Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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For Holy Week, Philippines Censor Board Makes Sure Buses Show “Wholesome” Movies
In the Philippines, Holy Week (the period between the last day of Lent and Easter Sunday) is a big deal, as you’d expect from the third largest Catholic country in the world. Part of Holy Week involves a mass exodus from capital Manila to smaller villages as residents go to be with their families, creating major logistical headaches on the traffic front. As part of gearing-up efforts, inspections of the bus stations began yesterday. 594 buses were granted special permits to drive outside of their normal routes, part of a larger array of regulatory measures. Separately, the country’s censor board […]
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History on Autopilot: Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known
Throughout season one of The Newsroom, viewers could play an idle game before each episode: which recent news item would be put through the Aaron Sorkin wringer, morphing from painful recent incident to an amusing babble of rapid-fire speech set in comfortably familiar rhythms? Sorkin’s been around so long his trademark back-and-forth/walk-and-talk exchanges smack of self-parody even when well-executed. His familiarity/inflexibility suggests a belief that any historical event or dramatic situation can be processed through the writer’s usual dialogue tricks and emerge with a sufficiently revelatory perspective. The same erroneous assumption underlies Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known, which has expanded […]
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Nathan Silver’s Undeniable Pressure Cookers
A producer friend of mine recently opined that if your film does not get into Sundance, it’s a financial failure. That’s a hard and fast rule that doesn’t necessarily hold, beyond the frightening fact that nowadays, only one in five Sundance films receives theatrical distribution. Independent films still ink deals out of SXSW, Tribeca and the margins of Toronto, but what of the films that aren’t afforded the spotlight of the festival circuit? More and more it seems that unique perspectives are cast aside for formulaic, middle of the road, audience pleasers at these high profile showcases. Filmmaker Nathan Silver is […]
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2014 Sarasota Film Festival Award Winners
I made the un-journalistic decision to forgo last night’s closing awards ceremony at the Sarasota Film Festival for a screening, but judging by the recipients alone, the event was a successful one. Sarasota’s programming, while eclectic and strong, can prove an interesting match for its respective audience. I witnessed about 10 walkouts during the astonishing Stray Dogs, and when the credits arrived after a languid 138 minutes, someone shot up in the back of the theater to wonder, “did anyone like that film?” I chuckled but did not raise my hand. Other hybrid, art house films faired better. Nearly every local I […]
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Life of the Mind: An Interview with Screenwriter Cliff Dorfman
A bit player since 1993, Cliff Dorfman was instantly drawn to the movie business. “I started out scamming my way into whatever premieres were happening in NYC however I could,” he said. “I just wanted to be around it and absorb it. That attitude blossomed into connections that valued my work, which ultimately led to Entourage.” As we sat down for coffee, Cliff talked candidly about his journey and the writing process. After transitioning from acting to writing on HBO’s hit show, Cliff picked up a nomination from the Writers Guild of America and finally found his calling. “Thought I […]
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Tenba Builds First GoPro Camera Bag for Pros
Tenba showed off the Shootout 14L Action Pack – a bag specifically built to carry all your GoPros and rigs to remote locations. It’s a small backpack that opens up to a series of small cases to organize all your gear (a bunch of labels are included so you can organize it however you like). The bag is built to hold 4 GoPro bodies with accessories, but you can obviously configure it with more or less. In the open flap are some removable sleeves for batteries and media cards. The outside has some more pouches, one big enough to hold […]
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Airbox Softens LEDs in a Small Package
Here’s another clever tool on the NAB floor that’s both small and handy. Airbox is a modifier that attaches to your LED light to give you a softer, larger source. It packs up flat but with a few quick blows it quickly inflates to attach to your light. It also has a clear sleeve in front to slide in gels. Also available is an attachable egg crate to focus the light’s beam. Available in three sizes, both with and without the egg crate, ranging in price from $39 to $115. Get more info at Airbox.
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iOgrapher Adds Support and Mounts to iPhones and iPads
It’s becoming more and more common to do quick shoots with iPhones and iPads. They’re inexpensive, they have great cameras, they’re connected to the internet. But they obviously lack certain elements of even the most basic camera. When high school teacher David Basulto was using iPads in his media arts class he was noticing a common theme – shaky footage with poor audio. This led him to create iOgrapher. iOgrapher is a simple plastic molding that now comes in three flavors – iPhone 5, iPad, and iPad Mini, with iPad Air on the way. The rig gives you two handles, […]
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Approaching Independent Film Distribution Like Booking a Band
One problem lower-budget independent filmmakers face when figuring out both financing and distribution is a paucity of data. VOD numbers aren’t publicly reported and once you get into non-theatrical distribution, those numbers usually don’t appear in any box-office reporting. As many, including us here at Filmmaker, have said, we need to share our data, whether that’s in public forums or among private collectives. One filmmaker who is doing the former is Paul Osborne over at Hope for Film. In an excellent post, he breaks down the revenue for the small-scale theatrical run for his feature, Favor, and compares it to […]
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DaVinci Resolve 11 – New Editor on the Block?
Besides the new URSA and Studio camera announcements, Blackmagic announced some new updates to their popular coloring software DaVinci Resolve. While the newest version boasts over 100 new features, the vast majority of them are improvements to the editing capabilities. In previous versions the editing area of Resolve was more for making tweaks to an ingested timeline to correct any errors or drop in footage that didn’t import properly. Now it’s aiming to be a full fledged editor. The latest version adds a bunch of features you’d find in most NLEs – lots of timeline trimming options and keyboard controls, […]
