FESTIVAL FOLLOW-UP
WATCH VIDEO
|
Festival Follow-up: DEATH TO THE TINMAN (full-length) Director Ray Tintori and Director of Photography Robert Leitzell talk about DEATH TO THE TINMAN and winning Honorable Mention at Sundance Film Festival 2007. |
||
|
Live At Sundance: Day 6 Robert Redford talks about his love of shorts and filmmakers talk about their film in this Sundance Institute video from the 2007 festival. |
||
|
BOBBY BIRD: THE DEVIL IN DENIM (clip 1) A clip from Carson Mell's film BOBBY BIRD: THE DEVIL IN DENIM. |
Festival Follow-up: Shorts Filmmakers 2007
Making a short film can be a glorious start or a quick end to a filmmaker’s career. Sundance Film Festival is considered to be the gold standard for American film festivals. With 4,400 shorts being entered into the festival in 2007 and only 70 admitted, getting into Sundance is about as difficult as making the film. But is there a payoff on making it to the festival? Is it a glorious short lived moment or do the filmmakers come away with prospects that could potentially move them into an illustrious career?
Sundance Channel online interviewed four short film Directors whose films were shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to find out how the fared after the festival. Ray Tintori directed DEATH TO THE TINMAN and won Honorable Mention at Sundance. First time director Charles Burmeister whose film INTERVIEW is comedic short about a man who must face his girlfriend and defend his decision to wear a wrinkled shirt to a failed interview. Nanobah Becker directed CONVERSION, a film about the catastrophic consequences of Missionaries visit to a Navajo tribe. Carson Mell made the the Clowes inspired animation BOBBY BIRD THE DEVIL IN DENIM about an aging rock star tells the tales behind his tattoos.
SDC: There is a widely held belief that a short film acts as a calling card in festivals. Do you feel that your short served that purpose for you? If so, how? If not, why do you think it did not?
CB: I think that shorts have a minor effect on your career. The greatest thing the success of the short has given me is the confidence to keep directing.
NB: A short can be a great way to showcase your work as a director, and this film definitely gave me that opportunity. However, I didn’t make the film thinking it was an example of what I could do. I believed in this project in and of itself—otherwise it never would have been made.
CM: I made mini DVD’s with “Bobby Bird” on it, along with some others, and handed those out at the festival. So I did literally use it as a calling card. It worked out well, and I was able to share my movie with some of my favorite filmmakers, who I ran into at the festival.
SDC: Did you go to SFF 2007 with a follow-up project? Did you feel you were given the opportunity to pitch your upcoming project to people that could help you get your next film made?
CB: Didn’t find any opportunities to pitch. In my experience, it is all about having a great script and then things will take care of themselves.
NB: I’ve been working on a feature screenplay called “Full.” I didn’t do much pitching at the festival, but there have been subsequent opportunities that have allowed me to meet with people about it as a result of screening at Sundance.
CM: I came to the festival with a feature project based on a novel I wrote about the same protagonist from the short. Being in the festival did open doors to meeting production companies and agents, but not actually physically being at the festival. That all happened before going to Utah via e-mail.
SDC: Will you continue to make shorts? Do you want to make features?
CB: I just wrapped on a feature film titled COLUMBUS DAY with Val Kilmer starring.
NB: I love the short film form. I’m sure I’ll continue to make shorts in the future, but I do want to make features.
CM: Yes, I’m working on another short right now. And I’m going to make my first feature pretty soon whether I can get a producer involved or I have to make it alone in my studio like I did “Bobby Bird.”
SDC Do you have any future plans for your short?
CB: Keep showing it to friends.
NB: I plan to arrange some screenings around the reservation—hopefully paired with Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo, which also screened at Sundance.
CM: If my novel, “Saguaro,” gets published I am going to use it for a viral internet campaign along with some new, much shorter cartoons about the same character, Bobby Bird.
SDC: How did itunes work out for you? Did you feel it was beneficial? Would you do it again or decline if given the choice?
CB: I liked that anyone on the globe has access to it. I would definitely do it again.
NB: The added exposure of having the film available on iTunes worked out really well for me. I would definitely do it again.
CM: I made a little bit of money through itunes, and I would definitely do it again.
Tintori on iTunes
SDC: Do you feel any unique opportunities have come your way as a direct result of having been in SFF 2007?
CB: Although there is no real measurable opportunity that came out of Sundance, I think that being at Sundance gave other people in the industry more confidence in me, which is an intangible that definitely affects my other work.
NB: The Mormon Church heavily inspired my film, so screening in Utah was a very significant opportunity for me. It was very fulfilling to interact with those viewers I normally don’t have the chance to.
CM: Definitely. It’s nearly impossible to fight your way above the tide of media, and being in Sundance pushes your work into a very visible position where lots of production companies are checking it out.
Tintori and Robert Leitzell on opportunites
SDC: Do you have any advice for short filmmakers?
CB: It’s all about the script and the acting.
NB: Keep it short—the shorter the better.
CM: Don’t spend too much money.
Tintori's advice to filmmakers
SDC: Do you have a production or post production nightmare story you can share?
CB: I reshot the ending of my short 3 times, looking for the one that fit.
NB: Days before Sundance we were still scrambling to finish post, and my DP was on his way to DuArt to do final color correction when the NYPD stopped him on the subway. They asked to see his ID, and for reasons unknown, they took him in. For two agonizing days I stressed as he sat in jail waiting to go before a judge. When he finally did—after about 40 hours—it turns out he was never charged with a crime. Apparently, thanks to the Patriot Act, a person can be held in police custody for up to 72 hours without charge. What a nightmare.
CM: Since I worked alone on this movie, it all went pretty smoothly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out what Susan from FOUR EYED MONSTERS thinks about DEATH TO THE TINMAN in her video blog from Sundance Film Festival 2007.
