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Showing posts from November, 2007

Building an audience or Hey is anyone out there?

The following YouTube post is pretty informative. Sara Pollack describes an interesting way to use YouTube for filmmakers. The landscape has changed drastically, and instead of having a one way conversation with your audience you can now have a very interactive conversation with a prospective fan base. This would have helped me a lot when I was cutting my film. It's always a GOOD thing to get constructive criticism, and in a way it's how YOU become a better artist. Just thought I bring it to everyones attention.

The Last War

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First off "The Last War" was written, produced, and directed by a gentlemen by the name of Amodio Giordano. I met him at the advertising agency I worked. We both loved George Romero, and were a fan of the his work. My credits on this film were the cinematography, the editing, and sound mix, and I'm billed as associate producer. Amodio and I were a two man crew, and we acquired our equipment from Staten Island Community television. Amodio is a great graphic artist, and he even made a poster for it which hangs on my wall in my office at home. Another man who should be credited is also my friend Andy, also named maxruehl on YouTube. Andy helped in the mix, and I believe it is his moan that we hear in the Church sequence. We slowed it down, and filtered it. The sound mix is credited to Charlie Banner & Nick Devito which was in reality Amodio and I. We mixed the entire film in one Saturday at the agency. It took about 8 to 10 hours, and it came out really well for the

10 MPH DIY Manual

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Check out the guys at 10 mph website . They wrote down their experiences for their film, and they have some interesting things to say about DIY distribution. Here's a section I really thought relevant. Especially where I'm right now. Keep on keepin' on. I notice a lot of filmmakers in the festival circuit that have spent an arm and a leg both in terms of time and money to make a film. They are reaching the point of burnout and don't have any idea how to make another film. So, they don't. Josh and I realized we had to keep making films, otherwise we would have probably faded away too. When we launched plans to make 10 Yards we were pretty burnt out, but it was refreshing to see how this film re-invigorated us and gave us a lot of new energy around developing this career. We were also amazed at how much easier it was to raise some of the money we needed to make the film. With the success 10 MPH was having on the festival circuit, people were more apt to support. Whate

Little Children

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 Okay I said I wasn't going to do this, but while I write I sometimes draw inspiration from good films, and " Little Children " is one of those films. The film was released mid 2006, and had a limited release. It did open to some very good reviews, and for a week or two had a bigger opening, but it quickly faded from the theater screens after awhile. The movie stars Jennifer Connelly , Kate Winslet , and Patrick Wilson . It is about a womens affair with another married man and the events that transpire in small sleepy surburban town. I can't say enough about this film. From the cinematography by Antonio Calvache . To the directing of Todd Field . Everything rings true. Maybe it's because Fields shares screenwriting credit Tom Perrotta the author of the novel. The performances are all played well, and is an example of the power of silence. Throughout the film we have a feeling that we know where this is story is going to go, but in the end it doesn't. That sur