Ryan Connolly of Film Riot is a rather perky fellow, but he’s also got some good insight into how camera techniques affect a film’s narrative. Connolly begins with a simple scene of two actors walking across a yard, examining how a dolly versus a tripod versus a handheld shot conveys tonality to the audience. A tripod pan, for instance, may insinuate that the actors are being watched. Connolly covers a number of mechanisms — including the implications of a jib — in the above video, which serves as a helpful reminder that the camera should always being doing more than […]
The Festival of (In)appropriation, a celebration of “contemporary short audiovisual works that appropriate film or video footage and repurpose it in “inappropriate and inventive ways” is the brainchild of co-founder and co-curator Jaimie Baron (who, not inappropriately, has a book on found-footage filmmaking coming out soon). Presented by Los Angeles Filmforum (no relation to NYC’s Film Forum – more like the West Coast’s answer to Anthology Film Archives, as for close to four decades it’s been L.A.’s longest-running organization dedicated to experimental film and animation, docs and video art) the annual event is now in its sixth year. For more […]
A few weeks back, I went to see a one woman show called HAPPY, performed by my friend Eleanore Pienta. It was confluence of many emotions and personalities, but found a recurring framework in the live realization of film. A projection of Eleanore, in character, in a setting, would appear against a backdrop for several minutes, before the lights switched on and Eleanore strode onto stage as that same character. She was effectively bringing these short films to life, something I recalled while reading Sheri Candler’s post at Hope for Film entitled “Creating ‘Live’ Films Can Be Artistically and Financially […]
Oscilloscope Laboratories has released the trailer for 25 New Face Matt Wolf’s inventive documentary Teenage, which uncovers the genesis of youth culture at the turn of the 20th century. Comprised of archival material, recreations and narration lifted from diary entries — courtesy of Jena Malone and Ben Whishaw’s dulcet tones — the film had its world premiere at last year’s Tribeca Film Festival and will be released in New York on March 14. According to a recent Vogue article, Wolf is currently at work on a documentary about Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight at Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s production company.
The Tribeca Film Festival has made significant strides to transform their trend-buoyed cachet into a boundary pushing enterprise. Last year, TFF introduced Storyscapes, a transmedia installation that probed the intersection of technology, interactivity and installation art, and this year, De Niro and Co. are extrapolating from the initiative, launching a full blown “Innovation Week.” From April 21-26, the festival hopes to become ground zero for hackers, screenwriters, engineers and venture capitalists alike, with a program centered around the Fifth Annual Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards (TDIA), Future of Film Live with Aaron Sorkin, Tribeca Hacks <Mobile>, a TFI Interactive summit, the Games […]
Zach Wigon has written a number of provocative, discursive and highly original film essays for Filmmaker over the last couple of years, and now he is making his first feature. In this guest essay, appearing alongside the SXSW-bound film’s Kickstarter campaign, he describes how the interests explored in these pieces dovetailed into a seductive thriller for the NSA age, The Heart Machine. After reading, check out some of Zach’s old pieces for us and consider contributing to his campaign. — SM It all started with Filmmaker Magazine. In the Fall of 2010, I received an email from a producer […]
Screenwriter and director John August and his colleagues at Quote-Unquote Apps have launched Weekend Read, a full-featured screenplay reader for the iPhone. The app imports scripts in Final Draft, PDF, Fountain, Markdown and text formats and then creates an “optimized view” that’s perfectly sized for the iPhone’s 4″ screen. Fonts can be increased, decreased or changed; there’s a “night mode”; and scripts can be imported from Dropbox, a URL, email or any app that has an “Open in” option. I read screenplays on my iPad using Goodreader to narrow the margins and thus increase the font size. It’s a decent […]
While the internet wages on about whether or not the cinematic True Detective is fit for the small screen, HBO is pressing ahead on the ever-thinning gap between film and television. Yesterday, the premium cable channel announced that 25 New Face Hannah Fidell’s A Teacher would be getting the adaptation treatment. Michael Costigan, upon seeing the film at 2013 Sundance, enlisted Fidell and Daniel Brockhurst, former showrunner of the UK Shameless, to executive produce and write the series. Mark and Jay Duplass, who are gearing up to shoot their own HBO series Togetherness, will also executive produce, with Fidell directing the potential pilot. This […]
Online dating takes an offline twist in FutureMate, the latest transmedia extravaganza to premiere at The Brick Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Created by Gyda Arber, Brian Fountain, David Gochfeld and Allen Hahn – all veteran artists whose work spans multiple platforms – FutureMate is set in a post-apocalyptic U.S. where fertile mates are at a premium. Fortunately, hosts Matt and Pam are there to guide audience members through the new and improved, meet-your-match system, which consists of phone-based speed dating and a “series of ice breakers.” (And for those not in NYC for the extended three-week, February run – which […]
Tetraphobia is the east Asian practice of avoiding the number 4 because it sounds like the word for death. But to ignore 4K would be certain death for any manufacturer serious about digital motion imaging. It was only a matter of time before Panasonic dropped the other shoe. Overcoming their fear of 4, Panasonic on February 6 announced the GH4, their first 4K/Ultra HD camera and portent of Panasonic 4K cameras to come. Formally known as LUMIX DMC-GH4, it arrived mere weeks after CES in Las Vegas, where Panasonic unveiled a prototype 4K “GH Next.” Of course 4 can also […]