Filmmaker Videos
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Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Use of Steadicam
On the almost eve of Inherent Vice‘s release, here is a Kevin B. Lee video essay from the archives that analyzes Paul Thomas Anderson’s varied use of steadicam. Whether it’s enhancing the subjectivity of his principal character’s experience in Sydney/Hard Eight, juggling multiple entries through the guise of spectacle in Boogie Nights, or exploring relationships through space in Punch Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood, Anderson continually pushes the camera technique to new applications.
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Watch: A “Language Lesson” from Jim Finn’s North Korean Mockumentary The Juche Idea
The FBI can’t prove that North Korea is responsible for hacking into Sony, releasing thousands of documents and confidential company information. So it can’t be said with any certainty that the hack was launched as an official attack on James Franco and Seth Rogen’s forthcoming let’s-assassinate-Kim Jong-un comedy The Interview, although the outraged North Korean government has expressed their approval, stating that “hacking into Sony Pictures might be a righteous deed of the supporters and sympathizers with the DPRK.” Regardless of how it shakes out, what better time to revisit Jim Finn’s peerlessly odd, deadpan take on North Korean propaganda? 2008’s The Juche […]
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Watch: Boyhood Behind the Scenes Featurette
As Boyhood continues to steamroll the Critic’s Awards, here’s an exclusive behind-the-scenes look from Hulu at the 12 year production. Linklater discusses everything from the conception of the project and its autobiographical elements, to the evolution of his working relationship with Ellar Coltrane, and the visual consistency of the film. The short also features interviews with Patricia Arquette Coltrane, Lorelei Linklater and Ethan Hawke from Year One to Year 12.
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Watch: Kathryn Bigelow’s Elephant Poaching Short Last Days
Written by Steven Soderbergh’s frequent collaborator Scott Z. Burns and directed by Kathryn Bigelow, Last Days is a grimly succinct argument against buying materials made out of ivory and other products from endangered species. Trafficking in endangered species is the fourth largest illegal business in the world, behind drugs, weapons and human trafficking, and the short links their sale directly to last year’s Al Shabaab attack on Nairobi’s Westgate Mall. There’s disturbing footage of the mass shooting included and bloody animation of elephant slaughter as well, so brace yourself. The short film’s official site is here.
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Trailer Watch: David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows
David Robert Mitchell’s genre juggernaut, It Follows, continues its year on the festival circuit as a just-announced selection of Sundance’s Midnight program. On the heels of said announcement, we now have our first official look at a (French) teaser. The horror film concerns a teenaged girl in a Detroit suburb who is stalked by a sexually transmitted phantom, but as these things are, the less you know going into it, the better.
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Miranda July and Carrie Brownstein Promise a Somebody App That “Works”
Regarding her eccentrically beautiful messaging app Somebody, Miranda July has posted this video with Carrie Brownstein about its v.2. “Over the next few months we will be making Somebody 2.0,” she writes. “It’s just like Somebody 1.0 but it works.” If you don’t know about Somebody, it’s an iOS app (Android coming, says July in this video) that allows you to send a communication to someone via a nearby third party, who delivers that message in person. Still confused? Well, Somebody was the subject of a new podcast, Reply All — the second from podcasting startup Gimlet Media. Watch above […]
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David Ehrlich’s 25 Best Films of 2014 Supercut
At Little White Lies David Ehrlich returns with his excellent annual supercut of his own 25 Best Films list. He writes, “As was also the case with last year’s video, the video kicks off with a little intro that’s intended to set the stage, and then launches into the countdown a couple of minutes later. All of the featured music comes from the films of 2014, and a full track list is waiting for you at the end. As always, this was both a blast to cut together and also just an unspeakably catastrophic waste of time. So… I hope […]
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Watch: :: kogonada Compiles Criterion Designs
Criterion Collection recently put out the coffee table book to end all coffee table books, Criterion Designs. A compilation of the illustrations, sketches and concept art behind the label’s impeccable covers and graphics, the book presents an inside look at the highly elaborate design process. Our recent 25 New Face :: kogonada has created a nice bumper for Designs, with seamless cuts between the films and their illustrations, from Charlie Chaplin to Wes Anderson. Check it out above.
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Watch: How to Highlight Depth of Field
As a two dimensional medium, film employs a handful of techniques to convey a greater depth of field than what exists in a given frame. In this handy video, cinematographer Matthew Rosen breaks down his five favorite ways to highlight depth, through lighting, focus, perspective, parallax, and occlusion. The dolly effect, which Rosen argues is perhaps most effective in relating depth of field to an audience, is in fact a combination of parallax and occlusion.
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Trailer Watch: Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young
“I’ve become so disturbed by younger people!” “What? Younger people?” The trailer for Noah Baumbach’s forthcoming Frances Ha follow-up While We’re Young is undoubtedly the only teaser for a Ben Stiller vehicle to frame itself with quotes from Henrik Ibsen’s The Master Builder. Older couple Stiller and Naomi Watts meet younger partners Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried and ends up wandering around Bushwick; musings on aging and maturity follow, but it’s funny anyway. It’s also very nice to see Charles Grodin back in action, in his first feature since 2006’s The Ex. The film opens March 27.
