Newport Beach Film Festival Screening

We officially screen at the Newport Beach Film Festival
Sunday, April 23rd at 12:00pm
If you live in California, you best be orderin' some tickets.

Getting Things Together

Here's the latest info on the Blasto front:

Newport Beach Film Fest
I've been working on getting all the advertising and promotional stuff together for the fest. This includes getting contact info and screeners out to the Orange County press, designing and printing posters, postcards, ads, etc., and getting the film transfered to Digitbeta, since they don't accept DVD as an exhibition format. This film fest is a fairly big one, the largest one we've been accepted to thus far, so we've really got to donate some time and money towards doing it really well.

Rewrite Treatment
After being swamped with work, fest prep, and other stuff, I'm back working on the treatment for the rewrite of Captain Blasto. It's going fairly well and should be finished within a few weeks. What's different? Well, nothing is set in stone but here's some quick ideas: Colin attempts to actually save people before staging robberies. It doesn't go well, which gives him the idea to start faking them. Colin also doesn't know about Captain Blasto at the beginning of the film, he discovers the comic book in the first 15 minutes. Colin also doesn't meet Daryl for the first time until a few minutes in. Whether or not Abbey will still be in it is still up in the air. If you want her to stay, leave a comment. The crew is made up of Daryl's friends, rather than random men they find. The final heist will take place on Halloween night, the perfect symbolism of people dressing up as something they've always wanted to be. Like I said, nothing is set in stone, and I'm sure many more changes will take place, but these are just some of the bigger ideas I can remember.

Updating Website
I've updated the main site with new pictures. The new pics include photos from the Lake County Film Fest and stills from the film.

Merchandise
You know you've always wanted a Captain Blasto t-shirt and poster. Well they are on their way. Keep an eye out for the Blasto store at http://www.captainblasto.com.

First Award

Captain Blasto has recieved it's very first festival award:

Special Jury Award for Visual Design

from the jury of the Lake County Film Festival.

Back Home

We're back home and WHOOPED. Not sure why either. I know you're essentially just sitting, but watching a lot of movies takes it out of you.

This post is just a quick overhead glance at the festival. I'll post with some more detail into specifics soon.

The general info is this: the Lake County Film Festival was an absolute blast. (It was held in the city of Libertyville which is a cross between Ligonier and Munhall, PA, only bigger than both.) Kudos to Nat and the staff for putting together a fest which will be incredibly tough to top. We had a great screening with approximately 60 people (in a room suited for 70 or so.) Although it wasn't our biggest audience, it was hands down our most responsive. Not only did they laugh at jokes no audience has before, they were incredibly supportive, and complimentary during a great Q&A session. They also bought 40 DVD's. They also had a better projector than the one that cost us $750 at Loews Premiere.

We met about a dozen other filmmakers, equally as supportive. The entire atmosphere was incredibly encouraging, contrary to other fests where filmmakers are way too competitive and malicious towards one another. Here's some links to some of their great projects:

Fatboy: The Movie - http://www.fatboythemove.com
A fun documentary about weight loss struggles directed by a clone image of Scott Stevens. This film will certainly get picked up for distribution. It's the only feature length film we had time to see.

Ride of the Mergansers - http://www.rideofthemergansers.com
A short documentary about the birthing of a reclusive North American duck. You will never laugh harder when you see they's little baby ducks drop out of the nest into the lake below.

Genie in a Bottle: Unleashed - http://www.stephentracefilms.com
A short documentary about the atom bombs and the Doomsday Clock filmed by two 13 year old boys. Styled like a PBS kids doc and fairly incredible for their age.

Spin - http://www.doubleedgefilms.com
A DJ that can control time with turntables. Pretty freakin' neat. Played before our Blasto screening.

The Mantis Parable - http://www.themantisparable.com
an incredible CG animated short about a captured caterpillar and praying mantis. Done by many people who will one day work for Pixar or Dreamworks I'm sure.

Smartcard - http://www.oxford-entertainment.com/smartcard/index.html
A "bleak future" short with a heavy critique on credit/debit cards and government information control.

Lemmings - http://www.lemmingsfilm.com
A funny animated short about a Lemming that questions his species mass suicidal tendencies. My only critique is that it's animated in a very childish style, but it's not necessarily appropriate for children.

We saw many more shorts, not all of which have a website to link to. I also recieved several DVD's from filmmakers which I haven't been able to watch yet.

That's the skinny. I'll post more soon.

Lake County

Driving to Illinois for the Lake County Film Fest today with Ashley, Kleiber, and Alan. Hoping for a good weekend and a decent crowd. Wish us luck.