The time is here again for the 6th Annual National Film Challenge! The National Film Challenge (http://www.filmchallenge.org/) is an exhilarating fiction filmmaking competition brought to you by KDHX Community Media http://www.kdhx.org/) and the creators of the 48 Hour Film Project (http://www.48hourfilm.com/).
It's your chance to stop talking and start filming! The premise? Filmmaking teams have just one weekend to make a short film. All creativity - writing, shooting, editing and adding a musical soundtrack - must occur beginning Friday evening at 7 p.m. on October 24, 2008 and ending Monday October 27, 2008. On Friday, to make things interesting, each team is assigned a genre for its film, and a character, prop and line of dialogue that must appear in each team's movie. Then the film must be sent to National Film Challenge Headquarters with a postmark no later than Monday, October 27. In the following weeks the top films (determined by a panel of judges) will be available for viewing (and voting!) on our website (http://www.filmchallenge.org/). The winning films will screen with the 48 Hour Film Project City Winners at this year's 48 Hour Film Project end of year event (TBD.) In addition there are cash prizes for the winning films!
Don't think a good film can be made in a weekend? View the winning films from the 2007 National Film Challenge in our on-line screening room: http://filmchallenge.org/results2007.htm
A note on distribution from Jon Stevens, Hoboken West Digital Media:
8-14-08
I serve as VP Acquisitions and Marketing for Hoboken West Digital Media in Los Angeles. Hoboken West Digital Media is the only Latino owned DVD mastering company serving the major studios. Having established strong ties with several studio distribution divisions, we're looking to license North American distribution rights of five titles. Nebraska filmmakers with completed feature films may contact us for more information.
Jon Stevens
VP Acquisitions and Marketing
Hoboken West Digital Media
email:
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JULY
The Film Office occasionally receives missives from industry professionals commenting on various aspects of their craft. Former Lincolnite, Karen Steward, art director from the Los Angeles area, is writing to her peers in request of using sustainable materials in all aspects of location filming. Her vision is timely and perhaps, hereditary. Please take a minute to read her latest article, written for the ADG newsletter. If you have an opportunity to influence the choices on set and in the studio that will result in minimal or no waste in all areas and phases of production, do it! Your part matters.
--Laurie Richards, Nebraska Film Officer
Is There A Way to Achieve the Look We Want Without So Much Waste In The Film Industry?
(Opening Thoughts From the POV of an Art Director).
7-24-08
As an Art Director in Hollywood for 20 years, I have witnessed hundreds if not thousands of tons of material being simply thrown into the landfill due to a lack of knowledge and interest in our Industry regarding healthier decisions as to what to do with all of those sets when a production is over.
The Film Industry is a vibrant community where Art and Architecture meet Science and Physics; we find inspiration from all aspects of our environment and atmosphere and beyond. So, it is my philosophy that we work harder to preserve it.
From my vantage point just in the Art Department alone (not including fuel waste, office supplies, abundance of paper, etc), I see room for improvement.
Most Designers want their signature on a project (understandably so), and many are reluctant to re-use sets that have already been seen on other projects. As we know, creating “the look” for a new script reflects a comprehensive effort across the board to breathe life into it’s characters, which requires a fresh approach from what has already been done.
Herein lies the conundrum.
What can we do to both achieve a signature look to a project AND be resourceful with the materials that we use?
Can our Union begin a round-table type think-tank regarding these issues and create a way of sharing information?
My father who is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), retired Dean of the University Of Nebraska Lincoln (he was the first Dean at UNL and over a period of 25 years essentially built the College of Architecture into an international destination for students interested in studying Sustainable Architecture.) Since 1994, Cecil Steward has been building his non-profit “Joslyn Institute For Sustainable Communities” (JCI) based in Omaha, Nebraska with arms reaching from Middle America to China; from the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations. His legacy (which is too broad to write about here) is my inspiration.
The website for JCI is http://www.ecospheres.com if anyone is interested.
Though our processes and theatrical techniques require a different way of approaching conservation tactics, we in the Art Department are heavily influenced from the Architectural Environment, so why not take a look at what is being achieved there and embrace the idea that we can begin a building process with the final resolution in mind.
