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MIFF Call for Submissions

  • March 24, 2009 6:45 PM PDT

    The Yoknapatawpha Arts Council was launched with a mission to create opportunities for artists to gain recognition, showcase their work, aid artist in securing financial support and offer programs that introduce the residents of Oxford, Mississippi to a broad and diverse range of art programs.
     
    The Arts Council was established in 1975 and has been a partner in creating the Oxford Film Festival, Double Decker Art Festival and other events that celebrate music, literature, and the performing arts.  This effort culminated in 2006 as the Arts Council has taken on the task of renovating a 1928 building in to a community arts center.
     
    Last year the Arts Council launched a summer film series in the new arts center that highlighted Independent Films.  Based on the success of the series the Arts Council plans to hold a “mini festival” of Independent movies.  The Mini Indie Film Festival will offer film makers the chance to not only have their film screened but earn a portion of the proceeds from the ticket sales.  The idea is simple – the Arts Council has the venue and mission to create opportunities for artist.
     
    The event is scheduled for July 16 & 17, 2009.  Proceeds from the ticket sales will be divided equally between all films screened with one portion going to the Arts Council.  MIFF: Mini Indie Film Festival is open to all types and styles of films for animated shorts, documentaries, and feature length films. Deadline for submission is April 30, 2009.  Information is available by calling 662-236-6429 or by email at yacdirector@gmail.com

  • May 23, 2009 6:30 PM PDT

    How much is too much? Some say "Any". That's one way of looking at it. The real heart of the argument against body language in a screenplay is that actors tend to feel like that's their domain. The same is true of including camera directions in a screenplay (unless it's the shooting script) The director and the DP will make the decisions about where to place the camera and really don't care where the writer thinks it should be placed or moved.

    Say you're an actor and the script you're reading says your character leans up against a wall when you think they'd do the complete opposite. A few things could happen. The first is that you lean against the wall to comply with the script. The result of this is that the move seems disengenuios and forced. Or you fight to have your way and valuable time is wasted in an argument about whether a character should be leaning or not.

    But obviously sometimes it's called for. I did a short film where a guy making gun gestures with his hands was the whole joke of the story. I couldn't very well leave "Ted makes a firing gun gesture with his hands" out of the script.

    I wrote another script that centers around mimes, so their body language is the dialogue. But instead of telling the actors through the script how to pretend they're walking against the wind I just put "MIME 1 'walks against the wind' " Leave it up to the actor how they want to give that illusion. The only thing that matters to the story is that it looks like the mime is being blown by an unseen wind.

    So that's an example of what you mean by saying that sometimes gestures and body language say more than spoken dialogue. It absolutely can, but for the most part it's up to the actor playing the role to convey that information rather than being told to lean up against a wall.