Tightly edited without characters or dialogue, this short film juxtaposes the unbearable chaos of Manhattan with the beloved calm of Brooklyn.
Chris King–Director, Composer, Photography
NYC
TRT: 2:08
Awards and Accolades: Official Selection Rooftop Films Summer Series
Saaremaa Valss is an experimental short film about a man that reminisces about the past in a tanning salon.
TRT: 3min 29sec
This past week, The FilmShop was lucky enough to have Wendy Levy talk to our group. Wendy is the Director of Creative Programming at the Bay Area Video Coalition based in San Francisco, and she also runs the Producer’s Institute which helps social media projects galvanize their audience to action using digital technologies. Her enthusiasm for filmmaking is palpable, and she catalyzed a fascinating discussion throughout the evening.
One topic that was discussed, was how a filmmaker can maintain the artistic integrity of their film, and still have the audience walk away with a cohesive message. Is this even possible? Often, the mark of a great film, is in the ambiguity the audience is left with regarding the morality of the topic being covered. If we are too “on message” we run the risk of making a feature-length infomercials for a given social cause.
Next, Wendy talked about the 2010 Producer’s Institute for New Media Technologies, which Wendy is running. She showed clips of the different 2009 teams’ experiences, that you can watch here, including the American Meat team, which included FilmShop Brooklyn’s Graham Meriwether. You can check out a trailer for this solutions-oriented macroscopic documentary on the US meat industry. The Producer’s Institute essentially focuses on integrating new media technology (video games, websites, iPhone apps, e-stores) with macroscopic social documentary projects. They fly in experts from all over the world to incubate ideas with the 8 teams accepted. A truly phenomenal experience.
The night concluded with drinks and appetizers at The Lodge, and promises for many FilmShoppers to apply to this year’s Producer’s Institute. Thanks so much, Wendy, for an unforgettable evening.
An experimental film on Bike Kill, an annual event where steampunks and bicycle gangs create mutant bikes to ride and smash.
Short
Experimental
2 min.
Directed & Edited by Zack Wilson
