Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Age Appropriate Filmmaking

First, I have to give a shout out to the filmmaker who said being mentioned in this blog would be almost as cool as getting in the festival.

Well? Is it?

We had a night of solid acting across the board. Nice job, folks. A good picture of bad acting is a bad picture. I cannot tell you how important it is to get the cast right, and most of the films we saw last night did.

Among these good actors were a lot of kids – from high school to barely walking. I'm sure we saw more than one future star last night. I hope they'll come do some promotions for us when their movies are no longer eligible for competition.

Regular readers will be glad to know the "Good Logo = Bad Movie" rule is still in effect. I don't know if anyone has ever noticed, but most production companies with studio distribution deals didn't start with an expensive, grandiose opening logo. They put their energy into making good films. The big logo comes after your work has earned more money than you know what to do with. When I see a fancy opening announce the production company I think, "that's time, money, and effort that could have gone into another day of shooting or writing, paying a cast and crew." And every single time, the quality of the movie proves me right.

Last night one of our screeners said something we hear a lot. "If that film was made by my 12-year-old niece, I'd say it was brilliant, but..."

That's one of the difficulties of judging submissions. We know absolutely nothing about the filmmakers who submit – which is a good thing, as it helps eliminate prejudice – but, what if the film was made by a 12-year-old? We all passed on the movie because we're not a festival geared toward grade school filmmakers, and by adult standards the movie wasn't any good. Chances are nearly 100% that it was made by an adult, but there is that little bit of doubt.

So if there are any kid filmmakers who have submitted, don't take it too hard if you don't get in. Just finishing a movie is a huge accomplishment – even for adults. Keep up the good work.

If you're an adult and you've made a movie that looks like it was made by a child... keep the day job.

We had a film that was so incredibly unique that the creativity trumped the various little things that would have killed a lesser movie. Well done. We do get so tired of seeing films in the style of what's hot on TV.

We want your voice, not someone else's.

On that note, thanks for reading. See you next week.

5 comments:

Scott said...

Digging through every letter of these things like I'm Robert Langdon. "Is he talking about me? IS HE TALKING ABOUT ME??" Oh, the damnable mystery of it.

RSMellette said...

Funny - I just found out we do have a movie made by a 12-year-old filmmaker, but I have no idea which one it is.

I know that every year we have several movies made by adults that look like they were made by kids, which is why I brought it up. It'll be nice to have that reversed. :)

Just keep in mind - "fix this" kind of comments are always about more than one movie. Good comments might be about a specific movie, but I would have no idea if it was yours.

And if you're 12 and making movies good enough to compete with adults - you've already won! Keep it up!

Jay said...

OK, the blog mention WAS everything I'd hoped for. Now I'm off to go photoshop a laurel wreath icon with "Dances With Blogs Mention" written inside (I wish I was joking). But now I'm going to need to sample the feeling of actually getting into DWF . . . you know, just for the sake of a thorough comparison.

Unknown said...

“WE SPEAK HERE” Film Festival CALL FOR ENTRIES | June 2012

WHAT IS “WE SPEAK, HERE” : An event which aspires to bring an intimate view from life of another fellow being, reflecting our own challenges and opportunities for individual transformation - revealing underlying light & shadows of our present existence, and exploring life’s purpose leading to future. Share those stories that moved you and helped you discover views into life of human existence. Enable those life stories to reach global audiences and allow them to reward you for your contribution to their quest in life, with your art of story sharing.

To submit your film, please go through the following information:

CRITERIA:

1) Films on: The beauty & challenge within and its extension into personal relationships; Present viewpoints/values on intimacy, relationships, family structures and new ideas/visions about its evolutionary future; Documented case- studies of expressive art therapy; Individual's bio-psycho-spiritual health challenges (life experienced through or above it) and stories of recoveries, transformation, transcendence.

2) Any form: Films of any length (shorts and features).

3) Film projects that are open to non-exclusive distribution (online/webcast, worldwide).

4) Films which are in English or suitably sub-titled in English (films originally produced in regional languages are welcome). Multiple submissions are welcome.

5) Entries for selection are requested to be sent in DVD format only. Due to the volume of entries, the festival will not be able to return the submitted DVDs. To facilitate customs procedures, the entry package from overseas should be labeled "Only for cultural purpose, no commercial value."

6) For festival participation, films must fit the festival theme and criteria.

7) All films rewarded by the audience are showcased under 'Previous Winners' section of the site. A winning film can be removed upon request after a minimum of two years since the date of winning. As the festival is bound to follow international fund transfer formalities, all requested documents for reward remittance clearance will need to be furnished by all winning films.

SUBMISSION PROCESS:

Please fill the form at http://www.cultureunplugged.com/festival/submit.php and mail the DVD.

AWARDS/REWARDS:

PEOPLE'S CHOICE (Most Viewed):
$3000

POPULAR (Runner Up) :
$1000

PRAISED (Second Runner Up) :
$1000

UNDISCOVERED (Must View) :
$1000

FILM-MAKER'S CHOICE (Conscious Art) :
$3000

FESTIVAL LAUNCH DATE: JUNE 2012

Submission Date: To participate in this festival, please send the DVD latest by 7th MAY, 2012.
You can also send it later than the above-mentioned date, to participate in future festivals.

FESTIVAL VENUE: www.cultureunplugged.com
(At present, this venue is running the film festival: Spirit Enlightened - the festival to explore the spirit, the consciousness, the divine - the creative and healing journey of human soul)

RSMellette said...

The message above originally went into my spam filter, and for all I know it should stay there, but it could also be an opportunity for filmmakers. Since Withoutabox's forum is no longer around, this is about the only place to post such things.

I will add that I've never heard of this festival. I am not endorsing it. I strongly suggest any interested filmmakers DO THEIR HOMEWORK about this and all fests they enter.

Come back and post something on QUESTIONS ANSWERS AND DISCUSSIONS when you find something out.