Here’s some nifty animation that you control by moving your cursor. I am not sure what the song is about as the bowl only knows English. But we do know that this is beautiful and fun! Check it out.
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Author: Ted Hope
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White House Goes Flickr
Did you know our President puts his family photos up on Flickr? Check it out here.
Thanks VeryShortList for the tip!
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Social Media For Storytellers
Courtesy of The WorkbookProject, comes a power point overview of how one can use to social media to extend a story and generate a conversation around their work. In case you didn’t know already, in the end social media can be an effective way to build an audience / community around a project and / or a body of work. Lance and his gang lay it out nice and clear. If you aren’t a convert yet, what more do you need?
Social Media for Storytellers
View more presentations from lanceweiler.
And here’s the direct link:
http://workbookproject.com/2009/07/resource-social-media-for-storytellers/
Today’s post is a guest post from Mathew Seig of New York Foundation For The Arts. We are thankful he’s picked up on this question and hope many of you also offer up suggestions.
WHO CAN REALLY HELP INDIE FILM?
Small film festivals, but they need help from larger ones.
Assuming that we care about films playing to a live audience in a dark theater, film festivals are the most likely venue that most independent filmmakers are going to have. For that purpose, the thousand or two thousand small U.S. festivals are as important as the largest. So instead of focusing solely on the large festivals that usually dominate our attention, let’s consider the small local and regional film festivals where independent films get most of their exposure. Large or small, film festivals have an important place in the changing world of independent film discussed by Ted Hope (“The New Model For Indie Film: The Ongoing Conversation”) at New York Foundation for the Arts on May 28, 2009 and then posted on TrulyFreeFilm.
As with so many of the independent films that they show, small festivals (and community micro-cinemas and similar venues) exist thanks to the largely unpaid efforts of serious film lovers. They don’t offer premiers of star-driven films or attract distribution representatives, but we increasingly rely on small festivals to nurture artists and audiences, and to bring personal and specialized cinema of all kinds to out-of-the-way communities. Yet small festivals share with filmmakers an urgent need to adapt to the changing circumstances of the entire business. Unlike the concern we regularly hear for filmmakers, distributors and theaters, there isn’t much hand-wringing about the fate of small festivals, or their quality, or much information about how they can keep up with the times, grow and improve.
Small festivals are largely staffed by people with a strong love of film but often without much knowledge of exhibition. To survive, prosper and grow, they need information, support, encouragement and useful criticism. The people who can best help them are those who have experience managing successful festivals, and who know how to develop relationships with audiences, sponsors, distributors and filmmakers.
Large festivals are some of the most logical places to institute this process. They provide important access to films, filmmakers and distributors, so they are already attended by representatives from smaller festivals. Adding educational programs, festival labs, and networking opportunities for their smaller cousins and for people entering the business would strengthen the entire community. A thousand healthy film festivals will help many thousands of filmmakers.
Matthew Seig
New York Foundation for the Arts
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A Really Nice Filmmaker Blog
You know how I feel how important it is to bring your audience early into the process. You know how I think it is critical to let people know what is that you love and appreciate. You know that I believe that it is no longer about just the film, but about the ongoing conversation. And of course it is obvious that I think that none of us can afford to just make good work, but that we need to make better films.
I was really excited to learn of Australian-based filmmaker Rhys Graham‘s blog The Bouy Archives. It is simple but great (maybe it is great in part because it is simple). Beautiful photographs. Great quotes. Passionate discussions on the work he admires. And refreshingly free of business chatter. It makes me want to see his films — and isn’t that the goal?
I got to read and consult on Rhys’ project “The Warmth” at Aurora Script Conference this spring. It’s going to be a good movie. I had no hesitation “following” this blog. I suggest you do too. I am going to follow it right into the theater.
Indie Film has not progressed very much in 38 years. I finally caught up with Barbara Loden‘s 1970’s WANDA last night. It would feel pretty damn fresh today. It ranks up there among the American Indie greats that’s for sure, particularly among the great debut features, and the ones that the director also stars in. It made me wish that we had somewhere we could go where we could get an immersive course in Loden’s life. If you know, let me know.
I couldn’t resist a trip to the Mike Douglas Show, co-hosted by John Lennon and Yoko Ono. First off I learned Loden was married to Elia Kazan. The struggles she faced as a female director are as real today as they were then. Except back then you had the most famous creative couple in the world promoting her work. And they were great & daring artists too; there is no equivalent today.
John Lennon – Yoko Ono – Barbara Loden
Uploaded by CinemaMonAmour. – Full seasons and entire episodes online.
There’s been a lot of good writing done on the film, including this from driftingclouds and filmmaker Mary Brownstien’s piece from HammerToNail. I was really struck by the quality of the performances and Loden’s willingness to let the camera linger. You can tell she is working with a tiny crew (4 people evidently) and the level of intimacy she achieves is a marvel. The budget, back in the day, was $115,000. It is required viewing.
8/31/10 Update: The New York Times just reported that WANDA is being restored. Time to rejoice!
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Crazy Animals #8: Best Friends
You ever meet someone who seems really different from you, but you just become the best of friends? Suryia and Roscoe did. And good thing for Suryia too, because orangutans are one of the most endangered species on this earth. Maybe we can all just get along after all, eh?
