Authors — Scott Macaulay
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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 -
Your Disney Video on the Escape from Tomorrow DVD?
Want to see your own Disney fan or parody video on the DVD for Randy Moore’s Escape from Tomorrow? The film’s distributor, PDA, announces today that the winner of its current fan video contest, in which homemade videos are uploaded by applicants to Vine or Instagram and hashtagged #DisneyEscapeExperience, will be included as a special feature on the Escape from Tomorrow DVD. In addition, winners will receive Disney gift cards, signed posters and more. (See details below.) For the filmmakers and distributor behind Escape from Tomorrow, Disney’s Magic Kingdom is the gift that keeps on giving. In addition to being […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 17, 2013 -
Screenwriter John Ridley Talks 12 Years a Slave
12 Years a Slave — the title of Steve McQueen’s latest, taken from its source material, the Solomon Northup memoir — is one of the most direct and descriptive of recent cinema history. But consider further the subtitle of Northup’s 1853 book: “Narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana.” It’s one of the film’s extraordinary achievements that, as it lands in theaters nationwide with the headwinds of an Oscar frontrunner, it tells, on its most basic level, that story. […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 16, 2013 -
On Watching Half of The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
In the Fall issue of Filmmaker that went to the printer last week is my coverage of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. But there’s one film — or, rather, half a film — I didn’t write about. I’ll explain, but that involves a detour into a discussion of ’90s experimental theater. The Sarajevo-based Open Stage Obala’s Tattoo Theatre is a lovely work that follows a couple from courtship to old age, tracing their loves, infidelities and reunions with evocative, unexpected imagery. (Old age, for example, is represented by the actors standing face to audience and covering themselves with flour.) […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 15, 2013 -
Jillian Mayer on How to Hide from Cameras
25 New Face Jillian Mayer has long been attuned to the impact of technology on identity and personal expression. Here, she offers a helpful tutorial to those worried about biometric tracking, face recognition and the profusion of surveillance cameras on our streets.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2013 -
What Would You Do with Daniel Radcliffe and Ten Minutes?
Director Joe Connor was recently given ten minutes to make a short film with actor Daniel Radcliffe. The 26-year-old director and the star of the current Kill Your Darlings met for just a few moments, quickly tossed around some ideas and settled on the theme of fear. The resulting short, Wait, is a nicely pitched essay about stage fright that will resonate with anyone who has felt their heart pace as they prepare for public speaking.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2013 -
Nicholas Rombes, Grace Krilanovich Discuss their Microbudget The Removals
The Indiegogo campaign for Two Dollar Radio’s microbudget film division continues, with screenwriter (and Filmmaker contributor) Nicholas Rombes and author and now director Grace Krilanovich posting videos explaining their approach to the first production, The Removals. Check out the videos below. Read more about Two Dollar Radio at Filmmaker here.
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 14, 2013
