For those of you who have not heard of Raptor Quest, well,…now you have. It is the film project of Bill (the director) and Bill (the cinematography). That is Bill Whirity, a fellow Columbian from Columbia College and friend who directed and wrote Broke and Zombie Island, and Bill Palmer, who is also a director/writer and a great cinematographer who worked on Zombie Island. According to the Bills, Raptor Quest has been a project in the making for a long time. As you watch their first Raptor Quest Video Blog, you learn that the idea started in 1st grade and is evident by a Crayola drawing that Bill, the director, keeps in his wallet. But you also learn that Bill, the cinematographer, questions Bill, the director, on who was the real artist. So who was the true inspiration behind Raptor Quest, who cares, these guys are so funny you’ll enjoy just taking the journey with them watching their video blogs.
A friend from school Saywer Lahr, who also writes reviews for FilmMonthly.com, reminded me of a great opportunity and great idea that the Independent Film Channel (IFC) has that is called IFC Media Lab. What is IFC Media Lab? It is IFC’s way of letting the people control programming. Great idea, huh. Yes it is. Instead of programming executives deciding what we see, the viewer chooses. A aspiring filmmaker uploads her and/or his film, then the viewer chooses which one they like the best, and then the next month IFC shows how the films ranked from that previous month. From here you are directed to a page where you can see the the winners films online. Now, these are short films and not feature length. So, now you really do not have any excuses when it comes to showing your work. Look at it as a learning experience and just think your film may be the next big thing.
Hey I thought I should mention this now before the deadline and believe me the deadline is near. One in particular is for the television screenwriting competition Scriptapalooza Television. I find I normally make announcements for competitions that are geared toward the big screen or documentaries, but I rarely talk about television. In lieu of my desire to learn more about writing for cable television and the Internet, I thought it would be appropriate to remind others about this competition. The deadline is April 30th, so you need to get it in right away. I’ll be sure to give plenty of heads up for this one when next year’s announcement are made. Unfortunately I learned of this contest just recently.
Now for this next one you can relax a bit. It’s the 5th Annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest and I have not read who is judging but last year the judge was Gus Van Sant (admittedly one of my favorite directors). This I’m giving early because the heading for last years competition is still the headline on the website. But when you read further down the page you’ll see the announcement for this years deadlines. The contest opens June 1, 2007 and the early deadline is August 1, 2007.
To give you a little history about the contest, it part of the website started by Frances Ford Coppola to invite writers to submit their short stories to his online magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. Many of the writers quickly formed around the website and it’s quick popularity prompt Coppola to create sites for novellas and screenplays. You can read more about it here, American Zoetrope Films.
Recently I have noticed that there are bloggers who have been playing a new online tag game called Blog Tag. Being so busy and bogged down with work and school, I have just noticed that I myself had been tagged by Clintis McGintus for my top 7 songs and Eric Ashley for weird habits/things (sorry guys for being so slow to respond). When I realized that it was my turn to respond, I debated if I should put it on this website or put it on my Vox webpage where I do more of my personal rants and raves. But then I realized why not on TheFemGeek.com. This is the best place to have it because, though many of you may think it’s only a game, I think it’s another example of bloggers and “innovators” who are trying to reach out to each other. I have mentioned this before, I KNOW the reason why I started blogging and one of the main reasons was to meet new people. Yes my sights for the this website may be intended for internet filmmakers, technology, art, any form of digital media, but it’s not limited to that. Plus I think the fact that the two tags I got was from a videoblogger/internet filmmaker and a blogger proves my point.
So here it is,
7 Songs I like (and believe me this was hard to narrow down):
Black - Pearl Jam
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
Lacrymosa - Evanescence
No Excuses/Would? (tie) - Alice in Chains
Whatever - Godsmack
Pain - Three Days Grace
Fragile - Lacuna Coil
and
6 Weird things/Habits About Myself:
I read magazines from the back to the front
I panic if any part of my body, beside what is suppose to, touch the toilet
I wash my hands an abnormal amounts of time throughout the day (may be a “obsessive-compulsive” behavior but I won’t claim it)
I am one who once I get an idea to do something, I must accomplish some part of it the day I thought of it
I cannot be around or touch anyones feet (I definitely do not have a foot fetish)
I sometimes forget to eat
There you have it and now I tag Bre Pettis, Jon Manock, Ryan Oelke, Mike Ambs, Ross LaRocco, and firefawkes
Today I have two events I want to post for you. First I stumbled upon a website that has a very interesting approach to making documentaries. Open Source Cinema works on a collaborative platform. It is a documentary project that creates feature films about copyright in the digital age. The creator, Brett Gaylor, is asking you the filmmaker or videographer to help him create this documentary. It is the whole concept behind “Open source cinema”. To read more about the film click on wikifilm on the OpenSourceCinema.org page and to read the philosophy behind the project click on manifesto. If you decide to do so sign up and register, maybe watch a few of the videos, and then create a page. There you have it. You may find yourself apart of something big.
Most people who have an idea for a film become bogged down with the stress of where can I get funding and support. Well as a member of IFP Chicago (Independent Feature Project) I must tell you about IFP Market 2007. I think IFP can explain itself better than I can so here’s what they have on the website:
What is the IFP Market?
The IFP Market is a week-long showcase, held each autumn in New York, for new features, works-in-progress, shorts, and scripts. For independent filmmakers, it is the only market in the U.S. where one can present new film and television work-in-development directly to the film industry in a selective and professional atmosphere. For the film industry, it is a vital exhibition and discovery forum for new talent and a place to discover new films before they hit the festival circuit.
There are three categories no borders, spotlight on documentaries, and emerging narrative. Plus there is the Jury Awards which will awards $25,000 in prizes.
$10,000 Emerging Latino Filmmaker Award
$10,000 Socially Conscious Documentary
$5,000 Outstanding Screenplay
The deadlines are in May so get on it. While you’re there become a member of the IFP in your area so you’ll always have updates.
Who wants to make an ad? SFBig is having a competition that will coincide with the Big’s annual Ad-tech SF Party to see who can create a the best ad for five products by five major companies. The second annual User Generated Ad Show will be hosted by the Bay Area Interactive Group and the Academy of the Art University on April 24th at 6:00pm.
The contest is open to anyone and there is a Best of Show Prize - $500, BIG Brand Category - $250, and the Open Category -$250. All you have to do is upload a advertising video. Videos can be any length and can be in the .mov or .wma format. You can submit advertisements for the five brands that are listed who are in association with the BIG Agency or you can submit any other brand in the Open Category.
Videos will be uploaded between April 16th and April 20th. So get you video cameras ready and how them what you got.
Note from BIG: The contest is for entertainment purpose and those submitted will not be publicly displayed outside the contest.
