Production
Filmmaking - Production
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Failure as Creative Inspiration: How I Shot — and Recorded — My Christmas-Set Musical Long December in 12 Days
Shooting "Long December" (Photo: Joshaun Anderson)
In 2015 I directed my first feature. It would be six years before I was able to direct my second. But once I had completed the first draft of that script, we had the film in the can within six… Read more
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Cine Gear Expo 2024: 17 Cameras, LED (and Traditional) Lights, Lenses and Remote Camera Controls We Loved
Every start of summer, the Cine Gear Expo comes to Los Angeles. Initially held on the Paramount lot, the Expo had a short stint at the LA Convention Center for two pandemic years before landing this yearat the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank. The movie lot aspect assists greatly with vibes: While its chief competitor, NAB Show—held a few months earlier in the Las Vegas Convention Center—feels like a traditional trade show, at Cine Gear you can peruse the latest lenses as the iconic Animaniacs water tower looms in the distance, just visible behind a camera crane which swings around […]
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Las Cruces Days: Making Sundance Grand Prize-Winner In the Summers Using New Mexico Tax Credits
Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers is a film of moments spread across years—moments quiet and seemingly insignificant, as well as larger events whose significance is downplayed at the time only to be properly understood years later. It’s the story of two teenage girls who, each summer, are sent by their mom to spend a few weeks with their charismatic yet irresponsible father, whose ability to love and be a parent is continually undermined by his addictions to drugs and alcohol. Winner of the Grand Jury U.S. Dramatic Competition prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, In the Summers finds a […]
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Clothes Tell the Story: Costume Designer Stacey Battat on Priscilla
From the wan pastel prairie dresses of The Virgin Suicides to the candy-colored 18th century finery of Marie Antoinette to the aughts logomania of The Bling Ring, the style in Sofia Coppola’s movies is always brilliantly cohesive, capturing a distinct, ultrafeminine vibe like no other. Coppola’s latest, the impressionist biopic Priscilla, follows Priscilla Presley (Cailee Spaeny) from timid ’50s teenager to wife of Elvis (Jacob Elordi) to, finally, a liberated woman, using gorgeous midcentury fashions to capture an often painful journey into the heady world of celebrity. Spanning from 1959 to 1972—one of modern fashion’s richest transitional eras—Priscilla’s wardrobe alternately […]
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“A Solutions-Based Intervention”: Facet Founder Maida Lynn On Her New Program Supporting Doc Producers
After supporting a range of programs uplifting the independent film community, including Sundance’s Art of Nonfiction and the Dear Producer Award, philanthropist, grant maker and producer and executive producer (Pahokee, Aleph, The Tuba Thieves), Maida Lynn recently announced through her company Facet a new “experimental” initiative, the Producer Group. Rather than the traditional model of providing project-specific support that sees grantees working individually, and different in many ways from the prevalent “lab” model, where supported filmmakers gather for brief bursts of mentorship from industry professionals, the Producer Group will attempt to foster collaboration between producers and “create a space for […]
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Vu One: Vu’s New All-in-One Virtual Production Studio
Vu just announced a new product that aims to make virtual production a lot more accessible: the Vu One. It’s two parts. One part turnkey virtual production studio in a (very, very, big) box. One part Vu’s Virtual Studio, a software platform that makes creating and running virtual scenes a lot easier. Let’s break down both parts. Complete Virtual Production Setup Vu One offers a complete, configurable VP setup, which includes: LED Wall by Unilumin, with sizing starting at 13×9 ft Media Server by Puget Systems LED Processor by Megapixel Stereoscopic camera tracker (more on that below) Optional camera tracker […]
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“If I Ever Need to Rob a Bank…”: Melissa Miller Costanzo on Directing the Romantic Comedy The List
I got a call from my agents, and they told me they had a script they wanted me to read. It was called The List, a broad romantic comedy about a woman who finds out her fiancé had slept with someone on his celebrity free pass list, so she decides to go to Los Angeles and try to get with someone from hers. My initial thoughts were, great concept, and why me? When I finished the script my thoughts were, needs some work, and why me? My first film was something I had written and directed called All These Small […]
