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  • Published on

    MY FILM IS ALREADY ON YOUTUBE. CAN I STILL SUBMIT?

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    You've made your movie, you can't wait for everyone to see it, you put it on YouTube, and then you want to submit to film festivals. So, you reach out to the festival for an answer to the questions "My film is already on YouTube, can I still submit to your festival?"

    The answer from the Hamilton Film Festival comes in the form of a question. Depending on how you answer, determines if we will allow it. We ask the filmmaker "If your movie is already available to everyone, everywhere, why do you want a film festival screening?" 

    Often we will get the response that the filmmaker is looking for awareness, to meet other filmmakers, or to see their movie on the big screen. Those are all good answers, but we have to weigh this against some factors of our own. 

    • If we are spending thousands of dollars to rent venues, and the way to pay for those venues is ticket sales, who will buy tickets for a movie they can see for free? 
    • If we spend hundreds of dollars promoting the movies that will be in our festivals, and someone does a title search and finds your movie online already, will they still be motivated to come to the festival?
    • We will receive hundreds of films that are NOT on any streaming platform, meaning the first time  people see it at the Hamilton Film Festival, may be their only opportunity to see the movie for a few years, as the movie makes their rounds, is it fair to those filmmakers who have strategized?
    • If you didn't get the connections and views on YouTube, is it something that people aren't interested in seeing? 

    We are a very encouraging film festival, and we want to help filmmakers navigate this crazy circuit, so we are likely more forgiving than other events. However, a filmmaker, should, know the release strategy for their movie before they start making it. If you are just emerging, you will learn this as you go, but you can save a lot of money by strategizing. 

    So the short answer is YES, you can submit, but before your spend your hard earned money, you should really have a good reason on WHY you are submitting. We do cross check all the movies we select so it's best to be up front, in your cover letter. We have selected movies in the past, and then rejected them as they were widely released before the festival. 

    We always ask that if your film is selected, that you make your movie private from the time it is selected, until the day after our last festival date. 

    My optimism usually has me saying, "If our audiences haven't seen it, it's new." But the small business owner in me has to put up a few red flags. 

    If you have anything to add to this, or if you like what you have read, please like, comment and share this post to anyone that may be navigating the film festival circuit. 

     - Nathan

    Nathan Fleet is the CEO of the Hamilton Film Festival and has been with HFF since it's inception in 2004. 
    Movies can be submitted exclusively through Film Freeway 

    #FilmFestival #FestivalStrategy #IndieFilmmaker #HamFilmFest #FilmIndustry 
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  • Published on

    Top 10: What makes a "Canadian" film? USA has the answers!

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    "I think you have to have 30 Canadians on your film team to qualify as a Canadian film. I read up on that for a tax break. Ya, 30 Canadians. Are there even 30 Canadians that work in film?"
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    It's Canada Day weekend so we thought we'd look to our neighbo(u)rs from the south to find out "what makes a Canadian film, Canadian." Here are our top 10 favo(u)rite response! At least #1 tried. #4 clearly didn't understand the question. 

    10) Uh, like, aBoot! Ha! You gotta have someone saying aBoot! 

    ​9) Pretty cold. Not sure they are making too many movies up there unless you need snow. 

    8) Lot's of beaver! 

    7) Go Raptors! ​

    6) Mounties n' shit. A mountie car chase!  Make THAT movie. 

    5) Probably a lot of hockey movies.

    4) We visit Ontario and the people are nice. 

    ​3) I think they made Titanic in Canada? 

    2) U-S-A! U-S-A!

    1) I think you have to have 30 Canadians on your film team to qualify as a Canadian film. I read up on that for a tax credit. Ya, 30 Canadians. Are there even 30 Canadians that work in film? 
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    ​Quiet On The Set! is a monthly blog post about happenings in the indie film world. Any resemblance to any persons living, or dead, or in limbo, or who identifies as being alive, or dead, or in limbo, is purely coincidental. 

    #QuietOnTheSet #HamFilmFest #IndieFilm #Comedy #HappyStuff
    Photo credit: ​https://www.istockphoto.com/ca/portfolio/dorian2013?
  • Published on

    Want to get Millennials into the cinema? Portrait mode movie theatres are coming soon.

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    "The time is now to revolutionize the way people experience cinema. People have been shooting in portrait mode for years but the industry has failed to keep up."
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    Portland, OR - Your local movie house is showing the latest indie flick and the people that show up are all over 45 years of age. The problem here is that the younger generation aren't coming along with them. The very things that are keeping this generation away from the cinema could be just the trick to getting them back. Portrait Mode. 

    ​"If you think about how people are experiencing content, it isn't horizontally. The time is now to revolutionize the way people experience cinema. People have been shooting in portrait mode for years but the industry has failed to keep up." said Sarah Elizabeth of Portrait Mode Cinema Inc. 

