DepicT! News

'08 Filmmaker Notes (Part 2)

Mon, 12 May 00:00:00 +0100

And here's the second installment of wise words from last year's winning filmmakers. David Gilbert is an animation student at University of the West of England, and it might be good to know that the seeds of his audience-picked film grew out of an all-night doodling session with friends...

Notes from DepicT! '07 Audience Award winner David Gilbert:

I had a magnificent time at Encounters 2007. It was my first ever film festival (due to my relative young age and hermit-like existence) but it was an experience I will never forget. It was a pleasure to be up against competition of such quality, and to come away with the audience award has made the last year cooped up in a dark room all the more worthwhile.

I like to approach filmmaking with just a few basic sketches and a loose idea in my brain. Improvisation is a wonderful thing and I like to use this technique as much as possible when making a film. It is easy to get bored and complacent when sticking to a rigid storyboard and as such I enjoy not really knowing what may leap out at me at any given corner. Usually these corners contain a few small animals and some rather unpleasant birds. I try not to get too excited about my work; excitement and happiness lead to complacency. Being constantly unsatisfied will push you to do radical things you never thought were possible.

My next film contains a couple of birds and a somewhat overweight man with deep-seated psychological issues, it is called Battery and should be completed in the next two months, or else I will fail university.

'08 Filmmaker Notes (Part 1)

Tue, 06 May 00:00:00 +0100

The submissions for DepicT! ’08 are starting to trickle in slowly but surely... If you’re not quite so speedy, though, and are still tossing around ideas but not sure where to start, don’t worry! First of all, you’ve got all summer to go before the deadline on Mon 8 Sept. Also, we’ve got fantastic resources here on the DepicT! website to get your creative juices flowing, from links to pages like the BBC Good Shooting Guide, loads of classic DepicT! films and the ever-popular Filmmaker Notes. Each year we ask the previous competition’s winners to tell us a bit about how they approach short filmmaking and the 90 second format, and we’re delighted that DepicT! ’07 winner Matthew Walker has sent in some tips to add to our archive. Look out for notes from DepicT! ’07 Audience Award winner David Gilbert coming soon too!

Notes from DepicT! '07 winner Matthew Walker:

I made Operator as part of the Animator in Residence scheme at Newport University - incidentally the same scheme on which 2006’s winner Flighty was made. I was originally going to make a film about a lift, then I scrapped that idea and decided I would make a film about Godzilla and then I scrapped that idea and decided to make an idea that I had doodled in my sketchbook while on a plane from Spain (where I hear it mostly rains, although I didn’t notice any). Making Operator was a really good experience, and I really enjoyed making the film with help from the students who all did a really good job. It was made in four weeks although I spent the first two weeks leaving most of what I needed to do until the last two weeks.

There are various ways to make a film of any length and everyone has different methods and tips. I would say there are a few key things you need to make a film:

An idea. An idea is very important. You can try and start to make a film without an idea but at some point you will need to have some form of an idea otherwise how do you decide where to point the camera? You may as well start with the idea, the same way you start a day with the morning, you can skip the morning but you end up regretting it the rest of the day.

Passion. You need to care about what you are making otherwise there is no point unless you are being paid a suitable amount of money to make it worthwhile. It is hard to make something good if you don’t care about making it good. Please note that passion does not necessarily translate in to enjoyment. In my experience the less I have enjoyed making something the better it often turns out to be.

A deadline. Not as important as the previous two but very useful. If you are being paid then a deadline will be provided for you. Competitions (DepicT! being the perfect and appropriate example) also provide suitable deadlines. If however you film is entirely self motivated then you will have to provide your own deadline, otherwise you could end up stretching the production out endlessly until one day you forget you were even making a film or you just get bored and start something new that meets the same fate.

Those are my top tips. Also be prepared to make sacrifices such as friends, family, social life, natural light, healthy diet and sleep.

DepicT! '08 Call for Entries

Fri, 11 April 00:00:00 +0100

Can you do it in 90 seconds?

If so, we want your mini-movie for the tenth DepicT! competition! That's right, this unique ultra-short film competition has been on the hunt for a decade to find emerging filmmakers who can take imagination, style, emotion, drama, mystery, humour and passion and pack them into one captivating 90 second mini-movie. We love all kinds of films, from live action to animation, documentary to experimental, as long as they're distinctive, fresh and engaging.

