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36 Stairs is the new live-action short from director Grzegorz Jonkajtys, the award-winning creator of Ark and Legacy. Viewers of those mini-masterworks know that Jonkajtys is an exceptional storyteller and a talented animator. For the first time, he’s using those gifts to make a life-action movie, and the results are nothing short of jaw-dropping.

The actual film won’t be released until early 2010. What we have here is a 75-second teaser. It provides a few tantalizing clues as to what the story is about, while fleshing out the film’s visual extravagance and dystopian, futuristic setting.

I’m assuming this is a “virtual backlot” movie, like SIN CITY and SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW. Instead of being physically constructed, the movie’s “sets” have been digitally rendered on a computer. This mix of real actors and fake sets can be distracting in films like the STAR WARS prequels, but with other filmmakers the virtual backlot is a godsend – it lets their imaginations run wild. Jonkajtys is a case in point.

The film stars Rodrigo Lopresti as Jeffrey Brief, a tragic Everyman in a world where humans depend on bio-mechanical alterations to withstand the deteriorating climate. We see a few of these alterations in the trailer, first an organic-looking respirator and later a phone that appears to be physically attached to Jeffrey’s hand. In part, the film looks to be a biological horror movie, like David Cronenberg’s VIDEODROME. Like that 1983 sci-fi masterpiece, 36 Stairs appears to be exploring how technology can overtake our lives and destroy us.

Many shots in the trailer establish the frightening world Jeffrey lives in. A scene in a hallway, with rows and rows of lockers standing sentinel while Jeffrey is backlit by a blinding light source, has the feel of a bureaucratic nightmare – like something out of Orson Welles’s THE TRIAL or Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL. The central scene shows Jeffrey making a desperate phone call to his health insurance provider. The automated voice on the other end of the line tells him, “I’m sorry, this number is invalid.” It all feels insanely timely.

The attention to detail in the wide cityscape shots would do sci-fi heavy-hitters like Ridley Scott and James Cameron proud. In fact, forget AVATAR. This is the science-fiction movie I want to see.

Considering that I put on weird clothes and makeup for the camera on a regular basis, it’s weird that I have never actually dressed up for Halloween. It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just… never worked out.

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?!!!!!

It’s October 31, and you know what that means: Time to watch some horror movies that will scare the living bejesus out of you. Mwa-ha-ha-ha!

If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. FilmNet has lots of great horror flicks to watch. Today I’ll be your guide to the best-of-the-best. So stick out your plastic pumpkin pail, say “Trick or Treat,” and allow me to share some goodies with y’all.

Where would the horror genre be without zombies? Dead, that’s where. For a comedic take on the undead, check out seasons one and two of Zomblogalypse. Reportedly made as a response to George A. Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD, the series shows us the recorded misadventures of three Brits in the aftermath of a (what else?) zombie apocalypse. See the Dead is a fast-paced zombie shocker with some very imaginative special effects. And, speaking of imaginative, Patrick Boivin offers his own unique spin on the genre with Le Queloune, a zombie origin story like no other.

For those who prefer their horror with tongue planted firmly in cheek, there’s Toss of the Coin, about an angel wrestling with a demon over the soul of a man whose cat has just gotten him electrocuted. Written by Patrick Steele, the movie is both funny and frightening. Delta Delta Dead! (great title) is a slasher movie that takes place in a sorority house; it’s like SCREAM crossed with REVENGE OF THE NERDS. Now there’s a winning combination!

Some horror aficionados might be in the mood for an all-out shocker. Well look no further than The Insane, which stars James Spofforth as a hard-boiled detective killing off ghouls in an abandoned city. The action is staged like a gory video game. Free To Go is basically a torture-porn movie in the tradition of HOSTEL and WOLF CREEK, except most of the torture takes place off screen. The movie still hits you where it hurts, though. So does Fear at Dusk, Andrew Pearce’s extraordinary three-minute thriller. In it, a brother and sister are faced with an unseen threat.

No horror collection would be complete without at least a few creepy-kid movies. The Keeling Brothers offer up a doozey with Pop Spoon. It’s about a twisted girl who dreams up the creepiest imaginary friend imaginable. Pop Spoon is a guy, but girls can be scary too. Exhibit A: Two Story House, a haunted-house movie that sustains a shivery, spellbinding tone throughout.

Last but not least is the terror-in-the-woods genre. From EVIL DEAD to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, this has always been one of my favorites. The Keelings deliver something genuinely unsettling with Playtime with Schlompkins, in which the monster addresses the camera directly. As in BLAIR WITCH, the camera – in other words, the audience – becomes the prey. Effigy is a poetic, physically beautiful horror movie based on folklore. It’s also told through subjective camerawork, but here we see the action from the point-of-view of a witch.

