Blog Salad Friday on November Two-th, 2007

Another Lesson in Viral Moving Marketing
Perhaps some of you have seen the trailer for "Cloverfield", the grainy hand-held shot story of what starts as a New Year's Eve party and ends with the head of Lady Liberty careening down the streets of New York. No one really knows what the film is about (a monster movie is a safe guess), but its vague nature has folks looking into all corners of the internet to find out. Film Threat follows one such obsessive, and give more evidence of how you can work fans into a froth with odd websites and trickled-out information.

Canon HV20 Sweeps Camcorder Info Select Awards
The excellent videocam review site Camcorder Info has published their list of the best of 2007, and it's no real surprise that Canon's mighty mite, the HV20, is the clear winner. Grabbing honors for Best Under $1000 (Currently $833 at Circuit City!), Best HDV, Best High Definition, and Camcorder of the Year, the HV20 must be a good camera. Okay, so I've been tooting my horn about this gizmo for awhile (see posts here and here), even if I STILL don't own one yet. I think it's safe to say that this is the best deal for filmmakers who want a good (great?) camera, but can't spend a lot. Hey! It even sports the now-elusive microphone input.

Ed Burns' Purple Violets going on iTunes instead of Theaters
[Courtesy CinemaTech] Can't find a distributor for your movie? Who cares! The way things are turning on the web, we may see more films (which could find a theatrical release) debuting on your local computer screen instead. Fairly famous actor/director Ed Burns (The Brothers McMullen, She's the One) couldn't get someone to bite on his new film, Purple Violets, so he's going to sell the whole thing on iTunes come November 22. Whether it works or not is really irrelevant. What is, is that even big shots are paying attention to the power of the web--shouldn't we?

Longer-Form Serial Irving Renquist Debuts on Web
[Courtesy Microcinema Scene] I'm always excited about someone else using the serial format on the internet, especially when they try something new. Irving Renquist, Ghost Hunter follows the exploits of young paranormal detective Irving, and is more character-driven than you first might think. With weekly episodes of 30 minutes instead of the usual 5-10, it will be interesting to see if people will watch (or the filmmakers can sustain) a micro budget production for that length of time. I like the website a lot, which is looks great an includes something I've wanted to use, but have been beaten out again: a countdown clock to the next episode.

The Projection Booth: 31 Days of Zombie!
Here's a neat series that ran through the entire month of October, covering a specific sub-genre (zombie flicks) of a specific genre (horror). Now, I am not really a fan of all things zombie, but I can appreciate good writing and film analysis and this series has a ton of both. I believe we should cling to anything that can help us be better filmmakers, and this series is not only helpful, but fun to read as well. No matter what you think, good movies exists in all genres, and if you have never seen any of these films, I'd recommend you check out the granddaddy of them all, Night of the Living Dead (1968), and you'll quickly recognize how many other films it has influenced.