“Download to Own” Film Distribution System

IndiePix.net announced “Download to Own” – a unique approach to the electronic distribution of film entertainment for home users. “Download to Own” delivers a commercial quality DVD or Video CD to the home entertainment fan, a disc that can be played on a console through advanced display and sound systems. “We believe that this is how independent filmmakers want their work to be seen,” said Bob Alexander, President of IndiePix, “and we’re very confident that this delivery system will meet indie film fans’ highest expectations for convenience and cost.” LEARN MORE... indiepix.vom

Affordable High-Definition

To bridge the gap between consumer and professional video cameras Sony has created the HVR-Z1U camcorder. It is Sony’s first attempt at designing a compact, cost-effective camcorder that allows HiDef acquisition on a standard DV cassette using the newly introduced HDV format. Aimed directly at the filmmaker, event video producers and news videographers, the Z1 is packed with the widest array of professional features all within a small, prosumer package priced at under $5,000.
LEARN MORE... By Anthony Bottaro for newenglandfilm.com

Dark flickerings

Hollywood loves stories filled with jeopardy, and this year the studios got more of it than they bargained for when a sizable slice of the movie-going audience stopped, you know, movie-going. Last spring's mild dip at the box office turned into a nearly five-month string of lost weekends, at least compared to 2004, and ticket sales will end the year down about 7 percent.
This would be Hollywood's problem alone if the studios hadn't delivered a plague on all our movie houses. There was so much cynical, big-budget tripe on movie screens this year (``The Dukes of Hazzard'' and ``Stealth'' are but two examples that come to mind) that it threatened to make movies our new gross domestic product.
READ MORE... By Bruce Newman for Mercury News

Verizon to offer broadcast TV over cell phones

Video to be sent separately from text and voice, allowing for better quality Verizon Wireless has signed on as the first cellular carrier that will offer a broadcast TV network for mobile phones that Qualcomm Inc. plans to launch in late 2006.
The companies declined to say Thursday what programming might be featured over the MediaFLO system, which will be broadcast to mobile phones over a different portion of the wireless spectrum than cellular calls and data services. LEARN MORE…
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press for msnbc.com; All rights reserved.

Lights, CELL PHONE, action!!!

Film contest offers prize for best movie shot entirely with camera cell phones
"I hope people studying film will take it as my generation's chance to provide a new language, a new way of thinking," says Sudhanshu Saria, a senior at Ithaca College taking part in the cell phone film contest. Ithaca College has invited high school and college students across America to submit a 30-second movie shot entirely with a cell phone, and there is a $5,000 prize offered. The submission deadline is Jan. 10. A winner will be chosen from among 10 finalists and announced online Jan. 30.
About 130 million Americans own cell phones with camera capabilities and approximately half of those camera phones also shoot video, said Roger Entner, an analyst with Ovum, a Boston-based technology consulting firm.
This fall, MTV launched "Head and Body," a comedy series of eight programs created exclusively for cell phone users. Last year, Zoie Films, an Atlanta-based producer of independent films and festivals, ran what it billed as the world's first cell-phone film festival.
And in October, the Forum des Images in Paris held its first Pocket Film Festival, which included everything from 30-second shorts to mini-soap operas to full-length features. LEARN MORE… www.msnbc.msn.com

The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

“Once, there were two towers…”
So starts the The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein, and it begins with this breathtaking sentence that at once navigates an ocean of sadness and pushes recent events into the shadow box of myth.
Michael Sporn, diehard traditional animator with his own eponymous film company headquartered in New York, has made an animated short about Philippe Petit and his famous 1974 tightrope walk between the towers of the World Trade Center.
LEARN MORE... By Taylor Jessen for awn.com

Personal Relationships in ScreenPlays

'During the life span of Babyboomers...we have come to be ruled by a shadow (now no longer secret) government of spy agencies, right wing billionaires and military fanatics. Our oceans have been turned into chemical dumps, half the world's rain-forests have vanished, holes have appeared in our ozone layer, and our hopes for the future have been buried under a steadily mounting pile of unimaginable weapons. During the same period, a single topic has dominated the American stage: personal relationships.' -- Joan Holden
LEARN MORE... pubinfo.vcu.edu

Invest in a ZOMBIE FARM

BUY THE FARM -- INVEST/PRODUCE IN ZOMBIE FARM
Contributing Producer: Investor contributes a minimum of $50 and a maximum of $999. This is truly a contribution for the love of the arts and the horror genre. The contributing Producer will receive a copy of the movie and a "Contributing Producer" credit.
Associate Producer: Investor contributes a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum of $2,499.*
Co-Producer: Investor contributes a minimum of $2,500 and a maximum of $4,999.*
Producer: Investor contributes a minimum of $5,000 and a maximum of $19,999.*
Executive Producer: Investor contributes a minimum of $20,000.*
*Initial returns are paid on net profits. This is venture capital. Returns are not guaranteed.
LEARN MORE... zombiefarmmovie.com

Super Problem with Superman

Superman's bulge too Super
Is Superman’s bulge too super? Warner Brothers says yes.
Brandon Routh joins the legendary ranks of Colin Farrell and Milton Beryl in the large endowment society, after a report from British rag The Sun saying that his package is too big to fit decently into his Superman suit. Routh you may remember is the unknown cast by Bryan Singer to play the Man of Steel in his upcoming reboot of the Superman franchise, ‘Superman Returns’.
READ MORE... movies.monstersandcritics.com

The Man Inside - A new film

Caro, an adolescent amnesiac, is mysteriously dropped off at an exclusive Rhode Island School for boys in the fall of 1965. He becomes the obsession of Miss Wills, a devout former student of the infamous psychologist Dr. Greeb. Miss Wills begins a controversial treatment and, at the brink of curing him, Caro is devastated by a horrible dream and flees, penniless, to New York City. Embarking on a new journey, Caro finds a job, a place to live and an obsession: His Purpose. Before he knows it, he is married to sinister Faye, has a baby on the way and has an eminent catastrophe awaiting him. Broken and busted, Caro flees again in search of new meaning in his life. When he happens upon the small town of Newland, the man who owns the town takes special interest in the young man's unique talent. Screenplay by Kurt Burk & Dennis Greza, based on the 1968 novel by W. Watts Biggers - creator of cult cartoon Underdog.
SEE THE TRAILER... kbafilms.com

