Authors — Scott Macaulay
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R.I.P., Lou Reed
Lou Reed died today. My condolences to his wife, Laurie Anderson, as well as to everyone who, like me, he meant so much to at so many different stages of our lives. Here are just a few of my favorite Lou Reed songs.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2013 -
All Clear
“What surprised me more than anything when we got to Sundance,” says John Sloss about Randy Moore’s Escape from Tomorrow, “was this sort of tacit acceptance that this film will never see the light of day. Everyone kept saying, ‘See it here because Disney won’t allow this to be [commercially] released,’ as if Disney by itself has that power. That kind of compliant response awakened something in me.” Sloss, whose Cinetic Media was selling the film, may have been surprised at the industry’s dismall of its commercial prospects at Sundance, but I was not. A confession: After seeing the first […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
The Happiest Place on Earth
The memories of our childhood are owned, their copyrights controlled by giant multinational corporations. Whereas the fantasy figures of the 20th century hail from centuries-old sources — the Brothers Grimm, Greek and Norse mythology — their contemporary incarnations, found on T-shirts, lunchboxes, mugs, iPhones and in video games, constitute precious intellectual treasure, their value diligently upheld by World Trade Organization rulings. Or, to phrase things a bit differently: If you’re an independent filmmaker, make sure your lead actor isn’t wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt you haven’t cleared! Despite the forces aligned against pop culture-deploying media artists in our mash-up, remix […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
Editor’s Letter
Finishing a film — it’s a lost art. Back in the days of celluloid, there was a sense of finality once you received your cut negative from the negative cutter and completed your mix. Sure, you could open up your picture again — and depending on your distributor, you probably did — but the cost and hassle involved were real disincentives. Things started to change when festivals began screening works off HDCAM. I remember a celluloid-shot film I produced back in 2006. “You mean you’re going to cut the negative and screen a print?” the director’s agent asked in horror. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
A Speck in the Ocean
At sea — we have all felt it, paradoxically unmoored even in our hyper-connected age. In only two pictures, that sense of disconnection, emotional confusion and fear is the metier of New York-based writer/director J.C. Chandor. His 2011 debut film, Margin Call, was a tightly focused drama about Wall Street traders fighting for their financial lives amidst the economic meltdown. Unfolding over 24 hours, Margin Call is a talky and claustrophobic movie plumbing the specific ethical quandaries of our current political moment. Assuredly directed and extremely well-acted, it would seem to have set Chandor up to make any number of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
Toronto International Film Festival 2013
With 288 films unfolding over 11 days, the Toronto International Film Festival offers just about every type of viewing experience imaginable, with every viewer becoming their own curator, cherry-picking from within their favorite sections. Business types congregate around the big acquisition titles. Cineastes check out the greats of world cinema, arriving in Toronto after Cannes. Discoverers peruse the Vanguard section searching for new talent. But what’s less often commented upon are the viewing experiences a large festival like Toronto produces for viewers intending to sample from it all. Entering a theater involves, before the lights dim, a mental recalibration, an […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 21, 2013 -
A Homemade Amusement Park in Italy
From the “communications research center” Fabrica comes this lovely documentary short film, Al Pioppi, about an Italian restauranteur who, for 40 years, has been building homemade rides and attractions in the forest around his establishment. For him, it’s not just advertising but also an inquiry into existence and mortality.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2013 -
What Elmore Leonard Can Teach You About Editing
Kylee Wall at Creative Cow has posted a good piece in which quotes from three writers (Elmore Leonard, Kurt Vonnegut and Chuck Palanhiuk) are applied to the film editing process. This first one, from the ace, and recently deceased, crime writer Elmore Leonard, touches on a pet peeve of mine: gratuitous, montage-y, B-roll-driven establishing sequences: “Don’t go into great detail describing places or things.” – Elmore Leonard In unscripted stuff particularly, I’ve seen a tendency for editors to use a whole bunch of b-roll at the beginning to describe a place. It’s kind of like the editorial equivalent of four […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2013 -
The Shining as an 8-Bit Video Game
From Cinefix, here is Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining reimagined, with surprising effectiveness, as an 8-bit video game. (Hat tip: Daring Fireball.)
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 18, 2013 -
iOS 7 at the One-Month Mark: 18 Picks and Pans
Apple’s “polarizing” mobile operating system iOS 7, an update which stripped away the skeuomorphism (i.e., the fake leather and other real-world metaphors found in apps like Calendar and Game Center) of previous versions in favor of a “flat” design style, was unveiled by the company on June 10 at its WWDC keynote and pushed to users on September 18. And for the most of this year, the Apple media universe — the parade of blogs and podcasts that have made a mini-industry of commenting upon the Cupertino company — have spoken of little else. But now that the OS is […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 18, 2013
