Flashpoint Film Society

Recently I sat down with a group of fellow film students with a plan to start a society aimed at showing films to other students. Each Thursday night we now screen a classic movie in the screening room on Flashpoints main campus.

This weeks film was Ghostbusters, and it was a blast.

This film was the groups debut, and I must say the event went rather well. We had a good turnout and that made for a great movie experience. Someone once told me that seeing a film on the big screen is so much more enjoyable than on tv.

He was damn right.

The organizing members will keep you posted on what the next film will be. To all those who helped out or attended the screening, thank you for your support and we hope to see you again next time around.

Remember that all Flashpoint students and faculty are welcome to join! Spread the word!

DM

Lesson Learned

This past Friday the students at Flashpoint took part in an all day filmmaking event. Students were divided up into 8 different groups to make their own 30 second film with the recently released game "Team Fortress 2."

Following a storyboard session, the students would record shots and dialogue with this game using 3 of the characters seen on the left. Then the editors would go to work by constructing the short in time for a screening at the end of the day.

This proved rather difficult, primarily because of the lack of time allowed to construct this film.

Our group had a great idea. Everyone was contributing to the pre-production of our film. Story ideas were mixed together to create a clever 30 second short. Storyboarding allowed for our short to have a clear direction.

Unfortunately, with the lack of time to prepare the camera shots and fact that known of the team members knew little about the game (myself included), the experience took a hard turn and almost fell apart.

We got down to business, however, and were able to turn out a short film that we are allowed to revise this coming week. Although it was rather hectic, and at times aggravating, the overall experience is undeniably helpful to our future careers.

If you can't collaborate successfully, then you can't be in this business. Period.

DM

The Darjeeling Experience

For all you film people out there...

This past week I had the priviledge of attending a free screening of "The Darjeeling Limited" which I thought was quite a fantastic film. Rather than going into detail about why I liked this movie, I will tell you that the experience was more than I had hoped for since Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman showed up after the screening for a Q&A.

I have a couple pictures of Wes and Jason (joined by Capone from aintitcool.com) and a video about a possible sequel to this film. Enjoy.



More to come from the film world soon enough,

DM

The Midnight Circus

In 6 weeks I will be shooting my first film. This is a short film, but that doesn't mean it gets any easier. A first draft has been written, but there will be some revisions this weekend. Then I must pitch to fellow students and assemble a team to work with during shooting and post production. There is much to do.

For those of you living in Chicago, may I suggest a trip to Daley Plaza this weekend. "Midnight Circus" will be performing over the next few weeks leading up to Halloween. I caught a glimpse of the acrobats and performers as I was leaving school, and it was quite an excellent show. You can see on the left that the show is performing at numorous times everyday, so perhaps you'll be able to catch a show...

Click over to http://www.midnightcircus.net/ for more information.

Not very good quality, but I did manage to capture a few videos with my phone. Enjoy.



Until next time,

DM

Atom Films

The blog today focuses on a recently discovered website. Well, I'm sure it's been around for a while, but I just recently learned of its existence. http://www.atomfilms.com/ has a vault of short films, with everything ranging from horror, to comedy, to action.

In recent weeks, I have been planning on shooting my own short film and possibly uploading it on this website. If you have any short films yourselft, I would almost advise you do the same. Whatever the genre of your short film is, it's a pretty good bet they have a category for it. You can view anything from documentary shorts to blood and gore.

Something for everyone.

So click over to atomfilms.com, (there's a link posted in the column on the right) and enjoy what it has to offer. Hopefully within the next couple of months, you may find a short film of mine somewhere in this vast library of movies.

DM

Gapers Block

I write to you from the quiet computer labs of Flashpoint Academy. Today's blog is focused on Gapers Block, which is a new link placed down below for all you readers to click on (but only after you finish here). The term 'Gaper' is much more than just some made up word. The folks at this fine website write about the many terms people use to describe a traffic slowdown. Here in Chicago, it is known as a "Gapers Block" or "Gapers Delay." More specifically, it is a traffic jam caused by an accident. I guess you learn something new everyday.

Need something to do next Saturday night? No problem. Just check out the upcoming events, which is overflowing with good stuff to check out. Or how about reading a review on a new movie or book. You can even read about restaurants and dishes at some of the establishments around Chicago.

There is even a 'Fuel' section where people can vent their frustration on the Bears quarterbacks, review the fall tv shows, and even give input on the status of the U.S. economy.

So please, when your finished here, take a moment to parooze Gapers Block. It's loaded with blogs, news, reviews, and listings of upcoming events. Who knows, perhaps you will find something in there that will take your mind off the frustrations of the day. Enjoy.

DM

Side Job Anyone?

Today the class learned about blogging. Of course, I already know what it is because....well, your reading it. What I have learned is that everyone has the potential to profit financially from their very own blog - provided that they talk about something more than what they ate for lunch...

With the blog scene now bigger than ever, bloggers everywhere do more than just talk about their days. They review movies, rate restaurants, talk about upcoming events, introduce new products, all right from their very own home computer. Some bloggers can make up to $1800 a month! That is pretty good money for someone who may try and do it as a side job.

Perhaps a way to rake in some money on your blog is by advertising. Simply having a small advertisement on your website can help bring in revenue. This is not necessarily the answer to making money out the eyeballs, but it's a start.

Just try and avoid the trash talking...

DM