I spent Sunday afternoon exploring the Interactive side of SXSW. First stop: the Interactive Keynote Conversation with Adafruit Industries’ Limor Fried and Phillip Torrone, Sr. Editor, MAKE Magazine. Billed as covering a “variety of fascinating topics including open source, hacking and the do-it-yourself (DIY) technology movement”, I thought it would be a good opportunity to stretch my brain a bit.

Torrone and Fried began the conversation by taking a look at some of their favorite recent projects, including:
-The bacon alarm clock – it actually warms up bacon for you. Ick.
-Gummy bear chandelier –The maker swears you can eat them for up to two years after it’s done. Don’t they melt from the heat?
-Plant project – the plants call you when they need water. And they’re pissed when they call.
-Deathstar subwoofer – need I say more?

[So far so good – I am understanding everything. The Deathstar subwoofer is now on the gift list for my brother, and the plant thing actually sounds like something that might save some of my greenery…]

The duo then went on to talk about how people are building their own technology and sharing it. At the most basic level, people share mechanics, i.e. they tell one another where to build the holes in the case. The next level of sharing is circuit board design, followed by sharing the software that runs inside microdevices. Fried also suggested that people may want to release data sheets and parts lists so that people can figure out where to get them. Apparently, Radio Shack is about to stop carrying all electronic components, so it’s really helpful to have info about where to get things.

[I have to admit – this panel is now officially over my head. I’m a film chick working for an online outlet. I took the SXSW guide’s suggestion to go to a panel out of my area and I have firmly landed outside of my comfort zone. Lots of talk of computer hardware and software I’ve never heard of. But this is the way you learn.]

Other tidbits I think I (correctly?) picked up:
-There’s a linksys router that you can tinker with to turn a $75 router into a $500 router. Now if only I’d spent the big bucks on a degree that taught me how to tinker…
-There is a lot of tension between various technology companies and their maker-savvy users. Apparently, the phone companies haven’t been the friendliest when it comes to letting people tinker with the software inside their devices. Not a surprise.
-Limor was working on an open source cell phone jammer, which is illegal in the United States. With open source projects, showing how to make the device is OK; building it and using it is not. Limor’s jammer fits it into a cigarette box. She did a demo of it during the panel…Verry sneaky, sis.
-Current debate: City-wide wifi debate. It’s an interesting concept that you can own property but not the airwaves above that property. Do you have the right to turn off city-wide wifi if you don’t want it in your school or your store or your company?

ONLINE FAN BASES & BLOGEBRITIES
Decided to continue my day of interactive panels at “Building an Online Fan Base”, where a group of experts and filmmakers talked about how to go about taking advantage of the web to promote one’s projects.

Top tips for indie filmmakers:
-If you take the time to listen & communication with your audience, you build what could be a community that has a vested interest in what you do.
-The very first step in building an online fan base is keeping it personal. Reach out to friends and family – call the 50 people you know. Then it will spread from there.
-Figure out what your hook is and the reach out to communities who would find that interesting, and get them talking about it. Look at the sliver of influential audience out there who can create awareness for your project.
-Don’t just get people’s emails – get their zip codes as well so that you can target screenings.
-Basic courtesy goes a long way. Keep in touch. Return emails in a timely way.

Afterwards, I stopped by “The Rise of the Blogebrity” panel. Lots of spirited debate about just what a “blogebrity” was, how web popularity is measured and creating online personas and brands.

Now that the music festival portion of SXSW 2005 has begun, coverage has been falling in about some of the first events.

Billboard offers their report on the panel with rock legend Elvis Costello.

by Eugene Hernandez

Working here in Austin for nearly another month to produce Doug McGrath's Truman Capote story "Every Word Is True" (financed by Warner Independent Pictures), producer Christine Vachon spent time at SXSW on Saturday morning to participate in a Q & A session.

McGrath's film looks at the period of time in which Capote was writing "In Cold Blood" and while the story is not actually set in Texas, much of it is being shot at Austin Studios. It is one of many films about real people upcoming from Vachon's Killer Films, a company that she founded with Pam Koffler ten years ago. Also on tap are Mary Harron's "The Notorious Bettie Page" and Phyllis Nagy's "Mrs. Harris", based on the Scarsdale Diet Doctor Murder. Both are nearly finished HBO films and "Betty Page" is expected to get a theatrical release, according to Vachon. Talking about the fact that made-for-cable movies often are not released in theaters, Vachon said that she is starting to believe that a cable channel release can in fact trump a limited theatrical release.

» Continue reading "A Q & A With Christine Vachon"

Execs representing five film companies joined a very crowded room Monday afternoon for the "An Acquired Taste" panel to listen to the thoughts, opinions and advice on how to strategize getting a film picked up for distribution. THINKFilm's Daniel Katz provided a little perspective at the beginning of the discussion, when responding to a question on the number of films made versus the number that will ultimately receive theatrical distribution, "The odds aren't good," he said, which solicited a laugh from the audience. The group of acquisitions execs, in addition to THINKFilm were also from Newmarket, Magnolia, Wellspring, and Samuel Goldwyn, and they offered some tips on how to go about increasing the chances for catching the attention of film companies.

» Continue reading "Buyers Talk the Acquisition Game"

Asked about his work, during a Q & A session at SXSW, "Palindromes" director Todd Solondz said yesterday, "I am out to explore, to understand some of the contradictions that we live with, who we are."

Continuing he compared his work to movies from Hollywood. In those movies he explained, "You are asked to identify with an attractive protagonist, who maybe acts heroically," adding that those films give you a "narcissistic high -- something we love to get when we go to (those) movies."

"If you are looking for that narcissistic high, you are not going to get it from one of my movies," Solondz said, eliciting laughs, and then applause when he added, "Maybe that?s why so few people go."

Explaining that he has "faith in how much gold there is to be found in random social interactions," writer Malcolm Gladwell told SXSW Interactive attendees that it is through socializing that he comes across the many stories that fuel his writings.

In his new book, "Blink: The Power of Thinking Withouth Thinking" Gladwell hopes to "help us distinguish between those instances where we are really good at snap judgements and help us realize where are not." The Corante blog offers a full report from Gladwell's address on Sunday which drew an overflow crowd. [Photo and text by Eugene Hernandez]