Filmmakers: Please read this section carefully if your film has been chosen for a screening at Kansas City FilmFest. Films must be received by March 19th 2010.

Please note: Festival entries will be screened at the AMC Mainstreet and will be projected digitally using the SONY Cine-Alta 4K system. There are no film or videotape capabilities available at this venue, therefore Film Fest must digitally encode each film prior to its screening. This makes it critical that we receive your film by March 19th.

Technical requirements that apply to all films

All films must be NTSC. No exceptions.
Films with subtitles: Any subtitles must be burned into the actual picture.

Resolution Options: Please tell us which resolution is optimal for screening your film:
Hi-Def 1080p
1080i
720p
Standard Def 720 x 480
2K or 4K

Requirements specific to films less than 30 minutes in length

Choose one of the following
data file on DVD (not a DVD video)
data file on a USB flash drive
data file on a hard drive

For the best quality encode, the festival recommends exporting your film as an uncompressed Quicktime using Animation codec and Wave/lpcm audio.

Requirements specific to films more than 30 minutes in length. Choose one of the options above (related to short films) or send your entry on one of the following tape formats:
DV
DVCam
beta-sp
HDV

All tape format questions should be directed to Chris at chris@randomaccessvideo.net. Any adjustments to these technical requirements must receive approval BEFORE shipping.

Shipping Information

Films are due by March 19th 2010 to the following address:
Chris Swartz
2130 Washington St
Kansas City, MO  64108

Phone 816-699-9459

If your entry is received later than this date, it is possible that we will not be able to complete the steps necessary to be able to screen your film.

Have questions?

Any questions regarding your film’s screening format should be directed to Chris Swartz at chris@randomaccessvideo.net, after having read the technical requirements above fully.

All feature films requiring 2K or 4k projection should contact chris@randomaccessvideo.net.

TO ORDER: http://www.laszloandvilmos.com/

KU Alum Gordy Hoffman, the Sundance award-winning writer/director (LOVE LIZA, A COAT OF SNOW) and founder of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, comes back to Kansas City to lead a screenwriting workshop on Sunday, December 13th from 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.

Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy is a former Adjunct Professor of screenwriting at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, as well as having led workshops across the US and Canada, London and Poland. To read Gordy’s articles on screenwriting, visit http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/news/advice.php

Gordy Hoffman is now attached to direct a movie in 2010 in UK and France, written by Melissa Brandt.

THE FIRST TEN PAGES WORKSHOP
This workshop will consist of 12 writers each submitting ten pages of a work in progress in advance. We will go over each work individually, reading the pages aloud, while discussing the specific, unique challenges each writer is facing on the page.

This discussion will include the technical aspects of description and dialogue, the depth and reality of the characters, and how the ten pages reflect where the entire story goes.

The intimate, focused interaction with fellow writers in the workshop will provide all with a greater understanding of the work that lies ahead on their screenplay, and more importantly, a detailed sense of how they might develop as writers themselves.

REGISTER: http://www.bluecatscreenplay.com/workshop/

Any questions? Email: Email Bluecatworkshop@bluecatscreenplay.com

First Ten Pages Workshop (limit 12 writers)
Sunday, December 13th, 9:00am – 6:00pm
Screenland Theatre at the Crossroads
1656 Washington
Kansas City, Mo. 64108
Fee $75

Truth Blues is an award winning independent short film made by Studio Artist user Mike Snell of Blue Wall Design. The film showcases some really creative ways to incorporate Studio Artist processing into an animated film that go way beyond the normal process the entire video frame in one pass approach that is typically used. I recently spoke to Mike about the making of the film.

“As far as the workflow went– It is a mix of roto-scoped HD video, Photoshopped stills, 3D animated objects and green screened people. The primary tools were Shake, Motion, Final Cut, Color and of course Studio Artist. I tried many, many variations in the Studio Artist Paint Action Sequence (PASeq) Editor to get to the look I was shooting for. That is one of the features I truly love about Studio Artist. You can build up effects and try many variations and then delete, double-up, tweek or add yet another pass all within the PASeq.

I have found that your software has given me a bit of an edge in a market that often kicks out things that look just like the things the guy down the street kicked out. After running each individual element through a Studio Artist PASeq I then composited everything in Motion adding camera moves, depth of field etc.”

Breaking up the individual elements of an animation scene and then processing them individually with Studio Artist prior to compositing the final scene together is an interesting approach that has a really great visual look that is very unique. Mike used Motion for his final compositing of the individual Studio Artist processed animation elements.

A different approach that would have a very unique aesthetic look unlike any other compositing program would be to run multiple passes of alpha matted or green screened source elements through Studio Artist while painting into a master composition movie file. The PASeq would be constructed so that paint strokes would only occur starting from within the matted source elements, but could then spill outside of the original matte boundaries.

