From lindawashere at mindspring.com Sat Dec 2 11:34:22 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] DAILIES 1st Sunday reminder... Message-ID: Hope to see you Sunday... Come sign up for the next DAILIES challenge. Come see The Accountant and learn how this script got all those resources for free...based on the writing. Linda B From lindawashere at mindspring.com Sat Dec 2 12:26:35 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] The PSA Project Message-ID: Hey All, I thought you might want to read this before you come to the meeting Sunday. If you wish to be a part of the discussion, read it BEFORE you come. It's only 4 pages. ;) Feel free to come ready to ask questions (relevant ones, not Devil's advocate ones just to be cute - you know who you are...and I'm watching you!). Come ready to sign up! If you can't make the meeting, but are interested in participating in the project, let me know ASAP. Thanks! Linda B Dailies: The PSA Project Project Mission Statement / Manifesto Films Due Date: April 1st, 2007 Rough Cut Screening: March 20th, 2007 (ish) Projected Public Screenings: April 15th ? 30th, weekends (ish) Point Producer: Linda Burns Contact: lindawashere@mindspring.com One liner: Filmmakers work with a real organization to create, and then donate, a finished public service announcement that challenges the writer, director, editor, sound designer and composer to tell a story within 30 or 60 seconds. One Paragraph: Filmmakers are challenged to identify, cold call and work with an organization to develop a broadcastable PSA that encompasses the organizations mission and reaches its target audience. Filmmakers are further challenged to create original music, which coupled with the severe time limit, will teach the filmmaker how to convey a lot of information in a short amount of time, literally making every choice count. Part of the Dailies mission is to explore our craft through community. But as storytellers, do we exist only to serve our own filmmaking community? Or as artists and citizens, can our mission extend to other organizations and institutions that educate and motivate different communities through the visual medium. As filmmakers, many of us are politically, environmentally and/or civically minded and we think of ourselves as advocates for a cause. To often, our activism comes passively in the form of a forwarded e-mail. Rarely do we have the commitment, resources or motivation to really make a difference in this world beyond our own front door. The PSA Project allows us to move beyond the information superhighway and out into the real world by creating product that can be used to move the masses. The PSA project will generate content to inform and educate the public on awareness of a particular issue while training the filmmaker to convey a story proficiently within a severe time limit. Many independent filmmakers, if they wish to work in the film industry full-time, can only make a living working on commercials, music videos and corporate industrials. Without creating material for the commercial market, the PSA Project challenges filmmakers to convey information in 30 or 60 seconds, which will strengthen their ability to do so in the commercial world. For the short film director uninterested in the corporate marketplace, the trend at festivals and for broadcasters is to focus their attention on shorter as opposed to longer works of art. This exercise will help these artists learn to tell a story more efficiently and effectively, without sacrificing creativity or imagination. Examples of artistically creative and effective PSA campaigns include the Crash Test Dummy, Keep America Beautiful, The United Negro College Fund, The Peace Corps, This is Your Brain on Drugs and Smokey the Bear. Many of the most popular PSA campaigns coupled images with clever slogans such as ?Give a Hoot, Don?t Pollute, ?Loose Lips Sink Ships?, ?You can learn a lot from a dummy?, ?Friends Don?t Let Friends Drive Drunk? ?A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste?, ?The toughest job you?ll ever love?, ?Just Say NO?, and ?Take a Bite out of Crime?. The PSA Project endeavors to effect positive change by educating, motivating, and mobilizing filmmakers to work with organizations of their choice to create short visual stories that will educate, motivate and mobilize the general public for years to come. Many of the above examples originated before most of the DAILIES filmmakers were born, yet they continue to convey their messages to the public as part of our popular culture. Although most Americans can assuredly recite PSA slogans, PSAs are not just memorized. They mobilize. The results of the following campaigns testify to the power of PSA messages to make lasting and positive social change. Applications for Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors soared from 90,000 a year to 620,000 in nine months, a seven-fold increase in the number of inquiries to Big Brothers/Big Sisters agencies. 68% of Americans say that they have personally stopped someone who had been drinking from driving. The old saying "One more for the Road," has been replaced with "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk." Safety belt usage rose from 14% to 79% since the Safety Belt campaign launched in 1985 - saving an estimated 85,000 lives, and $3.2 billion in costs to society. Since 1972, The United Negro College Fund campaign has helped raise more than $2.2 billion to graduate 350,000 minority students from college with the help of the "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste" slogan. 