Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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Talk, Write, Kill
Best Seller An old-school scribe who never met a genre he couldn’t work in, Larry Cohen honed his craft as a writer on ’50s and ’60s television before graduating to features via assignments like Return of the Seven and a series of unproduced treatments for Alfred Hitchcock (one of which would resurface decades later as the Colin Farrell vehicle Phone Booth). Cohen promoted himself to director in 1972 with Bone, a wickedly funny class satire in which a white couple’s repressed tensions are brought to the surface by an encounter with a black man who wanders onto their property. Shot, […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 28, 2015 -
Dispatches from Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, True/False & Thessaloniki
Sundance SCOTT MACAULAY Check it out: the two top prize winners at Sundance this year, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, and Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack, both feature as central elements teenagers who stage and film their own versions of classic movies. There’s even overlap between the two films, although Moselle’s Manhattan shut-ins incline more towards Tarantino and Freddy Krueger, while Gomez-Rejon’s teen Pittsburgh auteurs shirk the Romero roots of their hometown for deep dives into the Criterion Collection. For film lovers of a certain age, both Me and Earl and the Dying Girl and The Wolfpack […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 28, 2015 -
Haunted Houses and Hidden Spaces
The Dark Net: Inside the Digital Underworld Behind the familiar Internet most of us inhabit skulks the dark net: unlinked, encrypted, password-protected sites and pages serving as forums for everything from marijuana-by-mail sales to mutual suicide webcam pacts. Author Jamie Bartlett is director of the Centre for Analysis of Social Media at the United Kingdom think tank Demos, which makes him well qualified to dive in and find out what the deeper implications of the dark net might be. Some British reviewers have taken issue with Bartlett’s optimistic assessment that these unregulated channels are by and large a good thing; […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 28, 2015 -
The 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Awards
Below are the winners of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Note that the narrative awards were split evenly between Virgin Mountain and Bridgend, with three apiece. WORLD NARRATIVE COMPETITION CATEGORIES: The jurors for the 2015 World Narrative Competition sponsored by AKA, were Paul Attanasio, Sophie Barthes, Whoopi Goldberg, Dylan McDermott, and Burr Steers. ● The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – Virgin Mountain, written and directed by Dagur Kári [Iceland, Denmark]. Winner receives $25,000, sponsored by AT&T, and the art award “Ash Eroded Film Reel” by Daniel Arsham. The award was given by Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 23, 2015 -
The Sony Action Cam Can Make Movies Never Seen Before (Sponsored Post)
Sony’s Action Cam line provides a competitive alternative to GoPro for filmmakers looking to expand their production resources. To showcase the camera’s capabilities, Sony’s launched a series of films demonstrating how filmmakers can use the Action Cam to make movies “never before seen.” More than 20 will eventually be unveiled on YouTube and Sony’s products website, where you can find more information about the making of each film. Above, check out Charles Young’s Paperports, which documents his work with intricate miniature paper architecture. The FDR-X1000V model offers both 4K and 2K resolution. Some notable technical specs regarding resolution and frame rate: 4K: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Apr 8, 2015 -
Watch: A Guide to Stanley Kubrick’s Lenses
April 3: 2015: EDITOR’S NOTE. We apologize, but this video is no longer viewable on YouTube. In this 12-minute video, legendary British camera innovator Joe Dunton (you can read up on him here) identifies every lens used by Stanley Kubrick and how they work. Learn about the Angénieux zoom lens that was the most popular in the world from 1966 to the early ’70s, more about the difficulties of shooting natural light on Barry Lyndon and many other aspects of the director’s technically meticulous productions.
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 30, 2015 -
Watch: 16mm Behind-the-Scenes Footage of Fellini Directing Amarcord
It’s not clear where this video uploaded by Eyes on Cinema derives from, and there’s no English subtitles, but here’s eight-plus minutes of rare footage of Federico Fellini directing 1974’s Amarcord. There’s fake snow to be packed together and set up, a typically Felliniesque array walking through it (a priest, a nun and a bull) and lots of Fellini slowly and decisively delivering directions on set.
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 23, 2015 -
Live Streaming Panels from SXSW Saturday and Sunday, in Partnership with The CreativeLive Film Channel and The Wrap
Filmmaker Magazine is partnering with The CreativeLive Film Channel and The Wrap to present two days of streaming filmcraft dialogues and panels live from the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The sessions will include a range of filmmakers, screenwriters, producers, entrepreneurs, and film entrepreneurs who help define the modern space of film. Scheduled to appear are: Robert Duvall, Adrien Brody, Ondi Timoner, Hal Hartley, Andrew Droz Palermo, Mickey Keating, and many more. Check out Sunday’s schedule below. All times are CST. 10:00 – 10:15: Ondi Timoner (Brand: A Second Coming); Andrew Droz Palermo (One and Two) Conversations presented by The Wrap and moderated by CEO/Editor-in-Chief […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 13, 2015 -
IFP Announces New Lab for Serialized Web Projects and Theatrical Launches for Web Series
The Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP), Filmmaker‘s parent organization, announced today the launch of its Screen Forward Labs, a year-long program and incubator for the creators of serialized projects aiming to push storytelling forward. Eight innovative media creators will be selected each year and provided mentorship, six months free residency at the Made in NY Media Center by IFP and $10,000 of services aimed at helping them to develop cutting-edge work. An intensive, week-long Lab in November 2015 will provide participants with the knowledge, resources and mentor support necessary for developing strong pitches, securing financing, creating marketing strategies and finding unique avenues […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 11, 2015 -
Watch: Shane Hurlbut on Sculpting Background Hard Light
We’ve spoken to d.p. Shane Hurlbut about camera tests and other matters before. In this video, you can see him in action: with a model in the foreground, he sets about messing with c-stands, toppers, and other tools to systematically create the illusion of a latticed window shadow behind her. Light is systematically managed and reduced for detail when Hurlbut decides he doesn’t want it to spill onto the floor, which is exactly what thoughtful light manipulation (with an equipment budget) is all about.
by Filmmaker Staff on Mar 11, 2015
