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Left pane: Hunter S. Thompson; Top Right: Hunter S. Thompson; Bottom Right: Benicio Del Toro, Hunter S. Thompson, Johnny Depp

Good afternoon finger lickers! One of my heroes Hunter S. Thompson sadly died just over two years ago. At the time I remember re-reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and thinking, “this man was pure genius.” I had a similar thought during a flight to the states where I read the book in just under 8 hours and on a Spanish holiday where I first discovered his work. What never changes for me when it comes to Hunter’s writing is the speed at which I can read and the extent to which I become engrossed. It is important to note that my fervor for the man is not because of his widely publicised glorification of psychedelic drug use, a component of his writing and life that I believe has receive too much attention. I attribute the longevity of my attraction to his work largely to his infectious prose and a fascination with the man’s life. So, it was with much excitement that I read, this morning, a report of a new documentary about his glory years.

Gonzo, the hyperactive first-person and ultra-subjective writing style for which he became famous, has been borrowed as the title of Alex Gibney’s documentary which focuses on the high point of Thompson’s career 1965 - 1975. According to spout.com, Alex Gibney has stated his documentary is a critique of the present day media’s obsession with “phony” objectivity. A cause I think we can all appreciate. Gibney hot off the back of his Best Documentary win at the Oscars for Taxi to the Darkside, a documentary focusing largely on American torture practices in Afghanistan and an innocent taxi driver who was tortured and killed in 2002, last week spoke and screened his new film at True/False film festival in Columbia, Missouri.

The film is reported to contain as yet unseen home movies, audio recordings and unpublished manuscripts. While I am very very keen to see the flick I hope that it does not give us too much of an insight into the “real” Hunter S. Thompson because one of the most endearing facets of the man, for me, was his enigmatic and perhaps mythical persona. Think of him fondly; read his work; watch the flick.

K

Left pane: Cormac McCarthy; Bottom right: Guy Pearce and John Hillcoat.

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/Hollywood_McCarthy_Mania]Gooood morning finger lickers! As I write this with bed head of astronomical proportions there is glorious sunshine streaming through my windows. Aaaaaaaaaah spring is here film fans. And with it comes news of the latest Cormac McCarthy silver screen adaptation. While slurping a moca-frapa-capa-latte in Starbucks with good friend and fellow Finger Lickin’ contributor Mark this weekend; we discussed my recent article about Literary Arrogance and McCarthy’s work in general. After our chat, I got intrigued and did some high profile investigative journalism (googled it) and found that the very book I am currently reading, McCathy’s The Road, is now in production.

The book and therefore undoubtedly the film, though you can never trust Hollywood, is a tale of a father’s struggle to save the life of his son in a cannibalistic post-apocalyptic America. While I am only half way through the book, I am totally gripped. The prose is beautiful and exquisitely descriptive and I hope that Joe Penhall, who penned the screenplay, will be able to deliver the same flavour. Cast in the role of the father is the brilliant Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence) and the casting of his son has caused a X-Men style who-ha in recent days. As many of you, I’m sure, are aware X-Men Origins: Wolverine was forced to change shooting schedule and this has caused a clash in young Kodi Smit-McPhee’s (brilliant name btw.) diary. Kodi was originally destined to play young Logan in Wolverine but sensibly, in my opinion, has decided to drop the Wolverine flick in order to work with The Road’s Australian director John Hillcoat.

So what else do we know about The Road, well not very much other than the following folks are attached to the project Viggo Mortensen, as I said, Charlize Theron, playing his wife, Robert Duvall is rumoured to be involved and Guy Pearce has an IMDB credit with no character name. Likewise, due for release in 2009 but currently still in development by Ridley Scott is McCarthy’s 1985 Western, Blood Meridian. In an interview with nymag.com Scott has the following insight about the literary adaptation:

It’s about the end and the turning point for the American Indian, but it’s a pocket in that time — and it’s a hard one because it’s a wonderful read, and I think it should be kept that way. When one makes a film, you’ve got to make it like the read.

