SPECIAL PROJECTS

CONTENTS:
The Cinematic Road Show

THE CINEMATIC ROAD SHOW

Researching the TV and film industry is a snap. Or is it? Plop in the word "film" or "TV" into a favorite browser and wow! A million hits! To help with the browser noise, the IP has picked a few industry news and information Web sites that will start you on the road to cinematic research.

One of the first stops on the movie research road is the Internet Movie Database. Started by volunteers, it is still a fantastic reference source (http://www.imdb.com/).

The next station is Cinema1 with Movie News, TV News, Gossip and Photos, all by date. For those of you who like to keep score, it includes the box office stats. While not searchable, it has browsable monthly archives. Just click on any hot linked date (not all are available).

An added value to Cinema1 is the DVD offering. It provides current releases of DVDS (hey, they are movies), which link to a synopsis, notes, trailers and photos. For the statistic hungry, Cinema1 has the current DVD rankings by sale.

Hiding in the top right corner of the screen is a drop-down search box. Limit your search by movie title, director, producer, writer, cast or genre. Browse the resulting list and select your hot link (results are limited to the year 2000).

http://www.cinema1.com/cgi-bin/frontPage.pl?lang=eng

http://www.cinema1.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?01001

Let's continue the trek at Industry Central (IC) for more than the latest motion picture and television news (http://www.industrycentral.net/links_index1.html). IC offers crew lists, auctions, discussion boards, as well as industry interviews. It profiles not only actors, but directors, music professionals and others. IC has a lot to offer the researcher and industry professional. So, target IC if the motion picture and television industry are featured on your prospect lists.

http://www.industrycentral.net/

Indies's are hot commodities right now, so drop in on indieWire.com for news, discussions, interviews of those involved with the Independent film world. Searchable by key word, this is a great site that offers articles, festivals, reviews -- nearly everything you need to know about the Independent film industry.

http://www.indiewire.com/

Another great stop is Film Journal International, which brought cinema industry news to the Web in 1997. A wonderful resource for the industry, Film Journal provides news and information on previews, development and production, trends, distribution and more. Read articles or reviews, browse its various guides and check out its archives.

http://www.filmjournal.com

Movies are wonderful, but the whole package includes music. The last, and maybe best, stop on the cinema research road is Film Music.com. The site provides news and information on the motion picture and television music industries. Besides news, articles and columns, it offers networking, how-to guides, technology, legal issues and other data.

Some of the other offerings include the Film Music store with books and reference material galore ($$). Sign up for Film Music NewsWire (http://www.filmmusicstore.com/filmusnew.html), job hunt or join an industry discussion group. All you researchers, do check out the industry directory (http://www.filmmusicmag.com/links/pages/) for indexed Web links.

It's all music to my ears.

http://www.internet-prospector.org/spec1200.htm

Pamela J. Smith