July 1999

Imagine this: Immediately following college you decide to make a feature-length film. You wait tables to make time during the day to write the script. You scrimp and save every penny you earn for production costs. The film is what drives you--you eat, drink, and sleep it. After three years of stop and go, you have two completed reels in your hands. You spend another year shopping your film around to dozens of festivals, until you finally get the call: your entry has been accepted.

Remember the early days of MTV, with its dozens of claymation ID spots? Did you ever wonder who comes up with that stuff and think, "Wouldn't it be great to do that?" Welcome to the Olive Jar Studios. Located in Boston, Olive Jar is a premier animation studio specializing in all things animated. Beyond standard two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation techniques, Olive Jar blends mixed media, CG (Computer Generated), stop-motion, cel, drawn, cut-out, pixilation, and live action, making it a read more...

Let's say you're the head of a fledgling indie production company. You've got lots of great film ideas, plenty of passion, and some kind of a plan for realizing your dreams thanks to the involvement of some enthusiastic friends and a credit card or two. Maybe you've even got a project in the can. In other words, you're viable, but only just so. Then, someone you really respect gives you the Internet address of a production company that once upon a time walked more than a mile in your shoes. And maybe, because you're read more...

Bret Stern's movie "Road to Park City" is a hilarious spoof about a hapless young filmmaker who's desperate to get his film to you-know-where. Ironically, Bret himself is neither hapless nor desperate. Read on.

MPS: Did you submit "Road to Park City" to Sundance?

STERN: No, we finished after Sundance.

MPS: Are you going to submit it this year?

STERN: Sure. Why not?

MPS: How autobiographical is it?

1999 is proving to be a banner year for Tewksbury, MA-based AVID technology. In March, the company received an Academy Award in the Science and Technology category for its Film Composer for Editing. Then came the industry-wide buzz around its stellar showing at the 1999 National Association of Broadcasters in April. The company introduced a range of new and newly improved technology at the event, including the Avid ShowBiz Producer and the Avid Symphony Version 2.0, two breakthrough editing products at opposite ends of the price spectrum.

Director Stuart Acher and screenwriter Jeremy Catalino do in 20 minutes what some filmmakers don't accomplish in years. Their short film "Bobby Loves Mangos"--mystery, comedy, drama, even commentary on domestic strife--excels in every category it jumps into.

LF: What is unique about what the people at Documentary Educational Resources do?