Filmmaking Frenzy

BLOODSHOTS Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:29:00 +0000

The screening of finalists' films at the Highball was a bit... informal, but still a lot of fun. Zack Carlson, he of the Alamo's weekly Terror Tuesday fame, served as our ultimate juror, and after deliberating for a full three minutes, the ultimate winner was determined to be Clasico Entertainment's NECRO MADNESS, mainly due to the fact that it was entertaining and managed to blend both subgenres into one hodgepodge of a picture almost seamlessly.

Congratulations to the formidable gang of Clasico Entertainment, and to all of the other finalists (and really anyone who managed to complete a film at all!). I had a blast watching each and every one of them this year, and I'm still just really, really hoping I can schedule the next Filmmaking Frenzy during a time when I can play and make a movie as well. It's been too damned long.

No word on when exactly that next Frenzy will be yet, but keep this blog in your RSS feed and check out our Facebook updates and we'll let you know soon!

BLOODSHOTS Finalists Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:02:00 +0000

We've finally learned how to count again, and have tallied up the ballots, used that rediscovered skill to add up the number of votes from audience members at the screenings and blended those results in with the tallies of votes from the online posting of films, and have put together our list of finalists in this year's Bloodshots!

The rules stated that we would have ten finalists, depending on the number of completed entries, and that the final judging would be done by our jury. We didn't have all that many actually complete entries, though, so we're going to cut down the number of final finalists to the top 5, and because that show wouldn't be long enough to fill a time slot at the Alamo, we're going to make this a Rolling Roadshow version of Bloodshots and host our final screening and awards ceremony down at The Highball instead.

The show will be this Friday, Oct 30 (All Devil's Night! OOoohh!) at 6pm. Terror Tuesday host and horror movie lover extraordinaire will serve as head juror and be determining the ultimate winner at that show, then, if the winning team is present, we will crown them with awesomeness.

It'll be free to come out, and one of the few times you'll be able to watch your movie while standing up on a dance floor, so if you're one of the finalists and in town, we hope you can join us! Otherwise we'll be updating the site with results immediately after the ceremony.

And the finalists are, in some sort of order determined by the first letter of each group's place in the alphabet:

Clasico Entertainment - Necro Madness
Good Enough - Meat Shack
lucidrage - EXTRATERRESTRIAL? EXOCISM!
Nirofex - A Vampire's Love Story
Team FOGAR! - DEATH AT DUSK

BLOODSHOTS 2009 Screenings!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Screenings for this year's BLOODSHOTS movies in Austin have been announced, and tickets are on sale now! Both nights of screenings will be at the Alamo South Lamar, and they'll be happening on Tuesday, Oct 20 and Wednesday, Oct 21, both at 9:40pm.

You can get your tickets to these right here, or just pick yours up at the door (assuming they still have some left).

Both of these screenings will include ALL of the movies, so come out to whichever one works for you. They will also both be balloted, so you can vote online or in person or both!

It looks like we only have 15 completed films to screen, so there may not be a secondary Awards screening. That'll most likely be determined at these shows. If you want to make absolutely sure you see 'em on the big screen, though, plan on joining us Tuesday or Wednesday.

Afterwards we'll be heading over to the Highball for a late night Thai One On if anyone wants to come over to talk filming and swap real life horror tales.

BLOODSHOTS 2009 Assignments

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:24:00 +0000

All right kids, the time is here, and here are the assignments!

The line of dialog that must appear somewhere in every team's movie is, "Pump up the jams!"

Because the mash up of two subgenres is already making the assignments this year a bit more specific than in year's past, we're also assigning every team the same weapon: FIREWORKS. Yeah, those might be hard to find (if you aren't smart enough to buy in large quantities every July and December). If you can't get any real fireworks, try to interpret it differently, but be ready to defend that interpretation online and at the screenings. Anything too weak won't count!

