Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Cinematographer Ben Lichty on Shooting the Greenpeace Doc, How to Change the World
A “hippie heist movie-turned-high sea adventure” is how Sundance describes Jerry Rothwell’s Sundance award-winning documentary How to Change the World, about the early days of the Greenpeace movement. Below, cinematographer Ben Lichty describes mixing interview with archival footage, creating “visual variety” and shooting with the RED Epic. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Lichty: When I first heard about How to Change the World and the story the film would explore, I really wanted to be a […]
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“It’s Too Important to be Tucked Away for Another 30 Years”: Don Argott on Kickstarting Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time
Don Argott’s interests are eclectic, to say the least. Just in the past five years the Philly-based documentarian has followed the downward spiraling of rock stars, explored a nuclear-reactor community and, most recently, launched a Kickstarter campaign for his latest project Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time. The in-production doc is co-directed by Curb Your Enthusiasm co-creator Bob Weide and is about his decades-long attempt to make his own film about the iconic author, who in the process became a close friend. Argott spoke with Filmmaker about meeting Weide at an overseas film festival, going the indie financing route, and how […]
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Journalism is an Active Practice: Five Takeaways from Anna Sale on the She Does Podcast
Episode Three of She Does Podcast features an intimate conversation with the lovely Anna Sale. Anna is the creator, host and managing editor of WNYC’s podcast, Death, Sex & Money, a biweekly show featuring intimate interviews with both celebrities and commoners alike that has risen to the top of the iTunes charts. She’s a public media veteran who covered the 2012 presidential campaign and has contributed to This American Life, NPR, Marketplace, Studio 360, PBS Newshour, and Slate. In this episode, Anna talks about her West Virginian (or Appalachian) roots, being a self-proclaimed “honorable detector of snobs,” coming into journalism […]
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Trailer Watch: Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, with Amy Schumer, Bill Hader and LeBron James
The first trailer for Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck is just fine, setting up its premise clearly — Amy Schumer is a professional success despite her monogamy-repelling sleeping-around, which is refreshing — and its romantic throughline with sports doctor Bill Hader. It looks more disciplined than usual visually, with Ballet 422 co-director/Afterschool cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes behind the camera, and LeBron James seems like he’s about to outdo Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the basketball player-turned-onscreen-comic sweepstakes.
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From River of Grass to Living Los Sures: George Schmalz on Kickstarter’s New Curated Restoration Initiative
As part of a new restoration initiative, Kickstarter is partnering with various distributors, filmmakers and organizations to raise funds to preserve and proliferate significant and niche films on the verge of obsolescence. The first five projects to campaign through the site are River of Grass, Kelly Reichardt’s wonderful, underseen debut; a Kino Lorber selection of “Pioneers of African Cinema,” presented by DJ Spooky; the German exploitation film Bloody Friday; Living Los Sures, UnionDocs’ update on the 1984 documentary Los Sures; and the VHS ’90s horror flick, Jungle Trap. There are distribution plans in place for all of the films, should the necessary funds come through: Oscilloscope is planning a VOD, DVD and […]
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SXSW Announces 2015 Midnight and Shorts Lineups
On the heels of last week’s feature program announcement, SXSW has just released their selections for Midnighters and Shorts. In addition to several Sundance holdovers — including Jury Prize winners World of Tomorrow and Oh Lucy! — the several shorts programs feature new work from Leah Shore (HALLWAY), ornana (All Your Favorite Shows!), James M. Johnston (Melville), and DANIELS (Interesting Ball), as well as the latter’s very viral music video Turn Down For What. Find the full list of added features and shorts below. FEATURES MIDNIGHTERS Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – provocative after-dark features for night owls and the terminally curious. The Corpse of Anna Fritz (Spain) Director: […]
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Successive Slidings of Displeasure: The Anti-50 Shades of Grey Campaigns
Any publication on the culture beat has been inundated by emails and pitches tied to anti-50 Shades of Grey campaigns. It’s predictable enough that the easily-alarmed conservatives at, say, Breitbart.com would be on that beat, but once you start delving into the tangled coalition against the Walmart-friendly BDSM adaptation, things get more interesting. There are certainly opponents who merely worry about a surge of libertinism overtaking the land, but they’ve done an uncharacteristically good job of making some unlikely alliances, and they’re just the tip of the fragmented iceberg. Let’s start simple, with organizations whose names aren’t entirely straightforward about the interests they represent. The National […]
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Reconfiguring on the Fly: David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon Production Diary
David Lowery doesn’t necessarily dole out directing tips in his production diary for the upcoming Disney remake of Pete’s Dragon, but they do seep through in the details. Currently on day 11 of 70 of the New Zealand-based production, many of Lowery’s entries touch upon the fluidity of the filmmaking process. Most recently, he recounts nailing a precisely planned sequence, only to forfeit his original design for another: Today we were back in the woods at Battle Hill, shooting a sequence that I’d planned out very carefully last summer and had no interest in altering. It was two shots, with a very precise cut point, and […]
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Kit: 10 Favorite Tech Innovations of 2014 (And Perhaps 2015)
I fall into that category of independent filmmaker who, as the need exists, writes, produces, directs, shoots, records sound, edits, even grades their own footage. (What we used to call color correction.) Then again, often times I’m “just” the DP. 2014 was my busiest year ever, and at some point I found myself taking on each of these basic roles. As a result, the scope of my “kit” is necessarily broad, encompassing both production and post. (Kit is a Britishism for one’s working collection of gear, a name I intend to lend to a series of brief tech reviews in […]
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Bryant Crenshaw, Gummo Co-Star and Nashville Icon, R.I.P.
Bryant Crenshaw, the local Nashville icon who co-starred in Harmony Korine’s Gummo, died Thursday night after being struck by a car. He was crossing Murfreesboro Road in Nashville around 7:00 PM when he was struck by a pick-up truck, local news reported. He was 42. The dwarf actor was best known for his appearance in two of Gummo‘s most indelible scenes — the last two shot for the film on its storied, 19-hour final day of production. In the first, Crenshaw, clad in an “Israel” t-short, arm wrestles and beats skater Mark Gonzalez. In the second, he hugs it out […]
