Tales from the Lonely Road of a Filmmaker. There is some much needed help in the legal arena for documentary filmmakers!!!
The Lonely Road of a DIY Filmmaker. Fair Use up ahead.
DIY Film Festival attended the IDA (International Documentary Association) evening that defined "Fair Use" for filmmakers. (Lots of resources for documentary filmmakers on their web page).
For detailed information about Fair Use in copyright law please visit
In a nutshell, a consortium of law firms, and University law professors who help documentary filmmakers, have successfully got an exemption from the DMCA (Digital Media Copyright Act) for DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS to use certain items that used to be difficult to use. As long as the clip falls under the "Fair Use" category (defined on their website) you can use any photograph that is obtained online in your documentary, and any film clip as long as it is being used for "commentary or criticism."
The last two are explained on their website
For those who need clips that they can only find on youtube, or by ripping it from a DVD (which is technically illegal, unless you follow their protocols as described on their website), it is now legal to use clips or photos, music, or other hard to obtain materials for your documentary if it falls under the "Fair Use" regulations ("for purposes of commentary or criticism").
Because boring would be bad filmmaking
DIY Film Fest is not dispensing legal advice, but this is a DIY documentary filmmaker's advice place, so please go to their website to understand clearly what the law says or consult an attorney well versed in it. (These folks helped filmmakers use the law with the recent hits "Room 237" and "Catfish.") But it's good news for documentary filmmakers who want to use a clip they thought they'd get in trouble for under the "Fair Use" rules. Worth checking into.
They'd like to hear your tales of woe
They're also asking for filmmakers to help them in their next exemption challenge, which happens every three years. So if you can detail how and why it was difficult for you to get information for your documentary (in terms of being hard to rip the DVD, or use of a film clip was onerous) they'd like to hear from you.
And now.. a word from our new (old and new again) sponsor Pinnacle...
They're now part of the Corel Family of products, after spending some time under the AVID umbrella.
They're a "do it yourself" editing software, which has some excellent codecs, and can be used by the beginning filmmaker up to professionals who need a laptop PC based system.
The software is affordable, and for those who've used the Microsoft free software, this is a step up. Needless to say, the more you use it, the easier it becomes. Onwards and upwards!!! Stay tuned!
Speaking of TIME - it's getting to be that time of year as we gear up for the annual DIY Film Festival Gala at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood in March.
But first things first... the DIY FILM FESTIVAL will accept entries up until Monday Feb, 11th, 2013 - finalists will be notified by or around Feb 18th to give filmmakers who can attend the gala, time to get their reservations in order.
We are an annual fest which presents screenings at local venues during the year, and then a screening of finalists prior to the Gala and then excerpts are shown at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel - (if you're film arrives after the deadline, it will be rolled over into the following year's fest.) We've had some amazing winners that have submitted their films the last day of the festival, as well as the first day of the festival. Not to worry, but if you're film is ready, now is the time to submit it. Our submission address (which is listed at WithoutABox.com, our exclusive way to enter the festival). But if you lose the address, or misplace it:
DIY FILM FESTIVAL, PO BOX 248, SANTA MONICA, CA 90406
EMAIL: DIYFILMFEST@YAHOO.COM
Deep Roy gettings his 2011 film award at the Roosevelt
We have some amazing films from around the world this year - from as far away as India and Romania, from young and old filmmakers across the country and planet who felt the desire, need and passion to tell a great story. Each year we honor some amazing films, amazing filmmakers. AVID has been sponsoring us for a number of years now, and a million thanks for their support.
We haven't had a youtube cat film yet - there's still time!.
Roosevelt Gala of 2012
So if you're film is nearly finished, get to work! Be courageous, be daring, have fun. Take a look at some of the amazing entries that are posted along this page - they're fantastic films, dramas, shorts, comedies - from all stripes, from all walks of life. DIY filmmakers follow the tenet that an artist doesn't need wheelbarrows of money to tell a compelling story. We look forward, once again, to honoring them.
Could be you!
Good luck! Break a reel! Or a DVD! Throw caution to the wind, but your back into it, put your heart into it, and good will come of it.
Everything seems back on track with WithoutABox - other than a couple of snafus, everything seems to be working fine. If you submitted a film a couple of weeks ago and haven't heard a confirmation, please let us know.
And now a word from our sponsors:
Corel has released some new editing software. Pinnacle 16 is a PC based editing system that seems designed for DIY filmmakers and filmmaking. Although why they name things "ultimate" is a bit loopy, as it's usually "the ultimate" until it's not. That being said, if you're not a MAC based editor, Pinnacle is worth looking into. Not expensive, but has the bells and whistles of Avid software backing it up.
Our sponsor Avid dealt Corel their Pinnacle division, so it remains to be seen how that will affect Avid's foray into the low end (DIY) editing world. Currently they're focusing on Media Composer, a professional editing system that handles the higher end material, in a Final Cut Pro fashion.
