If the film industry we´re a fun fair then the entry price has got significantly cheaper in the last ten years. Today a couple of 1000€ can buy the equipment to make a film. Ironically the price of cheeper entry to the fun fair is increased competition. So it´s more critical than ever to learn how to make films in order to get them out there too an audience!There was a time when conventional wisdom dictated that in order to learn the craft of film making the best thing to do was to go to film school. Film school offered access to prohibitively expensive equipment, ready and willing crews and most importantly synergy.
However one major disadvantage was and still is the time lag between the fruition of the idea and the point at which the film is finally shown. There is often an Abyss between the aspiring film maker and his audience.
The Cinemasports phenomena is unique because it provides a frame work to both make and show films. Every thing is condensed to a bare bones minimum. It is precisely this reduction which is the strength of cinema sports!
So how does it work? Teams are formed by the willing, the able and not so able alike. These teams have 10 hours to make a film with a list of ingredients. Finished movies screen at the 11th hour, that very night.
The ingredients are announced on the day of the Cinemasports event. An example would be, can different teams complete a short movie during daylight hours that includes references to an English teacher, a tattoo, and a lost lover?
Three-time Oscar winner Walter Murch says, “Something emerges that’s not contained in any of the films…”
Cinemasports staged events in 15 cities worldwide in 2005 in cities like New York, Paris, London, Frankfurt, Sofia (Bulgaria), and Los Angeles. There has already been a Cinemasports event in Frankfurt and yes Cinema sports has plans to come to Berlin.
Part world premiere, part wrap-up party for movie crews, these public screenings vibrate with energy. Be prepared for a screening full of laughing, screaming, and wise-cracking – much of it from your own mouth. Art exploded from a creative pressure cooker. Global exchange and local community building.
The local community bit is where the BFCPUG comes into the picture. Because as it says in our mission statement, “The Berlin Final Cut Pro User’s Group is a network for digital post-production specialists, filmmakers and broadcast professionals, based in Berlin, Germany. We bring creative people together for discussions, collaborations, exchange of ideas and learning opportunities.”
So if you´re a member or just visiting this site perhaps you´d like to get involved? Because we talk a lot about the technology for making films at our meetings and on this site but don´t as a group actually make films together! Not yet, that is.
So maybe you want to think about what you can contribute what resources you have at your disposal or who you´d like to get involved?
This site is also a resource in and of itself. All posts have a comments section. Please feel free to use it. Say who you are, what you want to do, how you can be contacted i.e. email and what resources you can offer! This also helps Paul to act as an intermediary.
And don´t forget, stay clean and protect yourself from Spam and avoid using the @ symbol. i.e. blah(at)blah.com or similar and not blah@blah.com.
Dr Alan Taylor the representative for Cinemasports Germany officially got the ball rolling 3 weeks ago. He announced to a packed house that Cinemasports was planning to have an event in Berlin. A selection of films were shown and people reacted enthusiastically. At the last user group meeting meeting, Paul talked about Cinemasports and the idea was also warmly received.
So lets start networking and forming teams because with out teams this is not going to happen!
There will be regular posts keeping you in touch with the development of Cinemasports and it´s progress will also be integrated in the news letter to our 350 members and will undoubtedly be an ongoing topic for discussion at our monthly meetings. The plan is to have the first Cinemasports event in Berlin, in Autumn of this year! Perhaps your contribution will tip the scales and make this happen!
http://cinemasports.com/index.php
http://cinemasports.com/index.php/movie/Cinemasports_Trailer
