Hot Docs uploads a series of videos about its programming to YouTube. Here's one of my faves, starring Ben Steinbauer of Winnebago Man.
(Via Agnes Varnum.)
Watch this: Doc short on managing your expectations on the festival circuit
Seven excellent minutes from filmmaker Zak Forsman on why you want to show up at festivals and what you should work to get out of them. This video starts a "virtual panel session" from filmmakers in the Workbook Project.
Friday Flick: Trevor's in Heaven
This is a great example of what I call "next-level" humor in short films. So many comedies make jokes that only play on the obvious and go in the expected directions. Trevor's in Heaven lulls you into thinking you know what's going to happen next and then slaps you around for a bit, always escalating the humor to the next level. Just watch.
SXSW bids howdy! to Atlanta film fans
A clever bit of marketing from the Atlanta Film Festival -- interviews with indie film insiders (including yours truly) on the streets of Austin during SXSW, singing the praises of both Atlanta and Atlanta Film Fest. Fest director Gabe Wardell and his peeps shot the video using tiny Flip cameras. Festivals often use video to promote their events through film trailers and the occasional "festival trailer," but creative projects like this one really accentuate the fact that there are other ways to use the medium.
And speaking of video projects, I'm long overdue to plug parts 3 and 4 of Mark Potts' series of ads for the Film Festival Secrets book. I'll embed each of them here soon but if you were too lazy to go look for them yourself I didn't want to deny you the pleasure of watching them any longer. Part 4 is fabulously tasteless.
Not one, but two fake mumblecore trailers
The Dirty Garage - watch more funny videos
For those of you on the outside of this particular in-joke, here's the Wikipedia entry on the mumblecore "movement."
Film Festival Secrets Promo #2
Though most of you have likely torn through all four of these, I feel like parcelling them out one at a time here on the blog. Savor them. Promos by Mark Potts of Singletree Productions.
Film Festival Secrets Promo #1
Not wanting to limit myself to just the written word to promote my book, I took up these fine young fellows on their offer of some commercials for Film Festival Secrets.
These gents are all part of Singletree Productions, the creators of The Stanton Family Grave Robbery and the upcoming Simmons on Vinyl. If you're a festival programmer looking for quirky comedies to include from some up and coming filmmakers, look no further.
More to come!
The Wisdom of Tiki Bar TV as it pertains to independent filmmakers
Tubefilter interviews Jeff "Doctor Tiki" Macpherson and Tosca Musk about creating a successful web series. Musk & Macpherson hit on an incredibly important point – while there is a large emphasis on the freedom in independent film to create movies according to your own creative vision, there has to be an awareness of what the audience wants to see in order to create something that will earn a following.
Some filmmakers mistakenly assume that the world is simply waiting for their unique vision to emerge. Unfortunately that vision is sometimes too unique to appeal to enough people to sustain it, or not unique enough to be considered remarkable. "Market research" and "focus group" may feel like the dirty phrases of the Hollywood establishment but they may have some relevance to your work – if only in an informal way.
Tubefilter: So what would you tell a web series creator starting out today? What advice would you give them?
Musk: Make it for the audience and not for yourself.
Tubefilter: Interesting, what do you mean by that?
Musk: I find that many filmmakers have this story that they want to tell and its very personal and they want to keep it that way. A lot of people don’t necessarily relate to the story in the specific way they want to tell it. We make a very concerted effort to make sure that we make each episode with the viewer in mind. And we cut out a lot that we love but we know that the audience may not want in there.
Macpherson: We have that hypothetical audience member in mind. I read that book, the only book of Stephen King’s that I ever read, called On Writing, and he says to have that hypothetical reader in mind. And we do. When we make this we don’t make it for our own greatness. It’s probably the same effect, but the filmmaker I was six years ago. was the one of ‘I’m going to make this and people will come.’ And they didn’t come.
And then I learned to have respect for the audience and not take them for granted. I think the film festival circuit really whipped me into shape in that sense. When I watched so many opening acts of films and I would think, ugh, ‘do you know you have an audience sitting here? So engage it!’ I felt really frustrated that they knew they had a captive audience here and they would waste it. It would be this really slow opening, I called it the Canadian opening act. I was thinking, man the Americans have really figured out how to open a film. When you sit down in a theater and in the first couple of minutes you’re like, ‘awesome, this is going to be one of those movies. This is going to be good.’
Creating reminders for film festival deadlines (screencast)
Creating Reminders for Film Festival Deadlines from Film Festival Secrets on Vimeo.
The first of a series of video tutorials on useful tools you can use to make your life on the festival circuit easier. With Sundance and Slamdance announcing their slates, a number of filmmakers are looking into their festival options for the rest of the year -- only to find that the deadlines for many Spring festivals have already gone by.
Don't miss any more deadlines! Use these free web tools to send yourself automated reminders when the dates approach.
Susan Buice's "Smothered"
Nice to see that Susan is making movies again after all of the effort that went into selling and promoting Four-Eyed Monsters.
