DIY Days
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The 18 People Who Changed Hollywood
Lance Weiler
Tight budgets force lots of indie filmmakers to experiment with new technologies. Weiler has been more persistent than most. The Last Broadcast, released in 1998, was shot with video cameras, processed on PCs so it looked more like film, and shown on a digital projector—one of the first time ticket-buyers saw a digital screening. Lately, Weiler has been showing his movies at flashmob-organized underground drive-in screenings, and building alternate reality games around his latest release, Head Trauma. Lance Weiler ... more -
From Here to Awesome Screening: Friday Aug 15th
Promo for FHTA event: Friday August 15th, San Francisco, Mezzanine. Register now at: http://www.cinegogo.com/FHTA
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DIY Days - San Francisco
Learn how to produce, distribute and fund your film without big studio support.
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Current TV @ FHTA screening, San Francisco: August 15th, 2008
YOU'RE IN CONTROL OF WHAT SCREENS:
FREE FESTIVAL SCREENINGS AUGUST 15th in SAN FRANCISCO
On August 15th, FROM HERE TO AWESOME http://fromheretoawesome.com) invades the Mezzanine and Mint Plaza (444 Jessie St., SF CA).
Audience members will use their mobile phones to program a night of FREE festival screenings. It's theatrical on-demand and you're in control of what screens.
Will it be the art house vampire flick, the stoner comedy, the drunken character drama, the romantic comedy about an obsessive stalker or the story of a loner rodeo clown who wants to become a bull fighter? 12 films battle it out for 3 screening slots. And the choice is yours - you're the festival programmer!
To see the films visit http://myspace.com/fromheretoawesome
To secure your free ticket visit http://www.cinegogo.com/fhta YOU'RE IN CONTROL OF WHAT SCREENS: FREE FESTIVAL SCREENINGS AUGUST 15th in SAN FRANCISCO ... more -
Arin Crumley case study @ DIY Days LA
The Wall Street Journal lists Arin among the top 20 new media moguls, and applauds the co-creation of the popular independent film and online video series, Four Eyed Monsters. In late 2002, Arin met his future co-director and collaborator, Susan Buice, beginning a relationship that evolved into the creation of Four Eyed Monsters. The project has become a cult phenomenon. To date, the video podcast has received over two million views, theaters across the nation have booked the film due to its online fan-base, the film was nominated for two Spirit Awards and in June 2007 became the first feature film to be posted in it’s entirety to YouTube. Now with all of this online exposure the film has been licensed to IFC TV to air April 25th and be released on exclusively in Borders across the US April 29th 2008. Now 27-year-old Arin Crumley is busy promoting the DVD release as well as the 5 new final episodes of the online component to Four Eyed Monsters and is in pre-production on several new projects in the works for 2009. Also in development is a brand new film festival he co-founded called From Here to Awesome designed to demonstrate a new distribution model available to all filmmakers that have internet connections. The Wall Street Journal lists Arin among the top 20 new media moguls, and applauds the co-creation of the popular independent film and... more
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M Dot Strange case study @ DIY Days LA
M dot Strange is a mixed media animator from San Jose, Ca. He recently singlehandedly completed an 88 minute animated film entitled “We are the Strange” which made its world premiere in January of this year at the Sundance Film Festival. A reviewer that saw the film M dot made in his bedroom with 9 PC’s over the course of 3 years said “it looked like something Hollywood would make for 70 million” He has recently been featured in the NY Times, ABC World News , Wired.com and his youtube videos have been viewed over a million times. M dot Strange is a mixed media animator from San Jose, Ca. He recently singlehandedly completed an 88 minute animated film entitled “W... more
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The Realities of DIY panel @ DIY Days LA
There’s been much discussion about the democratization of the tools but what’s really involved in taking your film from a concept to something an audience will pay to see? How can you fight your way through the clutter and what are the pitfalls to avoid when you decide to go it on your own?
