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The real deal about the Tampa indie film industry by Tampa film expert C. A. Passinault
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Friday, January 9, 2009 - 9:00 AM - Tampa Indie Film Log for Filmmaker C. A. Passinault
The Future Of Tampa Indie Film
This is a historic
day, and one that makes me very happy as a Tampa indie film professional.
I am not alone with how I feel. The flawed and unsuccessful Tampa Film
Review is at its end, and many of us feel that the Tampa indie film
scene is now clear to flourish and grow. Perhaps, in another year or two,
we may actually see the formation of the first genuine Tampa indie film
community, a film community of qualified professionals, instead of having
to settle for the shortcomings and the backstabbing of a small Tampa Indie
Film Clique masquerading as a Tampa indie film community.
The days of slander, credibility attacks, and the self-serving activities
of neurotic, insecure amateurs will soon be behind us. The back of limitations
in Tampa indie film has finally been broken! Tampa indie film professionals
are now free to work together and help the Tampa indie film scene grow,
instead of being discouraged by a small clique of assholes, assholes who
behave more like a street gang than a group of indie filmmakers.
With that, I’m shifting gears to more productive things. Later,
I'll downshift back to addressing the Tampa indie film scene, and, specifically,
The Tampa Film Review.
I was supposed to pick up my new DVD-quality DV camera today, and still
have the funds put aside, but decided to wait a few weeks to invest in
a 24p HD DV camera. I did some research and found out that I didn’t
have to spend between $3,500.00 to $9,000.00 to get a good 24p camera,
and 24p capability is critical for the quality results that I need for
my film projects. Although I plan on eventually investing in that black,
$9,000 Canon XL HD DV camera, I won’t need to for a while. The price
of good technology has come down quite a bit over the years, and now it’s
time to show these other so-called filmmakers what can be done with reasonably
priced cameras, which offer top value and professional results.
I will be buying at least two DV cameras this year. The primary one will
be a HD camera with 24p capability. The second one will be a smaller 24p
DV camera, with DVD quality performance, which originally had military
applications. Each camera system will have purposes that they are optimized
for, and footage from both can be used on individual projects (the main
camera can be used at DVD resolution settings for footage continuity on
certain projects which the other camera will be used on). I will be buying
one more camera in 2009, too, but it won’t be a DV camera. It will
be a Canon 40D digital SLR still camera, which will replace my old Canon
10D. I will also be investing in support equipment and lighting. For filmmaking,
I will need a tripod, too, which is something that I do not use in photography,
and never had the need to use.
In DV cameras, 24p, 16:9 widescreen is my format of choice. This is the
minimal standard. At least with the main camera which I will obtaining,
I will be able to do feature films with it if I had to.
I cannot stress just how important obtaining DV cameras will be in 2009.
They will have many more uses than indie filmmaking, uses just as important.
My modeling and talent sites will need video for upcoming online career
tutorials. I need DV cameras to make television commercials for my service
companies. My event planning company and stage production company require
DV camera support, as well. There are some upcoming projects and products,
which are not necessarily indie films, which can not be done without DV
cameras.
My Tampa photography company, Aurora PhotoArts, is doing quite well right
now. In another month, business will increase by at least a factor of
ten, and possibly much more than that. I have found a way for the present
economy to work well for Aurora PhotoArts, and it will work even better
once the economy returns to normal.
Years ago, when Aurora PhotoArts was a new Passinault.Com company, its
services were to include photography, videography, and holography. Well,
the holography went away, because of the limited marketability of such
services, and because I value my eyesight too much to play with lasers,
and the videography became a relic, too. Today, Aurora PhotoArts offers
professional photography and design services. It’s now optimized
for the right services.
Videography, on the other hand, is right at home for my event planning
company. It can also be offered as a service by my indie film production
company. Good DV cameras are a certainty, and by default, this will give
me the resources to make indie films.
I convinced my business partners to budget in the DV camera and the indie
film production gear with the operations of Aurora PhotoArts, since that
equipment will benefit several projects, and have been approved to use
profits from Aurora PhotoArts to obtain the indie filmmaking equipment.
Compared to buying my first digital camera rig for Aurora PhotoArts in
2001, the DV cameras are cheap. I should have everything by the spring
of 2009.
Once obtained, I will do a few experimental films to get back up to speed
with my filmmaking training and experience, and then will work on short
films such as Reverence. Although all of my films, in one form or another,
will be available on my Tampa Bay Film Online Film Festival and promoted
using the online film festival as a marketing platform, I may not post
any of my films on the online film festival until the fall of 2009.
