Author: Ted Hope

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Bowl Of Noses

Mrs. P Puts Potter Back In Bowl

Mrs. P returns with another guest post!

While this is an older piece, it is timely with the release of the latest Harry Potter movie. Puppets make great story telling vehicles. The homemade look and feel of this I think is inspiring in that with a camera on a tripod you can come up with something pretty imaginative. It’s good to remember that you don’t need a lot of special effects to make something fun and entertaining.
“Potter Puppet Pals: The Mysterious Ticking Noise”

 

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

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Bowl Of Noses

Vacation time? Put Your Imagination To Use!

In order to celebrate a week of no school, we are honored to host Mrs. P in our Bowl.  Okay stop with the guffaws already.  Mrs. P’s got a website of her own.  Check it out here.  But she’s volunteered to come on over and look after ours all week.  Ain’t that something?  Lucky birds that we are, we are going to hand our nest over to her.

One of the goals of my own storytelling site is to encourage kids to use their imaginations. I love seeing young people write and act in their own work. This one has the added twist in that they figured out how to use a free technology like YouTube to make an interactive game and distribute it tagging onto the success of the Thanksgiving opening of the new Harry Potter movie. Instead of waiting around for an agent to call, these young actors are putting themselves out there in a fun and interesting way.   “Harry Potter Interactive Mystery Game” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imbRp9PX6Kc&feature=spotlight

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

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Bowl Of Noses Let's Make Better Films

Vimeo Reveals How To Make Better Videos

Vimeo has started a Film School and it is FREE!  Whether you want to do a time lapse or make a holiday video, Vimeo’s got tips for you.  Nice gift for the holidays.

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Bowl Of Noses

Great Movies For The Family To Watch This Vacation

I have a list, but it is hard to match this one prepared by the Children’s International Film Festival.  If these aren’t on your Netflix queue, they make it very easy to add with the click of a button.  Check out this list.

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The Next Good Idea

Free Gift! Great New Translator App

Happy Holidays.  If you aren’t in the millions that have already heard of this, add WordLens to the list of must-have apps (InstaPaper still being my fave).  No longer worry when they hand you the foreign language menu…

12/27 Update:  Okay, I was wrong.  The presentation only made it look free. It costs $4.95.  I agree with all the comments that this is deceptive and they should offer a true initial platform gratis and then have the add-ons cost.  I bummed.  Kind of like the toy that looks really great but breaks right off the bat.  Dang.

 

Dowload it for your iPhone here.

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These Are Those Things

OMFG! What More Could You Ever Want! LOVE GOD on YouTube!!!

Better burn the Christmas Tree. Rip up those stockings and pour the booze down the drain, cuz if there is one thing you are going to wanna do this holiday, it surely will be to watch each and every episode of this landmark work.

If you don’t know what Compulsive Reading Syndrome does to a man, all you’ve got to do is push play. If you haven’t seen the most awesome monster f*ck scene in the history of digi, you haven’t yet pushed play. If you wonder what a couple of hundred thou, a digi camera and a free 35mm output courtesy of SONY could do back in the day, just push play. This is where Anthony Bregman’s producing career got it’s start. Look (and listen) to the credits — there are superstars in their infancy flexing their muscles and shaking their whatsits.

Love God or don’t, but either way, watch this film!

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Truly Free Film

Building The Community Web-Those Already Doing This

Today’s guest post is Pt 2 of 2 from 2010 Brave Thinker Of Indie Film Sheri Candler.

I have investigated some artists already building their communities (and sustaining themselves) and thought you should use them as examples to follow.

Examples of artists who have built a community web

In addition to the Grateful Dead, a group most all of you are aware of, there are  examples of artists from many areas who have successfully built up a community around themselves and their work.

Kevin Smith is a great example. Smith says he can spend up to 9 hours a day online and started this back in 1995. He has never put his career only in filmmaking, saying he never expected THAT to last. Instead, his community has been introduced to a variety of his activities; a SModcast, comic books, stand up comedy, regular writing contributions to various magazines. Smith isn’t tied to only one avenue of revenue and in fact can make a living off many things outside of making films. He was able to pinpoint exactly what his fans liked about him early on and he reaches out to them continually. If I had to suggest something, I would ask him to allow a community aspect on his site so that fellow fans can contact each other.

Matthew Ebel is another example.

Continue reading “Building The Community Web-Those Already Doing This”