It would seem that with big names like Scott, Mortensen, Peace and Theron involved in adapting McCarthy’s work that this spree of adaptations might continue, should it prove to pay well at the box office. Which, after the success of No Country for Old Men, I can’t see being a problem for The Road. All I can say is that I hope they are as faithful to his original text as No Country because it seems to have been the Coen’s courage in not contorting the story into a Hollywood mould that has been so successful.

That’s it from me… I’m off to the shops in some glorious sunshine.

K

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/It_isn_t_easy_being_green_3]Afternoon finger lickers! The following is, without a shadow of a doubt, gross conjecture offered without any solid research or factual foundation, but when did that ever stop me…

I always felt kinda smug about the whole environmental issue. Growing up I always figured that Britain was a far greener nation than the United States. What with the media who-ha over Kyoto and everything. So in my dealings with Americans, my wife being a notable example, I was always suitably pompous in the “it isn’t easy being green” debate. Yes, that’s right, our local town council collects glass, paper, plastic, garden and food waste separately and no, we’re not all driving huge petrol guzzling vehicles that could be used to invade Iraq. But, as I’ve grown older and more socially aware the realisation that I don’t really do anything personally to reduce my environmental impact hit home and I began to think more about green issues in relation to filmmaking. From the miles of celluloid consumed every year to the electricity used in powering countless square feet of studio and post production space, the impact must be colossal.

Recently, after a couple of weeks of reading Hank Green’s ecogeek.org blog, I began to think about the environmental impact of not just Hollywood, who were evil to start with in my book, but also indie filmmakers. Are indie filmmakers intrinsically greener than Hollywood? Is it not just a matter of economic circumstance that forces us to consume less? I believe that we should be continually mindful of environmental issues in our filmmaking rather than resting on our laurels because we’re not as bad as the very bad man on the west coast of north America! Being virtuous only in comparison to the worse offender is nothing to be proud of in my opinion. I instantly thought of the efforts of Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute to encourage us all to be greener. However, I do not believe that having Lexus sponsor the “Lexus Hybrid Living Lounge” at this years festival is the way forward in the fight to reduce global warming… Lexus for god sake! It is however the way forward in advertising really huge unnecessary vehicles.

It seems to me, that if we want to encourage true green credentials for Indies then what is really important here is the epistemological and ideological imperatives behind the two groups. These are of course hugely diverse in the indie world. While Hollywood is contained both physically and demographically Indie filmmakers are undoubtably heterogeneous in nature. This is not just middle-class white america we’re dealing with. This is a gigantic spectrum of artists working all over the globe. However, in comparison to “the industry” the ideology marking the foundations of indie film is still in its relative infancy. So, I believe that while epistemologically Indie filmmakers are naturally disparate it is at the heart of their shared ideology that we need to inject environmental sound underpinnings.

This realisation in turn got me to thinking about the indie dream. Digital self-production and digital self-distribution. We have an extremely viable and successful model for self-production using digital platforms, however, what the environmental impact of this model is, I have no idea. I would hazard an uneducated guess that given the economically frugal nature of our productions means our footprint must be massively smaller than the beached whale that is Hollywood. However, as I said earlier this ‘only in comparison to’ thinking is flawed. What we need to do is inject green values into the progress of the indie take-over. With the likes of From Here to Awesome making the dream of self-distribution an ever growing reality the indies will undoubtably garner far more control over the market. Should this model grow as I know Lance, Arin and M dot Strange are keen for it to do I believe that the market can be truly flattened creating an almost seamless connection between filmmaker and viewer. It is with this “indie take-over” that could come the collapse of Hollywood and the democratization of the art form. With indie filling the Hollywood void it should therefore have progressively green values and it this I want to encourage.

I believe it is more important to encourage the indies, who I am certain will ultimately replace or grow to be a serious threat to Hollywood to undertake green practices than to attempt to retroactively impose these values on an industry that evidently doesn’t care. If we can introduce these imperatives at this relatively early stage we have a fighting chance of educating the world through one the most powerful entertainment mediums on the planet and reducing the impact of an industry that is no doubt a huge contributor to global warming. What are these imperatives and practices I don’t know. But I’m going to find out. Anyone with more knowledge of these issues please get in contact and maybe I can get Hank Green to write a guest Finger Lickin’ blog to highlight some of the most important issues.

