ITunes and Amazon Streaming of The Unforeseen?
Dear Friends of the Unforeseen,
Rumoredly, an iTunes and Amazon release is coming soon. We saw the Huffington Post article mentioning it and have provided the necessary materials for digitization but perhaps like you, we checked moments ago and saw no sign of a digital version on either site.
Once it’s out there, we’ll update this site to link directly to it.
Thanks again for your interest and support of The Unforeseen.
DVD Talk reviews The Unforeseen
We received our first official DVD review from DVD Talk’s Jamie Rich.
What with all the talk of the subprime mortgage crisis and how it’s effecting the common citizenry, many of whom are losing their homes, it’s hard to imagine that most people looking to watch a good documentary would want to pick a film about the long-lasting effects of urban sprawl; yet, the recent arrival of Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen on DVD would almost seem like fortuitous planning as, in a lot of ways, its message is exactly what we need to hear. Though land development is the topic of choice, the greater meaning of The Unforeseen extends beyond who wants to build houses where; rather, it encourages us to stop and think about what it is we may be doing, to take stock of how our actions today may impact our future. One hopes in all this talk of bailouts and quick fixes, cool heads might prevail and think about what will happen when the band-aids will need to be replaced.
……..
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Recommended. Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen is an elegantly constructed examination of how urban development has an impact beyond the immediate area and beyond the immediate present. It also chronicles the struggles in Texas, centered on the Barton Springs area near Austin, to settle questions regarding the clash between private property rights and the public good. Though working under a specific thesis, Dunn is a fair filmmaker who manages to make a persuasive argument without giving short shrift to her opponents. It’s a timely film that will make you think about the changes afoot in our country and the crises we all face. The Unforeseen is hopeful and thought provoking at the same time.
The entire review is right here.
The Unforeseen DVD Shipping - FREE Green DVD Promotion Extended
If you placed a pre-order from us, your order has shipped!
As promised, you’ll receive both The Unforeseen and GREEN. Most of you Austinites will be receiving yours today (September 30th.) Additionally, we’ve decided to extend our promotion for anyone who orders directly from us. So if you or your friends would like a copy and want the free copy of GREEN, please order here.
It’s pretty surreal timing to have DVD arriving the day after the US shoots down a bailout for a real-estate poisoned financial system. Wild.
The Alamo Drafthouse brings The Unforeseen To Barton Springs!
Tim and Karrie League, proprietors of Alamo Drafthouse, have already done so much for The Unforeseen. They facilitated a Press Conference for us the day of the film’s premiere. When the film sold out on opening night, they kicked two Hollywood films to the curb to play the film on three screens simultaneously.*
Now, in conjunction with The City of Austin, Alamo’s is bringing The Unforeseen to Barton Springs itself. The details:
- Thursday, October 2nd
- Admission is $3 at the door
- Post screening projection installation by artist Luke Savisky (Sponsored by AFS)
More information available here. We hope to see you!
* This was more than just a commercial self-interest. It was payback with interest. They were avenging us for the suffering we endured when the Angelika canceled our NY Premiere to hold a Studio film over for an additional week.
DVD Release Update
We wanted to give you an update on the DVD. First, due to both technical and contract issues, our DVD release date was pushed back to Sept 30th. We have no control over this so we’re sorry that this means those who placed a pre-order will be waiting another week. We’re very sorry for this but it is very close and we hope to have some exciting Unforeseen news to share very soon about additional distribution options.
Please watch this space.
We also wanted to give you a sneak peek at the contents of the DVD. No one has seen this other than pre-order customers. So you’re getting a first look at the DVD. As you’ll note, non of the other sites selling The Unforeseen (Amazon, etc.) has this information. Audienceship has its privileges.
The Unforeseen DVD Features:
ESSAY BY DENNIS LIM
(A 14.56″ x 7.31″ piece printed as a trifold, 6 pages)
Dennis Lim, a NY Times, has contributed a thoughtful essay. The essay features an original interview with Executive Producer Robert Redford.
ESSAY EXCERPT
As Redford sees it, “The Unforeseen” is a story of opposing ideals.
“The American dream is the beast with two heads,” he says.
“There’s the dream that says develop at any cost, which ties
to manifest destiny. But the idea that this is an incredible country,
with assets no other country has, that’s the American dream as well,
and instead of get what you can get, it should be preserve what
you can preserve. The film is about those two parts of the
American dream clashing.”
DVD Face
This is approximately what the face of the DVD will look like. This design originally was an alternative cover for the DVD Case itself. But the distributor really wanted to invoke “The American Dream” since the collapsing real estate market is on everyone’s mind. That’s why we went with the House/Blueprint/Swimming Cover instead of the Cranes/Butterfly cover.Happily, these graphics became the DVD face itself so it wasn’t a total loss.
