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I’ve just return from Hot Docs where I participated in a panel of judges for the newly formed Convergence Lab. Created by DocAgora, the lab focuses on a number of projects. The lab brings together producers, filmmakers and interactive designers in an effort to develop cross-media strategies for their projects. Cross-media (the telling of stories across multiple mediums, devices and platforms) is a topic that we discuss often - ...

First off, if you haven't checked out Brett Gaylor's open source cinema project you should. It is an exciting doc project that pulls from collaborators around the world. Brett is currently looking for some materials to finish the film. Here's a request that he sent out to his Open Source Cinema members. If you'd like to join this ground breaking project visit http://opensourcecinema.org Hello dear members of Open Source ...

We're pleased to welcome another contributor to the project - Mike Ambs. I had the pleasure of meeting Mike at SXSW last month and he along with Amanda Walker have created an interesting new project called Pedal. In his first post Mike shares some insight into the post production process and how various web 2.0 techniques can be applied with interesting results. By Mike Ambs:: I should be upfront ...

by Marc Lougee :: Mini Cameras: Small, like Diamonds There’s much talk on and offline concerning the advent of mini camera’s used in stop motion animation, specifically when used in tandem with DSLR’s. Some folks love’em, some hate’em, but either way, they keep proving themselves useful, relatively inexpensive and hard to boot when faced with the alternative of shooting all day only to find yourself facing a ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Karin Chien is an independent film producer based in New York City. She's produced a number of independent films such as Robot Stories, The Motel, and Undoing. For films such as Robot Stories and Undoing, Karin and her team applied a hybrid DIY approach to the theatrical release of each that created additional value ...

The following was originally published in Filmmaker Magazine. I thought it was appropriate to re-post since the FHTA submission period is coming to a close not to mention numerous filmmakers have been asking for info on ways to spread the word about their work. This article was one of a four part series entitled "Lessons in DIY." Make sure to read the article it covers three other interesting ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Dan Goldman is a critical acclaimed comic book artist and illustrator. His most recent project "Shooting War" went from being a free online comic to sparking a bidding war. Various major publishing and production interests battled it out for the publishing and film rights. Goldman is a strong believer in the concept of ...

* PROJECT Nerdcore Rising is a fun glimpse into the world of the nerd hi-hop movement. Negin Farsad's doc follows the trials and tribulations of MC Frontalot as he embarks on his first national tour; complete with strange opening acts, missing gear, and a single groupie that follows them from the Florida panhandle to New Orleans. WHY: An entertaining look at a subculture that has legions of dedicated fans. ...

IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs – Deadline April 11 (Narrative Rough Cut Lab) Given the pivotal role that festivals play in launching emerging filmmakers, IFP's Rough Cut Labs are designed to assist in tackling the creative and technical challenges of completing projects before they are submitted to festivals. Led by seasoned independent producers, the Labs help independent filmmakers achieve the full potential of their material prior to industry exposure by ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Today we are joined by writer and director Steve Balderson. Often working from his home state of Kansas, Steve is a strong proponent of DIY filmmaking and the fact that movies can be made anywhere. He has written and directed narrative features (Pep Squad, Firecracker) and docs (Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere, Phone Sex). In ...

In this special video podcast Christy Dena interviews workbook project founder Lance Weiler. Dena, a cross-media entertainment strategist, mentor, designer, writer and PhD researcher conducted the interview for her universe creation podcast. Here's what Dena had to say about the interview. Filmmaker Lance Weiler is the special guest on this first video podcast at UC101. Weiler talks about the unique ways he has experimented with extending the storyworld ...

For anyone who isn't reading Brian Chirls' blog you are missing out on a valuable resource. He's a self professed Indie Nerd Filmmaker (Director, Distributor, Technologist) with a unique perspective on the emerging digital DIY movement. In addition to contributing to the Workbook Project he is also the Head of Theatrical for From Here to Awesome. by Brian Chirls - Here at SXSW, I’ve met a number of cool, ...

Power to the Pixel is a conference that focuses on funding, producing and distributing films in the digital age. The next edition of PTTP will be held in Paris this coming June. Liz Rosenthal the founder of PTTP was kind of enough to share the following video. Please feel free to embed and spread. The final Power to the Pixel session brings together five pioneering filmmakers who are ...

We're happy to introduce another contributor to the Workbook Project. Steve Balderson is a DIY filmmaking machine. He self funds, produces, and releases his own films. Some of the films have been shot on 35mm and others on miniDV. He's taken his work on tour and staged his own "freakshows" in cities across the country. We're excited to have him join the project and if you happen to ...

by Marc Lougee :: Digital Image Capture and why we went there From the outset, I wanted to shoot the film utilizing a high resolution source. My experience with digital capture for animation started while Animation Director on MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch in New York, where we had used three-chip cameras built for medical operating theatres. The image resolution & color was great for standard definition television, but held no ...

by Alex Afterman - Since 2003 I have run a video label called Heretic Films. I used to refer to our company as a DVD label, and sure enough DVD is what we specialized in (with occasional forays in to theatrical and television, but I always was clear with potential acquisitions that first and foremost we were a DVD company). Back in the old days it was easy ...

