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New Raindance Book
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Out Now
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Greetings!
Welcome to this jam-packed and fully loaded edition of our weekly newsletter. This, let me assure you, is one to savour, one to relish, one to pass on to good friends...
In the news this week: independent film magazine Little White Lies looks at the BIFA nominations; the 2009 Brit List, a UK version of Hollywood's Black list of excellent but un-produced screenplays, has come out.
Some of the features in this newsletter include:
- guides and tales from the American Film Market,
- an article on Tarantino character types
- preview screenings of Raindance and Sundance films,
- a new list of twittering filmmakers,
- an interview with film director and Raindance tutor, Simon Hunter.
We also have new John Truby software; 'Memoir and True Stories' a tool that helps you shape real life into a compelling story.
Want to read this newsetter online or see what was in our old newsletters? Go to our archive
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DIY Filmmaking Equipment
 In these hard times, making a
film can seem like a daunting financial prospect, especially with all the expensive equipment that needs hiring or purchasing.
This need not be the case however, the intrepid filmmaker can make much of what they need on a very low budget following the guidelines in this article: DIY Filmmaking Equipment.
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Maverick Screenwriting
What do films like RESERVOIR DOGS, MEMENTO, AMORES PERROS, DONNIE
DARKO, and BRICK have in common?
They were all made by new filmmakers,
without stars and for low budgets. In spite of that, these films
succeeded because of the brilliance of their conceits, as well as the
originality of their storytelling. If you want to get yourself
noticed, you too should be thinking outside the box.
Day One: Think Differently
Focus on freeing up your imagination, learning how to see and think differently about screenwriting.
Day Two: Practical Techniques
Discover the practical techniques that make Maverick Screenwriting
work. There will be lots of examples, interactive fun, and
opportunities to reconceive your own ideas in startling new ways.
What? Maverick Screenwriting
When? December 5/6
Where? Central London, TBC
How Much? £250 + VAT
Raindance Premium Members get a 15% Discount
Full Details and Book Online Here |
American Film Market
 The American Film Market (AFM) is not Cannes and it is not Raindance, it is a market for buying and selling films.
Despite the lack of parties and jovial atmosphere, a lot of deals get made at the AFM, and a lot of filmmakers get made very happy.
This week we bring you a tale from the trench; Deborah Harding has written up her experience of trying to sell her first feature, 'The Kindness of Strangers'.
We also present the top 10 buyers most likely to pick up an independent film. Not everything sold at the AFM is ritzy big business, developing filmmakers should not be put off attending.
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'The Girlfriend Experience' Previews
Miss ed 2009's Closing Night film 'The Girlfriend Experience'? Next week sees two exclusive screenings in London, both followed by Q&As with lead actress and adult star Sasha Grey, so here's your chance to see what all the fuss is about...
Set in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, the film is five days in the life of Chelsea (Sasha Grey), an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients, but companionship and conversation - "the girlfriend experience."
Nov 16th, 8:45pm
BFI Southbank London
Nov 17th, 8:45pm
The Barbican
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Documentary Foundation Certificate
 Documentaries often contain some of the most powerful messages and images committed to film.
This foundation course in documentary film-making will give you the skills required to:
- Develop a distinctive documentary idea
- Test its effectiveness as an engaging film
- Decide the appropriate way to film it
- Find the right people to appear
- Choose the best things to film
- Shoot and edit your film in the most effective way
- Pick the right music or sound
- Shape your finished film into a story that works dramatically and emotionally.
What? Documentary Foundation Certificate
When? Wed 25,26 November 2,3,9 December
Where? 10 Craven St Rehearsal Studios,
London WC2N 5PE, nearest tube Charing Cross
How Much? £165 + VAT
Raindance Premium Members get a 15% Discount
Full Details and Book Online Here
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Raindance.tv
New to raindance.tv:
'One Day Removals'
Andy and Ronnie are just ordinary removal men, nothing exciting ever happens in their day. Today will change that: one day that they will never forget.
Watch 'One Day Removals' for free.
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Top 10 Tarantino Character Types
 Do you ever wonder why Quentin Tarantino's films so often feature the same set of actors? And why is it that each time Samuel L. Jackson, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Uma Thurman or even Tarantino himself appear in one of his films, they always turn out to be a perfect fit for the part?
