#sometimes I think they are the only tv news watchable in the uk

[everything-maxriemelt]

Well played 👏

[tache-noire]

You can watch without cable! If you're in the US, Canada, and i think the UK, you'll need a VPN. there are free options that work just fine, but peronally i pay for Proton because it gives me the option to switch connections if one is slow.

You'll then need to turn it on and set it somewhere other than those 3 places. Hop on over to Fite Tv and sign up for Aew+. This subscription is ONLY available outside those 3 areas. If your VPN is off, you won't be able to access anything except pay per view events.

An AEW+ subscription gets you the entire catalog of Dynamite, Collision, Rampage, Dark, and Elevation. All the way from the beginning, and live streams every week. Previous episodes are available minutes after they finish airing.

THE SHOWS:

Dynamite: This is on wednesdays. 8 PM EST/5 PM PST. This is the flagship weekly show. It's 2 hours long.

Collision: Saturdays, same time. It used to have its own unique style, but then CM Punk was fired and now it's basically exactly the same as Dynamite. Also 2 hours long.

Rampage: Fridays, 10 PM EST/7 PM PST. Sort of a mini show of extra matches that usually aren't as important to the stories going on on Dynamite and Collision. It's an hour long. It's being cancelled in January.

Dark and Elevation: these were free shows on Youtube comprised of dark matches. Discontinued in 2023.

Ring Of Honor is available through its own streaming service, Honorclub. There's significant overlap between the ROH and AEW rosters, but you don't really need to watch ROH to understand what's going on in AEW.

If you don't want to pay any money at all, there are bootleg sites with live streams. Google 123wrestling. Its not GREAT, but it's watchable. This is how i watch Ring Of Honor.

You can also try baked.live, but the community is largely made up of toxic dudebros so like. Just ignore them as hard as you possibly can. They have the major upside of mods present who keep an eye on the stream and quickly switch to a new one if it gets taken down, so you don't have to do it yourself. However, they also play memes during ad breaks sometimes and some of them are distasteful to say the least. I put up with this to watch WWE.

i seriously need to get into AEW because there are so many cool wrestlers there (hi mox and swerve teehee) and i literally don't understand what's going on but i want to

like where do i even start since i don't have cable???

[spryfilm]

“The Frozen Dead” (2017)

TV Series/Drama/Thriller

Episodes: Six

Created by: Gérard Carré , Pascal Chaumeil and Caroline Van Ruymbeke

Featuring: Charles Berling,  Julia Piaton,  Pascal Greggory

It is fair to say that television crime dramas, in particular foreign language crime dramas are now a dime a dozen, they exist in almost every language covering a variety of normally brutal and heinous crimes. These international television shows seemed to begin with the Nordic Noir genre that started with the excellent “The Killing” (2007-2012) from Denmark which itself was re-made in the US as a hit there. What followed was a myriad of not only crime, but political stories primarily from those Nordic countries that attempted to originate new stories as well as sympathetic flawed people who were only one step behind their quarries. These whodunits spread throughout the world expanding beyond their origins with many variations on a theme, one of the most successful English language versions being “Broadchurch” (2013 -2017) from the UK featuring David Tennant and Olivia Coleman.

What all of these shows have in common in terms of plot and narrative is rather simple, with most of them obviously created with an ending in mind, sometimes that ending (as well as revelation) can be shocking enough to come out of left field where no viewer may expect the story to end up. The other thing that these narratives have in common is an almost endless supply of red herrings that keep an audience guessing throughout what can seem like an endless amount of episodes. As a viewer i find not only the amount of episodes as well as the endless amount of suspects exceedingly frustrating.

Now comes the latest in this tradition, this time from France with a show that has as its backdrop the beautiful Pyrenees Mountains which become a character using the isolation of an area unlike many other similar shows. “The Frozen Dead” (originally titled  “Glacé”) broadcast in France in January 2017 is different to many of the genre shows around, it is only six episodes and the landscape is amazing, there are seemingly parallel storylines which make sense and are linked as are the performances which are superb.

“The Frozen Ground” (2017) is set in the Pyrenees where the corpse of a headless horse is discovered 2,000 meters up a mountain strung up atop a cable car. The investigation is entrusted to Captains Martin Servaz of the SRPJ of Toulouse and Irène Ziegler of the National Gendarmerie . Not far from here, young psychiatrist Diane Berg begins psychotherapy sessions with Julian Hirtmann, a dangerous serial killer arrested years ago by Captain Servaz and now incarcerated in a high security prison.

The story itself does not lend itself to a deep description here as that would only lead to spoilers, this show is definitely more enjoyable by not knowing what is going to happen next, as well as what the relationships between all the major as well as the minor characters are at the beginning of the story.

