The Artist Now Featured on IMDb!
27 January 2009
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA. Approximatley a year after The Receipt became the first film from RiverBend films to have its own IMDb title page, The Artist has joined The Receipt and Below the Beltway to become the third film from RiverBend Films to become elgible for its own IMDb title page. IMDb, or the Internet Movie Database, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary, is the largest and most-visited movie and television website in the world and has several million site visitors daily. Visit the new IMDb page of The Artist, and while there check-out the already-existing IMDb title pages of The Receipt and Below the Beltway.
The Artist The Director's Cut DVD Released
21 December 2009
VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA. Today's release of The Artist The Director's Cut DVD and Blu-Ray disc is the culmination of some nine months of post-production work, including six months of work following the film's official world premiere. The DVD and Blu-Ray release of the film features a number of considerable modifications from the original premiere release, to include a remixed score and soundtrack, remastered audio, new digital effects, additional music, deleted and extended scenes, and alterations to visual style and the film's aspect ratio. The Director's Cut DVD and Blu-Ray disc are available for purchase from the RiverBend Films Official Store.
The Artist World Premiere
01 May 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. The World Premiere of The Artist took place this evening at 8:00pm in Charlottesville, Virginia. The cast, crew, and some 200 guests were in attendance at the red carpet event. The film was introduced by producer Ashley Kinney, director Kevin G. Bender, and screenwriter Matthew Marcus. The special Director's Cut DVD is now available online from the RiverBend Films Official Store and orders will ship beginning July 1st, 2009.
The Artist Theatrical Trailer Released!
13 April 2009
YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA. This evening marks the much-anticipated relase of the official full-length theatrical trailer for RiverBend Films' fifth full-length feature film The Atist. The trailer can be viewed in 480i widescreen format using Adobe Flash Player from the film's Official Website. The Artist will premiere May 1st 2009 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Admission to the premiere is free.
Principal Photography on The Artist Wraps
14 February 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. Principal photography on RiverBend Films' The Artist, which began September 27th 2008, wrapped this afternoon, February 14th 2009, at 5:00pm in Charlottesville, Virginia. With four-and-a-half months of photography now completed, three-months of post-production remain until the official World Premiere on May 1st, 2009.
World Premiere Date of The Artist Set!
29 January 2009
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. The official World Premiere of RiverBend Films' fifth feature film, The Artist will take place on Friday May 1st, 2009, at Culbreth Theatre on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, at 8:00pm. The film will be shown in spectacular 1080p High Definition with accompanying Dolby Digital 5.1 surround-sound mix. The Artist is RiverBend Films' follow-up project to the 2008 critically-acclaimed film The Receipt and features many of the same cast/crew. The Artist stars Matthew Marcus, a University of Virginia theatre student, as the films' hero Alex. Starring opposite Matthew are fellow University of Virginia theatre students Casey Stein (Rebecca) and Russ Hicks (Matthew), and Charlottesville community actors Glenn Aubrey (Jared) and Andrew Todhunter (Dr. Anthony Andrews), along with eighth-grade Charlottesville student Arrietta van der Voort (Alice), who makes her film acting debut. The film co-stars Katie Willis (Claire), Sam Taggart (Thomas), Christopher Moneymaker (Max), and Jacquie Walters (Linda).
The original screenplay of The Artist was written by Matthew Marcus (also the films' leading actor) in 2008. The Artist tells the story of Alex, a college student and avid comic book fan who is entering his final semester of college. As a result of unresolved events in his past, Alex begins to invent a comic-book inspired fantasy wherein one of his professors, Dr. Anthony Andrews, a psychologist, is the architect of the Apocalypse, and Alex, his roommate Matthew, his girlfriend Rebecca, and a homeless man named Jared all play an integral role in thwarting his ambitions to ruin the world. As delusions unravel and realtty sets-in, The Artist becomes a tale of secrets revealed, dreams deferred and renewed, the encapsulating psychological hold that power wields against the powerless, and the discovery of two young adults that deep within each of them there lies a hero waiting to be unleashed upon the world.
