SPAA LAUNCH 09.
April 29th 2009 05:44
The Screen Producers Association of Australia officially launched its DigiSPAA competition for 2009 once again in with a little bit of controversy at The Manhattan Rooftop Bar above the East Village Hotel in Darlinghurst.
On arrival guests were directed up what seemed like an eternity of winding stairs to the rooftop overlooking the beautiful Sydney Harbour with the CBD providing a luminous backdrop for the evening’s event. Industry professionals mingled with up and coming digital filmmakers interested in entering this years competition before MOVIEXTRA began the evening with a promotional trailer of the four finalists films from last years DigiSPAA. What impressed most was the reception the trailer received. For those not in the know it would be easy to assume that these films were overseas productions with decent sized budgets such is the standard our digital filmmakers are achieving.
Antony I Ginnnane, SPAA President began his speech with a reminiscence on the continued rise of digital filmmaking.
‘Half a decade ago…….I mused on what the then embryonic rise of digital technology in production and post production would mean to new and emergent filmmakers and their process.’
Today, this form is seen as a legitimate format within the industry with films in competition now required to be ‘produced and completed within the digital world without film or photochemical involvement’. Looking to the future, Ginnane reminded everyone of just how undeveloped this new form was and how important it was to embrace what is the future of filmmaking, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but globally.
Antony also stressed the importance of networks like MOVIE EXTRA’s support of this competition and the support provided with screening these completed works either theatrically in the privacy of people’s homes to provide the momentum for future generations of digital filmmakers. Some years ago a traveling digital film festival DigiFEST traveled to Australia as part of a global digital festival. With screenings in Sydney, London, Los Angeles to name a few this looked like becoming an annual event only for the festival to side-step Australia the following year due to the lack of support given it in this country when it screened down under the previous year. Attendances at the screening were poor as was the promotion of this new phenomena in the film industry.
SPAA hopes by encouraging our own filmmakers and with the general public becoming more aware of the digital age that is fast bearing down upon us (analogue services to Television will be gradually phased out over the period form 2010 to 2013) that this industry will begin to thrive just like the low budget urban films of the 80’s and 90’s that have now become a staple diet for Australian and New Zealand cinema goers.
Response to Antony’s speech was from Tony Forrest Managing Director of MOVIE EXTRA and major sponsor of this event. Responding to a complaint from a previous entrant in the competition concerning rights to the completed films, Forrest stressed that the rights assigned were not entirely exclusive to the cable channel.
‘Our deal is that the winner gives us the licence for 12 months and we chose if it gets played or not, but either way, he/she gets some cash to buy back the falcon, and gets to play on our newly installed final cut pro, the largest end to end solution in the Southern Hemisphere and worth over two and a half million dollars.’
This was his response to one of the finalists complaining that they didn’t feel the renumeration was enough on the agreement. Forrest reminded everyone present that the same trailer that screened before the speeches would probably be shown possibly 200 -300 times on the Network channel providing a massive amount of free marketing and advertising that no independent producer could honestly afford. Then Tony continued albeit a little tongue in cheek.
‘And for the finalists, we have very strict licence conditions, you sign it over to us, exclusively, and if someone offers you an opportunity to screen it somewhere else, you know what? We say OK, and believe me that will never happen again in your filmmaking career.’
When I spoke with Tony regarding this little bit of controversy later in the evening, Tony reiterated the importance of getting the films out there in the public domain. DigiSPAA was started to improve the possibilities for our future digital directors and producers. It is about the filmmakers themselves, not the distributors. It’s about filmmaking and the opportunities on offer in today’s ultra competitive market.
The speeches were kept to a minimum as the call for entries for the 2009 competition was officially launched with a reminder that applications close September 18 with the four finalists to screen at the annual SPAA Fringe on the 9th and 10th of October before the winner and runner up are announce at the SPAA conference on November 20.
Now in its 5th year, DigiSPAA is the foremost digital film festival throughout the Pacific Region. Designed to assist those who wish to develop their skills in the digital medium. The winner will receive $15,000 cash and $20,000 worth of post production work at the MOVIE EXTRA studios plus a guaranteed screening on the MOVIE EXTRA channel.