As I've said, this year each team is being assigned TWO subgenres, and you'll be responsible for blending them both into a seamless short. Alphabetized by Team Name, here are your assignments!


.	Team Name	Genre Assignment
.	Budcrud Productions	Romantic Vampires / Backwoods Hillbilly Horror
.	Bulltiger Productions	Romantic Vampires / 80s Slasher
.	Clasico Entertainment	Necrophilia / After School Special
.	Dana and Los Dinos	80s Slasher / Kaiju (Japanese giant monsters)
.	Epic Lag	Kaiju (Japanese giant monsters) / Jane Austen Mash Up (ie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but can be any classic author)
.	Funeral Worthy Productions	Werewolf / Leprechaun (in the hood optional)
.	Ghost Wolf	Necrophilia / Ghost Story
.	good enough	Serial Killer / Haunted House
.	Lady in a Cage Productions	Torture Porn / Leprechaun (in the hood optional)
.	Loose Nut Productions	Jane Austen Mash Up (ie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but can be any classic author) / Mythological Beast
.	lucidrage	Demonic Possession / Alien Abductions
.	Magic Porch	Terrorist Attack / Necrophilia
.	Mass Grave Pictures	Virus Outbreak / Musical
.	Nirofex	Romantic Vampires / Zombie Apocalypse
.	Peckinpah	Mythological Beast / Terrorist Attack
.	Recreational Mayhem	Zombie Apocalypse / Werewolf
.	Rollerfeet.com	80s Slasher / Epic Disaster (Roland Emmerich style)
.	Seventh Horizon	Zombie Apocalypse / Kaiju (Japanese giant monsters)
.	TACOZ	Demonic Possession / Musical


.	Team FOGAR!	Evil Children / Epic Disaster (Roland Emmerich style)
.	Team Tecate	Time Travel / Backwoods Hillbilly Horror
.	Ticked Off Cupcake Productions	Alien Abductions / Virus Outbreak
.	Too Many Cooks, Inc.	Time Travel / Evil Children
.	TrailerDaze films	Torture Porn / Jane Austen Mash Up (ie, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but can be any classic author)
.	Wild Imagination Films	Mutation / Ghost Story
.	ZombiesWerewolvesandVampiers....OHMY!	Time Travel / Werewolf
.

BLOODSHOTS 2009 starts tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:18:00 +0000

Yeah, it's rainy in cold here in Austin, so there'll be lots of wet movies getting made this weekend!

Everything starts up at 7pm tonight, and if you're here in town you can meet up at The Highball, which is at 1142 South Lamar Blvd (in the same shopping center as that Alamo Drafthouse) to get your team's assignment live. I'd recommend showing up for that by 6:30pm, because once we have all of the teams there I'll be going over the general rules and answering questions and whatnot BEFORE 7pm so that once the contest is on everyone can run and start making their movies.

If you can't make it out, you can check back to this blog at exactly 7pm, and I'll have all of the info posted here as well!

TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES Frenzy results are in!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:31:00 +0000

The jury over at G4 TV was in charge of deciding finalists on this one, and the man himself Mr. Uwe Boll chose the ultimate winner last night at the Fantastic Fest Awards Ceremony!

And the ultimate winner was... MARIO PAINT! Congratulations go out to Team FilthyButt, and now we can all focus on stocking up on caffeine for the upcoming BLOODSHOTS weekend!

Fantastic Fest 2009 Bumper Results, Pt. 2!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:14:00 +0000

Several people have written in to us concerned over the plan to announce the jury winners of the Fantastic Fest Bumper competition at the Awards Ceremony because they were very cocky, convinced that they were going to win, and wanted to be able to spend some of their Alamo prize money while they were in town for the festival. It just so happens that we kind of like cocky people, and we quickly realized that these concerns were completely valid, so we're going to go ahead and announce our jury prize winners now!