SHIFTED

SHIFTED is a character driven story that takes place over the course of one year in David Anderson's life. It details the rise, fall and redemption of a successful young businessman stranded in Los Angeles, when the SEC shuts down the company he works for. After losing his job and the beautiful, but expensive Rachel, his life is turned upside down and inside out. An unusual sequence of events lead David to a new "home", where he makes friends with two unusual men. Marcos is an older black man (unemployed by outsourcing and age) who becomes his first true friend and father figure. Joe, an unemployed writer, is sometimes happy-go-lucky, other times self-pitying and depressed.
LEARN MORE... nelsonmadisonfilms.com

HOWARD’S FIRST SHOT

HOWARD STERN JOINS SIRIUS RADIO
No longer a threat to the Federal Communications Commission, Howard Stern has left the airwaves for cyberspace... For any fans who haven't seen his 2001: A Space Odyssey parody advertisement,
SEE HOWARD’S FIRST SHOT... howardstern.com

Frankie and Johnny are Married

Lisa Chess talks about working with her husband, Director Michael Pressman, separating fact from fiction and shooting a digital movie in her own home.
Q. As an actress, did shooting a movie on a digital format make any difference? If so, what were those differences?
A. Shooting on digital gave the cameraman more freedom to move with the camera, particularly the sequences where he used the mini DV camera, because of its size and weight. This made the work very organic, very improvisational in tone, and very collaborative. I actually felt less aware of the camera- it sort of felt like a part of the scene.
READ MORE… www.frankiejohnny.com

ANIMALS

This independent documentary asks, “Could you kill your own dinner?”
For most of man’s time on earth, we killed what we ate. With the rise of cities, we left the butchering to professionals. But after trading his home in Toronto for a farm in Nova Scotia, Jason Young went back to nature: “If I was going to continue eating animals, I was going to raise them myself.”
So begin the struggles of a fledging farmer with his livestock—and his conscience. The result is a thoughtful film about a stormy issue: eating meat.
LEARN MORE… indiedocs.com

Aristotle’s Incline

For centuries, this has proven to be the basis of any well-written stage or screen paly or book.
ACT ONE: The set up. The characters are introduced. Plot point #1.
ACT TWO: Confrontation. Midpoint & Plot Point #2.
ACT THREE: Climax (Catharsis) & resolution.
The backbone of your play is its plot. Louis E. Catron in "The Elements of Playwriting" describes plot as the master design of the play's conflicts, the selection and arrangement of incidents to achieve maximum impact." He continues by saying that plot keeps the play moving forward with clashes that create dramatic tension."
LEARN MORE... chdramaworkshop.homestead.com

Sell your film

If you want to sell your own films, just take a free classified ad.
Scott Wolpow
myfilm.com

DUMPED the Independent Musical Comedy

"DUMPED" is an indie musical comedy that takes the happy-go-lucky spirit of the great old movie musicals and infuses it with a hip, new, irreverent edge. Where musicals of the past sang gray skies are gonna clear up, "DUMPED!" sings things suck a little less each day.
"DUMPED" is the anti-musical musical. It's for lovers and haters of musicals alike. While it embraces classic movie musical conventions, it also plays on the fact that there's something inherently ridiculous about them. Rather than trying to conjure up the past, it brings musicals into the present, owing as much to "Seinfeld" and "Slacker" as it does to "South Pacific".
With its swinging score, thrilling dance numbers, and a fresh-faced cast that's a total knock out, "DUMPED" is a hilarious, feel-good celebration of rejection, pain and regret. Watching someone get dumped has never been so much fun!
Become an Associate Producer of "DUMPED" for only $19.95.
LEARN MORE... www.dumpedthemusical.com

"Actors and Actresses"

If you are an actor or actress interested in posting your picture, stats and contact information for thousands of people around the world to see, please read the rules/guidlines below our current listings?
If you are an agent, producer or entertainment professional requiring further information or contact with any of these fine people, click on their picture to see if they have a linked website with more information about themselves or please click on the actors' name below their picture to e-mail their representative?
LEARN MORE... www.onlinetheater.com

BLOODHEAD-Creature Of Sunny Side Up Trailer Park

"Coyotes got her."
That is the official verdict on the grisly death of Charlotte Burnell, a cantankerous prospector who lived and died in the California desert. But when Donnie Daniels and Doug McCoy both arrive to stake rival claims to her legacy, they find more than her ramshackle trailer park. They discover an atmosphere of fear, a string of mysterious mutilations, and a sinister, sun-baked cult.
The two antagonists also uncover the secret of the mother they never knew — they are twin brothers, though one is black and one is white. This strange bond of blood fuels their mutual hatred, but it is also the key to an ancient power that has lain dormant beneath the desert for millennia — a power that should never have been disturbed — the power of the creature called BLOODHEAD.
LEARN MORE... bloodhead.com

MACBETH 3000

Macbeth and Macduff were agents of the dangerous kind- America and Britain's finest secret weapons. But when Macbeth and his (semi-platonic) partner Banquo are confronted by three witches who prophesize their rise to power, things become unclear as to the lines of right and wrong. With the naggings of his power-hungry wife, Macbeth is forced to take the prophecy in his own hands... but there is one small problem. LEARN MORE... superguncinema.com

Toshiba To Delay HD DVD Player Until 2006

Japan's Toshiba Corp. said on Thursday it may delay the year-end launch of its next-generation HD DVD players, potentially undermining its advantage as the first supplier to put such machines on the market.
The company added, however, any change in the launch schedule would be intended to maximise potential demand for the new products and that Toshiba remains committed to the HD DVD format as the next-generation DVD technology.
LEARN MORE... By Reuters for eweek.com