    Portrait Mode Cinema Inc. (PMCI), founded in Portland Oregon in late 2018 by a group of young entrepreneurs,  purchased an aging theatre and the first thing they did was turn the screen 90 degrees. After purchasing a projector from Staples and using bluetooth to connect their smart phone, Portrait Mode Cinema was a reality. 

    Finding content to fit the format was no trouble at all since over 85% of the people in their social circle shoot that way. "Now when we see someone filming in landscape mode we frown upon that, the same way we would get frowned upon by Gen Xers." Said Elizabeth.

    Finding an audience is not so easy, even with the PWYC (Pay What You Can) model as they only see an average of 15 people per screening, and that is including family and staff, but Elizabeth and Co. do have a point. Every news clip we see is typically shot in portrait mode, and the network editor will fill the sides with an expanded, blurred view of the content. 

    When asked if PMCI would venture into home televisions, Sarah said the team already pitched the concept. "When we approached investors they just suggested to turn the TV 90 degrees, so we're now working on a bracket that will allow the user to swivel their unit on the wall. We WILL revolutionize the cinema industry, 90 degrees at a time!" 
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    ​Quiet On The Set! is a monthly blog post about happenings in the indie film world. Any resemblance to any persons living, or dead, or in limbo, or who identifies as being alive, or dead, or in limbo, is purely coincidental. 

    #QuietOnTheSet #HamFilmFest #IndieFilm #Comedy #HappyStuff

    photo credit: https://www.istockphoto.com/ca/portfolio/peshkov
  • Published on

    "Cinetelligent" can write a script, source CGI characters and locations, create FX and music, and post to social media...with the click of a button.

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    "Filmmakers have proved that they don't really know what to do with the tools we have given them so it is time to take over!"
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    Punta Gorda, Florida - Modern technology has levelled the playing field for filmmakers. For a few thousand dollars, or even a few hundred, you can make and distribute a movie. The great "equalizer" was supposed to give filmmakers access to audiences around the world and  put money back into the pockets of the makers, but that hasn't been the case for many who are still struggling to find ways to make, complete, and showcase their films.

    If you look at the trends over the past decade , people gained commercial access to digital cameras and editing software,  thus becoming their own cinematographers and editors. The tools are more accessible but the roles are now taken by only a few people, all doing multiple jobs. The phrase "Jack of all Trades, Master of none," comes to mind here. 

    The next step, eliminating the need for cast and crew, is Cinetelligent.

    Founded in Punta Gorda, Florida, the team was looking for inspiration and were headed for a coding meet-up at the area conference centre, and wandered into a local film festival by accident, and didn't like what they saw. Chip Licone, founder of Cinetelligent, jokingly stood up during the film's climax and proclaimed "A computer could generate better films than this!" That is when the scuffle erupted. A group of filmmakers, who were attending to celebrate the debut of their short film, strong-armed Licone out the door and tossed him onto the red carpet.     Licone, who wasn't injured, vowed that the best revenge would be to make their jobs obsolete. The other members of his tech team sat silently and waited for the room to clear before exiting. 

    ​Related "Florida man interrupts film screening and receives his own red carpet treatment."

    "Filmmakers have proved that they don't really know what to do with the tools we have given them so it is time to take over!" -said Chip over the phone from his Punta Gorda apartment. The team, who had never made a film, went to work creating Cinetelligent. After six months, and a 10,000 loan from Licone's father, the team delivered a prototype. Licone demonstrated to us by entering data into two fields, time and genre. He entered 00:00:06 (six seconds), and Action. After about 4 minutes of rendering, the final film is generated by pulling royalty free images and sound from the internet, and some graphics created within the program, and then automatically uploaded to our YouTube channel. While the initial result was clearly no threat to the independent film community, the idea is a scary one. Will this technology take over the cinematic world?
    See for yourself in the video below. 
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    ​Quiet On The Set! is a monthly blog post about happenings in the indie film world. Any resemblance to any persons living, or dead, or in limbo, or who identifies as being alive, or dead, or in limbo, is purely coincidental. 

    #QuietOnTheSet #HamFilmFest #IndieFilm #Comedy #HappyStuff

    photo credit:     https://www.istockphoto.com/ca/portfolio/chombosan
  • Published on

    Film funding...for men only.

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    "Maybe they (women) don't want to make films, and now, just because there is money, they might be like "Hey, I wanna try this!"
    In the wake of film grants aiming for gender parity, Jack Manson, a film producer and self proclaimed philanthropist,  offered a new pocket of funding for male filmmakers only. "M.O.F.F.", the Male Only Film Fund, was to give young male filmmakers a chance in this new, growing female-dominated industry. The 30,000 CND funding prize was made available for men ages 18-35.   

