Sunday, May 31, 2009

"That was terrible" (only kidding)

Hi everyone ,

Hope you are all staying warm this long weekend.I know my toes are a little chilly .

Well , like I mentioned , a bunch of us headed down to Dunedin as finalists in the Dunedin leg of the 48hrs Film competition .
There were 12 films in total that made it this far and now was the time we were gonna see them on the big screen with a very sharply dressed audience .

Alas , Pick Up , our film didn't manage to win anything , but I have to say , we feel privileged to have been in the finals with some amazing movies .What was cool was that these films were not just cool 'cause they were made in 48hrs , but that they were cool full stop . Some of them would have definitely held their own amongst shorts that had no such time restrictions .

The winning film was "Charlotte" by Line Men - Big Twist Genre and the runner up was "Girl from Sweden, Maori from Dunedin" by Know Idea Productions - Politically Incorrect Genre

CHARLOTTE in my opinion was a deserved winner. An animated film that was simple , clean and very nicely put together .

I though that "Girl from Sweden, Maori from Dunedin" had a lot of great elements , not least of which was the great swedish character , she was very funny and well acted .

Another stand out film was "Nuclear Family" by team Rorschach . This film won quiet a few prizes but somehow didn't make it to the final 2 . No disrespect to the team behind Girl from Sweden, Maori from Dunedin , but , I think Nuclear Family deserved that runner up spot .
There is always the Peter Jackson wildcard draw , which can bring an otherwise unsuccessful team to the Grand Finals .
Watch this space to see if that happens.

C4 will begin screening some selected 48hrs shorts in the next week or two, so tune in if you have that channel and watch.There will also be a YouTube Channel dedicated to 48hrs shorts , which I will post the link to once it is up to speed.

Pick Up will screen for WFT fans along with some other bits and pieces, soon .

Okay , so the next thing to do is to get this "Gone in 60 seconds" film making jamboree up and running .
I'm keen on getting people making movies , not necessarily "in competition" but what I am gonna put out there is this ..

...If there is anyone reading this that can offer any kind of prizes for a film making competition , however small , be it a physical prize , a cash prize or a goods and/or services prize , voucher etc . then please get in contact with me at thairocksuperstar(Then simply add @ and gmail followed by a DOT and a COM) then I would greatly appreciate it .

If you know anyone who can offer any prizes , then , also get in contact, please .

There will be audience voting and raffles and stuff too , so think on .

I will let you know dates etc soon.

This competition is open to anyone , so spread the word.

cheers everyone

take care

Robert.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Great Night at Wanaka Premiere



Hi everyone ,
I'm just home from the Wanaka premieres of both , Lovers Rock & Fishy Tales . Well I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had turned out on a chilly midweek evening . They were an enthusiastic crowd and it was splendid to see so many film fans in our small town .
I'll post recap over the weekend, but I would really like to encourage any readers who were in the audience to send me their reviews of any or both of the films screened for posting here on the site .

A bunch of us are off to Dunedin (again) tomorrow for the City Finals of the 48hrs film competition .
WFT's entry "Pick Up" made the cut , so we will be getting our glad rags on and representing the town.
So many movie shindigs , so little time!!

More screenings coming up at the Paradiso in the next couple of weeks . Stay tuned for details .

Thanks again to all readers and viewer for your valued participation .

Soon you will all hopefully be getting busy on making your own 60 second flick .
Start thinking about it now and I'll get more info out to you soon.

Night , night all .

Please post reviews / questions etc. either in the comments section or via email to thairocksuperstar(AT)gmail(DOT)com

Thanks and Bye.

Robert

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Venue Change

Ok Folks ,

Venue for tomorrows screening has changed to The Mint Bar.

all other details remain unchanged.

Times etc

Happy Hour etc

See you all there


cheers

Robert

WFT 48hrs entry makes it to the City Finals


So Pick Up , one of the Wanaka entries to the 48hr film comp has made it through to the City Finals! . The Only film from it's heat to do so and the only Horror from Dunedin to do so.

City Finals Gala details

THURSDAY MAY 28th (yup , that's this thursday)

Doors Open 7pm
Advance Tickets from Wild Pair, 241 George St from Tuesday 12th May, $15
The Top 12 Shorts selected by the Judges will screen
Screening venue: GLENROY AUDITORIUM, Harrop St, Octagon.
Always very popular, book in advance. The finals are not free admission.

Congratulations to the team involved.
Glad rags picked out for the night?

Pick Up will screen in Wanaka as soon as the Grand Finals are over .

(watch this space , regarding Wednesdays premiere of Fishy Tales and Lovers Rock , Possible venue change to Mint Bar , details posted as soon as confirmed .

cheers

Robert

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Free Premiere Screening On Wednesday 27 May



I am pleased to announce the Wanaka premiere of Darren Simmonds & Wanaka Film Trusts FISHY TALES at The Local Bar on Wednesday 27th May from 7.30ish (with happy hour from 7pm - 9pm) all welcome. First short LOVERS ROCK will screen at approx 8pm to be followed by Fishy Tales .This is a free screening for all interested , but please feel free to show your support for our kind hosts by purchasing a beverage or two at the bar...but drink sensibly and don't drink/drive etc.
See you all there .

Robert

Now Twittering (for films sake!)

