Authors — Jason Guerrasio

PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC

If you’ve read the latest issue (or run into me recently) you know that I dig the blaxploitation spoof, Black Dynamite. From its straight face acting to the way it was shot, director Scott Sanders (aka Suckapunch) and star Michael Jai White have created an impressive comedy that aesthetically holds up to most of the real blaxploitations of the 70s and puts a shot in the arm of the recently watered down spoof genre. But one of Dynamite‘s greatest aspects is its music. The film’s editor, Adrian Younge, created the original score through the use of instruments and analog recording […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 1, 2009
BATTSEK EXITS MIRAMAX

According to Variety, Miramax president Daniel Battsek has been let go. This is on the heels of parent company, Disney, scalling down the specialty division’s staff and release schedule. Under Battsek Miramax released award-winning titles The Queen and No Country for Old Men. And according to Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood, Miramax’s New York office is closing down and its LA office will move to the Disney lot in Burbank.
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 30, 2009
DIGITAL DILEMMA SURVEY RESULTS

In September we put up a survey on our site that aimed at getting input from filmmakers about some of the issues that impact the making and preservation of their films. Below are the results of the survey. These stats have been passed on to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for their final report which they will be publishing sometime next year. The only results that aren’t posted below are the ones where a written answer was required. And for those who aren’t familiar, read the story that inspired this survey. Thanks to those who participated. Please […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 30, 2009
THE WINDMILL MOVIE ON HBO TONIGHT

We here at Filmmaker have been big fans of Alexander Olch‘s experimental memoir/documentary The Windmill Movie since seeing it at the New York Film Festival in ’08. If you missed it in theaters over the summer it will premiere on HBO2 tonight @ 8pm. For those who don’t know about it, the film is about the 300 hours of autobiographical footage left behind by filmmaker/professor Richard P. Rogers after his death in 2001. Olch (who was a student of Rogers’s) was calling in to look over the footage and finish the film his mentor never could. What he delivers is […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 28, 2009
ERR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION

Though Oren Peli‘s Paranormal Activity was number one at the box office last weekend and has a total gross of $62 million since its release late last month (and is primed for a big upcoming Halloween weekend), The New York Times reports that the film’s overnight success hasn’t impressed Hollywood as Peli’s next film, Area 51, a $5 million horror set at the infamous UFO site, is still looking for a distributor. An excerpt: At least six companies, including several major studios, have expressed interest in the film, according to people associated with the deal for “Area 51,” who spoke […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 27, 2009
Making Our DIY Moment Matter

Aw man, I am thinking. Last Thursday’s New York Times is up on my computer screen and I’m looking at the virtual front page, just below what would be the fold. The headline: INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS DISTRIBUTE ON THEIR OWN. It’s turf I’ve become increasingly familiar with in the last couple of months since I started plotting a DIY course for my documentary Strongman and I dig in to the article. I don’t get too far before I realize I have a serious problem—Sacha Gervasi took out a second mortgage on his house to pay for the distribution on Anvil. I […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 27, 2009
“IL DIVO”

With so much press given to Matteo Garrone’s Gomorrah in ’08 and ’09 (and all of it for good reason) it’s easy to forget fellow Italian director Paolo Sorrentino’s Il Divo also came out around the same time in both Italy and the U.S. Though not as chilling and much more stylistic and flashy than Garrone’s mafioso epic, both films display the diabolical trifecta of politics, religion and organized crime that has plagued Italy for decades. Il Divo explores the end of the reign of Italian politician Giulio Andreotti (better known in his home papers as the Prince of Darkness, […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2009
“ISN’T SHE?…”

Jamie Stuart uses the latest edition of Apple’s Final Cut Studio to create the short Isn’t She?…, an ode to John Hughes that follows a day in the life of Claire (Lauren Currie Lewis) as she tries to claim unemployment insurance. WATCH short here. Running time: 15:23 Visit Jamie’s site at www.mutinycompany.com. Learn more about the songs in the short at www.ediesedgwick.biz Read parts 1 & 2 of Jamie’s review of Final Cut Studio. See how Jamie created the visual effects here.
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2009
DEADLY DATING

With Ti West‘s latest film The House of the Devil opening this weekend (look out for our interview with him on the site later this week), over at IFC.com his web series Dead & Lonely premiered today. The series stars Justin Rice (Mutual Appreciation) as a guy in search for love on a dating site and Paige Stark (A Relationship in Four Days) as the girl who finds his profile, but she has a secret (okay, the picture gives it away, she’s a vampire). New episodes will be posted on their site all week.
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2009
A LOOK AT APPLE’S FINAL CUT STUDIO AND JAMIE STUART’S ISN’T SHE?…

We asked Jamie Stuart to use the newest edition of Apple’s Final Cut Studio to make a short and write up his reaction for our Fall issue. You can read the piece here. But when he got into post he found more things to highlight about FCS so we’ve posted Part 2 of his review in Web Exclusives. And check out the teaser of the short he made at the bottom of the Part 2 piece. Titled Isn’t She?…, it is an homage to John Hughes while commenting on the current state of the economy. We’ll put the short on […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Oct 26, 2009

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