I need to go away and get facts and figures to back up my assertions so for now… watch this space….

K

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/Film_Festivals_just_ain_t_working_Find_out_why]I know bang on about this all the time - but just watch the video…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTehTbT7aho]

And click some links…

From Here to Awesome - A new way forward.

Submit a Film - And join the revolution.

Arin Crumley - Democratizing Indie Film Distribution.

YouTube - Watch more of the same.

K

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/Indiepix_Film_Festival_uses_online_distribution_and_voting]US indie film festival the Cinema Eye Honors presented by Indiepix has announced that it is to add a new audience award that will utalise both online distribution and voting process. The festival have chosen the BroadRamp platform to distribute the films and is requesting that viewers cast their vote online after watching. Indiepix are said to have chosen BroadRamp’s Content Distribution System because it does not require the user to download a third party browser plugin. However, this is a claim that confuses me slightly because taking a look at BroadRamp’s site they seem to be very much utalising flash video in their player which of course uses the “third party plugin” Shockwave. Soooo… unless I’m missing a trick and I they’ve some swanky technology they’re not showing off on their website… you still need a plugin folks.

BroadRamp seem to be best known for their work in the field of interactive e-commerce video. What’s interactive e-commerce video I hear you cry. Well, the basic concept is that you’re sitting watching a video online, or wherever, and you see a t-shirt you really like. You hover your mouse over that t-shirt and a pop-up appears giving you information, price and an option to buy the shirt. An idea then that seems to be genius and utterly horrific all at the same time.S o the cynic in me is thinking, will the content from this film festival be used as a film testbed for this evil genius video creation? Or am I turning into a internet conspiracy theorist? Either way, I am delighted to see that festivals are recognising the problems in the industry and making steps to rectify it. It does however seem bizarre to me that they would not use a more well known platform, such as blip.tv, vimeo or even the big daddy YouTube. My jaded mind is still mulling over the marketing potential of the BroadRamp system in festivals to come - you’ve been warned!

Anyway, the festival selections have been made and announced, more information can be found at the Indiepix and Cinema Eye Honors websites and voting commences on March 1st.

Right, that’s enough from me. Good night Finger Lickers, I will see you in the morning.

K

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Beastie_Boy_forms_Indie_film_company]Goooooood morning Finger Lickers! So, word round the interweb campfire is that rap legend MCA (also known as Adam Yauch) of Beastie Boys frame has formed his own indie film distribution and international sales outfit. The company called Oscilloscope Pictures, operating out of downtown Manhattan offices, plans to distribute up to ten films in 2008. Yauch is joined by former ThinkFilm execs David Fenkel and Dan Berger and will be looking for a combination of drama and documentary content.

Adam Yauch is of course no stranger to the world of filmmaking himself having directed some seriously famous music videos in his time including my personal Intergalactic. So, I for one really wanna see what comes outta this new company. While I’m not really an advocate for the current systems of distribution. This kind of thing is a really positive move. Having read their blurb on their website I think the future for this company could look pretty interesting. I am always keen to check out a film by a new startup distribution company because they may be taking a few more chances and delivering something a little more tasty than your average jaded outfit.

K

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/Calling_all_Filmmakers]Evening all. So I’ve been banging on a lot about From Here to Awesome and the wonderful things they’re doing to encourage self distribution and discover new talent. So… Arin and his cronies have started releasing vids and here’s one of their first. Have you made a film and keep thinking what next? Looking for a festival that might actually see your work getting distribution? Check out this vid. Subscribe to their channel. Join the revolution!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHUwTkbAvn4]

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Give_away_your_film_for_greater_exposure]There is something sick in the film industry. We all know this. From an average DVD-buying consumer to the indie filmmaking community to the academics in their ivory towers to the disgruntled industry insiders, we all know that the rot set in a long time ago. Whether you’re a film school grad trying to get a break or a filmmaker trying to get funding or a consumer standing in the cinema with only four choices on the menu – film is hard, way too hard. Now, I’m not here to get into a discussion about the film industry creating an impenetrable bubble for those of us who are trying to get in, what I am here to talk about is giving your film away for free.

