UNT Professor’s Documentary Project Has Beijing Premiere

A University of North Texas professor finally reached the end of a filmmaking venture that has lasted two years. Melinda Levin, associate professor and chair of the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas, acted as one of three executive producers in an independent documentary project called “Global Rivers”.

The film, financed by the Centre International De Liaison Des Ecoles De Cinema Et De Television (CILECT), the leading international organization in film and television schools, depicts the very different stories of five major world rivers – the Amazon, Danube, Ganges, Mississippi and Rio Grande. “Global Rivers” premiered at the beinnial congress in Beijing, China on November 5.

The project represents the first time CILECT has financed an American film.

Irene Klaver, associate professor at the UNT Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies and expert on global water issues, acted as a consultant to the project for much of the film’s inception and assisted the filmmakers in deciding which rivers to film and why. Liz Daggett, Levin’s former graduate assistant, also helped the production by shooting some footage and maintaining a “Global Rivers” blog throughout the project.

Filmmakers from around the world participated in filming for the project. Many of them were native to the areas of the featured rivers.

Independent Filmmaker Lectures At UNT

Screenwriter and director Jeffrey Goodman visited the University of North Texas campus to lecture to students about his experiences as an independent filmmaker outside of the Hollywood mainstream. Radio, Television, and Film students were invited to room 184 in the RTFP building to meet Goodman and participate in a question and answer session.

Goodman’s main objective in meeting with film students had to do with his independently financed film “The Last Lullaby”. He hopes to spread word-of-mouth about his movie across the southern United States so when he finally secures distribution, he will have a built-in audience.

Few students actually showed for the event. The large room was occupied by less than 40 people.

Goodman treated the audience to a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of his film, which is about a retired hit man called back into duty for one last job. Actor Tom Sizemore stars in the film, which has a script by Peter Biegen and Max Allan Collins, the writer of the graphic novel “The Road to Perdition”.

Goodman told audience members about his problems in securing distribution. “Distribution is the hardest part of making an independent film,” said Goodman. “Finding someone to fund your film is child’s play compared to finding a public place that will show your film.”

Goodman said he found investors by making a list of the richest people in his area of the country and giving them his five-minute pitch one at a time. He said most places that will distribute independent films have no intention of paying you for your movie.

Independent Filmmaker Lectures At UNT

Screenwriter and director Jeffrey Goodman visited the University of North Texas campus to lecture to students about his experiences as an independent filmmaker outside of the Hollywood mainstream. Radio, Television, and Film students were invited to room 184 in the RTFP building to meet Goodman and participate in a question and answer session.

Goodman’s main objective in meeting with film students had to do with his independently financed film “The Last Lullaby”. He hopes to spread word-of-mouth about his movie across the southern United States so when he finally secures distribution, he will have a built-in audience.

Few students actually showed for the event. The large room was occupied by less than 40 people.

Goodman treated the audience to a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of his film, which is about a retired hit man called back into duty for one last job. Actor Tom Sizemore stars in the film, which has a script by Peter Biegen and Max Allan Collins, the writer of the graphic novel “The Road to Perdition”.

Goodman told audience members about his problems in securing distribution. “Distribution is the hardest part of making an independent film,” said Goodman. “Finding someone to fund your film is child’s play compared to finding a public place that will show your film.”

Goodman said he found investors by making a list of the richest people in his area of the country and giving them his five-minute pitch one at a time. He said most places that will distribute independent films have no intention of paying you for your movie.

UNT Professor’s Documentary Project Has Beijing Premiere

A University of North Texas professor finally reached the end of a filmmaking venture that has lasted two years. Melinda Levin, associate professor and chair of the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of North Texas, acted as one of three executive producers in an independent documentary project called “Global Rivers”.

The film, financed by the Centre International De Liaison Des Ecoles De Cinema Et De Television (CILECT), the leading international organization in film and television schools, depicts the very different stories of five major world rivers – the Amazon, Danube, Ganges, Mississippi and Rio Grande. “Global Rivers” premiered at the beinnial congress in Beijing, China on November 5.

The project represents the first time CILECT has financed an American film.

Irene Klaver, associate professor at the UNT Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies and expert on global water issues, acted as a consultant to the project for much of the film’s inception and assisted the filmmakers in deciding which rivers to film and why. Liz Daggett, Levin’s former graduate assistant, also helped the production by shooting some footage and maintaining a “Global Rivers” blog throughout the project.

Filmmakers from around the world participated in filming for the project. Many of them were native to the areas of the featured rivers.

Local Production Company Seeking Crew Members

A University of North Texas student is looking for crew members to help produce an Internet series for his independent production company. Senior Daniel Tuttel says he especially needs a Director of Photography for “Rental”, a six episode comedy scripted by Tuttel and produced by his Dallas-based company, Trip Aces Entertainment.