LEFT FOR DEAD

Williams is an assassin, betrayed and 'Left For Dead' by his erstwhile colleagues. Kelso is a kick boxer, his career violently cut short. Together they must team up to make down the criminal empire that holds their city in a vice like grip!
Independent feature ‘Left For Dead’ is a ground breaking digital feature, directed by cult director Ross Boyask and starring a cast and crew with credits on 'Charlie & The Chocolate Factory', 'Batman Begins', 'Sleepy Hollow', Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator', 'The Hitchhikers Guide...,' 'The Purifiers', 'The Silencer', 'A Better Tomorrow 2' and the award winning 'Love Struck'
“Left for Dead is one hell of an action movie… pushing the action to extremes while maintaining an engaging plot”
LEARN MORE... Mark Pollard, Kungfucinema.com

'Knorsong' Music Video

Type 'Knorsong' into Google and watch the hits! It seems when you have something really different, everyone wants to get in on the act.
SEVEN Productions created a music video for the single 'Knorsong', featuring a 2D animated version of Big. Big is the pig half of one of STUDIO 100's children's shows, about a cake-loving girl and a not-so-polite pig. The studio was amazed at how many people downloaded this to see the pig...
WATCH THE VIDEO... sevenproductions.be

PILOT ERROR

I consider myself to be a pretty nice guy, but you know, there are days when I just have to face up to the fact that I'm surrounded by losers, and there just does not seem to be any way to change that. I arrived here at fifteen feeling like the outsider, a Yankee amidst the children of semi-wealthy, but otherwise ignorant land and farm owners and rednecked trailer trash. Then I discovered about a thousand other people my age who felt exactly the same way.
SEE THE FILM… jdmoores.com

Video Compression

More than ten years have passed since the publication of the MPEG-2 standard and Moore’s Law has continued to push the boundaries of semiconductor technology. It is now conceivable to build substantially more complex algorithms than MPEG-2, and achieve a low power solution that can fit high definition video into a palm-sized camera or camcorder. And all of this is accomplished with compression efficiency that can store HD content onto a minuscule solid state device.
LEARN MORE... ambarella.com

Streaming for Holiday Travel

Whether planning to go somewhere exotic or mundane this season, more and more travelers check out the online views and reviews first, opening up new opportunities for Web sites to capitalize on the power of streaming video and audio.
User review sites have been around for several years, providing feedback on everything from cars to cruises. The proliferation of broadband and smaller digital cameras – some of which can be used to capture both still images and short-length videos that are captured in streaming formats such as MPEG-4 – allows travelers to post their experiences and show examples of gripes or benefits.
READ MORE... By Tim Siglin for streamingmedia.com

THE CARVER

Racy Nip/Tuck Steams Up Search Although Entertainment Weekly gave its third season a D+ and it remains under fire from the filth cataloguers at the Parents Television Council, Nip/Tuck shows no signs of a Buzz drop-off. The over-the-top cosmetic surgery soap is up 45% and cementing its spot among our most-searched television shows. Could it be the sudsy, bloody, sexy drama has carved out a place in viewer's hearts forever? LEARN MORE… ew.com

Consumers create unique animated music videos

Yahoo! Music and NVIDIA Introduce Yahoo! Artist Mods
Yahoo! Artist Mods showcases today's coolest music video artists using digitized models of the artists, stage sets, and instruments. To become "virtual directors," with control over backgrounds, lighting, and camera angles , users can download the ModMaker rendering engine from the NVIDIA nZone Web site. Once a new video is finished, users can replay their creation and share it with a friend by email.
ModMaker was developed for Yahoo! Music by Big Bear Entertainment using NVIDIA Quadro(R) professional graphics technology. ModMaker achieves optimal performance when played back on PCs equipped with NVIDIA (R) GeForce(R) graphics. Tony Shiff, president of Big Bear Entertainment, commented: " NVIDIA gave us the power to create fully animated music videos in weeks, rather than months."
LEARN MORE... digitaltoys.consumerelectronicsnet.com

'Super Size Me' filmmaker plans film on conservatives, science

"Super Size Me" filmmaker Morgan Spurlock plans a documentary on conservative US politicians' treatment of science, Hollywood press reported.
Spurlock has purchased the film rights to adapt a book, "The Republican War on Science," according to the entertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety.
The book by Chris Mooney argues that Republican stances on stem-cell research, global climate change and sex education, among other topics, show a conservative bias on environment, health and security issues.
"There was a time when science was respected by politicians and government officials and when the information obtained through unbiased scientific exploration was used for the better of society," Spurlock told Variety.
"Today, all of that is being ignored, manipulated and used incorrectly to further political agendas. We need the real answers to the big questions," he said.
LEARN MORE... AFP for Yahoo news

Bush's '2-0-5'

Energy Prices! Katrina! Insurgents! The late-night TV film debut of "2-0-5" was the fifth for the JibJab brothers since their online short film "This Land," skewering the 2004 presidential candidates, became a huge Internet hit last year.
"This Land," viewed on the Web more than 80 million times, launched JibJab out of obscurity and landed the Spiridellis duo on Jay Leno and in partnerships with Yahoo and MSN. It also led to projects with the Sundance Film Festival and beer maker Anheuser-Busch.
LEARN MORE… at news.com
VIEW THE FILM... at jibjab.com

Welcome to the Daily Script

The Daily Script catalogs a collection of movie scripts and screenplays to serve as a resource for writers and actors and those who simply enjoy reading movie scripts. The movie scripts are presented in proper script format (for the most part) and where possible, multiple drafts are presented. A movie script will be featured daily, (hence the name Daily Script). If the daily script doesn't pique your interest, check out the SCRIPTS section for a selection of other movie scripts. LEARN MORE... dailyscript.com

But Of Corpse!