In short, it's not only the actors who make repeat appearances in Tarantino's films. The characters they play also appear in each one of his films, undergoing different incarnations but always fitting a clearly defined character type. Find out what they are.
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Working the Net
Joel Knight is a photographer offering his services as Production Photographer to work on films, theatre and art projects. He currently work as an architectural photographer, but also in the fields of travel, live music, events coverage and PR.
Visit my website - email me - call me 077 8872 2352
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Ambitious and driven duo writer/director/producer is looking for partnering with creative source: young post production company or post production managers, vfx editors, title sequence editors, sound designers, music composers, film colourists, graders, graphic designers and game designers.
Finishing off first feature film with more projects in a pipeline. Looking for people to work with in a long run.
Interested?
Send us a link with your showreel or link to your website.
Please state in subject what is your specialty.
Please London based only.
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Dave Cohen, Raindance tutor, has an all new one-man show. It's called 'My Life As A Footnote' and it's the true-ish story of the romantically and financially disastrous weekend that was, for me, the first WOMAD festival of 1982.
Don't miss these few preview shows ahead of a two week fringe theatre run in 2010
Thursday 19 November 8.30pm Hampstead Comedy Club
Tuesday 24 November 8.30pm Downstairs at the Kings Head, Crouch End
Monday 14 December 8.30pm Upstairs at the Ritzy, Brixton.
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My teammate and I are seeking a confirmed producer to join us in a feature film project we are currently developing to submit to South West Screen's iFeatures competition. He/she should be experienced in UK production, not afraid of (and preferably familiar with) low budgets as well, a UK resident, and sufficiently available to actively take part in its 3 main selection phases, the third of which is to launch the 300,000 £ production phase as of June 2010 in Bristol and surroundings. Of course he/she should also be enthused with our story line, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
If you're interested, write to us with a bio and/or links to references to michaelbrown[at]freenet.de and simon_shearston[at]hotmail.com.
General info on iFeatures.
Info on director and script consultant Michael.
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Write On
A week-long screenwriters, filmmakers, actors and arts festival hosted by the Movieum of London in association with the European School for Young Performers and Sarah Berger.
Six evenings of rehearsed readings in the exciting new venue of The Debating Chamber in County Hall.
From Tuesday 1st December -Sunday 6th Dec there will be performances of new writing at 7.30 pm . Afterwards there will be a chance to mingle with the writers, actors and directors in the bar.
The directors include Bill Alexander, former associate director of the RSC and Artistic director of the Birmingham Rep, Joe Harmston and Andrew Hall.
Admission is free and you can call and add your name to the guest list call or email quoting the day and performance that you would like to attend.
For further details visit our website
Telephone: 07984 226097
Email: marcus@themovieum.com
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Something About Raindance
The Value Of A Backup
How many times have you accidentally lost something? At Raindance we have loads and loads of files and databases - the result of literally thousands of hours of work by our interns and hard working staff over 18 years.
Three weeks ago, after the festival we decided to take action and back everything up. Thank god we did for 3 times in the past two weeks we have been burgled and all our computers and laptops were stolen.
With all the Apple desktop units gone, we have been forced to rethink out IT strategy - which is good news. And even better since we can recoup (nearly) all of our precious files.
Back everything up and make sure the backup copies are off site!
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Review
Raindance regular, Jules Garnett continues to review the latest independent films.
This week he brings you Harry Brown, at British revenge film starring Michael Caine and Blood: The Last Vampire, an Asian action film pitting a young female vampire who works for a secret organisation tracking down demons.
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Premium Members' Offer
Wes Anderson is one of the more original and inventive filmmakers working today. His films have a distinctive voice and are peppered with familiar faces.
New to the Raindance Members Area comes the 'Wes Anderson Suite' - a collection of his scripts from 'Bottle Rocket' to 'The Fantastic Mr Fox'. Find out how he creates his highly individual characters and whether or not he writes with an actor in mind. To access the suite, first login and then follow this link.
Not a Premium Member? Join here
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From Venice to Varanasi
 Riverside Studios presents
From Venice to Varanasi
Featuring Geoff Dyer & Talvin Singh
1st half of the evening - Venice: Geoff Dyer reads from his new novel: Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. Followed by Visconti's Death in Venice on the big screen.
2nd half of the evening - Varanasi: Talvin Singh plays tabla, Forest of Bliss on the big screen.