The group has already filmed several short scenes for promotional reasons and had a party celebrating the debut of the series on October 23. “We’ve been gaining of lot of buzz both locally and nationally with  many of the major networks and studios in L.A. and New York,” Tuttel says.

The main storyline of the series is about the misadventures of the employees of a rental store and their relationships.  According to Tuttel, the episodes are currently in the storyboarding stage.

Tuttel and his partner gained the funds needed to produce their story by developing a five minute pitch for investors and taking it to any wealthy person they could find. Their hopes are to not only make a living producing content for their company, but also allowing others in the field to have the opportunity to find steady work.

“It is a great opportunity for film students,” Tuttel said. “They can join us and really develop their craft.”

UNT Film Students Worry About Future Careers

The uncertainty of the future has got University of North Texas Radio, Television, and Film student Matt Stanford down. “I just don’t know exactly what I’m going to do after [college],” Stanford said.

The former Texas A&M architecture student came to UNT three years ago to pursue what he calls a “less boring” field of study. “Now that I’m here, I kinda long for the security of what I was doing before.”

His worries are not uncommon amongst people in his major or even amongst college seniors in general. A recent poll states that more than half of all  college students experience some sort of trepidation about their future after graduation. And with the popularity of the Radio, Television and Film major (it is the most common at UNT) and a limited workforce, RTVF students are often left with insecurities as to their life after graduation.

Some students find work at local production and film equipment houses, but Matt says his real passion has always been for editing. “Me and my friends used to make these little short film of us dunking a basketball and I would always edit them,” Stanford said. “After that I was hooked.”

Matt says he couldn’t settle at this time for just working with equipment. If he is going to work in film, it will be something to do with editing. “I’ve got a friend who is starting a production house in Austin and he wants me to join, but I’m not sure,” said Stanford. “But it’s better than nothing.”

Below is a profile of Matt Stanford created especially for our site.

Screenwriting Software Available Online

Good screenwriting is the basis for all good filmmaking. However, many writer get bogged down with the amount of time it takes to format a screenplay in word processor software such as Microsoft Word.

I, too, suffered from this frustration until my friend turned me on to Celtx, a preproduction software that automatically formats for scripts.

Celtx is available to everyone online for free and it cuts most of these problems and efforts down to a minimum. The software lets you keep pages saved as scenes in the whole project and gets rid of the problems many have with tabs and other such difficulties.

I highly recommend this product, which can be downloaded here.

In order to help users better understand the program, there is a series of instructional videos on YouTube here. The videos are from Expert Village and are extremely helpful. I have posted one below to explain the formatting process in the program.

New Mini HD Cameras Released

With the push for high-definition quality in television and online, it was only a matter of time before companies began releasing smaller HD camcorders for private home use.  With this in mind, a new group of pocket-sized high-definition cameras have been released from the Kodakand Sanyo companies. Below is what we think about each camera.

Kodak Zi6 Pocket Video Camera

What’s good: It’s light, easy to use, and very sturdy. The picture quality is really very good for the size and price (161.99-179.95, according to Entertaiment Weekly). The audio is pretty blown out, but still solid. There’s a built-in USB plug to download video straight to your computer, and a slot for memory cards. The video is recorded in H.264 files (which any computer can read) and has variable modes of definition, including VGA (640 x 480 resolution, like a regular TV), 720p HD (1280 x 720 at 30 fields per second) and HD60 (720p at 60 fps, which makes action smoother).

What’s bad: If the photographer doesn’t have a tripod, they’re out of luck with this camera, since it lacks Image Stabilization. Also the inability to shoot in low light without producing a grainy image is also a factor (but not an uncommon one with digital video camcorders.)

Final Judgment: If you’re sticking to home use or plan to use a tripod, this camera is a great buy for the price.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX37

What’s good: It’s build and design are sleek and smart, making it pretty intuitive to use. This one does have image stabilization and it worked very well in smoothing out my clumsy hand movements and weak pans. The video is sharp and catches a lot of detail. The LCD is bright enough for outside daylight use. The Lumix also comes with a wide-angle lens which is uncommonly cool.

What’s bad: To begin with, the Lumix won’t allow you to zoom while filming. (Don’t know why, just doesn’t function that way.) The video seems to be easily blown out by bright light and the audio is muffled when using the in-camera mic. (The mic is located on the top of the camera and has a tendency to be covered up by big-handed photogs, like me.)

Final Judgment: For the price ($270 – $349.95, according to Entertainment Weekly)and name (Lumix is often thought of to be of a higher benchmark in cameras), I would expect better.