This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Hunter Weeks left a cubical job to embark on a filmmaking career and within a three years has completed two documentaries and is in post on a third. One of the core elements of his strategy is to mix a DIY production and distribution approach with a variety of promotional partners. Hunter and Josh Caldwell his producing partner, have …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix – Brian Clark joins us for a discussion about filmmaking, audiences, breaking the rules and the value of going DIY. Founder of GMD studios and co-founder of indieWire, Brian has been at the forefront of the independent film scene for well over a decade. GMD studios has created digital experiments, campaigns and games that flow seamlessly between the …

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Over the next few days we’ll be posting various videos from the DIY DAYS LA event. The day consisted of a number of keynotes (Robert Greenwald, Marshall Herskovitz), panels (Tommy Pallotta, Femke Wolting, Alex Johnson, Micki Krimmel, Mark Stolaroff, Ondi Timoner, Hunter Weeks, Saskia Wilson-Brown), case studies (M dot Strange, Arin Crumley, Lance Weiler), a series of special video presentations (Matt Hanson, Brett Gaylor, Brian Chirls, Christy Dena, Timo Vuorensola) …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Inventing the Movies is a new book by Scott Kirsner that details Hollywood’s epic battle between innovation and the status quo. Scott joins us for a discussion about cinema’s past, present and future. Of particular note for filmmakers is a discussion around the pull economy / attention economy and how building and maintaining audiences is going …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Jeff Gomez turned his childhood passion for role playing into a successful transmedia venture. His company Starlight Runner Entertainment has expanded the intellectual property of brands (Hot Wheels, Magic: The Gathering , Pirates of the Caribbean) by developing cross-platform storyworlds that engage audiences in new and interesting ways. The design and builds of these worlds have …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Skot Leach and his brother Ryan are on a mission to warn the world about a secret zombie outbreak. Their Lost Zombies project is a crowdsourced zombie flick that has user-gen sightings coming in from all over the world. Community members submit video, audio, photos, and articles as they document zombie outbreaks. In our discussion Skot …

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This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Casey Walker has turned to the internet to raise the funds for his debut feature film, FREE FOR ALL…BUT YOU!. By putting a different spin on a model that helped a college student raise a million dollars for school, Casey has found a legal way to gather funds for the film. To date he’s raised over …

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I’ve just return from Hot Docs where I participated in a panel of judges for the newly formed Convergence Lab. Created by DocAgora, the lab focuses on a number of projects. The lab brings together producers, filmmakers and interactive designers in an effort to develop cross-media strategies for their projects.
Cross-media (the telling of stories across multiple mediums, devices and platforms) is a topic that we discuss often – an exciting …

The following was originally published in Filmmaker Magazine. I thought it was appropriate to re-post since the FHTA submission period is coming to a close not to mention numerous filmmakers have been asking for info on ways to spread the word about their work. This article was one of a four part series entitled “Lessons in DIY.” Make sure to read the article it covers three other interesting projects that …

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – Dan Goldman is a critical acclaimed comic book artist and illustrator. His most recent project “Shooting War” went from being a free online comic to sparking a bidding war. Various major publishing and production interests battled it out for the publishing and film rights. Goldman is a strong believer in the concept of crowdsourcing and …

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:: PROJECT -Nerdcore Rising is a fun glimpse into the world of the nerd hi-hop movement. Negin Farsad’s doc follows the trials and tribulations of MC Frontalot as he embarks on his first national tour; complete with strange opening acts, missing gear, and a single groupie that follows them from the Florida panhandle to New Orleans.
WHY: An entertaining look at a subculture that has legions of dedicated fans. What’s …

In this special video podcast Christy Dena interviews workbook project founder Lance Weiler. Dena, a cross-media entertainment strategist, mentor, designer, writer and PhD researcher conducted the interview for her universe creation podcast. Here’s what Dena had to say about the interview.
Filmmaker Lance Weiler is the special guest on this first video podcast at UC101. Weiler talks about the unique ways he has experimented with extending the storyworld of his …

Power to the Pixel is a conference that focuses on funding, producing and distributing films in the digital age. The next edition of PTTP will be held in Paris this coming June. Liz Rosenthal the founder of PTTP was kind of enough to share the following video. Please feel free to embed and spread.

The final Power to the Pixel session brings together five pioneering filmmakers who are reinventing the …

M dot Strange reports – This was part of a presentation called “Adventures in self distribution” I describe the journey I took with my animated feature film “We are the Strange” From my bedroom to Sundance and beyond and back to my little studio again after turning down Hollywood deals and deciding to self distribute and make my films my way.
M dot Strange: Berlin Talent Campus 08 from M dot …

For those of you who don’t know FROM HERE TO AWESOME is an extension of the workbook project. In the spirit of bringing an open source philosophy to various parts of the filmmaking process, FHTA is focused on education, discovery and distribution. Over the next few months leading up to the festival’s kick off in Paris on June 3rd, FHTA is constructing a series of vids that detail the current …

I’d like to take a moment to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Zachary Mortensen is an accomplished producer and co-founder of production company Ghost Robot. He’s produced numerous feature films, shorts and music videos. Recently, Zachary opened a new web shop called Space Unicorn which is helping independent filmmakers to build an online presence for their films. In his first article Zachary breaks down the importance of …

* WEB SERIES
Joe Swanberg and Ronald Bronstein have a new web series entitled Butterknife. The series is a comedic Phillip Marlow-sque detective yarn which features real life husband and wife, Ronald and Mary Bronstein. The official site states “Each episode contrasts the unusual, hysterical and tense interactions of P.I. work with a disarming look at a married couple working on a healthy relationship.”