6,000 Children were paired with a mentor in just the first 18 months of the mentoring campaign. Destruction of our forests by wildfires has been reduced from 22 million acres to less than 8.4 million acres per year, since our Forest Fire Prevention campaign began. The amount of total waste recycled increased 24.4% from 1995 to 2000, and 385.4% from the 1980s after the launch of the Environmental Defense campaign. ** Information provided by The Ad Council ** Although the PSA Project encourages filmmakers to meet and work with organizations to craft a message, the filmmaker is not beholden to the creative ideas of these organizations, just as the organizations are not beholden to use the filmmakers? finished product. However, without properly understanding the mission and intent of an organization through some initial contact and follow-up meetings, the filmmaker will hinder his or her ability to effectively convey the institutions objective to it?s target audience. Similarly, the filmmaker will overlook a valuable opportunity ? learning to collaborate with a client. This challenge is to have four components. The first part of this challenge is to identify a cause, be it political, environmental, medical and/or social. The cause you choose must stem from a real non-profit organization, such as the Leukemia Foundation, The Partnership For a Drug Free America, The American Red Cross, The Sahara Club, the NRA or The Family Violence Prevention Fund. To ensure that this organization is real, it must be submitted and approved by the point producer. The second part of this challenge is to attempt to meet with the foundation or organization of your choice, so that you may begin building a working relationship and a better understanding of the mission and target audience of your chosen cause. Before the contact is made with your selection, a workshop will be offered that will cover topics such as cold calling, pitching and working with clients to achieve your goal. Your PSA cannot be sold to this organization. It must be an outright donation with no financial benefit to the filmmaker. The third, and most important part of this challenge is to tell a story effectively in 30 or 60 seconds. Trying to get the most information across in the shortest amount of time will be one of the main goals of the PSA Project. This is a skill that all filmmakers can benefit from. Directors such as Spike Jonze, Tony Scott and Ridley Scott all started in short form narrative (i.e. commercials and music videos), and directly credit this early work as leading to their cross-over success. This proficiency is evident in their long form work as they get loads of information across in single shots or short screen times. For this reason, no PSA in this project will be screened unless it is exactly 30 or 60 seconds long. The use of graphics is allowed to help you accomplish this goal, but no credits, front or back will be included in the screening. Project credits, if you desire them, will be played at the end of all the work, en mass, at the public screening. In addition, you must actually shoot new footage as opposed to creating a graphics based or animated PSA. The fourth optional, yet strongly recommended, component of this challenge is to create original music for your PSA, if you choose to have music in your PSA. NO music may be used that is not original and you must have a signed deal memo that states the creator will let you use the music for the PSA. You cannot use a U2 or Beatles song. You must either fully sound design or have original music in your PSA. I strongly encourage you to use actors, but it is not a requirement. In addition, the PSA must be broadcastable, although it might not be broadcast. Workshops ? all workshops are mandatory by a member of your team, unless waved by the point producer. How to cold call, pitch and work with an organization to identify and convey a message. Hosted by a working industry professional / owner of a production company How to write a 30-60 second PSA Hosted by a working ?creative? from an ad agency Creating music for commercials and PSAs. Hosted by a working film composer PSA screenings as examples This will either be shown to the group, or links will be sent to the group for required viewing and discussion. Discussions ? all on going via dinners, e-mails and the forum Being a sounding board for script and music ideas Assistance in casting Meet and greets ? with actors and composers/musicians. Recruiting I plan to invite filmmakers as well as have an open call for filmmakers. There is no limit to the number of filmmakers who will be allowed to participate. Only one PSA per director will be screened, so that the focus is on quality, not quantity. Project Start Date and Basic Schedule Dailies 1st Sunday in December will kick off the signing up period for this project. Due to the holidays, it seems best to formally begin workshops after the New Year. However, filmmakers should use the month of December to research and submit the organization they are interested in working with to the Point Producer for approval. Filmmakers are welcome to submit up to 3 organizations in order of choice, although only 1 will be approved. There will be at least 1 group dinner to discuss ideas in December. This