Filmmaker Videos
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Watch: Focal Lengths and Lenses Used by Great Directors
In Wolfcrow’s new video essay, 19 great directors have their choice of focal lengths and lenses broken down, starting with Orson Welles’ use of 25mm for Citizen Kane and 18mm for Touch of Evil.
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Watch: “Radiohead: The Secrets of Daydreaming“
Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent video for Radiohead’s “Daydreaming” gets broken down in this video essay by Rishi Kaneria. While his analysis involves some questionable number crunching — and specifically the number 23, which calls to mind all kinds of conspiracy theories — it’s also a solid analysis of the easter eggs in the video that tell the story of the dissolution of Thom Yorke’s longterm relationship.
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Trailer Watch: Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival
A Filmmaker cover in Winter 2014 for one of our favorite and underrated films of the last few years, Enemy, Denis Villeneuve has become that rare powerhouse director who inflects a cinematically exciting signature style across diverse material. Currently shooting the sequel to Blade Runner, the director follows up his moody drug-war drama Sicario with a science-fiction tale of alien visitation. Most excitingly for us at Filmmaker, this most visually compelling of directors has hooked up with one of our favorite DPs, Bradford Young, who appeared on our 25 New Faces list back in 2009. For now, check out the […]
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Watch: The Six Essential Shots to Film A Car Scene
Front windshield, over the shoulder, rearview mirror: in this video, DP Julia Swain breaks down the six basic shots used to film car scenes, complete with suggested aperture settings and the best lenses to use.
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Watch: “When Words Fail in Movies”
When movies go wordless, what are they trying to say? This video essay by Filmscalpel’s David Verdeure examines wordless scenes from 15 films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me and North by Northwest. For the full list and accompanying essay, click here.
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Watch: “Sailing with Bushnell Keeler,” A David Lynch Home Movie
David Lynch’s earliest short film is in fact a home movie, and he’d prefer it be labeled as such: a record of the artist Bushnell Keeler (an important figure for Lynch) sailing. The young director is briefly visible throughout.
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Trailer Watch: Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight
Just out from A24 is this trailer for one of our most highly anticipated films of the fall, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight. Long time Filmmaker readers will remember that it’s been a while since Jenkins, a 2008 25 New Face and the cover of our Winter, 2009 issue for his debut feature, Medicine for Melancholy, has made a movie. He’s been among the most talented American independents to have such a long break before teeing up for his sophomore film, but it’s certainly not for lack of trying, as Jenkins has developed several powerful projects over the years. (Read this short […]
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Watch: “Understanding the Cinematography of Bruno Delbonnel”
Sareesh Sudhakaran inspects the cinematography of Bruno Delbonnel in a new wolfcrow video. The French DP has been nominated for four Academy Awards and is known for his color stylization.
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Go Behind the Scenes of the 4K Restoration of Edward Yang’s A Brighter Summer Day
Yi Yi, the first of Edward Yang’s films to receive distribution in the United States (in 2000), was also his last before the revered Taiwanese filmmaker died in 2007. Still, Yang’s 1991 epic A Brighter Summer Day, managed to find a fan base in the U.S. though it was available for decades only in abridged form on low-quality home video. In March, after an arduous restoration effort that spanned years, The Criterion Collection released A Brighter Summer Day on Blu-ray and DVD. Back in 2011, the restored work was screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and in other limited engagements, but it has otherwise been […]
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Watch: “12 Essential Women Cinematographers”
Jacob T. Swinney recognizes 12 essential women cinematographers for their work in his latest video essay for Fandor Keyframe. In the accompanying essay he writes: “In the entire history of the Academy Awards, Best Cinematography remains the only category never to have had a female nominee.”
