Author: Ted Hope

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Truly Free Film

Recognize The Time We Are Living In

If you didn’t notice this is a new year.  It is also a new age.  My resolution is to help all filmmakers and members of the film industry to understand it.  Hopefully we can also all get started on adapting for this Age too.

This is The Age of Access & Surplus.

This is no longer the Age of Control & Shortages (that was last decade).

These times require New Rules & New Emphasis:

  1. Discovery
  2. Participation
  3. Demystification

We need to conceive of both our creative and business practices in terms of how they incorporate these three elements.

When 45,000 films are made globally each year

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Categories
Truly Free Film

Slow Print, Slow Films…

There’s been more chatter about The Death Of The Book, than there has been about even The Death Of Film, yet the book has proven to be pretty damn resilant as it morphs into new forms.  We can only hope that film follows suit.  The LA Times had a nice overview on the opportunities that digital offers over print, and vice versa.  It can’t help prod you a bit to answer what can be analogous in the film space to some of the innovative solutions both sides of the publishing world that the film biz can mimic and expand upon.

Publishing also shares many of the vulnerabilities that film does

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Categories
Issues and Actions

Once Again, More Indies Needed In The National Film Registry

It’s that time of year again.  The National Film Registry just got 25 more films.  Like the last two years, it only gives a nod to indies.  What people seem to forget is that we, the people, can make recommendations as to what gets listed.  How great would it be if every reader of this blog wrote in and recommended an indie film?  There’s no charge for this blog, no pay wall to avoid, so how about that for a subscription fee: you have to nominate a film to the National Film Registry?

The Librarian of Congress provides some guidelines on what to nominate for next year’s registry at the Film Board’s website at www.loc.gov/film. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”  I list my recommended films on last year’s post.  My list is not changing this year.

To nominate films, send up to fifty titles to:

dross@loc.gov

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Best Kids Books Of The Year?

Okay this is mostly for the under 7 set, but still, BrainPickings has a good list to consider.  Let the parents take note.

Categories
These Are Those Things

April Fools!

Okay, wrong month, but right day. Do you know what April Fools is this year? It’s the day that SUPER comes out. What’s SUPER?

‘Super’ – A twisted, semi-schizophrenic cult classic in the making…  And a movie I produced.
Check out this review.  Love the closer: “Not for the faint of heart, the incredible climax (worth the price of admission alone) is a spectacle of bloody violence, and gleeful profanity, sealing Super as a twisted, semi-schizophrenic cult classic in the making. Whether you’re new to the graphic novel game or a seasoned fanboy, you’ll always remember to never butt in line.”  Thanks Ricky D.  Have an awesome year!

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Remake Your Favorite Movies Yourself! How About “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” To Start?

MrsP.com completes her week of guest blogging in the Bowl Of Noses today.  Super big thanks for all the good links, Mrs P!  Who’s next?!

Learning the craft of filmmaking comes in many forms. This shot-for-shot remake by some Mississippi kids who spent much of the 1980’s recreating “Raiders of the Lost Ark”,  I am sure taught them much about how a filmmaker thinks and what it takes to execute a scene. We have seen this technique used to pay homage to other filmmakers, like when Gus Van Sant recreated his shot-by-shot of Alfred Hitchcock’s  “Psycho”. They type of diligence shows a real love for the craft. I love that these kids had such a long attention span to complete this too. It may have been awhile since people have seen this one. Here’s the first ten minutes.

MrsP.com, honored with the American Library Associations Great Site for Kids distinction, creates and publishes free video stories read and performed by acclaimed T.V. actress Kathy Kinney. The site has no advertising and offers interactive games, coloring sheets, and activity guides along with “show me the words” options on every story to help early readers, and ESL students. http://www.MrsP.com

Categories
These Are Those Things

2010: A Great Year For Self Programmed Repertory Cinema

Today’s guest post is from producer/executive Michael Jackson.

This is another of my annual lists dedicated to the proposition that this is the best time ever to see great films, if not – alas – to get them made. In the comfort and safety of your own home the combination of Netflix/Lovefilm, dvd’s and TCM allows for the best ever – self programmed – repertory cinema.

These are all films I saw this year – not ‘classics’ or much written about, but all of which I found intriguing or fun or fascinating. Hopefully you’ll find something you’ll be happy to have seen in the following:

1. There’s Always Tomorrow. (Douglas Sirk 1956). Maybe my favorite discovery of the year from the king of melodrama, Douglas Sirk. This reunites the stars of Double Indemnity, Fred MacMurray and Barbra Stanwyck. He’s a toy manufacturer trapped in conformist fifties family life with Joan Bennett and numerous annoying children, she’s the other woman, with a successful fashion career. Uniquely for the time no-one is cast as the guilty party but everyone is trapped in the LA sunshine. It’s great as drama, social history – and California architecture.

2. Moonrise. (Frank Borzage 1948). I stumbled on this obscurity from the forties by accident. It’s ‘about’ a murderer’s son driven to violence by others refusing to forgive his heritage, and the story is perfectly fine, the acting less so. What makes it compelling is the richness and emotion of the studio based film-making. Watching Moonrise is like living in a parallel dream world. If you like this try Borzage’s exquisite color adaptation of A Farewell to Arms from 1933.

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