Blog Salad Friday on Mock-tober 27, 2007

No Whiners!
A few weeks back I posted about a great editorial from Microfilmmaker concerning criticism and how to learn from it. Gregory Conley over at Your Video Store Shelf has a running "conversation" with an emailer who ain't too thrilled about some of his video reviews. After responding once, the perturbed dude came at him again, so Greg posted again. It's more good evidence that you better develop a thick skin if you want to release your work to public scrutiny. There will always be bad reviews (no matter what the budget), so get used to it, and respect the opinions of others. Just because they may not like your stuff doesn't mean they're brainless clods.

Fangs for Everything
With Halloween upon us, I thought you might like a couple of links to cover a very popular appliance that don't cost much, but can have a striking cinematic effect: Fangs. Make Magazine has a video or text tutorial on creating some tooth fakery that is matched to your very own choppers. If you don't have the time to go the DIY route, check out the inexpensive Scarecrow Tooth Caps. They look pretty good and will only set you back fifteen bones, er dollars.

The Close Up Blog-a-thon Comes to a Close
The House Next Door's excellent blog frenzy is over, and there is now a wealth of great film analysis to pore over. The theme was the close up, and so many folks responded, you could construct a textbook out of all the great contributions (here's mine). If you haven't checked it out yet, please do. You can only grow as a filmmaker by reading about this very personal camera angle.

Tiffany Shlain on "This Conference is Being Recorded"
Lance Weiler interviews filmmaker Shlain who has the breakthrough honor of getting her indie short The Tribe on iTunes as a paid download (which is the number one downloaded short right now). iTunes has been resistant to do this in the past, so this is great news for all you content creators out there. Shlain talks about her successful short, how she got it on iTunes, and her plans for the future. I love her positive attitude and consistent energy. A good listen.