Eden And Michaela Strachan To Find The Next Nature Filmmakers

Eden Shorts: Nature Filmmaker of the Year


Michaela Strachan  

Eden, Britain’s leading natural history channel today announced a brand new nationwide and first-ever amateur nature filmmaking competition, Eden Shorts.

 

The aim of the competition is to inspire budding filmmakers to produce one-minute short films, which capture the natural world in all its beauty and wonder. It opens on the 7th July and closes on 27th September 2014. Entrants can find information on how to enter at edentv.co.uk/shorts.

 

The winners will have their work showcased on-air on Eden, as well as some other prizes on offer for one overall winner. These will be picked by an expert judging panel, including wildlife enthusiast and TV presenter, Michaela Strachan.

 

Michaela commented; “’I think Eden Shorts is a fantastic idea and an amazing opportunity for amateur wildlife filmmakers to be creative and show their work. To get the opportunity to showcase your talent on the channel is such an incredible opportunity, it’s like the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ of the wildlife film making world. The criteria is very open so it’ll be really interesting to see what people come up with. It’s a tough world to get into and this could give untapped talent a perfect platform to show off!’

 

Filmmaking technology is now far more accessible, making it easier for passionate individuals to obtain beautiful moving images of the natural world. Sir David Attenborough believes that the future of natural history communication mostly rests with dedicated amateurs who will film wildlife around them, he was quoted recently saying people will capture “the mating of a dragonfly on a pond which may be 100 yards from their home and put that on the web.”

 

Emma Boston, General Manager of Eden, added; “Eden Shorts is looking for high quality amateur films, which showcase the wonder of the natural world. This could consist of a time-lapse of a flower opening or the setting sun, a piece to camera about nature or local wildlife projects, a classic wildlife film of a favourite animal or even an animation.

 

More than anything the competition asks entrants to be creative! Eden Shorts is looking for live-action footage of nature, presenters talking to camera, animations, an interview or any other means that help to convey the film’s message.”

 

Eden celebrates the wonder of nature, and features the very best wildlife, science and adventure programming. The channel shows the best of the BBC’s Natural History Unit with Sir David Attenborough, and science programming with Professor Brian Cox, as well as UK premiere acquisitions that explore the world around us and some spectacular adventure and travel programmes.

 

Instructions on how to enter

To enter the competition, each entrant must upload a Short Film lasting no more than 1 minute to their personal YouTube account. Entrants must then submit the relevant URL for their Short Film together with their personal email address via the Competition entry form application located on the Eden website at eden.uktv.co.uk.

 

Horror Channel, FrightFest & Movie Mogul launch nationwide search for new filmmakers

Horror Channel, FrightFest & Movie Mogul team up to launch nationwide search for new filmmakers

 

Can you make a short film that can cut it in hell? Have you got some killer ideas?

 

FrightFest and Movie Mogul, in association with Horror Channel, are challenging aspiring filmmakers to make a short horror film – the best six of which will be shown on Horror Channel and at the 2013 Film4 FrightFest event. The overall winner will receive a prize fund of £6,666 and the opportunity to develop a horror short or feature idea under mentorship from Movie Mogul, for a possible 2014 production.

 

666 Short Cuts To Hell is no ordinary film competition though. Entrants will have to follow a series of ‘killer’ restraints such as a maximum of 6 lines of dialogue, a maximum of 6 cast of and crew members and a maximum budget of £666.

 

 

Chris Sharp, Chief Operating Officer for CBS Chello Zone Channels, commented: “Horror Channel has a rich history in supporting new film making talent through Directors’ Nights, new talent seasons, its FrightFest Short Film Showcases and Horror Club.  We’re looking for the next talent which we will support with on air exposure and undoubtedly feedback from our loyal viewers.  We know there are many keen filmmakers among our audience – this is their chance to get their work in the spotlight and get noticed by the UK film industry.”

 

John Shackleton, M.D of Movie Mogul said: “In the current technological HD/digital climate, it really is possible to make just about anything, and new entrant filmmaking is a level playing field. Now is the perfect time and opportunity to uncover new talent with big ideas, who just need that little nudge to really get going. Horror is a fantastic genre in which to cut teeth and sharpen skills because it is historically more of an ideas-driven genre, that doesn’t necessarily require big name stars to break through”.