Jurors viewed ALL 58 of the 2009 Fantastic Fest Bumper videos, deliberated amongst themselves, and selected the following ten as their very favorites of the bunch. We were sticklers to the time limit for the grand prize, but for the jury-picked winners we went ahead and let them choose their absolute favorites, which was helpful since sooooo many entries were at least a couple of seconds over the time limit. Listed in alphabetic order by film title, the winners are:

The Dryad and the Centaur - electric sheep
Fantastic Attack - Take Mole to Your Leader (chicken)
Fantasutikki Kaiju - Rollerfeet.com
Garden Party Massacre - Baker's Dozen
Ice Cream!!! - Parallactic Pictures
Little Red Riding Hoodie - Comedia A Go-Go
Night of the Milk Beast - Scab Farm
The Number to Heaven -Yer Dead
The Weiner Dog Gang - The Weiner Dog Gang
Where's Your Mummy - BlueGogglesFilms

Each team will receive a $100 Alamo gift certificate to enjoy whatever they like throughout the festival.

Congratulations to all of the winners, and to everyone who's coming out to Fantastic Fest this year. We can't wait to hang out with you and watch your work up on the big screen! If you're one of the winners and you're coming by the festival, we'll have your gift card available through the Alamo managers. You'll need to have the team name and the email you used to sign up with, and they'll set you up. If you get confused at all, just find me somewhere in the theater or shoot me an email at henri (@) originalalamo.com and I'll find a time to come meet you.

The next Filmmaking Frenzy is BLOODSHOTS, our annual 48 hour horror filmmaking competition. Registration will be open for BLOODSHOTS on October 5, and our shooting weekend will begin on Friday, October 9 at 7pm and continue through Sunday, October 11 at 7pm. You can find information on that contest on our website right here.

Cheers,

Henri

Fantastic Fest 2009 Bumper Results, Pt. 1!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:48:00 +0000

And the winner is... DOGZILLA vs CATHRA by Team FOGAR!

It was an extremely close call between DOGZILLA and Parallactic Pictures' ICE CREAM!!!, and ICE CREAM!!! definitely earned more straight up views than almost any video we've had in any contest ever. But when all was said and done the score of DOGZILLA managed to be soooooo close to ICE CREAM!!! (and, it just so happens, Scab Farms' NIGHT OF THE MILK BEAST), and FOGAR! was the one team in the top scoring category who managed to bring their video in under the 30 second time limit.

Typically we're all about quality over being sticklers for the rules, and when Parallactic Pictures told us that they couldn't cut their masterpiece below 42 seconds I told them to go ahead and upload it, but warned that if it came down to a close call between them and a video that came in under time, we'd go with the one that managed to follow all the rules and still wow the crowds. FOGAR! came in a little bit below ICE CREAM!!!, but it was something like .002 of a percentage point, so our team of judges made the call to award them the grand prize.

And because I've seen a few people posting comments with questions about how the voting works, here's how FOGAR! won this Frenzy:

This award for this contest is based on viewers' votes. It's not a popularity contest at all, but having five people give your movie 8 stars is worth more than having one person give your movie 10 stars. The idea there is that it's really easy to give yourself a high score, then not tell anyone else to see your movie and hope that your vote is the only one we ultimately count. That's not really a fair system, either.

Likewise, if 1,000 people watch your movie, but most of them score it as a 5 star movie or lower, your extra views aren't going to help your score at all.

The contest was extremely close on this one, and all three finalists (and many more) were obviously awesome bumper creators, and I wish I had enough VIP badges to go around to everyone. ICE CREAM!!! managed to be the most viewed, but apparently may have been hit by some late in the game backlash for seeming to pull ahead early on.

Of course, ALL of these bumpers will be played before various titles at Fantastic Fest, and there will still be a jury prize awarded to ten more movies after our Fantastic Fest juries have had a chance to check them all out. We'll be announcing those winners at the Awards Ceremony of the festival as well as online here and on the Fantastic Fest site. For now, congratulations go out to FOGAR! and everyone else who managed to complete something as challenging as getting children and monsters to hang out together. That hasn't been done since Fred Savage's monster made that one kid drink pee.

