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Frontier Pop. Know Things. A publication of the Frontier Society.

Indie Film Revolution In Tampa Bay

SPECIAL CROSSOVER ISSUE!

Indie Film Revolution In Tampa Bay : Current Issue, Issue 40, Volume 2, for April, 2012. New Issue published every month, and updated throughout the month. Next issue due online May 2012.

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INITIALIZING

ISSUE INTRODUCTION BY EDITOR AND PUBLISHER C. A. PASSINAULT

This gamer wants the Playstation Vita. I already have everything else.

This issue contains opinions, unless otherwise specified, as our opinions are expressed about named individuals in the Tampa Bay independent film scene, and the subject matter of this issue is very controversial. Read at your own risk.

Welcome to a very special crossover issue of Frontier Pop, which ties in with the very new and very special, Tampa Film Revolution! Tampa Film Revolution, which launched on-schedule on April 4, 2012 (delaying work on Frontier Pop is the process), is the new sister site of Frontier Pop, and it will be soon joined in our trio of sister sites with Advanced Model. Tampa Film Revolution is a publication of Tampa Bay Film, which is the voice of Tampa indie film, just like Frontier Pop is a publication of the Frontier Society, and Advanced Model is a publication of Independent Modeling.
Frontier Pop is geared toward pop culture, art, entertainment, and enthusiast subjects. Still, just like a rival pop culture and entertainment site that we slammed into the ground, indie film and independent filmmaking in Tampa Bay is a very important subject for us, and Frontier Pop, just like our new sister site Tampa Film Revolution, will be addressing indie film in Tampa Bay. There will be overlap in our coverage.
Regarding a revolution in Tampa indie film, it is needed. Although there has been a war raging in Tampa Bay independent film between Tampa Bay Film and certain elements in the Tampa Bay independent film scene since early 2008, with Tampa Bay Film winning on all fronts and defeating most of the opposition, it is our opinion that, even with “interference” from Tampa Bay Film, that most of the players in Tampa Bay indie film have FAILED to put Tampa indie film on the map. With poor film festivals, poor independent films, and so-called Tampa Bay independent filmmakers who freely sell out their filmmaker brothers while professing support for them in the public eye, the past decade of Tampa indie film has been a disgrace.
The following, and the rest, of this issue consists of our opinions, and should not be taken as fact unless otherwise specified, well, specifically.
Let’s take a look at what we have observed in Tampa independent film over the years.

1988 - Primitive independent films shot on video cameras are done. C. A. Passinault begins planning and hosting parties, as his Friday Night Party Animals (FNPA) organization is founded. From the very first party, Passinault screens movies, making the parties small film festivals. Passinault writes a variety of short stories, most of which are well-received.

1989 - Passinault continues throwing parties, with the final year of the Friday Night Party Animals being the most intense. Passinault begins experiments in production work, with early work in DJ programming.

1990 - The Alpha Beta Delta fraternity and the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority are founded by Passinault and friends at Tampa College in Sable Park. Passinault begins DJ’ing events, with the fraternity and the sororirty having a series of awesome parties. Passinault begins official DJ production work as DJ Wiz Kid on October 6, 1990. His third release, an audio tape program, Horizons, released on November 2, 1990, is his first hit.
Passinault is first published as a writer.

1991 - The second year of the Alpha Beta Delta fraternity and the Alpha Omega Delta sorority. Passinault, as DJ Wiz Kid, is on his second generation (GEN 2) of Cassette Program Releases (CPR), by the summer of 1991, starting with his 12th release, Waveform. With the GEN 2 programs having covers made for the programs, Passinault begins his design career.
The fraternity and sorority begin work on new types of events, theme events which would eventually become interactive theme events seven years later.
The fraternity and the sorority, more organized, take action against the college after a student loan aid scandal is exposed. The result is that the college loses millions of dollars. The fraternity and sorority hare disbanded after being declared illegal by the college. Passinault, after finding out that the college is not accredited by the University system, later leaves (the student loans come back to haunt Passinault 16 years later, however, in 2007, and are resolved by 2008).
On November 2, 1991, “Sex On The Beach”, a beach party in Apollo Beach by Passinault, ends in a riot when a gang invades.
Passinault makes his last program as DJ Wiz Kid, Waveform 2, on December 7, 1991, which feebly addresses the riot.

