JohnnoZee with Macy Patterson

Additionally, DVDs will be made available from a production house at wholesale prices (typically $1 to $1.70 each) to vignette contributors for their own sales and promotions.

The vignette creators also retain full rights and ownership of their film/s, however the collective work becomes property of the Vignette Project organizers.

The Vignette Project is not a challenge, nor is it a contest. It is a way for filmmakers to showcase their talent through collective promotions. The idea is that collectively we have a greater reach than individually.

There are other benefits from the use of vignettes to create a feature. One is the ease of production. Another is the value which comes from having many different artistic visions and perspectives on the material with several individual contributors.

Note: Although we plan to showcase all films at a local theater, only the films with an acceptable level of production value will make it onto the final DVD.

We officially invite all filmmakers and SATO48 contributors to join us in our first project. The topic of our first project is urban legends. The deadline for the urban legends project is September 1st. Entries will be screened in the month of October. We will have the DVD available in time for Christmas.

We recommend the graphic publication, The Big Book of Urban Legends, which contains over 200 well known urban legends in (story boarded!) comic book form. Some are funny. Some are scary. Filmmakers are asked to notify The Vignette Project in regard to which story they are going to select so that no two filmmakers cover the same story. The Big Book of Urban Legends is currently available on Amazon.com for $1.06.

Please contact us for more information: Zomular@gmail.com or The Vignette Project – POB 1636, Springfield, MO 65801

The Self Employment in the Arts (SEA) OzArts conference is a one day educational resource helping aspiring artists gain the knowledge and skills to establish and maintain a career as an independent artist.

Where: Drury University, Springfield, Missouri: Trustee Science Center
When: March 13, 2010 9:30AM – 4PM
Who: This conference is for anyone who wants to improve skills related to self employment in the arts
Cost: $50 per person. (Scholarships are provided for all Drury Students by Student Advocates for the Arts.)

What to expect:
Inspiring & resourceful artist led conference sessions
One-on-one sessions with established artists
Training on how to organize and run your business
Register for the SEA OzArts Conference Online

Registration deadline is March 10, 2010

In the New World, filmmakers maintain full control over their work from beginning to end: they hold on to their rights and, as important, find people who are interested in their projects and can become patrons, even mentors. The Old World has ticket buyers. The New World has ticket buyers who are also Facebook friends. The Old World has commercials, newspapers ads and the mass audience. The New World has social media, YouTube, iTunes and niche audiences. “Newspaper ads,” Mr. Broderick said, “are mostly a waste of money.”

We’ve seen local filmmakers accomplish this at some level, whether it’s Kenny Kalinowski building up a fan base of 858 for Twisted Steel (go add yourself to his list!) or Johnno Senovich establishing himself with a TV show locally and achieving local distribution in Blockbuster. The next level appears to be DIY

One of the buzzy ideas in D.I.Y. is transmedia, a word borrowed from academia, in which stories — think of the “Star Wars” and “Matrix” franchises — unfold across different platforms. “Star Wars” helped expand the very idea of a movie, because it involved a constellation of movie-related products, from videogames to action figures, all of which become part of the understanding and experience of the original, originating work. This isn’t just about slapping a movie logo on a lunchbox or a screensaver: it’s about creating an entertainment gestalt. As the theorist Henry Jenkins writes, “Reading across the media sustains a depth of experience that motivates more consumption.” In other words, you can sell one ticket to a moviegoer or enlist fans into media feedback loops that they in turn help create and sustain.

What model(s) are you working with?

Tilda Swinton and a group known as “A Pilgrimage” are responsible for the mobile screening facilities and the films that are being shown in remote towns in Northern Scotland that wouldn’t otherwise have a chance to see these films.

What type of films would attract crowds in Southwest Missouri? I saw Sam’s is selling a 72″ inflatable screen for less than $200 that would work well in a backyard. Hmmm….

They and their families lived month to month for a while, until they hit on a plan to make sponsored videos that don’t look sponsored. One of them was the Taco Bell drive-through song, which Taco Bell paid for (pictured above). The video has more than 1 million views on YouTube.

You can find more on their website.

The film is listed on IMDB and has received the following reviews so far:

Pulp Movies website – article title

Visually, this film is very striking and much attention has been paid both to the look of the zombies and the beings in the background as well as to the editing which implies a lot more than it shows. What really pulls this film together, however, is the sound design. James Sizemore’s score is incredibly atmospheric and really does work beautifully with the visual feel of the film to suck you in totally. So much so that I really was on the edge of my seat by the time the film ended.

The Sky Has Fallen is a thoughtful and downbeat take on the zombie genre and one with a satisfyingly fatalistic conclusion. Although the film could have probably done with an extra twenty minutes to develop the characters and themes a little more thoroughly, the style and originality on show make this a film well worth checking out.

Horror Society website – film review

Writer/director Doug Roos’ dialogue heavy, (almost) two character piece The Sky Has Fallen could probably fit just as well on a theatrical stage as a movie screen. Exploring the relationship between two survivors of a plague-like virus as they cat and mouse it with ‘the leader’ and his red n’ dead creatures, Roos creates both a sympathetic point of view and a world of oozing horror as well.

A synopsis, trailer and cast list can be found at this earlier posting or check out the films website.

Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, The Girlfriend Experience, opens in theaters starting May 22. But, it’s currently available on most cable systems, on-demand. That’s how I saw the film on Saturday, after missing it at Sundance and Tribeca. It’s a pretty great film to catch in your living room, with its intimate and static structure.

I caught this on Cinematech

Steven Soderbergh’s ‘The Girlfriend Experience’ appeared as a $9.99 online rental on Amazon this week, three weeks before its theatrical debut. Variety blogger Ben Fritz asks why Magnolia, the pic’s distributor, isn’t making more of a fuss. Ben writes:

If you’re going to break the rules, piss of a bunch of big theater chains, and try to reshape the way entertainment is distributed, why not make a stink about it? There’s nothing worse than rebelling in a way that people don’t notice, or even care.

Aimed at aspiring or challenged filmmakers, a Tribeca Film Festival panel discussion examined the emergence of innovative new strategies for marketing as well as digital distribution, and how there are now multiple ways for filmmakers to control what happens to their film. Six industry insiders gathered at the School of Visual Arts Theater in Manhattan to discuss alternative distribution and marketing 2.0 during the “Tribeca Talks: Tools of the Trade” session, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Steven Zeitchik.

They offered 10 specific tips. Check them all out here.

At the hotel and during the combined 15-hour flight home, a couple hours of video from a Canon HG10 and a little Final Cut Express led to the creation of Roma Italia, a brief video synopsis of our 5-day stay in Rome.

It was his note about 2 hours of video, culled to a 5 minute final product. How many of your customers understand the value of the editing work you do for them? Share your videos and thoughts with us on this blog!

Roma Italia from Cameron Moll on Vimeo.

Directed, written, produced, designed and animated by Nina Paley
82 minutes. Animation, Color, stereo. Digital Cinema Package, HDCAM, DVD; soon on 35mm. 2008

The key to this story? Nina is giving away the movie, under a Creative Commons license. She is accepting money as well, working a well-traveled model that offers fans the opportunity to purchase the movie in a variety of formats and with related merchandise. Check out the Store!

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.sitasingstheblues.com. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.sitasingstheblues.com/license.html.

What do you think of this model? Are you considering it? She also has a Community Screening model. Should we bring it to Springfield?