You could use a PASeq Content Context action step to do this in Studio Artist version 4, or content layer keyframes in Studio Artist 3.5. Because the individual elements would be individually painted onto the master movie layer you could incorporate smear and mixing effects as the individual processed scene elements were over-painted that you could never get in a conventional compositing program.

Mike also pointed out a killer feature of Studio Artist, which is that it is an environment for creating an endless variety of custom artistic effects. So when you buy Studio Artist you aren’t just getting a set of canned stock effects that everyone in the universe is also using. You’re getting the ability to customize and tweak to your hearts content. Either to modify existing effect presets, or to create amazing new effects no one has every seen before that have your own custom signature or aesthetic look.

I think that Mike achieved this with the overall look and feel of Truth Blues. It definitely looks like Studio Artist, but at the same time he has stamped his own personal vision and artistic aesthetic on that Studio Artist look and made it his own.

Make sure to look for Truth Blues at a film festival near you. You can lean more about Blue Wall Design here.

This article by John Dalton originally appeared at Studio Artist News. For film stills and more information, visit the original article.

Kansas City based casting director Heather Laird is working with the TV series WORLD’S STRICTEST PARENTS. Each episode “.documents the journey of two misguided teens from different families as they are forced to adapt to the rules and regulations of very strict host parents. Living under different standards from their families back home, the misbehaving teens are subject to punishment for breaking rules and skipping chores while the strict parents help them mend their ways.” Laird says. “It’s a little like Wife Swap meets Super Nanny!” The show is produced by the award winning Shed Media, which is also responsible for SUPER NANNY and IT’S ME OR THE DOG. Like these series, WORLD’S STRICTEST PARENTS seeks to help families in crisis.

Casting producers are conducting phone interviews this week and next. The following week, they will come to Kansas City to interview selected kids and their families in person. Teenagers 15 – 17 (or 18 if still in high
school)are eligible for consideration. Are you a troubled teen? Are you a parent at your wits end with your teenager? Or do you know someone who might benefit from this show? Parents or kids may apply directly at www.theworldsstrictestparents.com . They can also call 888-41-TEENS (1-888-418-3367) or email teens@shedmediaus.com for more information. Producer Andrea Rehrig can be reached at 323.904.4680.

Puffin Foundation Ltd.
The Puffin Foundation Ltd. makes grants that encourage emerging artists in the fields of art, film, music, theater, photography, and public interest whose works due to their genre and/or social philosophy might have difficulty being aired. The Foundation does NOT have the means to fund large film/documentary proposals, grants for travel, continuing education, or the writing or publishing of books.

In 2009 they will fund FILM AND VIDEO. Application forms for the 2010 cycle will be available from July until December 15, 2009. Application forms are not available electronically. To receive an application packet please send a SASE (#10 self-addressed stamped envelope) to:

Puffin Foundation Ltd.
20 Puffin Way
Teaneck, NJ 07666-4111

Grants from the Puffin Foundation, Ltd. can only be awarded to permanent residents and citizens of the United States. U.S. citizens whose projects encompass work in other countries are still eligible to apply. Average grants are: $1,000.00 – $2,500.00. The application submissions for the 2010 cycle will be accepted from October until the deadline of December 30, 2009 postmarked by midnight.

Palms for Life Fund will offer the top three winners cash prizes of $5,000, $3,500 and $1,500, and give them exposure to a vast audience in a full-length compilation of the prize-winning works.

Deadline is August 16th 2009. For more information, visit www.facesofhunger.org.

All filmmakers, anywhere, are invited to submit your short or feature film – drama, comedy, documentary, animation, or experimental work. It must have been completed since January 1, 2008.

EARLY DEADLINE DATE: August 15, 2009 (Other deadlines: 10/1/2009, 11/15/2009. and 12/01/2009)

ENTRY FEES: Vary by short or feature and increase with each new deadline date

Visit our Call For Entries page for complete details, entry form, and pay fee online. You may also submit through Withoutabox.

Check out our special CinemaJAZZ division if you have made a work (short or feature) inspired by JAZZ

Send your screener (DVD-region 1), check, entry form to: KC Jubilee, 4826 W. 77th Terrace, Prairie Village, KS 66208-4321

Kansas City FilmFest is scheduled for April 14-18, 2010 at the all digital AMC Mainstreet. Visiting filmmakers and jurors will be announced soon.

If you have any questions – call 913-649-0244 or email: kcjub@kcjubilee.org.

Past KC Filmmakers Jubilee guest Peter Broderick has just sent out the latest copy of his e-mail newsletter, The Distribution Bulletin, offering comment on all the latest trends in self-distribution.

#10 is available on Peter’s website, peterbroderick.com. Subscribe to Peter’s newsletter.