Making Victor James

Victor James Official Trailer (IMTF Entry) from Thomas Gidlow on Vimeo.

Thomas Gidloe talks about VICTOR JAMES:

After editing the film was complete, I honestly wanted to get away from the project for a little while. I had been working on Victor James (my first production) since March of 2009 and just needed to clear my mind a bit about the film. My brother, Daniel Gidlow, who edited the opening and closing sequences of the film, offered to make the trailer and we made it a point that he would do it without direct input from me.. He was able to put his own spin on it, and it turned out better than I could have envisioned.

I am very hands on and want to try to do as much as I can to help this project. But sometimes, I can be my own worst enemy. I had pretty much figured a while back that I would be editing and scoring the film, editing the trailer, and pretty much everything else in post-production. But I have talented people around me, and delegating, although hard to do when you're dealing with your own creation, is essential to a very low-budget independent production. Daniel had the freedom to create within the environment I had put forth with the film to make a cool trailer, and now I have something that I think will create genuine interest for Victor James.

Watch Victor James at International Movie Trailer Festival.

Making Red Light Revolution

"Red Light Revolution" 2010 Teaser from Sam V on Vimeo.

Melanie Ansley, producer, writes about RED LIGHT REVOLUTION:

"China's first ever sex shop comedy comes from writer/director Sam Voutas and producer Melanie Ansley, long term residents of Beijing. The concept started when they noticed that they could barely walk a block in the capital without seeing an adult store. Who runs these stores? What do their families think? Most people don't think of sex shops when they think of China, but the fact is that China manufactures 70% of the world's adult toys, and hosts the world's largest adult expo every year in Shanghai. 'Red Light Revolution', currently in final stages of post production, is a comedic tale about one man's decision to make it big in China's most unorthodox industry."

Making Bleak Sea

Giacomo Cimini writes about the making of Bleak Sea:

In January 2010 I applied to the trailermade competition (http://www.trailermade.tv/) with the synopsis of Bleak Sea and a storyboard (http://vimeo.com/9373125/ (password: bleaksea).

A month later I've been notified that Bleak Sea was one of the three winners. The competition awarded us with the possibility to use some technical equipments for two days (16mm cameras, light and 2k conforming) in order to shoot the trailer and the possibility to present the project during the Cannes film festival.

Thanks to the collaboration of a terrific team composed of ex student colleagues and professionals the trailer was shot during two days in February inside a real decommissioned submarine in the Royal Navy Museum in Chatham.

Making Fray

Geoff Ryan writes about FRAY

The story is based on the experiences of a close family member who was badly injured in Iraq (he was the stand-in for the scarred leg shot) and a few veterans I've gotten to know so I'm just hoping to do their story justice. The lead actor, Bryan Kaplan, is a truly gifted talent (he's been chosen to play Hamlet in a one-man show in London's West End by a very esteemed theatre director), and the cinematographer is is an old childhood friend who is also an immense talent with a handful of Sundance credits so I'm pretty fortunate as an relatively unknown filmmaker with a budget of whatever was under my sofa cushions to have such people come on board.

We had actual homeless veterans consulting on the story, performance and other issues of importance. Lacey's House which is a home for homeless veterans in Beaverton, Oregon was gracious enough to let Bryan spend time with the vets there and he developed a really wonderful bond with them as they told of their experiences, the emotions they went through in combat and the struggles they've had since returning. It really changed his performance and lent a level of realism to the whole film.

Watch Fray at International Movie Trailer Festival.

Making Ghost Trailer

Ghost Player from Joe Scherrman on Vimeo.

Joe Scherrman says: My trailer was developed early as a pitch to help raise interest in my project, The target audience, at that time, was community groups and was shown during their meetings. It is longer than most trailers, but the intended audience was usually at a luncheon. Too short, they missed it. Too long, I lost them. This length worked well and gave me plenty of time for Q & A.

Making Polypore

Polypore - Official Teaser [HD] from Films Royale on Vimeo.

