Filmmaking Frenzy

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!

UNNECESSARY SEQUELS Kick Off Party Tonight!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:14:00 +0000

The Unnecessary Sequels 2008 Filmmaking Frenzy kicks off tonight at midnight, and we'll be posting your genre/prop/dialogue assignments here on this page at exactly midnight CST.

For those of you in the Austin area, however, you're invited to join us at the official kick off party tonight at Maggie Mae's on Sixth Street, where we'll be mingling with other filmmakers and announcing the team assignments at 11:30pm, giving you a precious extra half hour to plot your Unnecessary Sequel trailer.

We should be set up in the club room at Maggie Mae's by 9:30pm with some karaoke, dancing, and emceeing from the Alamo's own Zack Carlson (who you HAVE to see doing some karaoke, trust me), then those of you who want to join us across the street for the midnight premiere of the most necessary sequel of all time, THE DARK KNIGHT, can come over to the Ritz!

Any questions or comments? Don't hesitate to email us!

Beats Per Minute: DFEST - Team Assignments!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Submit Film:

Click here to submit your film.

Okay Filmmakers, the BPM Frenzy is on! Click here to get to a page listing all the registered teams and the tracks that have been assigned to them! Your team will have four tracks to choose from, and there are mp3s for all of them available on that page as well!

Download your song now, and good luck this weekend!

BPM: The DFEST Edition. 1 song. 48 hours. 223 Red Bulls. It's on.

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:33:00 +0000

Sure, we love the movies that "professionals" make, what with their infinite budgets, indefinite production schedules and legions of interns and craft services people, but nothing beats the rare and frenetic fervor of the so-called amateurs.

This is why we love Filmmaking Frenzy. It offers up a chance for any Tom, Dick or Harriett with access to a video camera, an email address and the slightest shred of determination the opportunity to present their personal pygmy-opus to a supportive audience of like-minded folks. And usually big big prizes are waiting at the end, which helps to flame the fervor into a full-on fever. The kind of fever you can only feed with healthy doses of caffeine and blind optimism. Sometimes it falls flat, sure, but more often than not it's genuinely impressive stuff and always entertaining. And it's filled to the brim with ideas, performances and techniques you will not find floating in ANY studio jello-mold.

We are proud to announce the DFEST edition of BPM (Beats per minute), a 48 hour filmmaking competition. At 7:00 PM on July 11, teams will be given MP3s of two songs from artists performing at DFEST. This signals the beginning of the competition. Immediately, you and your team start scrambling: listening to the song, decoding the lyrics, making the shot list, borrowing and stealing guitars, wigs - whatever it takes to make the most entertaining video of them all. Teams have 48 hours to complete a music video and upload it to www.filmmakingfrenzy.com. The top 40 videos will be shown in the Red Bull Beats Per Minute tent inside Main Stage grounds at DFest throughout the weekend.

The winning video will be premiered at the Main Stage during DFEST weekend, plus four members of the winning team will be sent to Red Bull Soap Box on Oct. 25th in Denver (!) at Red Rocks!! The prize includes flight for four and hotel for four (Oct. 24 & 25). Team members will get full media access to Red Bull Soap Box AND rights to film the event!

By the way, I'm from Denver. It's great. Red Rocks is spectacular. If you've never been then dust off your over-sized novelty directors' megaphones and do a little research on gold prospecting and micro-brewing and get ready to have a good time.

I hope every single one of you who reads this will sign up to compete, and I hope 85% of you win. To the other 15%, maybe you should have spent more time caring about fun and filmmaking and less time at the craft services table.

TROLL 2 FAN FILMMAKING FRENZY WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Zack Carlson) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:16:00 +0000

First off, we salute all those fearless goblin warriors who submitted their works! The TROLL 2 cast member judges have reviewed the films and made a final decision, and the winning film is.....

OGRE by Team Orgasmic Apocalypse!!!

Sure, it may not be the most polished film ever made...but neither is TROLL 2! The judges saw a level of innovation and goblin pride that impressed them to no end, and decided to make this maverick short the winner of the competition, despite some very sharp competition.

The two runners-up are:

SETH HAPPENS by Team Seth Happens

and

MEAT NOAM TELL NOBODY by Black Magic Rollercoaster!

So congratulations to the winners! Of course, these and the other fan films will be screened at NILBOG INVASION too, and will certainly inspire a goblin uprising against all mankind!

