Back in December the film played the Screamin’ Athens Horror Festival – Athens, Greece

SHOWTIME is airing HT off and on so make sure to check local listings.

HEAD TRAUMA was covered in MovieScope magazine – READ MORE

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HT screens in the .MOV festival as part of DIGITAL DEKALOGO 10X10.MOV a presentation of ten of the best foreign digital full-length films from the past 3 years.

.MOV (pronounced “dot-mov”), the first digital filmfest in the Philippines which jump started the digital revolution in the country back in 2002, will have its third edition in Robinsons Galleria Cinema from September 30 to October 7, 2008.

In other news Business Week named Lance “One of the 18 People Who Changed Hollywood.” HEAD TRAUMA’s mobile drive-in / cinema ARG are mentioned along with Lance’s first film THE LAST BROADCAST. The list includes Thomas Edison, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Mark Cuban.

The 18 People Who Changed Hollywood
Hollywood is hardly ever thought of as a hotbed of innovation. The industry is more likely to try to battle a new technology with lawsuits (see the Betamax recorder, YouTube) than embrace it with open arms. But the movies wouldn’t have survived for more than a century were it not for the tenacious innovators who introduced new tools, new ideas, and new technologies. Here’s our list of the most influential.

Lance Weiler
Tight budgets force lots of indie filmmakers to experiment with new technologies. Weiler has been more persistent than most. The Last Broadcast, released in 1998, was shot with video cameras, processed on PCs so it looked more like film, and shown on a digital projector—one of the first time ticket-buyers saw a digital screening. Lately, Weiler has been showing his movies at flashmob-organized underground drive-in screenings, and building alternate reality games around his latest release, Head Trauma.

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I’ve just returned from a series of speaking engagements. Last week I spent 4 days in Austin, TX at SXSW. During the festival I spoke on two different panels about the work that we’ve done around HT. The first panel was on “Digital Cinema for Indies” moderated by Scott Kirsner of Varitey and cinematech the panelists included

Ted Mundorff CEO, Landmark Theatres

Lance Weiler founder, Workbook Project, Head Trauma

Josh Green VP, Distribution, Emerging Pictures

Russell Wintner Pres, WinterTek Inc

Christian Zak VP Indepedent Feature Svcs, Technicolor

The second panel was entitled “Independent Film Distribution: It Takes an Online Community” Here’s a description from the SXSW catalog. “Tech-savvy filmmakers are redefining “Indie.” Learn how to use interactive technologies to distribute your film and build community. Susan Buice (Four Eyed Monsters), Arin Crumley (Four Eyed Monsters), Brett Gaylor (Basement Tapes), Micki Krimmel, moderator (Mickipedia.com), Lance Weiler (Head Trauma)”

Then yesterday I spoke to a number of delegates from the Canadian film industry at at the Canadian Consulate in NYC. It was interesting to revisit the various distribution and audience building tactics that we deployed while releasing the movie. One thing has become clear since we started rolling out HT in 2006, there is a DIY digital distribution movement growing around independent work.

The following interview was conducted by Christy Dena, a cross-media entertainment strategist, mentor, designer, writer and PhD researcher. In the detailed discussion we cover a variety of subjects with a focus on the creation of story worlds.

Filmmaker Lance Weiler is the special guest on this first video podcast at UC101. Weiler talks about the unique ways he has experimented with extending the storyworld of his feature films out to other media platforms and artforms, and he shares his insights into innovative digital distribution techniques he has been spearheading for years. To jump to particular topics, here is a short guide:

03:02 The Last Broadcast
14:32 Head Trauma
44:14 From Here to Awesome
54:53 Workbook Project
59:01 Random Future

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“Hope is Missing” the online / offline cinema ARG that we created for the Warner’s VOD release racked up massive views / players and created quite a stir. The cinema ARG lead to a series of great meetings and new opportunities. I accumulated a lot of miles as I traveled to Europe and crisscrossed the US with speaking engagements at the Berlin Film Festival, London Film Festival, SXSW, various universities, film societies, ad agencies, and entertainment companies.

So far 2008 is off to a great start. There are some exciting things in the works for HT as it moves into the next phase of its’ release. More details coming soon.

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Weiler—whose first all-digital feature, The Last Broadcast, is currently distributed in over 20 countries, having enjoyed runs on HBO and IFC—looks to create what he calls “a new experience in horror” by engaging audiences on city streets as well as in theaters, then following them home with cell phone calls and social networking site posts from Head Trauma characters.”

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“Today is Hope’s birthday,” writes Richard Chambers on his blog, Hope is Missing. “She is 23 today. I sang happy birthday this morning to a picture of her and couldn’t get all the way through.”

“Hope” has been missing since June. Chambers started the blog out of frustration shortly after her disappearance. Police had no leads; Hope’s mother, one of the last people to see her alive, wasn’t any help; and his wedding date was fast approaching. The feeling of helplessness in his posts is overwhelming. It’s also false.

