Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Cinematographer John Gulesarian on Shooting Sundance Dramatic Competition Film, The Overnight
Following 2014’s Song One and 2013’s Breathe In, cinematographer John Gulesarian returns to Sundance with his third film in three years, The Overnight. Directed by Patrick Brice and starring Adam Scott and Taylor Schilling, the film is set during a long Los Angeles night, one in which a chance encounter between two families leads to what the program calls “a painfully funny take on sexual frustration and parenthood.” The film premieres Friday, January 23 in the Dramatic Competition. Below Gulesarian talks about small crews, practical lights, and how a $10 piece of equipment can save the day. Filmmaker: How and […]
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“Know Your Beat”: (T)ERROR Director Lyric Cabral Offers Advice on Documentary Pitching on the She Does Podcast
This week on the show, we interviewed photojournalist and documentary filmmaker, Lyric Cabral. She, along with her co-director David Felix Sutcliffe, is premiering her feature-length film (T)ERROR at Sundance this year in the U.S. Documentary category. (T)ERROR is billed as “the first film to document on camera a covert counterterrorism sting,” but the documentary has been in the works for over a decade. Lyric came across the film’s subject, an FBI informant, when she was only 19, but knew she was too young to tackle the story then. Lyric talks about the uncomfortable situations she’s found herself in as a […]
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Learning from The Interview at the 2015 Art House Convergence: Sundance’s Keri Putnam Calls For New Distribution System
This year’s Art House Convergence (AHC), the organization’s 10th annual event, drew 500 delegates from art house cinemas, film festivals, and film distributors to Midway, UT to discuss the state of independent film exhibition in the United States. Over the course of the organization’s first decade, the AHC has grown from a small gathering of two dozen non-profit cinemas seeking new ways to support independent film while building sustainable business models for their theaters into something of a full-blown trade organization. Now it represents the interests of hundreds of theaters (and helps incubate the development of a similar organization for […]
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Speed the Plow, Gently (Or, What I Took Away From the 2014 IFP Narrative Labs)
Toru Takemitsu referred to music as the art of time. He modeled his compositions after gardens, attributing the ideas of time and space involved in cultivation to the placement of notes and time signatures within his music. The elements of nature were musical notations; dirt was the base layer; the stones never move; some plants grow and have different cycles than others. The ideas of cultivating time, space, movement, and growth into a composition were an inspiration to my process as a filmmaker. Like a garden, a film involves a delicate balance that you can never force or will into […]
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5 Things Cinematographers Don’t Talk About
I only faintly recall writing my last entry for Filmmaker Magazine. I was huddled over at some bar at a busy airport, in between jobs and cities I’ve only seen through the windows of a hotel: a cinematographer’s life. I do remember the article was a bit cheeky — I was pretty elated with the success of It Felt Like Love — so I thought this time that to commemorate Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter I’d get down to brass tacks. Here are five things cinematographers don’t talk about. 1. When to Say No Possibly one of the hardest parts of […]
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What Everyone Does on a Film Set
For those new to physical production, here is a list of film set departments, with notes on their staff positions, responsibilities, benefits and attractions. PRODUCTION Personnel: Production Manager, Production Coordinator, Office PAs, Assistants to Directors and Producers. Responsibilities: Organization, preparation, taking care of actors, producers and director. Join this department if you like: Working on a movie without being chained to a set, knowing everything that’s going on, fielding constant complaints. Favorite Game: Choosing a new person to hate every day. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT Personnel: 1st AD, 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd AD, Key PA, On Set Interns. Responsibilities: […]
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Victoria’s Film Exchange, A Production Resource for Filmmakers, Premieres The Strongest Man at Sundance (Sponsored Post)
Looking to make the most of a modest independent film budget? The Victoria, Texas-based Film Exchange invites filmmakers to come and take advantage of $500,000 worth of equipment — for free. Through Film Exchange, filmmakers can save thousands of dollars and raise their production value by implementing gear from the Film Exchange studio, including the 4K Canon C500 and Blackmagic 2.5K cameras, Zeiss cinema zooms and compact primes and a $60,000 sound package including Lectrosonic transmitters and Sennheiser microphones, as well as five 4K post-production and color grading stations. In addition to providing production services, Film Exchange can help with […]
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Sundance 2015: The Queer Cinema Landscape
Just to remind everyone what a bellwether of LGBT cinema it is — last year’s Sundance Film Festival brought us the U.S. (and often World) premieres of such exciting LGBT films of 2014 as Love Is Strange, Stranger By The Lake, Lilting, To Be Takei, The Skeleton Twins and the Oscar-shortlisted The Case Against 8 just to mention a few. So basically you can expect that many of the films listed below will become the hits of 2015! This year’s festival runs January 22- February 1 in Park City, Utah. Nearly 120 films will be shown (selected from amongst the […]
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Seven Tips for Directors and Producers with Films at Sundance
Over the years, Filmmaker has run several “Sundance Survival Guide” pieces. (One from 2012 we continue to recommend is Alicia Van Couvering’s “Mistakes Were Made.” ) Here, fresh for 2015, is new one from Mynette Louie, President of Gamechanger Films and producer of Land Ho! (Sundance 2014), California Solo (Sundance 2012), and Children of Invention (Sundance 2009). Check back tomorrow for a grab-bag of advice — including several tips we’ve never run before in any form — from several recent Sundance veterans. 1. Empower your crew to promote the film, and show them your thanks. Sundance is not just about […]
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From Kickstarter to PBS: ornana on Confusion Through Sand
Nearly a year after its SXSW premiere, ornana’s Confusion Through Sand will have its PBS premiere tonight, ahead of Dan Krauss’ The Kill Team. The animated short will be available for free on Vimeo tomorrow, but for the time being, you can watch a behind the scenes video of the collective’s creative process. Filmmaker spoke to director Danny Madden and producers Jim Cummings and Ben Wiessner about the trajectory of their latest film, from a joint Kickstarter campaign, through division of labor, and securing distribution. Filmmaker: You packaged your Kickstarter campaign as a sort of two for one deal, raising post funds for euphonia and production funds for Confusion Through Sand. […]
