VIDEO SITE ACCOUNTS

First entry after 3 years. The emptyfilm Website went through a major rededign recently. Many things have happened since 2005 in terms of web and cinema. The most important by far was the creation of videosites such as youtube, dailymotion vimeo etc. and their rapid expansion into a new form of video distribution.
Our channels there have been online since november 2005 and have now pretty much replaced all need for hosting emptyfilm videos on the original site. A huge bandwidth saver but also an important door to the main site. As I have started a PHD on internet and cinema Since late 2006 the collected experience of managing accounts in different video sites and the comparisons that have emerged could be an issue to cover here and in the thesis...

the account are
www.youtube.com/emptyfilm with total of about 190.000views so far
Even though quality suffers their new insight feature is the most comprehensive and detailed way to collect statistical info on the viewings of your videos. Definitely the hugset database of videos, considering Google video is actually kind of merged with youtube. you can find anything you can imagine but there is so much crap that browsing without a specific target becomes pretty much pointless. the best search engine however.

www.dailymotion.com/emptyfilm much less views about 12000, but many more features on the local and international sites of dailymotion due to the administrator's systme anf official/creative content categorisations. Great site for browsing videos by genre. also one of the first sites long before youporn, etc to include erotic videos. A european answer to youtube. One of the first to offer HD video quality. excellent encoding but poor search which will soon be upgraded

www.vimeo.com/emptyfilm the most recent account by far (only one week) but the most promising in terms of networking in the film industry. One of the videos has Already been featured in the channel of a motion Graphic DVD magazine. Vimeo only accepts user generated content so do not expect mash ups or random stuff. only copyrighted material enter the site and that makes a huge difference when it comes to browsing randomly which usually ends up in really worthwhile playlists. great encoding quality too.

www.myspace.com/emptyfilm Much fewer views for videos but much more networking opportunities due to the personal character of the profiles there. I was asked to work for a big greek production company and pretty much started a carreer as a director for commercials in Greece through a Myspace message. the focus of myspace is not distribution of media but rather the presentation of media creators.

www.facebook.com Personal profile under the name Demitri Delinikolas. Not much of a video sharing experience but once people are tagged on the video, comments start flowing. however since they are comments from friends there is little to be offered in terms of random audience reactions to videos. But if you are looking for immediate reaction to a video upload it there for sure. Every friend will notice once they log in.

Micropolis Web Film Competition

Micropolis Web Film Competition has started
http://www.netodyssey.gr/micropolis_en.html

If you want to watch and vote for Distance Between, emptyfilm's entry to the competition go to
http://www.netodyssey.gr/512_en.html

OUR FORUM

Last few days we set up the emptyfilm forum. The whole concept behind this project is on-line communication and collaboration. After visiting our project website in www.emptyfilm.com
you can discuss them or participate in them using the forum http://forum.emptyfilm.com . You will need to register as a member which is very simple and automated in order to create your profile ad join the rest of the team...

Web Site [Videodance]

We just uploaded today a new web site project on the home emptyFILM site. It is dedicated in the theory and practice of Videodance films and it contains videodance movies, history texts and images, theory and many links to other related dance sites. [ http://videodance.emptyfilm.com ]

Filmmaker [ Val del Omar ]

José Val del Omar [ www.valdelomar.com ] is a Spanish filmmaker that deserves to be looked at. Val del Omar made his work some decades ago but his visionary and talent remain untouchable. This web page serves us as introduction to his films. We would be surprised in seeing his techniques, his themes and, how nowadays homages have been made to his work as for instance the musical done by the metal band Lagartija Nick [ www.lagartijanick.com ] with 'Val Del Omar' which included a song with the greatest Enrique Morente right after that amazing world which is 'Omega'.

Media Art Festival [ EMAF ]

European Media Art Festival, Osnabrück (EMAF) [ www.emaf.de ] is a festival that includes all media forms such as shorts, narrative documentaries, videoart, installations, multimedia projects and an international student forum. we can submit our work till december 15 of 2005. the page is in German and English.

VideoArt Festival [VideoDictionary]

VideoDictionary [ www.videodictionary.org ] is a project about language and moving images. They have a new call. Videos must be one minute long.

Media Archive [ MediatecaOnline]

Mediateca on line [ www.mediatecaonline.net ] is part of the 'La Caixa Foundation' Web Site. Here, we find activities being currently made, an e-mediateca in which we might find useful info on-line on artistic creations as well as, documentary archive on net-art, videodance, creative documentary, videoart, contemporary art and music. The web site is on English, Spanish and, Catalan.

