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NBFC E-NEWS, JAN 12, 06
Spotlight
Arts News
NB Workshops
Advertise
Stories/Updates
Silver Wave Fest
e.news
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Jan 5
e.news
- Dec 29
SPONSORS
More Sponsors
Hot Links to Check Out!
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to check out
all the cool links and info on the NB Film Co-op resource link!
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chronicles 100 years of film sizes used for film-making
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table of film formats
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personal website containing images of old cameras and projects
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information about this interesting film format
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independent film information, festival news, digital film-making
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festival information on various things and submitting your films
Nonprofits and Volunteers: A growing economic force in Canada
Read the full story...
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Visit the
Keynotes archive…
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Do you consider the
voluntary sector in Canada to be an important economic force? Vote today…
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FUNDING
Federal government says spending cuts affecting the
voluntary sector will not be undone
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Charitable giving for Canadians motivated by generosity
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SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Banking on entrepreneurial spirit
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New approaches to social entrepreneurship research
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POLICY AND PLANNING
New Brunswick task force to examine challenges facing
nonprofit sector
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LEADERSHIP
Encouraging connection and
cooperation rather than competition?
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STAFFING
A wish list for the workplace
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Survey: Federal jobs continue to grow in capital region
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SPOTLIGHT
NB FILM CO-OP MEMBER RENEWALS DUE!
It's that time of the year again members....membership dues time. For those of you who have already renewed in these early days of January...thank you. For those of you who renewed in December, a big thank you! If you have any questions about your membership and whether it is due or not...email Cat at:
info@nbfilmcoop.com
and she will be happy to help you out. The memberships run from January 1 to December 31 annually.
Recent New Co-op Members:
Omshree Vasudevan, Fredericton, Full Membership
Recent Renewals for 2007:
Dale Brown, Paul Angers, Dennis Poirier, Jeff Combs, Jack Cunningham, Cayman Grant, Donovan Richard, Dan Thebeau, Gia Milani, Tony Whalen.
Hello, I'm a first year University student taking a B.A. in English, Media and Film. I was born and raised in Moncton, in a bilingual family with one brother, called Patrick and a dog named Candy. My favourite things in this world are soccer, television, films, piano, writing (poetry, short stories, screenplays and novels), theatre and Improv.
I'm generally considered a funny and nice guy, who loves to do volunteer work. I'm interested in helping out the Co-op members in non-technical roles on their shoots until I get my required workshops in to be able to use Co-op equipment. Email Cat to get my contact info.
"Tek nologee and the Interweb"
Greetings and welcome to the first of my irregularly appearing section "Teknologee and the Interweb",
where I'll showcase some new or cool film related gadget or website.
Begin transmission
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ever go to a movie because the critics said it was great and it ended up being horrible? Or rent a movie because one of your friends said it was good and you ended up watching the first half then stopping it and returning it cause it was just that bad.
I have found the solution and its name is flixster (http://www.flixster.com). Flixster is a social networking site
with a twist, it's all about movies.
You rate the movies you've seen (0-5 stars) and for the ones you haven't seen you either mark them as wanting
to see or not interested.
After you have rated a bunch of movies the website can recommend similar movies to the ones you like or ones that your friends like (with more weight given to friends with similar film tastes as you)
The more films you rate the better the recommendations the website gives you, I've rated close to 1300 films and I'm getting some great recommendations.
Another really cool feature of the site is it helps you plan movie nights. you check off the friends that will be
attending and the website give you a list of the common movies that you all wanted to see.
I highly recommend you all signup on the site. If you want to add me as a friend after you've signed up, here's
a link to my page
http://xion942.flixster.com
Fred Beels, Moncton Based Film Co-op member
Top of Page
ARTS
NEWS
NOVA SCOTIA - GREAT LOSS TO THE ARTS COMMUNITY
Helen Hill, an independent filmmaker admired all-across the media arts community, died on January 4th 2007. She was shot in her home in New Orleans by an unknown intruder. Her husband Paul Gailiunas was hit four times while protecting their two-year old son Francis. The child was not hurt and M. Gailiunas has since been released from the hospital.
