Today we have some very cool news for all FilmNet users!

We are launching a new site Alternion.com which will provide you with additional opportunities both in content distribution and in social networking.

It started over a year ago when we were thinking about expanding the FilmNet concept to a wider audience. At FilmNet we aggregate independent films, reviews, professional listings, and other content for filmmakers and film lovers. Meanwhile, the social web is becoming more fragmented every day with the numbers of user accounts, friends, followers, updates, photos, videos, blogs, email and instant messages increasing exponentially. That gave us the inspiration to develop a more global “aggregator”.

After an intense year of development, we’re proud to present Alternion.com, your personal content aggregation and communication center. It enables you to combine and manage all your social accounts, including your updates, photos and videos from Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and other networks. You can also view your friend updates, photos, and videos from other networks, combine and send all of your email and direct messages, create a consolidated social address book, post to other services, and much more. You can find more details in the Alternion blog, as well as in the About and Help sections there.

Don’t worry, Alternion is not going to replace FilmNet. It’s a separate project and you can start enjoying it today!

Alternion is currently in private beta mode, open only to select few users, while we are making sure that everything works fine. The rest of the world is not allowed to see the site quite yet. However, if you’ve had a FilmNet account since before April 30th, 2011 (in other words, longer than a week ago from the date of this post) you have been granted the access to Alternion!

You can login to Alternion with your FilmNet username or email, and your FilmNet password (if you forgot the latter, you can set up a new one via the ‘Forgot password’ link on Alternion). For your convenience, your FilmNet profile data have been automatically exported to Alternion, including photos, videos, and even subscribers and subscriptions. Your privacy settings have been kept intact. If you wish, you can delete your Alternion account at any time at http://www.alternion.com/settings/account/.

There are plenty of ways how you can enjoy and leverage our new site. If you are a filmmaker or a film school/festival, you can consolidate your videos, photos and updates from different networks on Alternion, giving your fans a universal place to follow all your latest uploads and news. If you are a film lover, you can combine and follow updates and videos from your friends and subscriptions elsewhere. And if you are an avid social networker, you can consolidate and manage all of your social accounts and emails from one place.

You cannot upload videos or photos on Alternion just yet, but don’t worry, we are finalizing these features, and they will be available soon.

And we’re just getting started! We encourage you to login to Alternion and follow the Alternion blog for future updates about this project. We are hoping it will become one more home for you!

Of course, please also feel free to contact us at FilmNet via our ‘Feedback’ form at the bottom of each page or via info@filmnet.com should you have any questions, comments or ideas. We are always listening and will be happy to assist you.

It was fun to hear that this year at least a couple of people braved parties dressed as Captain Disillusion. Alas, I think people kept asking them if they’re “T-1000 on crack”…

But I do have a perfect costume in mind for when I finally get around to celebrating Halloween properly, one of these years. I want to dress up as Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. I would go with the crazy look at the end of the film. Rubbery skin, created with makeup, a bald cap with just a tumbleweed of blond hair at the top; false, unnaturally perfect teeth and florescent cartoon eyes applied right on top of my real eye sockets. The rest of it is just an old-timey black coat, gloves and a cane with a chrome skull handle. It will be awesome.

Did you dress up as a movie character this year? Who? Better yet, let’s see some pictures in your albums and links in the comments to this post!

Do it or I will tell the judge where you are…

REMEMBER ME, EDDIE?!!!!!

There are many video sharing and social networking sites. So why did we decide to build a new one? What’s different about FilmNet?

We have designed FilmNet as an open social community based around video content. We want our users to be able to discover tons of high quality films and music videos by some of the best content creators from around the world, to share them, and discuss with friends on their profiles and through live chats. We also want to help bring together people who share the same tastes – through real-time updates, advanced search options, and many other social networking features.

We believe independent filmmakers and musicians deserve a high quality platform to get their work seen and heard by the masses. On FilmNet you can upload films with no limitation in size or duration, create several shows under one profile and syndicate those entire shows in the embeddable player. We support HD streaming both on our site and in the embedded player, and we’ll be helping filmmakers and production companies distribute their work on other platforms.

We aim to facilitate the production of independent movies by having the most comprehensive and integrated database of independent films and shows, filmmakers, actors, musicians, film festivals, film schools, and other industry professionals and related organizations. We’ll be helping filmmakers find crew members, actors and distributors, as well as to get their movies made with some unique project management and collaboration tools.

And we also want our platform to be equally attractive to both semi-professional independent filmmakers and fully commercial content providers. Our advanced browsing and search options allow users to find exactly what they are looking for, and our versatile high definition player enables premium content to look its best. The Reviews section is built in the same way, combining reviews of both FilmNet content and the latest theatrical and DVD releases from many professional and independent critics.

We hope this is a good start. We have many more exciting things planned in the coming weeks, and we encourage you to tell us what you like and dislike. Upload your best films and music videos, and spread the word about FilmNet to all your friends!