There is a reason for this.
First off, my films will be highly secret projects, and I don’t
want any footage leaked of them until the official debut of my films hit.
After that initial debut, there will be a flood of my films hitting the
market, and they will be everywhere. If you think that I have a lot of
web sites these days, I will have many more indie film properties in the
next few years. The next ten years will see an era of my indie films dominating
the Tampa indie film market, and many of these films will define the new
expectations that people will have about indie film.
There have been complaints voiced by a few regarding my Tampa film festivals,
or rather, the lack of them. This will change. I have always made it clear
that I did not want to produce any film festivals until I had indie films
to show. Starting this spring, I will have indie films to show.
2009 will be a landmark year for at least two reasons. It will be the
year that I return to indie filmmaking, and will see the premiers of my
first new-generation films, and my new-generation events. Some of those
events will be Tampa film festivals.
Film festivals? Well, we all know that I don’t take shortcuts. I
only do things when I am good and ready. At this time, I am looking at
least two separate Tampa film festival properties in the next year, with
the first already confirmed for the fall of 2009. A third film festival
series, which is not The Tampa Film Showcase, which is the second film
festival, is slated to debut in the next two years. The latter will be
a large, annual film festival series, which will be designed to compete
against the largest Tampa film festivals. The first film festival series
will also be an annual film festival, but more specialized and smaller.
The real workhorse of the film festivals, however, will be the second
film festival project, the Tampa Film Showcase. Although the Tampa Film
Showcase site currently states that there will be an annual version of
the Tampa Film Showcase, this has now been scrapped in favor of a large,
dedicated, annual Tampa film festival, with different branding and a different
format than the Tampa Film Showcase and the other film festival series.
The Tampa Film Showcase will remain a monthly film festival and professional
networking event series, and will tie into the other two, annual film
festivals.
Here’s the latest rundown, and keep in mind that event productions
will become very important to my event planning company and stage production
company later in 2009.
1.
Annual Specialized Tampa film festival: Title TBA.
Debut: Fall 2009.
Will be held every fall, and the debut film festival will
debut my new-generation indie films. This film festival series is an entirely
new kind of film festival.
2.
Tampa Film Showcase monthly film festival and professional networking
event series.
Debut: January 2010.
Will be held every month in the Tampa Bay area. Ties into
the other film festivals, especially the large annual film festival.
3.
Annual large Tampa film festival. Title TBA
Debut: Spring 2011
The title for this Tampa film festival will be introduced
later this year, and a web site for it will launch in late 2009.
This is a rather more conventional, large, annually-held Tampa film festival,
and will require at least a full year of Tampa Film Showcase film festival
events to launch and support it. Of all the large annual Tampa film festivals,
this one will be the most advanced, and effective, andit will have much
more to offer than any other Tampa film festival.
With this, we will have small film festivals every month, a specialized
film festival in the fall, and a conventional film festival in the spring.
The Tampa Film Showcase events would be suspended the months when the
large annual film festivals were held, in order to divert resources toward
these endeavors. Basically, this boils down to a film festival every month,
with ten Tampa Film Showcase film festival events and two annual film
festival events every year.
All three film festival series will be produced by Eventi Stage, and details
will be available when the Eventi Stage web site launches. All the film
festival events will be supported by Tampa Bay Film, and reported on the
Tampa Film Blog.
Some of you may be wondering
how I will have time to run all of these film festivals. Well, I will
tell you my secret, and it is a secret that the so-called film festival
“organizers” of The Tampa Film Review should have been doing
all along. It’s called delegation.
I have a lot of good, professional people who work with me. I get more
all of the time. The film festivals will be run by teams. I will be more
hands-on when they debut and work on becoming established, and then I
will and over the reigns to my teams, produce the film festivals, direct
them, and delegate. Additionally, my film festivals, like all of my event
projects, will benefit from the full support of my service companies,
my production companies, and my advertising agency. There will be more
than enough time to do all of these film festivals, and much more.
Ok, I have to run, now. I’ve been sick all week, and need to get
my rest. I had to postpone a shoot with a swimsuit model this weekend
so that I could get better. In closing, here are some points that I wish
to make concerning The Tampa Film Review. You can expect a 2009 review
of The Tampa Film Review
soon, too. For now, check out my original review of The
Tampa Film Review 2006-2007 and my brand new review of The
Tampa Film Review 2008; you would not believe how many E-mails
that I get agreeing with these fair and unbiased reviews.