 

Paul McEvoy, co-director of FrightFest added: “We want filmmakers of all kinds to take up the gauntlet and entertain horror audiences with some bold, fun and original ideas. An army of inspired filmmakers all equipped with the same limitations of genre, budget and duration, should really make for a very exciting competition!”

 

Entrants must submit their completed film by 6pm on the 6th June 2013.
Submission guidelines and terms and conditions can be found at www.shortcutstohell.com

 

The overall winner will be announced at FrightFest 2013 after the six films have been screened.  The full jury will be announced in due course, and will include: Horror Channel presenter Emily Booth, FrightFest director Paul McEvoy, Movie Mogul’s John Shackleton and filmmaker/Special Make-up Effects expert Paul Hyett.

 

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138

 www.horrorchannel.co.uk |

twitter.com/horror_channel

 

Riots Update: Ealing Man Left Fighting For Life; Backlash Continues.

A 68 year old Ealing resident is still fighting for this life today. Police have expressed worry for the pain who is still on life support. He was attacked on Tuesday after confronting rioters who had set fire to a bin. He was trying to put the fire out. He was attacked and has ‘savage’ head injuries that left the police unable to tell his age, he has since been identified and the police are looking for his family.

On Wednesday morning three young Asian men were knocked down and killed while trying to defend their properties. Police in Birmingham have launched a murder inquiry. A man was arrested and had his car impounded following the incident near a mosque in the Dudley road area.

The father on one of the victims, Haroon Jahan, 21, called for peace and asked for their no be no more violence or retribution for his son’s death. He stated that this was not a ‘race’ issue.

A spokesman for the West Midlands force said: “The incident took place close to the Jet filling station on Dudley Road in Winson Green at approximately 1.15am. Three ambulances, two rapid response vehicles and an incident support officer was sent to the scene.

“When crews arrived, they found around 80 people at the scene with resuscitation ongoing on three men. Crews used their advanced life support skills while police officers provided support.”

Violence in Birmingham on Tuesday was not as bad as Monday but it spread to West Bromwich and Wolverhampton. London was relatively calm after 16,000 police officers hit the street with rubber bullets.

Independent record labels and filmmakers have been left devastated after a fire destroyed a blaze in a Sony warehouse in Enfield. The Pias Group feared a ‘ruinous’ stock loss. The three-storey, 20,000 square-metre building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC was burned to the ground.

The fire affected Domino and film production companies with DVD stock. Pias is the UK’s largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company.

Other labels that might be affected include 4AD, Warp and Beggars Banquet.

A on Pias’s website said: “There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for Pias in the UK and Ireland. Pias is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias’s UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners.”

The release of Arctic Monkeys’ new single, The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala, was affected, all stock going to retail outlets had been destroyed in the fire.

There has been a lot of debate about the riots from various sources, including Darcus Howe, a West Indian Writer and Broadcaster. His controversial interview has been seen by millions of people.

I disagree with him on three counts, 1) Not all of the rioters were black 2) Working class white people are just as disenfranchised as blacks. 3) There is never any excuse for this behaviour, no matter where you are from.

The student who was mugged while bleeding has spoke of his ordeal. Ashraf Rossli said: “They threatened to stab me, they told me they had knives,”. The student from Malaysia only arrived in England a month ago.

He went on to say:

‘Some of them were quite young, maybe still in primary school. They had their hoods on and demanded my bicycle.’

In the YouTube video he is apparently helped to his feet by a Good Samaritan but the thieves took his wallet, phone and Sony PSP games console.

The video was even mentioned by David Cameron today in his address to parliament.

‘When we see children as young as 13, looting and laughing, when we see the disgusting sight of an injured young man with people pretending to help him while they are robbing him, it is clear that there are things that are badly wrong in our society,’ said the Prime Minister.

The 20-year-old finance student had his jaw broken but said “Britain is great” and said he felt sorry for this attackers.

A petition calling on the Government to evict the looters from council houses and stop their benefits has had 83,000 signatures in 24 hours. It only needs 100,000 signatures to be debated in parliament.

Have your say below.