Fantastic Fest Bumper Voting Ends Soon!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:15:00 +0000

Just a quick note to let you know - if you didn't see it anywhere else yet - that we're gonna close voting for the Fantastic Fest Bumper 2009 contest this coming Monday, August 31, at 12 noon CST. Get your last views and votes in over the weekend!

We'll tally votes and have results by the end of the day on Monday, so get your readiness ready!

Current Frenzy: Fantastic Fest Bumper Competition

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:32:00 +0000

FANTASTIC FRENZY
Last year's Fantastic Fest bumper contest was such a raging success, we simply cannot wait to get moving on the 2009 edition. The runner up film I LOVE YOU JEAN CLAUDE was featured on G4's Attack of the Show and subsequently went on to become something of a viral video sensation. The winning film REPORT CARD by HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN auteur Jason Eisner still brings a smile to my face with each viewing.

The 2009 competition is very much like last year's contest, but the theme is more narrow in focus. The short still needs to be no longer than 30 seconds long, has to feature a child under the age of 18 in some way, shape or manner, and the last line of your video has to end with the word "fantastic." The refinement this year is that each film must contain.... a monster. Other than that, we want to see anything and everything you can come up with.

The top Fantastic Fest 2009 Frenzy videos we get will be screened in front of an unsuspecting audience during Fantastic Fest (September 24-October 1). Each of those audiences will include visiting filmmakers from around the world, press from the likes of IFC TV, G4, Fangoria, Film Threat, Spout, Ain’t It Cool News, Variety, and USA Today, plus a legion of the most devoted and intelligent genre film fans on the planet.

If that isn’t enough for you, there will be other prizes as well:

Our top ten favorite films, as picked by the Fantastic Fest programming staff, will each win $100 Alamo prize packs that can be redeemed anytime for movies, merchandise, food or drinks.

And the number one film as picked by the voting members of the Filmmaking Frenzy community will receive two VIP badges to this year’s Fantastic Fest – badges that will allow you to meet and mingle with the stars of Fantastic Fest. These badges sold out before the end of Fantastic Fest 2008, but we held a couple just for you. If you are a filmmaker outside of Austin who can't make it in for Fantastic Fest, you can swap out the goodies above for $250 cash. But you should really just find a way to get here if you win, because it’ll be soooo worth it.

Fantastic Fest runs from September 24 through October 1, and because we need time to build DVDs of our preshow reel, your Fantastic Frenzy films are all due no later than August 16. Anything we get after that can’t be guaranteed to play during the festival and won’t be eligible for any prizes.

So take a break from your other projects, find a kid, dress him up as a flesh-eating mushroom monster and have him or her run amuck in the neighborhood. That sounds like it will be the kind of movie that’s fun for you to make, and fun for us to watch, too!

New Frenzy: TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:29:00 +0000

G4 and Fantastic Fest present
UWE BOLL'S TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES!!!!

The computer was invented in 1936, but the '80s taught it how to PARTY. What was once just a tool for algorithms and manufacturing data suddenly became ground zero for barrel-jumping Italian plumbers, ghost-eating yellow circles and ostrich-riding jousters. Mankind was thrust into an Age of Digital Sorcery...without even having to get up from the couch. These games and characters soon became as important to us as food and family. As the '90s dawned, so did a new genre of cinema, ushered in by innovative masterpieces like MORTAL KOMBAT, SUPER MARIO BROS and (of course) Jean-Claude Van Damme's epic, globe-spanning STREET FIGHTER. But shockingly enough, several of the most beloved console classics remain unadapted to the movie medium.

