I have recently been working on a free toolbar specifically designed for film enthusiasts. And now I have one to launch to the world! It’s fairly basic at the moment but I will continue developing it and adding whatever features I can to it, hopefully, with your help.

As I said it is designed with film enthusiasts in mind and has a number of features that will make their (and my) life easier, such as:

• A direct link to the Films @ Dave’s Info Cafe web site! (I am developing it after all)
• Google search functionality
• Links to specialist film-related web sites and resources
• RSS feeds from film-related web sites and blogs
• Direct messaging facility
• Ticker box with access to reviews of the latest DVD releases
• Chat room restricted to other toolbar members ie film enthusiasts!
• Windows Media Player - easy access button

I addition there are several other useful features on the toolbar, such as:

• Pop Up blocker
• Email notifier - customise it so that you can access any or all of your email accounts and be notified of incoming mail
• Weather - customise this to find out what the weather is like in your part of the world (or any part of the world for that matter)
• Radio player - listen to a selection of online radio stations while you are surfing

If you are interested you can download it from the link below:

http://filmsdavesinfocafe.OurToolbar.com

I have loaded it on to my computer and have been using it for a few days. I have run the full Yahoo Spyware scan on my hard disk after I installed it and found no problems. However, I regularly scan my hard disk for spyware and suggest you do the same as a matter of routine.

This is only the start. I will be developing the toolbar over the course of the next few months. If you download it you will see any improvements that I make AUTOMATICALLY. It will change before your eyes! You will not have to uninstall and then install the latest version. Please let me have you feedback on the toolbar, particularly any more film-related links and RSS feeds. I can then add them and everyone can share the improvement. If you have any ideas for more film-related functionality I will try to take them on board (within the limitations of the software that I am using).

In one of my previous posts I talked about the future of film-making and how easy it is to get started nowadays. Any one with a home video camera and a PC can make a film.

Well, it is even easier than that, because any one with a mobile phone (with camera that can take video) can make a short film clip and display it all over the world via YouTube in a matter of seconds. This is an incredible phenomenon.

In essence, it’s almost like we have been transported back to the late 1970s. Rock music had become overblown and self indulgent and entrance into the music industry had become quite difficult for up and coming bands. What happened? Punk. Kids getting together and forming bands in garages, learning instruments, rehearsing, and playing any venue they could get into. They maybe didn’t have the musical skills of the older, more established bands but they made up for it in raw energy. Pubs and clubs opened up to showcase this new breed of rock. There was an punk explosion of talent that gave the music industry a shot in the arm.

This is what I see with YouTube. People who previously had not thought about making films are now making their own films and clips and sharing with their friends and the rest of the world via this incredible conduit - YouTube. There is a lot of rubbish on YouTube granted but you can also see the work of fledgling film makers in their mini epics that have been cleverly realized.

You see fantastic ideas put on screen in 10 minute format. One clip that hit the UK national news was a film taken on their mobile phone by a person whilst they were skiing down an escalator in a London Underground station. Interesting but dangerous. I looked on YouTube today and found two contrasting but very interesting presentations. The first one was the latest in a series called “Cube News”. Basically, “Cube News” is news for “cube dwellers” ie the office workers of today and is a humorous and irreverent look at life in today’s offices presented by a good-looking and feisty female. It is presented in a news programme format inside a “cube” and deals with all of the annoyances and frustrations surrounding working in a “cube”. The second was more of a documentary called “Heavy Metal in Baghdad” filmed using only a hand held video camera. In a series of films, the story traces the progress of two independent music executives trying to film Iraq’s only heavy metal band. But what you get is an insight into what life is actually like in Baghdad at the moment, something you would never get from traditional news publishers. A real eye opener!

YouTube also provides the ability for you to search through videos. For instance, I am a Scunthorpe United follower. So, I can search for all of the videos posted about Scunthorpe United. You can keep up to date with clips from terrestrial TV, camera phone and video at the press of a button.

This is a breeding ground for the next generation of film makers I’m sure. YouTube has millions of hits every week. Many more people watch clips on this site than go to the cinema. Short films of odd and strange events attract hundreds of thousands of visitors. I suppose the beauty of it is that the audience don’t have to pay for the privilege of seeing these masterpieces to get a couple of hours worth of entertainment.

I have no doubt that there is any army of Hollywood executives watching YouTube scouring for talent, getting ideas for movies and using it as a marketing device for their multi million dollar product. It is already plain to see that major studios plant their trailers on YouTube to gauge market reaction.

YouTube is an incredible facility. It allows any one regardless of whether they have any money, or whether they know the right people to make their own films and have them viewed across the world. Individual expression now has a global outlet.

In the next post I will look at whether YouTube is being abused.

Hooray for Hollywood. The Academy got it right in the end. Best Director went belatedly to Martin Scorcese.

I don’t know about you but it felt like The Academy were clearing up a mess in the best way they knew how. Scorcese had been overlooked so many times with infinitely superior films that they had to do something special.

So, one of the worst kept secrets of the awards ceremony was let out of the bag when the triumvirate of Copolla, Spielberg and Lucas came out of the wings to present the award. It must have been really disheartening for the other directors in the running for Best Director. “I’ll get my coat” time!

How better to receive your Oscar than from your mates, your contemporaries? It was like the Academy was saying “sorry” for all the past rejections. Even Scorcese displayed a little cynicism when he asked for them to check the name on the card. But like any true Hollywood professional he quickly gave in to the schmaltz and saccharine. Why oh why couldn’t it have been for Raging Bull or Good Fellas or, even, Taxi Driver.

Still, the monkey is off his back now. Let’s hope he continues making superior Hollywood films for many years to come.

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