Filmmaking
Filmmaking
-
John August Launches iPhone Screenplay Reader, Weekend Read
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 […]
-
Hannah Fidell’s A Teacher To Be Adapted At HBO
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 […]
-
Gyda Arber Explores Transmedia Post-Apocalyptic Dating in FutureMate
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 […]
-
Further Thoughts on Panasonic 4K GH4 – Updated
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 […]
-
SFFS Announces Documentary Film Fund Finalists
The San Francisco Film Society has announced this year’s finalists for the Documentary Film Fund, which is set to divy up $75,000 next month. Open to nonfiction films in post-production, the Fund has previously supported such Sundance titles as Narco Cultura, American Promise and the Oscar-nominated Cutie and the Boxer. Making the list is Western, the Ross Brothers’ follow-up to Tchoupitoulas, and Blood Brother director Steve Hoover’s Gennadly. The Fund is made possible by Jennifer Battat and the Jenerosity Foundation, and you can view the full list of finalists below. Anatomy of an American Dream — John Ryan Johnson, director Antoine Hood is a charismatic 28-year-old former college basketball […]
-
Submissions Open for IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs
Debut directors with either documentary or narrative features in post-production should highly consider submitting to the IFP Independent Filmmaker Labs. Their track record — An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, Blue Caprice, Concussion, Our Nixon, Pariah, to name a few — speaks for itself. A year-long mentorship program, the Labs are designed to support filmmakers through the lengthly process of completing, marketing and distributing their first films. Available exclusively to features with a budget under $1 million, the Labs pair filmmakers with leading industry personnel for three distinct programs throughout 2014. You can read more about the program and apply here. The deadline for documentaries […]
-
Freezing Filmgoing in Tromsø and the Phenomenon of Site-Specific Cinema
The Tromsø International Film Festival has always pushed the boundary when it comes to open-air cinema. The only international film festival that takes place in the Arctic Circle has a Winter Cinema, an open-air cinema with sofas positioned on top of the snow in front of a large screen with picturesque hilltops on the horizon. Most of the program is made up of short films made for children that play in the dark afternoons, but this year Festival Director Martha Otto put on a late-night screening of Dead Snow to boot. It added a new challenge for the audience, to […]
-
The Radiant Godfather’s Trusty Sarcophagus: A Requiem for René Ricard
Lipstick Traces René Ricard, Massachussets-born poet, painter, art critic and Warhol superstar, died February 1 after a battle with cancer, and the Botticellian angels quarrel, seeking revery as trumpets blare in heavenly jubilee for a luminous child. Ricard was published as a teen in the Paris Review in 1967. During the ’70s and ’80s, his articles for Artforum magazine helped launch the careers of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Julian Schnabel and Francesco Clemente. Upon meeting the pop artist Andy Warhol and his protégée, Edie Sedgwick, Ricard found his feral adopted family and went on to appear in the 1965 film […]
-
SXSW Announces Midnighters and Shorts Lineups
Coming off the heels of last week’s announcement, SXSW rounds out their lineup with the Midnighters and Shorts sections. As was the case with the bulk of the festival’s Features, there’s not a huge carry over from Sundance, beyond Adam Wingard’s The Guest and Jonathan’s Chest, Person to Person, Notes on Blindness, Funnel, Dig, Verbatim and Marilyn Myller in the Shorts section. Also of note are 25 New Faces Mohammad Gorjestani and ornana’s Danny Madden, who will screen Refuge and Confusion Through Sand, respectively. Check out the full list of Midnighters; Narrative, Documentary, Animated, Midnight, Texas and Texas High School Shorts; and Music Videos below. MIDNIGHTERS Scary, funny, sexy, controversial – […]
-
The Paragon of Audience Outreach? Robbie Bryan Talks Black Hat
Any panel, roundtable or seminar that concerns technological advancements in film is bound to hit upon the issue of audience engagement. How we can best make use of the embarrassment of riches the internet affords us in finding the right people to watch our film. Filmmaker Robbie Bryan has managed to collect (at the time of this writing) 235,427 Facebook likes for his upcoming film Black Hat, that’s still only in the development stage. He’s leveraged his fan base into an ambitious Seed & Spark campaign, interacting with them along the way and soliciting their input in the shaping of his […]
