Other News October 15th, 2008
Talking About Types
I like how people are just now noticing that a lot of young female characters in movies exist only to unlock the hidden potential of the men in their lives and show them how wonderful the world can be.
They’re called Manic Pixie Dream Girls, and they’ve been getting a lot of attention lately. First coined by A.V. Club writer Nathan Raban, Jezebel has an entertaining story about the phenomenon, NPR dedicated a feature to it, and it’s been mentioned on several other blogs. The most cited MPDGs are Kirsten Dunst in Elizabethtown and Natalie Portman in Garden State.
Other News October 10th, 2008
Politics as Usual
In case all of the election news/commentary/insanity is not enough political entertainment for you, a slew of new movies are vying for your attention with their own takes on the political process.
In theaters:
Choose Connor is a cynical look at small-town political corruption by actor and first time director Luke Eberkl. Alex Linz plays 15-year-old Owen, who is brought on by creepy congressman Lawrence Connor to help Connor with his senatorial campaign. The New York Times has a nice overview.
Filmmaking Tips Other News October 5th, 2008
Film News and Tips
In a setback for the online film festival ’scene’, Sundance has terminated its relationship with Mediastile after missed royalty checks and traffic reports, but now the filmmakers have to deal with the situation themselves.
Other News October 3rd, 2008
Hollywood and the Financial Crisis
While the country debates how we got into and how we’ll get out of what’s been called the biggest financial crisis since the great depression, questions are beginning to be raised about how the stormy financial climate will affect the film industry.
Two weeks ago, Jeffrey Katzenburg of Dreamworks was reassuring other media executives that “we have seen that our product is, at worse, recession-resistant and, more optimistically and historically, has actually been recession-proof.” Other media moguls at that conference talked about how well prepared they were to face an economical downturn…at a gathering sponsored by Goldman Sachs. However, some studios are already feeling the effect of the credit crunch. New York Magazine points out that “Banks had already been pulling out of movie-studio investments over the last year thanks to the housing crisis, and Monday’s turmoil will most likely just accelerate the trend. To independent filmmakers, there seems to be a sense they are, if not in danger, more alone than they have ever been (see former post, where Ted Hope says, “And you can bet the Indie World isn’t going to get a government bail out like Wall Street and the Banking Industry have”).
Other News September 30th, 2008
True Independence?
Producer Ted Hope opened Saturday’s Film Independent’s Filmmaker Forum, and a complete transcript of his thought-provoking speech is available here.
Hope argues that the indie film community needs to be less focused on possible fame and intense individual productivity and more focused on creating a community that has the ability to transform the system into one where every filmmaker has to find an audience, nurture that audience, run an ad campaign online, etc.
Other News September 26th, 2008
Thoughts on Film Posters
After recently coming across a collection of 50 Polish Film Posters, I can’t help but feel a little bit disappointed. Sure there are classics, like Saul Bass’s design for Vertigo, and Richard Amsel’s poster for Chinatown, but the majority of film posters just don’t seem to leave as much to the imagination.
Other News September 23rd, 2008
No tickets to the fest? Stream it.
Traditional film festivals streaming movies online is officially a trend.
Tribeca did it back in 2007. This year, Fantastic Fest streamed ten films online from Sept. 14-20th, and invited online audiences to rate and review the films.
Other News September 19th, 2008
How important is the poster?
Speaking of movie posters (see: new Massify contest), an article in the LA Times today says that Dane Cook’s famous myspace rant about his image in the My Best Friend’s Girl poster may result in box office gold.
While this projection seems a little far-fetched, it does illustrate how important a movie poster is to the overall marketing of a movie. Reporter Josh Friedman points out that Cook’s famous rant was covered in People, the Huffington Post, EW, and others, and that all this media attention may give the rom com an edge over the grittier ‘Lakeview Terrace’.
Other News September 17th, 2008
User-generated Content for America
What better way to bring Republicans and Democrats together than a good old-fashioned video contest?
The Democracy Video Challenge, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, asks video makers from anywhere in the world to create a short video around the them “Democracy is…”, which sounds a lot like the prompt fora 5th grade essay contest, in the hopes of encouraging “a dialogue on democracy.”
Other News September 15th, 2008
Distribution Debate
With festival news winding down and the indie film world still absorbing the news of so many closings in their midst, the conversation has turned toward distribution - what it is, what are the alternatives, etc.
Indiewire’s main story is Welcome to the New World of Distribution, which draws a dramatic distinction between the ‘new world’ and the ‘old world’ of distributiton, where life in the new world is full of risk-takers and crazy kids and old world is full of naysayers like Mark Gill.
So if all of the low-budget filmmakers can upload and promote their films, what is the point of distribution?
Laure Parsons of Infinicine (a blog dedicated to ‘distribution in the digital age’) answers that here. While conceding that “Distributors are not as important in the online sphere IF a filmmaker is proactive and marketing savvy (and has budgeted for marketing),” she points out that distributors are still a filmmaker’s best friend and are still the reason why top festivals are top.
To self-distribute, a filmmaker has to do more than write and direct. She/he has to think like a producer, which may be the largest hurdle. “All I want to do is make movies, too,” says Casper Andreas, the creator (and distributor) o A Four Letter Word in a MovieMaker interview back in April. “In fact all I want to do is write and direct. but since no one would hire me to do that I also had to produce to get my films made. As a producer, I raise money.”
Of course, self-distribution is not always an option, and the debate is wrapped up in the purpose of festivals and the like where new movies are discovered. But when self-distribution is an option, it’s not for the faint of heart.
And as a noteworthy reader reaction to the Indiewire story state, “At their best, distributors can build careers, create public awareness and even change film history.”