All of us at FilmNet had the same dream over the past 5 months: to build a home for filmmakers and movie buffs, musicians and their fans, and all the lovers of quality video content. It has been an amazing journey, and we are now very excited about opening the site to the public and continuing this journey together with you.

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

As you explore FilmNet’s vast reserves of films, you’ll notice: some people’s work stands out. Sure there are titles here produced by world class film schools with tons of resources, but there are just as many semi-professional short films made by modest means. You can tell they had the same type of equipment and the same amount of people at their disposal as you do on your productions, but their stuff is just so damn good…

It’s all about making your film excel equally in all aspects.

If you quickly throw together a script and shoot the movie beautifully, people will say, “This movie has beautiful cinematography.”

If you write the most dynamic and intelligent storyline ever, then get your shy friends to play-act it all amateurishly, people will say, “This movie has an interesting plot…”

But if you write a strong script, cast it well, shoot it beautifully and edit it professionally, then people will say, “This is a great movie.”

So here are some useful (and not always obvious) resources I highly recommend for making each aspect of your production better:

Writing/Planning/Pre-production

• http://www.script-o-rama.com – Some dude named Drew keeps a database of free movie and tv scripts it has been around for many years and it is vast. Chances are you can find and download any script you’re looking for there. What’s great is that some scripts are early drafts, showing how different the story was. A great way to study writing.
• The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier – (available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/yjynnrq). This unfortunately named book is widely used in film schools to help students grasp the rules of American movie script writing so that they can later break them. For this reason, it’s updated and republished regularly. It’s very insightful, easy to understand and covers everything from summoning your creative muse, to story structuring, to how many spaces the character’s name is indented in the dialogue block.
• http://www.ebay.com – Find shot lists, shooting schedules and call sheets from movies and TV shows that you like. Some former AD’s and PA’s are always selling them there. These are copies of actual documents used to make the final product. Study them, track how they organized and scheduled their massive productions, feel puny by comparison.

Production

• The Working Director by Charles Wilkinson – (available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ylanobu). This is one of the best books on directing I’ve ever read. No glamour, no hyperbole, just really practical advice by a veteran director successfully working in the trenches his entire career.
• http://wwww.google.com/docs – Don’t waste your money on fancy, specialized production software, at least until after you try Google Docs. The combination of Spreadsheets, Calendar and Tasks are a great solution for call sheets, scheduling and shot lists. Learn the features inside-out and use them. The best part: all your stuff is available when you inevitably lose your notebook in the chaos of a running set.

Post-Production

• http://www.videocopilot.net – If you deal with any kind of visual effects or graphics in your films, you have no doubt visited this site already. Andrew Kramer and team supply the internets with a wealth of incredibly useful tutorials for doing stuff in Adobe After Effects and other popular motion graphics software. They also sell unique and affordable plugins and stock material (effects elements, sound design and music). Plus you can’t beat Kramer’s hokey, absurdist humor.
• http://www.istockphoto.com – The most inexpensive stock photo and video site around, great for finding establishing shots and graphics elements in a variety of formats. If you have accumulated useful footage of your own which you think others might need, you can also submit it there and possibly earn some cash from downloads. Win-win (win).

Well, that should be plenty. Like an ancient Kung Fu master, I’m not going to reveal all my secrets in the hope that my pupil never surpasses me. Go forth and use these resources in your creative work, then upload it to FilmNet and show us!

The track has been laid, the whistle is blowing, and we’re off! All aboard the FilmNet Express!!!

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!

Launching a community site, like FilmNet, is kind of like trying to put on a party… in a tiny apartment… in Bosnia. It’s not so easy to get the A-list crowd (or any crowd) to show up. The way we see it, our greatness is inevitable. But right now, we just need to build up some street cred.

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.

It’s been a great pleasure being involved with FilmNet.com for the last few months. The entire team has been working extra hard to put the finishing touches on what we believe will become an invaluable site for the people that create web entertainment. My job in particular is fun because I get to go through the video sharing sites to find the best videos on the web and then contact their creators to see if our project might interest them.

So far the response has been great and we have found some amazing people/videos. I encourage every one of our users to upload as much content as possible. Soon the people already signed up will get a chance to preview the site. I can’t wait for them to see how the site is looking. In particular I think the review section is going to surprise people. I’ve never seen anything quite like it on any other video sharing site. I like the fact that we are showing that kind of respect to the filmmakers. Why shouldn’t great online movies be reviewed and rated? There is no reason not to.

As our launch date approaches, I feel more and more confident that we’ve created something special that people are really going to enjoy. I can’t wait.

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

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