….WDWRD has ABSTRACT DIMENSION, a very reasonable substitute for an acid/peyote/mescaline/fill in the blank trip of the era, over on our favorite video site, Vimeo:
Category: Indie Film & Video
Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie
Chapter 40 – Back in the Fray & Happy Holidays
by Leesa Dean
So…back in the fray with Celebrity Quest (trying to line up a celeb for my TOP SECRET PROJECT.) This has been tougher than I expected, particularly cause things lined up so quickly and easily when I was casting Chilltown I stupidly thought the same thing would happen this time around. Granted, the celebs we’re trying to get are bigger than the guys that were cast in Chilltown, but still…
One musician, who seemed like shoe-in went AWOL two hours before our meeting. Turns out, he’s going through “personal problems.” Sigh. The next one, who my producing partner had a relationship with, will be on tour for the next 3 months or so, so no dice. I know things will ultimately fall into place, but it’s been frustrating.
Peer Production: SPIN
Another amazing win for Vimeo and the wonderfulness of creativity on the interwebs as opposed to, oh just for example, TV or films.
Kudos, dudes!
The Most Popular YouTube Videos of 2013 are:
We gotta list for yez. Cuz we’re those kinda, um, guyz:
-
Ylvis – The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?), tvnorge
-
Harlem Shake (original army edition), kennethaakonsen
-
How Animals Eat Their Food | MisterEpicMann, MisterEpicMann
-
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball (Chatroulette Version), SteveKardynal
-
baby&me / the new evian film, EvianBabies
-
Volvo Trucks – The Epic Split feat. Van Damme, VolvoTrucks
-
YOLO (feat. Adam Levine & Kendrick Lamar), thelonelyisland
-
Telekinetic Coffee Shop Surprise, CarrieNYC
-
THE NFL : A Bad Lip Reading, BadLipReading
-
Mozart vs Skrillex. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2., ERB
FTR: We’re kinda disappointed that 9 out of 10 of these are commercials/sports/music videos. But we’re really high on the popularity of Mozart vs Skrillex. Yeah, baby!
Everybody on the web has lists this time of year, but we recommend more epic video lists at Gizmodo!
Leesa Dean: Adventures of a Web Series Newbie
Chapter 39 – Movie Premiere and YouTube Issues
by Leesa Dean
So,last night, I was invited to the premiere of August: Osage County, the new Julia Roberts/Meryl Streep movie. I’m a member of NY Women In Film & Television and sometimes they have perks like that. I was lucky enough to get on the list. Going to a premiere that NYWIFT members (and SAG members) are invited to is always fun cause so many people know each other in the audience. It’s like being in middle school. Everyone getting out of their seats to yak and schmooze. And we had plenty of time to do it cause there was a huge insulated red carpet set up outside (temperature was in the teens last night) which took FOREVER so the movie started nearly an hour past the official show time.
The screening was at the Ziegfeld theater, which is a really cool, old-school movie house on 54th Street. Highlights: Harvey Weinstein announced the film and Sam Shepard (!!!) was there in person (so was Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Abigail Breslin and a few of the other stars.) But…I didn’t like it. In fact, I almost walked out (but kept thinking, ok, lemme give this another chance. Maybe it’ll get better.)
It seemed more like a stage play than a film. I felt the characters were incredibly cliched and the direction was awful (especially after just seeing Inside Llewyn Davis which was just brilliant and layered.) It reminded me of Mommy Dearest. This morning I spoke with a writer friend whose taste I respect. He saw the play on Broadway and felt the same way. Tracy Letts, who wrote the Broadway play also wrote the script so that makes sense. These days, where there’s so much really really good writing on tv (and on the web), it’s shocking to see a Miramax movie that’s actually over-the-top bad. On the positive side, there was free buttered popcorn.