Where is our long-awaited dramatic re-interpretation of DIG DUG? How long must we wait before Vin Diesel and Paul Walker will get behind the wheel for a big-screen version of FROGGER? It's high time that we, as a community of creators and lifelong Nintendo warriors, rise up to provide a hungry world with the two- sted, universe-shaking GALAGA adaptation that Hollywood has so foolishly failed to spawn. Filmmakers, grab your camera in one hand and your joystick in the other, assemble your fellow electro-enthusiasts and take aim at your target -- from PONG to GRAND THEFT AUTO -- for the absolute ultimate lmmaking frenzy competition: TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAAAAAAMES!!!!

Finalists' Films will be judged by none other than our planet's supreme arcade-to-megaplex megamaster UWE BOLL! Game OVER!!!

Screenings of TOTALLY AWESOME VIDEO GAMES will happen during Fantastic Fest 2009, and registration is open right now over at G4TV.com/Fantastic. Head over there to check out the full rules and get your film uploaded before September 4!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:29:00 +0000

PIMP MY TV Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:37:00 +0000

Our most recent Frenzy, PIMP MY TV, left us with a whole lot of great films. The results are in, and the winners were:

First Place: THE JOY OF PAINTING by Mascot Wedding

Second Place: DOUBLE DARE by Nick-Hell-odeon & FAMILY MATTERS by Comedia A Go-Go (tie

Audience Award: AT THE MOVIES: THE MOVIE by The Fattest Thumb.

PIMP MY TV: Top Ten Finalists

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 21:20:00 +0000

PIMP MY TV, our latest fake trailer making competition, has come to a close, but I'll be god damned if this contest didn't bring out some of my favorite videos we've ever had on this site.

If you haven't had a chance to check these out yet, I highly recommend spending some time in your work day afternoon to get caught up with the Top Ten finalists in this competition, as each of these had our judges tearing their eyeballs out with indecision when it came time for them to choose the ultimate winners.

In alphabetical order, then, our Top Ten PIMP MY TV finalists were:

AT THE MOVIES - The Fattest Thumb
CONAN BEGINS - FOGAR!
DESIGNING WOMEN - Infamous, Not Famous
DOUBLE DARE - Nick-hell-odeon
FAMILY MATTERS: AS DAYS GO BY - Comedia A Go-Go
INTERVENTION - Zeta Haay Theta
THE JOY OF PAINTING - Mascot Wedding
MACGYVER: THE MOVIE - Digital Limit Productions
MONSTERS: THE LEGEND OF FATHER MUERTE - Gravid Visuals
MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD: THE MOVIE - Adios Mofo

Film Heavyweights to Judge McCracken Ad Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:56:00 +0000

Hey gang, I was forwarded the following press release about a new filmmaking contest sponsored by the McCracken Austin mayoral campaign team and I wanted to forward it on to the Alamo community. I for one, have no doubt in my mind that Brewster is the ONLY choice for mayor in the upcoming May election and I am excited to be able to do anything to help him win this race. Even if you don't care at all about the race but you have some chops behind the lens of a camera, this is still a great chance to get four of the most influential figures in the film and gaming world to lay eyes on your creative work. Details on the contest are below:

McCracken Campaign and Austin Film and Gaming Heavyweights Announce Citizen Ad Competition

Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Elizabeth Avellan and Richard Garriott will be final judges of Your City – Your Vision – Your Ad competition. Winner to be aired during Daily Show/Colbert Report Hour.

(Feb. 2, 2009 – Austin) Austin filmmakers Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater and Elizabeth Avellan, and gaming pioneer Richard Garriott will join Brewster McCracken to serve as final judges for a TV ad competition sponsored by McCracken’s mayoral campaign.

The Your City – Your Vision – Your Ad competition will invite Austinites to articulate their vision for Austin’s future in a 30-second TV spot. The winning entry will be aired in the Austin region for a week during The Daily Show/Colbert Report hour in April.

