"Welcome to the future of film!" boldly claims the website about what potentially could become an extremely lucrative resource for anyone up to the age of 25 who is interested in making a film. The event launch took place Saturday, August 5th at the Metro Cinema, while simultaneously occurring at Leicester's Phoenix Arts Centre and Nottingham's Broadway Cinema, the other important members of the 'Three Cities'. The introduction for the scheme saw all three locations link up through the site itself, via live webcams in each of the buildings. Get involved!The main incentive of the two organisers at the moment is to converse with the users about their involvement with the website - the emphasis at the Metro launch was for people to get registered with Film City, giving their ideas for what the site should hold in order to be useful for the filmmaking community. Winter and Robertson know they could have opened the full site in one big phase, but believe that communication with the people in this development stage is essential to the overall success of the site later. The launch moved into the main cinema for the playing of five Derby-made short films and finally 'A Tale of Three Cities,' a special short made for the event where the young hosts talked about their home city - Derby's segment arguably being the most entertaining as the hosts and the people interviewed in Derby city centre painstakingly tried to think of reasons of why they liked Derby, before planning to catch a bus to Nottingham. Film City featuresAmong the ideas for content on the eventual site are the profiling of local film submissions from each of the cities, as well as separate events information for each of the cities. The organisers hope that the combination of the East Midlands region could even result in cross-city groups forming in order to share a filmmaking experience. The grievance of music in films has long been an obstacle for young filmmakers, as the use of commercial tracks renders it exempt from all commercial airings due to copyright. One of the ideas for the 'Film City' is to have a 'record store' section containing downloadable tracks from unsigned bands who, like young filmmakers, just want more exposure. Funding information, online editing facilities as well as forums for film fans are also among the planned content. Rome wasn't built in a dayThe process is ongoing, potentially up to as late as spring 2007, but its organisers are sure of its ability to be a useful source for those that need it. Meanwhile, to register your interest with Film City and tell them what you think should be included, navigate your way to the site using the link on the right.
They want to hear from you. | 
