New Blogs

I just wanted to let you know that I am expanding my own personal blogosphere with the introduction of two new blogs--Of Geeks and Artists and Critique Your Film--both of which are centered around filmmaking.

Of Geeks and Artists deals with my efforts to create short movies (1-3 minutes in length) for cellphones and PDAs using a video-equipped camera. The challenges in shooting the movies are the low resolution of the shots--176X144 and 128X96 pixels, both at 15 frames per second-- and their short duration--15 seconds maximum. The challenge of writing scripts for this genre is both the resolution and the extremely short length of the films--1-3 minutes--which is driven by both the storage capacity of the phones and short attention spans of the viewers. In my humble opinion, these short films are the wave of the future and I want to be on the leading edge of that wave.

Critique Your Film is another filmmaking-centric blog, but this one--and its associated website and business: Critique Your Film--deals with a critical facet of filmmaking that many filmmakers may leave out:critique of their film before the post-production editing process is finished. Many film scribes know the value of sending out their screenplays to paid reviewers who go over their screenplay with a fine-tooth comb. looking for problems and errors. These paid reviewers then send back a report which the scribe can use to fine-tune their screenplay. Many filmmakers will show their final product to pre-screening groups, but this means that major work will have to be done to change the film if it flops with the group (i.e. film, sound, dialog, music, etc.) Wouldn't it be easier to review the film at the point where it is to be locked down and sent off for sound, music, titles, etc.? An added feature is that we are not professional critics. We are plain folk who love movies and who represent your final audience--the paying public.

I hope you enjoy reading both blogs as much as I enjoy writing them. Leave a comment or drop me a line.

Tags: filmmaking, cellphone, critique

What's Up With That?

A few minutes ago I tried to post to another of my Blogger blogs and I repeatedly got an error message even though the post was finally published. I then went to del.icio.us to add a link and it wouldn't let me sign-in. I then went to Technorati to ping about my blog post and technorati won't let me sign-in.

I hope that the people at Blogger, del.icio.us, and technorati realize how frustrating this is to us poor, unsung and unpaid bloggers.

Tags: rant, blogger, technorati, del.icio.us

Votin' Day

As I voted today I was reminded of what I think are the two greatest political thriller films of the 20th Century--The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and Seven Days in May (1964)--both of which dealt with extreme ways of changing the political climate of our country.

All I had to do to affect change was make an informed decision and mark a box. No spies. No armies. Just a brain and a pencil.

Now, how cool is that?

Tags: politics, rant, filmmaking

Mexico as 51st State - Again!

I just read an article that tells about the effects of illegal immigration is having on a small Pennsylvania town and the efforts by the town's mayor to combat the problem.

I have said it once and I will say it again: make Mexico the 51st state and give all of the citizens all of the rights and responsibilities associated with statehood.

Tags: rant, immigration