Category Archives: Coming Soon

UPDATE: Lazer Team still breaking records!

Posted on by
Reply

With less than a week to go, Rooster Teeth’s Lazer Team Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign continues to smash records.

They are closing in on $2,000,000 and 300% of their original goal.

This represents over 28,000 backers and an average contribution of approximately $68.

Of note, RT has raised over $142K from 23 people who have earned various producer credits in return.

My take: Rooster Teeth initially decided to make this a Flexible Funding campaign (9% fees,) rather than the riskier Fixed Funding gamble (0%.) No matter, now that they’ve surpassed their goal, the fee for both models is 4%, and Indiegogo stands to make $80K!

Rooster Teeth breaks crowd-funding records!

Posted on by
Reply

Rooster Teeth, the creative team behind Red vs Blue, has just set crowd-funding history.

Here’s the scenario:

“In the late 1970’s, the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence project received a one time signal from outer space. It looked exactly as theorists thought a communication from an alien civilization would — unfortunately it has never been decoded. Or so we were told. Unbeknownst to the general public the signal was translated and told us two things: 1. We are not alone. 2. The galaxy is a dangerous place. Our story is live action sci-fi comedy that takes place decades later in the aftermath of this event.”

Not bowled over? Well, these numbers certainly are impressive:

The ask: $650K. The project: a theatrical feature production.

The results:

  • $1,000,000 in two days.
  • Over 25,000 contributors.
  • $123,000 from 20 backers, rewarded with producer credits.
  • To date, over $1.7 million with more than 10 days to go!

See their campaign on Indiegogo.

My take: a popular franchise appeals to their fans to finance a very different product, with wildly successful results. Of course, it helps to have over 7.5 million subscribers on your Youtube channel.

Women are bankable

Posted on by
Reply

A recent study refutes the common belief in Hollywood that women are not bankable.

By cross-referencing box office numbers with the Bechdel Test, Walt Hickey at FiveThirtyEight has proven that films with two women that talk to each other about something other than men make more money than those that don’t.

“The total median gross return on investment for a film that passed the Bechdel test was $2.68 for each dollar spent. The total median gross return on investment for films that failed was only $2.45 for each dollar spent. And while this might be a side effect of films with lower budgets tending to have higher returns on investment than films with higher budgets, it’s still a strong indicator that films with women in somewhat prominent roles are performing well.”

Although the article is long, it makes very interesting reading.

My take: Why consistently ignore half your audience?

The new 10 commandments of low budget filmmaking

Posted on by
Reply

Elliot Grove and the Raindance Film Festival have issued ten new commandments of low (no) budget filmmaking.

They are:

  1. Thou shalt have a fantastic screenplay.
  2. Thou shalt understand keywords and SEO tools.
  3. Thou shalt secure some development finance.
  4. Thou shalt spend proper time in pre-production.
  5. Thou shalt understand the shoot and exploit it to maximum advantage.
  6. Thou shalt not fix it in Post-Production.
  7. Thou shalt clear all music in your film.
  8. Thou shalt prepare professional publicity and marketing materials.
  9. Thou shalt use film festivals to launch your film.
  10. Thou shalt create a distribution strategy.

See the annotated version.

My take: I can get behind all of these except number nine. Seems to me that’s really part of number 10. Not having much, if any success, at film festivals, I’m not convinced. I guess what I really need is a paid-for-performance film festival agent. Any suggestions?

CineVic presents SOULstice

Posted on by
Reply

If you’re in Victoria and looking for something to do on Saturday night, come on down to the Victoria Event Centre on Broad Street for CineVic’s SOULstice.

The first half of the evening is the Film Festivus: Silent Night screening.

“The challenge: Filmmakers make an under-6 minute film in 5 weeks in the spirit of the holidays. This year the screening will be called Film Festivus: Silent Night, and you guessed it—we’re challenging you to make a silent film. No dialogue, no sound effects, no foley. Just your winter story and an instrumental soundtrack. You can go for the classic black & white look or dazzle us with full-on technicolour. Title cards are permitted for traditionalists. The theme for the films is: ‘The Longest Night of the Year.'”

Music and dancing to the The Garden City Soul Club rounds out the evening.

My take: the films are usually top-notch. I made one a couple of years ago; see Sad Santa, Glad Santa.

Disclaimer: I sit on the board of CineVic.

Microsoft’s Xbox Entertainment Studios orders first unscripted series

Posted on by
Reply

Microsoft is getting into Reality TV. Sort of.

The huge computer company has greenlit its first unscripted series for its Xbox platform, called Every Street Reunited, from Mandalay Sports Media, the US indie set up by Rain Man producer and La Dodgers owner Peter Guber, Smallville co-creator Mike Tollin and talent agency CAA.

“The show will focus on street soccer, with each half-hour episode shot in a different country — the U.S., Spain, Holland, France, Argentina, Brazil, Ghana, South Korea — featuring local, undiscovered soccer players across the globe.”

It is expected that the series will feature some type of global interactive component.

My take: the line between the TV and the console continues to blur as the boundary between passive content and live experience continues to shift.

A brave new world envisioned by — Disney

Posted on by
Reply

The Washington Post reports that Disney is working on a touchscreen that lets you feel textures.

“The technology is called ‘tactile rendering of 3D features,’ and an early version of a rendering algorithm has already been developed by engineers at Disney Research in Pittsburgh. The process behind it is, predictably, both technical and confusing, but the basic premise is that small, electronic pulses can trick your fingers into perceiving bumps and texture, even if the surface is actually flat.”

The right amount of voltage makes you feel ridges, edges, protrusions or bumps!

Check out the video.

My take: This reminds me of the feelies in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Science fact catches up to science fiction!

Saul Bass: posters and title sequences

Posted on by
Reply

Saul Bass is one name I remember noticing when I first got into films.

Probably because he did cool titles and his name was usually right in those titles.

Check out the first 10 and a half minutes in this documentary to see some of Saul Bass’s famous title sequences.

Saul Bass was also a graphic designer and made some very iconic posters.

He was also an Academy-awarded filmmaker. See his 1968 winning short film.

My take: when it comes to opening and closing credits, Saul Bass was a trailblazer. Have you seen any great title sequences lately?