A memorial website has been set up at the following address:
www.helenhill.org
FREDERICTON - MONDAY NIGHT FILM SERIES
 Jan 15, 2007, 8:00pm
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Director: Christopher Guest
Cast: Bob Balaban, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Ricky Gervais, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, Fred Willard
Run Time: 86 minutes
Country: USA
Year: 2006
Language: English
Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures
Distributor Estimates Availability As: Current
Video: N/A
Ratings: ON PG / BC NR / AB NR / SK NR / MB NR / PQ NR / Maritimes NR
After the brilliant comedic success of such signature mockumentaries as BEST IN SHOW, WAITING FOR GUFFMAN and the enduring cult hit THIS IS SPINAL TAP, director Christopher Guest returns with another hilarious film, this time turning his sights on the Hollywood machine itself. FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION made its impressive debut as a Gala Presentation at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival®. Though not in the mockumentary style, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION does rely on the inspired improvisational skills of Guest and his
big-name cast in its tale of three actors (Catherine O’Hara, BEST IN SHOW, OVER THE HEDGE, “Six Feet Under;” Parker Posey, BEST IN SHOW, SUPERMAN RETURNS; and Harry Shearer, “The Simpsons,” CHICKEN LITTLE) starring in a dreadful indie movie set in the American South in the forties. This film within the film – an exceptionally insipid melodrama called “Home for Purim” – forces the actors to lament the sad state of their careers; that is, until the film attracts attention and their performances begin to generate awards buzz.
Fans of Guest’s work will be thrilled to know he has assembled a cast that reunites many of his regular collaborators, including Posey, O’Hara, Shearer, Jane Lynch (THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN), Bob Balaban (GOSFORD PARK, GHOST WORLD), Jennifer Coolidge (BEST IN SHOW, LEGALLY BLONDE), Michael McKean (THIS IS SPINAL TAP) and Fred Willard (DATE MOVIE, THE WEDDING PLANNER). The film also features the dry, sardonic wit of Ricky Gervais (“The Office”) and co-stars Eugene Levy (BEST IN SHOW, AMERICAN PIE), who also co-wrote the script.
“The outrageously hilarious FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION was well worth the wait. Again delivered with comic precision by Guest’s crack repertory company, his patented brand of parody – call it gentle skewering – takes affectionate but deadly aim at its awards buzz mania target and the results aren’t just funny, they’re face-hurting funny.” – Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
The Film Series lineup is available on the NB Film Co-op website at:
http://www.nbfilmcoop.com/fs.htm
Tickets and memberships for the Monday Night Film Series are available at the door,
Tilley Hall, Room 102. Regular admission is $7 per screening, $3 for members. Regular half-year memberships are $20; $12 for students, seniors (65 years and up) and NB Film Co-op members. Memberships are now available at the NB Film Co-op,
732 Charlotte Street, Fredericton, 506-455-1632.
 NEW BRUNSWICK - TELLING ALL OUR STORIES in NB
is a NB Film Co-op production support program aimed at providing opportunities for Visible Minority and Aboriginal artists to express themselves creatively through the medium of video.
Applicants to the fund must be New Brunswick residents, new to filmmaking or have less than 2 videos to
their credit. Up to 1 award will be given annually. Successful applicants have one year to complete their project.
Eligible projects are those over which the artist has creative and editorial control. All genres are accepted
(i.e. experimental, drama, documentary, video installation, and new media.). Artists crossing over from other disciplines
(i.e. theatre, writing, visual arts, and dance) are also welcome.
A screening of the completed production will be held either within the Silver Wave Film Festival Program or as a
special separate event. Applicants retain copyright to their productions, but they must provide a copy of their
tape to be kept in the NBFC's archives.
