February 2010 Archives
Amy Broadfoot has just completed a two month North American networking tour on behalf of her new film marketing business Amičko Films. Along the way she presented five client's films at the Denver Underground FF, had drinks with the SXSW team, lunched with indie film guru John Pierson, talked macro diets with LA film producers, and coffeed it up with the Denver, Dallas, Mexican, San Fran' and LA film festivals, all before the madness of Sundance. This is her blog:
My mission: pitch, network, learn and watch. Sleep and food were the last priority. So Sundance, let's rock n' roll...
I racked up about 60 hours of work in 4 days so I think a step by step account of this would be a hell boring read, so here's a taster of a typical day at Sundance.
Day one: 6am start. Bus ride from Salt Lake City to the home of Sundance, Park City situated in the snowy mountains of Utah. Picked up industry pass and along the way met E! online news journo. Then straight into the Internet Evolution panel which discussed cloud technology and internet 3.0 and how this relates to the indie filmmaker. Then meeting with the CEO of IndieGoGo a new website where you can pitch and raise funds for your latest artist project, interesting stuff! Run to a meeting with the lovely Director of distribution for UK based company Independent, talk film industry hoo-ahh, pitch Amičko clients to a warm response, finish chat with a healthy whinge about Avatar. Now off to the New Frontier to play with new film technologies and catch a presentation by Joseph Gorden-Levitt on this brain child HitRECord.org, truly amazing medium using cloud technology to collaborate with artists world wide for interactive film production. Then to an industry reception (yay free food and drinks), mingle with filmmakers and festival programmers. Time check, can still make late night screening of The Red Chapel which ended up winning Best International Documentary. 17 hour day done, time for bed.
Amičko Films represented three WA films at Sundance, feature documentary 'More 4 Me' by Lincoln Fenner staring Marina Prior, new Perrella and Osborn short film 'It's Just Gary' and 'Fugue' by Jamie Helmer. Amy booked meetings with industry heads on their behalf to drum up attention with international sales agents, festivals and distribution, at one point she had festival programmers peering each other's shoulders to get a look at our catalogue.
My mission: pitch, network, learn and watch. Sleep and food were the last priority. So Sundance, let's rock n' roll...
The Egyptian Theatre - the hub of Sundance
I racked up about 60 hours of work in 4 days so I think a step by step account of this would be a hell boring read, so here's a taster of a typical day at Sundance.
Day one: 6am start. Bus ride from Salt Lake City to the home of Sundance, Park City situated in the snowy mountains of Utah. Picked up industry pass and along the way met E! online news journo. Then straight into the Internet Evolution panel which discussed cloud technology and internet 3.0 and how this relates to the indie filmmaker. Then meeting with the CEO of IndieGoGo a new website where you can pitch and raise funds for your latest artist project, interesting stuff! Run to a meeting with the lovely Director of distribution for UK based company Independent, talk film industry hoo-ahh, pitch Amičko clients to a warm response, finish chat with a healthy whinge about Avatar. Now off to the New Frontier to play with new film technologies and catch a presentation by Joseph Gorden-Levitt on this brain child HitRECord.org, truly amazing medium using cloud technology to collaborate with artists world wide for interactive film production. Then to an industry reception (yay free food and drinks), mingle with filmmakers and festival programmers. Time check, can still make late night screening of The Red Chapel which ended up winning Best International Documentary. 17 hour day done, time for bed.
Dan Gorden-Levitt who happily explained his brother's brain child HitRECord.org
But to recap on the whole Sundance experience, I have to say it was a bit of a let down as far as leading film festivals go. The general industry opinion is that Sundance has peaked, and although still good, it has had its time and we should now be watching new comer SXSW to take over the reigns. 'What, Sundance not so cool?' you say, sadly yes. It's expensive, it's not very user friendly and the admin team do a average job. Perhaps we have too higher expectations of the mighty and all powerful Sundance. But due to the reasons above the industry are choosing to attend other festivals such as Toronto IFF or my personal favourite Karlovy Vary IFF. Don't get me wrong, Im glad I went and the visit proved extremely successful for my clients so big thank you to ScreenWest for providing my travel grant, but I'm in no rush to go again. We'll just have to see what Locarno IFF brings for Amičko Films in August.
Installations in the New Frontier
Amičko Films represented three WA films at Sundance, feature documentary 'More 4 Me' by Lincoln Fenner staring Marina Prior, new Perrella and Osborn short film 'It's Just Gary' and 'Fugue' by Jamie Helmer. Amy booked meetings with industry heads on their behalf to drum up attention with international sales agents, festivals and distribution, at one point she had festival programmers peering each other's shoulders to get a look at our catalogue.
