Archive Eighteen
August 4, 2006
- More of This and That
Some
catch-able items on tap ...
Just broke
camp up on Mt. Shasta today, and only came down to the house a
couple times in that two weeks. Wow, I discovered some great
locations up there, in areas I had no idea existed. Why is
that a surprise you may ask? Well, I have been coming up
here for almost 35 years and have done some serious hiking up
here. So to find new spots is a real treat, and some great
ones I can use for the shoot is a double plus. However, my
cast and crew is going to need to be in great shape to pull this
off. It will absolutely have to be a requirement ...
The
Writers Becoming Directors workshop I had planned to attend
didn't happen on July 28-30 like it was supposed to. Seems
there was a major power outage in Santa Monica (its location) and
has been postponed. Am awaiting further details. Just
as well, as I was tied up on the mountain, and would have had to
rush down south about 10 hours away ...
Now into
the last third of the script, I have made very significant
progress, even being on the mountain. In fact, being up
there helped me quite a bit. Several major plot pieces and
layers have been working themselves out and I have to say, I'm
quite pleased with where it's going ...
As a
response to ML's comment of 7/17 about plot vs. character -- for
the most part I am in agreement with you. Except many times
story (and plot) ideas come first for me; such as, something
happens which sparks this and causes this and is reacted to in
some way, all stung together to fill in a storyline. But of
course without fully drawn out characters the specifics of all
that happens isn't fully realized. My point had been that in
the past a storyline would present itself first and then I'd
develop the characters around it. But with this script I had
a very basic concept, characters wanting to be fully created, and
actually hardly any plot. That has been a different
experience for me, and one I've enjoyed immensely.
Hopefully, the final piece of cinema will bare that all out ...
J-Alden
Comments --
Third Screen Film Fest announces $10K prize! Deadline
extended to 9/30 -- 8/7
Hollywood's First Wireless Film Festival Aims
to Define Breakout Hits in Wireless Entertainment with Cash Prizes
for Top Filmmakers and Viewers. Deadline for Submissions
Extended Until September 30, 2006. People who have always
wanted to be a part of entertainment history now have their
chance.
The Third Screen Film Festival (TSFF) invites viewers to select
their favorite short films from hundreds that have been submitted
during the first phase of Hollywood's first wireless film
festival. Presented by Columbia College Chicago, the largest
arts and media college in the nation with the largest film school,
and sponsored by Nano, America's first short film channel that is
available wirelessly on MobiTV, TSFF encourages people to view
their favorite film entries and decide which filmmaker deserves to
win the $10,0000 film grant at
www.ThirdScreenFilmFestival.com. Viewers who watch
festival entries on their Nano-equipped cell phones, portable
devices or online can vote via text messaging, powered by
Mozes.com.
"It's exciting to see the films that have been submitted so far
and the creative energy this festival infuses into third screen
entertainment," said Jon Katzman, director of Columbia College
Chicago's Semester in L.A. program and TSFF. "We encourage the
public to help decide which filmmaker is worthy of winning our
$10,000 grand prize by viewing films and casting their vote."
Bridging leading-edge technology, creativity and education, the
festival showcases films for the Third Screen, which includes
mobile phones as well as WiFi and broadband-enabled hand-held
devices. It is open to student filmmakers as well as amateurs and
professionals. The entries are vetted for quality and
commercial licensing by Semester in L.A. students as well as
professionals in short film distribution. On the festival web
site, each film can be shared virally via email or blogs. The
first of three semi-final voting rounds begins today.
The TSFF prize pool is valued at more than $20,000, including the
top prize of a $10,000 filmmaker grant with additional cash prizes
for the Jury Prize, to be selected by our panel of industry
experts, finalist prizes and a viewer award. The top five winners
will also receive Avid Liquid editing equipment valued at $600,
and costumes and props from PremiereProps.com, the world�s largest
memorabilia store, including items from the upcoming film "Running
with Scissors" (TriStar Pictures), in theaters October 27.
The winners of the $10,000 Grand Prize Award, and other awards
including Viewer Award and Jury Prize Award, will be announced at
a final awards event October 26 on the CBS Radford studio lot,
home to Columbia College Chicago�s Semester in L.A. program. The
event will also feature a guest panel of TSFF judges who will
comment about the future of wireless entertainment.