Follow WFT twitters here (If you like).

That is all.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Getting Back Up To Speed


Hi all ,

It's been a long week .

Things coming up .

Wanaka  Premiere  of " Fishy Tales" 

We are hoping to have a confirmed date /time/location for the Wanaka premier of Darren Simmonds short film in the next day or so , but it looks likely to be mid week , next week .
It is hoped that The Beer Whisperers entry for this years 48hr film comp "Lovers Rock" ,  will be the opening act at this screening .
(Those guys did an amazing job , to make a fun and accomplished  short in such a limited time - unfortunately , due to technical difficulties , they didn't qualify for the competition, although they did get to screen the movie , to a great reception , at the Dunedin Heats last week .)

Details coming soon

Wanaka's other 48hrs entry ,  "Pick Up" ,- which did , luckily , qualify for comp , also screened in Dndn last week and , while a more straight style film than most  48hrs entries shown at the heat , got a good reaction also .
We will find out if it progresses to the City Finals on Tue 26th May . Fingers crossed!!

I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who got stuck in to these Wanaka productions . It is very heartening to see all these folk working together and sharing their abilities in the name of local movie production .
Some new alliances were undoubtedly forged during these productions and I look forward to seeing the results of these  over the coming year .

Lets keep the momentum going folks  .
WFT screenings coming up include shorts from over seas as well as more local fare , also , we hope to screen  feature length documentary    "RIP: A Remix Manifesto "

This is an open source  film , but we may ask for donations at this screening to support the filmmakers . 

Details soon.

Keep well , warm and safe folks.


Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Notes Of A Filmmaker


A quick shout out to Ian Lawton , filmmaker and oldest buddy of mine ( In fact , we made a short together ...I guess , over 20 yrs ago - which I can't really remember much of , and I'm sure was terrible , if it ever even got finished - Ian?.
He lives in Ireland . He makes films , and he has a blog
called Notes Of A Filmmaker which contains some cool links and valuable info on film making , but more than that , it's kinda like a production diary of a filmmakers ongoing projects .
Check it out , it's a nice slice .

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Survived

Hi all .

48hrs

The weekend has passed and we all survived the 48hr film comp .
Pics and details soon .
Congratulations to all who participated in Wanaka teams .
Best of luck in the heats.

Fishy Tales


A last minute date change has Darren Simmonds FISHY TALES premiering in Dunedin tomorrow (13th May) .
Best of luck to Darren and all the team who worked on this short .
Wanaka screening details as soon as I have them .

Ok , folks , I'll end it there tonight and will follow up with a fuller post later in the week.
Keep well all.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Calm before the storm


Hi all ,

Thanks for stopping by .
Just a quick post to say that 48hr weekend is almost on us and therefore , there will probably be little in the way of a blog update till middle of next week .
Not only is the weekend filled with film making for some of us , but also WFT's first production , "Fishy Tales" will have it's premiere in Dunedin on Tuesday ,(some late night action in the sound studio over the last few nights has been noted!)
Best of luck to Darren and the Fishy Tales gang , hope the red carpet gets rolled out for this one .

I believe there will be a Wanaka premiere in the not so distant future also . Dates will be posted as soon as confirmed .

Film Festival News

The 7th Annual New Zealand Mountain Film Festival is on in Wanaka from July 3rd - 7th .
This is a great opportunity to see some outdoors/ adventure etc.themed films and lots of other cool stuff .
Check out the full details on the WEBSITE.

A last note to all the folk who have taken the time to email , letting us know a bit about themselves . Thank you for keeping this ball rolling .
It's appreciated.

A quick suggestion

As i hope there will be new visitors to this blog over time , may i propose that , in addition to cc to all other email addresses ,
that you post a copy of your email to the comments section in this blog , or just add the word PUBLISH in bold capitals at the end of your emails and I can then copy them and paste them into the main body of the blog .
You can , of course , do what you like with your emails but this way , everyone gets to read what you have to say .

On a side note , can you all please note that Emma's email address is listed in your emails as hotmail.co.nz - when it is of course hotmail.com .
If you could change that in your contacts , she will then also get your mail .
I have one email address from the first WFT screening night signup sheet that I can't read - I have tried a few different versions but keep getting a delivery failure .If anyone knows Antonio's (stop motion chap) email address , can they let him know the error and have him email me or leave a comment .

Thanks all.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM.


Hi all ,

Emma has kindly taken the time to drop me a line .
She asks for any recommendations on screenwriting software.

Here is my reply to her

"...I've usually used Final Draft , which I find good - it takes a bit of getting your head around , but once you do , it's worth it .
I believe it is considered the industry standard also .
It's not cheap , US$249 , but they offer a free download-able trial from their website .

If you have a Mac , Apples desktop publishing application, Pages , has , in it's latest version (Pages'09), a template for screenplays .
I haven't used it yet , as I've only just upgraded to '09 - but it looks good , easy to use and pretty self explanatory.
It costs NZ$179 but you would qualify for Apples education discount .

A mate of mine in Ireland recently mentioned Celtx which is (unlike the other two mentioned) a free open source suite of production software , which includes a
screenwriting application .
Again , I haven't used it , but free is good ....."

Please folks , add your comments and recommendations here for Emma , as , I'm sure some of you have used something I haven't mentioned .

Cheers for now .