The Smalls is an online showcase for non-commercial creative work. We are here to inspire and to offer a medium where emerging talent can display work not only to fellow members of the contemporary creative community, but also to our subscription members in the broadcast, film and advertising industry.
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:55
STREET SOUNDS DEADLINE EXTENSION: APRIL 16TH, 2010
Attention filmmakers! If you are scrambling to get your entry ready for the Street Sounds film competition, there is great news – you now have until April 16th, 2010 to submit your short films.
We hope you enjoy the additional time and look forward to seeing your entries. Remember that you are competing for the chance to win a Panasonic HDC-HS300 120GB Full HD Camcorder, have your short film screened by a distinguished panel of judges as well as see your name and achievements celebrated inside a FULL-PAGE AD IN VARIETY.
If you have any questions about the entry process or the competition, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to post your thoughts in our forums or just email us at streetsounds@thesmalls.com.
To learn more about the competition and to enter, click here!
Good luck everyone!
- The Smalls
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:12
THE SMALLS MOVIE, TV AND DVD NEWS
So how did it feel to watch the Oscars? Did it feel like the cork popped? Or a zit? We were very, very proud of Kathryn Bigelow for winning Best Director and ‘
The Hurt Locker
’ winning Best Picture. Not just because she is a woman, but also because she has always been a fine director. The rest of the awards ceremony? Well – it had its ups and downs didn’t it? Why don’t you share with us what you thought in our forums?
The box office saw two major debuts – the first is obviously Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ which made a whopping USD $116.1 Million dollars. The cop drama ‘Brooklyn’s Finest’ came in at #2, at 13.4 Million, which is a decent amount, but certainly looks like nothing compared to Alice. ‘Shutter Island’ held on at #3, just below at $13.2 Million, and ‘Avatar’ still goes on strong with $8.1 Million at the box office.
What do we have to look forward to this weekend? There’s ‘Green Zone’, or as we like to call it ‘The Bourne Lookamatum’. The comedy ‘She’s Out of My League’ looks equally as promising, but we do root for movies with fairly unknown casts. And ‘Remember Me’? Looks a bit sappy but might be a good date movie – let us know what you see this weekend (and what you think of it), OK?
The first posters of Stallone’s ‘The Expendables’ are floating around the Internet – the expectations are high for this movie because of its action star-studded cast and promise for a bombastic return to 1980’s style action flicks. But even more widely consumed has been the new ‘Twilight: Eclipse’ trailer, which probably has tweens skipping a step in puberty today. On the flip side, the highly anticipated sequel to ‘Wall Street’ has been delayed from April to September – while the press flack is saying that it’s so the movie can be eligible for Cannes, we think that’s a weak excuse. Hardly anyone delays a movie a month before release unless there’s a problem with it.
What new projects are brewing? Well, Clint Eastwood has his sights set on making a movie about J Edgar Hoover. Casting continues for Captain America, with Hugo Weaving (almost) set to play the villain. Is one of your favorite movies ‘Kentucky Fried Movie’? Well it’s time to keep tabs on a new movie that Peter Farrelly, Brett Ratner and a host of stars will collaborating on – no titles yet. In prequel news, ‘Planet of the Apes’ will receive another refresh after Tim Burton’s widely panned re-boot (do you even remember that?).
And the buzz on TV is that ‘24’ is facing its final season. Interesting, because this show is still one of the strongest in the ratings. Does this mean the producers and network just want to go out on top? Or do we smell a movie brewing? Sniff sniff…
With the Oscars over, now we can pick up a whole host of DVD’s that studios were holding onto because they weren’t sure which stickers to put on the wrapping (Oscar nominee? Oscar Winner?) – including ‘
Up in the Air
’ and ‘
Precious
’. Michael Moore’s ‘
Capitalism: A Love Story
’ will likely enrage some, ‘
Old Dogs
’ will roll some eyes, and the wild card of the week is ‘
Hachi: A Dog's Tale
’. Give us your recommendations!
Hope you have a good weekend, and see you again soon.
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:06
DIRECTING ACTORS: NYC WORKSHOP
Acquire specific and effective techniques to directing actors towards authentic, powerful and layered performances. Learn how to maximize subtext, honesty, and help actors avoid acting that looks like acting. $185 for weekend workshop. March 20-21, 2010.
To learn more go to http://theindependentfilmschool.com/
Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:15
WIN A PANASONIC HD VIDEO CAMERA
To enter, all you have to do is choose three sounds from the interactive
Sound Map and use them in your film, interpret one of the competition’s four themes and then upload your entry on the competition page. It’s that easy.
In addition to winning this great camcorder, you could also have your short film screened by a distinguished panel of judges, and have your name and achievements celebrated inside a FULL-PAGE AD IN VARIETY. Think of how many entertainment insiders will see that!
Good luck!
Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:38
COMMENTARY: DO SHORT FILMS MATTER?
An interesting tidbit appeared on this year’s Oscars telecast. During the introduction to the short film categories, we got to see how certain filmmakers who won in the short category – John Lasseter for example – and went on to have big careers. I don’t remember seeing that correlation made before on the broadcast (apologies if I just never noticed) but was happy to see them now. Because lately I have become less sure about some people’s dedication to the short.
As a writer for The Smalls, I have seen my share of great to good, funny to silly, and just plain… experimental. But I personally love watching all of the films that appear on the site because, as at least one person in your life will tell you – ‘You never know’. There’s some great talent out there, working hard and waiting for their big break. And places like The Smalls and similar websites really take the time to make sure it remains as a platform for filmmakers.
So where are the films? That’s my question. And I don’t ask this because there aren’t enough brand new films on the site, but because there’s certainly not enough OLD films on there. We know there are hundreds, if not thousands of film school graduates with shorts kicking around in their desks or computers. Why haven’t we seen them? Why not just upload it, give it some new life?
And come to think of it, with
The Smalls Streets Sounds competition going on now, why not create add some sounds and resubmit it? I can’t speak for my colleagues, or for the many visitors to the site, but I would love to see some old films come here to get a chance at a new life.