The Oscars are done for another year, with high ratings, a genial host and the strangest dance-shadow interpretation of film I've ever seen. (Didn't catch the last one? See here for weirdness: http://fitsugar.com/152751). But more importantly, how did I do on the predictions? Quite badly - only 2 out of 4 for the acting awards and not much else. To be fair, the "sweep" by the Departed wasn't predicted by many; even Variety are stumped. Good for Scorsese to finally get his award, though the minute the Old Guard from the 70s walked out onto the stage, it was fairly obvious. The only real big surprise of the evening was Alan Arkin's win, which shocked everyone, not least Eddie Murphy, who reportedly stormed out of the ceremony shortly after.
So, a good year for Brits, gangsters and deserving directors; a bad year for people who star in films like Norbit, like short ceremonies and enjoy surprises. Is it too early to start getting excited for next year?
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Sunday, 18 February 2007
Funding
One of the trickiest elements of putting on a film festival is raising enough money. We proved last year that it's possible to run an entirely free festival with very little financial input - we were lucky enough to get support from Vue cinemas for the final venue, have help from three pubs in Angel and we used our own resources for a few minor, administrative costs. However, this meant missing out on some important elements that can really make a difference, such as decent prizes for the hard-working film-makers who enter, better advertising to increase our audience and more promotion to create the kind of buzz that starts to bring industry recognition.
So, this year I've been working hard to get funding for our second year. There's surprisingly little out there for festivals. Of the big funding bodies, the British Film Council only fund internationally, the Film Council have no funds for film festivals this year and the Arts Council referred us to the Film Council. Why this lack of money for a developing and worthwhile field?
The other route to funding gives a clue. This is corporate sponsorship, which is an equally difficult area. Though many companies now have corporate responsibility offices, these operate in very defined areas, such as the environment or child education. It's very difficult to convince a company that a film festival mainly held in pubs is beneficial to education!
This narrowness of funding areas is damaging to film festivals and explains the prevalence of focused film showings, rather than general festivals held for mainly the sake of entertainment. Films are educational and fun and festivals are an opportunity to meet others interested in the same world - shouldn't that be a sufficient reason to set aside money for it?
Fear not, there are many options available for funding the Angel Film Festival and I'm positive that we'll have the opportunity to be bigger and better this year. I just wish that more funding bodies recognised the positive value of just watching and making film, without feeling the need to apply a label and ask for far too narrow criteria.
Terrie
So, this year I've been working hard to get funding for our second year. There's surprisingly little out there for festivals. Of the big funding bodies, the British Film Council only fund internationally, the Film Council have no funds for film festivals this year and the Arts Council referred us to the Film Council. Why this lack of money for a developing and worthwhile field?
The other route to funding gives a clue. This is corporate sponsorship, which is an equally difficult area. Though many companies now have corporate responsibility offices, these operate in very defined areas, such as the environment or child education. It's very difficult to convince a company that a film festival mainly held in pubs is beneficial to education!
This narrowness of funding areas is damaging to film festivals and explains the prevalence of focused film showings, rather than general festivals held for mainly the sake of entertainment. Films are educational and fun and festivals are an opportunity to meet others interested in the same world - shouldn't that be a sufficient reason to set aside money for it?
Fear not, there are many options available for funding the Angel Film Festival and I'm positive that we'll have the opportunity to be bigger and better this year. I just wish that more funding bodies recognised the positive value of just watching and making film, without feeling the need to apply a label and ask for far too narrow criteria.
Terrie
Friday, 16 February 2007
Oscar predictions
The most important awards ceremony in the film world is nearly upon us and, in an entirely unscientific way, I'm going to try and predict the winners of the showy categories. This is based on previous awards, such as the Golden Globes, the Baftas and the Guild awards and my own hunches. Feel free to comment to discuss what you think.
Best supporting actress Adriana Barraza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
The 2 actress categories are the easiest of the all the categories to call in one of the most open Oscars in years. Out of the many nominations that Dreamgirls garnered (by dint of being a musical and shutting out all competitors in the Original Song Category), Jennifer Hudson is the only obvious winner. She won the Golden Globes, which had almost the same nomination list and she's been generating a lot of buzz. She also has an underdog story - lost American Idol, was second billing to Beyonce - and there's nothing more compelling to an Oscar voter. A dead cert.
Best supporting actor Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
A tough call this one - Eddie Murphy was getting a lot of notice for Dreamgirls, but that was early in the season, before it got shut out of some major awards. Alan Arkin picked up the BAFTA this weekend and it's a showy role. With Little Miss Sunshine gathering momentum, Arkin could win this. But I'm going to call it for Murphy, just because he's already picked up the Golden Globe and SAG and it's not often that voters change their mind.