Principal photography on The Artist, which began on September 27th 2008, is still underway and is set to be completed February 14th 2009. The Artist was filmed on-location in Charlottesville and Hampton Roads, Virginia, in full-1080p high definition digital using Sony motion picture cameras. All post-production work, including video and sound editing, rendering, and digital compositing, was done using Adobe Creative Suite CS3 designed for Microsoft Windows Vista, which is the same software package utilized in the post-production of such films as Superman Returns and The Matrix trilogy. The finished film will also feature a complete 6-channel Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound mix-down and a two-minute-long sequence of 3D-animated visual effects designed and rendered using Blender, which was used to create elements of the visual effects in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
The film is produced by University of Virginia sophomore and first-time producer Ashley Kinney, co-produced by writer/actor Matthew Marcus and University of Virginia alumna Gabrielle Moskey, and photographed by University of Virginia students Ranjan Khan and Kai Chang. University of Virginia senior Jason Kobielus is the film's production designer and associate producer, University of Virginia junior Jalysa Conway serves as costume designer, and Canadian student Erik Kilanksi is the leading art director. Post-production was handled by Kevin G. Bender (picture editor, supervising sound editor, visual effects compositor), Jamie Coupar (sound designer), Zachary Pruckowski (sound mixer), and Kyle Ringgenberg (Visual Effects 3D Animator). Kyle Ringgenberg is also responsible for the film's completely-original musical score, orchestrated and sequenced using the Vienna Symphonic Library digital toolset, which has been frequently utilized in many major film productions, including Underworld and The Dark Knight. The Artist will be the fifth feature-length film to be directed by Williamsburg-area filmmaker and RiverBend Films co-founder Kevin G. Bender (IMDb Page).
For more information, visit the film's Official Website, visit the Facebook Fan Page (Courtesy of Microsoft Corporation), watch the Teaser Trailer, or view detailed information on the film's profile page.
The Receipt is now on IMDb!
25 December 2008
YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA. The Receipt (2008) recently became eligible to receive its own official IMDb page. IMDb, the Internet Movie Databse, an Amazon.com company, is the most visited movie website in the world and features an online cataloging of several hundred-thousand movie titles, actors, crew, and film industry technical and business details. The site is visited by approximately 1,000,000 people daily. Now, effective December 21, 2008, RiverBend Films' The Receipt has now joined the thousands of other films listed on the site and the vast marketing potential that this provides to both the film and the company. Other titles from RiverBend Films, including in-development titles, will be added to the IMDb site as they become eligible.
First Teaser Trailer for The Artist Released
25 November 2008
YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA. The first official Teaser Trailer for The Artist was released today on the World Wide Web, available for download from the official motion picture website of the film. The 1-minute and 15-second long trailer can be watched online in Adobe Flash Video format in either standard definition or high definition (720p). The full-length theatrical trailer for The Artist will be released in mid-Spring 2009.
Principal photography continues on The Artist, which is now about 50% complete. Production is presently slated to continue until late-February 2009, with post-production scheduled to be completed sometime in early April 2009. The film will be released in late-Spring 2009 and available for purchase on DVD and Blu-Ray Disc High Definition shortly afterwards.
The Artist Official Website Launched
23 October 2008
YORK COUNTY, VIRGINIA. Today marks the official lauch of the official motion picture website for RiverBend Films fifth feature-film, The Artist. With elements still under construction at present, the new site will eventually feature trailers, clips from the film, biographies of cast and crew, film stills, prodution photos, and a page of downloads, including desktop backgrounds and screen-savers (Windows only). The new site, along with the rest of the RiverBend Films web presence, features fully W3C-validated HTML (4.0) and CSS (2.1) code. Click here to visit the new site!
The Artist, the fifth feature film from RiverBend Films, is also the fifth film from RiverBend Films to have its own official website, joining Lifes a Smoose, Below the Beltway, Running Out of Time, and The Receipt. The Artist remains in principal photography and is set to be completed sometime mid-April 2009.
Number Five is Alive: The Artist Enters Principal Photography
27 September 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. Number Five is Alive. At approximately 11:30am this morning, The Artist, the fifth feature film from RiverBend Films, went into principal photography. Filming commenced with the filming of Sequence One, INT. PSYCH WARD. AFTERNOON, which includes the opening sequences of the film. This afternoons shoot was the most special-effects intensive shoot ever undertaken thus far by RiverBend Films. The final edited sequence will feature approximately two minutes of Computer-Generated effects. Actors Matthew Marcus and Andrew Todhunter, producer Ashley Kinney, director Kevin G. Bender, and crew members Ranjan Khan, Zachary Pruckowski, and Gabrielle Moskey were on-set for the opening day of Principal Photography, which is set to continue sometime into winter 2009 before wrapping in early March. The Artist will be completed sometime in late-spring 2009.