The
Run
Rabbit Run
Video
Comp
AN OPEN CALL TO ALL FILM MAKERS, VIDEO ARTISTS, VJ's, DIGITAL ANIMATORS, MACHINIMATORS, STOP MOTION FREAKS, ROTOSCOPERS & OTHER SLAVES TO THE MOVING IMAGE MEDIUM
Run
Rabbit Run is a weekly evening of art, underground culture
& music held at the Llama Bar in Subiaco, Western Australia.
The Run
Rabbit Run Video Comp is an initiative aimed at
promoting and encouraging the making and viewing of art in the moving image
medium.
For further
details go to www.llamabar.com and click
on the bunny
Mashable - The Social Media Guide have written an article on a beginner's guide to webisodes.
Its interesting, I've certainly noticed more and more people will huddle around my laptop at home to watch something I've found online. Or a TV show that isnt available in Australia. In fact some of my new favorite TV shows have been born because I've seen an episode online - and then ordered the DVD.
In reading this article it seems that simple, clever ideas work best. See what you think and check out some of the examples they've provided in the article.
Its interesting, I've certainly noticed more and more people will huddle around my laptop at home to watch something I've found online. Or a TV show that isnt available in Australia. In fact some of my new favorite TV shows have been born because I've seen an episode online - and then ordered the DVD.
In reading this article it seems that simple, clever ideas work best. See what you think and check out some of the examples they've provided in the article.
On Wednesday 17th February, the 5 films funded under the Raw Nerve initiative for 2009 were screened at the Bohemia Outdoor Cinema. The night was a success with many of the films cast and crew showing up to show support to the filmmakers and to watch the films on the big screen.
In 2009, teams were awarded $2,000 cash and $5,000 in-kind assistance from the Film & Television Institute of WA to produce a 5-minute short film.
The five funded under Raw Nerve 2009 were:
CUBS (Prod. / Dir Jules Duncan)
I Will NOT Be Outbid (Prod. Mel Judkins / Dir Tasha Stephenson)
Trash Out (Prod. Orellie Tylor / Dir Phillip Walker
Crows Feet (Prod. / Dir Megan Palinkas) and
The Washing Line (Prod. Megan Riley / Dir Penny Bedford).
This year, all the Raw Nerve films were of high quality and the filmmakers should be really proud of what they achieved. It is not just me that thinks this! Many of the films have achieved success with local and national short film festivals - with more nominations and awards to come I am sure! 'CUB's' was shortlisted for Tropfest, and 'Crows Feet' and 'I Will NOT Be Outbid!' have been nominated for WASA's (for more info please check out the films HERE).
The evening also served as an information session for the initiative in 2010. The updated Guidelines and Application form is now available on the FTI website HERE.
RAW NERVE is a joint initiative of Screen Australia, Screen Development Australia (SDA) the national network of screen resource organisations and the Film & Television Institute WA. The aim is to provide early career filmmakers with an opportunity to showcase their filmic storytelling abilities. This year, funding consists of $3,000 in-kind and a $3,000 cash component, to cover fees for key positions (camera operator, sound recordist, editor, etc) as well as production and design expenses specific to each project. There are provisions for mentors to be attached to the projects, further details of this will be announced at a later date.
After the recent shoot of the LINK funded film 'Bertrand the Terrible', which was funded in the second round of 2009, Yvette asked director Karen Farmer a few questions about working with kids and puppets.
In your words, what is Betrand about, and why did you want to make this film?
'Betrand the Terrible' is about a boy who believes he is a knight.
I really wanted to make a film that I would love to watch. Producer Bridget Curran and I both love fantasy adventures films. After musing over some fairly average ideas it all just hit me at about 3am one odd night.
How long had you been developing Bertrand before you received funding?
We received the LINK grant on our second try. It's a crazy film with some crazier sequences and we had to convince the panel we could pull it off. The script took approximately 10 months to develop.
I don't think there are many funded short films these days with Puppetry - can you tell me a little about the thoughts behind building Fretel as a puppet, and not trying CG?
Having a half goblin, half shrub, forrest creature in your head for months and suddenly seeing him as 3 dimensional, on set and occasionally talking to you is the weirdest experience ever.
It was never choice of CG or puppet, he was always going to be a puppet. I am a huge fan of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and growing up I adored 80's fantasy movies like Labyrinth, ET, Dark Crystal and Gremlins. The character of Fretel is laced throughout the film and I never thought on a LINK budget we could get a great looking CG character that could touch, bite, run and jump in full daylight. I miss puppets in films and with a whole kid cast I thought it would be better to have something they could interact with. Though I think more crew than cast fell in love with him.
That said we do have a CGI dragon. But he only exists if you believe in him.
Tell us a bit about working with a puppet and puppeteer.
