Finding useful tools for downloading video from the web can be very confusing. Check out Liz Gannes’ article on newteevee.com about the different options, their perks and their pitfalls.

Shooting People! Yes Shooting People! We’ve recently added a video component to our website so now members can upload their shorts, reels and trailers and anybody can watch them. Check it out, add your films, and rate other members’ films.

Shooting People recently launched a new section on our website called WATCH FILM where members can upload their shorts, reels and trailers and anybody can watch them. This is filmmaker-generated content and we’re really proud of it. It’s in Beta right now but it’s already rocking. Check it out, upload your films and let us know what you think.

This post by Dan Ackerman Greenberg on TechCrunch has riled up quite a few people who object to the spammy, underhand methods he suggests for making your video truly viral. So much so that Dan contributed a follow-up post. Dan is talking about using viral videos for advertising (and a lot of this stuff does sound very sneaky indeed!) but there are some important lessons here for filmmakers too. If nothing else it’s a good wake up call about what’s…

The Participatory Culture Foundation are the forward-thinking people behind Miro (formerly Democracy), a great open-source internet TV platform. In the spirit of openness they have also created a very handy website called makeinternettv.org (does what it says on the tin!). The site covers everything from the equipment you should use to licensing issues to how to promote your work through RSS feeds. It’s not exhaustive but it’s a really good starting point if you’re dipping your feet into the water…

There are so many online video platforms around at the moment it can get a little overwhelming for a filmmaker trying to work out where to get their film seen. There’s an interesting article on the MediaRights website by Shira Golding about different online video platforms including: Brightcove, DivX Stage6, Film Fresh, Jaman, Dovetail, Revver, and of course YouTube. It’s also worth taking a look at Scott Kirsner’s book The Future of Web Video – check out Kirsner’s blog CinemaTech…

I have loved David Shrigley ever since someone gave me a postcard that said “Sorry I painted the word TWAT on your garage wall.” That’s art, that is.

Quite a few people have been blogging about this video recently and for good reason. It is utterly weird and just the right side of genius. Ola Podrida frontman David Wingo did the music for David Gordon Green’s wonderful films George Washington and All the Real Girls. He also did the music for Todd Rohal’s The Guatemalan Handshake and Todd is the director of this jaw-dropping masterpiece of surreal nuttiness. Enjoy.

Have y’all checked out the Renew Media Resources blog? It’s packed with lots of really useful information for filmmakers from great writers and documentary cheerleaders like Agnes Varnum and Pamela Cohn and is definitely worth adding to your blog list. Pamela Cohn’s most recent entry is an interview with Brent Hoff of Wholphin. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Wholphin and that I nag and nag people until they subscribe but nobody holds…

The Domino Sugar Factory in Williamsburg is right by my apartment and I love seeing it every day so I was very relieved to hear that it has been granted landmark status. Apparently the planned residential development will still go ahead but they will not be allowed to alter the existing exterior which pleases me no end. There are some terrifyingly ugly glass buildings going up in Williamsburg at the moment, with soulless and empty slogans to accompany them. I’ve…