Filmmaking
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Win a Copy of The ABCs of Death
Inspired by children’s books, The ABCs of Death is a wildly ambitious anthology that draws upon more than two dozen of the horror genre’s most creative, and macabre, directors from around the world (spanning fifteen countries) to bring you segments that… Read more
Canadian Web Series Creators Organize
Transmedia producers in Canada already have ways to network with and benefit from each other through organizations like the Toronto-based group Transmedia 101. But those specifically interested in creating web series just received an additional resource with the formation of… Read more
Kim Ki-Duk on Pieta
Pieta
Made quickly and on the cheap, prolific South Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s 18th film, Pieta, is an often disturbing revenge tale, moody and morally challenging, where redemption for one of recent cinema’s most dark-hearted anti-heroes seems just out of grasp. Kang-do… Read more
Turning the Internet Green: The FX Protest
Over the past few months it’s been hard to miss the green icons showing up on Twitter and other social media in support of the FX Protest, an event that happened at this year’s Oscar ceremony to protest ongoing problems… Read more
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Crowdfunding a Transmedia Phenomenon: Director Nicolás Alcalá on The Cosmonaut
With all the discussion about the future of Kickstarter in recent weeks, it may be appropriate that a film that began its campaign at the beginning of the crowdfunding movement is finally coming out this Saturday. The Cosmonaut — a Spanish-made English-language film directed by Nicolás Alcalá and produced by Carola Rodriguez and Bruno Teixidor — raised over €300,000 from 5,000 contributors. It was the first crowdfunded film in Spain and helped pave the way for the foundation of Lánzanos, Spain’s Kickstarter equivalent. The Cosmonaut will be available to watch for free on Saturday on the film’s website; the DVD, theatrical …
by Randy Astle on May 16, 2013 -
Will Tom Wheeler Kill Net Neutrality?
“I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over.” Guess who said these memorable words? In November 2007, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama uttered this now all-but-forgotten campaign promise. The president recently announced his plan to appoint Tom Wheeler (above), a true industry insider, to head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Wheeler is a career water carrier for corporate interests. He served as head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) from 1979 and 1984, and ran the Cellular Telecom and Internet Association (CTIA) from 1992 through 2004. …
by David Rosen on May 16, 2013 -
The New Digital Storytelling Series: D. Fox Harrell
In the penultimate part of Filmmaker and the MIT Open Documentary Lab’s interview project with prominent transmedia figures, D. Fox Harrell, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Digital Media in the Comparative Media Studies Program and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT, answers our questions. Harrell’s research explores the relationship between imaginative cognition and computation. He develops new forms of social media, gaming, computational narrative, and related computational media systems based in computer science, cognitive science, and digital media arts. The National Science Foundation has recognized Harrell with an NSF CAREER Award for his project “Computing for Advanced Identity Representation.” He has worked …
by MIT Open Documentary Lab on May 16, 2013 -
Shooting Richard Linklater and James Benning
Gabe Klinger is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for his documentary on directing legends James Benning and Richard Linklater. Below he talks about the experience of working on the project. My first encounter with Richard Linklater was through his Dazed and Confused. The film was of meteoric importance to me and my junior high peers. The soundtrack, which revived forgotten tunes by War and Foghat, got more play on our boomboxes than the Dr. Dre, Nirvana and Mariah Carey hits of the day. When a friend’s mom busted me for stealing her pack of smokes, I told her Dazed and …
by Gabe Klinger on May 15, 2013 -
When Life Gives You Lemons: An Unexpected Crowdfunding Success
Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that I am sitting on a niche documentary goldmine. It’s titled Nuts: The Best Damn Fans In The Land. It will be about Buckeye Nation, which is the cultish fandom of The Ohio State University. I’ve never been more certain of a project’s potential success than this one. However, my past attempts at trying to get it funded tell a much different story. For almost a decade I failed to obtain funding for this golden project. Then a miracle happened, which I will get to in a moment. Buckeye Nation is the …
by Mike Newman on May 15, 2013 -
Letters from Blocked Filmmakers: Michael Lew
Get together for drinks with a group of people who work in film, and soon the memories will flow. And they are usually linked to films these people have worked on. Film titles become markers of memory. It was on that film that this electrician met his future wife. On this one a P.A. adopted her dog. The sound guy was going through a divorce on this other one. The films may have faded from our collective memory, but the days on those sets are still ripe for the people who were involved. In reading this letter from Michael Lew, …
by Scott Macaulay on May 14, 2013