M dot Strange reports - This was part of a presentation called "Adventures in self distribution" I describe the journey I took with my animated feature film "We are the Strange" From my bedroom to Sundance and beyond and back to my little studio again after turning down Hollywood deals and deciding to self distribute and make my films my way. M dot Strange: Berlin Talent Campus 08 from ...

For those of you who don't know FROM HERE TO AWESOME is an extension of the workbook project. In the spirit of bringing an open source philosophy to various parts of the filmmaking process, FHTA is focused on education, discovery and distribution. Over the next few months leading up to the festival's kick off in Paris on June 3rd, FHTA is constructing a series of vids that detail ...

I'd like to take a moment to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Zachary Mortensen is an accomplished producer and co-founder of production company Ghost Robot. He's produced numerous feature films, shorts and music videos. Recently, Zachary opened a new web shop called Space Unicorn which is helping independent filmmakers to build an online presence for their films. In his first article Zachary breaks down the ...

Kfir Pravda reports - With the entrance of Yahoo! to live broadcasting field, and rumors about Ustream / Microsoft flirt , live Internet broadcasting is back in the headlines. There are many players in this market, some doing better than others. Technology is not a major differentiator, however competitors vary in feature set. Let’s see who is doing what. I focused on main and interesting players today ...

Tom Quinn reports - The morning after our grand jury prize was announced at Slamdance was crazy. I woke up sick as a dog and had to clean the condo before catching a shuttle at 11. The place was a mess and I was coming down with a Park City flu. In my rush to pack, I foolishly used dish soap in the dishwasher and ...

Christy Dena is one of the most knowledgeable people I know working in the cross-media arena. Having studied the topic for years, she is at the forefront of a new emerging form of entertainment.  Christy has written a comprehensive essay on the topic for the Feb 2008 issue (vol 14, no 1) of Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (which is available in hardcopy ...

by Marc Lougee - In April 2007, I dropped a little article here on the workbookproject.com laying out a very basic DSLR/ shooting system that I had assembled for production of the stop motion animated short film, Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum. Using Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera’s in place of traditional film camera’s we’d found a high quality, cost effective digital alternative to 35mm ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Today we are joined by Bryan Kennedy who is the founder of mobmov.org a global mobile drive-in network. With over 6,000 memebers and 170 chapters in 26 countries, Kennedy and his group of cinephiles have cobbled together an impressive grassroots distribution network. Bryan shares the background of mobmov and his plans for an ...

Recently, I've found myself a bit obsessed with the concept of lifestreams. Granted the concept has been around for awhile but what I've found most interesting is how a lifestream could be applied to the discovery and promotion of films. The term Lifestream is associated with creating a digital timeline of your life. They usually include blog entries that you've written, photos you've taken, text messages you've sent or ...

Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech talks with Brian Chirls (filmmaker, technologist, self-distribution pioneer and workbook project contributor) about building audiences and harnessing the power of the internet. Scott writes "Last Wednesday, I had a chance to sit down for a few minutes with Brian Chirls, the tech guru who helped Arin Crumley and Susan Buice build an audience for 'Four Eyed Monsters.' More recently, he has been working with John ...

Tom Quinn reports - I flew home to Philly on Saturday and brought a wicked cold with me so am behind on this post, but we had some great news this weekend: The New Year Parade took the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative at Slamdance 2008!! We couldn’t be more thrilled or humbled. Some terrific reviews went up this week as well: VARIETY: ...

* WEB SERIES Joe Swanberg and Ronald Bronstein have a new web series entitled Butterknife. The series is a comedic Phillip Marlow-sque detective yarn which features real life husband and wife, Ronald and Mary Bronstein. The official site states "Each episode contrasts the unusual, hysterical and tense interactions of P.I. work with a disarming look at a married couple working on a healthy relationship." WHY:Joe's done some interesting work ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Over the holiday break we recorded two editions of TCIBR that looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008. In part one we took a look at the year in digital entertainment. In part two we focus on films and distribution trends. Mark Stolaroff of the No Budget Film School and Paul Harrill of ...

So, we've been in Park City for five days now and my head is spinning. We premiered the film on Saturday and had a great crew in town: Jen Welsh, who plays Kat, Greg Lyons, who plays Jack, my finance Beth, high school pal Tom Bilotta, and Greg's ECC bandmate, Josh Ostrander. Of course, 10AM on a Saturday is a difficult slot - especially after a ton of ...

The news of deals being struck is beginning to filter out of Park City. But behind the deal making that has become legendary is the reality of having to deliver the film. Long after the buzz has dwindled producers will start the long haul of delivery. For some outlets it can be minor but for others it can be a labyrinth that will take money from you at ...

The promise of unlimited choice and shelf space due to an emerging on-demand universe of content has many in the industry struggling to figure out how new media revenue should be divided. This highly contentious issue is at the center of the current WGA strike. But while the WGA and the Hollywood studios duke it out over Internet residuals, many independent filmmakers are simply trying to figure out ...

