glitterfish.com

Jette, who is a Cinematical contributor, posts this open letter to indie filmmakers on her site celluloideyes.com.

I write about movies for Cinematical. Maybe yours is one of three films I’ll see in a single day of a film festival. Or maybe it’s one of the films screening in a couple of weeks at a local theater and I’d like to include it in my weekly News from Slackerwood listing.

Only … I search the Web and I can’t find the information I need on your movie. You don’t have a listing on IMDb, or maybe it’s a bare-bones listing that includes only the director’s name. I search Google and can’t find a Web site for the film. I finally find your Web site and it is a single page that includes no stills and no information about the cast and crew. It’s frustrating and unhelpful to me, and a missed opportunity for extra publicity for your film.

In the article she explains how Cinematical ran a big image from V for Vendetta for their SXSW article not because they wanted to, but because it was the only film that had any pictures on google images. If stills had been available from one of the smaller independent films they probably would have ran those instead.

Besides making it a lot easier for journalists to write about your movie, there is another reason to make or budget for the website. I was at a panel featuring Edward Noeltner, president of international distribution company, Cinema Management Group. He explained how the low-budget horror flick, Reeker, secured distribution based off its website. Writer/Producer Dave Payne understood how he could use the web to present distributors a clear picture of the films market potential. Good images that looked like a box cover, along with a really good trailer available on the website, convinced Ed that Reeker was a slam dunk before he ever even saw the movie.

Even if your film is just a short you should still think about how your going to market it. Last year my friend Tom Dunlap made an excellent short documentary about Bird Watchers called Life List. His website provides a place for agents or producers to look him up and also is place to purchase Life List. However, unless your making X-Men 3 skip the flash!

So Andy already posted a bit of the video, but here is a formal re-cap of the night.

First off, thanks to Stormhoek for the free wine.

The night started off with a great vegetarian chili dinner provided by the host, which went incredibly well with the wine. I’d have to think this was planned, all that Top Chef that we’ve been watching finally paid off.

The rest of the night consisted of the talent show, with talents provided by the guests in attendance.

The talents started off with Nate and Nicole’s re-enactment of one of the student films that we worked on this past year. Their rendition of “Move Me” was something to be witnessed.

Up next, Andy performed an illusion that left all of us baffled to this day. Somehow he managed to tie his shoes without his hands. Incredible.

This exceptional trick was followed by the recorder stylings of Elyse, which provided for the funniest moment I’ve experienced in recent memory. After playing “When the Saints Go Marching In”. She also did a tarot card reading for a few people which gave us all a glimpse into the future.

The video portion of the night was to follow as we watched childhood videos from Celeste and Nate, and an awesome Star Wars parody from Andy. True geekiness was exhibited in this portion of the night as Celeste played a ring leader, Nate was a Piano teacher on crack, and Andy played a Jedi warrior.

We then moved back to the performances outside as Nathan read some amazing poetry that he had written himself, which was recieved exceptionally well by everyone in attendance.

Jonny then had the group in an all out sing along to Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper” which brought everyone together in a Geeky embrace.

The capper of the talent portion of the night was Jennifer’s amazing cheer that she did in praise of all of us who had recently graduated.

Or so we thought…turns out the Stormhoek wine did its job and got most people pretty intoxicated which led to impromptu talents throughout the rest of the night, mostly at the hands of Nate, who performed an interpretive dance that he had done for a high school talent show.

The night was full of laughs and total geekiness. Here’s a little video we made.

…and some pictures.

Thanks again to Stormhoek.

Here’s the video from the International Symposium Dinner Talent Show Soiree. Thanks to Stormhoek for providing the Freshness.

My favorite was the Sauvignon. Here are some more pictures.

Yesterday Bravo was running a Top Chef marathon. I had never watched the show but was sucked in by great casting and ultra critical judges (“I’m not your bitch, bitch!”)

There are basically two types of reality contests. In a series like Survivor once you win you might get cash and some exposure but after the show ends what more are you than a tax evader and a trivia question? On the other hand, American Idol launched Kelly Clarkson’s career. Even a few second place Idol’s have gone on to success.

Is Harold of Top Chef going to end up with his own Food network show? Will he open a restaurant? Publish a cookbook? I think yes.

Here is the official website of Steven Spielberg and Mark Burnett’s upcoming “unscripted reality contest” On The Lot.

Applicants must submit a self-directed short film up to five minutes in length. Normal rules apply. A panel of experts axes some hopeful each week until the public votes for the ultimate winner. You get money, stars, equipment, and one week to make your film. Each week’s film is of a different genre.

The ultimate winner gets a 1 million dollar development deal with Dreamworks.

The difference between Survivor and Top Chef is that on Top Chef all the contestants are mostly trained chefs. The winner of Top Chef will go on to success because he has the talent, training, and now the opportunity to make it happen. I’m not saying its the best way or the most realistic way but if you think you have the talent and would make a good contestant apply here.

As Thank You For Smoking enjoys critical and financial success in its final days at the theater, it’s time to take a look back at the insanely-hyped short films that helped director Jason Reitman land the big-screen adaptation. Three off his four short comedies have played at Sundance and all of them have been at a shitload of other fests, but let’s give them another look under a critical eye.

These three are available at AtomFilms, and I couldn’t find Operation. Let me know if you can.

