Filmmaking
Filmmaking
-
Film Festivals and the Future of Streaming
When was the last time your film was screened at a festival? When was the last time you attended a film festival? It’s very tough getting selected for a choice festival slot, but many of the leading festivals are taking advantage of video streaming to promote themselves as well as films they present. Festival streaming provides indie makers an opportunity to jump into distribution and make back some needed revenue. In addition, it allows audiences a way to check out some of the hot new festival hits. Last year, Sundance offered nine short films for streaming and has also made […]
-
Cinematographer Reed Morano on Learning by Doing
In the newest installment of our Craft Truck video series, cinematographer Reed Morano offers the career advice of figuring it out as you go, even if that means bluffing a bit on set. In the rest of the interview, Morano, the d.p. of the crime drama Frozen River, discusses how creativity is the answer to limitation, particularly when she learned that she only had one day to shoot on ice in Frozen River. You can watch all of Morano’s charming interview here.
-
Gabriel Gomez & Julien Melendez on Robert Black and Possessed
Twenty years ago I spent a week with a Boy Scout troop riding a horse through the canyons of Moab in southeast Utah, feeling like young Indiana Jones in the opening sequence of The Last Crusade. Still, the red rocks, the brush, and the steep cliff walls created an ambiance unlike anywhere else, even the better-known national parks in the area like Arches and Zion and Bryce Canyon. While I was riding around half naively admiring the views, cutting edge musicians like Robert Black, a bassist and founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, were discovering Moab’s acoustic […]
-
Color Grading The Kings of Summer
Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts’ coming of age comedy The Kings of Summer premiered successfully at Sundance this year, but it took a hectic few weeks of work to grade and produce the final deliverables in time to make the Sundance submission deadline. The Kings of Summer was graded by Narbeh Tatoussian, senior DI colorist at Blacklist Digital. Tatoussian has worked in the industry for over 16 years. He started in the shipping vault, then moved up through post-production and the QC department before becoming a tape room supervisor, assistant colorist and finally a colorist. During that time he says that’s he’s […]
-
The Future of Storytelling: Tom Perlmutter on the Evolution of Cinema
The Future of Storytelling has announced the date of its second annual summit — October 3, in New York City. In the interview below, the National Film Board of Canada’s Tom Perlmutter expounds on his belief that new forms of storytelling will change the world. For more, read the press release below and visit the Future of Storytelling website. The Future of StoryTelling (FoST) will host its second annual summit in New York City on Thursday, October 3rd. FoST gathers a community of storytellers across all disciplines—including film, TV, publishing, music, gaming, journalism, adverting, and more—to explore how technology is […]
-
Laboratory, Theater, Classroom: Matt Bolish on NYFF’s Convergence
A typically storied showcase, the New York Film Festival embraced the future of film in its 50th edition with the creation of Convergence, a sidebar dedicated to transmedia and interactive storytelling. Last week, the program announced its sophomore slate, which will examine the intersections of technology, content, and audience collaboration across its three categories: Experiences, Panels and Keystone Presentations. Experiences selections The Cosmonaut and Charlie Victor Romeo immerse the viewer alongside Russian cosmonauts in the 1960’s space race and mid-tailspin airline pilots, respectively. “25 New Face” Elaine McMillion will also present her documentary Hollow, which utilizes web-based HTML5 storytelling to […]
-
Sony Announces PXW-Z100, Ushers Era of 4K Camcorder
Sony announced today at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin a new line of 4K camcorders, available this fall. The pro version will be called PXW-Z100, while the “consumer” version will be called FDR-AX1. Bucking the large-sensor trend I described recently in Filmmaker, the PXW-Z100 (from this point, I’ll detail the pro version only) contains a single 1/2.3-in. Exmor R CMOS sensor, a smidgen less than full half-inch. At first glance above, the PXW-Z100 would seem to do for 4K what Sony’s epochal HVR-Z1 did for HD almost a decade ago: introduce affordable capture of the latest high-res format […]
-
Independent Film: Hobby or Career? Kentucker Audley on the Eternal Question
Independent filmmaking: hobby or career? It is a question that has been on more than a few lips for years now. Though digital platforms have greatly democratized the distribution process, filmmakers are still reaping minimal financial returns on their work. Should the aspiring independent filmmaker pursue her passion wholeheartedly, or should she be pragmatic from the get go, making films as a hobby alongside a more lucrative career? Filmmaker spoke with Kentucker Audley, filmmaker, actor and proprietor of NoBudge, about the professional concerns of the modern moviemaker, and the benefits of having yet another passion project to keep you busy. […]
-
Test Footage and Drawbacks of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
Many pundits predicted a serious shakeup when Blackmagic announced their new Pocket Cinema Camera back at NAB in April. Priced at just $995, the Super 16 handheld, complete with 13 stops of dynamic range, seem poised to encroach upon DSLR’s steadfast popularity. As the camera underwent initial shipments in August, homegrown test footage began popping up here and there. Dan Chung, co-editor of News Shooter, recently took his BMPCC out for a spin in the Sanlitun area of Beijing — at night. The experiment yielded mixed results. Armed with a Voigtlander 17.5 mm f0.95 lens to maximize light on the […]
-
September Opportunities for the New York-based Filmmaker
For those who didn’t attend film school, the learning curve when it comes to the technical aspects of filmmaking can be a largely solitary process. Reading up on manuals, trial and error with editing suites, blog browsing and other self-taught measures are often conducted without reaffirmation, encouragement or collaboration. Should you seek the company of others, the following are a few New York organizations whose doors will open for fellowships and workshops in the ensuing weeks. Yes, I am shortchanging 97.35% of the American population, so additional suggestions are more than welcome. Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective Deadline: September 6, 2013 The […]
