Live screening of the films in Fresno

[sfoster]

What are the chances of offering a screening of all the films. I'm thinking about doing it anyway by just downloading all the films and getting permission to show them in my church building while we Fresno people sit down and view the films with clipboard in hand. What do you think? Is anyone interested? Let me know if Fresno is good. It's in between LA and SanFrancisco. There are at least 3 films coming from Fresno this time around. Post your thoughts!

[Mark Johnson]

Rumor has it that there may be two rounds of voting this time. A first round that would then be used to narrow down to the top ten entries and then a second round of voting on those entries to choose the winners. None of this is official but it is my understanding that it at least has been considered in the past and may be implemented this time.

Accordingly, in the hopes this will transpire, we've been making plans to have a screening of the finalists at a theater in Los Angeles along with a nice party. We feel that with the field so big a party and screening wouldn't be practical. IF there is a competition of ten finalists the screening would be manageable and still have plenty of time to pour margaritas.

I'm all for supporting you to have a big screening of all entries in Fresno and we've certainly done that here in the past informally with friends. If there's any way to make it the Monster crew will be there too. Sounds like a great time and chance to meet the West Coast film makers.

If there should be a second tier of voting, though, we plan to pull out some stops and rent a theater in L.A. or Hollywood and really try to get as many non-DVXUSERS as possible to come and see the great work this community is doing.

[Mark Harris]

Yeah, if there is a second round, I can try to set up a screening here too. The NYC group is quite a bit more fractured now than LA, but we've had some good screenings in the past. I have a standing deal with a moviehouse in the village, that likes my stuff and they usually give me a night with a month's or so notice.

Of course, only if I'm in that second round. :evil:

I think all of them would be a little hard to pull off. I mean, if there are 50, that's 3 hours. Yeeeeikes.

Here's the trailer I did for the HorrorFest Screening in 2006:

http://www.desperatecomfort.com/working/horrorfest_trailer.mov

:)

[Slimothy]

I remember that trailer, Mark. Good job on that thing.

[ConspiracyPenguin]

Man, I didn't think anybody knew Fresno existed. Haha! Let me know when/if you're going to do it and if I am available I'll come down. I live only about a half hour away.

I wish I could make it down to LA for the party! :( But alas, not this time.

[sfoster]

Well if you're going to do the top ten thing then I'll go to LA, but If enough people are interested, and depending on the amount of entries, I'll consider hosting it here. I figure I'll either charge enough to pay for snacks and drinks, or make it free and people can bring their own, and have a small party while we watch films. That is of course if my church will let us use it for free. I don't think they will have a problem as long as they aren't doing anything. Maybe I should get a poll up to see how many are interested in a screening in Fresno for all the films.

[Matt Sconce]

Wouldn't the quality of projected small movies be crappy? I don't know if I could sit through 3 hours of crappy blurry films. If they were crisp and beautiful, that is another story altogether!

[Zim]

I like the idea of a second round.




Rumor has it that there may be two rounds of voting this time. A first round that would then be used to narrow down to the top ten entries and then a second round of voting on those entries to choose the winners. None of this is official but it is my understanding that it at least has been considered in the past and may be implemented this time.

Accordingly, in the hopes this will transpire, we've been making plans to have a screening of the finalists at a theater in Los Angeles along with a nice party. We feel that with the field so big a party and screening wouldn't be practical. IF there is a competition of ten finalists the screening would be manageable and still have plenty of time to pour margaritas.

I'm all for supporting you to have a big screening of all entries in Fresno and we've certainly done that here in the past informally with friends. If there's any way to make it the Monster crew will be there too. Sounds like a great time and chance to meet the West Coast film makers.

If there should be a second tier of voting, though, we plan to pull out some stops and rent a theater in L.A. or Hollywood and really try to get as many non-DVXUSERS as possible to come and see the great work this community is doing.

[sfoster]

Oh come on Matt, be honest. You sit and watch crappy lo res youtube video all day! You could easily handle 3 hours. Besides I don't think it would be that bad. I'll have to do a test first though. I don't want my eyes to suffer either.

[Matt Sconce]

Hey, if the quality holds up, it should be fun.

[quicksilver8907]

I think it would be awesome to have that in Fresno.

