Late last night (after 33 months, several hundred uploads, and keeping a close eye on the numbers all week) my combined online video views from YouTube, Yobi.tv, and Vimeo surpassed the 500,000 mark! That's half a million to those of you not familiar with written numbers - and even to those of you who are for that matter.
In many ways it's tough to even find the energy to celebrate the milestone knowing how much effort it took, and continues to take, just to get people to tune in. I've often thought about how uploading a Family Guy episode would be an easier way at getting people to visit my channel - pointless, but easier. One million views . . . now there's something to celebrate. I best get to it then . . .
A single a day keeps your creativity in play. Join me as I share some of my fav tunes in an effort to pay the inspiration forward. Inspired Singles: Issue 07 by Luke Fandrich
A driving and crunchy mix, McCartney's song from his relatively recent album Memory Almost Full is nostalgic, direct, and upbeat. In a self-gratifying way, this is a great tune to belt out.
Simple lyrics, bouncy keyboards, and a childlike ambience - Turn This Boat Around from Matt & Kim's album, Grand, is a fun track. Fused with that indie-sensability I can easily picture this song in a Wes Anderson movie.
With a strong beat, synth flair, catchy chorus, and lyrics questioning 'who'd you rather be, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones?' I can't help but love this song. The music video only sealed the deal for me - nice one-take concept switching up the performers. Check it out for yourself.
It was right at the beginning of this year that I first discovered the blog, Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts. What really hooked me was that it was similar to my goals with my Cinematic Acrobatic interview series in having other filmmakers talk about their work and experiences - these people just happened to be industry professionals.
It continues to be a great resource and a fun read for anyone interested in the realities of making a movie commercially.
What I really enjoy about Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts is that the people who are talking about their work are tackling a variety of different projects and genres. With comments from writers, directors, cinematographers, etc. I hadn't heard of the majority of the people, but I could recognize some of their work. In fact, the real charm of the blog is that these aren't discussions with Spielberg or Scorsese, these are true behind the scenes/indie filmmakers/industry workers who talk about the industry (often) from a point of struggle and sacrifice just to find more work, complete what they're doing, or to choose between the mainstream job or passion project.
That isn't to say that these people aren't as talented or skilled as the 'big' names, the blog just puts them in a context that makes them easy to identify with - the 'real people' behind movies not the celebrity persona's. The entries come off as real conversations and not promotional puff, which is a nice change from anything you'd come across in Entertainment Weekly.
For an informative and fascinating sample of different filmmaking backgrounds and stories, check out Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts. And on a sidenote, the blog was ranked as one of the 50 best blogs for filmmakers by Moviemaker Magazine.
