One of the pieces of advice given most to aspiring professionals is "Think small." In the movie industry, that adage could be modified to "Think short" — as in short films.
Producing film and video works that are shorter than feature length has been a path to success for many filmmakers who have exhibited their abbreviated works at film festivals around the world — including the Sundance Film Festival in Park City each January.
It's also the path chosen by aspiring filmmaker James Joel Holmes.
Holmes has produced a handful of short works that were shot on digital-video cameras. One of them, "Flat Earth," won the Best Experimental Video prize from the 1999 Utah Short Film and Video Festival.
But he says he may be most proud of his newest, "Cold," a 22-minute work that he describes as "part ghost story, part supernatural drama."
Shot this past January in both Tooele and Salt Lake City, the film stars local actors Seth Campbell, Jonathan Douglas Mason and Jennifer Bradford, and deals with suicide, the afterlife and second chances, according to Holmes.
He says he was hoping to get the film into an independent film festival, possibly even next year's Sundance festival. But first Holmes has to transfer his low-budget piece from digital video to celluloid, something that's currently beyond his means.
"We basically had a budget of zero while making this," he said. "I put it together from money out of my pocket, which is really difficult to do. So now I'm looking for funding for (the film transfer) part of this whole process."
Consequently, Holmes is holding a premiere party/fund-raiser for "Cold" on Thursday, Aug. 10, at the Avalon Theatre, 3605 S. State.
"I'm hoping I'll at least least get a good head start after this. You can't get your film shown at many festivals if it isn't on film," he said.
However, he's already violating that truism, at least to a certain degree. "Flat Earth" can currently be seen on the www.ifilm.com Web site , which allows filmmakers to exhibit their short works and also allows viewers to rate those films.
"The rating is the most important part. That's how you get noticed," Holmes said.
So far, "Flat Earth" seems to be doing well with the Web audience, receiving a 9.9 rating (out of a possible 10). But those results won't become "official" until the film is viewed by at least 1,000 visitors to the site.
"I'm not saying we're trying to prejudice the vote, but I've been trying to spread the word to all my friends by e-mail, telling them to go there and vote," he said.
Holmes is also hoping a similar reception awaits "Cold," though he admitted to having cold feet about the first public screening of the film.
"Maybe I'm not cut out for this," he said. "If I'm already this nervous, I can't imagine what it would be like to have your film seen by a huge audience."
"Cold" is not rated but would probably receive a PG for gore and brief partial nudity. The film premiere/fund-raiser will also include a mini-concert by the composer of the film's soundtrack, Gary Svedin Larson, as well as other local musicians.
Showtime is 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for children 12 and younger.
For more information on the premiere or about Holmes' other works, contact the Cue Media Web site www.cue-media.com.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com