[Short Films]

Howdy Filmcampers,
 
Al'righty, it’s 3 more days to Filmcamp Singapore 2010!

Welcome! I hope you are as psyched as we are.

We asked you to write an intro about yourself upon registering. What we got in return were many stories from a very passionate group - closet storytellers and filmmakers in the making...each one of us trying to make or find a path for ourselves.

When I first thought of putting together an event like Filmcamp, I took the first step with a simple understanding that each and every one of us has a story to tell.

Telling stories may be a full-time  occupation or just a hobby for you, but it is exceptionally difficult to do it alone. Why not figure this out together? And that’s the whole point of Filmcamp. I invited a small group of people to be on the organizing team, and started tapping on all my contacts and resources to see who will latch on to this idea and want to grow this "community".

Today we have the first incarnation of  Filmcamp in the form of this event. Make no mistake - *this is* a community-run event where the spotlight is really on you. As a Filmcamp participant, you are now part of a big family -- you chose to make Filmcamp your own. There were no judgments. No boring rants (hence the NC16 no ‘kids’ (or brats) part). Instead, you’ve agreed to come meet people, let loose, be your insightful self, and participate!

So... let's get crackin'
 
Now, some of you may not quite yet be familiar as to how this event works, so let’s start off with some rules.
 
 
 
Rule No. 1
 
There are no rules, really. You may move around however you want to, sit wherever you want, or perform something impromptu - without being a complete pain to someone else, of course.  Yes, expect lots of noise on that day. But good creative noise!
 

Still not clear what to be prepared for? Here are some guidelines for Filmcamp.
 
 

Filmcamp is abso-friggin'-lutely free!
 
It’s so free it's giving the air you breathe a serious run for its money. That’s right, I’ve insisted that our first Filmcamp will not cost you an arm or a leg or even your best friend’s leg. My wonderful organizing team has worked to make sure you get to attend at no cost to you! Of course, wads of cash are always appreciated (*ahem cough cough*). We’re a community-run event, and your donations will go a long way in supporting our efforts to consistently bring you good activities, good people, good food, and fight the good fight... fending off the invasion of the Sepulchronians.
 
 
 
It’s alright for the presenter to say ‘I don’t know’

There is no rating for presenters. Presenters, and participants share, all the same. There is no pressure, we are all friendly people! Your sharing is your biggest takeaway. It always is. No matter how many people say your event doesn’t work, your presentation wasn't quite up to par, you have a bad haircut - believe us we’ve done this a bazillion times - it just works. The naysayers haven’t woken up to this simple reality of learning through sharing, and they will - believe me - remain under their expensive, limited-edition designer rock.
 
 

Some suggested essentials to bring along with you to Filmcamp 2010

• Laptop
• Mobile phone
• Your Twitter gadgets
• Lunch money
• Video cameras, Mobile phone cameras, etc.
• Tools for meeting people and exchanging contacts
• Name cards / Business cards
• Pokens (used when meeting cool people like myself)
• Bump (an app for the iPhone/Android-based phones - also used when meeting cool people like myself)
• Dress comfortably. You will be moving around a lot.

 
 
 
Help out where you can
 
Photographers: we always need photographers to help take photos of sessions throughout the day whenever possible.
Videographers: with video cams to shoot footage which we can compile into a post-show Filmcamp trailer.
Timers: to help make sure that each session starts and ends on time.
If you have extra iPod/iPhone or laptop chargers, please do feel free to bring them to Filmcamp and share the love. You’ll never know when your batteries run out of juice.
 
 
 
Tweet / blog / spread the word about Filmcamp
 
It’s a community-based and participant-run event with no marketing budget. We believe in organic word-of-mouth to keep ‘Filmcamp’ alive. Filmcamp is for you. If something is good for you, share it. If it’s not good for you, well, in the words of singer-songwriter, Mick Jackson, “Blame it on the Boogie” (I have no idea what he means here but it was a good song, nevertheless). Pass this e-mail on to a friend who may be interested in coming along.
 
 
 
Do not use Filmcamp as the "babysitter" for your little brother or your niece while you sneak out to visit your girlfriend without your parents' knowledge
 
Seriously. Don't.
 
 
 
Come with no other expectation other than to have fun
 
Believe me, if the Internet connection becomes unstable or even the electricity goes out, you’ll still have fun. If you didn't meet the people you wanted to meet, by expecting to have fun, you *will* meet the people who want to meet you. Trust us. The more you're open to this concept the more you'll surprise yourself with how much you learn and be amazed by the cool people you meet.
 
 
 
Last but most definitely not least
 
Bring along your sense of humor. We can’t wait to meet you!
 
 
 
Essential notes:
Our updated schedule & speakers' topics can be found here:  http://j.mp/a5dlQq
Our updated participants list can be found here:  http://j.mp/90kZIt
Our participant sign-up form can be found here:  http://j.mp/9RidP2

For your convenience, please print out a copy of the schedule a day before the event, and bring it along on event day - any minor on-site updates to the schedule will be announced then.

Bear in mind, the planets will all be aligned for us on Filmcamp. And when the virgin moons of Jupiter cross over the path of the 18th Mudath, the mighty Sepulchora will return. And he will bestow his favor upon those who have shown him loyalty through the test of blood and Coco Puffs. The favorable ones will be told to banish the unfavorables for eternity. Darkness will then befall the earth, and for generations to come its inhabitants will only witness acts of pure evil. We must unite to bring back the old believes of the Jerhalis. For the one who walks the path...
 
...er... you guys stopped reading this already, right?