Comments --
The Journal of Short Film releases Volume 4 -- 8/8
The Journal of Short Film
released Volume 4 (Summer 2006)
today. Its ten films represent five different countries and nearly
every genre of film imaginable. The summer volume contains more
than the usual thrills and comedy, but maintains the Journal’s
manic commitment to diversity. The JSF is a quarterly DVD
providing its subscribers collections of exceptional,
peer-reviewed short films. It was the first DVD publication to
make the Top 10 list of BEST MAGAZINES for 2005 in
The Library Journal.
Some of the films in Volume 4
have appeared at the Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto festivals.
Comedies come from the Basque region, the offices of The Onion,
and the Columbia University film school. A noirish thriller comes
from England. Two very different films about immigration come
from Hungary and New Jersey. Experimental films span the worlds of
music performance, automated abstraction, and romantic obsession.
www.theJSF.org
Karl Mechem, publisher, The Journal of Short Film
August 10, 2006 -
Moving Pictures
"Every day is a beautiful day." -- Jimmy Stewart ...
Movies,
Films, Cinema. Different terms that attempt to label and
identify the business, industry and art form of moving pictures?
That essentially mean the same thing? Yes, well hardly.
As least to me, for I have my own definitions for what each of these
mean, ones that you won't find in Webster's dictionary ...
Movies. Major studios make these. Big event,
popcorn entertainment, wide appeal, escape extravaganzas for us
all. I go to movies. Some I like, many I don't.
They serve a purpose of pure entertainment. And who couldn't
use that, especially in this time of great stress. Studios
spend a lot time doing market research, demographic studies,
analyzing release patterns, etc. trying to figure what most of us
want to see, and they pump them out just like the local widget
factory. And they use the template for as long as they can
get away with it, until new research says they need to build a new
mold (or usually just tweak the old one a bit). Movies are
rarely, if ever, viewed as classics and don't usually survive the
test of time, since they often reflect pop culture and/or the
flavor of the month ...
Film. Studios make these, too. As well as
mini-majors and independents. These may have some fairly
wide appeal, but involve more serious issues, unusual subject
matter, or a different point of view than a mainstream one.
The marketing and release of films is done more carefully, and
rarely in very wide releases unless it's determined a certain
star, director or timely issue warrants the risk for the
distributor. But nowadays, as with movies, opening weekends
for films is watched very closely. With films, since usually
less is invested than with movies, they may be pulled quickly and
financially recouped in after theater exploitation; video/DVD,
cable, foreign, etc. Most of what I see are films, and it's
around 50/50 whether I enjoy them or not. Some films are
viewed as classics and can survive the time test ...
Cinema. Studios rarely make these, if ever.
They used to more often, before the attorneys, CPA's and
investment bankers co-opted creativity and imagination and took
them all over. For the most part only independents make
these. Although in foreign cinema you may see more than in
America. In this country, very little cinema is made.
What is cinema to me? Purely artistic motion pictures.
Ones that are completely original in style, tone, substance, theme
and vision (I know, a tall order and very rare), and probably have
minimal economic value to most distributors. However, in the
right distribution hands a piece of cinema could do fairly well.
Obviously if it can find its audience, which most distributors
today rarely allow cinema (or even film) to do. True cinema
has a clear pathway to becoming a classic, but many times isn't,
at least according to the general public, because they may be
relatively unknown. Although cine-buffs, film historians and
Robert Osborn types will know them ...
Now, are
there motion pictures that could fit in all three categories?
Actually, I believe it's possible. A studio may gear up to
produce a movie, then during its release realize it's a film,
(actually the public probably realizes it) and over time film
'experts' may view it as a fine piece of classic cinema.
Also then, it's obvious that a motion picture could fit into two
of these categories, or actually be on the cusp. I've
seen a few films that border on being cinema. Now remember,
these are my definitions and opinions, and may have no basis in
fact or fiction, being so meaning I can make up my own rules since
they're my definitions (my weak disclaimer) ...