We're seeing dead people again, thanks to the return of a FilmWise classic. Can you name the flicks in which these fine folks kicked the proverbial bucket? GUESS THE FILMS... www.filmwise.com

Getting Video into the iPod Video

Getting video you may already have lying about to play on the iPod isn't quite as mainstream just yet. Fortunately, it's not terribly difficult, so may we present a brief overview of what you need to know. Theoretically, there's no magic to transcoding video for the iPod , since Apple is quite forthcoming about the video specs of the new iPods. In a nutshell, you can encode to MPEG -4 video or to Apple's flavor du jour, the snappily named H.264. READ MORE... By Kevin Schmitt for consumerelectronicsnet.com

ACTING SCAMS TO AVOID

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”That phrase, in the acting industry, is worth more than a $20 million-dollar, big-budget film contract. If you haven’t experienced a scam yet, you soon will! There is almost no place like the entertainment industry for con and scam artists. That’s partly because people can scam you out of your money legally by taking advantage of your dreams and inexperience. LEARN MORE... www.actingmagazine.com

The Best Free Game Ever

Now here's a game whose creators advise "getting as high as possible," which presumably is a reference to wall-climbing, not hallucinogenic drugs. But we can't be sure. Icy Tower is a climbing and jumping game. According to the designers, "Harold the Homeboy has decided to climb a huge tower. It's up to you to help him get as high as possible without falling down, and collect extra score by doing cool moves on the way." ON TO THE GAMES...
Icy Tower is a freeware computer game created by Johan Peitz of Free Lunch Design, inspired by Xjump.

Advice From Those in the Pitch

Knowing what the networks are looking for is the most important part of developing a show. “I can’t just develop something because ‘I love it’ or think it is a ‘good idea’ or even because I think the merchandising is brilliant and will generate billions of dollars,” says Bill Schultz, co-ceo, MYP/Taffy Ent. “Those are all important. But, one of my key questions is ‘where am I am going to sell it in the key territories?’“ Schultz should know. He is a veteran of development, having worked at Cartoon Network on Ed, Edd and Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog, along with his work at Film Roman on The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Garfield and Friends. As a partner at MYP/Taffy, he has been successful in selling the show, Pet Alien, to Cartoon Network. LEARN MORE... By Jan Nagel for awn.com

Top ipod Downloads

A changing of the guard is coming
This week's chart is interesting because it shows the beginnings of a transition between the Old Guard and some New Blood. iTunes, which has the largest market share of any legal music download service, shows Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You," at Number 1, followed by Eminem's "When I'm Gone" at Number 2. But for whatever reason, the rest of the download charts haven't caught up yet.
READ MORE... Frank Moldstad for consumerelectronicsnet.com

BARAKA

A visual feast like no other, presented in one of cinema’s most powerful formats, will open the Dubai International Film Festival’s program.
Baraka, the first 70mm film to be presented in the UAE in 70mm format, is a dialogue-free film that takes viewers around the globe through a total of 24 countries, capturing both the mystifying natural beauty that exists around the world and the ties that unite all humanity. LEARN MORE... dubaifilmfest.com

Takashi Miike

Takashi Miike is known for being the most prolific filmmaker in the history of Japanese cinema. His films include 'Gozu' (or Gokudo Kyofu Daigeki Gozu) and he has receive several awards including ‘Best Japanese Director’. A contemporary of Shinya Tsukamoto (director of the classic Tetsuo films 'Iron Man' 1989 and 'Body Hammer' 1991), he has shocked and amazed audiences with films such as 'The Audition' (1999) and 'Ichi the Killer' (2001), not to mention his incredible 'Dead or Alive' trilogy (1999-2002), all of which display his fresh and innovative approach towards filmmaking. LEARN MORE... by Alex Ballard for the film asylum

BEST PIRATE MOVIES

In 1671, Welsh pirate Henry Morgan laid siege to Panama City with 2,000 buccaneers and 36 ships. They overran the town's defenses, looted its treasury, and burned it to the ground. For this and other exploits -- he also seized Jamaica from the Spanish and plundered two Venezuelan cities -- Morgan was knighted by the king of England in 1673. SEE THE LIST OF THE BEST PIRATE MOVIES adventures.yahoo.com/

How to Publish an Ebook from your Script

Publishing Ebooks and Edocs can be profitable, IF you have an internet marketing strategy in place. How profitable? Well, when we decided to publish ebook versions of the three titles we currently print through Lightning Source using their print-on demand model, it added about $500/month net to our bottom line. Not a huge amount of money, but no extra work, just a new ISBN number and Lightning Source handled the rest. If you prefer publishing an ebook directly through Amazon, they'll publish your books or brochures as Amazon e-docs for a 50/50 split. The Lightning Source deal is currently better, 75/25 in favor of the publisher, but you need an ISBN number (ie, you need to be a real publisher) to work with Lightning Source. LEARN MORE...
Copyright 2005 by Morris Rosenthal for Foner Books

Burnin' For You

FIRE! FIRE! EVERYWHERE!
It's a pyromaniac's dream! A bunch of things and people and stuff and stuff and more stuff have gone up in flames BUT what movies are the source of these blazes? WILL YOU NEED HELP TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE? GO TO BLAZES...www.filmwise.com

America! Built on a better pill.

KARLY HERT fumbles with love and ethics as she navigates a career with one of corporate America’s darlings…the pharmaceutical industry. Although conflicted on a daily basis by the values within the pharmaceutical industry, an industry driven by profits at the expense of patients; Karly has been seduced by the golden handcuffs of corporate America. LEARN MORE... www.sideeffectsthemovie.com

Voice Acting STUDIO “LINGO”

As with most industries, voiceover has it’s own language that includes terms or phrases that might be confusing to a new-comer. This month, I’ll cover some of the more common terms and phrases to make your experience in the studio a bit less stressful. Some of the more common studio equipment is included as well, since you will often hear the engineer or producer referring to it. Descriptions for some of these terms could easily go on for pages, but here they will only be explained briefly. Once you understand some of these terms, you can casually drop them into a conversation during a session and really impress your engineer and producer.
LEARN MORE...By James Alburger for ActingMagazine.COM

THE INVISIBLES

ARE YOU FILMWISE? Hey, you think you know films? Take a still photo from a movie. Edit out all hands and faces. Now guess the movie. It might be the first time you've seen this but it's been going on for years, so there's a big archive and lots of fun located here. SEE YOUR FAVORITE FILMS WITHOUT THE ACTORS... www.filmwise.com

Dillenger's DIABLOS

A man sits in a chair. Blood pours from wounds opened by razor wire restraining his movement.
A woman runs down endless white corridors. Wyes wide in terror, she flees from a lumbering figure taht keeps pace with her at every turn.
LEARN MORE... www.dillengerproductions.com
SEE THE PREVIEW...

ON BECOMING AN ACTOR

View videos of famous actors giving you advice on how to make it big. VIEW THEM HERE...