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Best Argument That Film Can Still Be an Experience …new cult-in-the-making films presented in imaginative settings. That includes the multimedia expansion of Lance Weiler’s Head Trauma, which incorporated live music, characters and even cell-phone interaction.

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For online outlets or 3rd party services here are a few of the featured outlets












For those who are looking for a physical copy –
DVDs can be purchased at Lance Weiler’s store

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The HOPE IS MISSING cinema ARG has concluded. Over the course of two and half weeks more than 2 million people viewed elements of the game over myspace, stage6, eyespot, xbox, twitter and myopera. Players setup blogs, wikis, forums, and chat rooms. The game attracted some interesting reactions and was covered by a number of press outlets.

For more on the game:
Filmmaker Magazine article
ARG network podcast interview

HEADED TO LONDON
Tomorrow I head to London for the Power to the Pixel conference on digital storytelling and distribution. I’ll be giving a case study around HEAD TRAUMA and the HOPE IS MISSING game.

A NEW STORE
In other news we’ve launched a new store on the site. So for those interested in picking up a copy of HEAD TRAUMA or my first film THE LAST BROADCAST visit the store. We have a number of cool bundles that include posters, t-shirts, dvds and soundtracks. In the coming weeks we will be expanding elements of the store. Special thanks to bside.com for creating the store and managing it!

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HORROR MOVIE MADNESS:

Free Interactive Drive-In Experience

One night only in 4 select locations across the country. Come and view Lance Weiler’s newest dark and twisted independent feature film “HEAD TRAUMA.” Audience members can interact with characters form the film via their mobile phones. Preceded by the award winning Ray Harryhausen produced stop motion short “THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM.” directed by Marc Lougee

SPACE IS LIMITED so please arrive early. Bring chairs and battery operated FM radio to ensure comfort during screening.

LOCATIONS:

Milwaukee, WI
64th St. and Mount Vernon Juneau Playfield parking lot Screening starts @ 8pm arrive early space is limited

San Rafael, CA
3773 Redwood Highway near Mount Olivet Cemetery sanrafelmovies@gmail.com for more info Screening starts @ 8pm arrive early space is limited

Los Angeles, CA
3191 Casitas Ave
Atwater Village -
Screening starts at 11pm arrive early space is limited For more info visit http://www.hollywoodmobmov.org

San Francisco, CA
1900 3rd Street – Drive east on 16th Street. The lot is right across from the new UCSF campus – on your right about 100ft from 16th and 3rd. You’ll be able to see the lights and cars from the street.

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FESTIVAL NEWS
Last week, HEAD TRAUMA screened at the Santiago Festival Internacional De Cine in Chile. Unfortunately, scheduling kept me from attending the festival but Mary Monahan who plays Mary Sherman in the film was in attendance.

Upcoming festival screenings will take HT to Sweden and the UK this fall.

A NIGHTMARE REMIX
Big thanks to everyone who has been sending their nightmare remixes! Over the next few months eyespot.com which is an excellent remix community is running a very cool HEAD TRAUMA nightmare remix promotion. If you haven’t checked it out, head over to the site to start remixing. Eyespot makes it simple to edit, remix and share vid online.

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In other news we are prepping a number of HT cinema ARG shows for this coming fall. It looks as if we’ll be hitting upwards of 20 cities with special cinema games and sneak screenings. We’ll have more details in the coming weeks. We’ve lined up some amazing promotional partners myspace, eyespot, xbox and others. It’s going to be excellent!

HT continues to rack up reviews here are two recent ones.

CalgaryMovies says – “Stylish in an artistic sense (as opposed to appealing to shortened attention spans like a lot of today’s horrors), Weiler successfully mixes reality and dream to create one of the creepiest things I’ve seen…” Read More

Bloodtype online says – “There’s no doubt that “Head Trauma” isn’t just one of the greatest films of 2006, I would also put it up there with the best films that have been made this decade in horror…” Read More

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There were a number of interactive areas during the event. On a nearby corner a street preacher spoke of redemption and the need for the crowd to confess. Small “Nothing But Grief” comics similar to the one used within the film’s storyline were passed to the crowd. The comics contained a series of clues that would later lead audience members to a hidden world online. Visit http://5stages.htmob.com to see what you can find hidden under the surface.

Movie goers were handed missing person fliers which instructed them to call a phone number. They could also step into a nightmare confession tent where they could tell a nightvision camera what scared them most.

In another part of the lobby a number of remix stations enabled audience members to remix nightmares. When remixing the media various hidden clues and subliminal frames would appear in final movie. To give it a try visit http://eyespot.com/promotion/headtrauma

As audience members made their way into the theater and waited for the show to begin on screen a warning sign described how they could use their mobile phone to interact with the movie.

After a brief introduction the show started. Characters emerged and women screamed.

A highlight of the evening was the live music score preformed by the Quavers and DJ Chief Wreck’em – the score haunted the room as a live alternate soundtrack was created.

The evening ended with a Q&A between HT director Lance Weiler and MoMI curator Carl Goodman.