Deadline: June 1, 2007
The successful applicants receive:
A one year full membership;
- up to $1200 in access to NBFC Video equipment;
- a $400 credit towards any required/elective workshop(s) that will enable you to complete your project (workshops must be taken in order to produce a work);
- up to $400 in cash;
- video production information
Applicants must submit:
a current resumé (with emphasis on your artistic work)
a 1 to 2 page description of the proposed project (may include a script, treatment, or storyboard)
a production schedule
a detailed budget
and if possible, examples of previous work (video, film or other artistic work)
Note: please do not submit material which can not be replaced
Have questions? Need help putting your proposal together? Email Cat at:
info@nbfilmcoop.com
Top of Page
WORKSHOPS.....WORKSHOPS.....WORKSHOPSThe New Brunswick Filmmakers' Co-operative will be kicking off it's annual workshop series in mid February. Here is a little tease to get everybody's creative juices flowing.
 FREDERICTON -
GUN WRANGLING & WEAPONS SAFETY FOR FILM
(Intro - Theory)
Date TBA Soon as well as Price
Time: 7 pm - 9 pm
Instructor: Gary Ferguson
Location: New Brunswick Film Co-op
(732 Charlotte Street, Fredericton, upstairs room)
Class Limit: 15
Thinking of using a firearm for your next film?
Whether you are planning to shoot the next "Reservoir Dogs" or uncomfortable with
firearms, this is the workshop for you. The seminar will introduce you to the basics in gun wrangling, and what to look
for. Spend some time to go over basic weapons handling, legal obligations, and safety protocols while firearms are on set.
INSTRUCTOR'S BIOGRAPHY
Gary Ferguson has been working in the entertainment industry for 20 years, the last several doing firearms handling and rentals for theatre and film. He has done everything from lace doilies to bus explosions in local theatres to large Hollywood features on the big screen. Gary is New Brunswick's only registered gun wrangler for film, the first for the Maritimes, and has been a large voice in proper weapons handling for the industry since 1995.
Email Cat to pre-register for this exciting new workshop being offered for the first time through the Film Co-op's Annual Workshop Series.
info@nbfilmcoop.com
Top of Page
ADVERTISE
IFILM - SEND TO A FRIEND
Between You and Me:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2810480
Hey there, I think you'll like this video, "Between You and Me". I saw it on IFILM.
Glen D. Ross, Fredericton based Co-op member and Stills Photographer
FREDERICTON - EVENT AT CHARLOTTE STREET ARTS CENTRE
Many of you may be interested in our upcoming show, which includes a screening of Big Art for Little People; a series of 11 very short video works by emerging European Artists whose diverse backgrounds include film, photography, animation graphic design, poetry, painting, sculpture and installation
This list of artists include Luna Maurer (Germany) Jasper van den Brink (Netherlands) and Pia Wergius (Sweden). The project was put together by cut-n-paste.nl, the Mondriaan Foundation and the Dutch Film Fund.
This is part of an event called Surge Two, which will also feature:
-Music for flute, clarinet/saxophone and bass with audio and video components by Motion Ensemble, New Brunswick’s professional new music group. Works by James Tenney (Toronto), Alvin Lucier (USA) and Marc Sabat (Canada), William Engelen (Holland), Beth Wiemann (USA) and Jennifer O’Neil (Newfoundland). Motion Ensemble, who’s music ranges from the experimental to the exotic, has performed concerts from St. John’s to Edmonton, from Toronto to New York; come hear them on their home turf!
-a performance of improvised music by Six, One Hundred (John Born, Eric Hill and Chris Giles) called "The Going, Gone".
The show is Friday January 12 2007 at 8 pm in the Charlotte St. Arts Centre
, Fredericton (732 Charlotte St. between Church and St. John Sts.)
Admission is PWYC (pay what you can) and refreshments are by donation.
For more info, click here:
http://www.motionensemble.com
http://www.surge-events.org/
Top of Page
STORIES/UPDATES
VISIONS FROM THE PAST
: reassembling old 16 mm films on the cheap.
by Franklin Cardy. Fredericton based Film Co-op member
In the 1960s I made some 16 mm documentaries. I was usually working as a geologist in conditions where filming was
difficult, such as Liberian rain forest and Iranian desert mountains. For this reason, my camera was the simplest,
most basic, wind up, Bell and Howell 16 mm camera; but it had very good Angénieux zoom and wide angle lenses. The
footage was shot at varying speeds, (not entirely consistent), either around 18 fps for my own use or 24 fps for
potential commercial use.