Where there's a will, there's a way - there are free editing solutions and opportunities in every platform, whether windows "movie maker" or "ifilm" from Mac.
There are many camera platforms to consider, from Canon single lens reflex series that also shoot HD, to the standards of Sony, Panasonic and other versions. With feature films using the RED digital film systems for their big budget pictures, it's a matter of time before these systems become prosumer.
Lighthouse to the DIY future
In terms of DIY film distribution, what appears to be the easiest to navigate, is the createspace.com model - where you submit your DVD to their service, they digitize it, copy it, and make it available on Amazon.com in return for a percentage of your profit. Once you've created the DVD or the streaming video, it's up to you to promote and sell and make it worth the effort to make it. Itunes requires an aggregator to be the go-between between filmmaker and their sales outfit - and that can cost the filmmaker thousands of dollars in order to format it in their system.
In that vein, KinoNation is a new company that will act as an aggregator, but takes their cut from the profit of the film. Worth looking into. It's a matter of time before DIY production, distribution becomes a larger share of the creative workplace.
It seems to be the DIY way of the future.
And now back to the show! Click on some of the films along the side panel to get an idea of the kinds of DIY winning films we've had the pleasure of honoring over the past 11 years!!!! Keep up the good work and thanks.
It was SRO at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday night March 3rd for the annual DIY Film Fest Gala. The combined Gala included winners from the LA and DIY Book Festival (Winners included Tim Burton's "The Art of Tim Burton" edited by "Ballad of Sandeep's" Derek Frey). The festival attracted winning entries from across the globe, including Brazil, Italy, Romania, and Israel.
Clips, trailers and shorts were shown
Fulbright Scholar Artemis Preeshl
In attendance were also filmmakers who'd make pictures in different countries. Fullbright ScholarArtemis Preeshl won an Honorable Mention for her Indian film she shot in Chenai - "Pancha Ratna - Five Gems." A film that combined the spirit of DIY as well as filming in the rural countryside of India in Bollywood dance fashion.
Actor Deep Roy
Deep Roy was on hand to accept the Honorable Mention for Derek Frey's "The Ballad of Sandeep" and spoke of the four films that he's made with Tim Burton at the helm including "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Deep Roy spoke on behalf of Derek Frey who directed him in
"The Ballad of Sandeep."
Cara Feinberg
Deep Roy accepting the DIY award from DIY's Rich Martini
Cara Feinberg spoke movingly about the DIY experience when making her film "Working Blind" about three people who became blind, but found themselves becoming wood craftsmen, working with buzz saws and creating their artwork. Her film also won and Honorable Mention in the short documentary category.
Film director Puppett
Filmmaker "Puppett" spoke of her journey from film school in Philadelphia to Los Angeles, and her film "Time Spent." An unusual look at a relationship between two friends, the film was awarded an Honorable Mention in the dramatic short category.
Nicholas Plagman
Nick Plagman accepted the Comedy Short Film award for his "The Ham Sandwich That Changed the World" which detailed how a comic satire he wrote became part of the Fox News cycle - Nick, a contributor to "Funny or Die" plays all the parts in his film, his film becoming a satire on a satire of how news becomes news.
Ike Ahloe spoke about the genesis of his winning animated film "Clocked In," and how in true DIY fashion, he was actually communicating with the developer of the software to help him (and help the developer) with the software he used to make his film. The film is a hilarious punk rock infused look into a mind numbing office workplace - (reminiscent of Mike White's HBO show "Enlightenment") and in the midst of trying not to fall asleep, the character envisions a number of scenarios to allow him to break free from his office doldrums.
Also on hand was the winning documentary filmmaker Jennifer Hitchcock, who along with her husband Vernon Hall created the powerful "Dreams Deferred: The Struggle for Peace and Justice In Israel and Palestine" a searing portrait of the Palestinian settlements in Israel as told by Israeli activists who are trying to stop their country from stealing more Palestinian lands. It's an eye opening look at a controversial topic that demonstrates how the new "settlements" are actually these modern, high tech, mini-malls and apartment complexes that are quickly gobbling up Palestinian land, and how both the Palestinians and Israeli activists against these massive projects are getting little or no help to stop them. Jennifer spoke of her journey to the work, this being her first documentary, and how the film shot on location and in the midst of rubber bullet attacks cost under $10K to produce. She also spoke eloquently on behalf of those people she interviewed who wanted to get the message out into the world. A link to the full length feature is above.
Flavio Parenti
Director Flavio Parenti couldn't be on hand to deliver his speech thanking the DIY Film festival for acknowledging his amazing "Quantum Butterfly Dream" but sent a video from Rome where he's working on a film. (He's acting in the next Woody Allen film tentatively title "Nero Fiddled.") Flavio speaks about the two and half years it took him to make the film, how he'd shot it with a small digital camera, and how moved he was that the film was acknowledged for its masterful story telling technique - not all the festivals it went to understood, or appreciated its use of multiple digital images to tell the story, but at the DIY Film Festival, we appreciate those who turn the every day into art. As avante garde artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau once said "when the cost of making film is as much as a pencil and a piece of paper, then we'll see true artists." Flavio Parenti's "Sogno Farfalle Quantiche" is an advancement of digital filmmaking into that category, Winner DIY Best Film.
