Dragon*Con Film Festival

09:10 pm - Another Festival is Over

Hello all.

Another Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival is over, and I'm happy to say it went well.  How could it not with so many good films from this year's filmmakers?

We're all taking a few days off -- then we'll be back on duty to answer your emails, post the winners, and start thinking about next year.

Matthew M. Foster
Director - DCIS Film Festival

03:56 am - Fan Animation Block Added

 What's going on at 2:30 pm on Monday?  Animation.  
Yes, Dragon*Con is winding down, but there's still several thousand people looking for something to do.  So we're slapping on a little animation -- Film Festival Animation.  It will be casual and a lot of fun.  

Come join in and watch: 

Zoologic
Tofu the Vegan Zombie: Zombie Dearest
Is There a Pong?
Invisible Master
The Book Dealers
Beatgirl - A Piece of Action!
Prometheus' Garden

Monday 2:30 pm  Baker Room, Hyatt.

03:37 am - Dragon*Con Film Fest Panel Highlight - Direct Your Own Damn Movie

Direct Your Own Damn Movie

The man behind Troma (Llyod Kaufman) leads you into guerilla directing. Need to feed a crew on $4? Want to convince your actress to do that nude scene? Lloyd & the beautiful Tromettes will demonstrate the right way and the very, very wrong way.

Friday at 8:30pm in the Hyatt.

See all the panels here.

12:27 am - Machinima @ Dragon*Con Film Festival

Don’t miss our Machinima screenings, including award winning machinima from around the world as well as the feature, BloodSpell, written and directed by Machinima pioneer, Hugh Hancock.

* WoW favorites, “Snacky’s Journal”, “Azerothian Super Villains” and more!

* Machinima from Overman, Baron Soosdon, Ross Scott, Paul Marino, Olibith, Ian Beckman, Mike Spiff Booth, Stone Falcon, Dopefish and more!

* Machinima based in World of Warcraft, MovieStorm, Half-Life 2, The Sims 2, Second Life, Antics3D and more!

* Machinima running the gamut of comedy, drama, suspense, action, music videos, film noir and more!

See you there!!


Guest Speakers: Sat: 4pm

Achievements in Machinima: Fri: 5:30pm & Sat: 11:30pm

BloodSpell Feature: Fri: 11:30pm

Popular Machinima: Mon: 1am

Where: Sheraton (MMO Track) Machinima=Athens Room; Q&A=Augusta Room

09:25 pm - Dragon*Con Film Fest Panel Highlight - Basic Cinematrography

Basic Cinematography – Going From YouTube to Cinema.

An invaluable seminar for anyone who wants to know the basics. Covers framing for shots, the basic theory of composition, what "the line" is and what happens when it's crossed, and how to light a scene. With panelist Hunter Cressall.

Saturday 5:30 PM in the Hyatt.

For a complete list of panels, click here.

04:41 am - Help Choose the Top 10 Horror Films of All Time (Results announced at Dragon*Con)

In 2008, the AFI (American Film Institute) announced it's results for the Top 10 in 10, that is, the best 10 films in each of the 10 major genres of American film. The genres? They were Animation, Romantic Comedy, Western, Sports, Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Gangster, Courtroom Drama, and Epic. See anything missing? According to the AFI, Horror is not one of the 10 major genres. Yup, courtroom drama trumps horror. Hmm.

Well, it's time to fix that oversight. They may have the members of the AFI, but we have the attendees of Dragon*Con, 30,000 strong, and we know horror. So, we need your help. We need you to vote. Like the AFI, we're using a ballot of 100 films (chosen by Dr. Bob Blackwood and Dr. John L. Flynn, together known as The Film Doctors, and by Dragon*Con Film Festival director, Matthew M. Foster). Unlike the AFI, we're allowing one write-in per ballot, because there's a lot of horror films out there.