project will take place over 4 months. January will focus on work-shopping the cold call and making contact with the organization to begin a dialogue. February will focus on work-shopping a 30-60 second script and working with the organization to create their message, as well as filming the PSA. March will focus on editing, sound design and music composition, as well as the rough cut screening, which should be in mid to late march. Throughout these 3 months, twice a month, group meetings will be set up for discussion and meet and greets that are relevant to that months focus. The due date for this project is April 1st, with public screenings in mid-April. The number of dates needed and length of screenings will be determined by the amount of finished PSAs. Marketing The marketing potential for this project is enormous due to the social implications and tie in to actual organizations. I believe this could get press outside of the traditional organizations that pay attention to DAILIES screenings. Short film screenings are a dime a dozen, but broadcastable PSA?s are a unique twist on the short film and could even gain attention from organizations like moveon.org, boards magazine, and the AJC. The fact that a Dailies film will have been in Sundance doesn?t hurt our chances. I will be milking this fact for attention. If filmmakers have done their jobs properly, the organization has already approved your idea, seen the final cut and will invite members of their organization to attend the screening as a fun company event. Prices for the screening will be $5-15, pay as you can. From lindawashere at mindspring.com Thu Dec 7 15:25:40 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] DAILIES.12: The PSA Project Message-ID: Hello All! First and foremost...please respect those on this list. Please, Do NOT reply all, even as a joke. This list is extensive and I do not want to bog down people's e-mails at work, etc. Thank you. Second...welcome to Dailies PSA Project. Some on this list have signed up and others I added because I though they might be interested...either as actors, crew or directors. And others are on it because they are on the Dailies mailing list. So, to begin, if you are uninterested in participating, please respond and I will delete you from this mailing list. Some of you will get duplicate e-mails...for that I apologize. ___________ OK, onto business. Please read this all, as there are instructions for you on participating in this project. The proposal is finished and should be on-line at www.dailiesatlanta.org very soon. Read it before you agree to participate! In the meantime, I need ALL new participants to Dailies to go to the website and read our Constitution (and the Declaration of Independents just for fun). This is in the "What is it" section. Click on Dailies: Declaration of Independents and Dailies Constitution. The purpose of your reading our mission and our constitution is for you to better understand our organization, how and why we do things and what is expected from you as a filmmaker (be it a director, writer, actor, crew member, or editor). This is extremely important. If your goals are not in line with our goals, we might not be a good fit. Might as well find that out before we all put work into something. For those of you up for the challenge and the mission of Dailies, I welcome you to the family. You get out of this group what you put in. We do not provide you with money or resources like cameras and editing equipment...although most filmmakers in the group have resources to share. We offer a safe place to experiment and grow as artists...to learn to be better than what you currently are capable of through discussion, collaboration and creation. Practice makes perfect, right? I look forward to working with those up for the challenge. Feel free to pass this e-mail to anyone you think might be interested in this project. The more the merrier. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING...please tell me how...are you a DP, do you have a camera, are you an actor, a writer, a editor, a lighting designer, a wardrobe person, a make-up person? How are you interested in contributing? Even is you aren't sure what you are, but you want to find out..let me know that you want to remain on this list. I'm looking to schedule an introductory meeting in December before the holidays. I know this is next to impossible, but I'm game if you are. The dates I'm considering are Saturday the 16th for lunch...or Monday night the 18th for dinner...or the 29th/30th, but I think that's a bad weekend. Let me know what's good for you. Thanks! Linda Burns Plexus Pictures Producer 404.622.8342 From lindawashere at mindspring.com Fri Dec 8 15:42:15 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] DAILIES.12: The PSA Project Message-ID: PSA Project is on-line at www.dailiesatlanta.org From lindawashere at mindspring.com Tue Dec 12 12:13:38 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Dinner and DAILIES - put this on your calendar! Message-ID: Hello potential Dailies.12: PSA Project people, Quite often, indie filmmakers work with people they know. But in doing so they sometimes limit their options and might not be hiring the best person for the job. With all the new blood flowing through Dailies, I thought it might be nice to start getting to know one another better...as actors, producers, writers, directors, shooters, lighting designers, art directors, crew members, PA's, etc. I thought I would steal from Adam's past Dailies projects and offer bi-monthly get-togethers as a place where we all could meet and discuss resources, ideas and film in general. The first such dinner will take place on Monday, September 18th. We will meet at the Corner Tavern in Decatur, which on Monday has 1/2 price entrees. After the meeting, I thought we could all go to PushPush Theater and see Robert Sanders in Savage Tree's comedy "Midwinter Nights Dream" at 8:00 pm...and it's Industry Night, which is pay what you can afford. So, join me for the night...dinner, discussion and lots of laughs... Starting at the Corner Pub. Monday, December 18th Corner Pub 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm 627 D East College Avenue Decatur *********************** Be thinking of the organization you want to shoot a PSA for and sign up soon! The first workshop for this project happens January 6th!!!! From lindawashere at mindspring.com Tue Dec 12 12:33:23 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Dinner and DAILIES - date typo! Message-ID: Hello potential Dailies.12: PSA Project people, Quite often, indie filmmakers work with people they know. But in doing so they sometimes limit their options and might not be hiring the best person for the job. With all the new blood flowing through Dailies, I thought it might be nice to start getting to know one another better...as actors, producers, writers, directors, shooters, lighting designers, art directors, crew members, PA's, etc. I thought I would steal from Adam's past Dailies projects and offer bi-monthly get-togethers as a place where we all could meet and discuss resources, ideas and film in general. The first such dinner will take place on Monday, December 18th. We will meet at the Corner Tavern in Decatur, which on Monday has 1/2 price entrees. After the meeting, I thought we could all go to PushPush Theater and see Robert Sanders in Savage Tree's comedy "Midwinter Nights Dream" at 8:00 pm...and it's Industry Night, which is pay what you can afford. So, join me for the night...dinner, discussion and lots of laughs... Starting at the Corner Pub. Monday, December 18th Corner Pub 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm 627 D East College Avenue Decatur *********************** Be thinking of the organization you want to shoot a PSA for and sign up soon! The first workshop for this project happens January 6th!!!! -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.dailiesatlanta.org/pipermail/everyone/attachments/20061212/08f3b527/attachment.html From lindawashere at mindspring.com Tue Dec 12 13:16:07 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Crap... Message-ID: Damn it...never talk on the phone and type an e-mail and send it without re-reading it. OK December 18th Corner Pub, not Tavern You know, the one across the parking lot from PushPush. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.dailiesatlanta.org/pipermail/everyone/attachments/20061212/7d1facd2/attachment.html From lindawashere at mindspring.com Wed Dec 13 11:13:53 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] CinemATL blog on Dailies Dogme....more to come... Message-ID: I have to hit 2 out of 3 film events tonight (there?s no way I can make the 3rd) so short intro and no rambling by moi. Ya know, when I wrote this, it didn?t sound arrogant. What I meant was that I had to jet and get to my day job so I could then jet and get to those events. Not that I?m trying to sound like I?m the shyt. Although, I am. If you didn?t know. The first was Dailies: Dogme.AughtSix screening for the film crews and press. I shall stay mum for the moment, for I prefer to collect my thoughts and then spew at a later date. Preferably closer to the first public screening. Also, we have a interview with the Dailies Board coming up and I think it will be more interesting to have them speak and then to talk about this particular Dailies project. I can say that, as expected, some were aight, some made me want to take out my eyes and chew on them so I?d least have something interesting to do and one or two stood out among the crowd. Of those one or two (what is it one? or two? I said let me collect my thoughts, okay!) I really want to discuss one in particular. It towered above the rest. Unfortunately, the director inserted a few ill-advised Greek Chorus moments. They can be safely excised and the film will be all the stronger. Left in, they weaken the short?s dramatic drive. And the actor in it doesn?t help with his performance. It?s also a cheat. But, more later. I personally love Dailies just for the pure fun of seeing how well the films match the Dailies Manifesto. (Dogme.AughtSix Manifesto) Because no matter how well the manifesto is written and articulated, at least a third of the filmmakers demonstrate they have no grasp on the manifesto?s main points. Either that, or they just said to hell with the manifesto and forged their own path. Which it doesn?t matter. Because in the end, their short only proves they should have stuck with the damn thing to begin with. Afterwards, I caught the tail end of the IMAGE Holiday?Christmas for you folks whose AM dial is permanently stuck on 640 or 750?Party. Catching the end wasn?t too bad because I had the opportunity to chat with Gabe and Dan and I was much impressed with what they had to say about the future of IMAGE and the