Filmmaker Videos
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Shanks FX Demonstrates the Low-Budget Illusions of the Space Flight
Before there was Gravity, there were sliders and stop-motion. In their latest informational video, the masterminds at Shanks FX demonstrate the old-fashioned illusion of the space flight, as seen in Star Wars, Close Encounters, Star Trek and beyond. With a mere DSLR, some rigging and a model, they’re able to produce animated sequences of ships in flight.
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Trailer Watch: Richard Ayoade’s The Double
Given the breadth of his reverential cannon, it’s surprising that the number of Dostoyevsky adaptations remains relatively slim. The English comedian Richard Ayoade has brought a noted flourish to his translation of The Double, the Russian giant’s novella about a man haunted by his far more confident and aggressive doppelgänger. Well received at Toronto and Sundance, the film, which stars Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska, will open in the U.S. on May 9, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures. I, for one, am interested in seeing the typecast Eisenberg working to convey some bull-headed magnetism as the titular character.
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Ken Burns Finds New Audience with “Past Is Present” App
“There is no such thing as history,” Ken Burns says at the top of this short promotional clip for his new iPad app, Past Is Present. It’s more like a series of recurrences: “not cycles, but patterns.” To help the average eye better examine such connections, Don MacKinnon conceived, directed and produced this interactive exploration of common threads in Burns’ work. Clips from the likes of The Civil War and Baseball are grouped by both theme and time period, allowing its user to make scenes “20 years apart, suddenly interrelate in a new way.” Burns offers up interviews and his own clip assemblies, determined by […]
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Can You Explain Your Work to Your Parents? Dan Fox’s Audience Appreciation
Who is your audience? For all of us, argues Frieze co-editor and art critic Dan Fox, it starts with our parents. Soon, though, it — or, perhaps, our conceptions of it — change. In this video, based on a talk he gave at The Kitchen, Fox “…presents a personal perspective on how we think about audiences as we grow older, and as our responsibilities evolve.”
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Ira Glass and Daniel Sax: on The Gap Between Your Ambitions and Your Work
The gap between your creative ambitions and your creative output — that’s the subject of a new video by Daniel Sax based on 2012 interview by Ira Glass. Sax was actually inspired by another video, one by David Shiyang Liu, which used animated typography to illustrate the same interview. Sax writes that he watched Liu’s video over and over again, letting Glass’s advice about getting through that period where your work just isn’t good enough ease him past his own disappointment in his endeavors. Glass’s words became motivation, and the result is this clever and, yes, inspirational piece of work. […]
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Airborne Footage from the 6K RED Dragon
A few weeks back, I posted a breakdown of the camera packages selected by this year’s Oscar-nominated cinematographers. RED was nowhere to be found. After a long delayed release, the 6K RED Dragon finally hit shelves this summer alongside some pretty nice test footage from Mark Toia. Making another case for ARRI’s underling is some new airborne footage from Freefly, shot with a 11-16 mm lens. In places, the images are so clean, they almost look computer generated.
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“25 New Faces” Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair Launch Latest High Maintenance Episode, “Matilda”
Katja Blichfeld and Ben Sinclair, from 2013 crop of “25 New Faces,” have just debuted the latest episode of their awesome and very funny web series High Maintenance. “Matilda” deviates a little from the usual rules of the show as Sinclair’s unnamed pot dealer is for the first time the central figure in the story, and the action extends beyond its usual environs of New York City. For regular watchers of the show, there are also some welcome return appearances by notable characters from previous episodes; to say more would only be ruining things…
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January 24, 2014 Captured by 100 iPhones Around the World
Jake Scott, filmmaker and son of a man named Ridley, directed this 30th Anniversary spot for Apple, showcasing the cinematographic capabilities of an iPhone 5S. Shot on 100 smartphones around the world, “1.24.14” depicts a day in the life of Mac products and their users, that is equal parts horrifying and awe-inspiring given the Macintosh’s ubiquity. Culled from more than 70 hours of footage, the ad was cut by 21 editors under the guide of regular David Fincher collaborator, Angus Wall.
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From Madrid and Berlin Comes Fever: Nothing Stays
Fever is a recently formed group of photographers and video artists hailing from Berlin and Madrid. As their blog, We Are the Fever, exhibits, their work consists of photo essays and videos, often dealing with youth culture amidst Europe’s economic crisis — two themes present in the group’s new short film, a startling, poetic and beautifully shot evocation of personal and social change titled Nothing Stays. It is produced by the group’s three members — Borja Larrondo, Daniel Eceolaza and Luis Guijarro — and written and directed by Eceolaza. Guijarro shot the short and did color correction. Check it out […]
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“To Hell with Your Honor and Dignity…”: James Schamus’ Rousing WGA Award Speech
Screenwriter and producer James Schamus was honored with the WGA East‘s Evelyn F. Burkey Award, which celebrates those “bringing honor and dignity to writers.” Gratefully accepting the award, Schamus ponders the meaning of “honor” and “dignity” with regards to screenwriters in today’s working environment and delivers a rousing call to arms. Watch above.