Best actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole, Venus; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
This one looks like it should be obvious. Forest Whitaker is another actor who has picked up both the SAG and Golden Globe and, as I may have already mentioned, this makes him a good choice for the Oscar. But I'm going to completely contradict myself and plump for Peter O'Toole. He's well respected, hasn't received an award before and is probably about to die. All good reasons for the voters to give him some sympathy.
Best actress Penelope Cruz, Volver; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Helen Mirren, The Queen; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet, Little Children
Easy peasy - Helen Mirren for sure. Is there an award she hasn't picked up so far? She's also the reason why The Queen won't pick up any other awards on the night - the buzz has been entirely about her performance, which is difficult to ignore and made the film.
Best director Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears, The Queen; Paul Greengrass, United 93; Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel; Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Can Scorsese finally get the prize? I'm not convinced, but then I also can't see who else might. Greengrass and Eastwood are the 2 other most likely directors to pick this up, given early buzz and other awards, but the feeling is strong that Scorsese should be finally rewarded and The Departed is a much stronger film than either The Aviator and Gangs of New York. So, cautiously, Scorsese for this one.
Best picture Babel; The Departed; Letters From Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; The Queen
This is such an open category and it's really hard to predict. Even if Scorsese gets best director, I don't think The Departed can win best picture - it's far too violent a proposition for voters. The most polished film of the lot is The Queen, but as I mentioned before, I think that's too much of a one woman show. So, I'm going to put myself on the line and predict Little Miss Sunshine for the big prize. I'm biased, because it was my favourite film of last year, but there is a feeling it could steal the show, much in the same way that Crash did last year.
Of the the other categories, Pan's Labyrinth should win Best Foreign Film, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 will get Best Special Effects and Marie Antoinette deserves Best Costume. Best Original Screenplay should go to Little Miss Sunshine (I know - biased!), but will probably got to Babel and it would be amazing if Best Adapted Screenplay went to Borat, but I don't think it's likely and Little Children might get it.
Come back on 26th February for a post-mortem of just how wrong I can be!
Terrie
Best supporting actress Adriana Barraza, Babel; Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal; Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls; Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
The 2 actress categories are the easiest of the all the categories to call in one of the most open Oscars in years. Out of the many nominations that Dreamgirls garnered (by dint of being a musical and shutting out all competitors in the Original Song Category), Jennifer Hudson is the only obvious winner. She won the Golden Globes, which had almost the same nomination list and she's been generating a lot of buzz. She also has an underdog story - lost American Idol, was second billing to Beyonce - and there's nothing more compelling to an Oscar voter. A dead cert.
Best supporting actor Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine; Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children; Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond; Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls; Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
A tough call this one - Eddie Murphy was getting a lot of notice for Dreamgirls, but that was early in the season, before it got shut out of some major awards. Alan Arkin picked up the BAFTA this weekend and it's a showy role. With Little Miss Sunshine gathering momentum, Arkin could win this. But I'm going to call it for Murphy, just because he's already picked up the Golden Globe and SAG and it's not often that voters change their mind.
Best actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond; Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson; Peter O'Toole, Venus; Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness; Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
This one looks like it should be obvious. Forest Whitaker is another actor who has picked up both the SAG and Golden Globe and, as I may have already mentioned, this makes him a good choice for the Oscar. But I'm going to completely contradict myself and plump for Peter O'Toole. He's well respected, hasn't received an award before and is probably about to die. All good reasons for the voters to give him some sympathy.
Best actress Penelope Cruz, Volver; Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal; Helen Mirren, The Queen; Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada; Kate Winslet, Little Children
Easy peasy - Helen Mirren for sure. Is there an award she hasn't picked up so far? She's also the reason why The Queen won't pick up any other awards on the night - the buzz has been entirely about her performance, which is difficult to ignore and made the film.
Best director Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima; Stephen Frears, The Queen; Paul Greengrass, United 93; Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Babel; Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Can Scorsese finally get the prize? I'm not convinced, but then I also can't see who else might. Greengrass and Eastwood are the 2 other most likely directors to pick this up, given early buzz and other awards, but the feeling is strong that Scorsese should be finally rewarded and The Departed is a much stronger film than either The Aviator and Gangs of New York. So, cautiously, Scorsese for this one.
Best picture Babel; The Departed; Letters From Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; The Queen
This is such an open category and it's really hard to predict. Even if Scorsese gets best director, I don't think The Departed can win best picture - it's far too violent a proposition for voters. The most polished film of the lot is The Queen, but as I mentioned before, I think that's too much of a one woman show. So, I'm going to put myself on the line and predict Little Miss Sunshine for the big prize. I'm biased, because it was my favourite film of last year, but there is a feeling it could steal the show, much in the same way that Crash did last year.
Of the the other categories, Pan's Labyrinth should win Best Foreign Film, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 will get Best Special Effects and Marie Antoinette deserves Best Costume. Best Original Screenplay should go to Little Miss Sunshine (I know - biased!), but will probably got to Babel and it would be amazing if Best Adapted Screenplay went to Borat, but I don't think it's likely and Little Children might get it.
