a 9/11 memorial

I remember stories of how the police and families were watching cars at train stations and airports to see if people that hadn’t been accounted for would return.

All I could think about was how many people across this country maybe even the world, wouldn’t be returning to their cars that day. 

I wanted to paint all the parking spots where people had never came back, a color. 

It could be any color, maybe that persons favorite color.

Not that anyone would ever forget that day but I wanted people to think that could have been their parking spot.   And how lucky we are we get another day to find a better spot in life.

Sean McMenemy

Channel Surfing on Comcast…

Why can’t Comcast just blank out the channels on my cable box that I don’t have when I’m channel surfing?  All it’s doing is reminding me I don’t have that package.  Maybe that’s their clever idea, that it will make me want those channels…  But it’s not working!

“Not Authorized” or “Subscription Service”  How hard would it be to put something nice there.  I wouldn’t want to order it because it makes me feel bad for not already having it.  It also makes my channel surfing experience bad because it hangs up on those channels while it’s trying to figure out what negative message it needs to display for me.

I’d rather just not see it.

Now If HBO and the other premium networks would realize I still want some of their programming, they might be able to make even more money.  If you are a subscriber you can watch it again through “On-Demand” for free.   That only benifits the subscribers and not all their possible viewers.  I’m willing to pay a extra for not being a subscriber, it might even make me want to subscribe at some point.

I’m ready to watch and pay for it.  Maybe that’s the way AlaCarte should work?

Putting Fans First . org

Um right…

Comcast is upset someone else is starting up the Big10 network to cover sports? 

Comcast is putting fans first? 

In the commercial they said they don’t think it’s fair everyone has to so much pay to view those games especially the fans.  What?  What sporting events do you get for free on cable?  Keep in mind you are paying for cable… so it’s not really free! 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a sports fan in fact they mess up all my regular shows because golf goes to long, football goes too long on and on, sorry that’s not my point I’ll save that for another time.

They charge you for a regular movie but if you want an HD version it’s 2 bucks more…  Now they are moving all channels up to the digital range and that forces the consumer to “rent” their cable box.  Remember back when all the VCR’s and TV’s came “cable ready?”  The Cable companies didn’t like that because they couldn’t up sell us the technologies.  Now they say they say the new digital standards are to complicated to make all the equipment standard.  I’m sure it has nothing to do with the extra 7 bucks a month they are getting out of it…

You put a .org on something and it looks like some grass roots effort.  Just remember if the Big10 makes it to Comcast Cable.  You’ll still going to have to pay for it.

No More Film Festivals for me…

I don’t think I’ll ever enter another film festival again. Last year my film got accepted at 6 film fests and I feel like that was a very good accomplishment. Even though I got into 6 fests I entered at least 40. Thanks to Without A Box it made that process a lot easier. I highly recommend it! It’s faster and you can save some money going though them.

But entering in 40 fests? It cost me more to submit to the festivals than make my film.  More in money and time.  I realize some of the fests were a long shot especially when you are up against Hollywood pros that like to dabble in the independent film market… 

Even though Without a Box saved me a lot of time it still took up a lot of time.  Time that would have been better spent working on DVD features, posters and extra web content.  Content that would help me promote my films.  From now on I’m submitting to free websites like YouTube and releasing through iTunes.

I’ve set up my current film on IFC Media Lab, Monster HD, Jaman and YouTube.  YouTube is kind of a given it makes it so easy to share my film.  Let’s face it.  It’s about getting your work out there and getting it seen! 
Why wait to get turned down by a festival put it out there!  Put it out there NOW!  

I think this insures you’ll find your audience faster then you would spending that year filling out forms and waiting.  Not to mention more people have seen my film online than through any festival not to mention any hopeful feedback and ratings I might get from many of these sites.

I’ve also decided to release some of my older films.  Well only the ones I think have something worth seeing.  I know everyone won’t like them but at least it’s out there.  Instead of sitting on some tape or roll of film where no one will ever see it.  The nice thing is people are seeing it and it helps to build my online portfolio.

There are plenty more sites like these to release my films too.  Most of it will depend on the type of film it is.  As I join more sites I’ll post them here on my links page or in the blog.

So no more festivals for me…  Well, unless I get invited or something that would be cool!

FACE BOOK

I like Face Book, I like it more than MySpace, but I have some problems with it. There are at least 2 road blocks to adding people to my network. First the bland impersonal page of the invite and second the sign up.

By the very name of it “FACE BOOK” someone should be able to see my face right off the bat.

I’m worried when I invite people to it and they don’t see my friendly or not so friendly face there they turn away and think it’s some sort of scam. I don’t even hear back from some of these people… Then the fact that my profile can’t be indexed in a search engine really bothers me. What’s the point of building this and not everyone can see it?

I’d like to think of Face Book as my Rolodex or business card. Maybe I could pick the info I want public on my main profile and if you want more you have to become a member.

You have to give people something to want to join and if they can’t get at least and idea of what you can use this for, they won’t come back.

If you do become a Face Book user look me up SEANFX.

Okay this is it.

I’m finally starting a blog.  I’ve got a lot of sites out there but I’m trying to focus some of this online media to simpler areas where you can find out about me, my creative partners and some of the projects we are creating.

Just too start off I’m an artist.  I do graphic arts, I love to draw and I’ve always wanted to make movies.   My day job is making art for video games.  Maybe you’ve heard of this…  Golden Tee Golf.

I’ve worked on that and many other games out there and some that haven’t seen the light of day.  But that’s alright at least I get to spend most of my time creating art of some kind.  When I’m not working I like creating computer graphics and making movies.  I finished one after along hiatus from making films.   You can view it here.  Making this has inspired me to make more.  I really don’t know why I haven’t made more I guess life just has a way of showing you other paths that you feel like you have to take.  So now I’m taking this one back.

I’m not really sure what or how often I’ll be writing here but I will be.  I’ll be writing about projects I’m starting and working on.  My ideas on media making it and enjoying it.  I’m a big fan of TV and Movies so I’ll be making comments on them too.

The biggest change in my professional life has been podcasting, or at least the idea of it.  I was turned on to it about a year and half ago by some friends at work.  I mostly start with tutorial video related to my work.  Oh yeah I should say right now if you don’t already know this.  Podcasting is not just audio it’s video too.  And it’s everything Radio and TV is not!

After I got bored with the tutorials I started looking around.  I found Mysterious Universe.  Okay, I like UFO’s and Bigfoot too.  This opened my eyes to a whole new world of broadcasting.  I found comedy, dramas and so many news format types of show that focused on topics I was interested in that I was hooked.  With my background in art and filmmaking I’ve decided to explore this as a viable way to release my and my friends content.  People are doing some of it is great some not so.  But the freedom that it represents to independent content creators is beyond imagination.  I believe the TV and FILM industry is not prepared for this and the way they do business means I don’t think they ever could.

It’s going to take time 5, 10 maybe 15 years but the industry is going to change.  I hope to be one of those content creators that can be on ground floor of some media breakthroughs.