Authors — Scott Macaulay
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Kirby Ferguson’s Everything is a Remix: the iPhone
25 New Face Kirby Ferguson extends his popular Everything is a Remix series with this latest entry on the iPhone. I wrote about the series’ original four parts back in 2011. An excerpt: Rather than push a copy-left agenda or hype the latest mash-up artist, Ferguson uses the subject of the remix to discuss the history and nature of creativity. Everything is a Remix deconstructs the idea of originality, exploring the creative but also technological and business memes that recombine from one generation to the next, making us feel that we are encountering something “new” along the way. And it […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 13, 2013 -
Announcing the Filmmaker 2013 Holiday Sale
Filmmaker‘s popular once-a-year holiday sale is now live, with 40% discounts on subscriptions to our print, digital and iPad editions, as well as bonus gifts — some of our favorite books and DVDS of the year — given away to randomly selected new and returning subscribers. Our regular subscription, which includes the quarterly print and digital editions plus our iPad edition — is discounted from $18 to $10. If you’d just like to buy our flip-book style digital edition, which includes all back issues to 2007 and allows for PDF downloading, that’s only $6 during the sale. And, if you’d […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 11, 2013 -
Only 7% of U.K. Films Earn a Profit, Claims BFI Report
Only 7% of British films released from 2003 to 2010 were profitable, claims a BFI report issued this week at London’s Screen Summit. From Michael Rosser’s article in Screen Daily: The stats showed that just 3.1% of films with budgets under £500,000 turned a profit. The numbers increase as budgets rise: £0.5m-£2m: 4.1% £2m-£5m: 4.6% £5m-£10m: 12.1% £10m+: 17.4% Speaking on stage, Steele said: “What does one do faced with those sorts of numbers? Clearly, portfolio investment is necessary to negate the risk and secondly, qualitative judgement. Try to choose filmmakers projects that have above average chance of making a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2013 -
“Send Me Your Sexts” is Strange and Provocative New Pay-for-Film Service
“Send Me Your Sexts” is a just-launched, strange new pay-for-film service from director Eileen Yaghoobian (Died Young Stay Pretty). (Video above is NSFW.) Inspired, she says, by The Act of Killing (!) and its use of reenactments, and drawing on her own background in documentary and theater, “Send Me Your Sexts” is both a service and an online video platform featuring original short reenactments of user-submitted sexts. Viewers can check out the steamy videos while sexters can pay Yaghoobian to turn their own digital missives into soft-core online entertainment. From the website: I’m Eileen, a filmmaker and artist who’s convinced […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2013 -
Inside Llewyn Davis, Fruitvale Station Take Top Prizes at the Gotham Awards
Inside Llewyn Davis, the Coen Brothers’ sly fable of the artist’s life set in the ’60s Greenwich Village folk scene, was awarded the Best Feature prize at last night’s IFP Gotham Awards, held at Cipriani Wall Street. The film was something of a surprise winner, with many predicting Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave to take the top prize. Also scoring at the Gothams was Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, which won the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor for Coogler and Michael B. Jordan, respectively. The Best Documentary Award went to Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn and Anonymous’s The Act […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 3, 2013 -
How Much Can Your Film Make From Festival Screening Fees?
Film festival screening fee revenue is often a contentious topic, with festivals arguing the value of community and exposure while filmmakers point to the fact that the regional festival circuit is, for many, taking the place of traditional theatrical distribution. But what kind of numbers are being argued over? The Film Collaborative sends out a regular e-blast, and the most recent tackles just this topic. Gathering data from the films they’ve been involved with over the past several years, The Film Collaborative has determined screening fee revenue ranges based on films’ niches and premiere venues. Yes, where a film premieres […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 2, 2013 -
Using Influences to Promote Your Film
When discussing your forthcoming film, citing influences can be a double-edged sword. We are all influenced by other works, and it’s expected that when pitching, or showing a look book, these influences be acknowledged. But you don’t want to seem like you’re relying too much on other filmmakers’ visions, or pretend that you can easily reach the same level of achievement. One filmmaker who I think is revealing his interests in an edifying, engaging way is William Speruzzi, who is in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign for “The 3×3 Project.” The project consists of three shorts by three directors […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 1, 2013 -
Shocking Video: Celebrities are Ugly!
Here’s a fascinating optical illusion based on the “Flashed Face Distortion Effect.” Simply put, two faces will appear grotesque when the viewer focuses on a cross between them. This discovery won the second prize in the Vision Science Society’s Best Illusion of the Year Contest of 2012, and this video by Matthew B. Thompson using celebrities to illustrate the effect went viral. I’m just catching up with it now, though (courtesy, by the way, of Unscathed Corpse) and am posting it because it truly is a trippy effect. Watch the video above while focusing on the cross in the center.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 1, 2013 -
Filmmaker‘s Top 10 Posts of November, 2013
Here, via Google Analytics, are Filmmaker‘s top ten posts of November, 2013. 1. Number one, by a long shot, is a post that both fascinated and struck fear in filmmakers everywhere: Kaleem Aftab’s “Introducing 8K: The Final Frontier?” Reporting from the Tokyo International Film Festival, where Japanese broadcaster NHK commissioned filmmakers to make shorts in 8K, Aftab sat down with the channel’s engineers to hear plans for introducing the high-resolution images to sporting events as well as cinema. 2. Reporting from Poland’s American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Ashley Clark wrote our second highest-trafficked post of the month, an account of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2013 -
Holiday Friends-and-Family Fundraising Tips for Hustling Independent Filmmakers
The Thanksgiving tryptophan haze has worn off, your relatives are sprawled on the sofa, exhausted from their Black Friday marathons, and football blares on the flat-screen… is this a good time to hit them up for an investment in your independent film? Independent filmmakers seeking private equity in their films most often start by looking towards friends and family, and holidays do provide that necessary one-on-one face time. But, raising money from friends and family can be perilous at any time of year, with the holiday season offering its own particular dangers. Over at PandoDaily, Michael Carney has posted a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Nov 29, 2013
