Cinema Salad for January One Eight, Oh Eight

Q&A with Metacafe's Erick Hachenburg
Ever wonder what it takes to make some cash on one of the best sites for content creators? CamcorderInfo recently interviewed Metacafe's CEO, and he divulges some good advice for those looking to make some bank. He talks about how to get on the homepage, how the payout works, and what the review process is. Some folks have done very well with their stuff (like KipKay), and these are some good tips on how the rest of us can do the same.

J.J. Abrams and his Mystery Box
[Courtesy Indy Mogul] Writer/Director wunderkind J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Mission Impossible 3) gives a great speech over at TED Talks that covers some great topics such as character investment, using what you don't see, and how magic relates to storytelling. A natural performer, Abrams is fun to watch, is very funny, and shares some great anecdotes and history of his creations. Make sure you stick around for the very end when he shares a no-budget trick he used on MI:3. It's something any of us could pull off.

Navigating the Digital Divide
Micro-friend Lance Weiler (Head Trauma, The Workbook Project) has a fantastic article in the most recent issue of Filmmaker magazine about digital distribution. It has to be one of the most comprehensive sources on the subject I've seen, and is loaded with good information. Anyone thinking about distributing any of their work needs to read this and keep it handy, because you will be referring to it more than once. Aspects of this piece are scattered all over the web, but I'm grateful that Lance could bring it all together so well in an organized fashion.

$30 Chainsaw Arm and Hilarious Short
I've mentioned the goofballs at Indy Mogul before, but stopped when I slapped their video episodes into my sidebar (where it still resides). Their tips on low budget effects are always entertaining, but their test film using an Evil Dead style chainsaw arm had me in stitches. By far their best work since the "Laser Death Duel" sequence in How to Build a Big Effing Gun, you have to check it out. If you are a familiar with Sam Raimi's early stuff, you'll laugh hard, but you can equally appreciate Eric's extremity-enhanced IT expert. Groovy!

Microcinema Scene is Back Up!
And with a shiny new coat of paint, too.