There are sustainable resources happening all over the globe in the Architecture Community today and I feel that we, the Film Industry can learn from and utilize some of the practices of re-use and waste management from a proven Environmental approach. Mainly, to think forward toward the end of a project just as we begin pre-production.
There is a great effort, for instance, from State Leadership to concentrate on a Green Film Industry in the State of New Mexico, and have launched through The Film Commission of that state, a new Green Filmmaking Program.
http://albuquerque.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2006/11/20/daily21.html
There Is a great resource here:
http://www.greenfilmalliance.org/
I am interested to discover how many of us in Local 800 (The Art Directors Guild Of America) would be interested in participating within a forum to help Producers and Skeptics who believe that conservation and re-use is more expensive than dumping into the landfills of our country.
Karen Steward – Art Director (
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)
MAY
Film Office has flurry of activity
Whether helping secure a location for WindStream to unveil its “fastest” service ever, or tracking down the right farmstead, country road and vintage car for a British documentary crew, Laurie Richards is on the go.
Recent DED Film activities include her work with Charlie Zalben of The Zalbens! A New York City production company, to scout a location for the “Fast, Faster, Fastest” event that launched WindStream’s 12 megabit per second broadband service. The event took place along Lincoln’s Centennial Mall and featured the World’s Fastest Talker, Hand Clapper, Harmonica Player and Juggler, performing on an outdoor stage. Video footage was fed to broadcast stations nationwide and downloaded on websites, including YouTube.
Fast forward to a different day, but actually back in time when Richards assisted a team from Great Britain wanting to film a documentary on Charles Starkweather.
“Typically when I get an email or phone call requesting assistance, I send electronic photos and any other materials that might help the producers with their projects,” Richards said. “In the case of the Starkweather project, they already knew they wanted to film here. We made it easy for them by connecting them with potential period autos (Richards received 50 responses statewide, from Scottsbluff to Plattsmouth), and sending images of a ‘barn’ near Waverly.”
The crew from Twofour Broadcast Company based in London, ultimately shot their footage in and around Bob and Carol Workman’s acreage near Waverly. Scenes included a dirt road featuring a vintage 50s style car—the same make and model used by Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate in their getaway; an old-fashioned ‘root’ cellar attached to the Workman’s house; and footage of the house and barn. UNL Theatre and Film students Gabrielle Joan amd Sean McGill portrayed Fugate and Starkweather, while Jenny Cary, Sean Kloc, and Brad Buffum, respectively played Carol King, Robert Jensen and August Meyer, all victims of Starkweather.
The Twofour crew was making its way across the U.S., filming an eight episode series of ‘Killing Sprees in America’ that they planned to feature on various channels throughout Great Britain, including the BBC, ITV and Discovery. They also hoped to pitch the documentary to the History Channel and Discovery Channel in the U.S.
Crew members stayed in Lincoln while filming the project, spending money for lodging, food and incidentals. The students were paid for their day-long participation. Rod Phelps and the Workmans took satisfaction in having their car and acreage featured in a documentary that is sure to attract a wide-ranging viewership.
In fact, the Workmans’ picturesque farm has appeared in previous films and video productions. At the local level, it served as the backdrop for a Nebraska promotional video and for several Bob Kerrey political commercials. ABC Network’s Good Morning America filmed there from sunrise to sunset, and Henry Grethel, a world-renowned clothier based in New York City clothier filmed a commercial there.
For information, contact Laurie Richards at
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APRIL
Fort Omaha Film and Theatre Conference
Deadline: April 15
Conference: May 30-31
For more information:
http://www.mccneb.edu/filmconference/
For Students:
Please alert your students that America’s Best Student Shorts is now reviewing student-produced films and videos for its third season of half-hour television shows. The program is playing on 65 campus and community access stations from coast to coast, including a “super station” on the DISH satellite network.
America’s Best Student Shorts provides student producers with a distribution channel that complements web casting and film festivals. It’s also an opportunity for a broad television audience to appreciate the talent that film and video schools and departments are developing. It’s fun to have a project appearing widely on television, and selection by America’s Best Student Shorts can be a proud achievement for students to list on their resumes.
America’s Best Student Shorts is looking for good stories, well told. We are ! interested in all genres, with running times up to 26 minutes. The projects now playing include live-action dramas and comedies, biographical sketches and other documentaries, and animations. Most are class projects from film and video classes, with a few MFA theses. What they have in common is imagination, energy, and the ability to grab and hold an audience.