“This election is about unifying our city around a common vision for Austin’s future and making it a reality,” said Mayor Pro Tem Brewster McCracken. “I believe we have a shared vision, but we each describe it differently. This competition will create an opportunity for professionals and amateurs alike to capture their vision and share it with the whole city. And having their work viewed and judged by four of Austin’s most accomplished film and digital media pros will be a pretty exciting opportunity for our creative arts community.”

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, co-founder of Troublemaker Studios, put it more plainly: “You make the movie, and I’ll bring the popcorn.”

Because the airtime will be purchased with campaign funds, finance rules require the campaign to add disclosures to the winning ad before it is aired. However, this is not a “Brewster for Mayor” competition. It is a creative competition. Entries should not include mentions or visuals of any candidate – including McCracken.

“Just as President Obama said last fall, this election isn’t about me and my future. It’s about you and your future,” McCracken said. “I want this ad competition to reflect that principle.”

The entry period will open February 23 and close March 20. A volunteer advisory group of Austin film and digital media professionals will review entries and determine a list of finalists from which the final judges will select a winner. The winning ad will be announced on April 3.

Select entries will be featured on McCracken’s campaign website throughout the mayoral campaign.

More information about the competition, including legal disclosures (permissions/copyright/etc) and technical specifications regarding competition entries will be posted on McCracken’s campaign website (www.brewstermccracken.com) this week.

Pimp My TV!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 20:45:00 +0000

For years now, Hollywood executives who can't stand the thought of original ideas have pumped through product after product of feature films based on TV shows from days gone by. GET SMART, MIAMI VICE, THE DUKES OF HAZZARD, THE BRADY BUNCH, and the list goes on and on and on. Some of the time, these Hollywood reimaginings are actually pretty good, and a feature film can manage to breathe new life into the TV show it stole from. Other times, these feature films are the god awfullest piles of poo poo ever.

But have we seen the best? Have we seen the worst? What about all the TV shows that have never had the chance to be made into a feature film? Why haven't I seen GOLDEN GIRLS GONE WILD? Or Ridley Scott's AMERICAN GLADIATOR? These are projects that need to be green lit now, damn it! Unfortunately, I don't have a direct line to the executives at any of the major studios, so my dreams will go unrealized for the foreseeable future. But even if the actual movies can't exist just yet, we can still all imagine how cool it would be if they did. And that's where you come in.

For this Filmmaking Frenzy competition, we're asking teams of filmmakers to put together two to three minute trailers for a TV-based movie that has never existed, but really probably should (or shouldn't, depending on how you look at it). You can choose any TV show from any time ever to base your feature film trailer on, and teams can repeat the same title if they want to, but none of the entries can be based on TV shows that have already been given the feature film treatment.

Registration for PIMP MY TV will be $10 a team and will open up at Friday, January 9. The contest ends, and films are due online and in DVD form on Friday, February 20. We'll have screenings at the Alamo Ritz starting Monday, February 23 and announce the winners at an awards screening later that week.

BLOODSHOTS Winners Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:54:00 +0000

The judges and juries have spoken, and the winners for this year's Bloodshots festival were officially crowned at the Fantastic Fest Awards Ceremony on Monday night. And now, for those of you who couldn't be there live, here are the results:

First Place
Scottish Rite Productions - Meet the Maydays

Second Place
Clasico Entertainment - Cock Blast: the Game

Third Place
Take Me To Your Leader - Galaxy of Fatality

We'll have details coming soon for the next Frenzy, so keep your eyes peeled! Just don't literally peel your eyes until next year's Bloodshots, because that kind of footage really belongs in a horror film.

BLOODSHOTS Finalists!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:35:00 +0000

The ballots have been counted, the online votes have been tallied, and the results are in – here, in no particular order, are the finalists for the 2008 BLOODSHOTS Filmmaking Frenzy:

Fogar! – Death at Dawn
Lean Mean Green Screen Machine – Killing Time in the Breakroom
Bleutuna – Well, Shit
Scottish Rite – Meet the Maydays
Team Good Enough – Silver City
Clasico – Cock Blast
Image Creation Entertainment – Road to Hell 3
You Got Severed – Episode 43: The Womantis
One Zero Nine – Exhibit H
Strike Films – Blood Oil
Take Me To Your Leader – Galaxy of Fatality

Congratulations to all the finalists, and we hope to see you at the Best Of Screening this Sunday! If you can make it out, shoot me an email and I’ll have two tickets for each filmmaking team available at will call on Sunday afternoon.

