Tribeca Film Festival
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The Roku Channel adds free content from IGN, the Tribeca Film Festival and more
Some of the more notable additions include IGN, CBC News and AccuWeather, as well as a linear channel devoted exclusively to the Tribeca Film Festival.
Tribeca and Epic Games aim to help indie filmmakers harness Unreal Engine
Workshops with Unreal Engine experts and artists will help creatives learn how to use the platform.
Tribeca Film Festival will expand its games program next year
Hideo Kojima and Geoff Keighley have joined Tribeca Games' new advisory board.
Walmart is turning some of its parking lots into drive-in theaters
Select Walmart parking lots around the US will soon be transformed into drive-in theaters, thanks to a partnership with the company behind the Tribeca Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The “safe, socially distanced drive-in events,” as Walmart describes them on its website, will run from August through October at 160 locations across the country. The events will also feature “appearances from stars,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, and customers will be able to order concessions that will be delivered to their vehicles.
Tribeca Film Festival is bringing its VR films to Oculus headsets
Just like pretty much every other event for the foreseeable future, the Tribeca Film Festival isn't taking place as it normally would after organizers postponed it from April. However, the festival is joining SXSW in making some of its programming available online. Tribeca is already streaming a new short film per day, and there's more on the way.
Stream select Tribeca Film Festival talks live on Facebook
The Tribeca Film Festival is underway, and it's live-streaming a handful of its talks. Through the festival's Facebook page, you can watch conversations with celebs like Queen Latifah, Michael J. Fox, Denis Leary, Ali Wong and Tiffany Haddish. You can also catch cast members from In Living Color, who will reunite to reflect on the show, and Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who's now 90 years old and will talk about her journey from Holocaust survivor to household name as a sex therapist.
Spherica creates nausea-free immersive video
Typically, 360-degree VR video comes in two varieties: static, wherein the camera remains motionless while the onscreen action unfolds around it, and vomit-inducing, where the camera moves but instigates severe motion sickness in the viewer. The San Francisco-based motion picture startup, Spherica, aims to create a third option: immersive VR video that can track, tilt and pan without making the audience lose their lunch.
How cheap VR helped a Stanford professor bring his dream to Tribeca
Last year, the Tribeca Film Festival began highlighting new mediums being used in storytelling, and that trend has translated over to 2015. Virtual reality is, naturally, a big part of this movement, as filmmakers start creating more content for consumer-grade devices like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard. This is why the current edition of the event is hosting Stanford's Virtual Human Virtual Interaction Lab, a venture started in 2003 by Jeremy Bailenson, who's a professor at the university and has been working on digital human representation since 1999. It features a set of VR experiences that attendees can check out, all with the same goal of transporting you into another reality.
Tribeca Film Festival welcomes a tech-driven change in storytelling
Storytellers are finding new mediums, like mobile apps, virtual reality headsets and web-based products, to convey their narratives. Of course, events like Sundance and Tribeca Film Festival are the perfect place to exhibit any fresh or interesting project, where people can actually experience them firsthand. And they all have one thing in common: The key is to make you part of the story. At Storyscapes, an exhibit at the Tribeca Film Festival that showcases immersive creations, we came across some that caught our eye. For example, a couple use VR to express the director's message, another an app and, in the case of Door Into the Dark, a 6,000-square-foot labyrinth that relies on audio to guide those who try it. Sounds like fun, right? Don't worry: You, too, can check these out if you happen to be in New York City from today, April 16th, through April 19th.
Embracing the future: Tribeca Film Festival goes beyond its roots
As has been the case since 2002, this year brought thousands of movie buffs to New York City for the Tribeca Film Festival. While at its core, the festival is still very much rooted in providing a platform for film creators to show off their latest productions, the event itself has grown to be about more than just films. This year, TFF introduced a few new technology-focused initiatives, in hopes of providing more options for both filmmakers and the media. That, coupled with panels, interactive events and, of course, the late-night parties, makes the festival one not to be missed.
Netflix data didn't feed House of Cards' success, 'the bliss of ignorance' did
The opening scene of the Netflix original House of Cards, in which a dog is killed by the lead character, certainly isn't for the faint of heart. So much so that some people made the decision to stop watching right as Frank Underwood finished saying he has "no patience for useless things," and ended the canine's life shortly after it had been run over and left to suffer on the street. And if you've watched the show, then you know Frank wouldn't be Frank without doing such unsettling things. Yes, it was a powerful and very risky way to kick off a new style of series, but it is one that set the tone for the House of Cards we've now become familiar with, regardless of how appalling it may have been. For Beau Willimon, the man responsible for turning an old UK TV series into a show based on American politics, if you can't handle that scene, then you're not meant to watch the show.
