Film festivals, feature-length movies, screenings, documentaries.

No, this is not Hollywood, this is Lancaster.

Over the last six months Lancaster has been a hotbed of film and video production. Mount Joy will soon be known for more than Cincinnati Reds outfielder Chris Heisey, when a feature-length movie comes out later this year, titled after the small town.

"Mount Joy" is directed by Jack Lewars, a Penn State graduate who grew up in Lancaster County and currently works for a film, video and digital media company based in New York. The "coming-of-age" plot tells a love story by intertwining Lancaster’s teenage indie rock scene with the surrounding Amish country. The release date is not set, but the crew will be back in March finishing up some additional shooting. The movie features plenty of Amish landscape and familiar venues such as the Chameleon Club, which is also featured in another full-length film project.

Our friends at Postage VFX, located at the heart of downtown Lancaster, released their feature documentary about the Chameleon Club in January to kick-off the Ware Center Film Series. The story is told by former and current employees, owners and band members. The passion for music in the legendary venue is captured through the voices of Chad Taylor of Live, Mike Bitts of The Innocence Mission, JB Burkholder of August Burns Red and many more.

But these films are not the only Lancaster-centered premieres. The Rumschpringe Short Film Festival received entries from all over the world and debuted the films during September and October at the Theatre of the Seventh Sister and Tellus 360. The festival received 63 entries from the United States, Australia, Syria, Colombia, Iran, UK and many more. There was a specific Home Grown category during the festival which was exclusively for Lancaster-based teams.

Lancaster’s film lovers can keep themselves occupied during the next few months as the Ware Center Film Series continues at 42 North Prince Street with new films every week. For tickets and a list of films to come, click here.

Lancaster is now a hub of film and video production. And we are thrilled to be a part of it.

Have you checked out any of these screenings or events ? Will you see the film "Mount Joy?"

Water Street Rescue Mission did not have a good year with donations. However, a successful December helped change that, and set a positive tone for 2012.

120,000 pounds of food… in just one month. That’s a lot of grub!

"We are truly grateful," Maria Schaszberger, who is head of communications for Water Street Ministries, said. "It’s a great example of the kindness and generosity of Lancaster County."

Water Street Rescue Mission, an organization that helps individuals move out of homelessness in Lancaster, hosted its perennial holiday food drive through the month of December and received an overwhelming amount of donations, despite being a down year in food donations overall.

"We received 120,000 pounds and that was a real blessing because in 2011 we received 75,000 pounds less than 2010," Schaszberger said.

That 75,000 pound decrease resulted in a steep 25% dropoff from the previous year. Schaszberger went on to explain that in 2010 an average of 50 people would stop by to drop off donations daily, but in 2011 there were only 5-6 drop-ins per day on average.

"There’s a lot of factors, I think the big one was just an increase in the cost of food and living expenses in general," Schaszberger said.

But Schaszberger is extremely grateful for the successful December food drive and says that, at times, even herself has a hard time understanding how important the food donations really are.

She remembered a particular story about one young woman who became parentless at age 15. After wearing out her stay surfing the couches of  friends, she decided to come to Water Street Ministries. Eleven years and three kids later she said the mission is what kept food on her children’s plates and allowed her to keep her life together.

"Food donations are about keeping families together," Schaszberger said.

But food isn’t the only donations accepted at the Mission.

Water Street Ministries is supported solely on financial donations. And by donating money, the organization can continue to help the homeless in Lancaster. Twenty-five percent of the organizations financial donations came in December alone.

"It’s because of several members’ faithfulness throughout the year we can keep doing what we are doing," Schazberger said.

A wishlist of current items needed, as well as information on types of food that are able to be donated can be found on the Water Street Ministries’ website.

After you make a donation, the food either is distributed directly to people in need throughout Lancaster, or sent over to the kitchen where they make hot meals to share with the homeless.

In honor of our 700th "like" on our Facebook page, we decided to help Water Street Ministries’ December food drive and donated 700 cans of chicken noodle soup. We loaded up the truck full of soup purchased at Weis Markets and dropped it off at the Mission, which is located at Prince and Conestoga.

Nothing like giving back, and we ask you to keep up the donations so we can make Water Street Ministries’ 2012 a better year than last!

Christmas time means a lot of home video cameras are recording… your every move! Check out some of the most viral holiday videos ever, and have a happy holiday season!

This holiday season, Christmas lights are not the only flashing lights.

The red light on your home video camera is also blinking as you’re recording memories. And as each home video is running, it creates a unique opportunity to capture some great moments, moments that have the potential to go viral. Here are some of the most popular holiday videos of all time.

This video is quickly becoming the most viral video of the 2011 holiday season. The positive response from Jimmy Kimmel’s Holloween candy video, led them to continue the same concept and create this gem which already has over 4 million views:

Flash mobs have exploded in popularity this year and the next video is a major reason why. This video was the most popular holiday video last year, and shows a little more talent than flash mobs are used to, which may be the reason it has almost 40 million views:

This next video not only popularized homemade light shows, it helped popularize YouTube. When this video hit YouTube in 2005, it became one of the most viral videos the site has ever seen:

What’s funnier than talking animals? Not much, but maybe, animals singing a Christmas song? … yes:

Lastly, the true meaning of Christmas. Well, with a little more technology. This creative way of telling the story of the nativity is approaching 11 million hits in a little over a year:

Enjoy the holidays! Merry Christmas from AideMMedia Solutions!