I'm pleased to introduce a new contributor to the Workbook Project. Kfir Pravda is a marketer, content creator and blogger. His blog "Media, Technology and Rebel Filmmaking" is read and quoted by investors, venture capitalists, CEOs of technology companies, content creators and bloggers. Kfir reports - In the past things were clear - broadcast television required a specific level of production. Lighting, sound, camera quality - all were ...

Tom Quinn reports - I fell behind on the blog this week because we are working to get our assets together for Park City. Everything is lining up really well and the mounting interest has been exciting. It’s shaping up to be a great premiere on the 19th! Most recent news first: My good friend and designer Matt Hanemann just sent me the poster artwork at ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Our guest today is doc filmmaker Don Argott. Don exploded onto the scene with his feature debut Rock School, an entertaining doc about the Paul Green School of Rock. Rock School was acquired by Picture House for a low seven figure advance out of the LA Film Festival. For his newest doc Two Days ...

We've been working on a new social experiment for the last six months and this coming Thursday it will take its first steps. From Here to Awesome is a discovery and distribution festival. The hope is that by bringing together audiences, films, promotional partners and distribution outlets, FHTA can create opportunities for filmmakers that enable them to control their own rights and receive a direct financial return from ...

At the beginning of 10 MPH you'll see Josh and I trying to get sponsors to help out with the whole Segway thing. It was really tough as many of the companies we talked to felt there was no opportunity for ROI. Independent art was not worth their investment. But over time with some work on our strategies, we've learned how to intrigue sponsors more and were actually ...

Content is going to become even more open in 2008... With the change in the media climate and distribution experiments such as Radiohead’s In Rainbows (in music), and Four Eyed Monsters (in film) which have open qualities (temporarily available to watch or listen/download for free, for example) but are not necessarily truly open content, it is getting harder to tell what you can and cannot officially do with ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Over the holiday break we recorded two editions of TCIBR that looked back on 2007 and forward to 2008. In part one we take a look at the year in digital entertainment. Our guests include Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech and Woody Benson, general partner of Prism Venture Works. To listen NOW click ...

Tom Quinn reports - When the call came in for Slamdance, we were initially caught off guard. I had submitted a very rough cut in September and assumed we’d be passed over. I planned to lock picture in December, affording a few months to mix the film and wrap any loose ends before the spring festival slate. Fortunately, the programmers saw through our rough cut and we found ...

Scott Kirsner of CinemaTech sits down with Dolby EVP Tim Partridge as he lays out his vision for how digital 3-D moviemaking will take over the world. Partridge says that in the early days of Dolby's audio noise reduction (and later, Dolby's digital sound), industry insiders predicted that the new technology would only be used for big action pictures. These days, 3-D is regarded as something for action pictures ...

One of our favorite crowdsourced projects, A Swarm of Angels is expanding. We're members and supports of the project which is challenging the way films are funded, produced and distributed. We sat down with founder Matt Hanson to discuss the Swarm last year. Listen here. "Phase 3 is where A Swarm of Angels really takes flight. With over 1000 members from around the world, and after a longer than ...

This edition of DiF is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - In this edition of the Design in Film podcast, we take a look at Michael Haneke's remake of his own 1998 film "Funny Games." Both brutal and thought provoking the film takes an interesting minimalistic approach towards the design of its trailer, poster and site. Scroll down to listen to the podcast. Trailer Poster: Site: ...

Tom Quinn reports - With Slamdance only a month away, I thought it may be worth detailing the process of prepping THE NEW YEAR PARADE for its Park City premiere. Fortunately for us, the IFP Narrative Rough Cut Lab had prepped us on dealing with distributors, sales agents, and planning our festival strategy. But even with their guidance, I found myself initially overwhelmed by the tidal wave that ...

Brett Gaylor's "Basement Tapes," is a collaborative documentary project about copyright in the digital age. We interviewed Brett a bit ago for TCIBR. The above video was a group project done by 64 students from Concordia University. Read More

We hear this all the time. It's about who you know. Most professions in life seem to benefit from networking, but in filmmaking it is about as important as it gets. And getting out to network can become very difficult when you are spending weeks and months in the edit room and have devoted your entire income - plus whatever you can muster up on your credit cards ...

M dot Strange reports - So I was lucky enough to be summoned to make an animated music video for one of my favorite bands "Mindless Self Indulgence" I used Cinema 4d 9.1 w/Cactus Dans tools, and After Effects 6.5. I thought I would out together a little thang documenting my work on the Mindless Self Indulgence music video "Animal" There's ...

This edition of TCIBR is brought to you by IndieFlix and Breakthrough Distribution - Our guest today is Aaron Lubin, an accomplished producer and partner in Wild Ocean Films. Lubin works closely with Edward Burns having produced 5 films with Burns since 2001's "Sidewalks of New York." In our conversation Lubin shares the results of their recent exclusive rollout via iTunes and why they decided to bypass ...