Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

On the first night of the last Sundance Film Festival in January, Lions Gate bought OPEN WATER, the $130,000 home movie by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau for $2.5 million. A film editor by trade, Mr. Kentis (and Ms. Lau) collaborated on GRIND (an early Billy Crudup/Amanda Peet feature) in 1997. Now in wide release, the film gets a positive NY Times Review. Lions Gate also has a website but (rant) it’s one of those Flash sites that are so irritating. It runs slowly and has remarkably little content of poor quality because it’s all being shoved on the right side of the screen. I actually preferred Chris Kentis’ small, homemade site.

I didn’t see the film at Sundance but will surely see it in the theater. A few years back, I went Scuba Diving in the Sea of Cortez. On our first dive, the visibility was 7 feet! I could barely see my hand at the end of my outstretched arm. The scariest part of the trip was being in the water with 12-year-old Alec. Whatever fear you might have for your own safety is NOTHING compared to having your child in the water. And, he was fearless. He loved being above us, flying like Superman. By the third day, visibility improved along with our feeling of safety. That was shattered when our diving boat was boarded by the Mexican Navy (did you know the sailors carry Uzi’s?) and searched for drugs. What an unforgettable trip!

On a lighter note: The National Neighborhood Day Short Film Contest was announced. The festival will be juried by Academy Award winner Terry Sanders and RISD professor/filmmaker Mike Majorors. Deadline is March 15, 2005. The POV of the festival can be surmised by the Margaret Meads quote on the home page: “Never doubt that a small, group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

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“Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.”
    Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862)
    U.S. Author

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One of the most common things people come to get on this blog is the Sundance 2003 Catalog PDF. I’ve decided to capture them and save them every year. I have last year’s catalog but it is TWICE the size of the previous year. I have tried every trick I know to compress the file but have not had any luck so far. So, if anyone can SHRINK it, let me know, I’d like to post the smaller one.

The 2004 Sundance Catalog PDF has some sort of funky, multimedia fade in/out opening that is distracting. To view the document like a “normal” PDF, hit the ESCape key. The file is large. (File size is now 3.6 MB. Thanks Aaron!)

I was able to compress the 2003 Sundance Catalog. As always, PDFs are fully searchable and quite useful. At least 310 people thought so in July. Enjoy.

If you have an earlier Sundance Catalog PDFs, please send them to me and I’ll make them available. My email address is: Cynematik@Cox.Net.

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An idea I’ve been nursing for over 15 years might actually come to fruition this year! I’ve been wanting to capture what I do in the classroom in some sort of media format for quite some time. I wanted the students to have the opportunity to learn (or review what they’ve learned), extend my ability to reach more students and provide a quality computer graphics training experience. Course Technology/Thomson Publishing has a series that dovetails with what I have wanted to do.

We’ve been talking and it looks like I might get the chance to produce a series of computer graphics training books for them! Sweeeet. I reviewed their Cubase Cool School training CD and think Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark and InDesign would work well in the same format.

I’m having “test” anxiety because I have to produce a short demo to show that I’ve got “the right stuff” to make accessible, useful materials. So, short blog entry today — I’ve got outlines to work on now!

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“History never looks like history when you are living through it.”
    John W. Gardner (1912 - )
    U.S. Activist

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This all started with an item on Cinema Minima about The art of the single-camera shoot. An EmediaLive article provides an overview of making a video by yourself (with more to follow in upcoming days). The focus is the art of the single-camera shoot, and insert-editing techniques that will ensure that you have all the angles covered. So, I got to thinking about cameras, high definition, Mark Cuban, HDNET and all that, again.

I started looking at the JVC prosumer and consumer HD cameras. I got really excited about the JVC JY-HD10U but shuddered at the price. There’s the Sundance Independent Filmmaker standard, the Sony PD170 (the ugraded, updated PD150 popularized by Gary Winnick and the InDigEnt folks). Sony has announced an HD model, the Sony HDC-X300 that looks interesting and almost affordable.

I was unable to find many reviews or comparisons of these cameras (possibly because they’re so new). I did find a Best Prosumer Camcorder Article that was pretty good.

