Zooppa

Want to Win an Academy Award?  It’s easy: 1) Pick a tragic subject 2) Spend years of your life documenting it 3) Add in some epic music 4) BAM!  Oscar nomination. Seriously, look at the numbers. Four of the five documentary features nominated last year featured some form of tragedy or downtrodden humanity: “Gasland” – [...]

Want to make a movie for under 15k? Here’s how. Write a script.  Get a camera.  Find some awesome, volunteer actors and finally get Adobe Production Suite 5.5. VOILA!  You have a feature film. Sounds impossible?  Gareth says it ain’t. Gareth Edwards started in the realm of digital effects and gradually evolved into a director. [...]

These days there is a new J.K. Rowling. Ever heard of Suzanne Collins? Maybe the name doesn’t ring a bell, but she’s the author of the suddenly-inescapable Hunger Games. Fans are enthralled with the ruthless social concept in the book: young people being forced by the government to fight to the death!  It’s a grabby concept, [...]

What do Michael Arndt, Mark Boal, David Seidler and Sofia Coppola have in common? Hint: it has to do with a carpet that is red and a man that is small, heavy and gold. Chances are, you’ve seen at least one of their films – Little Miss Sunshine (Arnt), The Hurt Locker (Boal), The Kings Speech (Seidler) and Lost in Translation (Coppola).   These artists have [...]

In my humble opinion, one of the most rewarding projects a team of filmmakers can undertake is the creative-thirst-quenching, ever-morphing medium of the music video.  Though short and sweet, these projects can sometimes be pretty costly, especially if you are shooting on film, have a lot of special effects or shoot in multiple locations. But [...]

  Happy Friday, cowpokes! You’ve made it through another week. January is almost over! Did you know that Listerine was first marketed as an antiseptic?   Go forth and fill your head with trivia for the next two days, kids, because it’s the weekend!    Here’s what went down at Zooppa HQ this week:   [...]

The Oscars: A tried and proven, blatant form of idolatry.  Sure awards are great, but do they really mean anything?  Are they really just an evil Pavlovian trick to keep us all seeking  the approval of others? Award ceremonies are alluring, what with all their pomp and privilege.  But what does it all really mean? [...]

OK. You’ve finished your movie… and it’s brilliant! Your characters are developed perfectly, the storyline is beautiful, and your shots are exquisite. There’s just one more tiny step: Get people to see it! Anyone involved with showbiz knows, making the movie is one thing. Making money from it is an even bigger feat. If you [...]

People of Portland! Portlandia is looking for you! If you live in Portland, enjoy the mirthful musings of Portlandia and enjoy making hilarious videos, you should enter this. Earn your hipster points by submitting your own content (via vimeo.com)  for their current running video contest. Don’t live in Portland? You can still make a video …you just won’t [...]

Wil Merrit, CEO of Zooppa provides crowdsourcing advice on MarketingProfs. Merrit features the Top 5 Crowdsourcing Pifalls and solutions to each. Read the full article here.