For those interested in entering the competition, you can find all you need to know at
www.spaa.org.au
On arrival guests were directed up what seemed like an eternity of winding stairs to the rooftop overlooking the beautiful Sydney Harbour with the CBD providing a luminous backdrop for the evening’s event. Industry professionals mingled with up and coming digital filmmakers interested in entering this years competition before MOVIEXTRA began the evening with a promotional trailer of the four finalists films from last years DigiSPAA. What impressed most was the reception the trailer received. For those not in the know it would be easy to assume that these films were overseas productions with decent sized budgets such is the standard our digital filmmakers are achieving.
Antony I Ginnnane, SPAA President began his speech with a reminiscence on the continued rise of digital filmmaking.
‘Half a decade ago…….I mused on what the then embryonic rise of digital technology in production and post production would mean to new and emergent filmmakers and their process.’
Today, this form is seen as a legitimate format within the industry with films in competition now required to be ‘produced and completed within the digital world without film or photochemical involvement’. Looking to the future, Ginnane reminded everyone of just how undeveloped this new form was and how important it was to embrace what is the future of filmmaking, not only in Australia and New Zealand, but globally.
Antony also stressed the importance of networks like MOVIE EXTRA’s support of this competition and the support provided with screening these completed works either theatrically in the privacy of people’s homes to provide the momentum for future generations of digital filmmakers. Some years ago a traveling digital film festival DigiFEST traveled to Australia as part of a global digital festival. With screenings in Sydney, London, Los Angeles to name a few this looked like becoming an annual event only for the festival to side-step Australia the following year due to the lack of support given it in this country when it screened down under the previous year. Attendances at the screening were poor as was the promotion of this new phenomena in the film industry.
SPAA hopes by encouraging our own filmmakers and with the general public becoming more aware of the digital age that is fast bearing down upon us (analogue services to Television will be gradually phased out over the period form 2010 to 2013) that this industry will begin to thrive just like the low budget urban films of the 80’s and 90’s that have now become a staple diet for Australian and New Zealand cinema goers.
Response to Antony’s speech was from Tony Forrest Managing Director of MOVIE EXTRA and major sponsor of this event. Responding to a complaint from a previous entrant in the competition concerning rights to the completed films, Forrest stressed that the rights assigned were not entirely exclusive to the cable channel.
‘Our deal is that the winner gives us the licence for 12 months and we chose if it gets played or not, but either way, he/she gets some cash to buy back the falcon, and gets to play on our newly installed final cut pro, the largest end to end solution in the Southern Hemisphere and worth over two and a half million dollars.’
This was his response to one of the finalists complaining that they didn’t feel the renumeration was enough on the agreement. Forrest reminded everyone present that the same trailer that screened before the speeches would probably be shown possibly 200 -300 times on the Network channel providing a massive amount of free marketing and advertising that no independent producer could honestly afford. Then Tony continued albeit a little tongue in cheek.
‘And for the finalists, we have very strict licence conditions, you sign it over to us, exclusively, and if someone offers you an opportunity to screen it somewhere else, you know what? We say OK, and believe me that will never happen again in your filmmaking career.’
When I spoke with Tony regarding this little bit of controversy later in the evening, Tony reiterated the importance of getting the films out there in the public domain. DigiSPAA was started to improve the possibilities for our future digital directors and producers. It is about the filmmakers themselves, not the distributors. It’s about filmmaking and the opportunities on offer in today’s ultra competitive market.
The speeches were kept to a minimum as the call for entries for the 2009 competition was officially launched with a reminder that applications close September 18 with the four finalists to screen at the annual SPAA Fringe on the 9th and 10th of October before the winner and runner up are announce at the SPAA conference on November 20.
Now in its 5th year, DigiSPAA is the foremost digital film festival throughout the Pacific Region. Designed to assist those who wish to develop their skills in the digital medium. The winner will receive $15,000 cash and $20,000 worth of post production work at the MOVIE EXTRA studios plus a guaranteed screening on the MOVIE EXTRA channel.
For those interested in entering the competition, you can find all you need to know at
www.spaa.org.au
| 11 |
| Vote |
Add To: 
subscribe to this blog
SimonC