Jesse Barack writes about Polypore:

Polypore, a feature length sci-fi thriller, was written and is now being directed and produced by Jesse Barack, age 22. Through various methods of networking, Barack was able to shoot footage in Manhattan, Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles. The film features primarily English but also French and Japanese with English subtitles. The main plot concerns a recent college graduate who adopts supernatural abilities and finds himself the target of a weapons manufacturing corporation. There are countless symbolic references to society and politics, some apparent and some hidden in metaphor. Polypore has been awarded a grant by the Arts Council at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The project is also being sponsored by the Independent Film Production Club at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Jesse Barack's company Films Royale has been awarded "Best Student Film" at the 2005 Northampton Independent Film Festival and "Best Overall" at the 2009 UVC-TV 19 Film Festival at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The works of Films Royale have also been featured at the 2005 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, the 2009 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival and SHORTSNONSTOP, an initiative of the Canadian Film Centre's 2010 Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Making La Camioneta

Mark Kendell sends on the spot reports as he films his documentary:

Out late last night and got a slow start on the morning. When we showed up, buses were already lined up outside and had been fully converted into parade floats – adorned with flowers, statues of saints, balloons, christmas tree branches, ornaments, paintings, sketches, and feathers. I walked into mass as it was starting because I needed to get a few establishing shots before things picked up, but Andrew managed to get there in time to put a wireless mic on the priest before he began. From our short conversation with him on Friday, we didn’t think the priest was going to have much to say about St. Christopher – he actually suggested to us that the holiday used to be big but “the legend had since been disproven.” I’m not exactly sure how you “disprove” a legend, but when he gave the sermon today I was surprised that he had some very poignant things to say about the importance of bus drivers in this country and the very delicate and dangerous position they are in right now because of the security situation around Guatemala.

All the Esmeralda drivers were wearing green and white striped shirts and sat towards the front of the church, so during a transition in the service I repositioned myself closer to them off to the side and discovered there was also an icon of St. Christopher right beside me. This turned out to be great because as all the members of Esmeralda team came up to bring gifts and offerings to the altar, they gathered around the icon for a group photo and then carried it out of the church in a procession right in front of me.

I was surprised by how emotional I got when they carried out the icon of St. Christopher and placed it on top of one of the trucks that would lead the parade. Until only quite recently, this profession and this holiday didn’t have any direct relation to my personal life. Nevertheless, this was definitely one of the emotional peaks of the trip so far.

When the procession began, I felt like a kid in a candy store. It was a visual feast and lots of things were happening at once – what do I need to make sure I cover?

Within a few minutes, I saw Andrew had climbed on top of the roof of one of the buses and was taking pictures from up there as they headed towards the volcano. I joined him for a while, then began spending some time inside the buses with the drivers and their family and friends. The parade lasted about 90 minutes and by the end of it I was exhausted yet thrilled.

Afterwards there was a party in the main plaza, but we decided to just sit, eat, and take it all in.

We returned to Antigua later in the afternoon and, after months of email, Facebook, and phone calls, I finally had a chance to meet up with Kara and thank her in person for all her help. Not surprisingly, she had a few more suggestions for stones to uncover and people to contact. Although Andrew and I are already in a pinch to finish what we’ve got planned in the upcoming 4 weeks, I have a good feeling about where things might go.

Only time will tell…

Read more on the La Camioneta Facebook page.

Making Dilated

Dilated Trailer from BLT on Vimeo.

Brian L. Tan "BLT" Director & Exec Producer, talks about Dilated:

Dilated is basically a Michael Bay action film produced at a student level. In order to achieve the highest production value possible, we rented Humvees through our armoring/props company Indie Arms, and found Five Star Military Vehicles, who help provide all sorts of cool military hardware for the movie industry. We also filmed at the LA River, shut down a street, got approval to use an abandoned hospital in Downtown LA, and even used the same camera crane car company Bay used for Transformers. Through lots of begging and borrowing, we managed to keep our costs low by being an all-volunteer cast/crew and had a lot of vendors help us out for free or at a very low rate just because they loved the sheer ambition of the film.

Through it all, we shot Dilated for less than $10,000 and although it is far from the perfect production, we take pride in its audacity, boldness, and unapologetic take on the action genre. Hopefully it'll challenge other aspiring action filmmakers to get out there and do the same. As a group of UCLA students that hope to eventually come day become successful commercial directors and producers, Dilated is perhaps the first step towards our eventual goal of producing big budget features on an international, global level in the very near future.

Making Seneca Falls

Louise Vance, the director of SENECA FALLS talks about the documentary:

The project began in 1994 with middle school girls writing a skit about their vision of the past, present and future of women's rights. They were so ahead of their time. The main character—an African American girl—goes on to become the first woman President of the United States. We often discount young people’s voices. But they have an idealistic view of the world, which is great medicine during these times. Plus, the Bay Area has an exceptional grasp on the human condition, and this troupe reflects that.

Making Iron Sky

Iron Sky Teaser 2 from Iron Sky on Vimeo.