1992 - The final GEN 2 Cassette Program Release is made. Passinault and roommate get into a fight, the result of which is his DJ gear being destroyed. Unable to make more GEN 2 releases, Passinault vows to rebuild and continue.
Passinault loses everything, however, and does not get re-established in Tampa until mid 1992. With the worst year of his life being 1992, Passinault decides to get serious about his career.

1993 - Passinault re-enters college, this time without taking out student loans, and taking course as a junior college which is accredited in the University system. Passinault takes theater, music, and writing courses.
Passinault writes his first two stage plays. Actor friends teach him about auditions, and how to cast, and one play comes close to being produced at a local church. A conflict with the church results, however, and Passinault pulls the plug on the production.
Passinault takes television production courses, and is certified as a producer. Passinault begins planning his first television series.
Passinault begins to build a new production studio for audio releases at his home in Tampa. He changes his name from DJ Wiz Kid to DJ Frontier. His underground cyber subculture, the Frontier Society, is founded.
Passinault begins working on independent film projects with filmakers.

1994 - Passinault resumes DJ’ing, this time as DJ Frontier, in June 1994. The first GEN 3 release, and the 22nd release, Futura, is released. Futura, which is the first sidekick program, tie into his upcoming television series of the same name.
Passinault, as DJ Frontier, releases his 23rd Cassette Program Release, Party Zone 2, in July, 1994.
Aurora PhotoArts, Passinault’s photography and design company, is founded in June 1994, as a support company for Passinault’s projects.
With controversy at the television studio and production rules changed, Passinault’s television series, Futura, is cancelled.
Passinault begins a career as a banker.

1995 - Production of GEN 3 DJ releases as DJ Frontier continues, with revolutionary program being produced, such as Horizons RMX (a remake/ remix of the original Horizons release), Waveform 3, and Generation. Party Zone 3, the most popular Party Zone program, is released.
Passinault moves his production studio to a luxury apartment in Temple Terrace.
Planning on relaunching the Alpha Beta Delta fraternity and the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority at the University of South Florida, Passinault spends months studying parliamentary law, writing new bylaws, and negotiating with officials at the university. The result of this research caused the name of the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority to the Alpha Omega Delta.
Passinault continues indie film work with Tampa filmmakers, and is on the crew of a local Sci Fi channel production.
Passinault begins acting on television commercials.
Passinault finalized Interactive Theme Event technology and formatting.

1996 - GEN 3 production work as DJ Frontier continues. Passinault finishes the bylaws of the Alpha Beta Delta and the Alpha Omega Delta sorority, as well as branding and marketing material for the organizations. Due to lack of funding and resources, however, the organizations cannot be launched at USF. The fraternity and the sorority are finally retired, as Passinault decides to focus on business instead. Passinault plans on bringing back both organizations in the future, when the resources needed at available.
Passinault moves his studio, Geomedia 2, back to Riverview, where it all began in 1990. He begins working on a dedicated production facility, Geomedia 3.

1997 - Production of Gen 3 Cassette Program Releases as DJ Frontier continue. Passinault finishes the script for a new type of DJ program, a radio parody named Rush Hour, and casts actors for voice acting sessions. The recording sessions are completed.
Passinault begins DJ’ing events, weddings, and corporate events.
Passinault resumes DJ’ing his own events and parties, with video gaming being integrated into events for the first time.
Passinault finishes five Interactive Theme Event (ITE) scripts, and plans for future independent film work.

1998 - Passinault unveils first Interactive Theme Event, Silvertree, on January 31, 1998. The prototype theme event was a success.
Passinault, building Geomedia 3 facility, invests in computers, and begins learning digital production tools. Passinault learns web design.
With photographs needed for web site and production work, Aurora PhotoArts increases photography work.
Passinault’s first web site, Colony Alpha, launches. Colony Alpha, which eventually would go through several incarnations and would ultimately become Frontier Pop, is Tampa Bay’s first pop culture and entertainment site, predating a rival pop culture site by two years.
With digital production paving the way to the future, but with some costs still too high, GEN 3 production work is at its end. Passinault, as DJ Frontier, finishes his final analog GEN 3 releases, with plans to resume production and to create digitally produced GEN 4 CD releases by 2000. Rush Hour, which has been in preproduction for almost a year, but was stalled due to the limitations of GEN 3 production technology, is put on ice for a later release as a digitally produced release.