Sundance Channel online interviewed four short film Directors whose films were shown at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival to find out how the fared after the festival. Ray Tintori directed DEATH TO THE TINMAN and won Honorable Mention at Sundance. First time director Charles Burmeister whose film INTERVIEW is comedic short about a man who must face his girlfriend and defend his decision to wear a wrinkled shirt to a failed interview. Nanobah Becker directed CONVERSION, a film about the catastrophic consequences of Missionaries visit to a Navajo tribe. Carson Mell made the the Clowes inspired animation BOBBY BIRD THE DEVIL IN DENIM about an aging rock star tells the tales behind his tattoos.
SDC: There is a widely held belief that a short film acts as a calling card in festivals. Do you feel that your short served that purpose for you? If so, how? If not, why do you think it did not?
CB: I think that shorts have a minor effect on your career. The greatest thing the success of the short has given me is the confidence to keep directing.
NB: A short can be a great way to showcase your work as a director, and this film definitely gave me that opportunity. However, I didn’t make the film thinking it was an example of what I could do. I believed in this project in and of itself—otherwise it never would have been made.
CM: I made mini DVD’s with “Bobby Bird” on it, along with some others, and handed those out at the festival. So I did literally use it as a calling card. It worked out well, and I was able to share my movie with some of my favorite filmmakers, who I ran into at the festival.
SDC: Did you go to SFF 2007 with a follow-up project? Did you feel you were given the opportunity to pitch your upcoming project to people that could help you get your next film made?
CB: Didn’t find any opportunities to pitch. In my experience, it is all about having a great script and then things will take care of themselves.
NB: I’ve been working on a feature screenplay called “Full.” I didn’t do much pitching at the festival, but there have been subsequent opportunities that have allowed me to meet with people about it as a result of screening at Sundance.
CM: I came to the festival with a feature project based on a novel I wrote about the same protagonist from the short. Being in the festival did open doors to meeting production companies and agents, but not actually physically being at the festival. That all happened before going to Utah via e-mail.
SDC: Will you continue to make shorts? Do you want to make features?
CB: I just wrapped on a feature film titled COLUMBUS DAY with Val Kilmer starring.
NB: I love the short film form. I’m sure I’ll continue to make shorts in the future, but I do want to make features.
CM: Yes, I’m working on another short right now. And I’m going to make my first feature pretty soon whether I can get a producer involved or I have to make it alone in my studio like I did “Bobby Bird.”
SDC Do you have any future plans for your short?
CB: Keep showing it to friends.
NB: I plan to arrange some screenings around the reservation—hopefully paired with Billy Luther’s Miss Navajo, which also screened at Sundance.
CM: If my novel, “Saguaro,” gets published I am going to use it for a viral internet campaign along with some new, much shorter cartoons about the same character, Bobby Bird.
SDC: How did itunes work out for you? Did you feel it was beneficial? Would you do it again or decline if given the choice?
CB: I liked that anyone on the globe has access to it. I would definitely do it again.
NB: The added exposure of having the film available on iTunes worked out really well for me. I would definitely do it again.
CM: I made a little bit of money through itunes, and I would definitely do it again.
Tintori on iTunes
SDC: Do you feel any unique opportunities have come your way as a direct result of having been in SFF 2007?
CB: Although there is no real measurable opportunity that came out of Sundance, I think that being at Sundance gave other people in the industry more confidence in me, which is an intangible that definitely affects my other work.
NB: The Mormon Church heavily inspired my film, so screening in Utah was a very significant opportunity for me. It was very fulfilling to interact with those viewers I normally don’t have the chance to.
CM: Definitely. It’s nearly impossible to fight your way above the tide of media, and being in Sundance pushes your work into a very visible position where lots of production companies are checking it out.
Tintori and Robert Leitzell on opportunites
SDC: Do you have any advice for short filmmakers?
CB: It’s all about the script and the acting.
NB: Keep it short—the shorter the better.
CM: Don’t spend too much money.
Tintori's advice to filmmakers
SDC: Do you have a production or post production nightmare story you can share?
CB: I reshot the ending of my short 3 times, looking for the one that fit.
NB: Days before Sundance we were still scrambling to finish post, and my DP was on his way to DuArt to do final color correction when the NYPD stopped him on the subway. They asked to see his ID, and for reasons unknown, they took him in. For two agonizing days I stressed as he sat in jail waiting to go before a judge. When he finally did—after about 40 hours—it turns out he was never charged with a crime. Apparently, thanks to the Patriot Act, a person can be held in police custody for up to 72 hours without charge. What a nightmare.
CM: Since I worked alone on this movie, it all went pretty smoothly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out what Susan from FOUR EYED MONSTERS thinks about DEATH TO THE TINMAN in her video blog from Sundance Film Festival 2007.
FOCUS
You know if a feature does well at Sundance Film Festival because it’s in the theaters, in your Netflix queue and quite possibly at the Oscars. But what about the short films? What happens to the Directors and "the little films that could" when the festival shuts down? Sundance Channel online follows up with four Sundance Film Festival 2007 short filmmakers and finds out how the festival worked out for them.
You know if a feature does well at Sundance Film Festival because it’s in the theaters, in your Netflix queue and quite possibly at the Oscars. But what about the short films? What happens to the Directors and "the little films that could" when the festival shuts down? Sundance Channel online follows up with four Sundance Film Festival 2007 short filmmakers and finds out how the festival worked out for them.
BIOTaking place each January, Sundance Film Festival is the gold standard of American film festivals. As a market festival, Sundance is a highly desirable destination not just for seasoned and emerging filmmakers but for distributors and audiences hungry for a first glimpse at the hot new films of the year.