At that screening, we’ll be watching all of these movies, and pausing in between to hear feedback from our judges, who will be scoring each film and choosing the ultimate winners. We’ll announce the top three teams at this Best Of screening, but the final winner won’t be known until the official Fantastic Fest Awards Ceremony on Monday night.

Stay tuned for future Frenzies. Our plan right now (which is completely subject to change) is to do some sort of holiday special Frenzy in December. I’ll keep you posted.

Fantastic Fest Bumper results!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:24:00 +0000

First of all, I wanted to thank all the teams who submitted bumpers to the Fantastic Fest bumper contest. We had a great response from the contest and thanks to you, Fantastic Fest audiences will not be suffering from festival bumper fatigue. All of the entries we received will get screen time in front of fantastic fest features.

Based on the audience voting, we have determined the winners in the contest. The top ten films are as follows:

Report Card
Hyper Fighter Joseline: Cookie Warrior
Just a Day
Batty Daddy
Fist of Noodle
A Run to Remember
I Love You Jean-Claude Van Damme
Silent Lucidty
The Boy Who Can't Land
Barb's Baby Back Ribs

These will all be getting heavy rotation before films at the festival and each of these teams will get a $100 prize pack from the Alamo Drafthouse. We will be emailing each of the teams this week to arrange shipping.

The grand prize winner in the Fantastic Fest Bumper contest was both an audience and Fantastic Fest programming staff favorite. From the makers of Hobo With a Shotgun, again starring the curmudgeon hobo himself, Team YER DEAD takes the grand prize with REPORT CARD (embedded below).

Also, the programming staff is also awarding Black Magic Rollercoaster's DING DONG DASH a special jury mention. This film left many of us absolutely speechless and literally gasping for air. The full-frontal male nudity was a bit too spicy for the Filmmaking Frenzy audience at large and it was pulled from the website early in the voting. To the delight of few and the horror of many, however, I personally guarantee it will get PLENTY of screen time during the festival.

Thanks again everyone for taking part and we'll see you on the next Filmmaking Frenzy adventure!

UNNECESSARY SEQUELS Results

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:50:00 +0000

Last night's Awards Screening for UNNECESSARY SEQUELS 2008 was a rousing success, and full of some of the best filmmaker Q&A moments of all time. From the "affiliate" to the filmmakers of CLUE 2 to the point when Mac from Team Syracurse admitted that while the trailer was a lot of fun a feature length MONSTER SQUAD 2 could only disappoint, it was pure magic all around.

The results of all of that magic are in, and the winners were:

Final results for Unnecessary Sequels were:
1st Place - Comedia A Go-Go - OTT: The Rise of Mike Hawk
2nd Place - Syracursed – The Monster Squad 2
3rd Place - Kung Fu Halloween – Powder 2: Powder 2 the People

We've got the Fantastic Fest Bumper Frenzy happening right now, so get going on those 30 second spots with children in them. I'm really excited to see what you guys come up with for that, and to see them all screening in front of the regular Fantastic Fest films. Due date is still September 8, so get cracking!

And of course Bloodshots shooting weekend is September 5 - 7, so as soon as you've finished your Fantastic Frenzy film, get lots and lots of sleep to prep up for that 48 hour madness.

