Authors — Scott Macaulay
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SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB BLOG: KASI LEMMONS
Filmmaker Kasi Lemmons (Talk to Me, The Caveman’s Valentine, Eve’s Bayou) attended this year’s Sundance Director’s Lab as an advisor, and here is a blog report about her experience. It challenging to put into words an almost magical experience, but I’ll try. I’m here at the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lab. I’ve been here since Sunday. I’m happy and energized and exhausted. The feeling is familiar. I always experience it on the mountain. The mountain to me is Sundance and Sundance is the mountain. The mountain is always magical. I’ve been here many times as an advisor. Usually there’s at least three […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2011 -
Apple Releases New Final Cut Pro X; Our Review To Follow
UPDATE: Read David Leitner’s first take on Final Cut Pro X here. This morning Apple released its long awaited, ground-up rethink of its professional editing software, Final Cut Pro. Available for $299 from the Apple Store, the new FCP is both drastically lower in price than the previous version and contains numerous improvements, including, wrote David Leitner at NAB this Spring, a “dramatically revamped interface, 64-bit processor capability, no more RAM ceiling of 4GB, and continual background rendering by means of unused CPU cycles.” Leitner’s takeaway then: With FCP X, Apple is returning to the one-size-fits-all ethos of the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 21, 2011 -
SUNDANCE DIRECTOR’S LAB BLOG: HOLDEN ABIGAIL OSBORNE
Writer/director Holden Abigail Osborne — one of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of 2010 — is currently at the Sundance Resort in Utah, developing her screenplay Adelyne as one of eight fellows at this year’s Director’s Lab. In the words of Sundance, “Each fellow has the opportunity to rehearse, shoot and edit selected scenes from his or her screenplay in a workshop environment, where the focus is completely on creative exploration and discovery.” Osborne is reporting on her experience in a pair of blog posts, the first of which is below, in the form of her notebook pages.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 20, 2011 -
WME’S GRAHAM TAYLOR ON ENTREPRENEURIAL FILM
Today’s morning read is WME Global head Graham Taylor’s keynote speech at the Los Angeles Film Festival, a smart and entertaining walk through not only his own career but the trajectory of independent film’s past and future. Since his speech references Hollywood blockbusters, perhaps it’s appropriate that it starts with Taylor’s own origin story, beginning in Portland, Oregon, where he grew up with an economist father and artist mother — two influences that will intertwine throughout his career. Another part of that origin story: Reservoir Dogs, the film that blew him away and made him want to be involved in […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 19, 2011 -
ROBERT GREENE’S FATHER’S DAY SHORT
Filmmaker Robert Greene, whose Kati with an I was one of our Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Gotham Award nominees last year, has posted on this Father’s Day a 20-minute short about his grandfather, Goodbye Engineer. Check it out below. GOODBYE ENGINEER from prewarcinema on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 19, 2011 -
IFP NARRATIVE LAB RECAP #3: TIM SUTTON
Filmmaker Tim Sutton (pictured) attended the IFP Narrative Lab with his feature Pavilion. Here is his short report about the week. FROM THE VACUUM TO THE ABYSS (Or how I stopped worrying and learned to love the IFP narrative lab)So I’ve spent years in “development hell.” Not the development hell you may be picturing — the round, padded, gymnasium-sized room where young filmmakers with dreams go to take their medication, age in fast motion, and walk zombie-style around the place, bumping into stacks of scripts while, behind a one-way mirror, Hollywood executive types in sharp lab coats laugh wickedly. (Oh, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 18, 2011 -
IFP NARRATIVE LAB RECAP #1: ELISABETH HOLM
Producer Elisabeth Holm attended the IFP Narrative Lab with Keith Miller’s Welcome to Pine Hill (pictured). She filed this short report on her experience. IFP Narrative Lab Recap: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Releasing Your Film But Were Afraid To Ask The emotional highs and lows endured over 45 hours of last week’s IFP Narrative Lab are only paralleled by the peaks and valleys of middle-school dodgeball. As I trust any filmmaker who’s been lucky enough to gain the mentorship will say, the IFP Labs are highly intense, immersive, illuminating, engaging, challenging, rewarding, and exhausting. I am currently […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 17, 2011 -
Rob Hauer
When asked who his professional role models are, L.A.-based d.p. Rob Hauer, who has lensed some of the best shorts of recent memory, cites some obviously inspirational folks, including Robert Richardson, Emmanuel Lubezki and Robert Elswit. “They show a wonderful range and their work elevates their stories, which I’d like to do as well. And none of them had overnight success — they had to work hard to get where they are, like all of us do.” But he cites other artistic influences too, harkening back to his early study as a still photographer at California State Polytechnic University, San […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 17, 2011 -
A SHORT DOC ON STUXNET
As readers of the blog and print edition know, I am scarily fascinated by the development and future potential of Stuxnet, the weaponized computer virus that slowed down Iran’s nuclear program last year. For those who need to catch up on Stuxnet, here’s a striking short doc that’s just over three minutes long. It’s made by Patrick Clair and Scott Mitchell for the Australian TV program HungryBeast. Mitchell scripted, and Clair directed and to the riveting motion graphics. Check it out. Stuxnet: Anatomy of a Computer Virus from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 17, 2011 -
“PAGE ONE”‘S ANDREW ROSSI AND DAVID CARR
Filmed at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where their documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times premiered and received rave reviews, here are director Andrew Rossi and Times writer, subject, and soul David Carr (pictured above) discussing both the film and journalism in the age of the Internet. Originally posted Jan. 31, 2011.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 15, 2011