What is your favorite holiday video?

3D phones, 3D TVs, 3D cameras, 3D video games. It’s becoming common, and some experts say it will be the only type of video within 10 years.

First, it was color. And we all thought video couldn’t get any better. Then it was high definition, and we thought, "This is it, video can’t evolve any further."

But now, it’s 3D.

3D video is becoming more standard, and not just in IMAX theatres.

Several technology companies, such as Sony and Panasonic, have already developed personal 3D camcorders. HTC came out with a 3D phone that requires no glasses. Video game corporations are pushing hard for the advancement of 3D technology during gameplay. And home 3D TVs are becoming common.

James Cameron, Avatar director and developer of 3D technology, believes that one day 3D video will be all around us, more common than 2D video.

"Well we see in 3D," Cameron said in an interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "It’s how we see the world, and so much of our world now is about screens and monitors."

Cameron believes a big breakthrough in 3D video will be when it enters the home. He recognizes there are plenty of 3D TVs on the market today, but says there is a lack of 3D content right now to be watched on these TVs.

"The sets are there," Cameron said. "Now the content providers have to catch up."

Cameron cites another breakthrough when glasses are no longer required to watch 3D video. He says this technology is still 3-4 years away.

Below is a video featuring an interesting video produced by a Brazilian company that allows someone to watch 3D video without glasses. Yes, it is a joke.

Now, this unique technology probably isn’t the solution for glasses-less 3D video, but it is a start. And when the technology does come out, you will surely hear about it. And see it, in 3D.

Is 3D video a gimmick, or is it really going to be the future?

Steve Jobs single-handily changed the video industry. He made video accessible and usable. From the invention of the iMac almost 15 years ago, to the newest iPhone, video has always been a priority for Apple.

Steve Jobs didn’t invent video. He reinvented it.

He made video accessible and portable to the public. Editing video is no longer only for professionals, and shooting high resolution video is now as simple as reaching into your pocket. Thank you Steve Jobs.

With the release of the iMac DV in 1999, video editing was freed from closed doors in Hollywood and opened up to the public. This slick looking computer had a firewire input and came standard with iMovie. For the first time, consumers could easily edit their home videos and store them digitally. Transitions, titles and sequence editing were now common in amateur videos.

Jobs designed the iMac with video in mind, and Apple continued to keep video a high priority. With Final Cut Pro, a professional editing software, both the public and the professional world could now create professional video. Jobs gave us all the opportunity to edit video.

When the iPhone was first released in 2007, it didn’t have video capability. Instantly, this issue was the largest complaint among iPhone users. How can a phone be so revolutionary, yet be unable to shoot video?

Jobs, being the brilliant marketer he was, opted not to put video in the iPhone so the next release would be even larger.

And it was. The next iPhone could capture 640×480 video at 30 FPS. These videos could be directly uploaded to YouTube.

Today, the release of the iPhone 4S was largely about video. Perhaps the biggest improvement from the iPhone 4 was the camera. The newest iPhone can record 1080p HD videos, and a built-in gyroscope feature allows the video to be stabilized.

Apple, led by Jobs, improved the usability and accessibility of video. Because of Jobs, high-quality video is everywhere.

Jobs’ full impact on technology won’t be known for years. But his legacy can already be seen one day after his passing. We know video wouldn’t be the same today without his brilliant mind. And for that, iThankYou.

In what ways will you miss Steve Jobs?

The Internet is huge. We can find anything we need in a matter of seconds. But are we becoming dependent on the web for information rather than retaining it ourselves?

No longer will curiosity kill the cat.

Today, the cat could just Google it. Or maybe Youtube it. But whatever it does, it definitely would defuse it’s curiosity with a web search before driving itself to death over the issue.

I’ve noticed something over the last couple months when out at dinner. It seems almost every conversation ends with someone "looking it up" on their iPhone. And often the next conversation begins with a cute Youtube video that "you got to see."

Now don’t get me wrong, I think it is awesome we can settle five dollar bets about the speed of a cheetah on-the-spot at a coffee shop. More money for me. But, at the same time, I think there has got to be something negative here.

Here’s my theory. Rather than making us smarter, the massive amount of information on the web actually makes us less knowledgeable. We’re dependent on Google, just like we depend on calculators to solve double-digit multiplication. Why would I remember something when I can just Google it?

Google says in its mission statement that the search engine’s goal is "to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful." Clearly, Google views information on the web as a commodity. And this philosophy is carrying over into the heads of Internet users.

We don’t want to retain knowledge anymore, just like we don’t want to churn our own butter. We would much rather quickly access the information we need, just like we would much rather purchase a stick a butter.

The web is huge. Far more expansive than any human brain could be. Google sifts through over 45 billion webpages during a search. That is over 45 billion pieces of information that is literally at our fingertips.

No one is dumb enough to waste their time storing information in their brain when our hands hold the key to a seemingly infinite amount of knowledge.

As anti-Google as this seems, I am very pro-Google. It is not necessarily a bad thing we don’t retain information as well since Google is sometimes faster than our brains. And I think it’s great we can settle debates with a quick search.

Obviously, Google is successful for a reason. It will be celebrating it’s 13th birthday soon.

Now does anyone know where I could go to get information about it?

Do you think the Internet is making us disconnected socially?