Now, I begin the question RENT or BUY. My favorite vendor is B&H Photo in NYC.

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“In this world second thoughts, it seems, are best.”
    Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)
    Greek Dramatist

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Filmmaking is just an expensive exercise if it is never distributed. Distribution is the key to financial success and the satisfaction that comes from actually having your film watched by someone. The web has lots of lists of distributors.

Indiana University has a list of Documentary Distributors with web and email addresses. International Distributors can be found on Film Forum’s site. For the commercial, digital or interlaced crowd, there’s the Video and Film Distributor list. There’s a short list of Short Film Distributors. There’s even a list for Educational Distributors

Be smart about sending people your film for distribution. Check out their catalog, their credentials, and their contracts. I have heard horror stories of filmmakers who have sent their films out to international distributors, thought they were rejected and then discovered their films were distributed internationally anyway. (I’ve also read about screenwriters suffering a similar fate. Scripts sent to potential producers or contests were used in international productions.) So, be prudent.

Also, remember that it’s a business arrangement. It’s up to you to negotiate for the best price. A distributor wants to get a film for as little as possible. It’s just good business.

If you’ve completed a film, you can list it on the Mandy Database. This list is for distributors looking for films. Finally, there’s always the Hollywood Creative Directory’s book of Distributors.

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“The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who have loved it.”
    George Santayana (1863 - 1952)
    U.S. Philosopher

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One of the BEST things at the Sarah McLachlan concert (besides Sarah, of course) was the opening act — Butterfly Boucher. An energetic rocker whose site is aptly named ButterflyBoucher.Com, Boucher (pronouced BOW-chur and, yes, Butterfly is her real name, thank you) is an Australian with an attitude. I was surprised to find that Boucher had covered David Bowie’s Changes for Shrek II.

Personally, I like her single (and video for) Another White Dash which you can view at BandBuilder.Com. The video reminds me of Wang Karwai so it’s not surprising that I liked it. I was MOST IMPRESSED to hear that she had played every instrument on all of the tracks AND produced her first CD by herself. Not bad for a girl who grew up in a trailer.

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“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
    Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)
    Indian Pacifist and Politician

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Tuesday, July 27, former Miramax producer Jim Doyle will discuss funding for independent film at Mesa Community College. The talk will be in the Art & Communications Building and will begin promptly at 7pm. Guests are welcome!

If you want to see what is selling in Hollywood RIGHT NOW, you should check out Done Deal. This site reports the latest script purchases and rumored prices.

There are a number of excellent books on the subject. MovieMoney.Com is Louise Levison’s site about her thorough book Filmmaking & Finance: Business Plans for Independents. Morrie Warshawski’s Shaking the Money Tree is another excellent reference. If you’re SERIOUS about making a film, read these books, watch the trades and come hear Jim!

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“Unhappiness is best defined as the difference between our talents and our expectations.”
    Edward De Bono (1933 - )
    British psychologist

Art Imitates Iraqi Life in All Its Chaos and Misery. The war has been especially disillusioning for young Iraqi artists, many of whom believed the American promises of freedom. Excellent article in the [The New York Times ] today.

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“Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language.”
    Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889 - 1951)
    Austrian Philosopher

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Great article in the Times today on Doctored Photos. A few years back, one of my students was an expert witness on photographic images and we had many good discussions on the challenge of validating digital photographs. In court, he said a lawyer should never stipulate to a photographic print, only negatives BUT that the advent of digital photography was making it difficult to prove which photos were “real.”

Today’s article in the times is on two scientists, Hany Farid and Jessica Fridrich. Farid has developed an algorithm that can tell if photos might be doctored by checking for pixel averaging. His method works well on large TIFF files but needs work to be effective with the smaller JPEG format.

Fridrich has more of a forensic approach. Fridrich says that, like gun barrel markings, digital cameras have a “signature” that reveals which pictures were taken with them. Fridrich is designing a camera that photographs the shooters retina and embeds it with each photo for proof of who took it. The human retina is as individual as fingerprints. Does anyone else see an episode of CSI in the making? I think this is cool stuff!

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