Atlanta Film Festival. I?ll personally put my balls out there and say that regardless of what went down after the 30th AFF, I don?t think the whole of IMAGE?I.E. the faces we don?t see on a regular basis?fully supported the fest. Maybe the cylinders were firing under the hood, but from the outside all we heard out here was deafening silence. Now that Gabe and Dan are there, I think both horses are pulling the sled. And they?re talking good, good stuff. Reduced number of venues. Increased marketing. Starting the marketing push earlier. I can?t say anything here, but various people have told me offline they?ve been approached by Gabe to talk about integrating their programs or ideas into IMAGE. They were only premlim talks, however, it?s exciting to hear that Gabe has reached out into the community. Between that and inquiring about the community?s opinion on IMAGE and their programs, I?m personally hyped to see what 2007 is going to bring. If IMAGE and AFF step up their game, then everyone has to step their game. No doubt. Lastly, let me say that CinemATL has already started looking at Jan. to lay the groundwork to improve our coverage of events. Even at this level, the ?A? still has quite a bit going on and we?re striving to support this city of ours in any way possible. However, we are looking to do more on the surrounding region. Let the states fight it out with the incentives. We say Southern filmmakers unite and raise unholy hell. Charles -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.dailiesatlanta.org/pipermail/everyone/attachments/20061213/2ff3c96f/attachment.html From lindawashere at mindspring.com Wed Dec 13 11:27:40 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] PSA sign up Message-ID: Hello Dailies members, As of this e-mail, right now, today, you will no longer receive PSA Project updates from the Dailies mailing list. (you can stop applauding now) I am transitioning off of the Dailies mailing list and using one exclusively for PSA Project participants who have e-mailed me or signed up at the last First Sunday meeting. So, if you want to participate and did not e-mail me, you will be shit out of luck. ;) Thanks, Your PSA Point Producer in Peace Linda B From lindawashere at mindspring.com Tue Dec 19 17:56:58 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Dogme Review in Southern Screen Report Message-ID: Sorry for the duplication, but wanted to make sure everyone got this. Great review on Dogme + great photos!! http://www.screenreport.com/index.html Don't forget to sign up for PSA Project NO LATER than Jan. 1st. Turn in your list of 3 organizations by Jan 1st. First workshop on Sat., Jan 6th from 11am -1pm. From lindawashere at mindspring.com Tue Dec 19 19:00:13 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (Linda Burns) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Another Dailies article - discussion on the group Message-ID: www.cinematl.com Go down the page about 1/2 way and click on... News & Notes: Behind the Dailies From deirdre331 at bellsouth.net Wed Dec 20 13:01:40 2006 From: deirdre331 at bellsouth.net (Deirdre's Bellsouth) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Crew Call Message-ID: The Woman?s Angle I would like to put out the word that I?m one of the 10 women directors doing a short for The Woman?s Angle. I?m networking for crew. If you would like to be involved please contact me at: Deirdre Walsh 404-218-8777 Deirdre331@bellsouth.net To learn more about The Woman?s Angle: http://www.myspace.com/the_womans_angle Insanity du Jour: An estranged wife holds the key to her husband?s guilt or innocence in his indictment for sexual assault with one of his female patients. The price of his public face is her soul/sanity. Crew positions needed: Cinematographer Sound person Gaffer Art Director Props Costume/Make up Production Assistants The script is 9 pages and is told in a highly visual way with limited dialogue. I am excited to work with a cinematographer who could collaborate in the visualization process. Estimated 3 days of shooting needs to be in done in January as the lead actress is starting a show at the Alliance in February. Major locations are secured. Lead character is an obsessive compulsive who is going a little crazy. Props and details of condo are important. The main furnishings come with the condo. Thanks, Deirdre -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.dailiesatlanta.org/pipermail/everyone/attachments/20061220/d849a134/attachment.html From bruck at mediavsmedia.com Wed Dec 20 19:20:44 2006 From: bruck at mediavsmedia.com (David Bruckner) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Read In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Actually, for some time now I have given some thought to opening a film school. But if I did start one up you would only be allowed to fill out an application form after you have walked alone on foot, let's say from Madrid to Kiev, a distance of about five thousand kilometres. While walking, write. Write about your experiences and give me your notebooks. I would be able to tell who had really walked the distance and who had not. While you are walking you would learn much more about filmmaking and what it truly involves than you ever would sitting in a classroom. During your voyage you will learn more about what your future holds than in five years at film school. Your experiences would be the very opposite of academic