COMMENTARY TRACK
Laura Dunn/Director, Lee Daniel/Cinematographer, Jef Sewell/Producer/Motion Graphics Designer and Tom Hammond, Sound Designer and Recording Mixer
We all got together and reminisced about making the film. Countless obscure details surfaced during our session. For example, Laura talks about hanging in an open-air monkeycage from a construction crane to shoot the opening shot. Lee tells about how shooting from such heights gives him “a really funny feeling” in certain parts of his body, Tom explains how he turned the film’s sound effects / audio tracks into a new musical instrument for the many aerial shots used throughout the film, and I talk some about the problems I had getting all of the graphics finished with only four months to work.
Click here for a preview of the commentary track.
DVD MENUS
Pretty basic…
THANKS AGAIN
It’s truly amazing to directly connect with our audience. We’re very glad to share these details with you first, our supporters. Check Amazon, THEY don’t even have these details yet. You’re truly the first. Lastly, a few people were confused to see Laura Dunn Productions on their credit card statement instead of The Unforeseen. Laura Dunn Productions is the name of Laura’s film company, hence the confusion. We’ve since updated the order confirmation emails to make this explicitly clear.
If you have ANY questions about your order, please don’t hesitate to contact our customer service department. They’re more than happy to assist you. Thank you again for your support of our endeavors. It means a lot to us as we’re a small outfit. We hope you’ll keep up with us through our Blog.
Sincerely,
Jef Sewell and Laura Dunn
The Unforeseen
BIG NEWS! The Unforeseen DVD now Available for Pre-Order
Now that we’ve seen others begin to take preorders for The Unforeseen DVD, we realized that was our signal to join the fray. As you can see, the DVD cover artwork differs slightly from the theatrical poster at right. Obviously the same swimming elements were used in a different arrangement and proportion. Also featured is a closeup on a blueprint of a home design. The distributor Cinema Guild liked the prominent blueprint as it distinctly represents the subject matter while also connoting the housing market which is on a lot of people’s minds.
Why pre-order from us? A few reasons, in no particular order:
- We’re offering those who pre-order The Unforeseen a free copy of Laura’s Student Academy Award-winning film GREEN (A $35 value).
- Laura derives a lot more revenue when you order from Two Birds than when you buy it anywhere else.
- The orders are processed on Yahoo Store using 128-bit SSL Secure Servers
- When they ship on September 23, order fulfillment will be handled by my company, Amplifier. Amplifier provides order fulfillment/customer service/commerce and more for Two Birds. That’s how Laura and I met, she was our second customer.
- Commentary Track - Director Laura Dunn, Cinematographer Lee Daniel, Producer/Motion Graphics Designer Jef Sewell and Tom Hammond, Sound Design.
- Widescreen presentation
- Theatrical Trailer
- English 5.1 Soundtrack
- Essay by film critic Dennis Lim
- Scene selections
EXCLUSIVE OFFER WHEN YOU ORDER FROM US:
When you pre order The Unforeseen directly from Laura Dunn, we will include a free copy of Laura’s 2000 Student-Academy Award-winning documentary GREEN (A $35 value)
This offer is only available when you buy directly from Two Birds Film.
The Governor of NY Video Tells it Like it Is.
“Costs are rising steadily. Revenues are dropping dramatically… The era of buy now and pay later and later is over”
[youtube HY6wjDdiUdU]
The Sundance Channel premiere less than a Week Away
The Unforeseen finally has its Sundance Channel premiere.
Set your DVR/Tivos for:
- Tuesday August 5 at 9:35PM
- Friday August 8 at 10:35AM
- Sunday August 10 at 3:35PM
Sundance Channel was the first to acquire rights to the film and did so at the beginning of 2007. They’ve patiently accommodated our theatrical run and thus have waited a year and a half. Thanks to Christian Vesper and Laura Michalchyshyn in particular.
Having said this, the deteriorating economic conditions thanks to housing and financials has only made the story more seemingly topical. (Did you see the recent announcement by NY Governor Paterson? Wow.)
Also, don’t forget you can pre-0rder the DVD from Two Birds Film and receive a free copy of Laura’s Student-Academy Award winning film GREEN. Orders will ship on September 18, so in about 6 weeks!
“We were riding the wave… And all of a sudden…”
Sadly and unsurprisingly Indymac was seized by the Feds today after a run on the financial institution.
The FDIC recently rehired a number of retired regulator with experience dealing with bank failures. Many of these folks were around in the S&L crisis and so they’re seasoned and one hopes expert at managing what is certain to be a wave of bank failures.
Other much smaller banks have failed recently but they don’t make national news. (Like this one in Arkansas) And some titanic financial institutions have been allowed to appear NOT to have failed (Countrywide and Bear Stearns)
Wow… Dallas holds Unforeseen over for another week…
What can I say? I’m completely surprised. We’re still a tiny blip on the box office radar as you can plainly see. Our theatrical run ends in July in I believe St. Louis. Then it’s onto Sundance Channel, DVD and… who knows? ;-D