Filmmaker [Johan Van Der Keuken]

This is the official Web-site of the Dutch filmmaker Johan Van Der Keuken [ www.johanvanderkeuken.com ]. He started as a photographer and then, became a filmmaker. This site gives photos, essays and a profile of a very interesting filmmaker. Here is also another site with an interview with him: [ www.eciad.bc.ca/~rburnett/keuken2.html ]

Copyleft [Lawrence Lessing]

Lawrence Lessing [ www.lessing.org ] teachs law at the Stanford University. He is one the most theoritical defenders in the field of intellectual property, the copyleft.

Digital rights [Electronic Frontier Foundation]

The Electronic Frontier Foundation [ www.eff.org ] is a colective formed by lawyers mainly for thechnology. They defend 'digital rights' not only what it is refered to the copyleft but also other subjects such as the electronic vote.

Copyleft [Creative Commons]

Creative Commons [ www.creativecommons.org ] is a non-profit organisation, which works with licences to be used by others under the copyleft regime. They regulate those conditions as well they work with other institutions such as universities worldwide.

Web Festival [notodofilmfest]

www.notodofilmfest.com is a Spanish site focusing in the promotion of shorts. it has been around for quite some time. The site sadly is only in Spanish. It is hosted by Javier Fesser, who has also directed two feature films.

Net Distribution [Six Pack Film]

Six Pack Film[ www.sixpackfilm.com ]is a non-profit organitation founded in Austria. it works with experimental filmmakers, video-art, music, and documentaries. Among the artists they have are Gustav Deustsch whose work is interesting and powerfull. About him we can visit: http://www.canyoncinema.com/D/Deutsch.html or in: http://www.sixpackfilm.com/archive/texte/01_filmvideo/filmist_gunningE.html

New Film [Distance Between]

We just finished a new film for an internet competition. You can visit its wesite to watch it and download it from http://micropolis.emptyfilm.com
The competition which is organised from the Greek Ministry of Culture is open for films that are six minutes long under the subject title 'Micropolis'. The films will be uploaded on the www.netodyssey.gr website and the audience will see them and vote through the internet from the 1st of November untill the end of the year. It is worth checking out the whole project as it will contain more than 200 films... I hope their servers withstand the masses of users:)

|empty|FILM [First Upload]

The Under Costruction page has been withdrawn.
www.emptyfilm.com has a few of its subdomains up on-line for testing.

Net Distribution [Microcinema]

"Microcinema's mission is to curate, exhibit, promote, and distribute innovative international moving image artists whose deeply personal and culturally relevant works are typically marginalized by the mainstream entertainment industry."
www.microcinema.com

Web Design [Hi-Res]

Hi-Res is a British web design and media production company. www.hi-res.net. All the work I have seen from these people has really amazed me and inspired me . They have been preffered by the film industry to create film web sites like Requiem for a Dream, Bertoluci's Dreamers, Punisher, Saw and others. They always find a way to create a web art piece even out of the most commercial job like Grey Goose Vodka or Lexus or massive attack's web page. Extremely well programmed and streaming friendly and with a very interesting aesthetic approach mixing moving image and narrative soundtrack, I have found very little competition for Hi-Res so far. And to be honest If anyone has a web design company or individual artist that they have to propose please do...

Members Notice [Welcome]

As our team of contributors is getting bigger I would like to welcome you at the emptyfilm Blog and point out a few things to make the blog work smoothly.
In order to publish Images and Links Blogger requires that a member has to have administrator rights. That however means that accidentally one could delete someone else's post or affect the overall design of the site as well. Please be very carefull not to delete each other's blog entries and change the overall settings. Also mark your subject Title clearly to organise the posts. As we all comment on different fields of New Media specify your Area firts and then put in brackets [] the individual short title. For example Photograhy [Richard Avedon], Videodance [Blush], Web Art [Hi-Res].
I hope we all enjoy blogging and sharing our research into New Media. Soon the home site of emptyfilm will be up and running offering new opportunities for collaboration and shared research...

Dance Teams [Karas | Teshigawara]

Karas is the dance team of Japanese artist Saburo Teshigawara. It is very hard to categorize teshigawara as a dancer/choreographer as he is an amazing scenographer and Fine Artist as well, which makes his theatrical and video productions stand out in the Dancethetre world. www.st-karas.com is his home page.

