Throughout the opening of the Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker-hopefuls are pitching their movie ideas to the world at the Avid Technology booth in the New Frontier (333 Main St.).

In the contest, your 60-second pitch could result in a range of prizes including consulting time with Hollywood execs, a spot in the Sundance Independent Producers Conference, and Avid product packages. Stop by between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Jan. 18-22 to get your pitch into the mix or upload a 60-second pitch clip of your own to the Perfect Pitch website.

Just today, Park City local John Servoss (pictured) threw his hat into the ring with a “race for the money” idea staged in the Utah mountains.

For full rules and regulations, as well as the list of prizes visit avid.com/pitch.

Through Friday at New Frontier on Main, you can do two things: learn about storytelling from Norm Hollyn of the USC School of Cinematic Arts (reprising his popular sessions). And/or you can learn about tapeless workflow for XDCAM and P2.

Both run multiple times daily, so check the schedule at sundance.org/workshops or in personal at Workshop Area B in New Frontier.

noon: Rights Liscensing in the New Era of Distribution.

I’m just going to quote Sundance; “Internet platforms, video-on-demand, mobile devices and indie film pay-per-view are no longer a dream–they are the reality of the new world of distribution. But complexities abound, creating a need to make sense of revenue models, developing technologies, and evolving methods of exhibition. Hear major players, service providers and filmmakers tackle the issues that surround today’s liscensing/distribution opportunities. Moderated by Scott Kirsner of Variety.

It’s a start.

This is a key panel for anyone on a budget. At New Frontier on Main 10a today and tomorrow, experts from the very top companies in Los Angeles tell you how to negotiate camera rental, film processing, and post production services. Learn these invaluable skills from those who should know–representatives from Panavision, Kodak, Laser Pacific, FotoKem, efilm, and Deluxe.

At New Frontier on Main:

10am Dreamweaver

1pm After Effects

3pm Photoshop

The classes are taught in a professional working environment with HP xw4400 workstations, flatscreen monitors and the latest versions of the software.

Sunday noon at New Frontier on Main: The Business of Web 2.0 Media and the Net Now. Kara Swisher of the Wall Street Journal moderates a panel that decodes YouTube, MySpace, Revver, Technorati, and the like.

Noon today at New Frontier on Main: Indpendent Video Gaming: A New Medium for Filmmakers. Moderated by Heather Chaplin, author of Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution. Panelists: Suzanne Seggerman, Eddo Stern, Asi Burak, Eric Zimmerman, and Connie Yowell.

New Frontier sitting with Lincoln Schatz, one of the New Frontier artists panel member and Lisa Tsou, assistant general counsel for Internet Brands, a consumer community generating marketing site–panel attendee.

The panel covers the convergence of Art and Technology; Schatz is a software artist who systhesizes the action of the mind and memories; his vast collection of video composits and recomposits creating overlapping and opportunistic narratives–just like I’m doing right now, as I talk to him….

I’m not sure where the pizza is going to be, but somewhere in New Frontiers. That’s the rumor anyway.

Sundance loves short films. They say so and if you’re here you can see a lot of quality shorts. Same is true if you’re not here. For the first time Sundance is making their shorts program available for free worldwide (for both viewing and downloading).

You can start watching at www.sundance.org. Starting Monday you can download them at iTunes (www.itunes.com/sundance) presented by the Sundance Institute and the Sundance Channel. With 71 shorts chosen from among 4440 entries, odds are good there’s more than one worth watching.

Up later Sundance shortfilmmaker Be’ Garrett talks about his process on A Nick in Time.

Here’s more of today’s technical workshop lineup at New Frontier, where you can also check your email in peace, see the Online Shorts film festival, enjoy the DJ, and see some great video installations. Oh and drink free coffee.

1pm Kevin Baillie, Visual Effects/CG supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on effects for Superman Returns

2pm Scott Anderson, Visual Effects Supe at The Orphanage will lead a session on digital workflow for Superman Returns

3:00 Flash Professional 8; hands on session

3:00 Filmmaker Jacob Rosenberg teaches about using Adobe and Cineform to do Hollywood style workflows and DI on indie films

4:00 Adobe Soundbooth; hands on session

5:00 Interactive Flash for Filmmakers