Film Forum West Midlands

Here’s a re-post of Dave Allen’s Animation Forum WM article:

A couple of events for animators and scriptwriters looking to hone their writing (and perhaps meet new collaborators) take place in July.

SCRIPT will be running a course tailored towards writing for games and online drama with the handsomely titled ‘3D to 3G Storytelling: New Narrative Structures and Opportunities for Writers and Drama Practitioners’ on Saturday 11th July 2009 (10am-5pm).

The one day course takes place at Gateway Education & Arts Centre, Shrewsbury and will be delivered by TV and film producer Claire Ingram and novelist, screen and games writer, Graham Joyce, who will be discussing “new ways of telling dramatic stories across screens of all sizes.” The course costs £50 (£45 concessions) and can be booked via this link, as part of the ‘TENacity’series of events.

Slightly further afield, Hollywood screenwriter William Akers, author of Your Screenplay Sucks!, 100 Ways To Make It Great, is giving a ‘two hour intensive’ at the MET Film School at Ealing Studios, London, on Thursday 2nd July (6.30pm-8.30pm). Among other things, he will discuss “How to tell if your idea is good enough to be a “movie,” the crucial importance of the Opponent, making the Opponent the Hero’s agent of change, why a One Line outline is crucial” and much, much more that can be found in full here.

Tickets are £15 on the door and can be reserved by contacting beka@metfilm.co.uk.

Media Evening is a cool networking night, this time hosted by Clusta at The Vaults on Newhall Place from 6:30pm. We met some good people there at the last one. It’s free but you have to register here first: http://me0609.eventbrite.com/

Here’s what they say about it:

People of the media unite! Whether you’re in the creative, digital, marketing and PR world, here’s your chance to regularly network with movers and shakers and new talent from broadcast, print and online media.

Thursday, June 25
From 6.30pm

The Vaults Restaurant and Bar

Newhall Place

Newhall Hill

Birmingham

B1 3GH

Everyone is welcome but remember, registration gets you a free drink, so don’t forget to print your Event Brite ticket – you’ll need it to get your tipple.

You can follow Media Evening on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/MediaEvening

As part of Screen WM’s fantastic news that they will be bringing BBC’s Hustle to Birmingham, they have also called out for crew and members involved in the West Midlands film and Televsion industry to register with them.

Working with Kudos Productions, Screen WM has secured joint approval over it’s crew, meaning that jobs generated in the region will be kept local.  Recruiting is starting NOW with filming already scheduled for this summer.

To register, send an email with the subject title ‘Hustle’ to crew@screenwm.co.uk, with your CV and link to showreel.

GO!

Want to show your film on the big screen at Glastonbury Festival? You’ve got till Fri 29th May to get a DVD in. 

THE Glastonbury Festival will have 2 25m² screens back- to- back broadcasting a mix of short films, archive footage, gaming sessions, classic pop and highlights of the BBC’s coverage of the Festival from 10.00am to 3.00am every day.

With a total of 85 hours worth of programming time to fill we are inviting organisations from around the region to submit a selection of material that they would like to showcase to a potential audience of 177,000 people, including:

• Short films and animations (up to 8 minutes long).
• Documentaries (themes might include sport, sustainability, music, evolution, the natural world and landscape).
• Digital art works/installations.
• Archive footage (including footage of great sporting, musical and festival moments).

There are no specific themes or categories for the 2009 call, but we would ask you to bear in mind that:

• The screens will be programmed by a professional team in line with BBC guidelines (including a 9pm “watershed”), so we need to appeal to children and families as well as to an adult audience.
• Films will need to have a very immediate appeal to engage an audience that, for the most part, will be on the move between venues (for those familiar with the site, the screens will be immediately opposite what used to be the “Left Field” and adjacent to “the meeting point” – a very busy junction).
• The screens will be in full daylight for much of the time so fine detail may well be lost.

Format and details for submission:

• All proposed content should be submitted in DVD format.
• Send submissions to Cathy Gremin, South West Screen, St Bartholomews Court, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 5BT
• For further information, or if you have any questions contact Cathy Gremin or Dan Obi
• Deadline Friday May 29th 2009

Download the application form here

Click here to go to the origaniser’s page

(via Animation Forum WM & Media Talent Bank’s Dave Allen)

Apologies for the short notice on this one.

Roots to Shoots is having it’s regular short film night on  Thurs 28th May 7pm.  Looks to be a good ‘un. Here’s what it’s organiser Richard Wood has to say about it:

Next Thursday its Roots to Shoots at Taylor Johns, each month the event is growing in numbers, with new and first time film makers exposing themselves in front of people. Have balls, or grow some and come along and screen your short. Or come along and watch some wierd and wonderful short films to make you think…What the??

