(* This was sent over from the folks at Zooppa about a new video contest they have going on that is wrapping up in November.)

Zooppa.com has an ongoing video contest that would make you excited!!! It’s all about creating a 30-60-second video exposing the secrets of the Ultimate Party Host with the help of the Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Maker. Margaritaville Cargo Mixed Drink Maker helps you create delicious Margaritas fast and easy. You do NOT need to have and/or purchase a drink maker to enter this contest. Get as creative and out of the box as you can.

It could be an interview, backstage before a big party or a documentary-style spoof.

Submit by October 17th at 4pm PST and you will get a chance to win $5,000 for the early bird award. Last Day of submission is November 7th at 4pm PST. Voting period ends November 14th at 4pm PST. For more details, go to: Margaritaville Video Contest.

dsc

Welcome to the DOJO!

I just received this in from someone at Zoopa hoping to pimp out the contest, but haven’t had a chance to check it out.  Has anyone else heard about this?  If so, give us some feed back in the comments!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei

http://www.FilmSensei.com

(Send from Zoopa/AT&T)

AT&T is hosting a video contest with a $20,000 Grand Prize to help promote how Online Services can simplify life.

Simple changes can make huge differences in our everyday lives — AT&T’s online services allow you to easily manage your account, pay your AT&T bills automatically online and get answers about your account at anytime without picking up a phone.

Here’s what you need to do:  create a video up to 60 seconds showing how AT&T’s online services can improve and simplify life.  Submit your video by December 1^st and be eligible to win up the $20,000 Grand Prize.  Share your favorite video with your friends and enter to win up to $1,000 in prizes.

To find out more about the contest details,  go to: http//att.com/simplify/

Don’t forget, I’ll be at Geeks Con tomorrow at Geeks Comics in Whittier - 6747 Greenleaf Ave. (Cross streets: Philadelphia /Greenleaf), Whittier, CA – 12:00pm – 10:00pm

Stop by for sketches, comics, my 2010 ElfSong Sketchbook, Star Wars and even Phineas & Ferb sketch cards!

I am going to be at the LA Rock’N Comic Con this weekend (May 28-30) at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California and will be set up in Artist Alley booth #914 with Shawn Granger from King Tractor Press.  I’ll be there showing off artwork and new Nifty Comics merchandise from the Cadre and ElfSong, along with sketching like a madman.  In fact, I’m doing free sketchcards for anyone that comes up and recites a really cool dirty limerick.

For more information on the show, go to: http://rockincomiccon.com/

Drop by, pick up a sketch or a DeadPooh print and say “Hi!”

-Mat N.

http://www.ElfSong.com

Welcome to the Dojo!

I got some great news today, although it’s news that makes me feel bad too…let me explain.  I found out earlier today that this site, the Film Sensei (http://www.filmsensei.com), was named as one of the 50 Best Blogs for Filmmakers by Moviemaker Magazine.  That’s freaking fantastic and it’s great to hear that people respond well to the blog.  That’s the part that makes me feel all oogly inside.

The reason that fantastic news makes me feel bad is because I’ve neglected the site terribly over the past few months.  I’ve had a bunch of other stuff on my plate — including putting a new film together, my illustration and publishing work (http://www.elfsong.com) and a new addition to my family (baby Morgan Christina Nastos, born December 29, 2009). 

I guess what the listing means is that I’ve got to get things back on track with this site and start putting out some new tips, tricks and info every week.  Starting this week, look for a new article every Thursday.  I’m going to ramp back up to doing video posts at least once a week and upping my article output to at least twice a week…just give me some time.  Having a new baby really puts a hurting on my free time right now.

Thanks again to everyone over at Moviemaker magazine for the nod and thanks to you, my loyal readers.  Take care and keep shooting!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

We found out on Thursday that the site had been hacked. Some evil computer arch-villain or villainess had placed a string of code on our homepage, which caused all sorts of warnings for people trying to access the site. After a few loyal readers emailed me to let me know it happened and thanks to the fine folks at Google, we were able to figure out what happened and how to fix it. Yay!

