Housekeeping

Since more and more duties keep being assigned, I am going to try and arrange a list of tasks (and dates, if there are any specific deadlines) for the upcoming months, for all those related to Thomas Productions:

1. Submit Journey of the Mind to a Withoutabox-correlated festival => Garners invitation from IMDb for film
2. Make copy of Journey of the Mind (and possibly At the Core?) for airing on local television broadcast
3. Complete editing Alex and Mike's Alaskan Cruise by late December
4. Send copy of Journey of the Mind to Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California
5. Touch up The Nightmare to make ready for Big Bear Int'l Film Festival submission in January, which would also make this project IMDb-capable
6. Start Preproduction for Everyone and Their Mother, so it can be filmed in December/January, then ready for CurrentTV come Mother's Day, 2010
7. Finish reediting newly digitized footage of Brave New World for eventual uploading on YouTube
8. Create VFX Demo Reel

You may notice that The Nightmare "snuck back" into the list. I certainly haven't forgotten about that project! I fully intend to do at least as much festivalwise for it as with Journey of the Mind, because it was a fully scripted drama, not a documentary!

You may also notice that Hitchcock Road was NOT mentioned. I do still intend for its production, but with so much currently on my plate (and these duties aren't my only ones, mind you), I think it's better to try and see the horizon before things get lost in oblivion. In time, in time...

Now Watchable!

It's finally been done! Now, the full-length version of At the Core is entirely viewable from both YouTube and IMDb!

This had been delayed earlier due the movie's entry into this year's Mill Valley Film Festival, and I did not want a simultaneous online showing to hurt its chances. Now that this situation is over, I've made an executive decision and here we are!

On a different note, I've updated my Oscar Predictions part of the website (go here and choose Oscar Predictions). The actual dates for Nominees Announcement and Winners Ceremony have been released, and the hosts (plural!) have been chosen. I reeeeally want to view Precious...

Online Speculations

Unless there is reason to be misled tomorrow (Tuesday), when contained films of this year's MVFF are to be listed to the public, there is speculation that At the Core sadly did not get accepted.  However, this now makes it possible to show online!

Through both IMDb and YouTube, it becomes entirely possible not to hide this documentary from the public anymore.  It needs to be rendered again with the new credits, which will be altered for the music rights, and compressed for uploading, but that should make things possible!

Initially, I didn't think uploading video to IMDb was all that possible, but by submitting At the Core through Withoutabox, that allows me a connection to IMDb that includes uploading videos!  That's how the film's trailer was uploaded there already...  Updates on this soon!

Win Some, Lose Some

"Filmmakers will be notified via email of entry status by approximately September 4th."

-http://www.cafilm.org/mvff/c4e.html

Though I am yet to receive any such email about Mill Valley, I am to assume At the Core (2009) did not make it into the festival based on the Submission Status shown at Withoutabox. That claims to have been notified on September 2nd, and the decision was "Not Accepted."  Sigh...

And still, this day remains pleasant because some of the footage from Brave New World (2002) has now been digitized (it's all already been transferred from Hi8 to MiniDV, thus saved), and it's begun to be edited. I'm not going to upload the movie to YouTube until it's entirely reedited, which may need to wait during a paid video editing job. However, above, I posted a few Brave New Outtakes from the opening scene. I'm sure more are to follow, so I called it "Part 1." Enjoy!

Two Weeks To Go

Barely a smidge over 2 weeks from tomorrow is September 15th. Why is this date important, you ask? It is the date that the schedule of films to be shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival will be announced.

This may or may not be beneficial to Thomas Productions, but it certainly can be! The MVFF has the chance of being the first "adult-level" film festival one of our projects has ever placed in. We have earned status with the National Children's Film Festival before, but that obviously was during the K-12 era.

Whether or not the hope rings true, the festival still permitted another entry into IMDb.com, and also initiated contact with Michael Neverisky for music rights. This festival is noncompetitive, so if At the Core shows up anywhere in the schedule, then it's worth a yipee!

Plans of Big Bear Lake

Entering any festival can be tedious with all the paperwork to fill out, but by using Withoutabox to do all of that for At the Core, it was ten times easier than it could have been. Also because of it, Thomas Productions has another entry at IMDb.

As such, I've been planning out future movies that, too, could be "festivized" through Withoutabox... One that I'm still hoping to retouch a bit is The Nightmare. It's generally okay in terms of editing, but I'd like to work some more on the visual effects and the musical score. Once that's completed, I'd like to send that to the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival for 2010!

I wouldn't have to enter it any sooner than January, so I have some time to work on it. Big Bear is significant to me because it's the town in which I was born, but never really lived beyond the first six months of my life... It's time to revisit.

NDB+IMDB

For the first time ever, our Names Database is now accessible from the Home Page in a way it was never before. Now, it can appear from the Quick Links at bottom right, and will appear over the entire page! This is much better than before, where it was the last remaining object of the site to open in a separate window, despite the fact that it would no longer open its links back in the original window.

Aside from that, the Names Database now offers links for every name that also appears on the Internet Movie Database! Some names have already earned additional credits working on projects other than Thomas Productions, and it's feasible anyone can continue doing that very thing today. The quantity of names here that have an IMDb entry is quite amazing, actually, as most if not all of them were created through this site (thanks to The Dog of Pompeii, The Last Kiss, and At the Core)!

Did the Trick

Just as the June 23rd News Blog entry suggested, giving Composer Michael Neverisky a Special Thanks credit for At the Core on IMDb.com was successful, as he now has his own individual page to represent himself there. Yay!