Here’s a short animation from Joaquin Baldwin that perfectly represents how we feel right now

Today I’ll be your tour guide though one of our more exciting compartments: The Reviews Section. As resident film critic, I’m in charge of making the reviews look as spiffy as possible. Here’s how the section breaks down…

On FilmNet: Here our contributors get the professional treatment, as we offer in-depth reviews of the short films, Web series and feature-length movies available to watch on FilmNet

In Theaters: Reviews of the latest Hollywood, independent and film festival releases.

On DVD: A look at new home video releases, from blockbusters to little-seen gems.

A Look Back: Everything else!

So there you have it. As you’ll see, we’ve already filled the section with reviews from multiple critics. Not only will FilmNet be an excellent source for reviews, it will also be a great showcase for reviewers. Richard Peter focuses on horror movies, while Steve Rhodes reviews just about everything new that comes out. Our other critics include Evil Wolfie, Man of the Movie 16, Shane Burridge, Jerry Saravia, Dain Binder, Phil Edwards, Battle Royale with Cheese, Tom Elce, Tim Skirvin, Andrew Staker, Justin M and Joe Lopez.

And this is only the beginning! You’ll see many more critics and reviews on our site soon.

You’ll also see that you can add your own review to any existing review on FilmNet. Just go to the “write a review” section at the bottom of the page and let your voice be heard. And we’ll be adding more features in the weeks ahead – including the ability to browse reviews by critic, links to movie trailers, photo albums and more – so stay tuned.

I hope you find the reviews – not to mention the rest of the site – as exciting as I do. Consider this an open invitation to get involved in the site and contribute your own reviews to FilmNet!

And we can’t do it without you, our bestest friends in the whole world. We’ve put a lot of effort into developing the site and contacting people to be the initial set of users and contributors. Help us continue these efforts and become an early VIP at the greatest party ever.*

Build Buzz

Before we bust out into the public eye, we need to build some buzz. Tell people that FilmNet’s coming, that it’s likely to be very cool and whatever else you want to make up. You could say:

Yo, I heard Jay Z is gonna be there. Don’t tell anyone.

Or you could say something that’s true, like the fact that FilmNet will help small filmmakers to get their movies made with some unique project management and collaboration features; that the site will have tons of high quality films from the hottest content creators from around the world and that it will all play back in high quality and lightning-fast; that the site will have real-time features and a strong sense of community.

BYOC

Right now, the FilmNet party policy is BYOC – Bring Your Own Content. We need to keep filling the site up with some awesome indie films, web series and music videos as well as talented folks who own them and those who like to watch them.

So the deal is: if you want to be one of the first to see FilmNet, you’ve got to give us a video of yours. This gets you an account and eventual access to the beta site (when it’s live at the end of August) before anyone else! You will find your account and your published video(s) there and you can decide how you like everything long before the general public gets access.

The easiest way to join us is to fill out the form that’s on the landing page of http://www.filmnet.com right now and we’ll hook you up.

Holla at Us**

We have a Facebook Fan Page. Join it and share your thoughts! Is the idea of FilmNet interesting to you? Got any questions? Observations? Accusations? Please feel free to use our page as a place to vent. We’ll be here with a witty comment reply when you’re happy and a bucket of ice cream when you’re sad.

• Post on our wall
• Comment
• Promote your work with posts or pictures in our fan gallery

That’s about it. We’re gonna get back to work now. Thanks in advance to all!

Peace,
FilmNet

* Okay, maybe not the greatest party EVER, but a pretty damn good party. And we hope you understood that “party” is just a metaphor for our website. Don’t show up with Vodka and escorts at our offices. Well…
** We sincerely apologize for that horrible pun heading.

Please visit www.filmnet.com for more information about becoming a FilmNet contributor.

As one of the behind-the-scenes people at FilmNet, I get to see how the site is shaping up as we fast approach our launch date. And I have to say, I’m getting really excited! This is going to be the ultimate site for film lovers – THE place for news, reviews, and the best of online movies.

I’ve been busy writing reviews and working hard to awesomify our review section before we pull back the curtain in September. This has been a decidedly mixed summer at the movies. (Harry: You’re still a wizard. Michael Bay: Could you tone it down just a wee bit?) On FilmNet, you’ll find reviews of movies playing at a theater near you, as well as critiques of the latest DVD releases and an extensive catalog of what are essentially nostalgia pieces – movies that came out a long time ago but we’ve decided to revisit. And, of course, reviews of your short films!

But I can’t do this all by myself, people, and for two reasons: 1) I am only one man; and 2) That’s not what FilmNet’s all about. This is about building a community of film fanatics, and we want our review section to have the same diversity of opinion as any other great user-driven Web site.

So if you like writing about movies, please send us your reviews! On the site, each review will have its own page, with your byline, stills from the movie and ratings on a five-star scale. The review page will link to a profile page, where you can pimp just about anything you want: social networking sites, other places where users can read your work, whatever! Please include a star rating along with the name you want your reviews to be published under. You can e-mail me at sbshupe@filmnet.com. ]]> http://www.filmnet.com/blog/2009/09/19/calling-all-movie-critics/feed/ 0