So, why
the J. Stewart quote above? A couple reasons. First,
Jimmy is probably one of my favorite actors of all time. He
was not a great actor, although he did give some great
performances, as well as some basically good and occasional
mediocre ones. He always seemed so natural, like he wasn't
ever acting. He could do comedy, mystery/suspense, drama,
action/adventure, westerns, whatever. Yet, he was the
common, every day kind of guy, one you would want for your friend
or big brother, and for women the guy you'd want to take home to
meet dad. Oh gosh darn, what a guy. Anyway, second, he
was one of those rare actors who was probably not only in
movies, but in film and cinema. Think you can name them?
Give it a shot. Yeah, Jimmy Stewart, where are you when we
need you? ...
J-Alden
August 17, 2006 -
The Pitch
"Raiders of the Lost Ark" meets "Field of Dreams" meets "The Da
Vinci Code", all on Mt. Shasta ...
Got that?
As I'm sitting here coming down the home stretch finishing my
script, I started wondering how I would pitch this in the
Hollywood game. Above is what I came up with. I know,
a bit ludicrous but right on par as to what they like to hear.
But then again, maybe things have changed since I pitched, as it
has been a few years. Naw, I doubt it ...
But
seriously, DREAMS AWAKE contains some elements of each of these
films. It doesn't have Indy in it, but the main character as
well as others are searching for an object of supposed divinity.
There's no Iowa farmland, but a mountain where strange happenings
occur is prominent. And of course, neither Leonardo nor the
Louvre make an appearance, but mysterious plot twists turn the
characters inside out and back again ...
'Look
outside and dream. Listen inside and awaken.' DREAMS
AWAKE, a mystical adventure for the whole family. And closer
to reality ...
J-Alden
August 23, 2006 -
Screenplay Heaven!
"A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in
the head of a poet." -- Orson Welles ...
Wow!
I did it. I finally finished the fourth draft of the script.
Whew, this one was a tough one. I feel like I aged a few
years trying to pump this one out. But a huge weight has
been lifted, and once I clean it up a bit, I'll send it over to my
script analyst for another go-round. Yes, I'm a glutton for
punishment, as I'm sure he's licking his chops to tear it apart
again. Good luck, cause I'm just going to get some distance
from it and forget about it for awhile ...
I'm
heading back down to the southland within the next couple days,
and will be going to first segment of the rescheduled
Writers
Becoming Directors workshop on Sep. 8-10 in Santa Monica.
This workshop is just what the doctor ordered as I go from my
scriptwriting chore to starting to consider how I'm going to
direct this beast and realize the vision I've got locked up in my
imagination. I look forward to it and will report back ...
Had lunch
with Jeffrey Winters, Founder and Director of the
Mt. Shasta International
Film Festival, the other day. They are in their
third year, and he lamented how difficult it is to keep a festival
like this going (especially in a town as small as Mt. Shasta).
But he's committed to making it happen and keeping the momentum
going. He's says there are some great little
gems this year. So check it out, Oct 13-15 this year ...
A note to
concerned parties: PLEASE DO NOT SEND ME EMAIL ATTACHMENTS.
Several people have emailed me screenplays, treatments, etc. which
I refuse to look it. One had a virus in it, and luckily my
antivirus software stopped it before it did any damage.
You're wasting your time emailing me intellectual property ...
J-Alden
August 29, 2006 -
Distribution News
"Hey, anyone want to see my film?"
Lots of
items and tidbits about new distribution venues. More
possibilities for indies to self-distribute? Ha, we'll see
...
Netflix Imitators - the more the merrier
Aol Video - not sure we
indies can capitalize
Amazon's Video Service #1 &
Amazon's Video Service #2 - will this work?
Warner Direct-to-DVD - might be a stretch for us indies
Digital Cinema Plan - could mean more venues for us
Digital Drive-Ins - this could be cool, more fun times in that
old hotrod
Sony buys Grouper - another big boy stepping up to the plate,
YouTube next?
Current TV - one year later, and wiser
Fox Online - and even another big boy jumping on the train
MTV Online - yes, another one, this time buying Atom
iTunes
- of course, Apple's in the fray
Dinner-movie Nights - an intriguing idea, find your shorts
Marketing Changes? - something to consider
The Film Biz-A &
The Film Biz-B - and Hollywood feels the heat
The Cuban Challenge - not Fidel, but Marcus
YouTube overtakes Myspace - and then of course,
copyright problems,- plus,
check this out Filmmakers, watch yourself ...
J-Alden
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