I ran across an interesting website, thanks to the magic of Google Adwords. Not interesting, as in *good* but interesting as in *debatable*:

“nobodywantsyourfilm.com”:http://www.nobodywantsyourfilm.com

It appears this guy has made a behind-the-scenes movie on an independent feature and is trying to get some financing for distribution. I like the title, I like the minimalist white-on-black marketing approach, the idea of mystery.

What I don’t like, however, is the footage itself. There are three “trailers” on the site that don’t really tell me anything about the movie. Check them out and see what you think. There’s very little about what the movie actually *is*, and what’s there gives a poor impression. The editing is strange, the camerawork poor (nightvision?!) and there’s absolutely nothing on the site about the filmmaker.

That said, I’ll bet you all my credit cards that it will become an internet phenomenon, somebody will notice and put some money behind it, and it will become a huge underground hit.

Remember, you heard that here first…

I’ve been sitting on this bit of news for two months until everything was finished and definite. Now I can finally share our excitement.

Two scenes from Rock Paper Scissors will be featured on a DVD of companion exercises for a Humanities textbook, published by the mammoth “McGraw-Hill Publishing”:http://www.mhhe.com this year. The DVD comes free with the textbook “Landmarks in Humanities”:http://catalogs.mhhe.com/mhhe/viewProductDetails.do?isbn=0073207268 (the reference to a CDROM on that site is incorrect — it’s actually a DVD). The book will have an initial circulation of half a million. Here’s McGraw-Hill’s description:

bq. ??LANDMARKS in Humanities is a single-volume survey of global culture designed for students of humanities, cultural history, and history of the arts. In chronological sequence, LANDMARKS highlights the most notable monuments of the human imagination–those works of art and architecture, literature, philosophy, and music that have been foremost in shaping the world’s cultures.??

The “companion DVD”:http://www.uwgb.edu/univcomm/news/inthenews/inthenews2004/education6-04.htm was produced by Creative Mindz, a multimedia production company in Ohio. There’s nothing close to the sheer scope of this on the market right now. It contains interactive activities for each chapter in the text, which include audio and video exercises highlighting art throughout the globe.

One scene from Rock Paper Scissors will be used as an interactive lesson in how different layers of audio affect the experience of a film. Students can watch the clip and toggle on/off the dialogue, sound effects, and music tracks. Another scene will illustrate an actor’s performance, accompanied by behind-the-scenes photos of the preparation process.

The final master of the DVD was sent out to the publishers on Monday. We’re very excited and grateful to the folks at Creative Myndz — especially Gregory Cornelius and Bonnie Mitchell — for this opportunity. We’re looking forward to the release of the textbook later this summer.

*** By the way, the subscribers to our free newsletter got this news last week. If you want to stay informed and be the first to know in the future, sign up now using the box at the top of the page (the free newsletter section). We’re jealous of our supporters and wouldn’t dream of sharing your address with anyone else!

I love DVDs that provide lots of bang for the buck. I mean a good movie, loaded with extra features, commentary tracks, outtakes, and behind the scenes footage. Look no further than “The Incredibles”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317705/combined DVD coming out March 15th.

My sister works for Blockbuster, so I often get to check out DVDs like this before they hit the street. After spending nearly four hours with it last night, I can assure you this one is *packed* with extras. And high-quality extras — not just filler. One of my pet peeves is behind-the-scenes featurettes that are sprinkled with so many clips of the movie you might as well be watching it instead. Thankfully, this DVD has an insightful 27 minute-long featurette. By the time you finish watching it, you feel like you really know director “Brad Bird”:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0083348/ and his compadres. Along with the featurettes on Pixar’s other movies, you have to admire the creative process that goes on behind the closed doors in that company. It seems like it would be a killer place to work.

Then there is, of course, “Boundin’”:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395479/combined — the short with the sheep and the jackalope that opened the movie in theaters, along with a cute featurette about the creator of that movie (long-time Pixar animator “Bud Luckey”:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0524726/ ). There are some hilarious extra cartoons on there — including a look at the babysitter’s trials with the baby and a terrific sendup of the more awful superhero TV cartoons of the 60′s.

The deleted scenes section shows animated storyboards of scenes that were cut out from the movie, along with explanation from the director why they were ultimately cut. Again, these are a big “cut” above many other tiresome/boring deleted scenes included with movies these days, and run for almost a full half-hour total.

Trust me — if you loved the movie that won Best Animated Feature this year, then these are the “DVDs”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JN4W/qid=1110182473/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-6138331-2834537?v=glance&s=dvd&n=507846 to own.