1999 - Passinault continues photography work with shootout events with models and other photographers. Passinault builds his first photography portfolio.
Geomedia 3 production facility commissioned in Spring 1999.

2000 - Passinault continues photography work. He becomes a professional photographer in late 2000, with Aurora PhotoArts photography and design work displacing his event and DJ work.
GEN 5 DJ production work, to have been digitally produced and done on CD’s, is stalled due to slow computers and limited CD format (old programs were 90 minutes long, and CD’s were limited to 70 minutes). State of computer production technology prevents new CD releases from being made, although some cover mock-ups with photographs and graphics were made.
Although there was an independent film scene in Tampa Bay before 2000 (we know, as C. A. Passinault worked on Tampa indie films as far back as 1993, well before 99% of most of the players in Tampa indie film were around, or even knew what independent filmmaking was. Indie filmmaking in the 1990's and 1980's mainly consisted of shooting on analog video or doing work at Public Access on local cable, with next to nothing shot on 8MM or conventional film stock), we really consider 2000 to be the dawn of independent filmmaking in Tampa Bay, as digitial video (DV) camcorders and computer-based editing solutions were becoming more affordable. Still, with computers powerful enough to edit films still pricy, as well as storage (10 Terrabytes ran about $19,000.00), filmmaking was still expensive, and cost-prohibitive for most who wanted to become filmmakers. As a result, there were only a few filmmakers in the market at that time. Passinault began working on his Bloody Mary feature independent film, which was derived from a short film script that he had written in 1994. Bloody Mary later became Reverence.

2001 - Passinault, with a professional photography portfolio already established, invests in digital production equipment and new computers. Despite the new computers, GEN 4 production work was still in limbo, due to the limitations of the production technology, hard drive storage, file quality, and the CD format. The GEN 4 CD releases were continually postponed, and then delayed until the technology improved and costs came down. As a result, GEN 4 CD releases were eventually leapfrogged to new GEN 5 production standards, which would not be possible for many years. Passinault decided to wait.
With GEN 4 DJ productions delayed, and then cancelled, Passinault turned his creative efforts to indie filmmaking.
At least three feature independent films were in various stages of production at this time. C. A. Passinault’s “Reverence”, by his Dream Nine Studios production company, “Web Of Darkness” by Renegade Films, and “Unearthed” by Phereomone Studios. Passinault was dependent upon subcontractors for equipment and support resources, however, so he concentrated on casting and writing the script. The other two film projects were further along. Reverence, Web Of Darkness, and Unearthed were known as the big three. Reverence, too, was originally known as “Bloody Mary”, derived from a short film project to have been shot on video back in 1994 and based upon the urban legend, but the premise, story, and the title were changed when Renegade Films did a short film called “Bloody Mary”.
Passinault increases his web site work, building and deploying more web sites.

2002 - Auditions for Reverence (a film about a sorority initiation gone horribly wrong in a haunted graveyard) were in full swing. Unearthed (a film about archeology and aliens) and Web Of Darkness (a film about vampires who had an online community and who met up at night clubs) were in production. A misunderstanding between Dream Nine Studios and Renegade Films led to a brief indie film conflict after two DNS actresses turned up in the Renegade Films short film, The Pledge. The Pledge is completed, and is innocuous, with many of the future players in Tampa indie film involved in the production. Passinault was not involved, however, as Dream Nine Studios and Renegade Films remained in conflict after one of the DNS actresses started talking. Independent Acting, then known as Tampa Bay Independent Actor, launches, and begins slamming Tampa filmmaking as the first indie film war between Dream Nine Studios and Renegade continues.
Passinault’s Aurora PhotoArts photography business takes the lead, as Passinault’s DJ’ing and event work takes a back seat, and then declines.