26 November from 6.30pm
Riverside Studios, Hammersmith
www.riversidestudios.co.uk
Box Office 020 8237 1111
£12 tickets for all Raindance members
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Twittering Filmmakers
On Twitter, or interested in finding out what it is all about? Love films? (ok, yes, we guess you do)
We've put together a fresh list of filmmakers who are active and interesting on Twitter.
Directors on Twitter
Writers on Twitter
Actors/Actresses on Twitter
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Stuff We Like
MiShorts is a website dedicated to hosting short films on the internet.
With a diverse collection (animation, horror, comedy, dance are but a few of their categories) and new content added every day, you will never be stuck for choice.
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'We Live In Public' Screening
This Friday (13 November) sees the incredible winner of this year's Grand Jury Documentary Prize at Sundance hit the big screen.
'We Live in Public', from double Sundance Award winning director Ondi Timoner (Dig!), charts the rise and fall of Josh Harris, an internet pioneer with a visionary understanding of the development of personal identity in the wake of the Internet's revolutionary impact on human interaction.
Though once considered the godfather of the downtown Internet scene in NYC in the 90s, known far and wide for his outrageous parties, innovations in chat, streaming of audio and the creation of the first online television network, Harris is but a footnote in history at this point all because he took his experiments with the Internet and media consumption too far.
Incredibly he has agreed to fly over for the opening of the film and will be doing Q&As on both Friday and Saturday at 6.30pm at Odeon Panton Street - tickets are sure to go fast for this, so make sure you book now.
If you can't make one of these rare occasions to see a living genius, then find the nearest screening. The person who writes the best review of the film afterwards will win one of the cinema posters (the first to ever use Twitter quotes), courtesy of our friends over at Dogwoof.
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Quoted
This week's quotes come from director Peter Greenaway whose film, Nightwatching, screened at Raindance in 2008
"I don't think we've
seen any cinema yet. I think we've seen 100 years of illustrated text."
"There are basically
only two subject matters in all Western culture: sex and death. We do have some
ability to manipulate sex nowadays. We have no ability, and never will have, to
manipulate death."
"Cinema is not a
playground for Sharon Stone."
"Continuity is
boring."
"Americans don't
understand what metaphor in cinema is about. They're extremely good at making
straightforward, linear narrative movies, which entertain superbly. But they
very rarely do anything else."
"Works of art are
never finished, just stopped."
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Simon Hunter interview
Raindance interviews director Simon Hunter, they talk about making your first film, the importance of shorts and choices of genre.
As well as being a successful director, California based Simon teaches the upcoming Direct Your First Feature at Raindance.
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Coffee Break
In optimistic rejection of the FAIL culture that abounds on the net, the SUCCEED blog has been set up to celebrate all that is silly and successful on the world wide web.
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Competition
 PRS for Music supports and recognises musical and filmmaking talent. To showcase new emerging film talent, PRS for Music is inviting entries for its brand new student short film competition - Scene>>Heard.
The Brief
Scene>>Heard challenges the UK's most creative student and graduate filmmakers to create their own imaginative 90-second cinematic interpretation of a famous musical quote or song lyric.
For example:
· "Without music, life would be a mistake"
(Friedrich Nietzshe)
The winner will receive £1000 in prize money
For more details, visit the website
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Renounced
Fox Broadcasting
This week Fox canceled Joss Whedon's TV show, Dollhouse, in its second season. The show, a futuristic sci-fi series about a company that can wipe people's minds and implant artificial personalities, consistently dealt with controversial topics--prostitution and rape to name a few--and had the potential to attract a huge cult following, that had already begun to delevop. Too bad Fox was too blinded by ratings and numbers to see that the Dollhouse was worth saving.
More on Whedon's reaction
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IN MEMORIUM
Des Bartlett, wildlife photographer and filmmaker
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Enjoy the rest of your day
Sincerely,
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The Raindance Film Festival Team
Suzanne Ballantyne
James Burbidge
Frederica Byron
Julian Chapelle
Lindsey Curran
Elliot Grove
Aylin Erinc
Meredith Hicks
Jagruti Majithia
Rory O'Donnell
Theresa Norton
Joe Pearshouse
Chris Presswell
Xavier Rashid
Amelie Thille
Chris Thomas
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