Discussion Leader:
Mark Stolaroff (producer and founder of the No Budget Film School)
Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters)
Ondi Timoner (DiG, Join Us, We Live in Public)
M dot Strange (We Are the Strange)
Hunter Weeks (10 MPH and 10 YARDS) There’s been much discussion about the democratization of the tools but what’s really involved in taking your film from a concept to s... more -
DIY Days
DIY Days is a one-day event where independent filmmakers can learn how to fund, produce and distribute their films without a major studio's support. DIY Days is a one-day event where independent filmmakers can learn how to fund, produce and distribute their films without a major stu... more
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Current TV @ DIY Days, Los Angeles: July 26th, '08
Find out more about the events, speakers, and register to attend the July 26th event in Los Angeles.
DIY DAYS: How do we sustain ourselves as filmmakers and storytellers in this day of shifting film distribution systems? How do we monetize our film and get the word out? Presented by From Here to Awesome the Workbook Project and Current TV - DIY DAYS aims to answer these questions with a day of panels, roundtable discussions and workshops: A look at how to fund, create, distribute and sustain.
Find out more at http://www.diydays.com
or, of course, on this topic page! Find out more about the events, speakers, and register to attend the July 26th event in Los Angeles. ... more -
Lance Weiler @ DIY Days LA
Lance Weiler is a critically acclaimed award winning writer / director. He is recognized as a pioneer because of the way he makes and distributes his work. Millimeter magazine called Lance a “tech iconoclast” and Wired magazine named him “One of twenty-five people helping to re-invent entertainment and change the face of Hollywood.”
His work has been featured in Time and Forbes and on television programs such as Entertainment Tonight and CNN. His first feature, “The Last Broadcast,” is currently distributed in over 20 countries. It has the honor of being the first all digital release of a motion picture to theaters nationwide and has enjoyed runs on HBO and IFC. To date “The Last Broadcast” a self-distributed effort, has grossed over 4 million dollars worldwide.
He’s newest feature, “Head Trauma,” had its world premiere at the LA Film Festival. Lance put together his own 17 city theatrical release which rolled into a national DVD release and VOD release by Warner Brothers. Always interested in experimenting with new ways to tell stories and reach audiences, Lance developed a cinema ARG (alternate realty game) around “Head Trauma.” The cinematic ARG is a mashup of movies, music, theatrics and gaming. Over 2.5 million people experienced elements of the game across theaters, mobile drive-ins, mobile phones and online.
In addition to making feature films, Lance also directs commercials and music videos. He often lectures at universities and film societies about the changing landscape of content creation and distribution. He has spoken at the Cannes, Berlin and Sundance Film Festivals and has consulted for large ad agencies, entertainment companies and corporations.
Lance also splits his time as a partner in a social media company called Seize the Media. STM was created to address the gap between burgeoning technologies and entertainment. STM’s clients have included Microsoft, eBay, Earthlink, Ubisoft, and Creative Artists Agency among others.
Lance is also the founder of the Workbook Project a “social open source” project for filmmakers. The Workbook Project’s goal is to help filmmakers understand the changing landscape of funding, production, promotion, and distribution in a digital age.
Currently, Lance is writing a book entitled Putting the Mass Back in Media, which will be released in 2008. He is also developing a number of television, film and cross-media projects.
Lance sits on the board of the IFP a national filmmaker organization and is the co-founder of From Here to Awesome a discovery and distribution fest that puts filmmakers directly in touch with global audiences.
Prior to the release of “The Last Broadcast,” Lance spent seven years working as a camera assistant and operator, on large commercial shoots all over the world. During that time he had the honor of working with a number of amazing cinematographers, such as Darius Khondji, Harris Savides, and the late Conrad Hall. Lance Weiler is a critically acclaimed award winning writer / director. He is recognized as a pioneer because of the way he makes and ... more -
Arin Crumley @ DIY Days LA
At the age of 16, Arin Crumley began experimenting with low-res digital video equipment, making short documentaries, and abstract video art to display behind his band’s electro concerts.
