YouTube Screening Room Opens with Toons

Thursday, June 19, 2008
By: Ryan Ball

Online viral video sensation YouTube today announced the launch of The YouTube Screening Room (www.youtube.com/ytscreeningroom), a dedicated destination for filmmakers around the world to distribute their work and share in revenue. The site will feature four new short films every two weeks, as well as feature-length films on a case-by-case basis. Initial animated offerings include Torill Kove’s Oscar-winning short The Danish Poet, as well as Fredrik Emilson’s Award-winning Love and War and Josh Raskin’s Academy Award-nominated I Met The Walrus.

Winner of the 2007 Academy Award for Best Animated Short, The Danish Poet was produced through The National Film Board of Canada. The film follows Kasper, a poet whose creative well has run dry, as he journeys to Norway to meet the famous writer Sigrid Undset. As Kasper's quest for inspiration unfolds, it appears that seemingly unrelated factors all play a role in the big scheme of life after all.

The stop-motion opera Love and War won Best Animated Short at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. Produced by Tomas Michaelsson, the short tells the tale of two lovers, Bunny and Bear, who meet by happenstance. At the height of their romance, Bear is called to serve in an international conflict against an army of aggressing reptilians.

I Met the Walrus uses animation to illustrate real audio from a 1969 interview that 14-year-old Jerry Levitan conducted with music legend John Lennon. Levitan produced the film, which was nominated for a 2008 Oscar in the Aniamted Short category.

In the coming months, all filmmakers will have the opportunity to submit their work for consideration through an online submission process. Screening Room visitors will be able to communicate directly with filmmakers, share thoughts with other fans and provide honest feedback. There is also a "Buy Now" button that allows filmmakers to link to websites selling DVDs and digital downloads of their films, as well as a high-quality video player for the best viewing experience possible.

Reader Comments

• cinepix :

  Saturday, June 21, 2008

  It appears a major press release has been overlooked from February of 2008.
  
  
  (June 19, 2008 – Hollywood, CA) Metropolis Pictures Entertainment, Inc. announces the first and only online global movie theatre, previously known as the Metropolis Global Theatre, has moved to Cinepix.com as the Cinepix Theatre.
  
  The first and only international online movie theatre, Cinepix Theatre, was originally conceived by Francis Xavier, Chief Executive Officer, and Michael R. Kureth, Chief Operating Officer, of Metropolis Pictures Entertainment, Inc. in June of 2007 to offer independent filmmakers and major studios a new and free method of global exposure where they would be compensated for their films being seen around the world subtitled in the user’s language. The copyright for this creation was approved by the Library of Congress on November 7, 2007, and the patent for the invention was accepted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in January of 2008. The theatre launched on February 18, 2008 featuring three short films and four of the five feature films produced by Metropolis Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
  
  Short and feature film submissions have been open to both independent filmmakers and major studios at both standard definition (864x486) and high definition (1920x1080 or 1080x720) using H.264 compression (Blu-ray Disc quality) for playback in full screen mode. This service is available for free to filmmakers for two weeks where they are compensated for 50% of every view. The site and film shown is dynamically subtitled in the user’s language offering access to a global audience with supported languages including English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. All films are given the highest level of protection using Adobe’s Flash Media Rights Management Server.
  
  Starting in the theatre Monday, June 23, 2008, the prequel to the pilot episode of \"The Ear of the Beholder,\" will be shown starring legendary Oscar nominated and Golden Globe Award winning actress Sally Kirkland and directed by Francis Xavier. The twelve minute film showcases one of the year’s best performances in a short film by a lead actress and will follow up with a pilot for cable television based on her character, Marlena Smith, an old fading, nymphomaniac film star who must deal with the competitive life of younger actresses, must pay for sex, and keep it a secret from family and friends.
  
  Next week, June 30, 2008, “The Ear of the Beholder” will be available in the Cinepix Theatre in thirteen languages giving audiences around the world the only true global theatre experience.
  
  Articles and Interviews from the February launch:
  http://www.atomicpopcorn.net/2008/02/18/first-run-movies-in-your-home/
  http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200802/1203702461.html
  http://www.metpix.com/media/audio/2008-02-18-98_rock-original.mp3
  
  Press Contact:
  Metropolis Pictures Entertainment, Inc., P.O. Box 623, Hollywood, CA 91603
  metpix.com | cinepix.com – info@cinepix.com

• Bill : Lycos

  Tuesday, June 24, 2008

  YouTube’s ‘screening room’ announcement underscores the powerful role the Internet can play for independent filmmakers to share their work and build a fan-base without the limitations of conventional theater distribution. But it’s not the first -- Lycos Cinema has provided a platform for indie filmmakers to showcase their work since late 2006. Having been at it for a while Lycos Cinema is loaded with hundreds of award-winning independent films, such as God\\\'s Lonely Man (Grand Jury Nominee - 2006 Sundance Film Festival); The Corndog Man (Emerging Filmaker Award - 2000 St. Louis International Film Festival); Kid Brother (Special Jury Prize - 1988 Paris Film Festival, Unicef Award Berlin International Film Festival); and The Zeros (Audience Award, Narrative Feature, 2001 SXSW Film Festival).
  
  And as part of a major upgrade in May 2008, Lycos Cinema teamed up with Independent Features for an online film festival that is running from May 5 to June 30. The festival takes advantage of Lycos Cinema’s unique, patent-pending watch and chat capability, which allows fans to synchronously discuss and watch movies in real-time. So it really mirrors the community experience of a film festival with fans socializing and buzzing about their favorites. Fans also get to interact with filmmakers -- tonight (June 24) four directors will be hosting live chats with fans while their movies screen at the same time. Fans vote online as well, and the top films will be shown at the Tribeca Cinemas in NYC, July 25-27. Check it out here: http://cinema.lycos.com/iff.php