knowledge, for academia is the death of cinema. It is the very opposite of passion. - werner herzog From bruck at mediavsmedia.com Thu Dec 21 11:10:00 2006 From: bruck at mediavsmedia.com (David Bruckner) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] Read In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Lauren Gunderson Responded.... What's interesting to me, however, is the discussion of intellectual academia (Literature, Art History, Science, etc.) vs. creative academia (playwriting, film school, acting school). they're different. I think it's kinda silly to have degrees for creativity. Hemingway didn't have one. Maya Angelou didn't. certainly the great beacons of classical literature didn't. Thats the misconception. Creative academia is a fraternity b/c people need connections to succeed rather than a overflow of facts like doctors or lawyers need. Certainly we need to innundate ourselves with the work of our previous artists to understand the course of our work... BUT... that is a self-inspired trajectory.? Art is self inspired, like your quote says. Academia CAN be that... but more often its a place to float into a degree when it should be a place to swim hard against the current.? On 12/20/06 7:20 PM, "David Bruckner" wrote: > Actually, for some time now I have given some thought to opening a film > school. But if I did start one up you would only be allowed to fill out an > application form after you have walked alone on foot, let's say from Madrid > to Kiev, a distance of about five thousand kilometres. While walking, write. > Write about your experiences and give me your notebooks. I would be able to > tell who had really walked the distance and who had not. While you are > walking you would learn much more about filmmaking and what it truly > involves than you ever would sitting in a classroom. During your voyage you > will learn more about what your future holds than in five years at film > school. Your experiences would be the very opposite of academic knowledge, > for academia is the death of cinema. It is the very opposite of passion. > > - werner herzog > > > _______________________________________________ > everyone mailing list > everyone@dailiesatlanta.org > http://lists.dailiesatlanta.org/mailman/listinfo/everyone From lindawashere at mindspring.com Fri Dec 22 17:11:14 2006 From: lindawashere at mindspring.com (lindawashere@mindspring.com) Date: Thu May 17 01:12:15 2007 Subject: [Dailies - Everyone] PSA's and commercials Message-ID: <11877310.1166825474681.JavaMail.root@mswamui-cedar.atl.sa.earthlink.net> This blog is written about the commercial minded e-zine Boards, which picks the top commercials and PSA's of the week and circulates them. ?boards Crass commercialism? Creativity in service of a secular god called capitalism? Even if you shun the corporate world and denounce all that?s unholy about it, you have to admit that some of the most innovative and daring work doesn?t happen in film or tv shows, it happens in 30 second spurts. Wedged between primetime network game shows, banal sitcoms and police procedural clones. Shilling everything from Coke to Expeditions to Canon copiers. I personally don?t get to visit this site as much as I?d like to. However, every few weeks or so I do hop on to see what they?ve got. The ?boards tagline reads ?The creative edge in commercial production? and after you?ve watched some of the spots, read a short blurb on the people responsible for the music in commercials and perused a producer?s take on the world of CP (all online as of this posting) you?re more likely to agree. Crafting a message that can be absorbed, understood and retained in under 60 seconds is like racing Carl Lewis during the 1984 Olympics and Lewis already has a 30 yard headstart. Okay, it?s not that difficult. However, it is a hard job and one that should be admired and respected, even by godless socialist lefties. Filmmakers would do well to pay attention to commercials. Thirty seconds of information isn?t as difficult to retain as 85 minutes worth of plotting, character and dialogue. And many a film has gone off the rails because one 30 second scene was murky and obtuse. ?Why did he kill her again?? Answer?s buried in some ambigious scene that was about 55 minutes into the flick. Unfortunately, the audience doesn?t remember or worse, saw it and didn?t think it was important. I don?t know if Hitchcock did commercials. But I have no doubt he would have relished working in commercials if he were alive today. Imagine the iconic imagery the master would have dreamed up for the Superbowl. However, commercials aren?t just for selling, they?re also a powerful medium that can reach millions with a brevity and a punch that print or radio just can?t achieve. Women in Film Atlanta has their PSA program (which I did a small piece on this issue) and Dailies is doing a PSA project as part of their workshop program. PSA?s can be hokey, but they also can be puissant motivators. So check out the site (Boards magazine on-line) and if you?re trying to work in film, consider jumping into the crowded field of commercial production. And even if you don?t, looking to commercials for inspiration and to think about storytelling and image differently can?t hurt. By the way, no disrespect to the godless. Socialists. Or south paws. Didja get that last joke? Didja?I have plenty of socialist friends. Really, I do. Charles Judson cinemATL.com blog