NEWS DIGEST - 4th Quarter 2004
IN THIS ISSUE...
-- Bent Makes it to Netflix
-- Norma's Scent Complete
-- The Quiet Day Finishes Post
-- Exclusive Red Sox Video
-- MINDSCAPE in Web Series
-- The Parting at Festivals 		S
-- MP on Inside Report
-- Several Movies to be on TV
-- Twisted Nightmare Weekend
-- Aphrodisiac Wraps
-- MINDSCAPE Takes Short Cut
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Well, it was yet another busy year for MINDSCAPE PICTURES - so busy that reporting the news for the fourth quarter of 2004 became one of the lesser priorities for the company. Alas, now that 2005 has arrived, we at MINDSCAPE PICTURES would like to (belatedly) wish you and yours a very happy and successful New Year and update you on what's happened at MINDSCAPE PICTURES since September 2004.
Bent Makes it to Netflix
  MINDSCAPE PICTURES premiere series of short movie, the three-disc DVD set called Bent, was made available through online retailers and in stores throughout the U.S. back in July 2004. Now the genre-diverse DVD collection has reachedanother high profile distribution outlet: Netflix. Currently rated as the Number One online rental site for DVD's, Netflix announced the Bent DVD on its site in December and will soon have all three discs available for renting individually. Visit NETFLIX HERE to see Bent on the Netflix site or the MOVIES page on this website to learn more about the Bent series.
Norma's Scent Complete
  Having wrapped back in September 2004, the quiet drama Norma's Scent starring John Depew and Judy Coleman passed through pre-production just before Christmas. Written by Israeli screenwriter Yair Packer and shot, edited and directed by Jason Santo, Norma's Scent is a bittersweet tale about love, loss and shared friendship that plays out between a mismatched pair of neighbours, one being a recent windower, the other being the recently passed away woman's close friend. It is to be included on the DVD collection More Single Serving Cinema later this year.
For more information, including a production journal and behind the scenes stills, visit the Norma's Scent section on the MOVIES Page of this website.
The Quiet Day Finishes Post Production
  Back in November, writer, director, editor Jason Santo was proud to announce the remake of his short movie The Quiet Day had been completed. The original, shot on Hi-8mm back in 2000 got a face-lift with a new cast, a re-written ending and immaculate, crisp visuals provided by the Panasonic DVX-1000 video camera that blurs the line between film and video. Starring MINDSCAPE regular player Paul Sarkis (Lady X, The Dinner) and critically lauded Boston stage actress Stacy Fischer, The Quiet Day is a solemn drama about an estranged couple reaching for an answer to what went wrong in their relationship on a mysteriously ominous day.
The final piece of post-production, the music score, was provided by The 20-minute movie is to be included on the upcoming DVD collection Single Serving Cinema. To learn more about The Quiet Day and to see a trailer for the picture, visit the MOVIES page of this website.
Exclusive Red Sox Video Online Now
  While most sports fans in New England are currently being kept on the edge of their seats by defending Super Bowl Champions the New England Patriots, there was a little matter of a World Series back in October that found the Boston Red Sox overcoming an 86-year championship drought after a historic post-season that kept many a fan staying up to all hours of the night. To celebrate their victory, MINDSCAPE PICTURES, along with Play it Again Video, assembled an 11-minute 2004 postseason re-cap using photos from Boston.com and music from
Boston-based bands The Cars, Aerosmith, Boston and, of course, The Standells. See the emotional highs and lows of the most amazing Red Sox season ever, and the ensuing celebratory "rolling rally," by clicking here to visit our MEDIA PAGE. The video may take a little bit of time to load and is streamed in Quicktime format using the Zygo video codec, so you may be prompted to download the codec (which is completely safe - no worries.)
MINDSCAPE Founders Appear in Web Series

  In October, Boston-based movie production group Random Foo Pictures released the 51-minute episodic series Absolute Position in its entirety on their website. Prior to starting MINDSCAPE PICTURES, company founders Roman Berman and Jason Santo were staples in the Random Foo fold, and episode three of Absolute Precision marked their last appearance in a Random Foo production. Originally shot back in July/August 2001, Berman's scene finds the MINDSCAPE V.P. playing a seedy, dangerous hood named Ramon who crosses paths with lead character Billy (played by frequent MINDSCAPE collaborator Frank Parker.) Santo, reprising a role he played in an earlier installment of the Executive Precision series, plays the deep voiced Blackjack, a former criminal informant and all around bad guy whose life has taken on a new direction. The production was directed by Random Foo founder Dan Gorgone and can be seen here in Quicktime Format.