When you see me at Filmcamp come over and say "Hi"
Chris

Chris Gomez
Founder / Curator, Filmcamp
producer  |  angel  |  emergent media prophet  |  deity
Web:  www.enginealpha.com  |  www.filmcamp.sg
Twitter:  www.twitter.com/chrisgomez   (@chrisgomez)  |  www.twitter.com/filmcampsg   (@filmcampsg)
==&==

It's a rare occasion when an animated short film (10 minutes and 38 seconds) leaves me thinking about it for days afterwards. That's what Shane Acker's "9" did to me when I first saw it in 2005. Acker's short about a tiny puppet trying to survive and save his puppet friends was good enough to be nominated for best animated short in the 2005 Academy Awards, although it didn't get the plum.

Here's the original 2005 short film:

But Acker's efforts seem to be paying off, as he teamed up with Tim Burton to produce a feature-length movie based on the "9" animated short. The movie will carry on the original's dark, gloomy settings, with the puppets (called "stitchpunks") trying to survive in a world overrun by mechanical monsters.

The premise is pretty standard for any post-apocalyptic movie. Machines have eradicated the human race, and now the stitchpunks -- gifted with souls by a now-dead creator -- now have the daunting mission of making life go on in a decrepit, dead world.

The official trailer is really neat:

With powerhouse voice actors like Elijah Wood, Crispin Glover, Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Christopher Plummer, and Martin Landau, this is yet another 2009 gem you won't want to miss.

Some people in Hollywood aren't going to like this. The rest of the us, however, probably will.

Last week saw the debut of "Live Music," a short five-minute animated film about an electric guitar named Riff who falls in love with a violin named Vanessa. It's kind of a rock version of Romeo and Juliet, complete with mocking cymbals, keyboards, and other musical instruments.

What's interesting about this film is that it wasn't made by Pixar, even if the radical plot and setting seems so like them. Nope, "Live Music" was made entirely by animators around the world, collaborating on the project over the Internet.

The upstart animation group Mass Animation, led by Yair Landau, spearheaded the effort. They released the plot, the soundtrack, and some computer animation software on Facebook, for interested animators who wanted to help out in the project.

According to Landau, more than 500,000 Facebook users signed up to help out. In the end, shots from 51 animators were chosen for the final product, which Mass Animation took only $1 million and six months to produce. The animators came from all over the world -- 40 men and 11 men, and between the ages of 14 and 48.

Sony Entertainment Pictures has seen the short and, very impressed, offered to screen it as an opener for their November 12 animated film, Planet 51.

No one really expects "Live Music" to win or get nominated for any award, but you'll have to admit -- all the major animating studios started somewhere. Open-source filmmaking sounds so attractive that I'm pretty sure more crowdsourcing animating "studios" will pop up on Facebook and other social media platforms soon enough.

There's also little doubt that Sony and the other big names in animation will try to leverage this new way of generating good content to their advantage.

But apparently, not everyone likes the idea. Soon after Mass Animation came into the public eye, a group called Anti Mass Animation also opened up on Facebook. They degraded Mass Animation's efforts, calling them "manipulative" and "insulting," among other things.

Meh. Probably Republicans.

It's obvious. More and more companies are using viral marketing these days. The most recent viral marketing ad I've seen was the one I was shown last week from Vodaphone, F1 racer Lewis Hamilton's title sponsor. The YouTube video shows two RC enthusiasts controlling a small remote controlled F1 racer around a makeshift track in their workplace. The remote control? The new Blackberry Storm.

The ad later showed how their YouTube video got the attention of the McLaren racing team. Later on the team used the technology to create a full-scale F1 racecar that could be controlled by the Blackberry Storm via Bluetooth. Hamilton himself, who was an avid RC fan before graduating to karting, later controlled the racecar around a small track with the Blackberry, clearly impressed.

CNN's Asia Pacific Screen Awards showcases the best in the Asia Pacific's film industries every year. This year, films that have reached international fame, including Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tragon from China, Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir from Israel, and Shichinin No Samurai (Seven Samurai) by Akira Kurosawa from Japan, competed for the APSA Viewers' Choice Award. But at the end of the day, it was a lesser-known Filipino film that received the honors.

This year, the rules for the Academy Award for Documentaries have been changed -- “streamlined,” actually – to supposedly make it easier for documentaries to qualify. The rule changes have been both praised and criticized by various fronts for more than a week now.

Yesterday I wrote about the directors who made it to the shortlist of the the Academy Award for Documentary Short Film. Now I'd like to turn a little of the spotlight to some of the directors that I'm personally following. I don't know precisely why, but I sometimes have a knack of seeing which filmmakers have the brightest futures in the business. From the way I see it, these three directors are particularly worth keeping an eye on.

It was announced last week that eight out of the 31 entries for the Academy Award for Documentary Short Film have been shortlisted for the nominations. Three, four, or five of these eight will be chosen as nominees for the award on January 22, 2009.

The lineup sounds like an interesting mix of subjects that have received little, if any, critical worldwide attention as of yet. The topics include the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., gay men in China, and Cesar Chavez's grape boycott.

These are the films who bested 23 others in the shortlisting process:

Yesterday I wrote about the Singapore Film Commission's New Feature Film Fund, which granted nine lucky, budding directors almost US$170,000 each to jumpstart their own films. Of the nine, all eyes are on three directors whose films are highly anticipated. If you're following the film scene in the region, then do yourself a favor and watch out for these three directors and the films they'll very certainly come up with in the future.

The Singapore Film Commission (SFC) started their New Feature Film Fund last June this year. Its purpose was to offer funding to film directors to produce new films directed towards an international audience. The New Feature Film Fund was to grant almost US$170,000 to nine lucky film directors this year.