HEADSHOTS 101

A lot of actors ask me to look at their headshots.
Then they ask my opinion. Usually my answer goes something like this: "Try again."
Why? Because, while many actors complain that they don’t get very good results from their mailings to casting directors and agents, they seldom connect those results to their headshot. 92.6% of the time, the headshot is the problem. (I make up statistics, so you can't trust me. But that's my guess.) LEARN MORE... By Bob Fraser FOR ACTINGMAGAZINE.COM - Find more info on this author at www.YouMustAct.com

ALIVE in 2007: The BURIED BELVEDERE

On June 15, 1957, a new gold and white 1957 Plymouth Belvedere Sport Coupe was buried in a time capsule in downtown Tulsa, OK. The time capsule was part of Golden Jubilee Week: Tulsa‘s celebration of Oklahoma‘s semi-centennial. The car is buried under the sidewalk in front of the Tulsa County Courthouse. Please take a moment to watch Buried Belvedere. It may take a few minutes to download, but it's worth the wait. WATCH The Buried Belvedere www.buriedcar.com

NETHERWORLD

After sacking a small Latvian village for worshipping a Golgotha demon, all Gabriel the Angel wanted to do was unwind with a warm mug of goat's milk. Fate however, can ruin any evening.
LEARN MORE... www.netherworldmovie.com

Video Journalists Wanted

We have a powerful team of insightful video journalists and researchers which we are expanding. We seek versatile and skilled individuals to conduct on-street interviews and day-shoots (you may apply for on-street, or day shoots, or both). Own a three-chip professional-grade DV camera, external shotgun mic, and on-camera pop-light. LEARN MORE...

Reading Professional Screenplays

Reading screenplays is a far better way to learn this business than seeing films at your neighborhood cineplex. Rreading plays and screenplays require very different approaches...
In screenplays, the 'stage directions' -- as theatre folks might call them -- are everything. You're not reading for Voice, but for the sequence of visual images that tell the story. And you need to read slowly enough to allow yourself to see each image, at least in your mind's eye. LEARN MORE... pubinfo.vcu.edu

TRAFFIC COPS GONE WILD

Police racist sexist video uproar
TWENTY San Francisco police officers would be suspended over videotapes the officers made parodying themselves, gays, homeless blacks and others, the mayor and police chief said overnight.
"This is a dark day - an extremely dark day - in the history of the San Francisco Police Department for me as a chief to have to stand here and share with you such egregious, shameful and despicable acts by members of the San Francisco Police Department," Police Chief Heather Fong said.
The videos, which were posted on a website, show officers ogling women, applying makeup in the middle of a drug raid, and acting in skits involving street persons.
One depicts a homeless black woman making an obscene gesture after police ran her over in their cruiser.
RAW: Controversial SFPD Videos: CHECK OUT ALL 4 PARTS cbs5.com

Brooklyn’s Lobster Boy Kevin Jordan

When I was a kid, my dad would drive from Queens all the way to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn to pick up lobsters from Jordan’s Lobster Dock; it's the only place I’ve ever known my family to buy the tasty sea crawlers. Little did I know how popular Jordan’s Lobster Dock was until Martin Scorsese decided to help release a film about it. Brooklyn Lobster stars Danny Aiello and Jane Curtin, and has already won an audience award at the Hamptons International Film Festival. The independent film hits home for director Kevin Jordan as he tells the story of his family’s struggle to keep their long-running business alive. LEARN MORE... By Joanna Varikos for nyc.indieville.net

Screenwriting NOT an art form; a punishment from God

Screenwriting is not an art form, it is a punishment from God
Film can be an exciting medium for a playwright. And a growing number of contemporary American playwrights have figured out how to live in both worlds. In England, they've been doing this for decades and their style of working both sides of the fence is finally becoming the norm in America.
The best recommendation: figure out how to write a stage play first and then mount your assault on the film industry.
READ MORE... pubinfo.vcu.edu

'THE HAPPY ELF'

Move over Rudolph, Frosty, Grinch. Eubie, The Happy Elf, took his place in the pantheon of Christmas icons with the December 2 debut of his eponymous CG-animated family holiday special on NBC. The DVD release followed on December 6.
Based on an original song from Harry Connick, Jr.’s platinum “Harry for the Holidays” album, the show was produced by IDT Entertainment in association with HC Productions. An animated Connick is the narrator of the tale, telling the story of an overly enthusiastic Santa’s helper whose rosy view of the holidays is put to the test. The elf sets out to get the kids in the sad town of Bluesville off the Naughty list and onto the Nice list so they can celebrate Christmas.
READ MORE... By Christine Bunish; Copyright 2005 COP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

DVD AUTHORING

Year-to-date sales have reached $8.65 billion (August 20, 2005, DVD Exclusive) and DVDs are fueling business at multimedia and post houses nationwide. These same companies are eagerly - and sometimes anxiously - awaiting the high-capacity successor to DVD; the competing HD DVD and Blu-ray formats. Each format is supported by its own slate of heavyweight hardware manufacturers, computer makers and entertainment companies demonstrating the difficulty of trying to establish a single standard for next-generation DVD. LEARN MORE... Copyright 2005 COP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Usher talks In the Mix

Conquering the music world and has setting his sights on loftier goals, Usher talks In the Mix
Usher is at the top of his game. At 26, he's had the best selling album in the world, is a part owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, and has legions of fans that follow his every move. But you wouldn't get that impression from talking to him. Usher is a serious forward thinker. His tenacious attitude and work ethic were evident in everything he said. Usher's primary goal is to diversify his business portfolio, thus ensuring he won't have to dance to pay the bills at forty. He has no illusions whatsoever of future musical success. READ MORE...
for movieweb.com

CON-CAN Movie Festival

This is one fantastic site. Many of the he films available for download are first rate. CON-CAN Movie Festival is an international short film festival with movie directors participating from all around the world. LEARN MORE AND SEE MORE.. con-can.com

My experience with BROKEN

My experience with Broken – a Tale by Alex Ferrari
In my new and swanky digs as an Indieville.net film critic, I received a copy of the film, Broken: a tale by Alex Ferrari in the mail the other day. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m the kind of girl who likes to let a story unfold without a lot of advanced knowledge. So I explained the task at hand to my wife and my housemate, and we cooked ourselves up a nice stir-fry. We all retired to my housemate’s living room to watch Broken without knowing a thing about it beyond the tag line on the DVD box: “What if your truth… were a lie?”
LEARN MORE... by loryhey for indieville.net

Secrets of STORY-TELLING revealed!

