Technology and independent films today

Photo: Greg Sabo on the Set of THE COURIER. Click here to see the Trailer.

The independent film scene's development in the 1990s and 2000s has been stimulated by a range of factors, including the development of affordable digital cinematography cameras that can rival 35 mm film quality and easy-to-use computer editing software.

Until the advent of digital alternatives, the cost of professional film equipment and stock was a major obstacle to independent filmmakers who wanted to make their own films. Studio quality filming typically required expensive lighting and post-production facilities. But the advent of consumer camcorders in 1985, and more importantly, the arrival of high-definition digital video in the early 1990s, have since lowered the technology barrier to movie production considerably. Both production and post-production costs have been significantly lowered; today, the hardware and software for post-production can be installed in a commodity-based personal computer.

Technologies such as DVD, FireWire connections and professional-level non-linear editing system software make movie-making relatively inexpensive.

Director Francis Ford Coppola, long an advocate of new technologies like non-linear editing and digital cameras, said in 2007 that "cinema is escaping being controlled by the financier, and that's a wonderful thing. You don't have to go hat-in-hand to some film distributor and say, 'Please will you let me make a movie?'

The July issue of the Acting in Columbus Newsletter offers a sampling of locally produced independent films. This issue just scratches the surface of the local "indie" scene. We will continue to report on more independent film projects and local filmmakers in future editions.

Mid Ohio Filmmakers Association

The vision of M.O.F.A. is to offer an open exchange of ideas, resources, knowledge, and professional opportunities to our members through open networking events. Through this empowerment and our combined resources we will continue to expand the artistic and economic opportunities for locally produced media and the filmmakers who create it.Come gather in a social setting with like minded artists and filmmakers to help promote and develop filmmaking in Mid Ohio. No speakers, announcements, screenings or workshops, MOFA is a place to socialize and network.Gatherings will be held at Spice Bar, downtown the second Wednesday of every month starting at 7pm. and running until the last person leaves.
Website: http://midohiofilm.com/

WEEKEND ACTING BOOT CAMP

Friday/Saturday/Sunday August 21-23, 2009 $275


Weekend Acting Boot Camp is designed for the beginner who want intensive training over a short period of time or the rusty actor who needs to get back on top of their game. Boot Camp will give you a strong foundation in acting techniques as well as a firm grasp of the nuts and bolts of scene work and audition skills.

Your Boot Camp will consist of no more than eight students who will discover together that acting is probably the most challenging and thrilling thing they have ever done. You will learn that if indeed this is for you and you stick with it, you will not only acquire a skill, but you will do something quite extraordinary with your life.

For more information click here: ACTING BOOT CAMP

Trailers of Locally Produced Independent Films


"Measured Sacrifice" is a dramatic narrative short film from writer/director John Whitney and producer Phil Garrett. Set in a dystopian future America, this low tech science fiction film follows the story of a young woman in trouble.
"'Measured Sacrifice' is an intense, powerful,important statementabout how we try to come to terms with the out of control forces around us."- Clay Lowe, WOSU's "It's Movie Time"

"Measured Sacrifice" Trailer




Midnight Syndicate Films and Precinct 13 Entertainment present The Dead Matter http://www.thedeadmatter.com/

A relic with occult powers falls into the hands of a grief-stricken young woman named Gretchen, whose desire to reconnect with her dead brother draws her into the supernatural world of vampirism and the living dead. Drenched in the dark and shadowy music of Halloween horror legends MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE and co-produced by Robert Kurtzman (Producer From Dusk Till Dawn, co-founder KNB FX) and Gary Jones (Xena, Ghouls), The Dead Matter is a supernatural thriller inspired by EC Comics, Creepshow, and Hammer Films, featuring a mix of classic horror themes with modern twists that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats. The movie stars Andrew Divoff (Lost, Wishmaster), Jason Carter (Babylon 5, Angel), Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Lost Boys 2), and legendary television horror hosts Dick Count Gore DeVol Dyszel and Big Chuck Schodowski




Trailer for "Season of Darkness" features Tim Thomerson, Richard Hatch, Tiffany Shepis, Nick Baldasare and Amanda Howell. Shot on 35mm, movie was directed by Jay Woelfel and shot in and around Columbus, Ohio. http://www.jaywoelfel.com/



Trailer Featuring John Brickner

John Brickner is a former Acting in Columbus student who has appeared in several local indie films . In November of 2005, John moved to Los Angeles. More recently, John caught the eye of Richard Halpern, an indie film director, who cast John in "WMD", a film about the stresses on soldiers in Iraq. "WMD" is currenlty shooting in Hollywood. As he continues to grow his craft, John has been deemed "one to watch" by many industry professionals.



Featured Filmmaker: JOHN WHITNEY

Featured Filmmaker: PETER JOHN ROSS

RELATIONSHIP CARD

starring George Caleodis and Amanda Howell
written by Joanne Fromes and Peter John Ross
directed by Peter John Ross
produced by John Fromes
cinematography by Scott Spears
assistant director - Rachel Hanna
key grip - Derek Rimelspach
art director - Leyna Haller
graphic design - TJ Cooley



Relationship Card™ ® © from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

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ACTING IN COLUMBUS

NOW ENROLLING FOR FALL CLASSES!