The puppet, Fretel, took a lot of preparation and planning. We knew that we would need at least 2 puppets to play the one character. A stunt Fretel that we could throw around and the Puppet Fretel that was used for all his close ups. One of my favourite shots in the film was the cowboy switch (sometimes called a texas switch) where we threw stunt Fretel at the camera and he landed off screen and the puppet Fretel sat up into frame.
Fretel is half goblin, half shrub. Based on a very detailed description and a lot of reference pictures, Jesse Emmerson drew an amazing concept picture for him (which was freakily exactly as I had imagined). Ian Tregonning headed the team who made him and was our puppeteer. Jesse Emmerson and Alan Murphy were our onset Puppet Assistants.
Jesse sculpted Fretel in plasticine around a metal armature, then Ian moulded him and made the latex skins. He was filled with foam, then painted by Jane Tregonning.
Fretel's face is so inherently expressive. Little things like wetting his eyes and bouncing light off them really brought him to life. Puppet saliva good, puppet sweat bad.
The puppeteer needs somewhere to hide so Ian was always tucked behind logs, underneath wine barrels or lying upside down being pulled along on a dolley.
The old saying never work with children - how many children were you working with? How did you find the experience? Any limitations?
I loved working with them. We have five cast members, all of them between 11 and 14. Jenni Cohen was our amazing casting director and we wound up with a phenomenal cast. They were so kind, generous and hard working. It was a very physically demanding script and they really looked after each other.
Our two leads were Craig Hyde Smith who played Betrand and Jamaica Vaughan who played Cassie. Our three bullies were Troye Sivan, Dacre Montgomery and Macey Robertson.
We did a lot of rehearsals beforehand in acting, horse riding, stunts and sword fighting. Andy Fraser choreographed a wonderful sword fight and the kids just loved it. The shoot was fairly grueling for the crew but I think for them it was like a bizarre summer camp.
They were some of the best actors I have worked with and I am so proud of them. The difference being they had to have a chaperone on set (the brilliant Chantal De Souza) and the occasional game of funny faces.
What locations did you use?
Our locations were the Leeuwin ship and Fred Jacoby park in Mundairing. The forrest took many days of scouting to find. After a long day of falling down trails and not finding anything suitable, I decided in a moment of delirium to climb the Golden Pipe Line. Unable to climb it, I army crawled under it and came up in Narnia.
What have you learnt from this shoot?
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Don't shoot in a no mobile phone coverage area and crews are unhappy when you forget jam at breakfast. Juggling fantasy and reality elements is really hard especially when the line is meant to be blurry.
What is next for you?
We are developing a few TV series ideas and I am trying to write a feature.
Bridget is working as a researcher and associate producer on "Who Do You Think You Are?" for Artemis International.
The Nick Shorts Film "Hairoes" which Bridget Curran produced, with writer/directors Jesse Emmerson and Gaetan Raspanti recently screened on Nickelodeon Australia and FOFF. It follows the adventures of hair stylist crime fighter, JAMES BLONDE and his 'kurlrate' sidekick GOLDIE ROCKS and the THREE HARES as together they battle the villainous hair abusing enemies of Fringe City.
At the moment we are in the thick of Betrand the Terrible Post production.
In your words, what is Betrand about, and why did you want to make this film?
'Betrand the Terrible' is about a boy who believes he is a knight.
I really wanted to make a film that I would love to watch. Producer Bridget Curran and I both love fantasy adventures films. After musing over some fairly average ideas it all just hit me at about 3am one odd night.
How long had you been developing Bertrand before you received funding?
We received the LINK grant on our second try. It's a crazy film with some crazier sequences and we had to convince the panel we could pull it off. The script took approximately 10 months to develop.
I don't think there are many funded short films these days with Puppetry - can you tell me a little about the thoughts behind building Fretel as a puppet, and not trying CG?
Having a half goblin, half shrub, forrest creature in your head for months and suddenly seeing him as 3 dimensional, on set and occasionally talking to you is the weirdest experience ever.
It was never choice of CG or puppet, he was always going to be a puppet. I am a huge fan of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and growing up I adored 80's fantasy movies like Labyrinth, ET, Dark Crystal and Gremlins. The character of Fretel is laced throughout the film and I never thought on a LINK budget we could get a great looking CG character that could touch, bite, run and jump in full daylight. I miss puppets in films and with a whole kid cast I thought it would be better to have something they could interact with. Though I think more crew than cast fell in love with him.
That said we do have a CGI dragon. But he only exists if you believe in him.
Tell us a bit about working with a puppet and puppeteer.
The puppet, Fretel, took a lot of preparation and planning. We knew that we would need at least 2 puppets to play the one character. A stunt Fretel that we could throw around and the Puppet Fretel that was used for all his close ups. One of my favourite shots in the film was the cowboy switch (sometimes called a texas switch) where we threw stunt Fretel at the camera and he landed off screen and the puppet Fretel sat up into frame.