2003 - Reverence is cancelled after two production teams flake out, which ends Passinault’s attempt at independent filmmaking the Hollywood way. With indie filmmaking still expensive, Passinault decides to wait until technology brings down costs before attempting another independent film. Despite this, Reverence was cast with a group of some of the best actors in Florida, and the script was done; before it was cancelled, the first rehearsals for Reverence had been scheduled. Principle photography for Web Of Darkness competed, and Unearthed production continues. The conflict between Dream Nine Studios and Renegade continues, which is a shame because Renegade Films begins a series of one of the best independent film festivals ever done in the Tampa Bay area, Saints and Sinners. Passinault begins work on a film festival property of his own which would have become a Saints and Sinners killer.
Passinault, after a bad event on December 7, 2002, spends a lot of time auditing other mobile DJ companies. Passinault decides to hold off DJ’ing events until he can sort out his feelings about mobile DJ’ing, the DJ’ing that he had been doing, and how to make it work for him.

2004 - After four successful film festivals, Saints and Sinners is no more, and ends. Paul Guzzo and Pete Guzzo, inspired by Saints and Sinners, start a monthly film festival in Ybor City, The Coffeehouse Film Review. Passinault observes from the Internet, but is reluctant to get involved because of the previous conflict with Renegade Films.
Remnants of Renegade Films begin producing small film festivals, the Halloween Horror Picture Show.

2005 - Nolan Canova, of a pop culture web site, attempts a pop culture and entertainment convention, NolanCon, which fails.
Passinault introduces himself to the local indie film scene, and makes peace with the former filmmakers of Renegade Films. He attends the last Coffeehouse Film Review, just before it becomes The Tampa Film Review. He also attends the second Halloween Horror Picture Show film festival at the University of South Florida.
All is at peace.

2006 - Passinault collaborates with filmmakers, referring them actors for independent films. The Tampa Film Network is founded by actor Joe Davison and filmmaker Chris Woods. Passinault helps with the production of a short indie film, The Quiet Place, which was produced by the Tampa Film Network. Passinault begins working on a web site for Tampa independent filmmaking, Tampa Bay Film, and starts experimenting with embedded video files from video hosting sites.
A Tampa filmmaker sells out other filmmakers by assisting local officials with creating a film festival which does not have the best interests of indie filmmaking in Tampa Bay in mind. Announced at a controversial Tampa Film Network meeting, several indie filmmakers begin to fight over different aspects of the Tampa indie film scene. The more visible parts of this fighting are on the message board of a Tampa pop culture site.

2007 - Passinault launches Tampa Bay Film, which has a built-in online film festival. He becomes aware of slanderous rumors about him by so-called Tampa filmmakers, which were both unexpected and undeserved. A rival online film festival is launched by some filmmakers, but it is defeated by Tampa Bay Film’s online film festival.
The Gasparilla Film Festival debuts. It sparks controversy amoung local Tampa Bay indie filmmakers because of its perceived lack of support for local filmmaking.
Some filmmakers begin stating that “Passinault was right” about his observations of the Tampa Bay indie film scene.
Passinault, upon hearing of lies being spread about him, decides that he has been quiet for too long, and begins to debate with filmmakers on the message board. The filmmakers react by attempting to assassinate his character with more lies and rumors. The fighting between Passinault and filmmakers becomes vicious.
Passinault begins to be stalked by an anonymous message board poster.
In December 2007, Tampa Bay Film declares war on the Tampa indie film clique, and the site is mobilized to fight that war.

2008 - Tampa Bay Film begins the Tampa indie film war in January 2008, criticizing the Tampa Bay indie film scene and the actions/ motivation of the Tampa indie film clique. The Tampa Film Review, the monthly film festival by Paul and Pete Guzzo, receives a bad review which enrages Guzzo.
The pop culture site with the hate-filled message board continues to attack Passinault and Tampa Bay film. Passinault threatens to compete with the pop culture site, and the owner laughes. Passinault declares a boycott on the pop culture site, and take action against it, which begins to whittle away at their readers and writers.
Tampa Bay Film splits off into a network of integrated web sites, with much of the content for the other web sites cannibalized from Tampa Bay Film. The online film festival is overhauled and relaunched under its own domain name, becoming the most effective, and most watched, film festival in Tampa Bay.
The Tampa indie film clique begins fighting among themselves due to the stress of the Tampa indie film war. Unable to correct the flaws pointed out with The Tampa Film Review, Paul Guzzo struggles to keep the film festival stable and relevant.
The Tampa Bay Film online film festival begins effectively competing with film festival events in the Tampa Bay area.
In December 2008, Paul Guzzo announced that he and Pete were ending The Tampa Film Review.

2009 -
2010 -
2011 -
2012 -

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