Pekka Ollula tells the story of their teaser:

"Iron Sky will start filming this autumn, but since it is a very technical and effects heavy film, we needed to try out our production workflow to check out how things worked. So in the beginning of this year we arranged one day of green screen shootings during which we filmed one scene, and put it through our production pipeline. We were left with a few minutes of finished materials, which we decided to turn into a teaser for this year's Cannes Film Festival."

Making The Devil & Me

The Devil & me from Kenny Condon on Vimeo.

Kenneth Condon's THE DEVIL & ME is July's Surprise Prize winner for best surprise ending.

His story of making the trailer:

About a week before filming the trailer, I tried to think of the best way to approach it because there is so much wanted to tell. I dislike trailers that give the entire plot away in 2 minutes. So I went into the filming process with the thought of "leaving the audience wanting more" but at the same time displaying a solid body to the story. The story focuses on an 11 year old girl and her family. It was interesting writing the script because you need to adapt to the way a child thinks, what they would say or do in certain situations. The girl, named Abby, ends up running into the jersey devil. The jersey devil is a local legend around where i live in Southern New Jersey. I found the stories of this creature interesting and decided to try and spin the tale in a different light, giving it a more a a broader scale to where people can relate to it no matter where you live. It was a blast filming the trailer. It's cool to see your ideas and concepts finally come alive. Hopefully, one day the whole story of THE DEVIL & ME will be told.

Making Villa Del Sueno

Villa Del Sueño (Villa Dreaming) - Preliminary Trailer from Reed on Vimeo.

Reed Purvis writes about how a blonde American made VILLA DEL SUENO:

Filming this, as of now, incomplete film has so far been an interesting, educational and sometimes exhausting experience. A friend first took me to the large slum that most of this was filmed in and I was introduced to a guy who ran a radio station out of his house. I started spending time with the people who were a part of both the radio station and sports programs that help steer kids away from crime and I became friends with them. Being able to spend more time in the villa (slum), I met other people and made more friends and eventually came to know some of the criminal element as well. I don't want the film to focus on the criminal element, because society misunderstands the people living in these areas and people think they are all criminals when in reality only 10% or so are involved in criminal activities. Most of the people living in these neighborhoods are hard working people who would like to save enough money to leave the villa. Many came from even poorer backgrounds and have found a life of relative prosperity living in the cities' shantytowns.

The villas aren't as dangerous as everyone thinks. Almost anyone can walk in there and nothing will happen, but if you are entering it with something valuable then it can be dangerous. People will likely rob you of your valuables. So naturally, making a film can be difficult because people want to steal the camera. When I was taking my camera in, I always had to meet a friend and be accompanied by friends when filming. This made things hard because some of my friends lived way in the back of the villa, and if I wanted to go meet them and film something I had to coordinate with someone to go with me instead of just walking there myself. Without the camera, it's a different story. I was spending enough time there that I was comfortable walking around by myself inside. This is something that people living in Buenos Aires, the mainstream, normal society think is impossible, especially for a foreigner with blond hair.

Making Solita

Solita (trailer) from Steven Fine on Vimeo.

Steven Fine talks about the technical challenges:

SOLITA was my thesis project for Boston University's film program. Though I have just graduated in May, I continue to work in post-production to polish the special effects. It's a short film that has the ambition to ask a big question - If you had to choose, would you pick the cold isolation of space or the warm environment of a virtual reality earth?

There were a lot of risks in making this project. The film was shot half on green screen and half on location. We weren't sure if shooting super 16 mm film would work with green screen. We also weren't sure if our ideas would get across in twenty minutes. It's a complicated story. We finished a version of the film in three months, which made us pretty proud, but we knew there was so much more that could be done.

Trailer to Trilogy

Mrs Peppercorn's Magical Reading Room - Trailer from Black Lake Films on Vimeo.

Black Lake Film's trailer for MRS. PEPPERCORN'S MAGICAL READING ROOM has magically become a future trilogy as Mike and Helen Le Han have connected with a production company through the trailer. Mike says that as they complete the feature script they're finishing a short based on the story. They're working with industry professionals who've worked on the Harry Potter movies. Mike says about the short, "It's epic in scale and will show what can be achieved on a very small budget."

"Faking" Your Way to a Real Movie!

Want to know how to make a faux movie trailer? Read this article at internet video magazine!

A Hard Day's Night

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the break-up of the Beatles. The Traverse City Film Festival will screen rare copies of A Hard Day’s Night andHelp, in addition to presenting the new John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy (which covers Lennon’s adolescence and the formative years of the Beatles) at this year’s Festival, running July 27 – August 1.