    A filmmaker named "Joe", who applied to the fund, offered his thoughts. "It's been a tough year for us (men) as we used to have access to so much funding and now, just because of our sex, our access to funds have been cut in half! Add to that, all the focus and headlines are about women in film, so where does that leave us?     With every month that passes, more of the spotlight is put on female filmmakers. It wouldn't surprise me if they get ALL the funding. I'm gonna seriously think about leaving the business if that happens."

    Grant applicants can typically wait months before learning if they were successful at receiving funding.
    In Canada, there are federal, provincial and municipal funding options for filmmakers but typically, one funding body does not grant enough to complete a project, so one must apply to several streams to complete a budget, on paper at least. There are no guarantees that you will be successful but it is said that it is more likely that one funding body will grant you funds if another has already come on board. 
    The difficult part for filmmakers is getting that first grant secured so that you can, hopefully, get the second approved.

    The industry has recently identified the lack of diversity amongst those who receive grants, and is responding accordingly by aiming for gender parity. Not everyone is pleased by this. 

    Another applicant who responded to our interview request, ask to remain anonymous. "Maybe they (women) don't want to make films and now, just because there is money they might be like -- "Hey, I wanna try this!" -- which isn't fair to us guys who have been studying movies all our lives. There might be a few women that like movies but no way are there 50%. No way!" - anonymous

    When M.O.F.F. was announced, the site experienced several crashes due to the volume of applicants. Over 12,000 applications were filled out in the first week. The site immediately closed to any new applications. Since then, several human rights groups, filmmaker groups , and an online petition, have successfully put an end to this controversial fund. 

    The fund's creator, Jack Manson,  made a brief statement on his twitter account.  "Clearly this was needed or there wouldn't be so many applications. I really thought I had a chance to put some men upfront but now, I'm not so sure they can make it in this business." The account has since been deleted. 

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    ​Quiet On The Set! is a monthly blog post about happenings in the indie film world. Any resemblance to any persons living, or dead, or in limbo, or who identifies as being alive, or dead, or in limbo, is purely coincidental. 

    #QuietOnTheSet #HamFilmFest #IndieFilm #Comedy #HappyStuff

    photo credit: www.istockphoto.com/ca/portfolio/AaronAmat​
  • Published on

    Carnivore Extra Eats all the Vegan Food on Film Set.

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    "I know what vegan means! They don't eat meat or fish!"
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    Toronto, Ontario - On the set of the indie film 'Nice Guys Don't Wear Purple'

    When script-supervisor Diandra Gould showed up to the craft service table after a long morning on set, she was offended by what she saw.  "I saw these extras, who were clearly not Vegan, eating all the Vegan options!" It's completely un-acceptable as it leaves us (vegans) with no options!", said Diandra. 

    When asked how she could identify a non-vegan she quipped that they each had "the look".

    Mario DiTescetty, an extra who is new to the film industry, had this to say. "I already had some pizza and, you know, the Veggie stuff looked good and I thought, now is a good time to try it, in case I don't like it. Turns out that it was pretty good so I kept eating it. Before you knew it, we were all eating  it. I feel pretty good too. No one told me not to eat it so hey, who's at fault here? I wouldn't be mad if she ate all the pizza!"

    ​A Production Assistant (PA), who asked to remain anonymous, said that Craft Services clearly announced and identified the Vegan options but Mario was busy instagramming himself on the set.  Diandra, with nothing left to eat, grabbed a few remaining carrots and went to stand near the water cooler. Mario reportedly felt bad and brought her a plate of cheese to nibble on.

    The PA, confirmed this encounter. "I knew she wouldn't eat the cheese but I warned her that he licked his fingers each time he put a new piece on the plate.     Diandra tossed her carrots into the compost right away."  

    Food selection at a craft service table has increasingly become a hot-button issue as several cast / crew members each have their own dietary preferences. Some have suggested that an all-vegan menu satisfies everyone, and offends no one,  while others crave options from the meat and dairy menu. When Ontario's 2019 food guide was released earlier this year, many noticed the lack of meat and dairy present on the imagery. ​

    When Mario was questioned if he know what Vegan meant, he snapped back "I know what vegan means! They don't eat meat or fish!"

    Mario wasn't on the call sheet the following day.

    Nice Guys Don't Wear Purple is set to be released on VOD in the Fall of 2019. 

    ​    #QuietOnTheSet #HamFilmFest #IndieFilm #Comedy #HappyStuff

    Quiet On The Set! is a monthly blog post about happenings in the indie film world. This article is farce and meant for comedy purpose only. Any resemblance to any persons living, or dead, or in limbo, or who identifies as being alive, or dead, or in limbo, is purely coincidental. 

    photo: istockphoto.com/motortion