ACTING FOR FILM SCENE STUDY - Acting Fundamentals for stage and film Wednesdays beginning September 16, 2009 7:00pm-9:30pm $200. This eight-week course offers a focused introduction to the acting process. Beginning actors work, stage, and shoot several film scenes during the eight-week session. We work in depth on concepts central to the actor's role development for film.

ADVANCED ACTING FOR FILM - Tuesdays beginning September 15, 2009 7:00pm-9:30pm $200. Here is your opportunity to take on more challenging scenes. To work with people who are serious about the work. This is an on-going class designed to stretch your skills. Actors work, stage, and shoot several film scenes during the eight-week session. Scripts from soaps, sitcoms, dramatic TV and film are used.

CRAFT NOTES by Ed Hooks


"THE DREAM"

There is no "right" time to dream, and there is no right time to be an artist. You would be surprised by the number of E-Mails I receive from people who confess to having had long time dreams about acting, but reality and the demands of making a living have caused them to follow a different path. They can't get rid of their dreams, though, and they often want to know if it is "too late."
It is never too late. Life is not a dress rehearsal.
Van Gogh was twenty-seven before he painted his first picture. Henry Miller wrote Tropic of Cancer when he was forty-four. One of my favorites is Norman Maclean, who wrote the novella A River Runs Through It when he was seventy-six. The hit television show The Sopranos was brimming with late blooming actors. Vincent Curatola, who portrayed the New York underboss Johnny Sack, was a masonry contractor until the early '90s. Federico Castellucio, was a painter when he decided to pursue a sister art - acting. Tony Sirico, who played Paulie Walnuts, was an actual honest-to-God criminal before becoming an actor. No, it is never too late. Having said that, following a dream does not mean you have to toss common sense out the window. Unless you are a stash of money, you still have to make a living, pay the rent and maybe support a family. You can't just jump ship in life.

You have to balance your dream with reality. If you are a person who has the actor dream, I suggest that you start the process by asking yourself what your dream is really all about. (It is important to be very honest with yourself about this.) When you day-dream about acting, where do you see yourself performing? On a movie screen? In a soap opera? On the stage? As a guest on The David Letterman Show? If fulfilling your dream is dependent upon you becoming a movie star or a celebrity, you will be wise to think twice before pursuing it. There is a lot you can do to become a good actor, but there is almost nothing you can do to become a movie or television star. Sure, some small percentage of actors will likely become celebrities, but this requires a lot of luck, fortunate timing and persistence, in addition to acting skill. Dreaming of being a movie star is sort of like dreaming of being the Princess of Monaco. Yeah, maybe it is possible, but it is not a very realistic goal.

How much satisfaction and magic do you imagine acting will provide in your life? How important is it that you get paid to act? Are you thinking of making a living from acting? How much money is that? Could you scratch the itch by performing in non-or-low-paying community theater productions while making your living in a day job? If you intend to be paid to act, then it is a good idea to put on your business-person's hat for a minute and consider a few realities along with your dream.

The frustrating truth is that, especially in the United States, very few people make a living from their art, whether that be acting, music, dance or painting. Eighty-five percent of the members of Screen Actors Guild earn less than $5,000 per year from their craft. In acting, a middle-income group is practically non-existent. There are thousands of actors who are making zilch or close to zilch, and then there are Will Smith, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts - who earn in the tens of millions of dollars per movie. An acting career tends to be feast or famine, starving or being over-fed. For twenty-five years, I was fortunate to be in the middle-income group, but I did that by acting on episodic television shows and commercials. Those kinds of programs are an endangered species in an age of low-cost reality-shows like America's Next Top Model and Wife Swap. Advertisers are in the process of moving their clients' money away from television and onto the Internet. New actors today are going to have to be entrepreneurial, seeking out new venues that pay money.

My point is that, if you want to make a living from acting, you really ought to have a realistic game plan regardless of your age. As Antonin Artaud famously observed in his book The Theatre and Its Double, "The actor is an athlete of the heart." He was correct about that, but actors that get paid are also generally hard-nosed realists that are willing to go out there and play tackle football.

Do you have a feeling deep inside that you have a life-perspective that you want to share with others? If so, I think you have what might be called an "artistic impulse". In that case, it is mainly a matter of pursuing the art form that speaks to you most personally. Art of all kinds is about communicating feelings.

In one sense, deciding to become an artist is like finding religion. You wake up one morning and realize that you simply must do this. Even though becoming an artist may not make good logical sense, you will never feel satisfied until you at least try. There is one more very important benefit to becoming an artist that I want to mention. You will find others like yourself. All of us have a need to communicate. That is, after all, why I wrote these craft notes, and it is why I send you an encouraging cyber-hug.

BOOK OF THE MONTH


Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Directing by William Ball


Mr. William Ball, the former artistic director and founder of The American Conservatory Theatre in San Fransisco, boils down almost forty years of teaching, acting and directing experience into possibly the most effective,educational and practical document about directing. I shudder to use the word text book as that term implies dry academia- an approach which leads to the the death of the theatre- but really this book is indespensable to any theatre director. Ball lays out in a logical, simple and jargon free manner the nuts and bolts of building a balanced right and left brained community which has complete and utter access to the creative impulse. Everything in Ball's book is transferable, practical (sorry about using that term again but it is true)and impeccably rendered. For any theatre director, I strongly suggest purchasing this book as the foundation of any library. Five out of five stars. -J. Remington

This book is also recommended for Acting Students!!