Authors — Scott Macaulay

CUTTING TO THE RHYTHM OF PINK

There’s a fascinating article in the New York Times’ Science section today called “Bringing New Understanding to the Director’s Cut.” It details a scientific study in which the shot length of films over the decades were analyzed and it was determined that as cinema has progressed its editing rhythms have been more closely resembling a natural frequency found in the brain as well as in in “natural and artifactual surroundings.” From the piece: According to the new report, the basic shot structure of the movies, the way film segments of different lengths are bundled together from scene to scene, act […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 2, 2010
RYAN GOSLING AND ZACH SHIELDS’ DEAD MAN’S BONES

Check this out! A great series of videos (I’ve embedded the first—visit PitchforkTV for all four) of Ryan Gosling and Zach Shields’ Dead Man’s Bones performing with the Philadelphia St. Peter’s Children’s Choir. There’s a talent show too. This is one concert I wish I had been at.
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 1, 2010
The Documentary Challenge’s Five-Day Work Week

Are you addicted to large oil drums of coffee? Feel alive only when you’re a sleep-deprived stumbling zombie? Relish your emotions ripping from ice berg to flame thrower? Then you are made for the International Documentary Challenge. Started in 2006, the International Documentary Challenge is a timed filmmaking competition — this year beginning on March 4 — where filmmakers have five days to craft a five-to-seven minute non-fiction film. In the last four years, more than 500 participating filmmakers — more than 125 each year — from some 20 countries chose to forgo sleep and sanity for this the ultimate […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 1, 2010
FAITH-BASED FILMMAKING

As Paul Devlin’s article on his film BLAST! in the current issue of Filmmaker notes, films that touch on issues of faith and religion can be tricky sells in the independent film world — even as filmmakers like the Kendrick Brothers work outside of the independent community and find success with their explicitly faith-based films. Here’s a feature narrative on Kickstarter that caught my eye that explores issues of belief and non-belief. From the page on Faith, by Eli Daughdrill: The film is a personal, independent narrative that takes a sensitive but critical look at at religion in America. FAITH […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 28, 2010
SXSW TRAILER WATCH: “TINY FURNITURE”

Here’s the trailer for “25 New Face” filmmaker Lena Dunham‘s second feature, Tiny Furniture, which premieres in the narrative Competition at SXSW. From the Vimeo page: 22-year-old Aura returns home after college to her artist mother’s loft with the following: a useless film theory degree, 357 hits on her YouTube page, and no shoulders to cry on. Starring Dunham and her real-life family, Tiny Furniture is tragicomedy about what does and does not happen when you graduate with no skills, no love life, and a lot of free time. Tiny Furniture Trailer from Lena Dunham on Vimeo.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 26, 2010
THE FIRST SHORT SHOT ON THE CANON REBEL T2i

FEBRUARY – shot on the Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i (preprod unit) from Nino Leitner on Vimeo. From filmmaker Nino Leitner. This short film, FEBRUARY, was shot on a pre-production unit of the new Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i. This is UNGRADED footage straight off the camera (converted to ProRes LT first for easy editing). I used a “flattened” picture style as outlined by Stu Maschwitz on his blog. Check out his blog for a detailed review of the camera, which comes out next month and is priced at $799.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 25, 2010
KERI PUTNAM NAMED NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF SUNDANCE INSTITUTE

Big news out of Sundance tonight: Keri Putnam, former President of Production at Miramax Films and Executive Vice President at HBO Films, has been named the new Executive Director of the Sundance Institute. The position was previously held by Ken Brecher, who left Sundance last April. Keri is well known to many of us in the independent community for her leadership at Miramax and HBO, where she opened the door to both new directors as well as established veterans looking to explore new ideas that wouldn’t fly in the mainstream studio system. Among the films she has been involved with […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 25, 2010
PHILIPPE GRANDRIEUX HAPPILY BRINGS HIS DARK VISIONS TO LINCOLN CENTER

Of all the people I know — artists, musicians, filmmakers — who make dark, dark things, the French director Philippe Grandrieux is the sunniest. In person, he projects a passionate joy about his filmmaking craft, and the disturbing events contained within his films are not projections of surface-level angst or garden-variety emotional torment but rather philosophical inquiries into our relationship with Nature, our bodies, and our selves. To hear him talk about his work is to realize that he comes from a line that includes De Sade, Blanchot, and Bataille as well as later post-structuralists like Gilles Deleuze. (Grandrieux’s bloody […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 24, 2010
SXSW TRAILER WATCH: “AMERICAN GRINDHOUSE”

Here’s the just-released trailer for Elijah Drenner’s American Grindhouse, which plays SXSW next month.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 23, 2010
REDISCOVERING LOST ROCKERS

American Hardcore filmmakers Paul Rachman and Steven Blush have a new project: Lost Rockers, a documentary “about great musicians overlooked by pop culture.” From the project’s Kickstarter page: LOST ROCKERS… offers insight into what it takes to “make it,” and why so many of equal talent to famous stars fall through the cracks. The film tells the life stories of these forgotten artists — of different eras, genres, creeds and orientations — from their doomed paths to fame to their ultimate redemption. You’ll experience amazing music you can’t believe you never heard. LOST ROCKERS has only just begun. We’ve shot […]
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 23, 2010

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