Authors — Filmmaker Staff
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“On Super 16 There is a ‘Baked In’ Feel”: DP Declan Quinn on Sylvie’s Love
The summer of 1957 in New York City serves as the backdrop of Eugene Ashe’s Slyvie’s Love, a story of music and romance that centers around Sylvie, a young woman waiting for her fiancé to return from war, passing the time by working at her father’s record store. However, when the charming musician Robert walks in looking for a day job to support his career as a saxophonist, Slyvie’s head is turned. They embark on a long, whirlwind romance, even as Robert books his first concert overseas. DP Declan Quinn speaks about the various musical and period influences on Sylvie’s […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“We Wanted It to be Natural, Believable”: DP Declan Quinn on The Evening Hour
In rural Appalachia, Cole (Philip Ettinger), a health aide working at a nursing home, helps make ends meet by selling off excess pills from the townspeople to other local buyers. While Cole doesn’t see himself as perpetuating a culture of addiction, he finds himself in the center of conflict between the town’s drug kingpin when a childhood friend comes back to town and encourages Cole to assert his dominance in the local drug trade. Cinematographer Declan Quinn discusses the inspiration and technique that went into Braden King’s The Evening Hour. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“My Editorial Philosophy is ‘Every Frame Matters'”: Editor Matt Friedman on Palm Springs
Max Barbakow’s feature debut, Palm Springs, centers around a destination wedding and a reluctant maid of honor, Sarah (Cristin Milioti), whose younger sister is the bride to be. She finds a fellow nihilist, Nyles (Andy Samberg), who is being strung along as the date of one of the bridesmaids. Their bond grows stronger as the events surrounding the wedding become increasingly more surreal. Editor Matt Friedman talks about his part in the process of making Palm Springs, from preserving the strength of the script to the necessity of VFX for small budget indie films. Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“We Had to Create Something Consistent Yet Genuine”: DP Quyen Tran on Palm Springs
In Max Barbakow’s Palm Springs, Sarah (Cristin Milioti) is reluctantly assuming the role of maid of honor at her younger sister’s destination wedding. When she meets Nyles (Andy Samburg) after he helps her bail on giving a toast, she realizes she’s found an ally who also thinks that the stuffy conventions of weddings are lame. Nyles is technically the date of another bridesmaid, but he and Sarah can’t help but feel drawn to each other, eventually embracing nihilistic sentiments about the whole ordeal as it becomes increasingly more surreal. DP Quyen Tran talks about playing with subjectivity through camerawork, the […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“The Story Was Simultaneously Engaging, Humorous and Stressful”: Editor Joi McMillon on Zola
Janicza Bravo’s Zola is a story that was originally chronicled in 144 tweets by a woman named A’Ziah “Zola” King. The Twitter thread chronicled a high-anxiety experience that Zola had while traveling in Florida with a friend, wherein she becomes her unofficial madame, encounters her hysterical boyfriend Jarrett and finds herself in the middle of a kidnapping scenario. Bravo’s adaptation takes the straightforward yet gripping narrative of a sequence of tweets and heightens the stakes by playing with perspective. Editor Joi McMillon talks about her trajectory as an editor and what enticed her to help make Zola. Filmmaker: How and […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“It Is a Dark and Dire Reflection Without a Simple Solution”: Editors Langdon Page and Lauren Saffa on The Cost of Silence
Nearly a decade ago, 130 million gallons of oil was spilled into the Gulf of Mexico over the course of 87 days after a deadly explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit. During the lengthy clean-up process, workers and civilians alike were exposed to dangerous chemical dispersants, directly causing illness that no entity has been held responsible for—neither the federal government or the oil companies—and offshore drilling continues. Mark Manning, a former deep-sea oil-field diver, chronicles the human suffering and lack of accountability of this disaster in The Cost of Silence. Editors Langdon Page and Lauren Saffa detail how […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“A Very Fine Line Between Realism and Surrealism”: DP Wyatt Garfield on Nine Days
In Edson Oda’s Nine Days, five personified souls outside of the realm of our reality compete for the opportunity to be born on Earth. A man named Will (Winston Duke), who once experienced being born, judges the competitors over the course of nine days—only one will be allowed to continue their existence, while the other four will cease to exist. Cinematographer Wyatt Garfield details the unique cinematic language of Nine Days for Filmmaker. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“The Editing Doesn’t Try to Overly Emphasize Emotions”: Editor Robert Stengaard on The Painter and the Thief
When Czech painter Barbora Kysilkova has two of her naturalist works stolen from an Oslo art gallery, she decides to attend the criminal hearing of one of the men, Karl-Bertil Nordland, who was arrested for stealing them. Instead of questioning him about the whereabouts of her paintings (which vanished without a trace), she asks to paint his portrait. Benjamin Ree’s The Painter and the Thief shifts perspectives between Kysilkova and Nordland, detailing the unexpected relationship that grows between the two. Editor Robert Stengaard explains how the film went beyond sentimental emotions in order to cleverly portray the unique perspectives from […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 3, 2020 -
“It Ended Up Being the Toughest Edit of My Life”: Director/Editor Bill Ross on Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets
Documentary filmmakers Bill and Turner Ross depict a mosaic of fleeting American dreams and the resilience of community in Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets. The film centers on a nearly defunct bar outside of Last Vegas, The Roaring 20s, as its patrons grappling with the uncertainty of a future without their beloved dive bar. The subjects often teeter between dismay and debauchery, offering glances into masculinity, vice and a culture of anxiety. Director and editor Bill Ross explains the nuances of editing a film to make an audience feel present, grappling with one’s own internalized imperfections and why this film was […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 30, 2020 -
“Turquoise’s Old Pageant Crown”: Channing Godfrey Peoples | Miss Juneteenth
Whether capturing or creating a world, the objects onscreen tell as much of a story as the people within it. Whether sourced or accidental, insert shot or background detail, what prop or piece of set decoration do you find particularly integral to your film? What story does it tell? Turquoise’s old pageant crown is integral to the film. It represents her past as a former “Miss Juneteenth,” but also her hope for the future in passing it onto to her daughter, Kai. It also serves as a reminder of her dreams deferred, while simultaneously being the symbol of hope for […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 30, 2020