WHY:Joe’s done some interesting work for Nerve.com …

The promise of unlimited choice and shelf space due to an emerging on-demand universe of content has many in the industry struggling to figure out how new media revenue should be divided. This highly contentious issue is at the center of the current WGA strike. But while the WGA and the Hollywood studios duke it out over Internet residuals, many independent filmmakers are simply trying to figure out how to …

I’m pleased to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Kfir Pravda is a marketer, content creator and blogger. His blog “Media, Technology and Rebel Filmmaking” is read and quoted by investors, venture capitalists, CEOs of technology companies, content creators and bloggers.
Kfir reports – In the past things were clear – broadcast television required a specific level of production. Lighting, sound, camera quality – all were parts of …

We’ve been working on a new social experiment for the last six months and this coming Thursday it will take its first steps. From Here to Awesome is a discovery and distribution festival. The hope is that by bringing together audiences, films, promotional partners and distribution outlets, FHTA can create opportunities for filmmakers that enable them to control their own rights and receive a direct financial return from their work. …

This edition of DiF is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution – In this edition of the Design in Film podcast, we take a look at Michael Haneke’s remake of his own 1998 film “Funny Games.” Both brutal and thought provoking the film takes an interesting minimalistic approach towards the design of its trailer, poster and site. Scroll down to listen to the podcast.
Trailer

Poster:

Site:

To listen …

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Brett Gaylor’s “Basement Tapes,” is a collaborative documentary project about copyright in the digital age. We interviewed Brett a bit ago for TCIBR.
The above video was a group project done by 64 students from Concordia University.
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* PROJECTS
What can the most successful doll on the planet show us about being Jewish today? Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film mixes old school narration with a new school visual style. THE TRIBE weaves together archival footage, graphics, animation, Barbie dioramas, and slam poetry to take audiences on an electric ride through the complex history of both the Barbie doll and the Jewish people- from Biblical times to present …

A number of panels and interviews from last week’s IFP Filmmaker Conference have surfaced online. The following is a collection of media and links.
Scott Kirsner from CinemaTech talks with Brett Gaylor, a Montreal-based filmmaker who is exploring new ways that large groups can collaborate on documentaries. Shot at the 2007 IFP Filmmaker Conference in New York.

The Four Eyed Monsters team recorded a panel on Viewer Habits with Andrew Barron (Rocket …

Our guest today is Paul Pod, founder of Tape It Off The Internet (TIOTI). TIOTI targets lovers of TV shows and creates a social layer that allows viewers to discover and share media. The concept of social discovery around media is an important trend to follow, especially when it comes to bringing one’s work to an audience.

For more information about Paul and TIOTI click here.

To listen NOW …

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Our guest today is Liz Rosenthal. Liz is a producer of film, TV and live events. Her most recent project is an online animated series called, Marsipan about the British space program’s launch of a Mars probe. In our discussion, Liz explains what it’s like to get an animated web series up and running, how they’re building audiences for the work, and ways in which Marsipan and other web shows …

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Today we are joined by filmmaker Brett Gaylor, who is also the founder of OpenSourceCinema.org. Brett is currently in production on an interesting documentary called BASEMENT TAPES. The doc focuses on copyright, digital music and its impact on remix culture. The project is embracing a user-generated / remix component that allows people to contribute to the documentary. In our discussion Brett explains how he’s turning audience members into collaborators.

For more …

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Scott Kirsner from cinematech sent in this interview with Jaman CEO Gaurav Dhillon.

From Scott
“Jaman makes independent films from around the world available online. In this conversation, we talk about how the site is different from all other online movie marketplaces, Jaman’s social networking features, the terms of the deal Jaman offers to filmmakers, the site’s ability to send content to an AppleTV, and what some filmmakers are doing to market …

Cutting through the static
by Lance Weiler
Last November the internet hit a major milestone, over a 100 million sites with registered domain names and active content. The web is considered to be the great equalizer for filmmakers, one which promises cost effective promotion and distribution. But where do you start and what’s the best way to design a cost effective online promotional campaign that can help you build an audience for …

Our guest today is David Dudas. David is the CTO and co-founder of an interesting remix community called eyespot.com. eyespot enables users to easily shoot, mix and share media. During our conversation we discuss remix culture, media consumption and how content creators can work within the commons.

For more on David Dudas and eyespot click here

To listen NOW click the play button below.

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Today’s guest is Cory Doctorow. Cory is an accomplished science fiction author, blogger and internet activist. In addition he is co-editor of the popular blog boingboing.net. A proponent of creative commons licenses, he has released his books under a variety of licenses that allow for free downloads, but charge for printed versions. In our discussion we cover issues of Digital Rights Management, digital downloads, and the concept of how …

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I’ve just returned from SXSW where I spoke on two panels. One was about building an online fan base and the other dealt with blogging about film. In both cases the issue of discovery was discussed. Many people wondered how they could expand their audiences and readership.
Everyone talks about the democratization of the internet but with so many sites, blogs and movies being made how does someone find you in …

You’ll need a youTube account to test it. Click here to create your own “stream”
YouTube has a new ideas incubator called test tube. The tube’s first concept is a feature called “streams,” which enables users to chat while sharing videos. Recently Lycos Cinema launched a similar service around feature length films. But unlike Lycos Cinema, which is limited to a PC running IE 6 or higher, youTube’s streams can be …

Our guest today is Scott Kirsner a journalist, author and blogger. In our conversation we discuss his new book “The Future of Web Video”

More on the book http://stores.lulu.com/kirsner
Scott’s blog http://cinematech.blogspot.com/

To listen NOW click the play button below.

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