In addition to priceless exposure through Encounters International Short Film Festival (Tue 18 - Sun 23 Nov '08, Bristol, UK), the Digital Screen Network and beyond, we've once again got a range of unique prizes for the talented shortlisted and winning filmmakers:

First Prize: £2000 cash
NFTS DepicT! Special Mention Prize: a place on a short course at the National Film and Television School in ‘09, including travel bursary
Shooting People DepicT! Audience Award: a lifetime membership to and bundle of goodies from Shooting People
All shortlisted filmmakers will also receive an Encounters Network Delegates pass with all the trimmings, including a place in the popular Encounters Film School, opportunities for travel bursaries to attend the festival and a one-year membership to Shooting People

If you're in need of some inspiration, why not browse through our archive where we've got over 70 short film gems? And if you need any more convincing of how much you can do in 90 seconds or that DepicT! and Encounters are fantastic ways of getting your work seen by a wider audience, check out the filmmaker tips from previous winners as well as the press and industry testimonials.

We're still confirming top industry figures to choose this years' winners, so be sure to check back soon for more information, as well as new filmmakers' notes from last year's winners and other short film news and opportunities.

Deadline for submissions: Mon 8 Sept '08, 1700hrs (BST)

Submit your film to DepicT! '08 here.

Is your film longer than 90 seconds? Encounters has also launched their call for entries today, so give them a try...

Film Mentoring Opportunity

Thu, 10 April 00:00:00 +0100

There's a fantastic opportunity for up-and-coming filmmakers over at Guiding Lights. If you've got talent, passion and at least two years of experience in any aspect of the film industry, you could benefit from a year's worth of mentoring with a top industry professionals, including Paul Greengrass, Kevin Macdonald, Nira Park, Mark Herbert, David Yates, Julia Short and Cameron McCracken.

The deadline is Tue 29 Apr, 1700hrs.

For more information, visit www.guiding-lights.org.uk/2008/.

Operator screening at Watershed

Tue, 01 April 00:00:00 +0100

To kick off the distribution of DepicT! films through the DSN, we're delighted to announce that the DepicT! '07 winning film Operator by Matthew Walker will be screening at Watershed before Mike Leigh's new film Happy-Go-Lucky from Fri 18 April to Thu 1 May.

If you're interested in how this animation came about, Matt did a blog when he was working on it as Animator-in-Residence at University of Wales, Newport last year. He quite hilariously documents the stresses of filmmaking, along with his tea consumption and the necessity of using exactly the right props for sound effects (in his case, multiple toffee apples). He's also posted stills and drafts of the animatics along the way.

For a schedule of screenings, visit Watershed's online calendar.

DepicT! on the Big Screen

Mon, 03 March 00:00:00 +0000

The launch of this year’s DepicT! call for entries is just around the corner, and to get ready we’re celebrating the super-shorts from years past!

Having screened at the excellent London Short Film Festival in January as well as at Encounters last November, the ten DepicT! ’07 shortlisted films, along with ten cherry-picked favourites from the DepicT! vaults, will be made available to cinemas across the UK through the Digital Screen Network from April.

The idea is to use the flexibility of the digital projectors to screen individual shorts before features, and we’re really excited about this as a way to get these films to a wider audience as well as to raise the profile of short films in general. Watch this space for updates on DepicT! screenings and events across the UK.

Not part of the Digital Screen Network? No worries.

We’ve also got both programmes available on Digibeta, Beta SP PAL and DVD, and would love to hear from venues, short film nights, film societies and anyone else looking for short films to screen.

For more information and booking queries, email us at depict@watershed.org

Spring Sale at Shooting People

Fri, 29 February 00:00:00 +0000

Our friends at Shooting People have extended this special offer to friends of DepicT! - if you're thinking of making a short film (perhaps for DepicT! '08?!? Info coming soon!), Shooting People's shorts guide is an absolutely brilliant resource, as is Shooting People itself...

Spring sale! Get Shooting People membership and the Shooting People Shorts Directory for only £35* (save £18!)

A year’s subscription to Shooting People normally costs £30 - for only £5 more you will receive a copy of 'Get Your Short Film Funded, Made and Seen: the Shooting People Shorts Directory' (RRP£23).