WINNER BEST DIRECTOR - Rodolfo Novaes for “JUST IN TIME”Rodolfo Novaes is a writer director from Brazil studying film at the University of Westminster in the UK. This stunning debut film, shot with the Red camera, is a clever journey of a husband who returns home to London to find his wife has been cheating on him while he was away. He follows his wife's lover to find the man is a hired gigolo - and the gigolo doesn't realize the husband is following him. Their ensuing encounter is both surprising and brilliant, and shows a promising career for this amazing film student. This is his first film. Rodolfo is making a feature film at the moment, so he sends his regards:
ANIMATED SHORTFILM
WINNER BEST ANIMATED FILM
Ike Ahloe’s “CLOCKED IN”
An amusing look at the adventures of a clock puncher in a computer office.
HONORABLE MENTION
Gerald Grunow’s “999.999.999”
Set in the future, brilliant animation from a German filmmaker about the power of a rose. STUDENT FILM WINNER BEST STUDENT FILM
Winner of a number of film festivals, this Tisch school short is amazing and hilarious. HONORABLE MENTION
Ryan Klaver’s short documentary “AMEND”
From Taylor University, a straight forward story about a one of our nation's "Greatest Generation."
COMEDY SHORT FILM
WINNER BEST SHORT COMEDY FILM
Nicholas Plagman’s “THE HAM SANDWICH THAT CHANGED THE WORLD”
Provocateur and comedian Nicholas Plagman's true story of how satire made it into Fox News. HONORABLE MENTION
Derek Frey’s “BALLAD OF SANDEEP”
The comedic journey of an outsourced Indian, who turns the tables on his bosses.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT FILM
WINNER BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Jessica Vecchione’s “ROBERT - PORTRAIT OF AN ART-ER”
Amazing look into an artist who creates monuments out of stone, and lives in an alternate universe of time. HONORABLE MENTION
Touching and moving look into the lives of three newly blind woodworkers learning to use power tools and buzz saws by sound and feel alone.
DRAMA SHORT FILM WINNER BEST SHORT DRAMA FILM Daniel Watson, Rafael Cortina’s“DOUBLE TRUTH”
Powerful dramatic tale about two wayward thieves and crossing paths with a young boy on a cold day in NYC. HONORABLE MENTION
Puppett’s “TIME SPENT” Two friends deal with an emotionally dangerous past. HONORABLE MENTION
Misha Sundukovskiy’s “THE SUNSET”
Insightful tale about an unlikely friendship between two different cultures in San Francisco.
Leo Grillo’s “THE RESCUER”
Over 20 years in the making, this tale is about a man who found his life's calling in rescuing abandoned pets. HONORABLE MENTION
Gary Null’s “DEATH BY MEDICINE”
A clarion call to understand the money and collusion behind Big Pharma, and the medicines that are killing those they're supposed to save. HONORABLE MENTION
A woman comes to terms with her car accident that left her in a wheelchair - its ultimately the faith and love of her friends and Church that get her to see the blessings in her life.
WORLD CINEMA
BEST WORLD CINEMA FEATURE
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE - Mirel Bran’s “ONE-WAY ROUND TRIP” (Romania)
An amazing journey with a family of Roma (Gypsies) who are expelled from France, then return to try to find a way to stay. Everyone does their best to turn them out of the country, until they find their way to Cannes. HONORABLE MENTION
DOCUMENTARY SHORT - Mia Mullarkey’s “HALLS WITHOUT WALLS” (Ireland)
A young Irish painter and poet struggles with his Asperger's with the help of his loved ones. HONORABLE MENTION
An impoverished woman is about to evicted from her home by two Israeli soldiers, while she waits for herson who is also in the military to come home and rescue her.
HONORABLE MENTION
DRAMA SHORT- Artemis Preeshl’s “PANCHA RATNA - FIVE GEMS” (India)
A DIY Bollywood film, shot in the countryside of India by a group of young Indian filmmakers who show how it only requires a passion for story telling to tell a compelling story - no matter where it is set.
A fun night was had by all, and special thanks to Avid for supplying the winners with their latest editing software, including the Avid Studio and Pinnacle's Studio HD Ultimate as prizes - bot of which allow filmmakers to "make professional moves and multimedia projects with technology trusted by Hollywood."
Special thanks to all the filmmakers who contributed, finished, struggled to finish, or set out to make their own DIY film projects. We at the DIY Fest encourage everyone to pick up a camera and either document your world, and give people a journey they won't forget. As Jean Cocteau, French poet, novelist, actor, filmmaker said, and our motto for the DIY Film Festival remains:
