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Wednesday, March 21, 2012
We've joined LiveSciFi.tv and we're streaming a LIVE ghost hunt!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Our Ouija movie I Am ZoZo got an awesome review on IMDB!
From IMDB.com –
Outstanding example of how Super 8mm can be used to shoot the right feature, 20 February 2012
8/10 stars
Author: mattstevens from United States
For current youth ‘Super8′ is a movie directed by that guy who gave us LOST and ALIAS. But Super8 is a film format,
one that still exists and in some places, thrives, despite the
onslaught of the digital world. For the most part it is an amateur
format and when used professionally, relegated to music videos or artsy
projects. Because of its short shooting time of just two and a half
minutes per film cartridge, few have dared to shoot a feature film under
such constraints. Almost ten years ago some daredevils succeeded with
the psychological piece called SLEEP ALWAYS, but their master was
scanned and finished in standard definition.
Writer/Director Scott
Di Lalla has pushed the 8mm format into the modern age and delivered a
technically impressive feature film debut that also accomplishes
something few ultra low budget directors are capable of: delivering a
film worth watching.
I had the privilege of seeing I AM ZOZO’s first public screening at the NJ Film Festival,
which specializes in showcasing shorts, documentaries and feature
length films shot on digital video and super8. The evening did not start
off on a high note as the short films presented ranged from snooze
inducing to embarrassingly bad. My spirits sunk. It didn’t help matters
that the exhibitor had somehow screwed up the settings on their
projector, giving us a slightly squished image (which they never fixed).
Thank
the Maker that once the feature started, amateur night was over.
Beginning with a chilling docu-feel shot of a possession (complete with
the 8mm camera sound coming from the speakers), the tone was set for
what turned out to be an exceptionally directed little horror film. The
ensemble cast of unknowns surprised and rarely veered into obvious
acting territory. Their banter seemed fresh and spontaneous and I tended
to believe their friendships. Lead actress Kelly McLaren was
particularly impressive with a performance that defies her complete lack
of acting credits.
The standout sequence is the late at night, ill advised use of a Ouija board
and here the filmmakers show more skill than most Hollywood directors.
Using long takes, perfect lighting and terrific writing, I AM ZOZO
succeeds in forcing you to literally stop breathing as you anticipate
what is going to happen and then, with sudden brilliance, feeds you a
line that will cause you to laugh out loud and then, moments later,
makes you hold your breath yet again. Frankly, I wanted to applaud the
filmmakers at the conclusion of that sequence because it was more than I
could have hoped for. Low budget films are not supposed to be so good
at manipulating their audience.
That is not to say things were
perfect. Films have this need to be 90 minutes and I feel that Scott Di
Lalla should defy that rule and make some trims. If he were to lose just
five or six minutes of extraneous footage I believe he would find the
pacing improved and a wider audience available. The ending is also quite
obscure and I wonder what a Harvey Weinstein would do with it were he
to get his hands on the negative (of course, today they use digital
intermediates, but I’ll get to that in a minute).
Remember, I give
this film an 8 out of 10. I need to mention the flaws, which are
limited. Few films are perfect, but let’s also understand that few films
are this good. How many Hollywood films have you seen in recent years
that deserve such high marks?
Technically, the choice of filming
in 8mm was certified brilliance. I shoot with super8 all the time and
actually own the same camera ‘I AM ZOZO’ was shot with. The Canon 1014
XL-S is one of the three or four best super8′s ever made, but it’s flaw
is going soft at low light. Major kudos need to go to Scott and his
camera crew for somehow using Kodak’s lower speed (and therefore, lower
grain) Vision3 200T stock and finding the lighting sweet spot to give
them maximum sharpness. At times only candles or a flashlight were used
for illumination and yet the image retained sharpness and detail. This
is due to the incredible improvements in film stocks and also the
ability to scan 8mm negatives at High Definition (or even 2k), retaining
every single ounce of detail in the image. When Sam Raimi and Bruce
Campbell shot ‘WITHIN THE WOODS’ on 8mm, they attempted to blow it up to
16mm and found the grain so obvious, the image was unwatchable. How
times and technology has changed. Super8 is now so good that it
resembles 16mm stocks of the 60′s and 70′s.
In a day when DSLR’s
and their ultra clean look are all the rage, some grainy super8 is here
to show you what horror films are supposed to look like. The look of a
film establishes a tone and had the filmmakers opted to shoot on a DSLR
(and that would have saved them money) I believe ‘I AM ZOZO’ would be
incapable of standing out from the crowd of low budget horror films.
My
hope for these guys is they get picked up by a smaller studio or even
HDNet. This film deserves to be seen. And super8 deserves a second look
by anyone out there hoping to create something special on film.
Ouija movie
Saturday, March 10, 2012
WINNERS of the 3rd Choppertown Nation Online Bike Show and Contest
The fat lady sang and we put it in the books! We
had ten judges and used the BORDA system to arrive at the fairest final
count. Let the banter begin! What do you guys think?
Please enjoy the pics of the winning bikes and pass them along for all to enjoy. Thanks to everyone who participated, hopefully it was fun for all.
Please pass this link along and repost it:
http://www.choppertownnation.com/forum/topics/online-custom-motorcy...
Awesome prizes and C/N link badge will be awarded to the top 4 in each category:
- 1st place: Biltwell lid, Dickies Workshirt, Lick's goodies, Shirt and goodies from Baker, Dice Magazine, Choppertown DVD Combo, Free movie stream at StreamTown.tv
- 2nd place: Dickies Workshirt, Lick's goodies, Shirt and goodies from Baker, Dice Magazine, Choppertown DVD Combo, Free movie stream at StreamTown.tv
- 3rd place: Shirt and goodies from Baker, Dice Magazine, Choppertown DVD Combo, Free movie stream at StreamTown.tv
- Special Mention: Choppertown DVD Combo and a Free movie stream at StreamTown.tv
Don't forget to support our SPONSORS who made this possible:
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Turning a hobby into a social business
Fun little article about Choppertown Nation, our social network for bikers!
Original posting from the Ning blog here: Turning a hobby into a social business
Turning a hobby into a social business
Posted by Jason Rand on February 27, 2012 – 12:20 pm
Hobbies. Whether knitting, collecting stamps, running, enjoying a good bottle of wine or indulging in foodie culture, we all have something adding layers to what makes us, well, us. And what tops a hobby? Making a business out of it.
At Ning, our team is fascinated with how we can provide you with the best social technology weaving together people with the things that you hold near and dear to your heart — no matter the hobby, business, topic or focus. One way we do this is by speaking directly with our customers about what’s worked for them, and the ways they’re leveraging Ning to turn their passions and hobbies into hyper-focused communities populated with people sharing their same excitement.
We recently spoke with filmmaker and Ning Creator, Zack Coffman about Choppertown Nation, the Ning Network he spun out after the wild success of his documentaries about custom motorcycles built from the ground up, and the people making the custom bikes.
Co-directed with Scott Di Lalla, the first of their documentaries came out in 2005, with follow-up documentaries released almost every year thereafter. With the films generating a worldwide cult following, Coffman’s Ning community, Choppertown Nation, began about 3 years ago under the premise that it would be neat to have a place where the fans could have a hub to celebrate the documentaries and their excitement for building custom rides. “We had a lot of friends on our MySpace and Facebook pages,” said Coffman. “And we thought, we ought to make a network with our own brand and title. We wanted pure, constant, and consistent branding with our own site.” Coffman chose to use Ning to build the community, and with that, Choppertown Nation was born.
Since its launch, nearly 4,000 people have joined Choppertown Nation, and the site has seen over 50,000 images of custom bikes uploaded directly by its members. With such a bevy of content, the result has been a lot of interested eyeballs checking out what’s being said and made by the greater community, and Coffman has leveraged the site as a way to authentically promote DVD sales for his other films. “We’re able to advertise in an organic way by offering members and visitors our DVDs and other items they’d probably like to buy. In many ways, what we’re selling is just a natural extension of what they’re already enjoying on the community.”
Building on top of a stream of great content and engaged members, Coffman also regularly offers contests and competitions to the community. In Choppertown’s latest competition, wrapping up at the end of this month, members can upload 2 pictures of their bike builds and tell everyone about what they’ve built. Top contributors have the opportunity to win apparel, accessories and other prizes from industry-known sponsors like Biltwell, Dickies, Licks Custom Cycles, Baker Drivetrain and DicE Magazine. Contests like this provide an endless loop for engagement and friendly competition, while bringing sponsors front and center to an already-active and influential biker community.
Coffman also cites that SEO (search engine optimization), where a website appears in search results like on Google and Yahoo!, remains high for his sites given that his community lives on the Ning Platform. By linking between his Ning community and his online store, this helps his business come up higher in search results as cross-linking between the sites builds relevancy for his brand. In turn, this helps as people search sites like Google for information about building custom motorcycles to come across Choppertown Nation and its online store.
For Choppertown Nation, which started out as a hobby turned documentary series turned full-fledged community combining a business, it’s a shining example for how a Ning customer is creatively and naturally driving engagement and increasing visibility on the web. As a phrase motor enthusiasts know well, we’re glad to see that the Choppertown community and Coffman live by the mantra “Run what you brung,” all day, everyday.
Have you turned your hobby into a business using Ning? Tell us your story — we’d love to hear about it.
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CHOPPER CATEGORY
Peter Strom's Sporty
BOBBER CATEGORY
Jerry B's Shovel
CAFE RACER CATEGORY
Carsten's '52 BSA
Visit Choppertown Nation, the online network for bikers for all the winners!