MINDSCAPE PICTURES Featured on Inside Report
  MINDSCAPE PICTURES president and co-founder Jason Santo was interviewed back in September 2004 for the slickly produced British moviemaking video magazine Inside Report. Hosted by Skye Wilson and arriving on a quarterly schedule, Inside Report exhibits truly independent short works, runs trailers for upcoming low-to-no budget feature-length work and regularly profiles moviemakers working in the Microcinema scene. In his interview, Santo discusses how he became a moviemaker, and how the Bent series evolved into being over several years of production. To see the episode, visit the archives section of www.inside-report.com and click on the show for September 2004. Santo's interview begins at about 25 minutes into the show.
The Parting Plays at More Festivals
  The dramatic short The Parting, a co-production between MINDSCAPE PICTURES and Marblehead, Massachusetts production group Stonehenge Productions, has continued to garner acclaim at film festivals. The movie, written by and starring Alan Langer, played at the New Hampshire Film Expo in Portsmouth, NH on October 17. Additionally, it was featured as part of the Hollywood Spiritual Film and Entertainment Festival which was held in Los Angeles on September 24, 2004. Currently, The Parting can also be seen at ifilm.com and plan are to release the movie along with a behind-the-scenes featurette on the MINDSCAPE PICTURES DVD collection Even More Single Serving Cinema. For more information, visit its section on the MOVIES page of this website.
Several MINDSCAPE PICTURES Movies to be on TV
  In September 2004, MINDSCAPE PICTURES signed an agreement with the Australian-based producers of the short-movie showcase Mind Ignite, currently airing on cable television in the Australasian part of the world, but soon to arrive here in the United States. Three short movies from MINDSCAPE PICTURES were selected for exhibition, the 35-minute horror picture Haunted, the 35 minute twist-ridden drama In a Sky With No Angels and the 15-minute Twilight Zone-inspired short Time Heals All Wounds. No word yet on when the Season two episodes will air that feature these Boston-produced short movies, but you can read more about Mind Ignite be visiting www.imaginites.com/webcontent3.htm. Want to know more about the individual movies selected? Visit the MOVIES page of this website.
MINDSCAPE/Tempe at Twisted Nightmare Weekend
  Jason Santo and Sheri Carter from MINDSCAPE PICTURES attended the second annual Twisted Nightmare Weekend in Ohio September 17-19, 2004, but unlike the first year, they left sales of various MINDSCAPE movie sin the capable hands of distributor Tempe Video. Tempe head honcho JR Bookwalter was on-hand at the event and Santo joined Bookwalter and several other moviemakers for a panel discussion on the perils of moviemaking. Check back soon to see a photo gallery of the event! To find out more about Twisted Nightmare Weekend visit their website.
Aphrodisiac Wraps
  August was a big month for MINDSCAPE PICTURES as the company wrapped production on the brazen "sex comedy" Aphrodisiac, produced in conjunction with the madmen at Plastic Duck LTD., a Somerville-based production group responsible for the public access sketch comedy show Short Cuts. Starring Neil O'Callaghan (More Than Money's Worth,) Rick Collins, Jay Hale and Rebecca Gauthier, Aphrodisiac tells the story of a romantically down-on-his-luck guy who gives a magical love spray a try to win the affections of a gorgeous co-worker, only to find himself immersed in bizarre trysts when he decides to alter the formula while gauging its effectiveness on a series of "test dates." Aphrodisiac is currently in post-production
and slated for release on More Single Serving Cinema later this year. To read more about the project, visit its home on our COMING SOON page.
Angel on Hold While MINDSCAPE Takes Short Cut
  The long-in-the-planning feature-length horror movie Black Angel suffered another setback on the way to shooting as the current production schedule for MINDSCAPE PICTURES shows the company slowing down its output considerably to clear the way for the new short movie series Single Serving Cinema and another feature, the sketch-comedy Short Cuts: The Movie. The size and scope of Black Angel demands the full attention of all MINDSCAPE PICTURES resources to its production, and with so many of the Single Serving Cinema shorts still in post-production, allocating such resources would be impossible. As a result, while the Single Serving Cinema volumes are being assembled throughout 2005, a second collaboration with the Plastic Duck Ltd, this one based on their cable access TV show Short Cuts, will move into a lengthy production schedule. Harkening back to the irreverent comedic stylings of Monty Python's And Now For Something Completely Different, Short Cuts: The Movie will find the cast of the Short Cuts TV show dealing with everything from violent German energy beverage addiction to genius rodent landlords to a townie, drunk super-hero.
Starring Neil O'Callaghan, Rick Collins, John Leary and Jay Hale, more details will soon be available on the COMING SOON page of this website.
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