I made films about the people of Baluchistan in south eastern Iran in 1964; about a group of young artists in Ulster
in 1963, about diamond exploration in Liberia in 1963, and some other colour odds and ends. In 1970 in Jamaica, I
began collecting colour footage of a rising young English painter, who unfortunately died shortly afterwards. Other
archival colour footage includes an early massive environmental clean-up project in South Wales on which I worked in
1963 and a few short clips I made for my own amusement.
The original of the artists film "EIGHT" was shown on TV in Northern Ireland and sold to the Northern Ireland
Arts Council, but is now lost. The Baluchi film was shot on B&W stock provided by the BBC and, after editing,
disappeared into the vaults of the BBC in London; by the time it was finished in 1965 they had gone over to colour
transmission. In the eighties I made a 40 minute video documentary about the Saint John River Floods and the Flood
Forecasting program, shown repeatedly on local Cable.
All I have left is the rough-cut prints of these and some other archival film prints, so for a long time
I have wanted to re-assemble these so that I would have some finished products, if only for my own satisfaction.
Recently I have been working to digitize and reconstruct finished versions of these films, strictly for personal
use or for the interest of the people involved and, therefore, at minimal cost. The Coop has been very helpful and
Cat asked me to write up what I have been doing.
The foundation of the reconstruction process was the original rough-cut 16mm. prints. I also had VHS copies of them that
I had made 10 years ago, when they were back-projected onto a ground glass screen and onto PAL system VHS tapes (at 25 fps). I started by re-recording these here onto DVDs and found that they could be automatically 'converted' to 30 fps - a great advantage. I then hoped that I would be able to improve on these by digitizing directly from the projected original film prints. Because there is no commercial potential in reconstituting these old 16 mm films and therefore no budget, I merely projected them
onto the screen at the Coop and copied them, on both the Coop's Panasonic Mini DV on to Mini DV tape and on my own
Sony TRV520 Hi-8 NTSC analogue/digital camcorder onto Hi-8 tape. I then also transferred the Panasonic image onto Hi 8
tape by direct cable to my camcorder and thus made another set of Hi8 tapes. I then transferred them all on to my
laptop and compared the various versions to select the best.
Despite all the different approaches to copying, there is little to chose between the various versions. Although viewable,
the digital definition is disappointing, like a second or third copy video tape. With the kind permission of the N.B.
Filmmakers' Coop, I therefore tried applying a "sharpening" effect using the Coop's "Final Cut Pro";
but this did not make a significant improvement and was abandoned.
I have now completed the final editing and sound track of some of the resurrected versions. All the work (apart from the
Final Cut trial) was done quite easily on my home laptop using Windows Movie Maker. The final results are adequate for
personal or restricted use as a memento, or to show to very understanding people, but disappointing as an example of
one's work.
The obvious conclusion (surprise!) is that if you want to digitize old 16 mm film adequately for public viewing, you
should pay to have it done by machine. The next best would be back-projecting onto a large ground glass screen and
recording direct to DV. After the VHS tape I made off ground-glass ten years ago was digitized recently it
produced much the same definition as the MiniDV copy of the screen-projected image.
One of the issues that came up in recreating these old films was: should I use the old commentaries? or update them,
re-edit the film and modernize them? The commentaries I prepared in the early 60s now seem very dated in both content
and style and the editing could be made more lively. It could have been interesting to rework the films and the voice-over
into a more modern format, but without better image quality it does not seem worth it. In the end I simply used the
original tapes or scripts and re-recorded them as part of the archival record.
I now have completed the Ulster artists' film and a 3 minute clip using the material on the artist in Jamaica that I
prepared as a memento for her daughter. The Baluchi film is all but completed except for a couple of music segments
which have to be recreated because some of the original recordings are lost. I have kept all the various duplication
stages if anyone wants to see them and is contemplating doing similar work and wants to minimize their time and effort.
I should like once again to thank Tony and Cat and the Film Co-op board for their support and encouragement of this
rather personal pursuit.
DEER ISLAND FILMMAKER IN PRE-PRODUCTION
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