Anyway, I can see that my work is cut out for me. There is a lot of work
to be done before the Tampa indie film scene can claim to be the home
of a legitimate and professional Tampa indie film community, although
the way is now open for progress to finally be made.
Let’s get some things straight, and don’t take my opinions
here as fact. Ask around, and you will find that many, including people
who I do not know, will agree with these statements.
1. There are a lot more people who are happy with The Tampa Film Review being put out of its misery than there are so-called “Tampa filmmakers” and “movie buffs” who are bemoaning its loss. Talk about the vocal minority! Or, rather, a couple of people from the Tampa Indie Film Clique who overstep their bounds and take it upon themselves to speak for everyone in the Tampa indie film scene.
2. There are venues other than The Tampa Film Review where filmmakers can show their films. Other than the other Tampa film festivals, there is the Tampa Bay Film Online Film Festival, which many credit with putting The Tampa Film Review out of business in the first place. Whomever gave the impression that there are no other outlets is either pissed off that the competitors of the TFR ran it into the ground, or they are simply ignorant.
3. THERE IS NO TAMPA INDIE FILM COMMUNITY! There is only a Tampa Indie Film Clique which has been masquerading as a film community. Now that their monthly film hangout is over, their agenda is disrupted, and their failure has paved the way for indie film professionals to work together to finally form Tampa’s first professional indie film community.
4. The Tampa Film Review DID NOT inspire the creation of other Tampa film festivals! To compare The Tampa Film Review with any other Tampa film festival is like comparing an old used car in the junkyard with a sportscar fresh off the showroom floor. There is no comparison. The other Tampa film festivals would have started if there was never a Tampa Film Review, as The Tampa Film Review has always been a flawed, insignificant, sorry-excuse for a film festival, and anyone trying to credit The Tampa Film Review for sparking a Tampa film festival revolution is out of line, and full of it.
5.
The Tampa Film Review was what it was, but it was hardly a success.
It spun its wheels, never corrected mistakes, and didn’t go anywhere.
It was the same boring, unorganized mess over, and over, and over, and
over again. The TFR organizers did not take constructive criticism well,
and in five years didn’t bother trying to fix the many problems
which were pointed out to them. That’s pathetic, and it is a real
insult to the few who hung in there and supported the flawed film festival
series, as well as anyone who spent the time to sit in the audience. I
wouldn’t call being bored to death by watching crappy indie films
a success!
Well, at least the Crazed Film Fan was genuine enough to admit that there
were a lot of bad films shown at The Tampa Film Review, although she took
back that breakthrough by going on to spin it in support of her indie
film clique.
6.
The TFR organizers are the commanders of the Tampa Indie Film
Clique, and NOT the “commanders” of the so-called Tampa film
community. Well, since their Tampa Indie Film Clique does masquerade
as a Tampa indie film community, it might look like that. At any rate,
I am stunned that anyone actually interviewed Joe Davison, and took him
seriously. I am also shocked that someone who is that self-important actually
kissed the ass of the TFR organizers that hard. Are any of these people
actually qualified to speak for the Tampa indie film scene? Just because
you make a film or two does not qualify you. You have to be a professional,
with unbiased references and professional credibility, to make these kind
of comments about Tampa indie film.
I know this much. After his public display of ass-kissing, I lost all
of the little amount of respect that I had for Joe. I will
never work with him, and will never help him, and his so-called “career”
will suffer not by what I do, but what I refuse to do.
These people, the amateurs
wrapped up in the present Tampa Indie Film Clique, will eventually become
forgotten. Time will do its trick, and they will no longer be involved
in Tampa indie film, and the best indie films coming out of Tampa will
be mine and the films of other professionals in the professional Tampa
indie film community of tomorrow.
I will do my part, however, to preserve the mistakes, as well as the achievements,
of these people, so that they are not forgotten. It is important that
future Tampa filmmakers study the mistakes that the Tampa Indie Film Clique
have made, so that history will not repeat itself. I can see professional
filmmakers study the reviews of The Tampa film Review and be amazed that
people settled for some primitive, ineffective film festival, and the
organizers failed to correct the mistakes that were pointed out and instead
became hostile and defensive when their flawed Tampa film festival was
criticized. These neurotic, insecure, indie film amateurs will not last.
The professionals will take their business away from them and put them
out of business. Also, I am certain of one thing. Those who slandered
me and who opposed me will look like fools when their actions are studied,
and that's cool by me because this is exactly what they are.
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