Firefox Flicks Backstage

Greetings from the founders of Wander Films, Aaron Weber and Joshua Clark. We are both extremely happy to be participating in Firefox Flicks Ad Contest.

Just a few weeks ago I received an email from Cheryl Striepe who brought this contest to our attention. And now here we are just over a month before the due date gearing up for our shoot which will be taking place in a couple of weeks.

The moment we made the decision to create a commercial we knew we had to recruit our friend Zach Menna. Zach is an extremely talented art director working in New York City. He was just out here in Los Angeles working with us to create a concept for our spot.

We also are teaming up once again with renowned composer Bob Lord. We recently completed a short film with Bob and were amazed at the talent that he brought to that project.

Now I must cut this post short so I can get back to pre production. I am very much looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with.

Aaron
Producer
Wander Films

The Firefox Flicks Ad Contest is in full swing. I’ve been working with some interesting people in a variety of settings who are helping us to spread the word. The Web is creating an opportunity for amateur and Indie film makers to bypass some of the traditional methods of collaborating, advertising and distribution. With broadband streaming, downloads to portable devices, pod casts, community sites and blogs a new world is opening up that democratizes the system. This is also giving film makers and those interested in promoting new ways of working together a platform for creating something unique. A couple of examples:

“Campus Movie Fest is the only event of its kind to provide thousands of student teams with Apple laptops, camcorders, and training. In addition, hundreds of local musicians provide the best independent music that students have permission to use as their soundtracks. The movie-making events culminate in unforgettable finales, with the on-campus showcases attracting thousands of students and staff.�?

“The Hollywood Experiment is an experiment in which a film is made using the Internet and the talent of filmmakers all over the world. The filmmakers will contribute different scenes in an effort to create one complete film. We will then submit the completed film to many high-profile film festivals. Our goal is to showcase the talent of the artists that contribute and participate in the experiment.�?

IndieFilmCamp is being organized “To introduce and involve the Independent Film community to the capabilites of net media for conversing with a developing audiences, and for syndicating, promoting and distributing works.�?

It’s exciting to see how technology is enabling new ways to create, collaborate and communiate.

~Cheryl

Hello from the Vail Film Festival (VFF) team. You may have read here about the festival joining the growing ranks of Firefox Flicks Friends. We’re excited to be a part of the Flicks community.

VFF is a young festival, with our third year approaching in a few rapidly disappearing weeks. The festival runs from March 30 – April 2 in Vail, Colorado, North America’s most popular ski resort.

While it’s exciting to have major stars come to the VFF, it’s equally exciting to see what people can do when they are inspired and driven to communicate something important to them. We’ve seen what a team of animators can produce working for over two years to create their short film, or a documentary filmmaker who followed a story that touched him, or a feature film director who took her script and with almost no backing created a moving, elegant picture. It’s about community and connection. Creating a community of filmmakers and people passionate about film and connecting them with each other. And those connections last far longer than the final screening.

That’s where Firefox Flicks comes in. What could be more exciting than the opportunity to support the work of the burgeoning filmmakers for the Flicks Ad Contest? The Vail Film Festival and Firefox Flicks both share the goal of empowering the next generation of film talent to achieve their dreams and get the exposure they deserve. We are enjoying working together on this mission.

Here’s a sneak peek at the 2006 fest:

Opening Night film: “The Oh in Ohio�? directed by Billy Kent, starring Paul Rudd, Parker Posey, Danny DeVito, Mischa Barton, and Heather Graham.
Closing Night film: “American Dreamz�? directed by Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy, In Good Company), starring Hugh Grant, Dennis Quaid, Mandy Moore, Willem Dafoe, Marcia Gay Harden, Chris Klein, and Judy Greer.
Special Feature: From the filmmakers of the indie hit “Napoleon Dynamite,�? comes “The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang�? directed by Tim Skousen.

I’ll be telling you more about what’s going on with the festival in the coming weeks.

~Michael

If you’ve got a website or blog with room for a Firefox Flicks banner, you can use any of the images below. To add a banner to your site, simply copy and paste the text from below the banner of your choice. These banners are sized to fit Google Adsense image ads so feel free to add them into your rotation if you’re an Adsense publisher.

<a href="http://www.firefoxflicks.com"><img border="0" alt="Firefox Flicks" src="http://www.firefoxflicks.com/backstage/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/728×90.png">

<a href="http://www.firefoxflicks.com"><img border="0" alt="Firefox Flicks" src="http://www.firefoxflicks.com/backstage/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/468×60.png�?">

<a href="http://www.firefoxflicks.com"><img border="0" alt="Firefox Flicks" src="http://www.firefoxflicks.com/backstage/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/300×250.png">

<a href="http://www.firefoxflicks.com"><img border="0" alt="Firefox Flicks" src="http://www.firefoxflicks.com/backstage/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/120×600.png">

In our ongoing efforts to promote the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest and to engage our community of participants with opportunities to share their work and to win early prizes, we’re reaching out and asking for updates from all of our current participants.

We’re very much interested in hearing from you about the progress of your entry and we’d also like to extend an opportunity to share your Firefox Flicks experience with our community here at the Firefox Flicks Backstage Blog.

Participants who are willing to share some “behind the scenes” photos or commentary with our Flicks audience will be eligible for some great prizes including Firefox swag packs from the Mozilla Store, (we’ve got T-shirts, backpacks, stickers, baseball caps, sweatshirts, books and more,) as well as gift packs from some of our Friends of Firefox Flicks.

If you aren’t interested in the added exposure of a production profile or behind the scenes post at the Backstage Blog, we’re still interested in hearing from you about your experience producing a Firefox Flicks 30 second ad so please let us know what you’re working on, what format you’re using, and how it’s going with an email to ad-support@mozilla.com.

And don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any further questions about the contest, either here in the comments or in an email.