Today, 11 years later, The Wall Street Journal lists Arin among the top 20 new media moguls, and applauds the co-creation of the popular independent film and online video series, Four Eyed Monsters. In late 2002, Arin met his future co-director and collaborator, Susan Buice, beginning a relationship that evolved into the creation of Four Eyed Monsters. The project has become a cult phenomenon. To date, the video podcast has received over two million views, theaters across the nation have booked the film due to its online fan-base, the film was nominated for two Spirit Awards and in June 2007 became the first feature film to be posted in it’s entirety to YouTube. Now with all of this online exposure the film has been licensed to IFC TV to air April 25th and be released on exclusively in Borders across the US April 29th 2008.
Now 27-year-old Arin Crumley is busy promoting the DVD release as well as the 5 new final episodes of the online component to Four Eyed Monsters and is in pre-production on several new projects in the works for 2009. Also in development is a brand new film festival he co-founded called From Here to Awesome designed to demonstrate a new distribution model available to all filmmakers that have internet connections.
Stay tuned for future projects and developments at arincrumley.com At the age of 16, Arin Crumley began experimenting with low-res digital video equipment, making short documentaries, and abstract vide... more -
m dot strange @ DIY Days LA
We Are the Strange focuses on "two diametrically opposed outcasts" as they "fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world." These two outcasts are an abused woman named Blue who has a mysterious degenerative disease and a living doll named eMMM.
The two meet in the Forest of Still Life, where Blue follows eMMM to Stopmo City on a search for his ideal ice cream parlor. Upon arriving in Stopmo City, they are caught in the middle of a fierce battle between bizarre monsters, making their progress difficult. Thankfully, a hero named Rain appears and easily destroys every monster that faces him. Blue meets Rain before he partakes in an "impossible battle against the source of all that is evil in Stopmo City." During the battle, Rain, along with Ori are crushed by Him after Rain states he wants to avenge his son. When the outlook seems grim, a fist made of aluminum foil breaks through the ground and starts the final showdown between good and evil. Six alternate soundtracks (+author's commentary), including soundtrack by Noise Inc. are available on the DVD. The music used in We Are the Strange Trailer has been made by chiptune artist YERZMYEY/AY-RIDERS (a cover of t.A.T.u.'s "30 minut") using ZX Spectrum computer.
M dot Strange has stated that he wishes to release the film on the Internet rather than in theaters as he will be able to retain all rights to his work, and any profits made thereafter (DVD sales, merchandise, etc). On July 16, 2006, in an interview, he said he was "trying to finish it in time to make the Sundance film festival".[1] In an e-mail sent to suscribers on the film's mailing list October 26, 2006, he stated that "The film will be done in 2 months and will hopefully premiere at a fancy_pants festival in January...". According to M. dot Strange's blog he received a call from Sundance saying that We Are the Strange would premiere as part of the Midnight Movie Program at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.[2] The film was released August 2007.
The film has since been released on torrent sites with a Youtube video from M Dot Strange proclaiming this as a "torrentrical release" (a play on theatrical and torrent) that has helped increase his audience and, in turn, DVD sales. We Are the Strange focuses on "two diametrically opposed outcasts" as they "fight for survival in a sinister fantasy wo... more -
Matt Hanson @ DIY Days LA
Matt Hanson (born September 17, 1971) is an author, film producer, and film director, specializing in digital art. He has created a series of projects which investigate cinema's possible futures, including A Swarm of Angels, onedotzero, and book projects including The End of Celluloid. As creator of A Swarm of Angels he has become concerned with issues relating to Creative Commons, Free Culture, Open source culture, crowdsourcing, and File sharing
Matt Hanson is an award-winning filmmaker, who created the onedotzero digital film festival & organisation, and is the author of a series of books on digital film, including The End of Celluloid: film futures in the digital age.
He has made a multitude of successful and innovative short films (including the award-winning Salaryman 6, with Jake Knight, and City of Hollow Mountains with The Light Surgeons), television series for Channel 4 (UK), and is considered an expert in moving image trends.
