a Blue Bubble Mac and Clamshell Portable. And VideoWorks is running live on the Mac Classic screen. Thank you, Marc Canter and Jamie Fenton, for that demo copy in 1985. Suddenly things were moving, animated on the Mac screen, and everything has been moving ever since then.]

Ben Shedd Teaching, Production & Research

Ben Shedd Teaching Production Research Click to Download 22.7MB file with Bio and many production and teaching pictures. It is a big file so please grab a latte while it downloads. This PDF tells many stories about my work all across teaching, production and research, and is filled with photos from through the years.

UNIVERSITY FILM AND VIDEO ASSOCIATION/UFVA 2015 Annual Conference, American University, Washington DC

This is the group photo of Film and Video faculty from around the United States and a few, like me, from around the planet attending the 2015 UFVA/University FIlm and Video Association’s Annual Conference at the School of Communication at American University in Washington DC.  I am in the front row, middle, wearing a green plaid shirt.  It was very good to catch up with old acquaintances and meet some new colleagues at UFVA.