Digital Filmmaking Workshop announces guest lecturers

[Our friends Bill Millios and Marc Vadeboncoeur at the Digital Filmmaking Workshops have sent out a press release announcing guest lecturer for their upcoming workshops running April 5-6 and 12-13 in Manchester.]

MANCHESTER, N.H. – The Digital Filmmaking Workshops has announced the guest lecturers for their upcoming extensive all-day seminars on Independent Film Production, held inside the Manchester production studio of Back Lot Films, located at 105 Faltin Drive in Manchester, N.H. The schedule is as follows:

APRIL 5-6, 2008, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Producing, Marketing, and Screening Your Digital Film

APRIL 12, 2008, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Advanced Field Production: Creating A Great Scene

APRIL 13, 2008, 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Advanced Post Production: Editing & DVD Authoring

The guest lecturers include Matthew Newton (Film Specialist for the NH Film and Television Office), Jeff Rapsis (Associate Publisher for HippoPress) and actresses Julia Radochia, Clare Callaghan and Britt Hatch.

Matthew Newton is the Film Specialist managing the New Hampshire Film and Television Office in Concord. He is a 1997 graduate of the Film Production program at Keene State College in Keene, NH, where he returned to teach film production in 2003 and 2004. He has also worked as a Production Coordinator and Editor at C.2K Entertainment, a commercial production company in Los Angeles, CA and in a variety of capacities on feature film and television projects on the west coast.

Jeff Rapsis is a New Hampshire native who wrote and performed the score for the feature-length film Dangerous Crosswinds. He regularly composes scores for classic silent films, most recently creating and performing music for the newly restored Lessons in Love (1921) as part of the New York Public Library's 2008 "Meet the Music Makers" series. Rapsis is co-owner of HippoPress, the weekly arts and entertainment newspaper of southern New Hampshire, for which he covers classical music and serves as Associate Publisher. As a journalist, Rapsis won first place honors in 2004 for the New Hampshire Press Association in two categories: investigative reporting and business writing.

Julia Radochia, an Arlington , MA native, acted in New England , New York and Los Angeles for several years, with roles in films such as Bleached, Everybody Does It, and Old Man Dogs. In 2001, she enrolled in the Cinema program at LA City College, earning a Women in Film scholarship and certificate in Cinema production. There, she directed award winning short films such as Eddie's Winning Date and Jimmy's House of Hugs. Her most recent short, I Just Want to Eat My Sandwich has screened and won awards at several film festivals since last July.

Britt Hatch is an art teacher and a grandmother, making her film debut in Dangerous Crosswinds. Her employment history includes resort management, radio broadcasting and used car sales. She and her daughter Teri were intrigued by the Nashua Telegraph article, which invited interested actors to audition for roles in Dangerous Crosswinds. Another of Britt’s recent projects is the writing and illustrating of children’s books, based on the adventures of Pearl The Wonder Dog.

Clare Callaghan is a stage trained actor, with a concentration on Shakespeare and the classics. She has appeared regionally in a variety of media, including exhibit videos for the Manchester Historic Association, and Manchester Stories, produced and directed by Bill Millios. Clare is currently working with New Art Theatre, bringing critically acclaimed productions of both old and modern classics to New England stages.

From the crew of Dangerous Crosswinds, Old Man Dogs and the upcoming Death & Glory the Digital Filmmaking Workshops have been created by Bill Millios of Back Lot Films & Marc Vadeboncoeur of Goodheart Media Services with a philosophy towards instructing students how they can achieve their goals with a ‘no-nonsense do-it-yourself’ approach.

“We’re very proud to again announce the lineup of guest speakers for this year’s workshops,” said Millios. “They are an exceptionally experienced group of film & theatre professionals who add a critical dynamic to our workshops”.

Attendees will receive valuable insight into the creative, technical, and marketing strategies essential for filmmaking. Small class size, practical demonstrations, and a wide range of topics will give students the opportunity to expand their knowledge and put it to immediate use. Testimonials from past workshops have been posted on the www.digitalfilmmakingworkshops.com website.

In 2005 Dangerous Crosswinds screened in close to twenty locations in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont, including the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H., Lebanon Opera House in Lebanon, N.H. and the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. Commentators praised the film as an outstanding example of independent film made outside traditional cinema circles. DVDTalk.com awarded the film a four-star rating, New Hampshire Magazine called Dangerous Crosswinds “provocative – a film which explores the light and dark sides of human nature,” John Clayton of the New Hampshire Union Leader wrote that “this is honest and brave filmmaking,” while Mike Sullivan in the Portsmouth Herald described Dangerous Crosswinds as being “independent filmmaking in its purest form.”

Registration for the two-day seminar is $347 and both Advanced Workshops are priced at $197. Seats for these popular workshops fill up fast, so be sure to register early. Registrations received by March 15, 2008 will get 15% off the standard workshop fee. In addition, attendees will receive complimentary copies of the Digital Filmmaking Workshops Handbook, a DVD of Dangerous Crosswinds and the Discmakers Ultimate Guide to Releasing Your Film on DVD. For more information please call Marc Vadeboncoeur at Goodheart Media Services at 1-888-408-2365 or visit www.digitalfilmmakingworkshops.com.