Cast and Crew of The Artist Announced
16 September 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. Following the completion of all casting and contigency casting as well as the organizational meeting of cast and crew, RiverBend Films is proud to announce the cast and crew of its latest feature-length film, The Artist. Casting Director Matthew Marcus, who is also the films writer, assembled the principal cast over the past four months. The cast features Casey Stein as the female lead, Rebecca, Russ Hicks as Matthew, Andrew Todhunter as Professor Andrews, Glenn as Jared, Christopher M. Moneymaker as Max, Sam Taggart as Thomas, and Katie Willis as Claire. The cast also features the film debut of Arrietta Van Der Voot, a local seventh-grader, as Alice. Matthew Marcus will be playing Alex, the films central character.
Heading-up the crew are first assistant director and lead producer Ashley Kinney and co-directors of photography Ranjan Khan and Kai Chang. Jalysa Conway will serve as the films costume designer, Eric Kilanski as the lead art director, assisted by Gabrielle Moskey, and Zachary Pruckowski will serve as the production sound mixer. Zachary and Michelle O'Malley will also assist picture and supervising sound editor Kevin G. Bender with sound post-production. Kyle Ringgenberg will be composing the films original score and the film will also feature music composed by David Gassmann. Jason Kobielus and Matthew Marcus will assist Ashley Kinney and Kevin G. Bender as the films producers. Jason Kobielus, Zachary Pruckowski, Kyle Ringgenberg, and Matthew Marcus rejoin RiverBend Films from the critically-acclaimed feature film The Receipt from April 2008. The Artist will be the fifth major feature-film to be directed and edited by Kevin G. Bender. Click here to view the entire list of cast and crew. The Artist is set to go into principal photography beginning September 27th and will make its world premiere in May 2009.
Them Funky Earthlings Music Video Released
10 September 2008
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA. After three months since the inception of the project, all production work on the Them Funky Earthlings Music Video has now been concluded. The new music video is nothing short of an assault on the senses, featuring an onslaught of visual effects from the very beginning through to the end of the video. The final edit features the most extensive use of blue-screen and green-screen techniques of any project from RiverBend Films and also boasts the greatest use of computer graphics since the York High School Senior Slide Show in May 2004. In addition to spectacular visual effects, the video also features eye-catching break-dancing, rapid-fire editing, amusing on-location footage, colorful lighting, saturated color, and an ultra-wide panoramic (2:1, 1440 x 720) widescreen release format.
Them Funky Earthlings was composed by Jeff Stewart Dixon and performed by him and the band Alchemy in 2007. It originally appeared in the album Cosmic Joke. Jeff Stewart Dixon, who was also the album and videos producer, approached Kevin G. Bender in May 2008 about directing the music video for the song. Matt Steffanina provided the choreography for the break-dancing segments, which make-up the backbone of the video. The final shoot took place in late July 2008 in Charlottesville, Virginia, with post-production finally reaching completion on September 3, 2008, and the official online release of the video coming seven days layer. Them Funky Earthlings will be the 32nd project to be completed by RiverBend Films since its inception in 2003. You can watch the video online or view the video in a fullscreen High Definition (720p) Format. You can also find out more from Alchemys official website, www.alchemygroove.com.
RiverBend Films Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
1 September 2008
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA. This September, RiverBend Films celebrates the FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the completion of its first film, A Day in the Life of a Cat which was shortly followed by the completion of its second film and firt narrative short-film, Checkmate and the nature documentary Natures Fury. All three films were completed in September of 2003.
Over the past five years, RiverBend Films, also known briefly as Bender990 Productions and AmrasSaralonde Films, has marked several major milestones, including the completion of its first feature documentary, Seven Days Under the Sun, completed in July 2004, and its first narrative feature film, Lifes a Smoose, which premiered at the University of Virginia in April 2005. Two years later, the follow-up project to Life's a Smoose, Below the Beltway made its world premiere on February 26, 2007, also in Charlottesville, Virginia. The most significant acheivement of RiverBend Films came in 2008 with the completion and world premiere of The Receipt, which was by a significant margin the longest, most expensive, and most ambitious student film project ever completed at the University of Virginia and opened to considerable critical acclaim and local media attention.
The acheivements of the future are unlikely to be as rapid as those of the past five years, but impressive filmmaking work is likely to continue, with production on Them Funky Earthlings Music Video, a visual assault on the senses, and The Artist, the follow-up project to The Receipt still underway. In commemoration of the Fifth Anniversary, the RiverBend Films Promotional Video has been revamped and updated and the RiverBend Films website, in its Fourth Edition, features a complete Interactive Timeline of its history.