Have you seen any noteworthy student projects lately? Please refer the producers towww.beststudentshorts.com. Would you like to show existing episodes of America’s Best Student Shorts to classes or film clubs? Contact
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.
Tom Hoopengardner, Producer
America’s Best Student Shorts
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http://www.beststudentshorts.com/
7212 He! lmsdale Road
Bethesda, Maryland 20817-4624
301 320 6056
WGBH
This spring, WGBH Lab's "Open Call" and P.O.V. are offering the public a chance to make its voice heard BEFORE the voting booths open: TELL AMERICA YOUR ELECTION STORY on PBS.
The WGBH Lab and P.O.V. are seeking pitches for compelling videos short about the 2008 Election. If selected, pitch writers will be paid $2,000 to make their short, get feedback from industry professionals, have their shorts featured online on the POV and Lab websites, and may be broadcast nationally. We want to let citizens put the "public" back in public broadcasting this election season.
OPENS: April 7th, 2008
DEADLINE FOR PITCHES: May 2nd, 2008
More info on Election 2008 Open Call:
http://lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008
NEBRASKA has an experienced crew base and key resources for making your next project a success. Our "one hour zones" of production offer a rich variety of locations and amenities for physical production. We have included here a sample of some recent activity across the state.
Like to go GREEN? We can help your production recycle plastic, glass, paper from your production office and the set. We will work together to make contact with community recycling companies to pick up SORTED recyclables from you. We will also help your art department find used and recycled materials. The film industry can play a key role in sustainable location filming. We can help.
Warner Brothers in Lincoln
Warner Brothers and Heartlight Pictures was in Lincoln this fall filming at the University of Nebraska. The feature film, "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey began their production schedule with principle photography in Lincoln and surrounding area. Producer Marty Ewing was very pleased with the filming activity and said he was remiss at waiting so long to return to Nebraska to film. (Marty was part of the production team that filmed "Terms of Endearment" in Lincoln in 1982.) "Yes Man" is due in theaters sometime in 2008.
OCTA - Oregon California Trail Association
Travis Boley, executive producer for the OCTA documentary of "Hardships on the Oregon and California Trails" filmed at Ash Hollow State Park, Courouse & Jail Rocks, Scotts Bluff National Monument, Platte River location, Rock Creek STation State Historic Park and Ft. Kearny State Historic park in July of this year. The documentary will be released late this year.
Omaha Hosts American Idol
American Idol landed in Omaha at the Quest Center earlier this year. Thousands of people waited in patiently to strut their stuff. (Find out more at: www.americanidol.com/news/view/?pid=793)
"For Love of Amy" filmed this summer in the Omaha area. The film is written by Omahan Vince Alston who also stars in the indie film. Noted actor and playwrite, Ted Lange of Love Boat fame directed the work. Omaha locations, actors and crew complemented the 21-day shoot. The film hopes to become a part of the festival circuit and theatrical release in 2008.
Omaha filmmaker, Stacy Heatherly has completed principle photography on her documentary, "Closure: Can It REally Be Possible". (Find out more at: www.stacyheatherly.com/index.asp)
"Lovely, Still" written and directed by Omahan Nik Fackler is in production in the Omaha and eastern Nebraska vicinity. With original music score by Fackler long-time friend, Conor Oberst, this film promises to be a stand-out at festival venues to come. Seeking Extras for Movie "Lovely, Still" Filming takes place November 12 - December 21. Interested persons should e-mail
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. Please include your name, actual age and age range. Please do not send a resume.
The Army Reserve sent a small team through Omaha back in the summer to shoot a story of one of their Reservists that lives here.http://www.goarmy.com/ProfileDetail.do?dir=/_res/xml/reserve/nps/&xml=bio_list.xml&sn=autumn_anderson&fw=reserve_nps
IF YOU HAVE FILM/MEDIA INFORMATION AND WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IT INCLUDED ON THE NEBRASKA FILM OFFICE WEB SITE, PLEASE FORWARD INFORMATION TO:
Nebraska Film Office
P.O. Box 98907
Lincoln, NE 68509-8907
402-471-3746
800-228-4307
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