Now, I'm trying to link that page to his name on the movie's soundtrack listing, but as with this Special Thanks project, if I give it some patience, I will hopefully get my wish.

Soundtrack Listed

'Tis official: now listed at the IMDb page for At the Core are the soundtrack credits for Michael Neverisky!

His credits appear as such:

• "Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine"
  Arranged & Performed by Michael Neverisky
  Courtesy of Michael Neverisky
  

What I still haven't been successful yet at for the creation of this new IMDb credit is actually making an individual page representing Mr. Neverisky. I guess a "mere" soundtrack listing alone won't do it... Perhaps giving him an additional Special Thanks credit might do the trick.

Grasshopper Approval

As an unexpected charm that happen to reach Thomas Productions yesterday, I was able to receive music rights for the song I was hoping to use in At the Core: more specifically, Michael Neverisky's instrumental performance of "Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine."

I was considering contacting him through an email address, but gosh darnit, that site would not load on my machine at that moment (but it would again later!). So, I found him on YouTube, and was able send him a message that way. That he responded so quickly and so kindly just about made my day! That particular song is not performed on YouTube by him, but here's another one that's at least as good.

Anyhow, this news is GREAT because it means the intentional, excellent piece can play in Mill Valley instead of my subpar temp track. Yay!

Double Your Pleasure

As with Mrs. Barg's 8th Grade AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) class last week, I had the same opportunity today with Mrs. Amos' 7th Grade AVID class to share some movies. Today was more a component of the class than the sole event of the class, as today it was part of a class party. So, there was only so much time...

Still, I successfully showed four short films, including one I did not get a chance to show in last week's class: The King Who Rained.

I would have liked to also show Photagrizzly Man, but the students at least know that it's online, including directly above this line of text.

All Signs Point to Mill Valley

Not to sound superstitious or anything, but today, I randomly received a note from someone giving positive site feedback. This person is named Christian Svanes Kolding.

christian svanes kolding, showreel, the "a-side" | 4 min. from svanes on Vimeo.

Why is this important, you ask? It's because his short film, Depression Served Six Ways, is listed as "great" on the Movie Ratings section of this site, and I had specifically viewed it at the 2005 Mill Valley Film Festival.

It's another reference to Mill Valley, and it had nothing to do with At the Core. Plus, it's always cool to get contacted by the filmmakers directly!

3rd Time's the Charm

Wow, that was fast! It was supposedly not going to be posted for "two to four weeks," but it's already up only one week after filling out the online invitation forms from Withoutabox!

What I'm referring to, of course, is the IMDb entry for At the Core (2009), which was recently submitted to this year's Mill Valley Film Festival! Now, the entry is not yet complete on IMDb's website, so I'm assuming they meant having the entry complete in two to four weeks.

It's our 3rd movie to exist on IMDb, after The Dog of Pompeii (1999) and The Last Kiss (2000). Quite a time distance exists between The Last Kiss and At the Core, but that's what THIS site is for!

Anyhow, here's the new IMDb link for At the Core:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442006/

Invitation

Quick li'l note here: the MVFF officially received our entry of At the Core a few days ago.

This is good for 2 reasons, aside from it being a relief that it's been received: 1) It is now listed on Withoutabox with a blue checkmark instead of a red dot, and 2) It was automatically invited to become a part of IMDb.com (Internet Movie Database) in result!

Deed is Done

Wahoo! At the Core, reedited for 2009, has officially been submitted to the MVFF, DVD & all. The online entry through Withoutabox occurred a few days ago, and the DVD screener was sent today!

What a relief! And now, a glimpse of what's in store:

With Withoutabox

At current, I'm in the midst of filling out all of the bits and pieces of required info & suggested info at Withoutabox.com for entering At the Core into the Mill Valley Film Festival (and possibly any other). It's great in that it saves a ton of paper, making the only things necessary to send are the actual videos (DVDs, tapes, etc.). But, it's a nuisance as well because there's a ton to fill out!

One such thing it suggested to complete was a trailer! So, there you go: a new trailer for At the Core!

Other things to include are not one but THREE separate synopses, each of different length, and a bleepload of technical details... So much more to write!

The First Fest

It's official: At the Core (2006) is soon to be entered into the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival! Early entry deadline is May 15, and the festival itself is in mid October.

No clips of it are online yet, as I want to make sure doing this wouldn't prevent any sort of festival "world premiere" attributes. Nonetheless, there are several stills and production photos that hold up just fine for now.

BTW, I simply couldn't believe that The Last Kiss (2000) had never been embedded in a News Blog entry before this one! Tada!

BTW#2, The Dog of Pompeii (1999) has now reached 2,000 views on YouTube!

Core Photography

In what is the 2nd GPicturama entry of 2009, the official production photos from At the Core (2006) have been posted!

There were actually quite a bit more photos taken, but most did not symbolize or represent that a movie was in production. Instead, they were nice shots of a ranch! So I had to choose wisely, and these were the results.

Soon enough, they'll be viewable from the Media Layer of the movie's page as well, in a scrollable format first introduced by the page for The Nightmare (2007).

They Liked It!

This past Saturday, I presented my fine cut of the latest Gizdich Ranch Television Commercial at an appointment scheduled at the very ranch in Watsonville. Vince Gizdich himself was a fellow viewer of the commercial. All viewers were unanimously pleased!

Vince Gizdich and Staci Caccioppi in At the Core (2006).

Now, the TV station KSBW is going to be contacted, and we'll see where this takes us in a few weeks!

BTW, the Demo Reel is shown again here because more than 4 News Blog entries exist since the last time it appeared, and I still want it on the front page.