Much of this blog is fueled by the likes of Lance Weiler and Arin Crumley who are actually doing this kinda stuff in practice. My inspiration for writing this blog was the incredibly brief treatment of the “give your art away” discussion in this months Filmmaker Magazine. Arin and Susan gave another interview about their experiences in the world of self-distribution a while ago and during the course of that interview he said something way more interesting than anything Filmmaker published. He said, and I’m paraphrasing here folks, brace yourselves, that it would have been more beneficial for them to have had their movie already up on YouTube while they were doing the festival tour. It is this issue that I believe is so much more important than anything else surrounding the self distribution debate.

We’re are being constantly bombarded by people telling us not to blow our creative and commercial load too soon, excuse the analogy, but we are. For example, in a meeting earlier this month about a web tv project I have ties with, a University lecturer made a point that completely threw me. She said that you need to hold off as long as possible, launch all your content at once and hit the students with a high impact marketing campaign to ensure that they watch. What? Now, while everything else she said was brilliant and useful and insightful this just made no sense to me. Where’s the longtail? Where’s the viral tasty morsels that all those media snacking YouTube junkies wanna stuff down their faces?!?! This is old world thinking people surely it would be better to launch the site with basic content and release regular episodes to encourage stickiness? What I’m trying to say is that giving it all away in one big dollop of flash video is surely not the way forward. Arin and Susan have the right idea, give it away for free, get a sticky following, so to speak, and release the goods themselves when you’re most high-profile to your given audience. So in the case of indie film you need the viral video episodes and the film online. You’re not losing anything by giving it away, you’re not diminishing your selling power with distributors you’re gaining more ammunition to prove that this film has an audience and if you snap it up now there’s a theatrical life for this film just as much as there’s an online life.

The industry and us as filmmakers need to stop thinking of our films as precious and start whoring. How can we get people to view this flick? How can we create a revenue stream from that viewing method? How can we get our video blogs onto every video sharing site on the Internet? And how can we get the film itself onto as may of those sites too!?! Now, I’m not saying there aren’t obstacles to this - upload limits in terms of size and film length as well as average viewer attention span etc. but seriously if you play this right folks you can get that regular viewing audience that are interested enough to watch the whole film online and you can prove to the web 2.0 industries that it is viable for them to sponsor your flick and in turn the film industry must surely pay notice.

I’ve said enough… but check out the following links for further information and some inspiration.

From Here to Awesome - A alternative discovery distribution film festival.
Arincrumley.com - Arin’s personal site, loads of blogage and self-distribution info.
Tube Mogul - Distribute your video to a plethora of online sites.

K

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/Mobile_film_distribution]Take 1 zillion movies with very few commercial outlets for distribution and 1 zillion mobile phone handsets with very little use for feature length films, due to the tiny screens, limited battery life and attention spans of the average user… and what do you get?

Yes… a problem solved.

Robert Redford may have his mugshot stamped all across the BBC news website today regarding the mobile phone industries position on film distribution, but the underlying theme is.. technology, features and how to utilise them effectively for the audience they serve.

Any enthusiastic/loyal/mesmerised/hypnotised/ADHD sufferer of YouTube knows the problem with videos that drag, on, way, too, long… and that edited shorts deliver a far bigger punch to the average mainstream user, than a  directorial 90mins+ of (albeit stunning) production. Lets face it, if we’re mobile and wanting to watch something, don’t shove Spider ‘fecking’ man 3 on my N95, how about a bunch of really cool thought provoking shorts that aren’t going to take longer than a train journey and drain my phone battery down to a dribble!
 
Maybe this is where the ’short’ could come into its own?
iTunes + selected shorts + mobiles = outlet.
Its hardly rocket science is it?

