The Teal & Orange takeover

Source: Into The Abyss

In this film blog piece Indie filmmaker Todd Miro has spotted possibly the weirdest new trends in Hollywood films. Its the absence of many of our favorite colors and the dominance of TEAL and ORANGE. I'll grab one of his examples in the picture below of the new movie Hot Tub Time Machine. Read his entire rant here.

Easy Riding

Do you know how director Dennis Hopper picked the music for the crazily successful independent film Easy Rider in 1969? He chose some his favorite rock songs from the radio while editing the movie in 1968.

Learn more about the classic movie and its soundtrack.

10 Top Trends For Indie Film in 2009

I finally have had my arm twisted and have written down the things I observed film-wise this year.

Scanning past the article right now, I realise it is already getting stale - which means I might have to write the Top Ten Trends of the 00's. (Does anyone else hate the term 'naughties'?)

And then there are the most influential this and the most influential that of the next decade.

At any rate, you might now be totally bored, or you might want to read the list I came up with for:

10 Top Trends For Independent Film 2009

How To Fake Being An Indie Auteur

Part II

Last week outlined was numbers 1-10 of How To Fake Being An Indie Auteur. The emphasis was on the making of the film. The Plot, The Script, Dialogue, Casting, and Direction were mentioned on the blog. This week part II: getting noticed.

by Suzanne Ballantyne

It is not enough to have made the definitive indie auteur film. That is a mere ten percent of the equation. The hard graft revolves around getting noticed.

11. PR
The entry-level auteur must not venture anywhere near standard PR. His/her career is far too fragile to be left in the hands of hard nosed professionals. Some degree of subtlety is required for navigating the blatantly self- promotional road ahead. The way forward includes blogging, a certain degree of dalliance on my space - although the indie auteur should not stoop to having his own page, that should be reserved for the two lead characters in his film.

Far better that he should instead be talked about by others. This can be achieved by posting short daily production diaries on his blog, which should be slightly irreverent and may, due to time constraints, occasionally appear in haiku format. i.e:

Sound roll camera
Action can't act, cut print drink
drink bad day away

He should engage in live web chats, appear sporadically on video forums, post an interview with himself on You Tube, network at loft parties on Second Life and hold intimate screenings of either his rushes, work-in-progress or finished film at the home of a famous new friend - ideally a grungy rocker who frequently appears off his face in the tabloids. The indie auteur is after all creating brand awareness for his burgeoning career and by associating with indie luminaries in parallel art forms the brand of the wannabe can only strengthen.

12. Getting The Word Out.
Do not wait for the public to figure out what your film is or isn't . Tell them first or rather, tell a few trusted friends and get them to pass the word along, again taking full advantage of the power of the internet. Gently suggest your work be compared to that of the great modern artists. Your single twenty minute, opening tracking shot could be compared to the stark genius of Picasso's line drawings, the 'look' of your film to early Schnabel and your ‘vision’ to an almost Warholian reverence for the ordinary.

13. Business Cards.
Under no circumstances.There's no way any self-respecting indie auteur should appear to have put such forethought into his career. When asked for one he reaches into his obscure festival branded shoulder bag and tears off a scrap of whatever asking the recipient if he would mind lending a space of his back for him to scribble on. Or try this more advanced tactic, simply utter – ‘You can reach me through Paul at Gold View’. Few phrases command as much respect as this immediate ring fence approach. The unspoken message is Paul shelters me from the hoi poiloi. This, coupled with the lofty pretentiousness of the Asian Sales Agent –you are after all,the director of their only English language project, and you have virtually catapulted yourself into the land of must-have auteur du jour.

