The Independent Film Channel (IFC) is starting a new site in Jan for Independent movie makers. It's called the media lab.


Heres the link to find out more....
http://medialab.ifc.com/

Good luck with your submissions.

btw, do make sure to check out the terms and conditions page. Nothing weird, they just want to make sure you've dotted your i's and crossed your t's.

Very cool, thanks for the link.

That is pretty cool. Anybody get that channel, or checked it out?

Edited title: changed "forum" to "showcase." It's not a forum (and the last thing the web needs is another film forum), but it is a site where you can upload and share your projects through their hosting service.

Looks cool. Too bad there's a six minute limit.

Looks cool. Too bad there's a six minute limit.

Yeah, that put me out of commission, too :-\

They are looking for new talent to develop.
Think of that 6 minutes as an online pitch session, without seeming like one.
Just how good a movie can you make in the alloted time frame.
What ever you do, don't make it look like a demo reel.

ifc is awesome.... the best movies ever

speaking as a US citizen living outside the US, making it open only to "residents of the US" really is discouraging
Q

I'm curious to know what people think of the shorts that IFC currently carries. It's been years since I've had that channel, but as I recall, their shorts segments were almost without exception, unbearably dull. I remember thinking, who picks these stinkers? Bad, bad, bad. Almost all of 'em. The only one I ever found engaging was "Barrier Control Device," and it was nothing fancy -- just a clever concept with an ironic and humorous ending. (Novel, huh?) Like I said though, I haven't had that channel for a few years. What's the current crop of shorts like? Have they improved? I wonder if maybe this showcase is an attempt to get away from the film school class projects that obviously made up their previous shorts packages. We all know how exciting those generally are.

I'm glad my last two films are around 3 minutes each. I emailed the group and they replied that I own the copyright. That's nice to know. Some of the earlier sites in the late 1990s would take the (c) away. That's why they aren't here anymore.

heath

I just heard today that our film "Airbags" has been "approved".

If any of you happen to see it (once they open the competition) I'd love to hear what you think of it.

What's your film about? Congrats!

heath

What's your film about? Congrats!

heath

I'd try to explain it but since it's just under 3 minutes there isn't alot to say.

You can learn a little more on it's IMDB page: http://imdb.com/title/tt0486252/

And a bit more on our site: http://2soc.net/airbags/

How did you get listed in the movie database? I didn't know that was possible.

How did you get listed in the movie database? I didn't know that was possible.

It takes more patience than anything else. First of all, your film has to meet their conditions of "General Public Interest" and "Available to the public". One way to meet this criteria is to have been accepted to a competition or festival, as detailed here:

http://imdb.com/updates/guide/festivals

Then you have to go through the process of submitting the film, which amounts to filling out enormous amounts of form fields and waiting a few months as each bit of info is verified. To get started with this, go here:

http://imdb.com/updates?update=title

(we're still waiting for allot of the info to go through)

Your movie has to be in film festivals or else IMDb will kick it back.

BTW, I'm a big fan of 3 minute movies, especially a lot of filmmakers are producing these mini-epics at 30-45 minutes these days. Film fests hate those, I've learned (I made a 26 minute short that went nowhere 10 years ago).

heath

Sure, I'd rather watch a good 3 minute film than a 27-minute-pile of crap. But there's just not a lot that can be accomplished in a tiny amount of time like that, no matter how well the film is made. I'm not putting down the form. I know writing a haiku can be harder than writing a novel and all that, but I just can't get up a lot of enthusiasm for producing such a short piece. Our current project will likely run a whopping 40 minutes. I know that's festival suicide -- too long for a short, too short for a feature -- but I really believe the story merits it, even if it only ever gets shown locally.

I know writing a haiku can be harder than writing a novel and all that, but I just can't get up a lot of enthusiasm for producing such a short piece.

You are dead-on; it takes about 60% of the work to make a three-minute-movie as it does a 20-minute-short, hard to justify if you're not getting much out of it.

We use short films to learn new techniques, test out new technologies, etc. If it turns out to be something we think others might enjoy, we'll show it, send it off to festivals, etc. If that gets us some real credit or street-cred, all the better.

That way we know what we're doing (or at least more so) when we take on a major project, and run less risk of having trouble with new gear, etc.

http://homepage.mac.com/hmcknight/releaseme/iMovieTheater8.html

Five film fests so far.

heath

I don't have it up yet, but www.904am.com/3sisters.php (3 Sisters) is a 2:46 short, five film fests, too.

heath

http://homepage.mac.com/hmcknight/releaseme/iMovieTheater8.html

Five film fests so far.

heath

Woman reminiscing about a failed marriage before hitting the bars?

Non-linear film about the wife getting ready for the final dinner with her husband.

Interesting take on it, though--I can see that.

hwm

The competition is open!

They mangled our film transfering it to Flash, so I'm going to blame our rating on that. Now it's fixed, and here's a link for your viewing pleasure...

http://medialab.ifc.com/film_detail.jsp

I'm curious to know what people think of the shorts that IFC currently carries. It's been years since I've had that channel, but as I recall, their shorts segments were almost without exception, unbearably dull. I remember thinking, who picks these stinkers? Bad, bad, bad. Almost all of 'em. The only one I ever found engaging was "Barrier Control Device," and it was nothing fancy -- just a clever concept with an ironic and humorous ending. (Novel, huh?) Like I said though, I haven't had that channel for a few years. What's the current crop of shorts like? Have they improved? I wonder if maybe this showcase is an attempt to get away from the film school class projects that obviously made up their previous shorts packages. We all know how exciting those generally are.
Marco, they've completely revamped their format. You are right, they used to be something of a staid and very boring channel that didn't even get their content until well after all the other premium channels ran through them.
now..
Better graphics, blocks of themed movies, b horror movies plus the usual 'indy' stuff. They still have the rediculous 'Dinner for 5' segment that proves just how easy it is to waste 30 minutes of everyones time. They also have the independent director interviews among other things.
Overall, they've done a good job and the channel is much more interesting to watch. No more low budget 'artiste' stuff, without selling out. Basically more fun without being shallow. And the shorts have definitely improved.