Actually it's very simple and straightforward - you introduce your characters and their situation, reveal the main character's objective, bring on the conflict - and resolve it. Of course, there are other ways, such as slowly unraveling a mystery, but this is the method I've been studying and finding to be worth it's weight in depleted uranium. It might sound too simple, or too restrictive, but trust me, you could write thousands of stories using exactly this method and never once repeat yourself. LEARN MORE...
darkstrider.net

Navigating production and post with HDV

Remember what DV did for standard-definition video acquisition? Ostensibly a consumer format, it opened the door for more than just accelerated home-movie production. Ten years down the line, it’s enabled everything from hip TV commercials and documentaries to Danish art films and shark-attack thrillers. Now HDV, which was also introduced as a consumer format, is catching on even more quickly. Whether it’s your primary acquisition format or a B-roll solution, if you shoot smart and edit smart, you can get great value for your money. LEARN MORE... Compiled by Bryant Frazer, Alison Johns, Beth Marchant and Linda Romanello for studiodaily.com

You Only Die Once

A James Bond Spoof so cheap you can't afford to miss it.
"A spirited little send-up of the bond films, low-budget, yet high energy"
The world's male population has been crippled by the impotence causing virus, Scrotitis. Blofelch and his right hand man, Melvin C. Fruitilbatle, plan to control the anti-virus for global domination. Lames Blond, Agent Double 0 Zero (00-0), awakens from a coma that has kept him unaffected by the virus. Is it possible that Blond is the only man with the balls to get the job done? Blond teams up with Felix Heavier (CIA) to fight such villains as Mr. Cowabunga (THE MAN WITH THE FOAMING HAND) and the seductive Sherly Bilt. CLICK HERE FOR music video and theme
Story; PHOTO (c) topographicproductions.com

Argument Is Not Conflict.

'Is there a good argument going on? It all starts with a fight . . . a disagreement.' -- John Guare
At least not the special kind of conflict that drives plays, the gas that fuels the dramatic engine. Arguments in real life are usually circular -- nobody gets anywhere, except a little steam's been blown off. And they're boring for everyone except the folks doing the yelling.
Dramatic Conflict draws from a much deeper vein, rooted in the Subtext of your central characters. It's driven by fundamentally opposing desires. CLICK HERE... pubinfo.vcu.edu

CONTEST: Win an Autographed Poster & Other Prizes from Syriana

MovieWeb has teamed with Warner Bros. Pictures again this month for a spectacular new contest! Prepare to win some cool prizes from the latest George Clooney drama, Syriana. Syriana is in limited theaters right now, but opens up nationwide on December 9th. The film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig and Mazhar Munir. For more info, pictures, video and other multimedia from the film CLICK HERE!

THE TRUCE: a long journey is now over

"The Truce" is a short film studying the relationship between enemy soldiers during a WWI Christmas Day ceasefire. "The Truce" was awarded the NYU Wasserman Award for Best Picture, the 2001 Hamptons International Film Festival Student Film Award, the 2002 College Television Award (Student Emmy) for Drama, and a Cine Golden Eagle. The film was a finalist for the Skyy Vodka Short Film Awards and the Angelus Student Film Awards.
LEARN MORE... staoy; PHOTO (c) thetruce.com

Land of the Dead Sequel?

Land of the Dead director George A. Romero told the Moviehole.net Web site that he's developing a sequel to this year's living-dead movie.
Romero added that Land of the Dead star Simon Baker is advocating that the next sequel in the venerable franchise be shot down under. "Simon Baker says that's where we should shoot it," Romero told the site. "But, yeah, there's some rumbling about doing a sequel." LEARN MORE... Posted by Filmfanzine

'Your Heiress Diary' by Paris Hilton

After making it big in TV, music, and film, Paris Hilton returns to the literary world with her new second book, "Your Heiress Diary - Confess it All to Me."
Paris guides you as you write down the details of your own fabulous life: secrets you don't want anyone to know, quotations that inspire you, your must-have shopping list, plans for your ultimate heiress birthday party, guys who are hot and guys who are not, and the acceptance speech you'll need when you reach the pinnacle of heiress success. Life is a fabulous adventure if you live it like an heiress! And she wants to answer ALL your questions in an upcoming interview! Hurry up and send those questions to ParisHiltonQA@yahoo.com, and check back on Dec. 8th to hear her exciting answers. LEARN MORE...
In the meantime, watch as Paris Hilton poses for pictures for her new book in a two-minute trailer put together especially for Yahoo TV. (Video content provided by WireImage.) Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. CLICK HERE TO VIEW...

Simple puppet fabrication

It's easy to construct a simple puppet from household materials such as wood, cloth and glue. Mike illustrates his technique inspired by early European tradition. This is an excellent way to making puppets for your StopMoShorts films.
Without the need for foam latex, these methods work for puppets that will be wearing clothes. In my quest for simplicity, I have been using heads and hands made from solid materials like polymer clay or cast resin, but they could also be carved from wood or made from paper, clay or whatever works for you.
LEARN MORE... by MB of http://www.darkstrider.net/main.html

THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN

Director Marziyeh Meshkini's brilliant film The Day I Became A Woman relates, with masterful subtlety and compassion, the stories of three women and three generations, incorporating one of the most powerful socio-political messages of all time, and rendering it the social responsibility of all those immediately present who have eyes and ears to witness. The limitless possibilities and multifaceted interpretations of this film allow one to read it as a most sincerely humanized portrait of three individuals in three phases of life and three understandings of individuality and the myriad of social constraints upon it. Likewise, Meshkini's film and its message may be read as a life-affirming tribute to the courage of women, in Iran and the entire world , and the freedoms that must be won only through realized struggle—individual and collective—and stubborn refusal to succumb to despair. READ MORE...thedayibecameawoman.com

