Liam

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Iowa, USA -ish

So I kind of want to start the smallest film festival ever… I’d be curious to hear feedback I like the idea of starting something as a way of meeting people and getting somewhere for myself, but also as a way of doing something for others that I wish was done for me way back when. I also think we’re just due for a revolution… and I don’t know if I’ll be able to start it, but I’m so sick of every other option right now. Channel 101 is a bit of an inspiration for this maybe, though I don’t love their format, and maybe that has become slightly too big now anyway and lost a little bit of its original charm. I want it to be entirely inclusive, no submission fee, not one gets rejected (unless they have a budget etc and know that they’re too big for us). So it would have to stay small but still be fun. If we get too much interest, we’d have to rent a big venue, maybe get a sponsor, charge a submission fee, turn people away, which all sounds like what I’m trying to avoid… And if no one is interested, it can’t happen. I’d probably want to keep it kinda local, which could help make it only filmmakers who are actually going to show up. Maybe I could get some guest speakers. I do know a couple people… Filmmakers could talk about their films. And it would just be one night, so people wouldn’t be tempted to only show up for their own films, which is the worst. Anyway, does this sound like something any of you would be interested in? Just trying to gauge reactions. Like maybe it’s actually unappealing that no one gets rejected? The idea probably needs a lot of work. Please let me know if you have any input.

Ready Player One is kicking off at SXSW.. what the hell is the point? Are they looking for distributuion?? Steven Spielberg is your competition. Where are the indie film festivals?

Mooooooonths after making it. Feels super old now. Rejected from enough festivals to post it.

Yeah I noticed

I think my monitor might suck. let me know if this looks horrible

So... if I switched to youtube, my biggest concern is I feel like I'd never be able to get my videos even close to the right audience or be able to discover other decent filmmakers in the same way. Tips on how to use youtube more like vimeo in that sense? Is there an equivalent to "groups" that I'm not seeing? On youtube I just always feel like the views I get were accidental clicks by people looking for.. you know, bad videos.

Yeah, I changed my mind about he video. But I'm not saying whether I was being sarcastic before, so who knows what I'm thinking now

Yeah it's gross

I totally agree, it's its own form

Damn it, this is all so difficult for me. I do appreciate all the input of course. I assume it wouldn't be helpful for me to list successful medium length films? ("exception that proves the rule" will forever be nonsense to me, but no matter how many I list, I suppose technically they are all exceptions). Any room to compromise even a little? For one thing, I'd always only do the film I'm able to.. So maybe it won't make it in a single festival, but just so that there IS a next film.. I may not have a choice. Would anyone be more willing to click a video that's 80 minutes.. a double feature of two 40 minutes films? Or something like that?

I do understand why that's practical, but I can't imagine expanding a 40 minute film to a 90 minute film.. maybe if I'm basically combining a couple middle length ideas. But the latest film I'm working on that got me thinking about the topic again was basically interesting to me as a project at the moment because it was a more substantial film than I had done before but only requires 2 actors and 1 location. I could combine a company piece that's also somewhat simple, but at the least it would double the work. Expanding scenes of dialogue or adding.. no idea what.. to make it "long enough" would kill me.. maybe I'll see if I can split it into episodes, but that doesn't feel right for this project either. Just rambling. If anyone has lengthened a piece by a lottttt, it could be interesting to hear from them

yeah, BFI and the Academy both say 40 minutes minimum for "feature length". lots of festivals vary. I haven't seen lower than that.

http://www.indiewire.com/2015/04/attention-filmmakers-heres-why-you-should-make-medium-length-films-62586/ thoughts on this? seems a little contrary to general advice I hear to keep short films short (or to add 30 minutes to your 50 minute film, because at 50 minutes it's nothing.) - though it does acknowledge it's awkward and not great for festivals I often end up with a script around that middle length, while trying to write a feature, and feel pretty disappointed because of it, but I don't want to change the story... so I'm just trying again to hear that everything I do is great and I should never adapt -_- for real though, I'd like to hear opinions

Eos-m, D3300, A5100, G6

Any updates?

if you're talking about resolution in video, you can get the idea based on your experiences shooting photos with vintage glass (so, probably fine)

#1 can probably start off a pretty decent career, fyi... doesn't have to just be "fun, but a waste of time", right? A story you care about, that affects your audience doesn't sound like the path of someone without any intention of ever making a buck for the rest of their lives

"We" as in you and your other two accounts?

So I guess you're right, Canon the Barbie. 5diii by a landslide. Maybe even the original 5d. Mods can kill the thread now

@PannySVHS nice image! Probably too nice Again, I'm just thinking if it's the appeal of that ccd camcorder image being inherently nice, like a film stock - that's so cool because it's the opposite of what all current cameras are trying to do, look "perfect". And they all fall a little short. You might as well go all in and allow low resolution, aliasing, etc. maybe even recording to tapes for the fun of the workflow You're not falling short of perfection if THIS is your camera -- But I understand your interest and can stop talking on this point since it's probably not helpful

I'm definitely interested in some older 3 chip camcorders, but the appeal to me might include.. dv tapes, low resolution, some noise. If you want a great, high res, clean image, it might not be the way to go. That just seems like 2 different things to me. Are there other specific features that would make these ideal to you other than charm? They ARE movie cameras as opposed to photo cameras, with a whole different feel using it, so I can respect that of course

...?

Heyy. I get overwhelmed by this stuff all the time.. There are obviously infinite options for every story - sometimes when I consider how to incorporate feedback I just shut down. It might not be great just to shorten it, if you still keep the scenes.. same setup time, costumes, actors. So if you can imagine the story happening in one day, with like 4 characters max, modern day, handheld camera aesthetic(?), that might be more helpful to simplify than, say, trying to cut down an already short dialogue scene Do you have a full outline of your original plan for it already? That could help to keep focus on what you liked about the idea in the first place Though, having read your episode, I may have some advice for how to shorten it. I can go to your PM if you'd prefer. But I don't want to inject my own opinions too much either, since I like what you're doing.