Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“People Always Laugh at Me for Pulling out a $1,000 Camera to Shoot Alongside an Alexa”: DP Sam Chase on Paint
Writer/director Michael Walker returns to the Sundance Film Festival for the first time since Price Check, his 2012 comedy/drama starring Parker Posey and a pre-fame Amy Schumer. His new work, Paint, is an episodic series about three young artists living together in Brooklyn. Walker tapped Sam Chase to shoot and coproduce the series. Chase previously shot Price Check along with more than 25 shorts, features and series. Below, he discusses his love of the Black Magic Pocket Camera and why Hangover 2 is the work of a “coverage and lighting genius.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2018 -
Melba Robichaux on Editing the Zellner Brothers’ Comedy/Western Damsel
Brothers David and Nathan Zellner are a reliable presence at the Sundance Film Festival. Their films Baghead (2008), Goliath (2008), Kid-Thing (2012) and Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) have all premiered at Sundance. To that list they now add Damsel, their new comedy/western starring Robert Pattinson and Mia Wasikowska. Damsel editor Melba Robichaux spoke with Filmmaker before the film’s premiere about some of the key questions one asks during the process of editing a feature film. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 24, 2018 -
“The Psychedelic Colors of the Earth”: Cinematographer Jarred Alterman on Bisbee ’17
Documentary filmmaker Jarred Alterman began his career on an unlikely note: as the director of more than a dozen episodes of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim’s animated show Tom Goes to the Mayor. Alterman would later serve as the DP on Contemporary Color, a 2016 concert film starring David Byrne. He collaborated on that film with Robert Greene, the esteemed documentary filmmaker and indie film editor. Alterman shot Greene’s latest non-fiction creation, Bisbee ’17, which screens in competition at Sundance. Alterman spoke with Filmmaker about the film’s western aesthetic, singular setting and unique blend of scripted and documentary scenes. Filmmaker: How and why […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“My Past as a Dancer Has a Big Influence on How I Work”: Editor Charlotte Munch Bengtsen on The Last Race
Charlotte Munch Bengtsen began her career as an editor in the mid-2000s on a number of documentaries and shorts. Her break came in 2012 when Joshua Oppenheimer hired her as an editor on his seismic work The Act of Killing. Munch Bengtsen’s newest project is The Last Race, the feature doc debut from visual artist Michael Dweck. Below, she shares her thoughts on the importance of test screenings, rushes and how her experience as a dancer influences her work as an editor. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your film? What were the factors and attributes […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“1970s Independent Movies Had the Biggest Influence on the Look”: DP Markus Mentzer on Clara’s Ghost
Bridey Elliott makes her debut as a feature writer/director with Clara’s Ghost, which premieres in the NEXT program at Sundance 2018. Elliott has appeared as an actor on Silicon Valley, Battle of the Sexes and Steven Soderbergh’s HBO series Mosaic. Her first short film, Affections, also premiered at Sundance in 2016. To achieve the specific, ’70s-inspired aesthetic she was after for Clara’s Ghost, Bridey hired DP Markus Mentzer. Mentzer makes his debut here as a feature film DP, though he worked as a 1st AC on last year’s The Disaster Artist and Detroit. Below, Mentzer goes deep on the logistics of shooting a feature […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“I Think a Lot about the Crossover Between Painting and Editing”: Editor Hannah Buck on Chef Flynn
Flynn McGarry began hosting his own supper club when he was 11 years old. Now 19, the teen chef has fascinated readers of the New York Times Magazine, Time and food blogs the world over. McGarry is the subject of Chef Flynn, the second feature doc from director Cameron Yates (The Canal Street Madam). Yates hired Hannah Buck to edit Chef Flynn alongside consulting editors Amy Foote and Shannon Kennedy. Below, Buck discusses how she sought to move the film away from talking heads and voiceover narration and toward “a more vérité approach.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“Jane Usually Knew Exactly Where I Was”: DP Sam Painter on Jane Fonda in Five Acts
The past four months have seen the premieres of two documentaries shot by Sam Painter and directed by Susan Lacy. The creator of American Masters and the winner of 14 Emmy Awards, Lacy released Spielberg on HBO last October. This month she arrives at Sundance to debut Jane Fonda in Five Acts, her doc on the legendary actor, activist and feminist. Below, Painter discusses how he sought to photograph this “amazingly colorful, political, philanthropic and influential life.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“Being in that Space Was a Very Powerful Experience”: DP Clair Popkin on MLK Doc King in the Wilderness
Since the 1990s, Peter Kunhardt has produced and directed documentary works on Lincoln, JFK, Nixon, Ted Kennedy, James Foley and Gloria Steinem among many others. His latest film attempts to offer a new perspective on the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. King of the Wilderness was shot by DP Clair Popkin, who previously worked with Kunhardt on his HBO docs Becoming Warren Buffett and Living with Lincoln. Below, Popkin shares his experiences from the production and recalls in particular the challenges of filming in the Lorraine Motel room outside which King was assassinated. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“Chaos Has its Own Reward”: Directors David and Nathan Zellner | Damsel
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? With Damsel almost the entire film was shot outdoors, on location, in the wilderness. With every step of the filmmaking process we try to approach it knowing exactly what we want, but with the flexibility to adapt as needed. Dealing with animals, extreme shifts in weather and remote locations, adapting was essential. When a prop was […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018 -
“At a Certain Point You Have to Give in to that Insanity”: Director Kaitlin Fontana | Franchesca
As you made your series during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your work? Franchesca is a hybrid pilot – and my directorial debut. I was very cognizant of the fact that we were making this piece that was part scripted, part doc, part improv. We shot in one day and we had to keep that feeling of buoyancy and looseness even though were under a crunch. At a certain […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 23, 2018
