Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Blumhouse Picks David Lynch’s 10 Scariest Moments
Uncanny, unsettling, disturbing, surreal — David Lynch’s work summons up no shortage of adjectives. But one that gets applied surprisingly rarely is scary. But precisely because of its inflection of horror with the qualities listed above, Lynch’s films can be terrifying in a much deeper way than your normal, well-executed jump-scare thriller. The folks at Blumhouse certainly know horror, and this week site contributor Gregory Burkart posted a nicely curated list of annotated clips speaking to Lynch’s ability to scare, particularly nailing a couple that have long haunted this Lynch fan. The first is from Eraserhead, the “ooh, you are […]
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Expert Tips for First-Time Documentary Filmmakers (Like Myself)
Months ago, I got the crazy idea to write, produce and direct my first documentary. I wasn’t completely unrealistic — I knew enough to start small with a short, micro-budgetfilm. I also knew I could count on a supportive network of documentary filmmakers — including pros such as Doug Block, Marshall Curry, Laura Nix, Tracy Droz Tragos, Robert Greene, and others — to help guide me through the process. Later in this piece, I’ll share some of their invaluable wisdom. But first, here’s a bit about my film and my process so far. I had been on the lookout for a subject that […]
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86 Pages in 12 Days: DP Eve M. Cohen on Shooting Be Somebody
Eve M. Cohen studied art as a painter and a photographer in undergrad, and received a Master’s in cinematography from UCLA. Beginning work in narrative film and documentary, she has most recently been diving into virtual reality, and filming interviews for an unscripted series on TV. “I don’t focus on one kind of filmmaking,” she says. “I really like a variety.” In this first part of the interview, she talks about shooting the narrative feature film Be Somebody that was shot in December, and released in July. In the second part of the interview she talks about shooting for virtual […]
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Playing the Fool: Embracing Tarot while Kickstarting For Entertainment Purposes Only
Last Thursday, in a fortune telling shop in Manhattan’s West Village, a woman around my age told me the Evil Eye was on me and my family. She told me she was afraid for my life, and I needed to give her $500 right then so that she could burn a candle for me. When I told her I didn’t have the money, she asked if I had an ATM card and could bring her the money quickly. I said “thank you” and left. I wasn’t worried about the “Evil Eye,” but it was an eerie brush with the city’s […]
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Watch: Werner Herzog on Virtual Reality, the Future of Humanity and Internet Trolls
“I have a lot of trolls and a lot of imposters. I’m on Facebook, but it’s not me. I’m on Twitter, but it’s not me,” says Werner Herzog in a recent installment of VICE Talks Films (above). Herzog is doing press rounds to discuss his latest documentary Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World, which is now in theaters, on Demand, on iTunes and Amazon Video. The film, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival, examines the past, present, and evolving future of the internet in Herzog’s signature voice.
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Sundance Institute New Frontier / Jaunt VR Residency Program Inducts Three New Projects
Sundance Institute and Jaunt Studios have announced their latest class of creatives to join the Sundance Institute New Frontier | Jaunt VR Residency Program. Daniel Arsham, Yung Jake, and Lily Baldwin & Saschka Unseld will participate in the six-month immersive residency. During the program, the artists will experiment with new ways of delivering narrative through cinematic virtual reality. They will also receive a grant to make their virtual reality short films. In addition, they will receive post-production support and access to Jaunt’s professional cinematic VR camera, Jaunt ONE, as well as its suite of production pipeline tools, and Jaunt Cloud Services (JCS), which include […]
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In Defense of Street Photography in an iPhone Age
Last Halloween (my birthday, as it happens), I loaded up my Bolex to shoot some 16mm black-and-white images of a children’s costume parade in my Brooklyn neighborhood. I was thinking of Helen Levitt’s 1948 masterpiece, In the Street. Levitt (and her co-cinematographers James Agee and Janis Loeb) used a small camera to surreptitiously record images (mostly of children) in Spanish Harlem. The film is a poetic time capsule — observational vignettes that become more than the sum of their parts. The Bolex looks pretty big these days compared to digital cameras, so I wasn’t hiding anything from anybody. As I […]
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“If Kanye West Applies to My Rogue Film School, I Would Invite Him”: Werner Herzog Takes on Kanye West’s “Famous” Video
Director Werner Herzog brings his German-accented, customary evocation of strange wonder to a dissection of Kanye West’s “Famous” video in this clip posted over at the Daily Beast. More than just a deconstructive joke, however, Herzog turns the viewing into an instructional take on why every filmmaker needs his or her main storyline and then a parallel story the audience creates for themselves. Says Herzog, “This is very good stuff. If Kanye West applies to my Rogue Film School,” I would invite him. Related: Werner Herzog discusses his new Rogue Film School Master Class.
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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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New BitTorrent Fund Provides Cash and Promotional Support to Creators
BitTorrent has announced The Discovery Fund, which will provide cash grants and promotional support to 25 creators over the next year. BitTorrent is looking for artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators with projects seeking global distribution. The open, international initiative will provide $2,500-$100,00 in marketing and distribution funding. “The rules are simple. You make something awesome. You own it. We back it, and help you find a global audience for your big idea,” said Straith Schreder, VP of Creative Initiatives at BitTorrent, in a blog post. The announcement follows the launch earlier this year of BitTorrent Now, which adds a […]
