Filmmaker Videos
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Watch: New Beverly Ex-Manager Julia Marchese’s Documentary on 35mm and Rep Cinema
For many years one of the public faces of Los Angeles’ New Beverly Cinema, today Julia Marchese posted an unnerving account of her experience since Quentin Tarantino became the theater’s owner and programmer. It’s worth reading in full, but the gist is that Tarantino’s team put inexplicably tight social media muzzles on all staff and effectively fired (“demoted”) Marchese less than two weeks after her promotion to a managerial role. In short: her hopes dashed for a New Beverly 35mm premiere of her documentary Out of Print — about the importance of 35mm repertory cinema in general and the theater […]
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Watch: The Art of Terrence Malick’s Voiceovers
They’re a tricky thing, voiceovers, and arguably no one utilizes them as frequently and as effectively as Terrence Malick. Where many filmmakers deploy them as an expository device, Malick allows voiceovers to deepen his characters’ perspectives through literal and abstract observations. This video essay from Kevin B. Lee and Scott Tobias at the Dissolve analyzes the evolution of voiceovers in Malick’s films, from a young Sissy Spacek and Linda Manz in Badlands and Days of Heaven to the layered choruses of The Tree of Life and To The Wonder.
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Watch: Seven Ways to Hide Lavalier Microphones
This video has been up for a while, but it serves well as a primer for the inexperienced on how to conceal lavalier microphones. With the opening warning that you’re better off not doing that at all, video expert/enthusiast Izzy Hyman demonstrates seven ways to conceal a lavalier microphone on your person while keeping it from making distracting crackling sounds when it brushes against fabric. Starting with a button-down shirt and tie for extra concealment options, he eventually strips down to a t-shirt to show that even there, hiding the mic is possible. Thanks to No Film School for the […]
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Watch: Gone Girl‘s Post-Production Team on their All Adobe Workflow
The video’s issued by Adobe itself, so take the endorsements contained therein with more than a few grains of salt. Still, for those interested in David Fincher’s ever-evolving post-production process, here’s a little over five minutes of his Gone Girl post-production team talking about their all-Adobe workflow. The big takeaway is how this integrated workflow has made it easier to incorporate f/x into the image sooner rather than later, eliminating the sprawl of coordinating efforts from special effects houses spread out all over and accelerating everybody’s timeline.
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Trailer Watch: Laura Poitras’ CITIZENFOUR
Ahead of its world premiere in the Main Slate at NYFF tonight, Radius-TWC has released the first trailer for the Edward Snowden documentary, CITIZENFOUR. Directed by Laura Poitras, who, along with The Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald was the first journalist to be contacted in what would become the NSA leak, CITIZENFOUR purports to tell Snowden’s side of the story. Poitras was years into filming a documentary on post-9/11 surveillance when she reworked the narrative to incorporate her interview sessions with Snowden. Radius releases the film in New York and Los Angeles on October 24.
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Trailer Watch: Josephine Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely
IFP’s brand new Screen Forward initiative, which offers filmmakers a one-week theatrical run at the Media Center in Dumbo, is now open for submissions. The series kicks off on October 17 with Onur Tukel’s Summer of Blood, followed by former 25 New Face Josephine Decker’s Butter on the Latch and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely on November 14. Here’s the first trailer for the latter title, still making the festival rounds in London this week.
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Watch: Sight & Sound’s 30 Greatest Documentaries in 6:24
Kevin B. Lee’s new video takes the top 30 documentaries of all time (at least as voted upon in Sight & Sound‘s poll earlier this year) and stitches them together in reverse order, building from #30 (Leviathan) to #1 (The Man with the Movie Camera) by finding a logical chain of association from one film to the next. The on-duty policeman in Chronicle of a Summer) who refuses to talk about his personal happiness on the job (off-duty he might have given a different answer) sets up the recreated killing of a cop in The Thin Blue Line, whose night-and-fog-machine […]
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Watch: A Short Test of the Koji Color LUT Suite
For those interested in using a LUT (lookup table) to obtain a more filmic look, our friends at No Film School have drawn attention to Koji Color’s new suite, which attempts to preserve the appearances of six different 35mm film stocks. The program works with most NLE and post applications, and above we’ve got test footage shot by Paul Schefz. It has a strong look; whether it succeeds at preserving 35mm’s textures and colors exactly is obviously up for anybody who wants to debate that. For those convinced enough to buy, the No Film School link above will allow you […]
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Watch: Three New Shorts from Errol Morris
“I don’t usually like my own work, but I’m rather proud of these,” tweeted the self-effacing Errol Morris, sharing a link to three new shorts about peace for the New York Times Op-Docs. His eclectic subjects include the Nobel Prize Winners Leymah Gwobee and Lech Walesa, and the nominee Bob Geldorf. Visa hired Morris to shoot the laureates as part of a commercial campaign for the World Cup, and he took the opportunity to conduct extended interviews on activism and widespread change. Head to the Times to view the short documentaries, alongside a long-form introduction by Morris.
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Trailer Watch: I’m Not Patrick
Independent publisher Two Dollar Radio recently launched a microbudget filmmaking arm, and tonight they’ve dropped their first trailer. I’m Not Patrick is a black comedy about teen suicide directed by the press’s founder, Eric Obenauf. Watch the trailer above. Below is an excerpt of the press release from this Ohio-based publisher. I’m Not Patrick is a black comedy that follows Seth, a teenager whose twin brother, Patrick, has suddenly, tragically, committed suicide. Seth doesn’t know how to react, but everyone is eager to suggest what they imagine to be typical reactions to monozygotic suicide. Whether it’s the rival twins’ landscaping […]
