Authors — Filmmaker Staff
-
Watch: Steven Soderbergh’s Music Video for DCTV’s “Histoire seule”
Steven Soderbergh continues being productive in new and unexpected directions with what’s technically (unless we’re blanking on something) his first short-form music video. (At the start of his career, he was nominated for a Grammy for Best Long-form Music Video for his work on the Yes concert video 9012 Live, some of which you can watch here.) The band is DCTV, headed by James Greer, a guitarist from one of the classic early lineups of Guided by Voices; recall that one of Soderbergh’s long-discussed, never-realized projects was Cleo!, a rock musical about Cleopatra with music by GBV mastermind Robert Pollard.
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 12, 2016 -
Watch: “Alexander Payne: The Science of Failure”
At the beginning of this examination of Alexander Payne’s work, Daley Nixon cites an old writer’s proverb that a screenplay consists of creating a character and throwing rocks at them; in Payne’s case, Nixon says, he lobs hand grenades. Yes, Payne’s worldview can be grim, but this video argues that failure is a catalyst for ultimately positive self-examination in his films. Includes digressions on the perils of voice-over, complete with a cameo from Frank Darabont.
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 11, 2016 -
Watch: Lytro Cinema, the Camera that Could Kill Two-Camera 3D Camera Rigs
Next week at NAB, a potentially very important new camera is being debuted. The Lytro Cinema camera has capabilities that could potentially eliminate the need for two-camera 3D rigs. Over at Studio Daily, Bryant Frazer has a good explanation of the camera’s features, technical specifications and potential implications. (Note: it’s going to be a very expensive piece of equipment, at least at first.) As he sets it up: Lytro is debuting a light-field cinema camera that captures volumetric data about a scene rather than a single image from one fixed perspective. That means it captures information about the direction light is traveling, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 11, 2016 -
Watch: How Alfred Hitchcock Blocks a Scene
In this video, The Nerdwriter meticulously breaks down how the blocking and staging of a key expository scene from Vertigo, showing how choreography and camera placement serve as visual language for the themes that’ll dominate the movie. If you haven’t seen Vertigo, a) what’s up with that? b) spoilers galore.
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 28, 2016 -
Tribeca Film Festival Announces Second Half of its Feature Slate
The first half of Tribeca’s feature film slate was announced last week; now we’ve got the second part. Regular contributor Noah Buschel is in there with his new film The Phenom, although the big marquee title is probably the spectacle of Michael Shannon as Elvis Presley. CENTERPIECE Elvis & Nixon, directed by Liza Johnson, written by Joey Sagal, Hanala Sagal, and Cary Elwes. (USA) – World Premiere, Narrative. In 1970, a few days before Christmas, Elvis Presley showed up on the White House lawn seeking to be deputized into the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs by the President himself. Elvis & Nixon, starring […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 8, 2016 -
Watch: “Filmmaking is the Best Actor”
The latest video from the ever-productive Jacob T. Swinney isn’t as punchy as its title would suggest. “Filmmaking is the Best Actor” considers how cinematography, editing, production design et al. help enhance and support the performances of this year’s Oscar-nominated thespians.
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 23, 2016 -
Watch: Costume Designer Sandy Powell on Carol
Yes, it’s a promotional featurette produced by The Weinstein Company, but this video of the great costume designer Sandy Powell talking about designing Carol is illuminating. Powell discusses conceiving clothing for both Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara while keeping in mind what their sartorial choices illuminate about their characters. Also, her comment about costuming for the period — that the “look” of a decade doesn’t really kick in until halfway through as people are stuck in the fashions of the previous decade — is spot on.
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 10, 2016 -
SXSW Announces Midnight Movies and Final Titles Added to 2016 Lineup
Here’s the last group of titles to be added to SXSW’s slate. All the midnight features are here, as well as are new titles for the other slates, including the much-expanded “Festival Favorites” section. FEATURES MIDNIGHTERS Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious. Carnage Park Director/Screenwriter: Mickey Keating The year is 1978. A team of wannabe crooks botch a small-town bank heist and flee with their hostage deep into the California desert, where they find themselves in a harrowing fight for survival against a psychotic ex-military sniper. Cast: Ashley […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 9, 2016 -
Trailer Watch: Ben Wheatley’s J.G. Ballard Adaptation High-Rise
“How’s the high life?” Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) is asked. “Prone to fits of narcissism, mania and power failure,” he replies. This new UK trailer for Ben Wheatley’s adaptation of J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise establishes the woozily dystopic tone. (No, Portishead’s much-discussed cover of ABBA’s “SOS” isn’t in it.) “High-Rise begins at the end, with Tom Middleston amidst ruin and bloodstains, roasting the leg of a dog on a spit, so when his character Dr. Robert Laing first moves into the building, we already know where things are headed,” Whitney Mallett wrote from last year’s TIFF. “Sex, violence, and retro-modernism are everywhere, even […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 9, 2016 -
“A Poor African-American Woman in the Jim Crow South”: Maggie Greenwald |Sophie and the Rising Sun
In every film, there is the story that you knew you were telling, the story the audience perceives. But there is always some other story, a secret story. It might be the result of your hidden motivations for making the film, or, instead, the result of themes that only became clear to you after you made the movie. It might be something very personal, or it might be a story you didn’t even know you were telling. What is your film’s secret story? As the screenwriter as well as director of Sophie and the Rising Run, I didn’t believe there […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 5, 2016
