Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Lena Dunham and Hamish Bowles in a Vogue Short
As you may have heard, Lena Dunham recently took some time out of her stacked schedule to appear on the cover of Vogue. As is the magazine’s custom with women who weigh more than a hanger and call comedy into their line of work, the spread lacks any semblance of effort, though the article is worth a read. A couple days ago, Vogue released a supplementary short, directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, that plays up this indulgent image of Dunham as a clumsy thing, lost in the world of high fashion. The sitch is this: Dunham is so nervous the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 23, 2014 -
Made in NY Media Center by IFP Membership Drive
Since opening its doors last October, the Made in NY Media Center by IFP has enjoyed a wealth of creative activity in seminars, workshops, screenings, events and even the average work day. The Dumbo forum is currently in the thick of its membership drive, accepting applications for the community workspace and incubator levels through January 31. Home to technologists, content creators, entrepreneurs and innovative companies like Seed&Spark, the Media Center offers its members access to workspace, networking opportunities, rentals, discounted classes and more. Apply now with the discount code Resolution14 and win a chance to receive 6 months membership for […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 22, 2014 -
Watch Sarah’s Uncertain Path: An Op-Doc from the Directors of Rich Hill
For their Op-Doc collaboration with Sundance Institute grantees, The New York Times tapped 25 New Face Andrew Droz Palermo and his cousin Tracy Droz Tragos, filmmakers behind the Sundance title Rich Hill, to produce a short profile of Sarah, a pregnant Midwestern teen, struggling to strike out against her familial trajectory. Sarah’s Uncertain Path acts as a microcosm for what Droz Palermo and Droz Tragos call “a myth in America.” “If you have a strong moral compass, work hard and make good choices, you will have equal opportunity,” they write of this unfulfilled promise. “But after two years of listening to and documenting low-income […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 22, 2014 -
Indiegogo Partners with VHX and Yekra
Last week, Vimeo announced its partnership with crowdfunding platforms Kickstarter, Seed&Spark and Indiegogo, the latter of which is looking to keep as many options open for its filmmakers as possible. Indiegogo has gone and brokered a deal with the direct-to-fan streaming platforms VHX and Yekra: successful campaigns will receive a sizable discount should they choose to distribute their final product on either site. These initiatives seem to strike at the heart of crowdfunding’s dilemma — that raising funds is only half the battle. Once a film is completed, there’s still the matter of it being seen. This should be relatively easy, […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 22, 2014 -
What If Fight Club Had No Tyler Durden?
Editing Tyler Durden out of a Fight Club sequence may seem like a (spoiler alert) self-explanatory hijink, but Richard Trammell, the man behind “Fight Club Minus Tyler Durden” actually cooked up the idea while watching the trailer for Lawrence of Arabia. “I thought it would be funny to take Peter O’Toole out of it,” says Trammell, “Before I realized it would be more interesting to remove a character who doesn’t really exist within the world of the movie.” Trammell then perused Fight Club for scenes in which Brad Pitt’s character did not obscure the background, before taking to AfterEffects. “I made freeze frames of […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 22, 2014 -
Watch the Series Premiere of HBO’s Looking on YouTube
It’s a strange time in the post-Netflix Original landscape. While more and more brand-name talent seems to be drifting from film towards premium cable, a new study reports that HBO and Showtime subscribers are dwindling — and potentially jumping ship to Netflix. Indeed, the streaming service has enjoyed a 4% rise in viewership over the last two years, whereas premium cable channels have lost 6% of their subscription base. So what does HBO, with its barrage of new and returning shows, do? Court viewers through the most public of streaming forums: YouTube. As such, Looking, which premiered on Sunday night, is […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 21, 2014 -
Filmmakers Behind Hollow Answer Your Questions About Interactive Documentaries From Noon – 1 P.M.
The interactive documentary is on the rise. Elaine McMillion Sheldon, one of our 25 New Faces, found that countless filmmakers were after her advice on crafting this intricate new medium following the release of Hollow, her comprehensive portrait of small-town West Virginia. As such, McMillion Sheldon and her team — including Sound Designer Billy Wirasnik, Technical Director and Senior Developer Robert Hall, and Art Director/Designer and Architect Jeff Soyk — thought to hold a Google Hangout, in which interested parties can have their questions about fundraising, community building, design, development and other building blocks of the interactive documentary, fielded from those who’ve experienced the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 21, 2014 -
ARRI Reigns Supreme at the Oscars
Setlife Magazine has generously compiled the technical specifications of the films nominated for the Cinematography, Directing and Best Picture Oscars, and let’s just say ARRI shows up more than once. All of the Cinematography nominees were photographed on an ARRI (3 Alexas versus 2 Arricams), with a mix of Panavision, Zeiss, Cooke and Angenieux lenses. Also noted were the films’ negatives and prints, which bandied back and forth between Kodak and Fuji. Only her (C300) and The Wolf of Wall Street (EOS C500) opted for Canon, in addition to their arsenal of Alexas and Arricams. Notably absent is any sign of Red. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 20, 2014 -
Infographic of Sundance Sales from 2011 to 2013
The Sundance sale. The turning point of the festival for more than just the expected filmmakers and distributors can, at times, be an inscrutable transaction. Is X the best fit for Y? Is X really worth Z amount? Does X’s release in W mean Y’s jockeying for awards season? And so on and so forth. In honor of the inaugural issue of their magazine, Bright Ideas, Seed&Spark teamed with Accurat to present a data visualization of Sundance sales from 2011 to 2013. The exhaustive infographic demonstrates, above all, that there are no guarantees in translating Sundance buzz to the box […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 20, 2014 -
Hitchcock to Scorsese: 47 Years of the Dolly Zoom
A week ago, I posted a rundown of the visual effects at work in The Wolf of Wall Street, which, at least to this eye, appear fairly seamless. As wonderful as computers are, however, there’s nothing quite like a good, old-fashioned in camera effect. The dolly zoom — pushing or pulling the camera while zooming out or in (respectively), and keeping focus locked on the subject — lends its resulting surrealistic planes to thrills, suspense, action or even a meaningful chat. The invention of a Paramount second-unit cameraman, Irmin Roberts, and a favorite of Scorsese, Hitchcock, Spielberg and Tarantino, this new video […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 20, 2014
