If you know me, you know that I am a huge fan of Albert and David Maysles‘ film, Grey Gardens. I show it every year to my film students when we study Direct Cinema. While the film does an amazing job of painting the picture of what life must have been like in the ’70’s inside the 10-bedroom 1897 house, I like to show where it all took place.
Today, I was lucky enough to run across this interesting April, ‘09 NY Times article about the people that bought this incredible property from Little Edie. Sally Quinn and her husband, Benjamin C. Bradlee, bought the house and restored it to glory. If you have seen the film, you know that this must have been a daunting task. If you haven’t seen the film, check out this NY Times Slideshow of what the house looked like around the time of purchase. The annotations offer more to the story.
For an update on what the property looks like today, check out this slideshow or if you really want to see the gardens, watch this video.
The story of Grey Gardens continues to be of interest. With the new HBO film, it doesn’t look like it going away anytime soon.
A favorite blog that I like to follow is Film Studies for Free. The author is Catherine Grant of the University of Kent in the UK. She recently posted a great bunch of links to free introductions to film studies. The post should be useful to any student of film, even the ones teaching other students (Read: Me).
There are several links to the works of David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, the authors of Film As Art and the Observations on film art and Film Art blog. You may have noticed their names mentioned on this blog in the past.
Check out Catherine’s post and click on the links in your spare time. We all might just learn a few things.
Are you looking for another way to get your video into a festival? Well, now is your chance. The International Student Media Festival is waiting for entries. Entries must be received by June 1, 2009. Check out the Entry Guide for details on how to enter.
We just received word from the Slick Rock Film Festival that 10 of the 15 films that we submitted have made the Top 50 cut. While there were some good films missing from the list, there were some great ones that did. Advanced Film and TV Class student, Ellie, had 5 of her 7 films accepted. Way to go, Ellie! We even had a couple of freshman make the list with their film, The Perfect Town. For fun, here’s a peek at:
We won’t know if any of the films are nominated for The Rock until the night of the festival. If you are in the area, stop by the Visalia Fox Theater in Downtown Visalia (308 W. Main Street) on May 16th. All Top 50 films will be shown for free from 11:00 PM – 4:00 PM on the giant 40’ screen with megawatt sound. The day culminates with the Awards Ceremony at 7:00 PM.
It has been busy around the El Diamante Video room. Not only have I been busy with taking a couple of online courses and doing Google Workshops around the area, but the kids have been busy cranking out award winning videos.
We had a couple of Intro to Video groups enter the California Multimedia Festival. This also marks the first time we have ever entered a show from On Air with Ed Hews, our bi-weekly TV Show. Keep your fingers crossed for all the kids that were part of those productions.
Lastly, we entered 16 videos into the Slick Rock Film Festival. No offense to former students, but this year’s batch of videos has the to be the best collection of work we have ever entered. I am amazed by each one of the videos. Look for us to post a video or two on this blog.
Congratulations to all of you that worked so hard. Good luck to you!
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival is getting close, filmmakers! If you are planning to submit to the festival, you will need to fill out a “intent to submit” form by Friday, April 3rd!
Check out the “How to Submit” page for all the 411 on submitting. Most importantly, visit this page before the end of the day on Friday.
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival Ceremony is Saturday, May 16, 2009 from 7:00pm - 9:00pm at the Visalia Fox Theater in Visalia, California.
My College of Sequoias class is currently charged with the arduous task of finding a local vendor and convincing them to allow us to shoot a commercial for them for free. Who would turn down such an offer? I don’t know, but people do. The point here is that we have been going over the rules to making commercials. (Are there rules?). Let’s just say that most commercials follow the same steps to get people to let go of their money and buy something. I say “most” because of this:
Every once in a while something pops up on the internet that we can all use. This week, Digital Heaven released an online book called Final Cut Pro Killer Secrets.
Final Cut Pro Killer Secrets is an eBook packed with the hottest tips and time saving techniques for the Final Cut Pro editor. Written in a clear and accessible style, its 10 chapters cover a comprehensive range of subjects including capturing, importing, editing, effects, audio and exporting.
The best part is that you can download a free chapter from here. Still interested? Take a look here and you will also find 10 video on Final Cut Pro tips
A couple of weeks ago, I started getting emails from the Fresno Filmmakers Alliance. Some up-and-coming filmmakers in the area were looking for a crew to help shoot their video. They are not alone. The site was “created to bring together film-makers and production people of all sorts who reside in California’s Central Valley”. If you are interested in what is happening in the Fresno area film world, go and sign up. If you are Facebook user, become a fan.
If you are more interested in watching films, then check out the Rogue Festival in Fresno this week. The independent performance and art festival features two different screenings of short films. They have scheduled a number of showtimes, so check out the site for times and prices.
Lastly, your local community college, College of the Sequoias: Arts and Lectures Series, is bringing in Filmmaker Mitchell Rose on Friday, March 13th at 7:00 PM. Now I don’t know this guy’s work, but you should never pass up on a chance to hear how films are made. Facebook users RSVP here.
I have to tell you that it is nice to see this much going on. It just goes to show you that…if you support it, they will come!
Today, I was lucky enough to run across this interesting April, ‘09 NY Times article about the people that bought this incredible property from Little Edie. Sally Quinn and her husband, Benjamin C. Bradlee, bought the house and restored it to glory. If you have seen the film, you know that this must have been a daunting task. If you haven’t seen the film, check out this NY Times Slideshow of what the house looked like around the time of purchase. The annotations offer more to the story.
Are you looking for another way to get your video into a festival? Well, now is your chance. The 
If you are interested in what is happening in the Fresno area film world, go and sign up. If you are Facebook user,