14. Start A Movement
If you do have friends use them. Get them involved in your film. If you don't make some. They must be like-minded and have skills that you as an indie auteur could use. Musicians who can provide music rights- free are excellent. Even better if they have some following of their own - they'll get the music press talking about your film and perhaps some free publicity. They may even turn out to support you and add to your screening figures. Get other friends on board - editors, lighting people,dop’s. They just need to passionately believe in you. Encourage them to make their own films in your style- help them out and call yourselves a collective based in some place like Manila. All of you get together and submit to festivals. Festivals are a little bit in awe of collectives.

15. Learn To Flirt
And get good at it since you'll be doing it a lot. Flirt equally with men and women. Blur the lines sexually. Flirt with junior programmers, budding journalists and bouncers at parties. Flirt with the big directors and get them interested in you. After all it can't hurt to have proven auteurs like Abbas Kiarostami,Jafar Panahi or one of the Makmahlbafs put in a good word for you. When you approach them at a festival party they will assume you are an equally important director and be surprisingly nice to you. Look them in the eye and whisper mentor under your breath.

If you liked tips 11-15 check out 16-20.

How To Fake Being An Indie Auteur

Part 1
by: Suzanne Ballantyne

This is not about how to make Hollywood films, made-for-tv films or even low budget films. This is not about making films whose purpose is to entertain. This is about a different species altogether - the indie auteur film, short or long - the darling of the latest 'it' festival - with city names likes Gotenburg, Hamburg, Kerala and Rotterdam in their title. The kind of film that press people, pretentious programmers, art house proprietors and film academians piss themselves for. The kind of film that might just launch your career.

So here goes - ten tips to indie auteurdom

1. The Plot
When thinking of your indie auteur script think sexual triangles.
Two women fighting over a man - two men over a woman. It's a well trodden path to indie genius.

2. The Script
Come up with a script which pays 'homage' that is, closely follows the plot points of a previous indie gem by a bona fide indie genius- i.e Francois Truffaut's JULES ET JIM. Most of the audience won't have seen the film you're paying homage to anyway and even if they have they won't quite get in what way you have been paying 'homage' to it.

3.Dialogue
Dialogue should be minimal. You do not want to overstate the case. Keep the audience guessing as to what exactly your film is about. Pauses are more important. Have lots of them and keep them long. The camera can then focus on the motionless faces of the actors as the audience desperately try to interpret their thoughts while struggling to figure out exactly what is going on.

4. Casting
Cast your friends and family. They should be weird looking but photogenic. Don't shy away from the fat, the frail and the ugly. It's your job to go where no director has gone before. If they can't act shoot them without sound and add voice over or shoot them from the back. You can always edit out any hints of amateurishness.

Alternatively,

Cast actors who can really act - In fact cast the best actors you can as they will save your ass and add weight to your project that should stifle all and any niggling questions about your ability. Great actors want to preserve their own reputation and they may carry you along with them.

5. Direction
Take a scene with a few people then go back and shoot it again - each time from a different characters point of view. This will be interpreted as the director making a point and will add weight to your wafer thin plot. In fact just taking a very basic plot line and retelling it from each characters point of view is enough of a script for the indie auteur.

If you liked tips 1-5 read 6-10.

Top 10 Songs From Movies Performed By Characters

We are just going flat out in the office - 8am - 10pm - looking at film after indie film - trying to figure out the marketing and PR strategy this year - a strategy made a lot more interesting by the lack of commercial sponsorship this year thanks to the excesses of our financial leaders.

[Is this pompous? I hope not)

Anyway, for refreshment, every once and a while I check my email, and lo and behold, what a treat today held: A new article by the much-missed and hugely talented Charlie Burroughs (co-creator of this blog, but now back in the States)

I'd advise you to kick back and take 5 minutes to read this article. And another 25 minutes if you want to remember what some of those really great songs

Top 10 Songs From Movies Performed By Characters

UK Indie Film Case Study

We are really pleased to have started a new video blog by the exceptionally coherent and frank, Johan Neethling.

Everything you have wanted to now about crowd sourcing, UK film tax finance advantages and much more about financing your film. You can enjoy it over on Raindance.tv