Come back on 26th February for a post-mortem of just how wrong I can be!
Terrie
Monday, 5 February 2007
As promised, using my many hours of watching the entries submitted to the Festival, here's the first part of my Top Ten ideas about what makes a good short film.
Disclaimer: I haven't made a short film and I think anyone who does is great. I'm approaching this from a purely critical stance, because you spot some patterns after watching the number of films we do. (Is that enough to avoid hate mail and snails pelted at my house?)
1. I like to call this the J K Rowling rule. (It used to be the Stephen King rule, but no-one really cares about him anymore.) Do not be afraid to edit! If you have even the kernel of a great story idea, drowning it in emotional monologues, the newest special effect or a 10 minute tracking shot through a toilet is not going to improve it. Some of the best short films are those that tell their story simply and effectively and get to the point. If you need 20 minutes, then use it. If you don't, cut!
2. There's a tiny, small-budget film with no big stars in it that flopped few years back. You probably haven't heard of it, but those who did see it could not get over the twist, which was so original and groundbreaking that film-makers have been unable to use it ever since. I'm talking about The Sixth Sense - did you know he was dead all along? Shocking, isn't it! I wish it had a bit more influence than it does. I could really do with more surprise death endings in my life.
Surprise Death Endings - Just Say No!
3. Along the same lines, the most important part of any short film is how it ends. One of the films that nearly made the cut last year was well-acted, atmospheric and had a great story. But the ending misjudged the tone completely and ruined all that good work. Conversely, a great ending can save a mediocre film - often, I don't make up my mind till I see the payoff, just to see if the punchline is worth it.
4. It's really hard to make a decent horror film. You can't out-gross, out-parody or out-nude Hollywood, because they've been round those tracks a few times. Last year, I think we received more horror films than any other genre and only ended up showing about 2 of them, both of which were slightly unusual in their approach. Scaring people is about more than chucking some ketchup at the camera - think about atmosphere, work within the cheap special effects you can use and don't make your characters act unreasonably just because they're in a scary movie.
5. Film-making is a serious business, that's for sure, but try to have a sense of humour about what you're doing. The winner and runners-up in 2006 all had their tongue in their cheek to some extent, and, though that may be more the personal taste of the judges, it does help the audience engage if you feel that the film-makers are having fun.
Part 2 tomorrow, I hope. Please comment if you agree, disagree or just want to kill me for dissing your favourite aspect of film!
Terrie
Disclaimer: I haven't made a short film and I think anyone who does is great. I'm approaching this from a purely critical stance, because you spot some patterns after watching the number of films we do. (Is that enough to avoid hate mail and snails pelted at my house?)
1. I like to call this the J K Rowling rule. (It used to be the Stephen King rule, but no-one really cares about him anymore.) Do not be afraid to edit! If you have even the kernel of a great story idea, drowning it in emotional monologues, the newest special effect or a 10 minute tracking shot through a toilet is not going to improve it. Some of the best short films are those that tell their story simply and effectively and get to the point. If you need 20 minutes, then use it. If you don't, cut!
2. There's a tiny, small-budget film with no big stars in it that flopped few years back. You probably haven't heard of it, but those who did see it could not get over the twist, which was so original and groundbreaking that film-makers have been unable to use it ever since. I'm talking about The Sixth Sense - did you know he was dead all along? Shocking, isn't it! I wish it had a bit more influence than it does. I could really do with more surprise death endings in my life.
Surprise Death Endings - Just Say No!
3. Along the same lines, the most important part of any short film is how it ends. One of the films that nearly made the cut last year was well-acted, atmospheric and had a great story. But the ending misjudged the tone completely and ruined all that good work. Conversely, a great ending can save a mediocre film - often, I don't make up my mind till I see the payoff, just to see if the punchline is worth it.
4. It's really hard to make a decent horror film. You can't out-gross, out-parody or out-nude Hollywood, because they've been round those tracks a few times. Last year, I think we received more horror films than any other genre and only ended up showing about 2 of them, both of which were slightly unusual in their approach. Scaring people is about more than chucking some ketchup at the camera - think about atmosphere, work within the cheap special effects you can use and don't make your characters act unreasonably just because they're in a scary movie.
5. Film-making is a serious business, that's for sure, but try to have a sense of humour about what you're doing. The winner and runners-up in 2006 all had their tongue in their cheek to some extent, and, though that may be more the personal taste of the judges, it does help the audience engage if you feel that the film-makers are having fun.
Part 2 tomorrow, I hope. Please comment if you agree, disagree or just want to kill me for dissing your favourite aspect of film!
Terrie
packaging
Morning all - my name is Chris and along with Terrie and Rick, I'm part of the Angel Film Festival.