Photography [Equivalence]

This is the site of Andreas Muller Pohle (European Photography), which contains his works and very interesting reviews about contemporary European photography and philosophy of photography.
visit: www.equivalence.com

Dance Teams [Ultima Vez]

For those interested in dance, dancetheatre and videodance I would like to point out two artists that have attracted our outmost attention. One is a director that turned to choreographer and now runs one of the most famous dancethetre groups in the world called Ultima Vez. Hi name is Wim Vanderkeybus and is currently based in Brussels. One of Ultima Vez's most intriguing works is BLUSH which we strongly reccomend as it mixes dance, theatre, poetry and filmmaking into a seamless entity. Blush has also turned into a film recently that tours around the world in videodance festivals. Visit www.ultimavez.com for tour dates, bios and information on workshops run by the team

BOOK REVIEW [Escape Velocity]

i found a book on cyberculture titled : Escape Velocity: Cyberculture at the end of the Century by Mark Dery

Arts and Media Centers [ZKM | V2]

ZKM in Karsluhe, Germany www.zkm.de and V2_ in Rotterdam, Holland www.v2.nl are two of the leading institutions in New Media Arts. There is no point to write a longer review as you are bound to read one of their publications or listen about their projects and exhibitions if you are researching into New Media. However I will point out the Book "Future Cinema" from ZKM and MIT Press 2003 which is a key reading for issues regarding the future developments of cinematic forms. A much shorter book by V2_ entitled "Making Art of Databases" is a crucial look into Databases and information theory. Both books are based on corresponding exhibitions in the two institutions.

Net Distribution [Underground Film]

Underground Film is another venew for on line film distribution. It has its own forum and blog space, discussing film festivals and short films and it is open to submissions of films, screenplays and music. www.undergroundfilm.org

Net Distribution [Urban Desires]

The web site Urban Desires uses an interesting alternative for searching their database of films. It offers two sliders with keywords which the user can combine into small phrases. The combinations of words lead to different lists of films, whose contents and subject matter fit the selected phrase. It works in an interesting way as it adds an emotional factor to the selection of a film to watch rather than simply using a genre categorization. They call it the "Slide Rule" and it can be seen in the following URL http://www.desires.com/topicframe.html

Videodance [Web Site UK]

An interesting web site concerning Videodance is the British www.videodance.org.uk

Net Distribution [Links]

Wired magazine had published a list of websites related to Web film distribution. The list is quite old, yet it is still valid. We will be posting updates for relevant sites and venues.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/7.10/multiplex.html

Manovich Link

Lev Manovich is one of the most important figures in new media theory and practice. His website covers a wide range of projects and books on new media and is a must see for digital filmmakers and new digital theorists and artists. www.manovich.net

Computer Games [History]

Digital Filmmaking is immediately connected to New Media including the most influential of them, the computer games. As computer games are a huge economic force but also one of the most important cultural influences of modern society I think their history is of key interest to all new media artists. Web site www.gamespot.com offers a comprehensive and detailed history of computer games in the following address: http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hov/index.html

Blog Theory

The following link has an interesting theoretical text for Blogs and Video Blogs written by Adrian Miles entitled "Media Rich Versus Rich Media"
Lecturer in Cinema and New Media,
School of Applied Communication, RMIT University
http://incsub.org/blogtalk/?page_id=76

Net Distribution [Atom films]

Atomfilms.com worth checking out in terms of internet distribution of short films.
They use streaming video.
www.atomfilms.com

Videodance and Anima Band

Late night, came back from Anima's concert www.animaband.com . We are planning to make their first music video. Tomorrow we are leaving for Thessaloniki for the 5th Greek Videodance festival www.filmfestival.gr/videodance. Videodance has attracted our attention as an interesting medium for cinematic experimentation. A part of emptyfilm will be focusing on th history, theory and production of videodance works. The Anima band has also expressed its interest in creating music for videodance production but also using videodance visuals in their promo videos.

Enjoy! [Introduction to this Blog]

Emptyfilm.com

is on its way to a beta version in the next two months.
This blog was created as an introduction to the upcoming website.
This first post is also to say hi to Eleni, Alberto, Carina, Manthos, Antonis, Claire, Ramon and Hardeep.
I suggest this blog as a beginning for the web projects we have discussed about from time to time.
You can download a plug-in for microsoft word that will allow you to prepare and post comments on this blog. You can download it from www.blogger.com.

Enjoy...!