Fretel is half goblin, half shrub. Based on a very detailed description and a lot of reference pictures, Jesse Emmerson drew an amazing concept picture for him (which was freakily exactly as I had imagined). Ian Tregonning headed the team who made him and was our puppeteer. Jesse Emmerson and Alan Murphy were our onset Puppet Assistants.
Jesse sculpted Fretel in plasticine around a metal armature, then Ian moulded him and made the latex skins. He was filled with foam, then painted by Jane Tregonning.
Fretel's face is so inherently expressive. Little things like wetting his eyes and bouncing light off them really brought him to life. Puppet saliva good, puppet sweat bad.
The puppeteer needs somewhere to hide so Ian was always tucked behind logs, underneath wine barrels or lying upside down being pulled along on a dolley.
The old saying never work with children - how many children were you working with? How did you find the experience? Any limitations?
I loved working with them. We have five cast members, all of them between 11 and 14. Jenni Cohen was our amazing casting director and we wound up with a phenomenal cast. They were so kind, generous and hard working. It was a very physically demanding script and they really looked after each other.
Our two leads were Craig Hyde Smith who played Betrand and Jamaica Vaughan who played Cassie. Our three bullies were Troye Sivan, Dacre Montgomery and Macey Robertson.
We did a lot of rehearsals beforehand in acting, horse riding, stunts and sword fighting. Andy Fraser choreographed a wonderful sword fight and the kids just loved it. The shoot was fairly grueling for the crew but I think for them it was like a bizarre summer camp.
They were some of the best actors I have worked with and I am so proud of them. The difference being they had to have a chaperone on set (the brilliant Chantal De Souza) and the occasional game of funny faces.
What locations did you use?
Our locations were the Leeuwin ship and Fred Jacoby park in Mundairing. The forrest took many days of scouting to find. After a long day of falling down trails and not finding anything suitable, I decided in a moment of delirium to climb the Golden Pipe Line. Unable to climb it, I army crawled under it and came up in Narnia.
What have you learnt from this shoot?
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. Don't shoot in a no mobile phone coverage area and crews are unhappy when you forget jam at breakfast. Juggling fantasy and reality elements is really hard especially when the line is meant to be blurry.
What is next for you?
We are developing a few TV series ideas and I am trying to write a feature.
Bridget is working as a researcher and associate producer on "Who Do You Think You Are?" for Artemis International.
The Nick Shorts Film "Hairoes" which Bridget Curran produced, with writer/directors Jesse Emmerson and Gaetan Raspanti recently screened on Nickelodeon Australia and FOFF. It follows the adventures of hair stylist crime fighter, JAMES BLONDE and his 'kurlrate' sidekick GOLDIE ROCKS and the THREE HARES as together they battle the villainous hair abusing enemies of Fringe City.
At the moment we are in the thick of Betrand the Terrible Post production.
At FTI on wednesday 10th February at 6pm, FTI's Production Support Team, Yvette and Nat, held a Funding Fundamentals seminar. The seminar covered the Do's and Don'ts of the application process, how your application is assessed, and what the panel looks for when funding a project.
We have posted the slide show that we used at the seminar. Check it out HERE
Many people ask for help with preparing an application for one of our many funding initiatives. It is a large task preparing an application and of course you want to have everything done correctly to ensure you are in with a chance!!
Yvette is the Production Support Manager and can be contacted for inquiries relating to Hyperlink, Link, Town of Vincent, or any other initiatives or general inquiries.
Natalie is the Production Support Officer and takes care of Raw Nerve and OOMPF and can help you with other queries too.
For further assistance - take a look at Support & Advice and our FAQ section.
The Production Support department at FTI provides advice, assistance and funding to FTI Members for independent production projects. The support is provided through various programs. To find out more and to see if you're eligible, make sure you read through the guidelines and application forms for the the different funding initiatives HERE
A film competition that has no rules?! I like the sound of that.
Get on down to the Llama Bar this Thursday 4th Feb to check out the launch of Run Rabbit Run, a new competition for filmmakers, VJs, Animators - anyone into the moving image.
Your mission is to interpret the theme "Run Rabbit Run" and submit your film by March 5 2010.
For more details, check out: RUN RABBIT RUN and come to the launch night tomorrow where DJs and tapas/drinks specials will make you one happy bunny.
Get on down to the Llama Bar this Thursday 4th Feb to check out the launch of Run Rabbit Run, a new competition for filmmakers, VJs, Animators - anyone into the moving image.
Your mission is to interpret the theme "Run Rabbit Run" and submit your film by March 5 2010.
For more details, check out: RUN RABBIT RUN and come to the launch night tomorrow where DJs and tapas/drinks specials will make you one happy bunny.