Hosted at: 
Taylor Johns House, Coal Vaults, Canal Basin, Coventry, CV1 4LY

£3/ waged £2.50/unwaged student

Free +1 if you screen a film

First Half – Student and new film makers
If your a student and have a final end of year screener then bring it along (no more than 20 mins, and no porn) Other than that anything goes.

2nd Half – Pro and award winning shorts
 

Here’s their Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=51605771081

and MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/roots2shoots

Birmingham-based animation/comedy trio Dice Productions are looking for a team to help them make a series of live-action comedy sketches. They need a camera operator and help with lighting and sound. For further details see their blog post here.

If you are interested, contact Ian, Louis and Tom at admin@diceproductions.co.uk

(via Dice Productions)

Film Forum’s latest social get-together (and informal networking night) will be held on Tuesday 2nd June at the Victoria Pub on John Bright Street in Birmingham from 6pm.

For those that haven’t been to a meet-up yet, here’s the low-down. We meet up each month to get people from all aspects of filmmaking in the Midlands together to chat and start building networks of friends and contacts. It’s very informal and is really up to you if you approach it as a casual drink or an opportunity to make new contacts and get projects off the ground.

Already, contacts made through the social evenings have helped film projects to flourish and the variety of creative types attending has been very encouraging.

As for the location, The Victoria is fast-becoming Birmingham’s most-exciting venue, mixing a creative style with a chilled-out atmosphere. We like it.

So, come on down, say hello, tell us what you are up to and hopefully we’ll all benefit from some interaction.

Here’s the Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=79610743842

On Saturday 9th May (tomorrow) at the Hare & Hounds, Digbeth, Brendan O’Neill is running a fundraiser for his film Paper Aeroplane,  ”a micro-budget feature film to be shot in Birmingham, England during August 2009. It will star actor Kriss Dosanjh (This is England, East is East, Dirty Pretty Things) who will also produce.”

The fundraiser will consist of performances from bands and DJ’s at the Hare & Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham, and starts at 8pm.

Along with a raffle, the band line-up will be:

Paul Murphy -8.45
Kings of the Heath – 9.30
Mary and Martin – 10.15
Frutaloka – 11.15
Jam Session

Tickets can be purchased via PayPal in advance topaperaeroplanefilm@gmail.com (£7 + 0.50p to cover PayPal fee per ticket) or can be bought on the door. N.U.S cardholders can get in for £5.

For more information, please check out their Facebook event page or email paperaeroplanefilm@gmail.com.

Any actors need to put a showreel together? Here’s an offer you might want to consider:

Get a great showreel shot and edited from scratch and get your acting career really going.

In this tough economic crisis we know how important promotion can be, so that’s why we’re still offering our showreel production service for just £200, all inclusive. It’s a great way to get your foot in the door.
SHOWREELS PAGE: http://www.rotundafilms.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/showreels.htm

We’ve got some great new locations and spectacular new scripts for our clients to give your showreel a real sense of style, glamour and professionalism.

DATES AVAILABLE

JUNE 28th, JULY 26th

Now in its second year, Virgin Media Shorts is the only short film competition to give British film makers the opportunity to have their work showcased to millions of people across the country through four mediums – on over 200 cinema screens, on TV, on mobile phones and online.

Last year, over 1500 filmmakers showed off their work through Virgin Media Shorts. The competition was judged by a celebrity panel including: Kevin Spacey, Gurinder Chadha (director of Bend it Like Beckham), Daniel Barber (Oscar-nominated short film maker), Stephen Mangan (star of Green Wing), James King (Radio 1’s film critic), Lenny Crooks (UK Film Council) and Sir Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin Group). 12 films were selected and had their work blown up onto 35mm and screened across 214 cinemas in the UK. One film was picked as an overall winner and received £15,000 production funding from Virgin media with a chance to apply for up to £15,000 from the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund.

Virgin Media are looking for films up to 2 minutes 20 seconds including credits. Your film must be uploaded online at www.virginmediashorts.co.uk

This year Virgin Media also have a Mobile Shorts Award for films shot on mobile phones. Films for this category can be up to 60 seconds including credits.

The judges will select the 12 best films from the main competition which will be screened on 214 cinema screens across the UK. Out of those 12 one film will be selected with a £15,000 prize from Virgin Media and the chance to apply to the UK Film Council for up to £15,000 funding. This is to shoot their next film which will be shown on Virgin Media platforms.

Virgin Media Shorts will also be awarding a prize for the best film submitted that has been shot on mobile phone format. This film will be distributed across Virgin Media platforms.

The final 12 films selected from the main competition are also eligible to take part in the People’s Choice award, voted for by members of the public online.

The winners from all three categories will be announced at a ceremony in central London on 22nd September 2009.

For further information on how to upload your film, terms and conditions and guidelines, go to: www.virginmediashorts.co.uk

Deadline: Midnight, 22nd June 2009

(via Screen WM)