That Media Show features "Film Festival Secrets"
That Media Show gave a nice plug to the web site and book on November 10th. That reminds me, I need to do a roundup of all the media mentions of the book so far. Many thanks to the TMS folks who gave me the shout-out, even if I am a little afraid of my own face blown up to that size. I wish I knew where the original of that photo is.
Read That Media Show - Nov 10, 2008 - That Media Show on blip.tv.
I Heart Global Warming - November 12 10 p.m. e/p on Current
Current is establishing itself as a combination web/TV documentary powerhouse, and films like I Heart Global Warming are cementing that reputation. If you're a doc filmmaker and you haven't considered Current as an outlet for your material, tune in to I Heart Global Warming and see what Current is up to now.
Crawford's premiere: on Hulu
Rather than spend a lot of money on a theatrical release that would almost certainly leave him further in debt, Crawford director David Modigliani and indie distribution company B-Side (my employer) has released the film on Hulu, betting that the exposure of free views on the web (combined with the timing of the upcoming election and the publicity of being the first film ever to debut on Hulu) will drive DVD sales. I'm hoping he's right, because I'll be following a similar model with my book, Film Festival Secrets: you'll be able to download the book as a "try before you buy" PDF version and if you find it useful you can donate directly or purchase the print edition.
More to the point, however, is the fact that Crawford is a very, very good movie. No matter how timely the topic or novel the distribution strategy, a quality film is an inescapable prerequisite to success (unless you're making a movie that involves zombies or vampires, in which a sub-par picture can be part of the fun). Please take some time to watch Crawford on Hulu, and if you like what you see consider buying the DVD for yourself or a friend.
Chris Jones chronicles his short film's road to the Oscars
Chris Jones (author of The Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint, among other things) has done a great job of taking his blog readers along for the ride on his latest film's journey. The movie, a narrative short entitled Gone Fishing, has played a number of festivals and Jones has posted video blog entries for many of them on Vimeo.
Jones' latest set of entries have to do with entering his film for Academy Award nomination consideration -- that's right, once you've qualified to be considered (one such way is to win an award at an Academy-accredited film festival), there's a whole process of campaigning to be included in further rounds of consideration before your film can ultimately be one of the five nominees in its category. Chris lays out the timeline for application here and talks about the voting process here. It's all good stuff for short filmmakers, I definitely advise you to check it out.
Creating video blog entries might feel a bit silly if you're self-conscious about appearing on camera, but if you're not a great writer they can be a simple and fun way to tell your film's story -- and to generate new material for your web site -- without having to turn out reams of text.
B-Side presents "Crawford" on Hulu!
Here's a first: an indie film that plays festivals, gets some great buzz, then premieres on Hulu instead of in theaters. That's exactly what's happening with Crawford, one of the hit docs of this past year's South by Southwest film festival, courtesy of distributor B-Side (my employer).
There's a lot of talk about how indie film distribution will work in the future. In my opinion it really boils down to a simple equation: the more people see your movie, the more people will buy it. (Given that the potential of any indie film to saturate the market like a Hollywood film is practically nil, the idea that an indie film can be "overplayed" is laughable.) Congratulations to director David Modigliani for taking some brave first steps in the new world of progressive distribution.
See the indieWIRE blurb on the Crawford acquisition, and check out the trailer below.
Cinevegas 2008 Video Wrap-Up
Episode 3 of The Show by B-Side highlights Cinevegas 2008, which took place in June. Most of the footage shot by yours truly, and it was a blast. You can watch it here or go to the YouTube page and watch it in high quality. (You have to click the "high quality" link beneath the video.)
Portland Women's Film Festival video wrap-up
Episode 2 of The Show by B-Side highlights the Portland Women's Film Festival (a.k.a. POWFest), which took place in May.
YouTube Unveils 'Screening Room' For Free Indie Movies
Good news for indie filmmakers - YouTube is opening its doors to long-form independent films. While it's not quite a free-for-all yet, it does bode well for those filmmakers who want to promote their films by giving them away as streaming video. As discussed previously, making your film readily available to view for free can actually increase your sales. YouTube also plans to sell advertising overlaid on the films, the revenues from which would be split with the filmmaker.
From the Silicon Alley Insider:
YouTube (GOOG) added some new details Wednesday night on its plan to make indie film and other long-form video part of the menu. Namely, a dedicated area within YouTube called "The Screening Room" that will host indie film, and offer tools to help producers build an audience and generate revenue.
YouTube will add four new indie films every two weeks--including some that have appeared in film festivals and others that have never been seen before.
Details on how YouTube plans to make money, or allow famously cash-strapped indie producers to make money, are thin. A press release said "The Screening Room" will include a "Buy Now" button allowing filmmakers to link to Web sites that sell DVDs and digital downloads of their films, as well as what it calls a "high quality" player to watch on the Web.
Marfa Film Festival video recap
I brought home a bunch of video from the Marfa Film Festival, and those more technically adept than I at B-Side edited it together into the first episode of "The Show by B-Side." There are already plans to cover more festivals and the filmmakers we encounter there. Stay tuned.