This show is expertly directed by Laurent Herbiet as well as being beautifully photographed by Dominique Bouilleret who both use the geographic location of the Pyrenees, as not only a unique backdrop for the action but also incorporate it as a character to visually show the audience the kind of isolation that each of the separate characters are going through as they progress through the main story as well their own separate narratives. Herbiet really does know this story, which is reflected in the tight storytelling as well as the time that is given over to not only each character, but also their importance within the narrative, which is linked directly to the plot. This last point may seem self evident but it is a consistent weakness with many other crime dramas, they can get lost within their own story as well the meaning that story has in relation to the actions that they take.

As well as the characters being spot on, the cast has been chosen very well, Charles Berling as the main protaganist, Martin Servaz becomes increasingly sick as the story unfolds, with the realisation that the motivation of the protagonists starts coming together. The second lead is Julia Piaton as Irène Ziegler whose motivations and background become more relevant and apparent as she works her way through what starts as a simple animal death. Piaton and Berling work together as a one two punch as well as any onscreen partnership ever has. On the other side of the story we have the mesmerizing as well as menacing Pascal Greggory as serial killer and somewhat mentor Julian Alois Hirtmann who operates almost entirely from two rooms in an asylum – he acts with such limited physical support that you would forgive him for being one note, but trust me he isn’t, he offers such a well rounded performance you will be wondering what his motivations are right to the end. Finally, the rest of the supporting cast are all great, with varying performances that change a lot right from the first episode to the last without a hint of insincerity or shenanigans by the writers of the series. For me I must say I always find it a real refreshing feeling to see actors I have never seen before especially when they are in a project this good.

The writing on this show is actually one its top strengths which may seem obvious but in fact by time something this complex gets to the screen the heart of it can be removed by over zealous producers and directors, but that is not the case here. This has as I have said greta characters but it also has them making honest decisions, in particular the son of one of the suspects has some incredibly hard things to come to terms with, and i think his performance for me is the most real as is the conclusion he comes to – that is all down to the decision made by the writers.

As I have already stated this is a really good crime series with very little in the way of false leads or starts, it ratchets up the thriller aspects while never coming up short on plot elements that propel the story along, at times very quickly. It also creates space for real character moments that ring true not only to the story but to each of the characters that they interact with. As with any modern crime story the ‘heroes’ are flawed but find their way through life by clinging (desperately sometimes) to positive aspects of life whereas the similarly flawed ‘villains’ are almost nihilistic in nature, illustrating there is indeed a thin line between the good and the bad. This is a show that is easily re-watchable, unlike other genre shows due to its fast pace and relatively short episodes both the number and length. I recommend this highly not only to watch but is well worth the investment to own a copy.

“The Frozen Dead” is available now on DVD.

Charles BERLING Julia PIATON

DVD review: “The Frozen Dead” (2017) “The Frozen Dead” (2017) TV Series/Drama/Thriller Episodes: Six Created by: Gérard Carré , Pascal Chaumeil and Caroline Van Ruymbeke…

[luminofilmsofficial]

MAKING MONEY FROM SHORT FILMS

All film makers start out on short films. They’re affordable and can vary in length from 30 secs to 30 minutes, though the most common ones are 10 - 15 minutes long.

Short films can pack a punch with themes, genres that catch the audiences eye and are impactful and watchable.

The average budget is £5,000 but you can make a short on nothing, just you and a camera or a few hundred. But maybe you've got profile actors and crew involved, fancy locations and set and you maybe even need £50,000+.

As much as filmmakers like to say that they don’t do it for the money, and that it’s about expressing their creativity, there is of course, with any profession, a financial drive.

Your film has taken disproportionally hours, days, months to make and it’s unlikely that any beginner film makers have budgeted in even minimum wage for the amount of work they have done. This is all part of their passion, their creativity, their desire to get a story out to a wider audience. So financially it’s usually a short term loss.

People will tell you it’s a calling card, a way to practice effects and methods of film making in short form. It can be a proof of concept to help raise funds for a feature or tv pilot. But we all have to sustain ourselves, to live. I have personally made 14 short films and learnt from them all. They have helped me to make my first two features.

So always budget a small wage in your short film for you as producer or director. You need some sustenance and also budget in something for entrance to film festivals and competitions.

So how does one make money from a short film? Well in this article we’re going to go over some of the main ways that indie filmmakers can profit off their film.

YouTube & Vimeo

Sites such as YouTube and Vimeo are becoming more and more popular every day, as huge media corporations and mainstream artists begin to settle on the platforms, especially YouTube. These platforms are free to upload to and get your film monetised.

Every time a viewer clicks on your video, an advertisement will play. Advertisers will pay to have their brand/product shown in front of your video, in this case, your film.