As an advocate of digital film and alternative moving image in the 1990's he championed and showcased UK premieres of work by then relative unknowns Spike Jonze, Chris Cunningham, Michel Gondry and Jonathan Glazer.
Wikinews has related news:
Film project aims to raise £1 million to make a Creative Commons-licenced film
He is the originator of the Creative Commons-licensed film project A Swarm of Angels.
A Screen International article cited him as an 'international film visionary'. Forbes listed him among 'Ten People Who Could Change The World' in 2007.
He was chosen as a participant in the inaugural Creators Series 2007, a showcase of emerging creativity and ideas in New York and Los Angeles by Tomorrow Unlimited. Matt Hanson (born September 17, 1971) is an author, film producer, and film director, specializing in digital art. He has created a se... more -
Ondi Timoner @ DIY Days LA
Timoner graduated Yale University cum laude and founded Interloper in 1995. She filmed the documentaries Voices From Inside Time about incarcerated women in Connecticut, winner of the Yale Film Prize - and later, The Nature of the Beast, about one woman's heroic journey through the criminal justice system, and winner of the Bettina Russel Grand Jury Prize in Canada and The National Society for Visual Anthropology Commendation, which aired on PBS. She later went on to shoot Dam Nation, set in the oldest living civilization of sub-Saharan Africa about a WTO dam.
She created and directed for the TV series Sound Affects, the highest-rated pilot in VH1's history, and ABC's highly successful Switched!. Through Interloper she has made music videos and music documentaries for The Dandy Warhols, The Vines, Paul Westerberg, Lucinda Williams, Vanessa Carlton, The Jonas Brothers, and DMC, among others.
While filming music videos and documentaries for Interloper, Timoner was simultaneously financing, producing, directing, and editing DiG!, which chronicles seven years of the lives of two neo-psychedelic bands, The Dandy Warhols and The Brian Jonestown Massacre. After it's release in 2004, the film won the Grand Jury Prize 2004 at the Sundance Film Festival, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.
After working with Vasco Nunes on the film, Timoner collaborated with him again on another two documentaries; Recycle, winner at the ICG Awards, and presented at Sundance, Cannes, and Silverdocs; and Join Us. Timoner has since also directed commercials for McDonalds, State Farm, DeVry, the US Army and Ford.
Third Floor LLC has just finished Join Us, a documentary about mind control in the United States. Interloper is currently in post-production on We Live In Public, about the millennium in NY and a dot.com millionaire’s human experiment to test the effects of media and technology on the development of personal identity. Timoner and Interloper Films are currently in production on an untitled film about the history and influence of Jamaican Music with Chris Blackwell and L&M Media; Lollapalooza, a feature-length film about the history of alternative music, politics and culture from 1990 through 2008 through the experience of America’s first touring festival; and an untitled documentary about the video game revolution in collaboration with Mekanism for MTV Films and EA. Timoner graduated Yale University cum laude and founded Interloper in 1995. She filmed the documentaries Voices From Inside Time about... more -
Micki Krimmel @ DIY Days LA
Micki Krimmel (aka Mickipedia) is well known in the Web 2.0 space for her work in online community, social activism and her popular website and videoblog The Mickipedia Show. She is an expert in social media and online community and a vocal advocate for the free and open sharing of information via the web.
Micki has consulted for various technology startups and media companies to build sustainable communities for authentic conversation and engaged participation. She recently worked as Director of Community for Revver.com, a ground-breaking online video sharing service and the first of its kind to share revenue with video creators. Previously, Micki built and managed the Interactive Department at Participant Productions, a film production company founded with the express mission to engage audiences in movements for social change. While at Participant, Micki created the media company’s first online activist community at Participate.net and led the interactive media efforts for An Inconvenient Truth as well as Participant’s other award-winning films.
Micki frequently speaks at conferences and festivals for web industry professionals. Micki’s writing has been published in the acclaimed book, Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century, .net Magazine, SXSW World and countless online publications.
Before making the leap to the web, Micki received an undergraduate degree in Film Production from Boston University (with a minor in Philosophy) and worked extensively in film production and post-production. She is currently working on several web video shows in various capacities: host, writer, & director.
