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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We’re pleased to welcome another contributor to the project – Mike Ambs. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike at SXSW last month and he along with Amanda Walker have created an interesting new project called Pedal. In his first post Mike shares some insight into the post production process and how various web 2.0 techniques can be applied with interesting results.
By Mike Ambs:: I should be upfront in saying …

by Marc Lougee
:: Mini Cameras: Small, like Diamonds There’s much talk on and offline concerning the advent of mini camera’s used in stop motion animation, specifically when used in tandem with DSLR’s. Some folks love’em, some hate’em, but either way, they keep proving themselves useful, relatively inexpensive and hard to boot when faced with the alternative of shooting all day only to find yourself facing a re-shoot for …

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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 …

:: 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 …

For anyone who isn’t reading Brian Chirls’ blog you are missing out on a valuable resource. He’s a self professed Indie Nerd Filmmaker (Director, Distributor, Technologist) with a unique perspective on the emerging digital DIY movement. In addition to contributing to the Workbook Project he is also the Head of Theatrical for From Here to Awesome.
by Brian Chirls – Here at SXSW, I’ve met a number of cool, smart, ambitious …

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 …

by Marc Lougee
:: Digital Image Capture and why we went there
From the outset, I wanted to shoot the film utilizing a high resolution source. My experience with digital capture for animation started while Animation Director on MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch in New York, where we had used three-chip cameras built for medical operating theatres. The image resolution & color was great for standard definition television, but held no promise of …

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Kfir Pravda reports – With the entrance of Yahoo! to live broadcasting field, and rumors about Ustream / Microsoft flirt , live Internet broadcasting is back in the headlines. There are many players in this market, some doing better than others. Technology is not a major differentiator, however competitors vary in feature set. Let’s see who is doing what.
I focused on main and interesting players today – Ustream, …

by Marc Lougee – In April 2007, I dropped a little article here on the workbookproject.com laying out a very basic DSLR/ shooting system that I had assembled for production of the stop motion animated short film, Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum. Using Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera’s in place of traditional film camera’s we’d found a high quality, cost effective digital alternative to 35mm film.
So, in …

Recently, I’ve found myself a bit obsessed with the concept of lifestreams. Granted the concept has been around for awhile but what I’ve found most interesting is how a lifestream could be applied to the discovery and promotion of films.
The term Lifestream is associated with creating a digital timeline of your life. They usually include blog entries that you’ve written, photos you’ve taken, text messages you’ve sent or received, bookmarks …

* 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 …

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. …

One of the goals of the Workbook, is to create a “social open source” project that encourages content creators to share information with one another. Yesterday we held the first in a series of discussions around the current state of the industry. A group of filmmakers came together at the IFP’s NYC offices for some food and conversation.
Participants included: Josh Zeman, Zachary Mortensen, Esther Robinson, Doug Block, Ry Russo …

SITE: www.mogulus.com
SERVICE: TV studio in a browser —
Broadband penetration + drop in bandwidth costs + low cost gear + Mogulus = your very own TV channel. There has been a rise in streaming video solutions hoping to do for video what push button publishing did for blogs. Their focus is ease of use and the target audience is anyone who wants to pick up a camera. The term “Public …

We are pleased to welcome Brian Chirls to the Workbook Project. Brian is a filmmaker and technologist living in NYC. From time to time he will be contributing his thoughts on tech and filmmaking. This week he sets his sights on site design and flash. —
More and more frequently, filmmakers ask me for feedback on their film websites, and I keep seeing the same thing: heavy, multimedia sites built …

* PROJECT
We Are the Strange, M dot Strange’s 2006 soon to be cult classic is a stop motion odyssey. A collision of gaming, anime, and stop motion animation, WATS is a breath taking cinematic head trip. At times the film looks like it was made for 70 million dollars but in reality it was crafted by Mike Belmont over a 3 year period in his studio loft.
WHY: WATS is a …

Jennifer Venditti’s directorial debut, BILLY THE KID is a touching and haunting portrait of a small town underdog named Billy. When we saw the doc at SXSW, we were struck by its depiction of teenage angst, love and awkwardness.
WHY: The DIY film is currently in limited release in select theaters in a bid for Oscar consideration. For dates and screening locations click here.