The site is now back on track with increased security measures. Thanks again to the Google team and those of you who emailed me when you saw that something looked awry. Look for a new post in the next day or so. Take care!

-Mat Nastos, the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com

With this new website, I wanted to take a few moments to introduce myself.  My name is Mat Nastos and you might be aware of me from some of my other websites: www.theNiftyNerd.com, www.WatchMeLearnGuitar.com or www.NiftyComics.com.  Or you might even know me from some of the comic books I’ve worked on: Elfquest, Thor, Spider-man, Superman (well, the Man of Steel title) or my self-published comic, the Cadre.  What I really am at heart, aside from being a Sex Symbol and inspiration to millions, is a filmmaker. 

I love everything about the filmmaking process — preproduction is fun, post production is a blast (who doesn’t love editing?) and production itself is one of the most incredible experiences I’ve ever had the pleasure to go through, especially on low, low budget films.  Sure, there is a ton of pain, hard work and a lot of sleepless nights involved, but that just caramelizes the experience for me.  It’s kind of like going away to camp or college where you’re thrown head-first into a group of people and you spend every waking moment with them: laughing, crying, arguing and bonding amidst the pain of early call times and 16 hour days.  Once the pain of the actual production process has faded a bit, you’ll look back and realize you have some truly great memories…even on bad films.  And, truth be told, a lot of times the finished piece won’t be as important to you as the memories of the process itself.  It’s a bonus if you wind up with a great movie when you’re done, but you’ll often find the bad movies are even more fun.

Interestingly enough, I didn’t start out wanting to make movies.  I went to comic book school and wanted to create comic books.  As a poor art student who was eating bologna or ramen noodles far too frequently, I wound up assisting a local storyboard artist who was doing a lot of work for low budget horror films (Roger Corman, Full Moon, etc).  Slowly over time I worked my way up from assisting on storyboards to being a fairly prolific storyboard artist myself — since the early 90s I’ve literally worked on hundreds of movies and TV episodes.  Eventually I began writing and directing, mainly on low, low, low, low (you get the idea) horror movies, but also for places like Disney. 

The funny this is, whenever I’d go to industry parties or events and was asked what I was looking to do in the future I would always say I wasn’t a big fan of film making and just wanted to do comics.  People would always give me a bit of a half laugh because they weren’t sure if I was serious or not.  But it was true, at the time I would have preferred to create comic books over doing films or television work.  Needless to say, everyone who knew me thought I was a bit eccentric.

That all changed in 2001. 

Well, not the part where people think I’m eccentric — I doubt that will ever change.

In 2001 I co-wrote, directed, produced and even acted in a microbudget flick called “Bite Me, Fanboy.”  Set mainly in a comic book shop, the film was shot on weekends over the course of about 6 weeks from the end of March through the beginning of May.  Over the course of that shoot, and in spite of arguments, actors getting buzzcuts without telling us, a lot of nights shooting until 4am and a crazy art director, my opinions about filmmaking changed.  I have to say I had one of the absolute best times of my life shooting that little $5000 movie. 

I was hooked. 

I was addicted. 

I was in love.

Since then I’ve worked on a bunch of other projects and while nothing has yet to match the sheer fun of “Bite Me, Fanboy,” my love for the process of filmmaking has grown exponentially.  Which brings us back to this website and why I started it.  This site is for those of you who are newer to filmmaking — there are already tons of sites out there for the experienced filmmaker or for those who are hardcore into the technology side of DV film-making.  But there really isn’t much out there for someone who wants to get started.  I’m hoping to demystify the process a bit and help those of you who want to give it a try figure out how to get started as a new filmmaker and put together your first movie.

I want to help you fall in love the way I did.

-Mat N., the Film Sensei
http://www.FilmSensei.com