To redeem this offer, visit www.shootingpeople.org/backtoschool OFFER EXTENDED THROUGH 31 MARCH.

*plus £3.18 p&p, UK only

Shooting People is the world's largest network of independent filmmakers. Over 34,000 members in the UK and the US share tips, recommendations and news, and cast their films using eight Daily Bulletins: UK Filmmaker, UK Casting, UK Documentary, UK Animation, UK Music Video and Film Music, Global Script Pitch and Screenwriters, NYC and SF / LA.

Over 200 films are cast and crewed each week using Shooting People. Members access the Independent Film Calendar, and benefit from many interviews and podcasts, free filmmaking resources, and members-only special offers. They can also upload their films to their profiles, watch other members' films and leave comments.

Time Out gave 5* to 'Get Your Short Film Funded, Made and Seen: the Shooting People Shorts Directory' and called it "a book that's as essential an onset requirement to budding filmmakers as a baseball cap and polystyrene cup of cold coffee".

The Shorts Directory contains all the information and contacts you need to make your film and get it seen, plus key contributions from the major names in international short film funding, production, distribution and exhibition.

Shooting People: Get your film made and seen. Glasgow Film Festival? Don't miss the short film strand put together by Magic Lantern in association with the CCA, artist Sarah Tripp and MAP magazine.

They've packed a weekend full of inspiring short films, including the best new work from the UK alongside great new films from around the world. The weekend will also include a retrospective of rarely seen shorts by esteemed filmmakers chosen by filmmaker Sarah Tripp, a programme of work and Q & A by acclaimed film maker Zam Salim, and two round table discussions covering all aspects of short filmmaking. The event will conclude with a programme of artist’s film and video curated for the festival by Map magazine.

All of the new work screened (with the exception of the MAP programme) will be available for viewing after the festival in a videotheque designed by artist Robert Orchardson alongside Sarah Tripp’s new film, Let Me Show You Some Things.

For further information about the programme and how to buy tickets, go to Magic Lantern's website or the Glasgow Film Festival site.

Call for Entries: Straight8

Fri, 18 January 00:00:00 +0000

Filmmakers anywhere - whether experienced or rookie - are invited to rise to straight 8's challenge

Shoot a short film on a single cartridge of super 8mm film.

Straight8 sends out the cartridge and takes care of processing, which means entrants only way of editing is by taking each shot in sequence.

For more information and to enter, visit www.straight8.net

Deadline: 26 March 2008

DepicT! at London Short Film Festival

Wed, 19 December 00:00:00 +0000

DepicT! is thrilled to be part of the newly rechristened London Short Film Festival with a special DepicT! Showcase event at the ICA on Thursday 10 January at 6pm. The DepicT! All-Time Top Ten micro-movies will screen, as well as the London premiere of the DepicT! '07 shortlisted films, so if you weren't able to join us during Encounters, now's your chance to catch these super shorts on the big screen. After the films, there will be a Q&A with DepicT! filmmakers Hazel Grian (Donut, Big Career), Leigh Hodgkinson (Flighty) and Joseph Pierce (Big on Love, State of Nature).

For more information and to book tickets, visit the ICA's website.

Halloween presents:

4TH – 13TH JANUARY 2008

5th LONDON SHORT FILM FESTIVAL

www.shortfilms.org.uk

Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) / Curzon Soho Cinema / Roxy Bar & Screen / Amersham Arms

The Projector with Teeth returns to 4 major London venues this January, with a new identity and a new name, celebrating 5 uncompromising years of short film and punk attitude.

After 4 years, the Halloween Short Film Festival now emerges as the London Short Film Festival, still proud to be the edgiest film festival in the UK, and bringing with it the best in new film and music across 10 days of screenings and multi-media mayhem. The cornerstone of the previous Festivals has always been imaginative and challenging programming, so for this year’s screenings, the Festival are pulling some special events out of the bag, alongside the best in new short films.

Including 14 programmes of new short films, selected from an open submissions process, which this year has seen record entries, the 2008 festival includes everything from comedy to horror, to experimental to documentary. The festival also offers filmmakers and industry participants an ongoing array of free industry events and networking, live music-themed film and visual events, filmmaker focuses, guest screenings and the Shooting People film pub quiz!

The 5th London Short Film Festival is sponsored by Vauxhall and the UK Film Council, plus FourDocs, Animate Projects and Clear Cut.