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For more info visit movingimage.us

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“Can things possibly get more intense from here? Of course. Horror 2.0 stalks the MoMI with indie auteur Lance Weiler’s multimedia expansion of his psycho-chiller Head Trauma: Audience members will receive menacing text messages and cell-phone calls, some even after the show. “I want to disturb people,” Weiler admits in what sounds like a motto for our times. Slashing at apathy, this is a genre whose dire warnings we ignore at our peril. One way or another, horror follows us home.”

- THE VILLAGE VOICE

“Lance Weiler’s first film, The Last Broadcast — often called the original Blair Witch Project — was shot for less than $1,000. Yet it grossed $4.5 million and became the first film to be transmitted via satellite directly to theaters. His encore? A traveling live-music mashup involving cell phones, big screens, indie rockers and meandering actors… “This is one of the only films where you’ll be asked to keep your cell phone on during the screening,” says Weiler.”

- WIRED

“Director Lance Weiler has created a “remix” presentation of his cult indie horror flick Head Trauma, the result of which sounds like a good approximation of the future of film… As theatres increasingly compete with home entertainment, we believe live film presentations such as this could be a way to keep audiences going out to movies.”

- TREND CENTRAL

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First up is a stop at the Museum of the Moving Image in NYC.

When: Sat. July 14th @ 6:30pm
Where: MoMI in Astoria
What: a special presentation of HT with music, gaming, theatrics and technology

Tickets: $12 Museum members/$18 non-membersc. Call 718.784.4520 to order.

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“Can things possibly get more intense from here? Of course. Horror 2.0 stalks the MoMI with indie auteur Lance Weiler’s multimedia expansion of his psycho-chiller Head Trauma: Audience members will receive menacing text messages and cell-phone calls, some even after the show. “I want to disturb people,” Weiler admits in what sounds like a motto for our times. Slashing at apathy, this is a genre whose dire warnings we ignore at our peril. One way or another, horror follows us home.” – Read More

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I’ll be in NYC giving a workshop on “DIY distribution and haranessing the power of the interent” this coming Friday. It’s part of the IFP’s Rough Cut Lab where filmmakers from across the country gather to discuss options for their work which will soon be entering the market place.

On Tuesday I did a tech scout at the Museum of the Moving Image. The cinema ARG is expanding for this show. There will be a pre-screening event, a NEW and improved screening mashup, and for some of the audience the movie will follow you home.

Here’s the listing from the MoMI’s site.

T’S ONLY A MOVIE: HORROR FILMS FROM THE 1970s AND TODAY
JUNE 16-JULY 22, 2007

Head Trauma
Multimedia Performance with Lance Weiler in person
Saturday, July 14, 6:30 p.m.

2006, approximately 84 mins. New York Premiere. Directed by Lance Weiler. With DJ Chief Wreck’em and The Quivers. In this innovative and playfully unsettling interactive multimedia event, the story of a drifter who returns to his grandmother’s abandoned house is brought to life in a collision of movies, music, gaming, and theatrics. Characters emerge from the audience, the DJ provides a live soundtrack, and your mobile phone becomes a cinematic gaming device. Followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.

Preceded by Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and The Pendulum (2006, 7 mins., video. Directed by Marc Lougee.) This stop-motion short reinterprets Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale. Tickets: $12 Museum members/$18 non-membersc. Call 718.784.4520 to order.

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PRESS:
On Newsstands this month:

“The Gatecrashers: Lance Weiler Gets Inside Your Head”

SPEAKING:
June is going to be a busy month for speaking…

June 1st – I travel to Boston University for the Filmmaking in Transition conference where I’ll do a case study on the making, distribution and promotion of HEAD TRAUMA.

June 15th – a four hour workshop on “DIY distribution & harnessing the power of the internet to build audiences” part of a special IFP program called the Rough Cut Lab held in NYC

June 23rd – I’m speaking at the FIND Financing Conference in LA on a panel entitled – “Monetizing Content: New Business Models.”

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More Cinema ARG news coming – stay tuned!

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“Director Lance Weiler has created a “remix” presentation of his cult indie horror flick Head Trauma, the result of which sounds like a good approximation of the future of film. …As theatres increasingly compete with home entertainment, we believe live film presentations such as this could be a way to keep audiences going out to movies.”

IN OTHER NEWS

READ: HEAD TRAUMA is featured in a new book that captures the cinematic history of Philadelphia entitled “Filmadelphia.” The book’s author Irv Slifkin is a national film critic who has written for Entertainment Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, and The Hollywood Reporter. THE LAST BROADCAST, my first feature film, also receives a couple page write up. “Filmadelphia” is a fun read, turns out Philadelphia and surrounding areas have a very rich cinematic history.

EVENT: On June 1st I’ll be speaking at the “Filmmaking in Transition Conference” at Boston University. I’ll be doing a case study about how I harnessed the power of the internet to assist in the release of HT and discussing the Cinema ARG.

DESIGN: The new site design for http://lanceweiler.com is up and running. Some additional features will be rolling out over the next few weeks.

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