#INKMINIGT*, It All Started With a Movie… and Some Great Friends
This April will be NAB. This will mark my 4th year of attending. Since my first trip in 2009, I’ve vowed to always return.
The first year I went, I met so many people, especially ones that I had been communicating with on Twitter, that it was like a reunion of sorts. I went to so many parties and won so many cool prizes. It was really surreal.
Through the years, I’ve met more people in “the industry” (by that I mean film and TV and post production in general, web included). So, each year the reunion gets bigger. Also, I’ve become more active with each group that I belong to and, as many of you know, I started my own filmmaking group — Independent Filmmakers of the Inland Empire.
I have devoted countless hours to this passion of mine, like many of you have.
Last year, while bored, I stumbled upon a movie on Hulu.com, National Lampoon’s Bagboy (2007). In the movie, there are some scenes in an indoor “glow-in-the-dark” golf course. I thought to myself, “Oooh how cool! I want to go to one of those. I wonder where they filmed that?” This lead me to discover that one was being built in Las Vegas and that it would be completed in early 2012. Not only that but also it was going to be KISS themed! I started to put the pieces together immediately, “indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf”, “KISS-themed”, “early 2012″…. “WHY THAT WILL PROBABLY BE DONE BY NAB!!!”
My normal NAB schedule includes starting the week off with a Sunday night hang at The Yardhouse with some IMUG** regulars. While this is okay, I thought KISS indoor mini golf would trump the Yardhouse on any night! So, I started hounding the owners of Monster Mini Golf to find out when exactly KISS by Monster Mini Golf would open and what it would take to have a party there.
The next thing I did was to survey when would be the best night to throw such a party. Claudia Trask was the first to chime in that it had to be either Sunday or Wednesday, so as not to conflict with SuperMeet or MotionMedia Ball. Those happen on Tuesday and Monday respectively.
One thing to point out is that there are a LOT of events happening each night of NAB and it’s very hard not to step on some other happening. In fact, after I had already started to plan #INKMINIGT and approaching Michael Cioni about a possible sponsorship, he mentioned I should change the day, as there would be an announcement in a couple days and that I would not want to miss it. That happened to be the REDUser party, which, as it turns out, Michael and Light Iron are hosting!
Well, there really isn’t another night for mine, so I bumped it to later in the night to be accomodating. I, after all, don’t want to miss his either. Now to be honest, Michael’s affair starts at 6 and goes to 11 and that’s a little long for me for a RED User party. I don’t discount that it’ll be great but I think I’ll be RED Usered out by 10 for sure. At which point, I’m hoping that “KISS MINI GOLF!” will wake me up!
Now, don’t underestimate my “little” get together. We have some BIG things in store. Since it is a “golf” establishment, I’ve decided on a “golf tournament” theme, as it were. There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and door prizes and such.
Having run a very successful film group and with all the friends (as mentioned above), I would say “I have some connections!” So, I am trying very hard to make this a great event.
It’s not easy. There are a lot of frustrations along the way but for every frustration, there are some great concessions that result. So it should be very “rockin’”!
I have to give great thanks to the people at KISS by Monster Mini Golf, especially Christina and Nansee! They are the greatest and are helping us make this a fantastic event.
I want to thank the sponsors who have already committed to helping out as well. These include Blackmagic Design, JAG35, Divergent Media, Focal Press, DV Expo, DigiEffects, ArtBeats and Assisted Editing!
The best podcast for post production!
Special thanks to Liam Johnson and IFIE’s new Adobe Co-manager, Andrew Cohen for helping me travel to Las Vegas this month to check out the grand opening of KISS by Monster Mini Golf and to capture some great footage of the joint.
While this event is a pilot event and we are already “in development” on next season’s!
Stay tuned for event registration information. OFFICIAL SIGN-UP HERE.
*#INKMINIGT = [I]FIE (Independent Filmmakers of the Inland Empire) [N]AB (National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB Show) [K]ISS (by Monster [Mini] [G]olf) [T]ournament. #INKMINIGT is the official hashtag for the event. Get involved! Tweet it up!
**IMUG International Media Users Group, the ones who bring you MediaMotion Ball
***Just for the record, I’m going to RedUser Party, INKMINIGT, MediaMotion Ball and SuperMeet. I hope to be able to get into the AJA Party (maybe) and want to visit ALLINFILM.
I’ll add that we are covering NAB Show 2012 and will have some video content this year. Special things I want to see are: the above parties, Monday’s Color Correction sessions at Post Production World, the editing panel with Norman Hollyn, some Post Pit Presos, and more….
Specific Prizes up for grabs:
A copy of Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve Software ($995)
A Three-day VIP pass to DV Expo West ($975 value)
3 Copies of DigiEffects DigiSuite ($499 value, each)
A JAG35 Straight Rig ($400 value)
A Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Shuttle ($345 value)
A prize of $500 worth of stock footage of the winners choice from ArtBeats
A JAG35 Street Runner Rig ($250 value)
RevoStock credit!
a $100 voucher to spend on any Assisted Editing products – from Assisted Editing
A copy of ScopeBox 3.0 ($100 value)
FilmTees.com T-shirts!
A copy of ClipWrap ($50 value)
9 Focal Press Books:
3-DIY
Stereoscopic Moviemaking on an Indie Budget
By Ray Zone
Plug-in to After Effects
Third Party Plug-in Mastery
By Michele Yamazaki
The Insider’s Guide to Independent Film Distribution, Second Edition
By Stacey Parks
First-Time Filmmaker F*#^-ups
Navigating the Pitfalls to Making a Great Movie
By Daryl Goldberg
Final Cut Pro X for iMovie and Final Cut Express Users
Making the Creative Leap
By Tom Wolsky
FilmCraft: Editing
By Justin Chang
Make Your Movie
What You Need to Know About the Business and Politics of Filmmaking
By Barbara Freedman Doyle
Filming the Fantastic: A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography, Second Edition
A Guide to Visual Effects Cinematography
By Mark Sawicki
Indie Film Producing
The Craft of Low Budget Filmmaking
By Suzanne Lyons
GOOD LUCK!!! SEE YOU THERE!!!