In God We Trust (2000) - 16:35

Robert is daydreaming in the middle of the street and is killed by a passing truck. He arrives in the processing area of purgatory – depicted as a typically bureaucratic office building – and finds out from an angel that he has done more bad than good in life, and will be sent to Hell. Robert sneaks back to Earth when a computer crashes and races to do good deeds before the angels can kill him again.

An extremely long short film, most of the time is devoted to variations on the same scene, with Robert trying to help someone out as inept angels try to create some disaster that will lead to his demise.

The concept is good, but it gets old. The most impressive aspect of the film is the production budget, which must have been huge. Great graphics, solid acting, and professional cinematography make this film enjoyable. Personally, I find it to be far too cute and safe, and the comedy hardly cutting edge.

Gulp (2001) - 7:12

Gulp follows a man trying to save his saltwater fish before it drowns in fresh water. Mostly a chase film, this one is also professionally produced with really neat graphics and technical crane shots, etc. It’s “Dude, Where’s My Car” meets “M:I 3,” as the main character races from place to place, denied saltwater at every stop.

Produced to promote the Ford Focus, the movie isn’t as blatant a product endorsement as you might expect. Once again, Reitman doesn’t seem to have that original of a voice, and every character seems to be written for Jim Carrey. This one might be his worst; it’s as boring as the car its meant to sell.

Consent (2004) - 6:00

Reitman’s style is apparent. Find one funny concept and try to ride it as long as you can. This story follows two college students ready to have sex on the first date, but have their lawyers step in and set the rules for what is acceptable behavior (“no: groping, yes: light petting”).

This one is short, and may keep a smile on your face throughout, even though the joke may get a little tired by minute three. There’s only so far you can take a high concept short comedy. The song during the end credits, although censored by AtomFilms, is great.

While Consent is the only Reitman film that didn’t do Sundance, it played pretty much everywhere else.

I have the same problems with Reitman’s shorts as I did with Thank You For Smoking. His style is too polished, his humor is too safe and his stories rarely catch the audience by surprise. But I think he has a great career ahead of him directing commercials.

Paramount Classics has made a deal with Blog tracking and search engine site Technorati to promote their upcoming films. The first film to benifit from the deal is Al Gore’s new global warming doc An Inconvient Truth.

Here’s a link to the official press release and here is a link to a blog post with more details.

“Paramount Classics is changing the way movies are marketed — by joining the market’s conversation and providing a central place for fans’ and bloggers’ voices to be found, thus deepening their relationship with this community,” said Peter Hirshberg, Chairman and Chief Marketing Officer of Technorati.

Basically Technorati puts up a page on a films official website with up to the moment blog posts about the film. In the case of An Inconvienent Truth, any blogosphere discussion about the movie or global warming is featured on the web page.

This is a brilliant idea and one of the first instances where a movie studio has really realized how to use blogs to leverage their movies. Here is the An Inconvienent Truths Technorati page.

The wine came today! Our Geek Dinner is tomorrow night.

Here is a remixed trailer that is a mash up of Charleton Heston starring The 10 Commandments and a teen comedy.

If you throw a bunch of mentos into a Pepsi bottle it will explode.

Here is a Remix in which some English girl slams a bunch of pepsi and then swallows some mentos.

Viral video mashups are really interesting to me. These days every time some some mexican kid falls off a log there is an obligatory Star Wars and music video edition.

Via MovieMarketingMadness I found out about this editing contest to remix the trailer for A Scanner Darkly.

Link.

Prizes include a trip to the premiere and a bunch of cool editing hardware.

Turnhere.com pays filmmakers for their short travel documentaries. Sort of the web version of the travel channel.

This is really cool. It’s a cool way to get vacation ideas or just to check out the wacky stuff going on around the country.

Checkout the video Chinatown. The host wears his bluetooth cellphone earhook thing during the entire video. It’s really distracting.

Link.

Copyright fighter Cory Doctorow I think is acting as a lawyer, Warren Ellis is some comic book guy attached, and they have Warren Ellis who produced A Scanner Darkly also onboard as a producer. Now they have the Kleptones.

Pretty nerdy group of producers, not that there is anything wrong with that. Still no talent or money.

Winner of the “First Annual Science Fiction Short Film Festival.”

They’re Made Out of Meat, Directed by Stephen O’Regan (Ireland)
A strange conversation, about an unusual discovery. Based on a short story by sci-fi writer Terry Bisson. Starring Tom Noonan (The X Files, Manhunter) and top New York stand up Ben Bailey.

Link

From A Swarm of Angels.

A Swarm of Angels reinvents the Hollywood model of filmmaking to create cult cinema for the Internet era. It’s all about making an artistic statement, making something you haven’t seen before. Why are we doing this? Because we are tired of films that are made simply to please film executives, sell popcorn, or tie-in with fastfood licensing deals.

Writer and filmmaker Matt Hanson is trying to get 50,000 people to donate £25 to fund a £1,000,000 movie. Contributors get to participate creatively via Internet at different stages of production and ultimately the thing will be available free for download under the Creative Commons License. Matt describes the relationship with contributors as “a benevolent dictatorship.” It’s a good idea but don’t really think he’s going to make it to 50,000. Maybe if Michel Gondry wanted to make a film like this it could happen.