THIS CONFERENCE IS BEING RECORDED – Our …

We can’t get enough of Allpeers, a simple to use add-on to Firefox that allows for secure file sharing with individuals or a group. It enables the sharing of; web pages, audio, video, stills, documents and even whole folders. There is also a chat feature for real time communication. The installation is a breeze and works on mac, pc and linux systems – just requires the firefox browser. …

Today our guest is Nicholas Reville, Executive Director of the Participatory Culture Foundation. PCF is a non-profit organization who’s mission is to create tools for broader, deeper engagement with culture and politics. They are working to ensure that the new mass medium of internet TV is open and independent, just like blogging and podcasting. They have a number of FREE tools and services that content creators can use to reach …

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The micro blogging trend is alive and well. Joining the ranks of Twitter is a new upstart from Kevin Rose of digg fame called pownce. Limited in terms of mobile and IM integration but offering an interesting mix of event listing and file transfer options, pownce is a tool that some filmmakers might find interesting, especially when needing to communicate with a group.

Site: http://www.pownce.com
Service:
Provides a unified messaging solution and file …

I’m a fan of remixes and mashups. A couple years back mashups exploded onto the scene. One of the most downloaded albums of all time is Danger Mouse’s Grey Album – a creative mashup of JayZ’s black album and the Beatles’ White Album. The Grey Album was plagued by copyright issues and couldn’t be officially released but that only fueled demand and massive downloads via p2p networks.
They often say where …

Site: http://www.loopnote.com
Service:
Provides a unified messaging solution that allows you to easily stay in touch with a group people through a single interface.
Status:
Just launched. Still in beta so certain features such as IM verification are a bit spotty
Of note:
1. loopnote makes it easy to send updates quickly to a group of people – via sms, email, IM or RSS
2. Simple registration for you and your group – group members can select …

Vodpod is a video sharing site with a focus on community. A couple months ago we reviewed their service. This past week they launched an AMAZING embeddable video player. The player can work in social networks, blogs and sites.
What makes the player so interesting is that it can play videos from youTube, google, dailymotion, metacafe, blip.tv and vod:pod, all in a single player. To get your own pod and player …

Topic: How to create your own news feed mashup
Skill level: moderate
One of the web promotions that was used for HEAD TRAUMA, is what I call “scatter shot.” The approach made use of about 13 different domains. The goal was to increase the visibility of the phrase HEAD TRAUMA within search engines. To read more on the approach click here.
In order to simplify the updating of all the domains in one …

UPDATE:
About a month ago we started the theatrical mapping project in an effort to build a venue database. The map is meant to be “embed and spread.” If you know of a good digital screen feel free to add it. Once something is added, it will be viewable where ever someone has embedded the map. We’ve gotten a number of emails from people who have placed it into their …

Site: http://www.mybloglog.com
Service:
Social networking solution for bloggers and site owners who are interested in building their own communities.
Status:
Service has a strong user base, which is very active.
Of note:
1. mybloglog allows bloggers to create a social networking environment around their own blogs and sites. Once a site has been added to your “author list,” you can start building your own community.
2. Easy to join communities. Make friends with people who might share …

Topic: How to create your own embeddable flash audio player
Skill level: moderate
Something that worked well for the promotion of my newest feature, HEAD TRAUMA was the creation of digital swag. Our mantra became “embed and spread” as we made everything easy to access and share. The approach worked well within social networking sites like myspace, where you can embed flash and html into your profile.
This digital swag, consisted of simple …

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 …

Site: http://www.vodpod.com
Service:
Video sharing site that has a strong focus on community
Status:
Just opened its doors to the public – still in beta so you might encounter minor hiccups BUT vodpod is very good with support
Formats:
Recommended upload formats MPEG4 (.mp4), Windows Media (.wmv), or QuickTime (.mov). Also excepts embeds from various sites (myspace, youTube, google video, metacafe…)
Of note:
1. vodpod player widget that allows you to embed a playlist into your own pages. …