As always, Sidewalk will soon be airing promotional commercials to garner interest in the festival. What’s special about the promo this year is the fact that I had the opportunity to work on the shoot as Director of Photography. Filament Artists produced. The 30-second spot was filmed with Alabama talent and Alabama crew, right here in Birmingham. Hopefully it will further highlight the talented filmmakers and the growing film production market here in our community.
We shot the commercial with the Panasonic HVX-200 in DVCPro50 format at 24fps. To read more of my insights into this particular camera, check out two previous posts, “First Impressions” and “Some Considerations.” I won’t give away anything about the commercial’s concept. You will just have to wait until it airs. There’s a possibility that the spot will also screen before each film in each venue during the festival. But ultimately that’s a call left up to the good folks in the Sidewalk office. Until then, look for the commercial on WBRC Fox6 and Bright House cable.
Wendy and I on opening night at the Alabama Theatre
Standing in front of the Carver Theatre after one of the shorts blocks.
Standing with the two main actors from my short film, Collection: Brandi Burgess and Elliot Moon.
Opening night at this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival showcased the comedy The Ten, an irreverant and insane comedy based on the Ten Commandments. The narrative of The Ten is comprised of different short films and features an ensemble cast, including Winona Ryder, Paul Rudd, and Jessica Alba. However, the star power does little to resurrect the weaknesses that plague the film.
Since the storyline is comprised of ten short films, there isn’t much holding this narrative together, except for the recurrence of a few characters. Otherwise, this movie plays out like a 90-minute sketch comedy show - and a weak one at that. The film starts off strong and features some great comedic gags, but a majority of the jokes are juvenile, crude, and offensive. The dialogue often rambles on longer than it should, ruining any comedic timing. Many of the short films are bland with no direction and little in the way of acting, despite some of the A-list stars. And when you throw in some random animation and horrible song and dance numbers, it’s just the icing on the cake for a film that really isn’t worth the time.
Bottom Line: 1 out of 5 stars
This one comes from Cinematical: Jason Reitman, director of Thank You for Smoking and son of filmmaker Ivan Reitman, has organized a filmmaking competition on YouTube. Read the full article to get all the details.
This post is the first on a series of reviews from this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. I had the opportunity to watch about 12 films, and this first review centers on the feature-length documentary Strictly Background.
Directed by Jason Connell and shot over a period of two years, Strictly Background illuminates the sub-culture world of the movie extra by profiling ten different actors who struggle to make their living as a background player. These people survive on $50/day up to $120/day and sometimes live in a converted storage space, all in an effort to make their acting dreams a reality.
This film succeeds for a number of different reasons. First, the characters are interesting. Each person profiled has a unique history and unique circumstances that brought them to Hollywood. The subjects represent a cross-section of society, from white men, to asian men, to hispanic men, to elderly women. The filmmakers strive to profile a diverse ethnic group who have only one thing in common - they love working in movies.
Second, the film has heart. The story is very well balanced, from the humorous tales of life on the set, to the disappointments of unemployment. The filmmaker’s treat each person with respect and take an objective view to the subject matter. The film refrains from exploiting or humiliating these individuals. It simply shares their stories in a balanced manner. The viewer becomes so invested in these characters that when one actor suffers a personal setback, the viewer immediately empathizes with his plight.
Strictly Background was both humorous and heartwarming, and the footage from actual movies in which these extras appear complete the story nicely. Overall, a very well-done documentary.
Bottom Line: 4 out of 5 stars.
The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival officially starts tonight at 8pm with the screening of The Ten, an irreverant comedy inspired by the Ten Commandments. The film will be shown at the Alabama Theatre. Last night I had the opportunity to attend a filmmaker’s reception where I was able to meet a lot of wonderful people. Earlier today we all got together for a brunch at the Botanical Gardens, and it was nice to network with some of the filmmakers I had heard so much about in the weeks leading up to the festival.
Thanks to the Rick & Bubba morning show for helping me get the word out about my short film, Collection, which screens tomorrow night at 9:15 at the Alabama Power Building, located at the corner of 6th Ave. North and 18th St. North. Because of the publicity we received from Rick & Bubba, Collection’s film page is now the most viewed page on the sidewalk web site, with 2,176 views as of this post.
I plan to be downtown throughout the entire weekend, watching an incredible lineup of films and posting my comments and pictures here. Check back in for a complete recap of this year’s Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival. Plus, they have some great looking merchandise, so I will definitely have to pick up a shirt, or hat.
This Saturday night at 9:15, Collection will screen at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in Alabama Shorts Block #3. The venue is the Alabama Power Building, located on 6th Avenue North. Visit www.sidewalkfest.com for more information. Enjoy the preview trailer.