Unnecessary Sequels Finalists Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Ninety six teams registered for the challenge. Twenty three teams completed their films. And now we’re down to the top ten Filmmaking Frenzy teams in this year’s UNNECESSARY SEQUELS contest. Well, top 11, actually, cause there was a tie in there somewhere. I can’t tell you where yet, or who the winner is, but I can give you the list of the finalists:

Comedia A Go-Go - OTT: The Rise of Mike Hawk

Cro Magnum Films – The Seventh Sense

Dudesong – Harold & Maude II: A Love for the Ages

Hey Dister – Bonnie & Clyde: Resurrection

I Snood Bear – Clue 2: Hint

Kung Fu Halloween – Powder 2: Powder 2 the People

Mascot Wedding – Over the Top 2: Armageddon

Porch Room – Alien Vs. Predator Vs. Rocky

Short Bus Attack – 5 to 9: It’s No Way to Make a Living

Syracursed – The Monster Squad 2

Two Drinks Productions – It’s A Wonderful Life 2: Wings of Vengeance

We’ll be screening all 11 of those films this Sunday night at the Ritz. Each team who made it to the finals will have four tickets to the show reserved under their team captain’s name; if your team is unable to attend, however, please let us know so we can release your seats to other people who want to be there.

Congratulations to all of the finalists, and we’ll see you on Sunday night at the Ritz!

And don’t forget a brand new year of BLOODSHOTS is just around the corner, with the shooting weekend being Sept 5 – 7 and the Awards Ceremony for that show taking place at the Alamo South Lamar during Fantastic Fest. Register your team now!

Two New Filmmaking Frenzies Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Check out details at the Filmmaking Frenzy official website or visit us on Facebook.

THE FANTASTIC FEST 2008 FRENZY:
Filmmakers will complete a 30 second promo spot to be played before all features during Fantastic Fest 2008. Instead of only playing the winning spot and repeating it over and over and over again until the audience can quote the entire film, however, we’ll be screening all of the top 60 films in front of completely unsuspecting Fantastic Fest audiences. Each of those audiences will include visiting filmmakers from around the world, press from the likes of IFC TV, Fangoria, Ain’t It Cool News, and USA Today, plus a legion of the most devoted and intelligent genre film fans on the planet.

BLOODSHOTS 2008:
Filmmakers will have 48 hours to make a horror film based on the horrific subgenre assigned to their particular team. We’ll assign each team a subgenre along the lines of Torture Porn, Ghost Story, Backwoods, Revenge Fantasy, or something like that. Then we’ll assign a weapon along the lines of a Chainsaw, a Vehicle, a Piano Wire, or a Bolt of Lightning, and a line of dialog that will have to be in everyone’s film. Using those prompts for inspiration, filmmakers will have EXACTLY 48 hours to make the most kick ass film you can.

Additional info on rules and prizes plus registration for filmmaking teams is now open at the Filmmaking Frenzy website for both of these competitions, and it’s completely free to sign up.

BPM: DFest Edition Results!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 08:01:00 +0000

And the votes are tallied!

In third place, we had:

U Sock: Making a video for Greg Summerlin's "Shine On Where You Want."

In second place:

Fobar ABQ!: Greg Summerlin's This Darkened World

And in first place, we didn't have Greg Summerlin. Instead, it was:

Media Pie: Adam's Attic's Waiting.

Congratulations to all the winners, and to those of you hanging out in Tulsa at DFest, I'll see you this weekend. Everyone else - I'd better be invited to the "I'll Show You Mine" party you just won from Red Bull!

BPM: The DFEST Edition - Results posting tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Hi guys,

I'm up in Tulsa this weekend for the DFEST festival itself, and will be emceeing at the Red Bull party on First Street *tonight* (That's Thursday), to announce the winners of BPM live.

As soon as I'm back from that gig, I'll post the results here. You guys all did astounding, and congratulations are in order to everyone who finished a film.

Check back soon!

UNNECESSARY SEQUELS Genre Assignments!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:08:00 +0000

The genre assignment page will go live at exactly midnight tonight for everyone participating in the Unnecessary Sequels Filmmaking Frenzy! To access your assignment online, simply click here after midnight CST!