Voting is simple, if a little low tech. Just download the Ballot here (it's in Word format), place "X"s by the 10 horror film you think are the best (or 9 and write-in one of your favorites), and then email the ballot back to us at top10horror@fosteronfilm.com. Or, just send us a list of your 10 selections (please, only one write-in) typed into an email. Either way, use the subject: Top 10 Horror Films. The results will be announced on Monday, Sept 1 at 11:30am in the Regency Ballroom.

For those of you who just want to type in your choices in an email, here are the 100 films: 

04:41 am - 2008 Film Festival Poster

You can download a printable (and therefore much larger) pdf version of the 2008 Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival poster from the festival web site at www.filmfest.dragoncon.org. 

01:47 am - Film Block Details Posted

It's time to start actually scheduling your time at the Dragon*Con Film Festival. The film block details have been posted. Go here to check it out.

02:48 am - Dragon*Con Film Fest Posts Short Film Descriptions

The subject pretty much says it all. Go here to check them out.

11:37 pm - Machinima Q&A Session: The Future of Machinima

For this year's Machinima Q&A session, we've got three fantastic guest speakers (details on each below)! In addition to two returning guests, Matt and Clint, we are welcoming a new speaker this year, Michael Nitsche. With their combination of popular, corporate and academic know-how, this Q&A session is sure to be chock full of great info! Don't miss it!

(The Machinima Q&A session is currently slated for Saturday, 4:00pm Augusta Room - Sheraton)

------

Matt has been working full-time in machinima since 2004. He is one of the founders of Short Fuze, creators of Moviestorm, one of the very few dedicated machinima tools. A former game designer and Internet pioneer, he is co-author of the book "Machinima: Making Animated Movies in Virtual Environments", one of the few authoritative books on the phenomenon. He describes his mission in life as "helping a million people to make a movie."

Clint Hackleman has over a decade of experience in online and computer technologies, including 15 years experience as a composer of electronic music in multiple genres. Clint handles production and distribution of online video including direct innovation in new genres with more than 15 million viewers since 2005. Clint is most well known for his Myndflame projects such as Illegal Danish and Zinwrath: The Movie.

Michael Nitsche is an Assistant Professor at the School of Literature, Communication & Culture (LCC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he teaches courses mainly for the Digital Media Masters and PhDs. He is the founder and Director of the Digital World & Image Group (DWIG), which is the home for all his current projects. In addition, he is Coordinator of the Machinima at Tech Initiative, which is an interdisciplinary group working together on a number of projects dealing with real-time imagery from video game worlds.

01:50 pm - Dragon*Con Announces a Screening of 20 Years After

Azura Skye (28 Days, One Missed Call) stars as Sarah in this post-apocalyptic fairy tale about a young woman's journey to deliver the first child born in 15 Years. Michael (Joshua Leonard of The Blair Witch Project, and Prom Night) is the lone voice of the airwaves. He broadcasts dim and distant messages of hope mixed with the music he scavenges from the dead. Together they will embark on a journey beyond the boundaries of the Southern Corridor and into the unknown future.

Directed by Jim Torres. Written by Jim Torres & Ron Harris.

Q&A with Jim Torres and producer Susannah Torres  after the screening.

12:13 am - "Max the Hero" Cartoon at Dragon*Con Film Fest (Written and Performed by Guys from 'MST3K')

Max the Hero is an animated comedy about a super hero who is kind of a jerk. Oh, and his roommate is also his arch-villain enemy.

The 12-minute cartoon short was produced and directed by Mike Salva in Nashville. It was written and performed by Bill Corbett, Kevin Murphy & Michael J. Nelson (of TV's Mystery Science Theater 3000).

Music is by John Mark Painter (score composer of the film Hoodwinked) & singer/musician Corn Mo.

Mike Salva will be attending the festival, but he will not be dressing up as a Wookiee or an inhabitant of the shire. The date & time of the showing has not yet been posted, but check it out if you get a chance!