No tapes. No discs. JVC's GZ-MG50

No tapes. No discs. JVC's innovative GZ-MG50 can store over 7 hours of DVD-quality recordings on its built-in 30GB disk drive. Imagine filming your entire vacation without having to carry along all those extra cassette and disc cases, and never having to stop and reload. 5-STAR Rating. LEARN MORE...
for digitalnedianet

The Fourth Wall: Representation vs. Presentation

"As the house lights go down he [the Stage Manager] has finished setting the stage and leaning against the right proscenium pillar watches the late arrivals in the audience. When the auditorium is in complete silence he speaks: This play is called 'Our Town'. It was written by Thornton Wilder and is produced and directed by..." From this, the very first line in his Pulitzer Prize winning play Wilder has clearly torn down the invisible "fourth wall" between the audience and the actors on the stage, acknowledging the audience's presence and directly addressing them. READ MORE... © 2000, James D. Miller for chdramaworkshop

SEND US YOUR SHORT FILM...

Pleasant Storm Entertainment is looking for a few quality short films to package alongside Morsel, our upcoming original production, directed by Terry M. West. We are producing a dark horror anthology entitled Demons of Flesh.
If you have a finished short film that fits in with this theme and takes place in a realistic "it could happen" situation, please send us a screener. You keep the copyright to your short and just give us permission to replicate your short in connection with this anthology. We distribute the anthology and GET YOUR WORK SEEN! GET YOUR NAME AND YOUR WORK IN RETAIL STORES! We will give you 10 contributor copies of the anthology to use for promotion or sale. LEARN MORE...

Video Game Invasion DVD

The History of a Global Obsession
Being a classic video game fanatic, sometimes I enjoy reminiscing about the years gone by in the video game market. Yes, as crazy as that sounds, I do enjoy that. With today’s gamer always looking to squeeze the very last polygon from another first person shooter game, I like the games that I grew up with back in the 1970s and 80s.
When a copy of the “” DVD landed on my desk, I was anxious to see what games and information they covered and hoped it had more than the usual information on Pac-Man and Donkey Kong. Here’s what I found… READ MORE... By Don Lee for consumerelectronicsnet.com

Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest

Mr. Finnegan's Giving Chest Illustrations with DAZ Studio's top guys create illustrations to populate their latest creation, a book called "Mr. Finnegans' Giving Chest". The book is a holiday story about sharing and love which comes to life through a series of 3D rendered illustrations featuring DAZ|Studio's multifaceted talents.
The obvious caricature of Mr. Dick Van Dyke is fantastic. In the introduction, Mr. Van Dyke recalls the animation work done for Mary Poppins. Of course, we can't forget his work with the flying car, our fine four fendered friend, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. His kind and friendly face is easily one of the most important 3D illustrations in the book. What was the most difficult part about modeling Mr. Finnegan? LEARN MORE... By Ko Maruyama for dmnforums; PHOTO: DAZ Studio

Content Undercover: A New Content Opportunity

Citizen videographers, home-wide entertainment getting closer, personalizing entertainment
No, we are NOT snobs. We just don’t watch much TV because, hey, there isn’t much worth watching. But the new TV? Hey, that’s got even more good/bad stuff. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s bad, it’s pathetic, but in a sick sort of way, it is real. It could be the saving grace for your video everywhere, anywhere.
The Internet changed everything. It changed the way we work together. The way we work with friends and family. The way we get our news and information. It is slowly changing the way many of us will get our entertainment.
It also offers an opportunity for content developers—of both music and video—to express themselves, reach an audience interested in their content enough to buy it and perhaps even attract a large enough audience to make a living. LEARN MORE... By Miles Weston for dmnforums.com

Era of citizen journalists dawns in Britain

An era of "citizen journalists" is dawning in Britain as media organizations turn increasingly to their viewers and readers to beef up news coverage, particularly with amateur photographs.
The amateur photographer already has an agency "Scoopt" to disseminate reports or images taken on the spot, while the budding writer can replace professionals in The Guardian newspaper's thick Saturday travel section.
As soon as there is a major unexpected event, a script runs at the bottom of the screens on the British Broadcasting Corp or Sky News inviting members of the public to send digital photographs to the company's e-mail address. READ MORE... AFP for Yahoo News

MAKE MY DAY!---Dirty Harry

Excerpts from press coverage of Florida's "Shoot First" Law:
"Stand his or her ground"? "Meet force with force"? Wow. It's as if the text of a real bill somehow got transposed with dialogue from a 1970's Dirty Harry paean to vigilantism. I can picture a stressed-out Tampa soccer mom drawing a bead on an approaching panhandler and shrieking, "Go ahead, make my day!"... Michelle Cottle, Time Magazine
We do, however, recognize a bad law when we see one, and any measure that increases the possibility of innocent people being killed or injured is a threat to public safety and does not belong on the books. This law, first of its kind in the nation, encourages people to be quick with guns, knives or fists. That's scary...Washington Post, May 1, 2005
SHOOT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS NEVER-LEARN MORE..
NRAblacklist.com - The National Rifle Association has compiled a list of movie stars, individuals, authors, religious organizations, businesses, and celebrities it says are "anti-gun". CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE NRA BLACKLIST

Aeon Flux: Live-Action in an Animated World

Utopian societies have always been a popular theme in science-fiction movies. Inevitably, the plot introduces characters living a perfect life in a perfect world, until one rogue individual uncovers the hidden truth behind this dream society. Major feature films based on this theme include THX 1138 (1971), Logan’s Run (1976), Demolition Man (1993) and The Island (2005). Paramount’s Aeon Flux (opening Dec. 2) follows the same plot pattern, with a few twists of its own.
Alain Bielik talks with the visual effects artists behind Aeon Flux to find out how they handled turning the superhuman animated adventures of the title character into a live-action feature. Digital Domain supervised over 260 shots in Aeon Flux. READ MORE... by Alain Bielik for VFXWorld.com; PHOTO Courtesy of Digital Domain: Image © 2005 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

“BUGS BUNNY BOND RALLY”

The administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt was far more sophisticated and successful in uniting America during wartime than the current one. Whereas the Bush league attempts to sell its military message with the charmless messengers Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, FDR tapped a better spokesman to get people in step with the war mission: Bugs Bunny.
One of the first combined efforts between Hollywood and the federal government was a 1942 cartoon designed to encourage the purchase of war bonds and war stamps, which were to be used to finance the fight against Germany and Japan. (Yes, in those days people realized that someone had to pay for a war – cutting taxes while waging a war was a more recent development). LEARN MORE... by Phil Hall for filmthreat.com

FREE Publicity as a Guest on America's Top National TV Shows

Ex-Oprah Producer Tells How to Make It Happen!
Register for a free telephone seminar on 'The Three Big Secrets for Getting Publicity a Guest on Top National TV Shows' hosted by Steve Harrison of Radio-TV Interview Report (RTIR).
You’ll hear from a former Oprah producer plus current producers from the Montel Williams Show and Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends.
Sign up even if you can’t make the times, because Steve has promised me that he will make a recorded replay available that you can listen to at your convenience.
But you'll only find out about it if you sign up for the call.
REGISTER HERE for the call or by going to:
http://www.getmajorpress.com/getontvcall/?10077

The Aristotelian Unities

Any discussion of Aristotle's Unities of Time, Place and Action must start from the acknowledgement that his Poetics from which we receive his ideas about the drama deals only with tragedy: we do not know whether he recommended the same canon of rules for comedy [1], or indeed for history plays, of which he would certainly have known at least one, namely The Persians by Aeschylus. I shall also be proposing that, as a man of his times, his concepts arose from, and pertained to, the Greek drama of the 5th-4th centuries BC, and accordingly they do not represent necessary and universally applicable rules. Theatre in Aristotle's day typically had a civic and/or religious significance: theatrical performances were presented to honour a god or a city or a city's god, and they were therefore state occasions. Everybody turned out for the day, even slaves and (for the tragedies at least) women. LEARN MORE... © 2000, Ian Mandleberg for chdramaworkshop

Video Game Types Defined

This guide is to help a beginning developer understand the various types of games
Since you're reading this article, I assume you have some interest in game development. The first question a budding developer must ask is "what kind of game do I want to make?"
Well, that's probably the toughest question since there's so many options to choose from and there's never an easy answer when it comes to getting started.
LEARN MORE... by Don Lee for consumerelectronicsnet.com

THE HALFWAY HOUSE

Young girls are disappearing around the Mary Magdalen Halfway House for Troubled Girls. Desperate to find out what happened to her sister, Larissa Morgan (Janet Tracy Keijser from HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL) goes undercover to infiltrate the Catholic-run institution. Once inside, she encounters Father Fogerty, a priest with a passion for punishment; Sister Cecelia, a nun with a dark past; tough Edwina and her love-toy Cherry Pie; Latino Angelina and her homegirls; and a sinister handyman, Lutkus. LEARN MORE... story; PHOTO: (c) BV Entertainment

Scriptwriting - Writing For Low Budget

Getting a feature script bought by a production company is not easy. They are only going to buy it if they think that they have a reasonable chance of being able to raise the budget necessary to produce the film. Unfortunately the funding structure in Britain means that raising production finance is by no means easy. Therefore the films that do get made mostly tend to be quite low-budget affairs. It’s all very well spending years lovingly crafting your blockbusting science-fiction epic but the sad reality is that it is unlikely ever to get produced in this country. To stand the best chance possible of your script being bought it will need several things. It will need to tell a good story, it will need good, strong characters and above all it will not cost a fortune to produce. READ MORE... www.netribution.co.uk

Hard to Find Photos & Films at Brian's Drive-In Theater

The Drive-In has thousands of photos and lots of information about your favorite 'B' movie actors and actresses from Horror and Science Fiction Films the 1930s through the 1980s. Be sure to see the entire site. CLICK HERE... briansdriveintheater.com

A History of SCIENCE FICTION FILMS

Science Fiction Films are usually scientific, visionary, comic-strip-like, and imaginative, and usually visualized through fanciful, imaginative settings, expert film production design, advanced technology gadgets (i.e., robots and spaceships), scientific developments, or by fantastic special effects. Sci-fi films are complete with heroes, distant planets, impossible quests, improbable settings, fantastic places, great dark and shadowy villains, futuristic technology and gizmos, and unknown and inexplicable forces. Many other SF films feature time travels or fantastic journeys, and are set either on Earth, into outer space, or (most often) into the future time. Quite a few examples of science-fiction cinema owe their origins to writers Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. READ MORE... filmsite.org

Synthetic Pictures Cooks Up Apocalyptic Back Yard Burgers

There’s the Do It Yourself way to get the taste of blackened chicken on your grill and there’s the Back Yard Burgers way. “Flamethrower,” an incendiary new spot directed by Synthetic Pictures' Justin Corsbie demonstrates the difference. “There’s a better way to get that great backyard taste...like our blackened chicken sandwich,” advises the voiceover as the spot cuts to tempting tabletop footage. The man with a flamethrower reappears bending over the remnants of his grill in his thoroughly charred backyard, where a tree branch is still alight and flames lick the head of a plastic pink flamingo.
LEARN MORE... animationartist.com; For additional information go to www.syntheticpictures.com

Attack of the PlayStation Hackers

Sony's Portable Game Consoles Are Being Dismembered and Reprogrammed
The moment Sony's handheld game console, PlayStation Portable, went on sale in the U.S. on March 24, Auri Rahimzadeh got one. For months, he'd heard all about the latest gizmo from the Japanese electronics giant. Slightly bulkier than a checkbook and costing around $200, the PSP was the ultimate in mobile entertainment -- a video-game, movie and music player, and Internet portal all wrapped into one easy-to-carry package.
While Rahimzadeh had been waiting for his preordered console, he had read rave reviews by technophiles who had scored a PSP in Japan months earlier. He knew this was no ordinary gaming gizmo. READ MORE... by Kenji Hall, BusinessWeek

Mariah's Winter Wonderland

Mariah Carey is celebrating Christmas in claymation style! Watch the holiday-happy diva belt out 'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.' The track will be available exclusively as a free cd single with the 35th Anniversary Collector's Edition of the 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town' DVD package. WATCH THE FILM... AOL Music; PHOTO: Classic Media