Micki lives with her boyfriend and the cutest dog in the world in the best city in the world, Los Angeles, CA. Micki Krimmel (aka Mickipedia) is well known in the Web 2.0 space for her work in online community, social activism and her popular we... more -
Marshall Herskovitz @ DIY Day LA
Marshall Herskovitz (born February 23, 1952, Philadelphia) is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the President of the Producers Guild of America. Among his productions are Traffic, The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond, and I Am Sam. Herskovitz was a creator and executive producer of the television shows Thirtysomething, My So-Called Life, and Once and Again, and also wrote and directed several episodes of all three series.
He frequently collaborates with Edward Zwick, with whom he runs the film and television production company The Bedford Falls Company, named for the fictional town in the classic film It's A Wonderful Life.
Zwick and Herskovitz' most recent project was the original broadband series Quarterlife which debuted online through MySpace and a dedicated webpage where it garnered enough views to be picked up by NBC.
Herskovitz attended Brandeis University.
Since May 2005, he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post. Marshall Herskovitz (born February 23, 1952, Philadelphia) is an American film director, writer and producer, and currently the Presid... more -
Mark Pellington @ DIY Days LA
Mark Pellington (born March 17, 1962) is an American film director.
Pellington was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He directed The Mothman Prophecies, a 2002 film starring Richard Gere dealing with mysterious deaths[1] foretold by a strange red-eyed flying creature, Mothman, as well as Arlington Road in 1999 starring Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges.
Pellington has also worked with such musical artists as Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Nine Inch Nails, U2, and Bruce Springsteen. He has also made cameo appearances in The Mothman Prophecies, Almost Famous, and Jerry Maguire. He directed the landmark mini-series The United States of Poetry for PBS in 1995. It won the INPUT (International Public Television) Award in 1996. Mark Pellington (born March 17, 1962) is an American film director. ... more -
Tommy Pallotta @ DIY Days LA
Pallotta received a degree in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. There, he met Richard Linklater and began his film career as an actor and production assistant on Linklater's directorial debut, Slacker (1991). After working on numerous films and commercials, Pallotta wrote, directed and produced his first film, The High Road (1997). He also produced several of Bob Sabiston's animated projects including: Roadhead (1999), which received the Best Animation award at the Aspen Film Festival; a series of interstitials for MTV; Snack and Drink (1999), a three-minute short about an autistic child in a 7-Eleven store, which is now part of the permanent collection of the New York Museum of Modern Art; and Figures of Speech (2000), a series of interstitials for PBS.
He then connected his animation experience with Linklater in Waking Life (2001). Waking Life was the first independently financed and produced computer animated feature. The film was subsequently nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Picture.
Pallotta also directed the first machinima produced music video, In the Waiting Line (2003), using the animation engine from the Quake 3 video game, and the rotoscoped MTV "Breakthrough Video" Destiny (2002), both for the band Zero 7. The Microsoft Research and Development team recognized Pallotta for his "penchant for innovation" where he helmed an interactive project based on Jonathan Lethem's novel Amnesia Moon (2004), which was an experiment that was not released to the public.
He then returned to the film industry with his frequent collaborator, Linklater, to produce A Scanner Darkly (2006) based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick and starring Keanu Reeves. Pallotta received a degree in Philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin. There, he met Richard Linklater and began his film ca... more -
Robert Greenwald @ DIY Days LA
Filmmaker and political activist Robert Greenwald is the director/producer of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" (2006), an expose of what happens when corporations go to war; as well as "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" (2005), detailing the retail giant's assault on families and American values; and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" (2004), about the right-wing opinion factory known as Fox "News." Millions of viewers have seen these films via grassroots "house parties" and independent online DVD sales, a groundbreaking method of alternative distribution. Filmmaker and political activist Robert Greenwald is the director/producer of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" (2006), an... more
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VC2 Newsletter/Ezine: July
lack of interest in these videos is starting to mess with us. don't make us do crazy things.
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