[Gary Sconce]

Well if you're going to do the top ten thing then I'll go to LA, but If enough people are interested, and depending on the amount of entries, I'll consider hosting it here. I figure I'll either charge enough to pay for snacks and drinks, or make it free and people can bring their own, and have a small party while we watch films. That is of course if my church will let us use it for free. I don't think they will have a problem as long as they aren't doing anything. Maybe I should get a poll up to see how many are interested in a screening in Fresno for all the films.

I'd help! :happy:

[sfoster]

Well I know we have quite a few DVXUSER members in Fresno and quite a few close by. Some say they are willing to make the trip from LA, so I say we do it. I'll check with my church, and if not there, there are a few other options I can look in to. I'll need some help organizing it.

I know it may be a lot of films, and none of us want to sit through low quality stuff so I'm thinking of requesting a high resolution file that I can burn to DVD from each participant. those who don't send the high quality file, we'll just have to screen at the lower resolution. Does that sound reasonable??? Let me know what you think.

Also for those who would like to coordinate a screening, I'd be glad to send a copy of the films to you, so that we only have to send them one place. I'm thinking we can fit them all on 2-3 DVD's

[Mike Insane]

Random side note... I am a 20+ year DJ. I'm involved with one of the bigger underground electronic music crews in LA/OC/SD. So if you want to throw a party after a screening, I'm pretty sure i can help out quite a bit. On another side note, I haven't officially thrown my hat into the ring yet but I've been seriously considering an entry this time. Swift moves was my last one and it has been over a year. I am itching. *mutters to himself; now where did I place that camera again?*

[Shawn Philip Nelson]

So I'm assuming there'd be an effort to acquire either at least a 720p copy for the HD shorts and full SD for the SD? Projecting anything less could look really bad!

[sfoster]

So I'm assuming there'd be an effort to acquire either at least a 720p copy for the HD shorts and full SD for the SD? Projecting anything less could look really bad!

Yeah that's the idea. If dvxusers don't want to send a high quality version out, then we'll just screen the lo-res version. Hopefully we'll get a lot of high quality stuff to view!

[sfoster]

I'm thinking June 28th is looking good for me! Hopefully voting will be going at that time. I'd say June 21st, but I might not be able to get everything downloaded or in the mail by that time!

[Gary Sconce]

I'm thinking June 28th is looking good for me! Hopefully voting will be going at that time. I'd say June 21st, but I might not be able to get everything downloaded or in the mail by that time!

Rats, Shane. I am taking my wife for our 30th wedding aniversary trip then. :(

Oh well. Maybe I can help with your prep-work. :badputer:

[sfoster]

Well it doesn't have to be, I'm just suggesting a time when we can view them and vote on our favorites. I'd like it to be when everyone can get together!

[sfoster]

Well it looks like the high quality screening wont be able to happen according to the rules until after the voting is over, I guess I will get some compressed footage and see how it looks blown up!

[Brad S.]

I'd just like to throw in my .02 that at least two of the films will be mixed in 5.1 surround sound. So if a theatre is rented and and assuming one or both of those films makes the top ten (including others in 5.1) it would be great to hear the films in surround. Even so, it would be nice to screen the films in a theatre with at least a decent sound system.

[Beat Takeshi]

I would love to mix mine in 5.1 this time around. I don't know where to start though.

[Herman Witkam]

Then, the theater would need to have Dolby encoders, correct? Would it then work to screen the films with surround sound without having to acquire Dolby licenses for these films?

[Brad S.]

Then, the theater would need to have Dolby encoders, correct? Would it then work to screen the films with surround sound without having to acquire Dolby licenses for these films?

Well yes and no You definitely need a license from Dolby for the Dolby Digital encoding on optical film, but I'm willing to bet that nobody is going to spend the extra money to print all of the shorts on film. I assumed that the movies were going to be burned onto DVD or even BluRay and then played out a projector, in which case I believe DVD Studio Pro can encode the 5.1 onto the DVD. The decoding would be done by the DVD player at the theater like watching any movie at home. The only problem is that I don't know how many professional theaters also have DVD projection.

[sfoster]

I know there is one in Tulare, but I was actually just going to use my church's screen and speaker system. I have no idea if it can do dolby 5.1. I doubt it! Anyway, we wont be able to screen for the voting unless it's from the file that you upload, so it will be the compressed version. If you want to wait until after the voting, and people want to send me their footage, I'd be more than happy to put on an event, assuming I'll get all the permissions I need!