Read the inspiring story here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7230906.stm

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/More_High_School_Noir]If nothing else, it has to be said, that this noir comedy flick has an eye catching and provocative title. I haven’t seen anything of this yet, I would love to see a trailer but all YouTube and Google seem to be throwing up are clips of Mischa Barton talking more about her recent DUI arrest than her role in this film which premiered at Sundance. Cinematical reviewed the flick during Sundance and gives a pretty good idea of what to expect. Set in a Catholic High School popular girl, Barton (no suprise there then), teams up with school newspaper reporter (Reece Thompson) to try and uncover who stole missing SAT exam papers. However, as expected from this kind of High School comedy, not everything goes to plan and they end up uncovering a far larger conspiracy.

My reason for initially taking an interest in this film was mainly because of some quite obvious comparisons between Rian Johnson’s début masterpiece Brick and the noir style dialogue that writers Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski gave to the characters from Assassination of a High School President. Is this just a direct lift of Johnsons genre mix, High School Noir? Is this the beginning of quite an interesting cycle? Or as Cinematical implies is this simply a film that does whan’t quite get the balance right? Johnson himself, on his web forum, expresses an interest in the flick so I guess he’s as interested as all of us to find out some of answers to those questions. I really hope this film gets a national release here and in the USA for no other reason that to see if Johnson’s formula has been carried across successfully.

That’s it from me,

Kieran

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/No_Community_For_Old_Media]I visited the cinema the other day, to watch No Country For Old Men. After the film, everyone I was with had an opinion on what was seen, good and bad, we spoke our words and they beamed across to each others ears, then evaporated into thin air. We then walked off to the car and each went home. How dull.

Was that it? I was thinking. I wanted to leave a comment, for the next person to find. There was no-where for me to do that.

• No number to text,
• No Kiosk to give my thumbs up or down,
• No video booth to leave a rant,
• No community cafe led by a local fanboy of the director to join in a discussion.

Sure the indie art house cinemas, have actor and director post feature discussions. But I wasn’t at one of those. I was in a multi screen complex. Where 10s of thousands of pounds exchange hands and thousands of people filter through every week… and I know these cinemas have a production line mentality, but they’re also fighting the backlash of DVD sales, illegal downloads, and online screenings. Shouldn’t they be embracing the current (forget the new) technology? Rather than putting their hands over their eyes and thinking no-one will notice.

I can’t help but think that cinemas are slow to catch on. Their visitors are used to communicating instantly and hearing, reading, seeing opinions from everyone else before them.

I don’t think it’s enough for any form of media to just deliver anymore… whether that’s books, music, films or stage shows.

How hard would it be to impliment just half of the things I’ve mentioned above? Not much I’m guessing. Maybe one day hey? Until then, there’s definitely no community for old media.

Mark

(Orginally posted by me on Mediasnackers.com, but cross posted here, due to its topic and relavance)

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Sundance_Distribution_Issues_George_A_Romero]With reference to my last post about the lack of distribution deals going around at Sundance, this seems to be a problem that even veteran filmmakers are noticing. George A. Romero, horror legend and creator of the infamous Dawn of the Dead (1978) is attending the festival for the first time to screen his latest film Diary of the Dead. Interviewed on video, Romero speaks to Spout.com about his work and the festival. Right at the end of his interview he touches on the issues I’ve been talking about. While greater accessibility to cheaper equipment is meaning lots more great independent films are being made, there still seems to be no solid distribution model for this type of work.

Check out their video interview at MySpace.

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Sundance_Deals_and_Distribution]Spout.com blogger, Karina Longworth, who’s currently at Sundance 2008 has written an interesting piece about the lack of deals being made so far at this year’s festival. Karina, speculates about a number of reasons for the relatively low number of distribution deals. Firstly, she references the mainstream press who are apparently suggesting that the buyers haven’t found that magic they have in previous years. Which is of course suitably vague and journalist speak for “we haven’t got a damn clue”.

Next, she discusses a comment by Sony’s Tom Bernard where he states that, we, the bloggers are to blame for taking the mystique out of the film buying and distribution process. According to Bernard the immediacy of blogging means that the press coverage of a film is happening too quickly and therefore they lose control of the media machine.

