In January we attended a docfest workshop pitch which gave us the opportunity to pitch Ogrish The Movie to BBC comissioners Sally-Ann Wilson and Maxine frank. Here are some of the notes from the day:
Sally Ann Wilson:
• Good double-header pitch
• Instinct is Channel 4
• You’re showing how you’d take it on – style, etc – and how you’d get around what you can’t show
• Dense if clear written pitch
• I have concerns – a platform the website? How far will you take it?
• Human rights concerns?? I was thinking how you do this and remain ethical
• Good journalistic sense
Maxine Watson:
• What are you investigating? How is it investigative rather than ‘a look at’
• Your tackling the questions and looking at a phenomenon but it’s not investigative journalism
• It’s noisy, it’s a good idea, it’s very Channel 4
• You found the guy behind it? And you’ll prove who he is?
• Nail what you’re saying with this. Interesting internet phenomenon, but what are you saying? Is it good or bad?
• No stance on pornography?
• Interesting but decide what your POV is
Overall we were ecstatic with the response from the two. We were pitching against like the likes of broadcast professionals from TV and Film and the stir created from the end of the day was unbelievable. The hangover also rated in one of my top tens.
November 28th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Sam Gilmore
In the ‘deep web’, Freenet software allows users complete anonymity as they share viruses, criminal contacts and child pornography.
Installing the software takes barely a couple of minutes and requires minimal computer skills. You find the Freenet website, read a few terse instructions, and answer a few questions (”How much security do you need?” … “NORMAL: I live in a relatively free country” or “MAXIMUM: I intend to access information that could get me arrested, imprisoned, or worse”). Then you enter a previously hidden online world. In utilitarian type and bald capsule descriptions, an official Freenet index lists the hundreds of “freesites” available: “Iran News”, “Horny Kate”, “The Terrorist’s Handbook: A practical guide to explosives and other things of interests to terrorists”, “How To Spot A Pedophile [sic]“, “Freenet Warez Portal: The source for pirate copies of books, games, movies, music, software, TV series and more”, “Arson Around With Auntie: A how-to guide on arson attacks for animal rights activists”
You know the one with the dog thrown of a bridge?
As said before due to the help of people around the globe they caught the idiot who did it. One big applause for us all.
Besides that and more important I wanted to show you guys and girls this video. The Doggy is doing fine and is in good care. The small fellow will be in good care from now.
Isn’t he adorable?
Today a horrifying video surfaced on the net. A guy from Latvia throwing a dog from a bridge. Sure I know when you read only that small sentence you get enraged. So did more people on the internet after seeing this horrible video. The more sites brought this horrid act, the more people hopped on in a chase to get this guy. And they succeeded just fine, on several sites his complete personal information popped up.
And just before I wrote this, the Latvian law enforcement has taken the guy into custody. He will be prosecuted for animal cruelty.
A small spark of light is a local vetenarian that said: “The dog named Sunelis has several severe fractures but there is good hope for him to survive this ordeal.”
Is the internet bad and needs it monitoring or censorship? In my opinion what happended today showed us that the majority of the internet users have morals and values. The internet can be an addition to society, today showed us that fact.
I voiced my personal objective opinion on the matter. And people seem to differ about it. I found a documentary on the subject that I want to share. It goes deeper into the matter. Never the less I still stand my ground; that snuff really exists like I stated in my previous post.
Snuff: a film made that shows the murder of a person. Do these movies really exist?
Ever since people in general had the possibility to record their own movies, the rumors go that such material exists. But does it? Fact is that people always have had a fascination on the subject hence the popularity of movies on this subject. For instance a classic like Cannibal Holocaust and 8MM or the more recent Hostel movies. Still these are “just” movies although it shows people have a real interest in this matter. It is just human nature to have a fascination for this kind of images, knowing it is not real makes it in our current society more acceptable to watch and cope with.
Does snuff exist?
In my fairly objective vision I say YES with capitols. We only never saw it. I only have to point at the Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs, the Russian guys that commited violent brutal acts and even murder while filming it.
Feel free to post your opinion on this in the comments.
Note: This is my first blog post here, I write on a personal title.
Continuing the master collection lectures on emotion by Bob Solomon here is a great extract from the lecture on fear which lends a lot towards the reason behind why people could be drawn to watching horrific videos online.
An old but very poignaint story of law on the web. Nicole Catsouras died in 2006 after crashing her dad’s porsche into a toll booth in USA. Photos of the accident were leaked to certain gore websites which led her family to take legal action. Threatening hosting companies and content managers with court action many of the providers submitted and removed the photos.
Horrific blog written by a Japanese cannibal as he explains the process and reasoning behind what he did. Suprisingly he only served 15 months in jail for his crime.
“I pull out the intestines. My hands sting from the digestive juices. At last I have to cut off her head. It is the most difficult thing I have to do. I cut off the meat on her neck until I can see bone, then I cut again. She still wears her necklace. I try to use the electric knife, but it doesn’t work very well. It just makes its shrill sound.”
Why do we have such a fascination with the dead? The website Ogrish was one of the biggest gore/shock websites ever made with fan base reaching into the millions. This is a film research journal for our new documentary looking to explain the hows and whys. It'll mainly get updated when were not shooting or working - be patient :)