I've just returned from a 7 day skiing holiday, in the french alps (bliss) to find a huge pile of AFF entries sitting on my desk waiting for processing. Which is delightful! Processing new entries really is quite a highlight of my day... no quite honestly, I love it! Allow me to explain.
The scope of AFF is broad and accepts entries in almost any genre as long as they are under 25 minutes in length. In addition we don't charge an entry fee and as such we receive incredibly diverse selection of submissions; From experienced film makers with international recognition, student films to more rugged films made using only an isight & ibook. You can usually tell a lot about the film maker from the packaging - some simply arrive as unmarked silver DVDs with just their AFF # on the front, others have taken time to add logos and images to both the DVD and packaging. The more experienced festival entrants usually takes the time to include a CD of promo shots, some funky wrapping paper and a some form of stylized envelope / tin etc. Having processed over 600 entries so far and watched the resulting product I confidently conclude, the quality of the external packaging is in no way related to the quality of the end product.
That being said the more diverse the packaging the more interesting my morning routine becomes.
I've just returned from a 7 day skiing holiday, in the french alps (bliss) to find a huge pile of AFF entries sitting on my desk waiting for processing. Which is delightful! Processing new entries really is quite a highlight of my day... no quite honestly, I love it! Allow me to explain.
The scope of AFF is broad and accepts entries in almost any genre as long as they are under 25 minutes in length. In addition we don't charge an entry fee and as such we receive incredibly diverse selection of submissions; From experienced film makers with international recognition, student films to more rugged films made using only an isight & ibook. You can usually tell a lot about the film maker from the packaging - some simply arrive as unmarked silver DVDs with just their AFF # on the front, others have taken time to add logos and images to both the DVD and packaging. The more experienced festival entrants usually takes the time to include a CD of promo shots, some funky wrapping paper and a some form of stylized envelope / tin etc. Having processed over 600 entries so far and watched the resulting product I confidently conclude, the quality of the external packaging is in no way related to the quality of the end product.
That being said the more diverse the packaging the more interesting my morning routine becomes.
Sunday, 4 February 2007
Welcome to the blog of the Angel Film Festival! The Festival is a London-based (in Angel, for those of you who don't quite get it) short film festival, set up last year by three lovers of film, in a fit of hungover, Sunday fever. We ran over 4 Sundays in August 2006, showing 50 films in pubs across Islington. Loads of people came along, including coerced friends, filmmakers and random, confused people off the street, who we attracted with pretty actors and colourful flyers. We saw some great films - the winners and runners-up can be found at our official website www.angelfilmfestival.org. It was a success, much more than we expected and great fun to do.
Which is why, this year, we're planning to be even bigger and better. We're hoping to get some funding, which means prizes (and pets?) for all you budding film-makers out there. We're already lining up some unusual venues and maybe even some fringe theme nights. This blog is our way of letting you, our tiny but hopefully loving public, know what's going on and how three enthusiastic amateurs with full-time jobs get on with putting on an entertaining time for film-lovers out there.
I keep going on about "we", so I guess there should be some actual introduction of who "we" all are. I'm Terrie and I'm vaguely in charge of raising funds, marketing and standing on chairs shouting at our audience. Chris is the technical and venue guy, as well as the business brains, whilst Rick is the one who does press and gets to put together the final programme, an incredibly demanding job - God bless insomnia. We all watch every film that comes in and chip in with any ideas that we think will make the Festival great. It seems to work so far.
Welcome! I'm hoping that as well as letting you look at the man behind the screen, there'll be posts on other areas of the film world. Coming up: thoughts on the Oscar nomination and, after watching over 500 short films, my Top Ten tips on how to get into a Film Festival. Please comment and let us know what you think.
Terrie
Which is why, this year, we're planning to be even bigger and better. We're hoping to get some funding, which means prizes (and pets?) for all you budding film-makers out there. We're already lining up some unusual venues and maybe even some fringe theme nights. This blog is our way of letting you, our tiny but hopefully loving public, know what's going on and how three enthusiastic amateurs with full-time jobs get on with putting on an entertaining time for film-lovers out there.
I keep going on about "we", so I guess there should be some actual introduction of who "we" all are. I'm Terrie and I'm vaguely in charge of raising funds, marketing and standing on chairs shouting at our audience. Chris is the technical and venue guy, as well as the business brains, whilst Rick is the one who does press and gets to put together the final programme, an incredibly demanding job - God bless insomnia. We all watch every film that comes in and chip in with any ideas that we think will make the Festival great. It seems to work so far.
Welcome! I'm hoping that as well as letting you look at the man behind the screen, there'll be posts on other areas of the film world. Coming up: thoughts on the Oscar nomination and, after watching over 500 short films, my Top Ten tips on how to get into a Film Festival. Please comment and let us know what you think.
Terrie
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