NEW PROJECT: AMPLIFY FILM FESTIVAL

Amplify Me is a non profit organization out of the US involved with discussing and promoting the media arts, as stated on their home page

They're asking for videos that explore the impact of social media for a film festival they are holding in Florida. Deadline for submissions is July 2

I was intrigued by this; their submission brief describes videos concerned with all aspects of social media, from unity to dissonance and this was a minor thread through my video After that I created for the Hello Future film festival

So it's been something I've been thinking about, actually for quite a while now. I watch all these people in my city wandering around with their smart phones and tablettes and laptops and although they seem to be furiously communicating, they barely notice each others existances

The other things that made me want to take this challenge; aside from the theme, there really are no restrictions. They will accept videos in any format, made to any style. After restricted me to length, for instance, the video had to be the exact length of the song. Also, I couldn't import any other other audio or add to the song in any way

This one gives me more freedom and that allows me to tailor the video more to my restrictions; ie no budget, no actors, very little time. I remember reading an interview with Rober Rodriquez about the creation of his first movie, El Mariachi, a film made on an extremely low budget. He said he looked at what he had, props and time and actors etc, then built his story around that, instead of writing a script and scrambling to gather elements that he may not have had access to

I like this theme because it may permit me to make the kind of short film that really interests me; something without acting, without real dialogue, something that tells its story with images and audio

As to the audio, that brings another challenge. When creating these projects for film festivals, you have to have the rights to everything in the movie, including the music. I took on After because Moby actually gave over the rights to his music; that is not the case here. Now, I have Soundtrack Pro and Garageband where I can create my own loops and I also have a nephew who is a musician.

But the more I thought about it, I wondered if I really needed a traditional score. Although I love editing to music, I love using a song to replace a dialogue, I wondered it if I could even take it further: Could I create a video with no music at all, just using ambient audio and sound effects and sound bites as the score

Can I make a movie with no dialogue, no score, no real actors ...

Well, let's find out