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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2000)
Online Help For Filmmakers If you’ve been dreaming of filmmaking suc cess along the lines of The Blair Witch Project, but you just don’t know how to move beyond lackluster footage of your roommates stumbling around the quad, help is available. Naturally, the Internet boasts dozens of moviemaking web sites—here’s a roundup of the best. The key to get ting your movie dis tributed is getting it seen, and moviemaker.com will tell you how to do it. This web mag azine has lists of upcoming festivals plus entry info and tons of informative articles about every thing from literary agents to what type of insurance is needed for film makers. Makingfilm.com is another weekly mag with fea ture articles, news, reviews, and message boards for bud ding filmmakers. Digitalidiots.com is the go-to site for tech help in dig ital filmmaking. Though it’s still in "soft launch" phase, Digital Idiots is already jam packed with great resources, including a "personal guru," who will guide you through every step of the digital process. The site has an online multi media help desk, Q&A pages, and self-lead tuto rials for cam era work, sound and lighting. There is also a "show and tell" section, in which digi tal film directors give behind the scenes insight into their work. Another place to get great first hand information is invite.to/cineparlance.com, which features interviews with directors big and small. This site is also packed with links for indie filmmakers. If you have a bunch of shorts lying around, head to minutemovies.com, a free forum for displaying and promoting inde pendent shorts. The site allows viewers to rate and review featured shorts (30 min utes or less) and includes interviews with directors. There’s also a great film festival department that lists all the news and highlights from festivals around the world. As in any other business, success in the film industry is directly related to your abil ity to stay informed and on top of what’s going on in your industry. Sites that let you pick the brains of experienced film makers include 2pop.com, which boasts workshops, discussion groups and equipment reviews for digital filmmaking. You don’t have to go to USC to learn your trade, there are plenty of online courses available, includ ing cyberfilmschooi.com, where you can guide your self through classes taught by some of Hollywood’s bigwigs. This Internet film school comes complete with chapters, assignments, and yes, exams, complete with streaming video and hints from top directors. So instead of blindly shooting footage that just ends up stacked in your closet, consult some of these online resources—it could be just the push you need to get your art out there. • n Todayssports.com todayssports.com Clearly a site for the boys, this sporting news page has decent AP sports coverage. If you’re looking for staff writers with a witty edge, you’ll have to make do with the models and a profes sional cheerleader who write the only original articles on the site, the “Spa Report.” The site has a modest photo gallery including a daily sports photo, daily cheerleader photo and a weekly celebrity photo. Good for a quick update, or when you just can’t wait to find out how the cheerleaders are doing. MSpilberg Content: B- Usability: B Inlli'llfrl The Hollywood Network hollywoodnet.com Hollywoodnet.com takes you through the world of ‘intertainment’ (entertainment on the web). They have short films you can watch with Windows Media Player, links to music broadcast over the net, TV shows, web series—which are commentary series, and slightly outdated movie trailers. The films are entertaining but vary in quality, style, length and cheesiness. This is a fun site to browse when bored, and who knows, you might be visiting weekly for the new Taylor Mead show, or the new tracks on Global House. TMaor Content: B- Usability: B grcrca The New York Press nypress.com The New York Press is an unconventional, New York-based weekly paper. But it should appeal to more than just New Yorkers, with political com mentary, excellent music and art criticism, and interesting writing on a wide range of subjects. Rightward-leaning readers will especially enjoy the political writing and "Taki's Top Drawer," a
