Hey everyone!
I thought I'd let you all know that"Killing Michael Bay", the award-winning short film I made is now on IFILM.

Go to www.killingmichaelbay.com and click the link at the top.

Shot on a GL-1 and edited on Final Cut Pro.
Even though I made it right after "Pearl Harbor" was released, it remains timely in the recent wake of "Bad Boys II" and "Texas Chainsaw Massacre". Check it out!

Thanks
Todd Norris
director/editor/FX/sound design

Nice work. The over the top acting enhances the fun factor of this movie. The only thing I could mention is the blue screen shots in/around the car chase. They look too obvious, although any affordable alternative wasn't around.

Any reaction from the real Mr Bay?

I just wish I could view a better copy of the short without having to pay IFILM for the "Special" access. Do you have any links where I could download like a 75 meg version or something? By the way, it's a great short and I love the acting.....over the top CAN be hilarious if done correct.

Would love to see it. Let me know when you have a Quictime version so I don't have to go through all that Real Player nonsense.

Wayne Orr, SOC

Wayne, I hate Real Player as well, fortunately the ifilm site lets you choose between RP, Windows Media Player and Quicktime.

Cheers,
Huey

Got it. Thanks Huey. I really enjoyed that. More laffs than "Matrix Reloaded," and better effects than "Dreamcatcher." Now, what do you guys do for an encore?

Wayne Orr, SOC

I'm just finishing up a short called "Hulk, Too", which is about two fangeeks waiting in line to see "The Hulk" on opening day (I know, it's already dated and obsolete). But it's pretty funny in my opinion, and it's only 5 minutes long.

About ready to do a horror short about a night janitor chased around a building by a floating arm.

And I'm writing a feature that I plan to shoot on 24p and transfer to film.

Thanks for taking a look at my short on ifilm.

Sincerely,

Todd Norris

Todd,

I'm glad you're sticking around! And now that that short's on IFILM everyone will see the real wrath of Michael Bay :)

Todd, I am considering submitting a short to iFilm and was wondering if you have seen any advantages since you have submitted yours. Was it worth the price? Have you noticed any more exposure (other than the hits on the movie's page)? Now that it is up on iFilm, do you think it'll be helpful for you in the long run?

Ted,

Actually, I think there's something wrong with ifilm--Part of the appeal, in theory, is that people can post reviews of your film and give you feedback, but this function doesn't seem to be working. I assume good reviews also affect your rank on the site, but since this isn't working, it's impossible to move up in the ranks and get noticed.
So, it hasn't really done what I wanted it to do, which was to give "Killing Michael Bay" a second life on the internet.
On the positive side, since Ifilm liked the movie, they waived the fee for hosting it on their site. So all I had to pay was the shipping to send them a DV tape.
Also, their encoding is very good. I think the movie looks pretty good.
I just wish people could review the movie. Their tech support is not very good. They are not the warmest people in the world, nor the easiest to reach. They never return e-mails and hardly ever update your page when you ask them to.
Since I've never realy had a film on the internet before, I can't compare ifilm to anyone else. Hope this info helps a little.

Oh, and to answer your question "will it help in the long run?"
I think it might. I know people at Sony Pictures have seen a VHS and Mutual FIlms (Universal) watched it and thought it was funny.
So, perhaps if I can just get a few other studios and production houses to watch it on ifilm, it couldn't hurt. I don't really have the need to attract major studios anyway. I've kind of given up on the whole "I'm going to Hollywood to become a famous director" bandwagon. I'm just going to finish my feature script, try to get the financing to make it for under a million, then shoot it and edit it myself on 24p HD.

Todd Norris

I liked it.

Todd - I was very curious, did you attend a graduate level "film school" or did you learn on your own? Thanks!

I have a B.A. in Communication Studies, which was the closest thing to a film major my college had. My high school had a TV studio where I spent more hours than I can count. That's where I learned to edit and shoot video.

I also worked at an art theatre/video store for 7 years and watched as many movies as I could from all eras and countries of origin.

But my biggest teacher has simply been making my own short movies (and one feature).

Todd Norris

pretty good, I liked the shots at the end where he was getting out of the limo.

I really enjoyed your film. I thought Bay's justification for his horrible films was great. His whole little speech was great. Did you guys have to pay ifilm extra to get the film on their home page?

Steve,

At first I had no idea why we got on the front page of ifilm. It turns out my co-director, John McGrath, talked to someone at ifilm about fixing some mistakes on the Credits page. Apparently, there was a misunderstanding in what John said to this guy, and one way or another, we got mentioned on the front page. I think the ifilm guy misinterpreted something John said to mean "can our film be on the front page?"
I don't know the whole story, but it certainly helped give KMB some more visibility.

BTW, thanks for watching it, and thanks for the compliments on the "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down" speech.
All I can add is: tell as many people as you can to watch "Killing Michael Bay"!

Thanks,

Todd Norris