01:11 am - The Dragon*Con Film Track & Festival Announce a Screening of Red Victoria

Jim is a writer, down on his luck because his emotional dramas just aren't selling. After his agent convinces him to write a horror script to make money, Jim begrudgingly begins writing. Like many writers, he lacks the inspiration to find his story in a genre unfamiliar to him. What he needed was a muse.
But little did he know, a muse was watching, an undead one named Victoria.
After introducing herself to a shocked Jim, she begins her work. Intent on teaching Jim about horror she begins killing his friends and family. Jim, after enlisting the help of a true horror fanatic name Carl, attempt to both write, and scheme to put an end to this murderous muse once and for all.
Can JNim finish his horror movie to Victoria's approval before everyone he knows is slaughtered?


Screening on Saturday in the Hyatt.

01:32 am - The Dragon*Con Film Track & Festival Announce a Screening of Yesterday was a Lie

A groundbreaking new noir film, Yesterday was a Lie is a “soulful and thought provoking journey” (Talking Pictures). Award-winning writer/director James Kerwin “weaves a tale of intrigue and metaphysical darkness” (Ain’t It Cool News) that teases the boundaries of reality.

Kipleigh Brown stars as Hoyle, a girl with a sharp mind and a weakness for bourbon, who finds herself on the trail of a reclusive genius. But her work takes a series of unforeseen twists as events around her grow increasingly fragmented... disconnected...surreal.
With a sexy lounge singer (Chase Masterson of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and a loyal partner (Mik Scriba) as her only allies, Hoyle is plunged into a dark world of intrigue and earth-shattering cosmological secrets. 

Screening on Sunday in the Hyatt.

09:23 pm - Film Festival Selections for 2008

There is a list of selected films here. A schedule of screenings and panels is still to come so keep your eyes open. It's going to be a great year. Be sure you don't miss out. 

06:24 pm - Hey, Do you Know Cult/Exploitation Film?

We are still looking for a few insane fanatics... I mean panelists for our 3 late night cult/exploitation panels. The focus might be those '70s grindhouse/drive-in epics, but we'll be branching into modern day too.

If you like or hate, but in any case are well informed on one or more of:

1. splatter, splatter punk, slasher, rape/revenge, torture porn, or redneck cycle
2. sexploitation, nudie-cuties, roughies, WIP, or nunsploitation
3. cannibal films, zombie films

then let us know (filmfestival@dragoncon.org). The panels are at midnight each night.

06:08 pm - Film Festival Selections for 2008 - Coming Soon.

For everyone asking, the selected films for the 2008 Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival will be listed here and on the festival web site (www.filmfest.dragoncon.org)within a few days.

All the notices have been sent. We're giving the filmmakers a few days to get their notifications, tell loved-ones, sell their souls for a plane ticket, and prepare for the festival before we release the titles to the masses.

03:29 am - Time to Awaken This Blog

We started this blog several years ago, but left it on it's own in a cruel world. It took the obvious way out and slept. Yes, blogs are good at napping. Well, time to wake it up for 2008. The film festival has a lot going on, and this is a great place for people to chat about it. So come on, join in the discussion.

Matthew M. Foster
Director - DCIS Film Festival

05:46 pm - Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival, 2007 edition.

Welcome to another year of the Dragon*Con Independent Film Festival. We have a solid lineup of short films, four pleasing features, and a number of great panels and guests in the film track.

Check out our list of Short Films and Features.

The screening schedule is up here and the schedule in grid format is here.

Finally, we have added a forum to discuss the Film Festival, and film topics in general. Check it out here and add some chatter.

We look forward to seeing you all there.

02:04 am - Dragon*Con Film Festival Needs Staff

Hey - this is your chance to be part of a film festival. The Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival is looking for volunteer staff members.

The Film Festival, screening the best in genre short film, takes place September 1-4 in downtown Atlanta as part of the Dragon*Con convention. Take a look at filmfest.dragoncon.net and www.dragoncon.org to learn about the fest.

I'm looking for two people with an interest in film. You work 20 hours (and its pretty good work, screening films and making sure panels with the likes of George Romero run smoothly) and then you are free to see the rest of the Con (though you're likely to want to stay in the fest).

Contact Matthew M. Foster if interested.