Cinema Salad on Friday November Sixteen, 2007

No More Flash Movie Websites
Brian Chirls wins the post of the week with his excellent diatribe covering how Flash is not your friend when it comes to promoting your film. He makes perfect sense with points about non-searchability, dependence on coders, and lagging load times for slower computers. Since first impressions are everything, I encourage all who have a movie site to take Brian's advice (he gives some great alternatives) and don't be a "Flash" in the pan.

Dimmer Boxes
Full brightness control over practical lighting is very important to get the proper exposure or mood. Self Reliant Film has a great post about this very topic and how to obtain your own off-the-shelf dimmer boxes. Of course, they aren't made for movie lighting, but half the fun of this DIY stuff is finding things that aren't supposed to work, and making them work anyway. Fade to black...

Rebuilding Hollywood in Silicon Valley's Image
Blogger Marc Andreessen has a great commentary about how the writer's strike is expediting the shift in the Hollywood distribution model. He notes how the bottleneck of the powerful few who control all the outlets will dissolve into a large group that resemble dot-com startups. He's talking about you and me, people. Folks who can create content, own all the rights, and have access to the same huge distribution network--the internet. A well thought-out, important read.

Microfilmmaker #25 is Out
The filmmaking webzine returns with another online issue full of goodies. The article that jumps out at me this months is an in-depth review of Aiptek's little HD cam, the Go-HD. I've been very interested in these tapeless cams, as they are small, inexpensive, and fast. I've been wanting a "fast cam" like this for all those spontaneous shots. Sadly, as reviewer Tom Stern points out, this camera sucks. Also worth noting is another great editorial by Jeremy Hanke, this time covering "15 Minutes of Fame" and a production nightmare.

Renart Films Podcast Interviews Susan Buice
I don't know what rock I've been under, but I just discovered the Renart Films Podcast, and it's great. Hosted by filmmaker Daniel Schechter, this is a lively interview that is not over the phone (the typical setup), but in person! This time Four Eyed Monsters co-creator Susan Buice is the subject, and it's the only interview I've heard with Susan sans cohort Arin Crumley. It's a good listen and Susan covers a lot, including the myth of the film festival that leads to a good distribution deal. Also listen for the trivia section where Daniel quizzes the guest about things relating to her movie. I'm a fan after one episode.