New Landscape Photography Website Section Launched / Production Updates
20 August 2008
YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA. The RiverBend Films online web presence is now pleased to feature the landscape photography work of Kevin G. Bender, the principal owner/operator of RiverBend Films. The new Landscape Photography Section, launched August 20, 2008, will feature spectacular landscape photos from around the United States. The section launched with over 170 photographs divided into nine different photo galleries and features images taken from September 2007 to August 2008. The images were captued in wide-angle and telephoto lenses on 35mm and then digitally enhanced. The landscape photography section appears in the Additional Features section of the website and will continue to be expanded and updated in the future.
Meanwhile, production work continues on the several in-development film projects with RiverBend Films. Principal photography for the Them Funky Earthlings music video wrapped on July 27th, 2008, and the project has now moved into post-production. Anticipated completion of post-production is projected around September 30, 2008. Meanwhile, pre-production for The Artist, the major follow-up project to 2008's The Receipt, continues, with the majority of casting and auditions now complete. A final cast list will be released sometime in mid-September 2008 and production is anticipated to begin in early October 2008.
Follow-up Project to The Receipt Announced
20 May 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. RiverBend Films is proud to announce two new films which are currently in-production, including the official follow-up project to The Receipt. The first is a music-video for the song Them Funky Earthlings by Jeff Dixon and the band Alechemy. The brief music video will feature break-dancing segments, incorporation of CGI elements, and impromptu on-location dance sequences in areas in and around Charlottesville. The music video is currently in pre-production stages. Shooting is set to take place in late June 2008.
The second newly-announced production is a feature-length action/adventure film from the pen of UVa fourth-year drama student Matthew Marcus entitled The Artist, which is set to be the major follow-up to to RiverBend Films flagship film The Receipt and will feature many of the same cast and crew, including actor Matthew Marcus and music composer Kyle Ringgenberg. Artist will be the fifth film and second feature film to be shot in a full-1080p High Definition digital process and will be the first production to be exhibited and released using new Sony Blu-Ray High Definition technology in 720p panoramic widescreen accompanied by full Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound mix. The film will also incorporate the greatest use of CGI of any film to-date.
The Artist tells the story of Alex, a college student and comic-book afficionado who comes to believe that he is a living superhero and that he is destined to save the world from his arch-nemesis, his psychology professor Anthony Andrews. Writing, casting, and additional pre-production will begin in early June 2008 and will continue through July and August. Casting decisions will likely be announced sometime in July 2008 and major crew members will also be announced around this time frame. Principal photography is tentatively scheduled to begin in early September 2008 and end in January or February 2009.
RiverBend Films Launches Fourth Website Edition
20 June 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA. RiverBend Films is proud to announce the official launch of RiverBendFilms.com 4.0, the fourth version of the RiverBend Films website. This latest edition boasts not only a total redesign of the sites visual design, but also a full revamping of the directory structure as well as a complete overhaul of all website code. In addition to the ground-up reconstruction of the existing site, the new site includes several new sections, new features, and additional content not previously available on older versions of the site. In effect, this amounts to the most extensive site release in three years. The first site was originally launched in September of 2004, the second site release took place in May of 2006, and the release of the previous site occured in July 2007.
The new site launch includes several new exciting features, including brand-new Press and Media sections, which include links to external reviews and press articles on productions from RiverBend Films, an official RiverBend Films corporate press kit, and a press kit for flagship film The Receipt. The Media page collects together all multimedia features into one central location, including film stills, film trailers, and videos and clips available online. The Additional Features page includes articles and publications from RiverBend Films as well as a brand-new Interactive Timeline detailing the history of RiverBend Films. As part of the new site release, RiverBend Films has also released a brand-new, updated, three-minute Promotional Video which is available for viewing online from the Press section.
A major objective of the RiverBend Films website redesign was the complete standards-compliance of all website code (HTML, CSS, JavaScript). We are pleased to announce that all of the website code on RiverBendFilms.com is 100% W3C Valid code, meaning that any standards-compliant internet browser will display the code exactly the same way. Our new site is certified and recommended for Mozilla Firefox 2.0 (or newer) and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 (or newer) for Windows users and Apple Safari 3.0 (or newer) for Apple Macintosh users. The new site officially went live on June 20, 2008.
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