SON OF RAMBOW Contest Winners Announced!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:04:00 +0000

The SON OF RAMBOW competition has come to a close, and the filmmakers have had a chance to review the entries and choose a winner. Paramount Vantage got in touch with us recently to let us know that the winning Filmmaking Frenzy video for this contest is... Mission Improbable submitted by The Dunn family!

As of this posting, that's all the information I have, so I can't say what films came in second according to their judging or any of that. I can, however, say congratulations to the Dunn family, and I'm looking forward to watching your movie on the official DVD release for SON OF RAMBOW.

We're finalizing dates and details for this year's UNNECESSARY SEQUELS competition right now as well, so check back soon for a full update of those pages.

Son of Rambow contest closes in 8 hours!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Hello Filmmaking Frenzy competitors.

I know there are some of you that have had your Son of Rambow Filmmaking Frenzy entries rejected or placed on hold by the Paramount Vantage approval team. The reason stated by the folks at Vantage is that either 1) the film has copyrighted music/sound 2) some of the content was deemed objectionable.

If you were reject or placed on hold and feel that either 1) you can make a quick reedit and resubmit your film or 2) your film is not objectionable and has no copyright infringing music, please re-upload using the this URL.

Also, if you can send us specifics about the copyright status of the music, that will help Paramount Vantage in their final determinations. You can email that to us at info@filmmakingfrenzy.com

I apologize for the inconvenience that this poses, but I hope you can bear with us. We will try to make sure that everyone gets a fair shake at winning the prize of being included on the Son of Rambow DVD.

If you would like to re-upload your film for consideration, it needs to be done by midnight tonight, EST when submissions close. We will review all the entries and have the website updated with all of the approved films in the next couple of days.

For the rest of you with approved films on the website, voting results will become visible tonight at midnight as well and the top ranked/viewed films will be viewable from all Son of Rambow film pages. Tell your friends to check out the Filmmaking Frenzy competition website and to vote for their favorite films.

Filmmaking Frenzy in Variety Magazine

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:45:00 +0000

Variety Magazine just ran a short piece on time-limit filmmaking contests. Although not "time limit" competitions, Filmmaking Frenzy competitions "REWIND KINDLY" and the "SON OF RAMBOW" competition were referenced. There's still time to enter the "SON OF RAMBOW" competition. Also check out the quote from Alamo creative director Henri Mazza at the end. Ah, the good old days of the Drunk Film Festival. I get misty just thinking about it.

The BPM Winners!

noreply@blogger.com (Henri Mazza) — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:18:00 +0000

We had an amazing time at the Red Bull Moontower party this SXSW, and nothing was better than kicking off the whole shebang with the BPM: Beats Per Minute Frenzy awards ceremony. After a special Quote-Along screening of DAZED & CONFUSED, Wiley Wiggins, the star who plays freshman Mitch Taylor in the film, came out from behind the screen and announced his picks for the winners. The final choice was all his, and so he distributed the prizes like this:

In third place, and receiving a beautiful Gibson guitar: Wet Gold by Potato Media.

In second place, and receiving an AMD-powered Dell laptop: I Wanna Have Your Baby by Dial Z For Zombie.

And in first place, receiving an AMD-powered Dell laptop loaded with Gibson music software: Moon Boil by Team Bullet Time.

Congratulations to all the winners, and we hope to see each of you back again for the SON OF RAMBOW Filmmaking Frenzy, currently ongoing!

BPM Finalists announced

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:18:00 +0000

The online votes and in-theater votes have been tabulated and we have announced the finalists in the BPM Music video contest. The top 12 teams are as follows (in alphabetical order):

Bear Food, Team Facelift: Dippin' Chicken
B-Team, Vehicular: Radioactive
Bullet Time, Vehicular: Electric Eel
Bullet Time, Octopus Project: Moon Boil
Dial "Z" for Zombie, Team Facelift: I Wanna Have Your Baby
FOGAR, The Black and White Years; Power To Change
Foxtrot, The Octopus Project: Wet Gold
LichtenNight, Team Facelift: I Want To Have Your Baby
Potato Media, The Octopus Project: Wet Gold
Supercontinent, Z-Trip: Mass Hysteria
Take Me to your Leader, Lions: Evil Eye
U Sock, The Shackletons: Tremble

Wiley Wiggins, star of Dazed and Confused, will be reviewing the top 12 videos and deciding on the 3rd, 2nd and 1st place teams. The winners will be announced and the awards presented on Wednesday, March 12 at 9:30 PM at the Red Bull Moon Tower party. All teams should have received their passes to the Moon Tower. If for some reason, your team did not, please email us. Filmmaker passes are good for all four days of the Red Bull Moon Tower.

If you visit the BPM contest on Filmmakingfrenzy.com, check out the 12 finalists there. Also, the "competition mode" has been lifted and all scores are now visible to the public. We will be updating this blog tomorrow with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams.

Son of Rambow competition now open!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 08:07:00 +0000

Hey gang, we are very happy to announce our latest Filmmaking Frenzy competition. We've partnered with Paramount Vantage for a competition celebrating the spirit of one of our most anticipated movies of the year, Son of Rambow.

About the Contest:
Submit your own original short film about anything. Literally, anything! Be creative and have fun with it. The folks over at Hammer and Tongs will be judging the videos and the winning submission will have their short film placed in the Special Features section of the Son of Rambow DVD. See the complete rules and register for this Frenzy here.

About the Film:
A runaway audience smash at the Sundance Film Festival, SON OF RAMBOW is a hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age. It all begins in 1980s Britain, when young Will Proudfoot, raised in isolation among The Brethren, a puritanical religious sect in which music and TV are strictly forbidden, encounters something beyond his wildest fantasies: a pirated copy of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD. His virgin viewing of the iconic thriller blows his mind – and rapidly expanding imagination – wide open. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully, Lee Carter, to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts, not to mention equally elaborate schemes for creating a movie of total commitment and non-stop thrills while hiding out from The Brethren. But when school popularity finally descends on Will and Lee in the form of, oui, the super-cool French exchange student, Didier Revol, their remarkable new friendship and precious film are pushed, quite literally, to the breaking point . . . Filmed in a creatively mad-cap, homemade style with a mostly amateur cast and a wry, comic-tinged nostalgia, creative visionaries Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, AKA Hammer & Tongs (HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY), manage to capture both the agony and the giddy ecstasy of a camcorder childhood with humor, poignancy and a rousing dose of cinematic panache. Son of Rambow opens in theaters on May 2.

Update for BPM Competitors!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 11:11:00 +0000

I wanted to give all the filmmakers an update on all things BPM. We've already uploaded a number of the videos will be putting the remainder of the films up after the 12:00 noon deadline on Monday.

The screenings at the Alamo
Since the videos are all relatively short, we were able to fit all of the films into one program, which we will be playing twice, Monday, Mar 3 at 7:30 PM and Tuesday, Mar 4 at 10:00 PM. To be clear, this is the same program, and we are running it twice. You will be able to vote for all of the films at the public screenings and these votes do count in determining the finalists in the contest, so tell your friends and supporters to come out and check out these shows! We'll also be giving away a pair of 4 day passes to the Red Bull Moon Tower at each of the screenings, and if you know anything about Red Bull, this will be THE party of the 2008 SXSW season.

The voting
A note about the voting. We use a complex algorithm that calculates the top ranked films. It takes into account proper voting, so if you and your supporters are voting your video very high and all the other videos very low, your voting will not carry as much weight as a someone who is voting a lot and voting appropriately. So - vote fair and tell your friends to either come out to one of the public screenings or go to filmmakingfrenzy.com and cast a vote for as many films as possible!

The Next Frenzy
I know you are all probably tuckered out from the weekend of filming, but we have posted our next competition: Paramount Vantage presents: The Son of Rambow short film competition. Check www.filmmakingfrenzy for details. Films should be inspired by Son of Rambow and the winning film will be chosen by the filmmakers themselves and will be included as an extra on all Son of Rambow DVDs. This is one of my favorite films of the year, it comes out in theaters on May 2.

Late Films
If your team worked on BPM but didn't finish their video in time, they are welcome to either bring the video to one of the public screenings or go ahead and upload to filmmakingfrenzy.com. The video won't be eligible for prizes if it was turned in late, but you can still post it up on the site to get ranked and rated by the filmmaking frenzy community. The late films will also be screened at the Red Bull Moon Tower, and if you ask nicely, we might still be able to score you some passes.

Thanks again everyone for taking part in the contest. We hope you had a good time, and we'll see you soon, hopefully either at the Ritz or the Moon Tower!

BPM (Beats Per Minute) is underway!

noreply@blogger.com (Tim League) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 23:37:00 +0000

The BPM (Beats Per Minute) song assignments have been posted. If you are competing, click here to see your song assignments. Check back here on Sunday for information about the public screenings at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. Good luck teams, we'll see you at the check-in party at Wahoo's!