New Beyond: Two Souls trailer premieres at Tribeca Film Festival [Update: Gameplay video]
Quantic Dream showed off its upcoming mysterious action-adventure game Beyond: Two Souls in a two-hour screening at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York on Saturday. The latest trailer for the game shows a young Jodie Holmes and her encounters with an unseen being she calls Aiden, which sets the tone for her struggles into adulthood.The game stars Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, the latter having been officially revealed as part of the game's cast in March. Beyond: Two Souls will launch on October 8 for PS3.Update: GamesHQMedia has the 35-minute gameplay video from the film festival, which can be found after the break. Be warned: the video contains some spoilers. %Gallery-186984%
Apple to offer filmmaker workshops for Tribeca Film Festival
Filmmakers in New York will want to be sure to stop by the West 14th Street and Soho Apple stores beginning April 20th through April 28th. The company is offering a series of filmmaking talks and workshops at the two locations in honor of the Tribeca Film Festival. The Apple Store, West 14th Street, and the Apple Store, SoHo, are proud to take part in the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. To celebrate the spirit of independent film making, we're hosting free events and workshops from April 20 through April 28. And everyone's invited to attend. Grab a seat for an exclusive Meet the Filmmakers session - presented by Apple and Indiewire - and hear the film industry's leading actors, writers, directors, and producers discuss their latest projects. The "Meet the Filmmakers" events will feature Q&A's with writers, directors, producers, and actors including Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Brad Hall, Emily Blunt, Morgan Spurlock, Chris Colfer, Jenna Fischer, Julie Delpy, Freida Pinto, and more. There will also be several "What's New in Filmmaking" workshops that delve into Final Cut Pro X, iLife and iWork for filmmakers, social media in film making, location scouting, lighting, effective story telling, and more. A full list of workshop schedules can be found here. Interested readers can also download the free Tribeca Film Festival app.
Rockstar's Dan Houser on transmedia and building L.A. Noire
The Hollywood Reporter chatted with Rockstar's Dan Houser at the Tribeca Film Festival (where L.A. Noire is being shown off as an "interactive screening") and he said that, despite all of the attempts at solid transmedia properties recently, "no one has done it very successfully yet." The issue, in his opinion, is that companies are all too often going for money rather than what's right for the medium. "Too often, however," he said, "the aim appears to be to cash-in on the success of a particular game, book, pop singer, website, etc., and that usually produces mediocre results." Houser also said that Rockstar has "explored a lot of movie deals," but wants to stick with games for the moment. He's personally enamored with two genres: The Western, which was explored in Red Dead Redemption, and film noir, which developer Team Bondi plays with in this latest game. Providing some insight into its development, Houser said that his company "employed a massive number of actors in the game –- over 400," along with "hair and make-up artists, a great television director ... and a lot of original costumes, props and other research from the studios themselves" to recreate the golden era of Hollywood. We'll see if Rockstar can make up that virtual fedora budget on May 17.
L.A. Noire subject of Tribeca Film Festival special event
To hear Take-Two describe it -- "L.A. Noire has been honored as an Official Selection at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival [...] the first time ever that a video game has been recognized by the festival" -- you'd think that Rockstar's latest production was a small-budget longshot, competing for necessary distinction amid the eclectic slate of films that will be screened during De Niro and company's annual gathering of international movie makers and moviegoers in the lower Manhattan neighborhood. Instead, the Team Bondi-developed "cinema-videogame hybrid," as Tribeca Film puts it, will be more of a sideshow -- though no less prestigious. As part of the "Tribeca Talks" special events series, L.A. Noire will be the subject of a one-night-only gameplay demonstration and discussion, featuring Rockstar representatives. The event will be moderated by Tribeca Enterprises COO Geoff Gilmore, who sounds particularly excited about the film festival's latest discovery. "It's an invention of a new realm of storytelling that is part cinema, part gaming, and a whole new realm of narrative expression, interactivity, and immersion," he heralded in an announcement. "We are poised on the edge of a new frontier." Don't worry, Gilmore, it's safe to step on in -- the games industry has actually been settling this very frontier for decades. The L.A. Noire event is scheduled for 5:30PM on Monday, April 25 at one of the School of Visual Arts theaters (an official festival venue; though not located in Tribeca). An hour has been set aside for the "live interactive screening" of one of the game's detective cases, plus an additional 45 minutes or so for the Q&A conversation. Tickets will be priced at $25 per attendee (some discounts available) and go on sale to the general public on April 18.
Joystiq interviews the "Good Versus Wiivil" creators
Jack Paccione Jr. is one happy guy. Of course, he did just get sent to the Top of the Rock in New York City to show off his short film to the influential members of the Tribeca Film Festival community. Having an extra $10,000 in his pocket certainly must feel nice as well. How did he get there? He won Nintendo's short film competition, Shortcuts, with his film "Good Versus Wiivil."The film turned a happy-go-lucky Carvel employee into a human mannequin controlled by a Wii Remote. But, what would happen when an evil Wii Remote (the titular "Wiivil") interfered? The incredible concept was backed by fantastic production values, and great performances. We had a chance to talk to Jack Paccione Jr., Jerry White, and Robert McCormack from Escape Goat Pictures to hear more about the production of the winning short film.What inspired the concept behind the film?Paccione: Well, I never thought seriously about there being an evil Wii Remote. But, with all our short films we want to get into some kind of conflict as quickly as possible. So, the Wii is a really fun, happy place, and we wanted to mess around with that a little bit, and figure out its dark side. And there we go. That's how it came together.