Finally, Karina suggests that possible the solution could be as simple as the fiftieth anniversary of Sundance has a pretty weak offering of dramatic feature-length flicks. Whether this is the case, is not for me to judge, I haven’t seen any of the films in question. Maybe next year, with a shiny Finger Lickin’ press pass around my neck. But, what these sluggish sales do make me wonder about is the value of a festival like Sundance to the filmmaker. Sure, it gets you some first rate press and sure it gets a very select audience into a cinema for 120minutes to watch your film. But where’s the real benefit? Where’s that golden ticket, the distribution deal that everyone is looking for? Has the time come where festivals like Sundance aren’t delivering the goods? It’s all well and good being able to put “Official Selection Sundance Film Festival” at the opening of your trailer but if only those three hundred ticket holders attending the festival get to see the film… where’s the real benefit to you, the filmmaker?

Distribution is key. The more I learn about alternative, exciting and innovative methods of getting your film seen and turning those views into earnings the more I believe that while there’s a place for the festival route, you need to think bigger.

Read Karina’s blog post here.

[digg=http://digg.com/movies/PropellerTV_ShortFest]

Propeller… heard of it?

Even if not, you’ll be pleased to know that they’re putting a call out for short film submissions for ‘ShortFest’ as they call it. Which will be, (quote) ‘a celebration of the best original shorts submitted by new filmmaking talent’. So it says on their website at least.

Propeller is Europes biggest short film TV channel available on Sky 195. If your work is choosen by Propeller, it’ll be shown on TV, online and in the Cinema. I think that’s a first!? They are running the Fest over 5 days from 27th - 31st March, and if you want your work to be in with a chance, click through below and grab a submission form.

For more info, check out: Screen West Midlands & PropellerTV

mark

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Moonshine_3]First time director Roger Ingraham’s film Moonshine debuted at Sundance 2006 and has garnered much critical acclaim. Ingraham shot his first feature-length film for under $10,000 when he was only twenty years old. Set in small-town America Moonshine is a vampire film that focuses upon a young guy, Peter, who takes a job working in a convenience store in order to care for his dying parents. As Peter works this soul-destroying job a figure of darkness waits in the shadows to take his life. Interestingly Moonshine has yet to attract a distribution deal, which is a real shock to me given the quality of what I’ve seen so far. Yet another filmmaker finding that the festival route isn’t working?

According to online murmurings, like Four Eyed Monsters, Moonshine is due to be release in its entirety on YouTube. Ingraham’s film has also been submitted to From Here To Awesome and is currently awaiting your support on their website.

Check out the trailer below and keep your eyes peeled for Ingraham in the future because he appears to be a real talent.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmYXL-2FNhg]

[digg=http://www.digg.com/movies/Say_hello_to_From_Here_To_Awesome]In recent years, independent filmmakers of all shapes and sizes have been exploiting Web 2.0 technologies to promote their individual projects. From basic trailers on a MySpace or YouTube page to the 360-degree empire that Arin Crumley and Susan Buice, of Four Eyed Monsters fame, have built for themselves; these filmmakers have harnessed the power of some extremely powerful viral technologies for their own ends.

However, online promotion and festival buzz is all well and good but what actually matters is how your turn your film, that you no doubt ploughed a good deal of hard earned or borrowed cash into, from a flick with some online buzz to a economically viable distribution deal. From Here to Awesome is a collaborative film festival founded by indie filmmaking and distribution gurus Arin Crumley, Lance Weiler and M dot Strange. The festival is designed to allow filmmakers to submit their film for free and involve the online audience, through social networking tools, enabling them to programme the festival themselves. Ultimately the project hopes to experiment with new distribution methods and ways of reading global audiences using online, cinema, on-demand and mobile technologies.

This is a really exciting development and a fantastic way for filmmakers to make a foray into alternative distribution. Hopefully in the near future Finger Lickin’ will be able to get a interview with Arin Crumley about his hopes for the project. Until then, please go and check out the site, submit your films and take advantage of this fantastic opportunity.