On YouTube, they will take ~68%, and you’ll get the other 32% of that money. If you get say 10 views, that’s practically nothing, maybe about $1. But if you get 100,000 views, you could earn anywhere between $500 to $2,500, depending on the content of the video and the audience who watches.

You see, YouTube can cut your pay on videos that go against their TOS (Terms of Service). According to their TOS, “Racial slurs, derogatory content, and mean or hateful content directed at an individual or specific group of people are not safe for monetization.

So, depending on the content of your film, how much money you make will differ from other short films on the site. For Vimeo, it’s similar. Vimeo hasn’t the same audience numbers as YouTube but they also offer Vimeo staff pics which carry qualifying BAFTA points.

Film Festivals

You can win BIFA, BAFTA and Oscars with a short film but that a one in a few million chance. Of course then your film will be of interest to a few streaming channels for instance BBC broadcast Silent Child an Oscar winning short.

While film festivals are a great way to distribute a film and get it known by the general public and folks working in the film industry, it’s probably not your best bet at making money out of your film…but it’s always a possibility, there are lists of festivals that offer cash prizes. Prizes can be $1,000 to. $50,000. The Iris Prize in UK offers £30,000 to the winner and to be streamed on Ch4. Now as we said previously, film festivals are a complete gamble; you have no way of knowing that you’re going to win these cash prizes. To be honest most people have an inflated idea of the quality of their short film.

SELF PROMOTiON

Especially for a premiere, if you have hyped up your film on social media before, during and after you film it then you will have a potential audience that’s excited to see it. You can do a premier where you will have to give free tickets to cast, crew, investors but you can sell further tickets to make money. Now the film venue may cost and that way you can make a more glamorous event but you can hire screens and projectors and hold it in your home or a church hall. That way you can also sell drinks and food to make a little more cash and make a profit. Think carefully though on premieres, will people come outside the big city to a country venue? So if you have it in a city venue maybe the ticket price pays for the venue but hold a raffle to make a small profit. Also do a Q and A to make it more of an event.

To cover costs of a fancier venue you could share with other film makers to film say 4 shorts for an hour, split costs and profits.

VOD (Video on Demand)

One of the best strategies when it comes to trying to make a bit of cash off your short film is to try and sell it to a video on demand service. This is really only likely if you’ve won a prize or been accepted to a major film festival where your film has caught someone’s eye because all VOD companies will have scouts at film festivals.

Netflix very rarely ever purchases or produces short films, and chances are they’re not going to start buying out hundreds of them tomorrow, so you’re better off looking somewhere else.

Amazon has a separate section attached to their main platform, Amazon Prime, known as Prime Video Direct, which specialises in hosting independent films, including short films. With Prime Video Direct, you’ll earn money through,” a revenue share for rentals, purchases, monthly channels, or ad impressions—or any combination of these options”. Amazon have a particular format where you have to provide subtitles to get on Amazon Prime.

ShortsTV is a renowned streaming company that buys and licenses short films from filmmakers around the world and plays them on their cable network channel (in addition to streaming them online) and can pay up to a couple of hundred dollars per short, usually somewhere in the range of $200-500. They also run a competition to find new shorts - details on film freeway.

This platform often own the exclusive rights to show your film, which means, if you decide to sell your film to ShortsTV, you can’t sell or play it anywhere else. It can only be shown on their channel. You should only really sell your short film to ShortsTV after it’s been shown at film festivals or local theatres, as otherwise, you’re limiting the exposure your film will get in the early day of its run.

Pay-Per-View

The final method of making money off of your short film is to make it available online through a payper-view site.

Pay-per-view is a great way to profit off your film; viewers pay a one-time fee (sometimes recurring based on the platform) to unlock your film and can watch it from the comfort of their own homes, almost like a home cinema. This method is great because unlike other methods of monetising your videos such as YouTube, you are guaranteed a set rate of money per view you get.

Yet, like with VOD platforms such as ShortsTV, you should only make a film pay-per-view after it has done the film festival circuit, otherwise, people will be deterred from paying for a film if they’ve never heard anything positive about it beforehand. I did hear that one film maker accidentally titled their film like a famous music band and in searching for that band people watched his film by clicking on it by mistake at first, then being intrigued and finishing it.

There are plenty of great sites that utilise the pay-per-view system, such as MUVI, Boomstream, and Patreon, Amazon, The Smalls etc

Some platforms will only allow the viewer to watch the film once after purchasing, but others, such as Patreon, will allow the viewer to watch it as many times as they like as long as they keep their subscription.

Whichever you choose is ultimately up to you but it’s probably best that you choose a site which lets the viewer watch the film more than once, and this will do wonders for the longevity of the film’s popularity.

Good luck, anything is possible if you work hard enough at it.