Academy Award-winner Michael Moore launched the Traverse City Film Festival in his home state of Michigan in 2005 to bring often-undistributed national and international films to the public. Some 100 films will screen at this year’s event which includes film tributes, free daily panel discussions, film school, outdoor screenings and forums.

For more info, go to: www.traversecityfilmfestival.com.

Preview Your Dreams...

Preview Your Dreams--version3 from Murray Suid on Vimeo.

You know you want to!

Zombie Love @ IMTF!

Harold's Going Stiff - Promo from Frisson Film on Vimeo.

Play it again, Sam.

And again. And again. And again.

You will find it... in "Casablanca"

MaXspeed's Reel Story

I started off 10 years ago making silly stunt videos trying to learn the craft, hoping to get into the film industry. They were so bad I could not even get picked up by America's Funniest Home Videos. I screwed up everything: filming, editing, and worst of all...stunts.

A friend told me one day, "you are more entertaining when you mess up," and Max Speed was born. I made a career out of screwing up stunts and filming them. One day, a milkman recognized me from internet videos and told me he was a DJ for our Halifax Metro Centre where big hockey games are hosted.  He said he knew the producer that plays videos during half-time to entertain the crowds.  "Would you like to have your Max Speed videos play?"

Someone in the audience was putting on a huge motorcycle rally weekend, and contacted me through the Metro Centre and asked if I would do a major public stunt. That is where I jumped a motorcycle off the Bay of Fundy into the ocean, smashed through a wall of light bulbs and did crazy fire displays in front of 10,000 people. After that, anything I did would make the news or television, and people started calling me.

When I put out this trailer to a few friends, they sent it around to people showing what Max Speed had done.  It made its rounds so quickly here because it was something WAY out of my realm, and nothing like anything I had done before. Somehow I went from being a stunt nut, and not a good one, to learning how to create a soundtrack on my studio from a tune in my head, to making sound effects, directing, cinematography. I was scared to put out this film trailer and fail.The support from friends and family finally convinced me, and I submitted the film to your site.

Like my slogan...."I'm Just Keeping It Reel."

Manifest Destiny wins an Accolade!

Manifest Destiny: A Fates Calling Official Trailer from Justin Chambers on Vimeo.

Vote for your favorite trailer at International Movie Trailer Festival!

Congratulations to Manifest Destiny!

MANIFEST DESTINY has just won the prestigious “Award of Merit” from The Accolade Competition. The Accolade is unique; it is an awards competition, not a traditional film festival. Awards go to those filmmakers, television producers, videographers and new media creators who produce fresh, standout productions. It is a showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices.

The Accolade recognizes producers, established and emerging, who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity.

The Accolade has recognized productions from all over the world including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Columbia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Guam, Germany, Greece, Haiti, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States and Venezuela.

View Manifest Destiny at International Movie Trailer Festival!

Holy Cow!

We have a brand-new entrant to our International Movie Trailer Festival. This one is from Guatemala and is called "La Vaca, una comedia con ubres," or "Holy Cow, a film with tits."

"Holy Cow" is the first feature film shot on RED ONE technology in Central América.

"Women and children can be careless..."

"...but not men."

"life goes where she goes"

It doesn't get much better than this.

We love L.A.

Dilated—winner of IMTF's "surprise prize" for best locations, features action sequences in the Los Angeles River (downtown L.A., USA) and in the Linda Vista Hospital (also Los Angeles).

The Gentleness of Rabbits wins a Bronze Telly!

Congratulations to The Gentleness of Rabbits!

Director Hank Isaac says: The Gentleness of Rabbits has been a labor of love since its inception back in the Summer of 2009. Despite the past work and successes of all involved, the film represents our first venture into the world of feature filmmaking. It also represents an evolution anomaly -- we're transitioning from a history of using digital media to originating on film. The trailer was created for the sole purpose of endearing the two central characters to potential investors. Basically, would you like to spend an hour and a half in the company of Daphne and Hollis and find out what happens to them? No attempt was made to tell or even hint at the story. The trailer was shot in an historic hundred-year-old mansion in one long day with forty five set-ups. Creating the trailer actually inspired a new scene which has subsequently been added to the screenplay. Thus far, the trailer has won an Accolade Award of Merit and a Bronze Telly Award. As the film's writer/director, I am immensely proud of our cast and crew.

Watch the trailer now at International Movie Trailer Festival!

Surprise Prize!

The first surprise prize from IMTF.biz is for "Most Unusual Location." The prize goes to DILATED. The winner will receive an autographed copy of The Power of Film by Howard Suber. Watch the trailer now at International Movie Trailer Festival!

Check back often to see which trailer wins the next surprise prize!

Happy Fourth of July!