Authors — Randy Astle
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Elements of Oz: Producing Live Video and Interactive Theater
When MGM undertook to produce a film adaptation of the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in 1938 they wanted to use all the newest technological tools — think Technicolor — and special effects wizardry that they possibly could to bring the fantastic story to life. Equally, when the Builders Association decided to make the film the subject of their latest play last year — Elements of Oz ran Off-Broadway throughout December — they did the exact same thing. But for an innovative theater company in 2016 that meant integrating live video production, online clips, and a multitasking phone app into the onstage proceedings. New media […]
by Randy Astle on Feb 1, 2017 -
Five Questions with The Secret Life of Muslims Director Joshua Seftel
The Secret Life of Muslims is one of the least assuming but most important web series rolling out right now, particularly in light of the Trump administration’s recent order banning Syrian refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the US. Amidst the ensuing melee between supporters and opponents of the ban one point that has been repeatedly raised is that, by and large, those who support the administration have no regular contact with any Muslims. While this is not true in every case, non-Muslims who have had exposure to Muslim Americans and Muslim immigrants are more likely to […]
by Randy Astle on Jan 31, 2017 -
Four Lessons for Filmmakers from Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto
Throughout December, perhaps the best film showing in New York wasn’t in a theater at all but in a Civil War-era equine drill hall. Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto, a multiscreen installation starring Cate Blanchett in twelve different roles, closed its stay at the Park Avenue Armory last week. A single-screen linear version will reach a broader audience at Sundance next week, prompting me to reflect on the (presumed) differences between the two versions and what video artists and filmmakers of all stripes can learn from Rosefeldt’s latest work. First, a description. Manifesto takes its title and its text from the written manifestos of artists […]
by Randy Astle on Jan 12, 2017 -
Will Streaming Services Gain the Right to Show Films without Licensing?
As Filmmaker recently reported, on January 1 in the U.S. the federal tax incentive program known as Section 181 expired, with little prospect of resuscitation: although the program benefits high net worth individuals like Donald Trump and his advisors, current Republican animosity toward Hollywood (see: Meryl Streep) could translate to low congressional will to assist the film industry. This has the potential to reduce filmmakers’ options at the beginning of a project’s life cycle. But another issue is emerging that could affect it at the end: the continuing legal battle over the streaming company VidAngel and their incipient campaign to have Congress strengthen the […]
by Randy Astle on Jan 11, 2017 -
Animation in 2016: The Year in Review
When you think of indie film, animation may not be the first medium that comes to mind, and with so much else going on this year — both cinematically and in the world in general — it would be easy to miss that 2016 was a fantastic year for animation. The art form continues to present exciting opportunities for enterprising filmmakers, and this year it’s also given a plethora of great titles to those of us who simply want to watch quality animated cinema. So as the “Best of 2016” lists keep rolling in this December, here’s my take on […]
by Randy Astle on Dec 27, 2016 -
“The Biggest Challenge was Working Amidst the Radiation”: Jake Price on The Invisible Season
Just days after the March 2011 tsunami in Japan, Brooklyn-based photojournalist and documentarian Jake Price made his way to the Tohoku region of northern Japan, the area hardest hit by the devastation. He stayed for months, and the result was Unknown Spring, an engaging interactive documentary that he spoke with me about when it was released in 2013. Unknown Spring focused on the catastrophe of the tsunami itself, but even before finishing it Price knew that he wanted to follow it up with another project on the less visible but longer lasting catastrophe of radiation from the hydrogen explosions at […]
by Randy Astle on Aug 4, 2016 -
Fukushima Story
Just days after the March 2011 tsunami off the Japanese coast, Brooklyn-based photojournalist and documentarian Jake Price found his way to the Tōhoku region of northern Japan, the area hardest hit by the devastation. He stayed for months, living with Japan’s internal refugees and carefully chronicling their lives as they sought to come to terms with the disaster and rebuild. The result, Unknown Spring (2013), is an online interactive documentary that testifies to its subjects’ resilience and humanity in the face of unspeakable odds. But Price, who has had photography assignments across the globe, is no “parachute journalist.” Even before […]
by Randy Astle on Jul 25, 2016 -
Tribeca 2016: Exploring the Virtual Arcade
Tribeca is still a young festival — its fifteenth edition just wrapped last week — and though originally traditional films constituted its entire focus, soon transmedia, interactive work, and then virtual reality gained enough prominence that by 2016 they were as integral a part of the proceedings as the film screenings. This year more VR was on view than ever before at Storyscapes, the Interactive Playground, and the Virtual Arcade that together ran the length of the entire festival. By and large, the breadth and quality of the projects testify to the burgeoning craft of VR artists as the medium continues to […]
by Randy Astle on Apr 25, 2016 -
Tribeca 2016: Making Guy Maddin’s Seances Interactive
Watching Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson’s latest work Seances feels both familiar and utterly strange. Born from the knowledge that over 80% of silent movies have been lost, Maddin and his collaborators at the NFB wanted to resurrect as many titles — both real and invented — as possible: first in 2012 in production sessions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Phi Centre in Montreal that were open to the public, then last year in the feature film The Forbidden Room, and now in an interactive version called Seances that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival’s Storyscapes event and is […]
by Randy Astle on Apr 25, 2016 -
Tribeca 2016: Patrick Osborne on Winning an Oscar and his Animated VR Piece Pearl
Patrick Osborne came to national attention with his animated short Feast, a delightful film about a food-loving dog that screened with Disney’s Big Hero 6 and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short for 2014. It dealt with family, loyalty, and growth and change over time, particularly the strain and eventual reward as new loved ones enter the circle of a previously cohesive relationship: it’s initially difficult for Winston, the dog, to accept his owner’s new girlfriend, but ultimately it is he who makes the decision to save the relationship and he enters a much wider and more loving world as a […]
by Randy Astle on Apr 22, 2016
