Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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Director Matthew Lillard on Fat Kid Rules the World
Matthew Lillard has been in the movie business for a long time, racking up a sizable resume as an actor in films from SLC Punk and Scream to The Descendants and Trouble with the Curve, but with this , year’s Fat Kid Rules the World, Lillard makes his directorial debut. Fat Kid Rules the World tells the story of Troy Billings, a lonely, overweight teen, and Marcus, the magnetic-yet-troubled local musician/high school dropout as they fight to save each other from their inner demons (depression/attempted suicide and drug addiciton respectively). After a serendipitous offer out of the blue and feeling […]
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In Production: The Untitled Terence Malick Project, Zulu, The London Project and Abuse of Weakness
“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting. If you would like your film to be included in this space, please send an email to nick@filmmakermagazine.com Terrence Malick With his soon to be released To the Wonder and recently wrapped Knights of Cups, the once reclusive Terrence Malick is proving to be one of those rare artists that become more prolific with age. His latest film The Untitled Terrence Malick Project is currently shooting in Austin, Texas and features an all-star cast including Ryan Golsing (Blue Valentine), Christian Bale (The New World), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Cate […]
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Canon to Bring Uncompressed HDMI Output to 5D Mark III
Canon has announced a firmware update for the 5D Mark III which will bring a long awaited feature to one of their DSLRs; uncompressed HDMI output. Unfortunately, the update won’t be available until April 2013. The update promises 4:2:2 8-bit video output, which may translate into slightly better video when used with an external recorder. Just as importantly, for those working in studio locations, or with an EVF, the HDMI output will improve the quality of monitoring. The update also includes an improvement to Auto Focus, with the camera’s central cross-type points now working to a maximum aperture of f/8 […]
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Encrypting Basic TV
On October 12, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously approved a measure to allow the major cable companies to encrypt basic tier programming. Basic tier consists of traditional “over-the-air” broadcast channels. Previously, the leading Multi-System Operators (MSOs) were permitted to only encrypt programming offered as part of more expensive packages. The major MSOs have long argued that providing non-encrypted basic tier service was inefficient, expensive and opened them to theft-of-signal piracy. They complained that the restriction imposed unfair competition on them because alternative TV services providers like satellite and telcos (e.g. Dish and AT&T) were exempt from the regulation. The […]
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Networking Frenzy
This year the Independent Filmmaker Project, the nation’s oldest and largest advocacy program for independent filmmaking, moved it on up, transferring its signature event, Independent Film Week, uptown to the sparklingly new Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, home of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. In her introductory remarks, Amy Dotson, IFP’s deputy director, described the relocation as a “homecoming.” The IFP’s original Market began as a sidebar to the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, and both organizations were thrilled to be working in partnership again. For the lucky producers, writers and directors whose projects had been selected […]
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What if You Could Crowdfund a Filmmaker, Not a Film?
Here’s something I’ve always wondered: why are film investments always focused on the film, not the filmmaker? In other words, why don’t investors taking a chance on a first-time filmmaker get more than just the usually non-existent returns from that debut feature? Often what hits after the debut of a first feature is not the film but the filmmaker. The movie gets bought for a modest amount and usually underperforms, often leaving the investors with some degree of loss. But, after that film, the filmmaker is, well, a filmmaker, and in a position to move on to bigger and more […]
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The Week in Cameras: Interesting Times Ahead
If the Mayan calendar goes beyond 12, we could be in for an interesting new year. The next few months should see several new cameras being announced or begin shipping, and 4K acquisition becoming almost mainstream. The New F From Sony Sony is letting people know that a new “F” camera will be announced October 30th. You can even sign up to be notified here: pro.sony.com Will this camera replace the current PMW-F3 ($13,000) or perhaps fall somewhere between that and the Sony F65 ($65,000)? It remains to be seen, but October 30th also fits with the time frame for the […]
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On Death at the New York Film Festival
At this year’s New York Film Festival I took part in a panel organized by Indiewire’s Critics Academy, a program for young, emerging film writers. The following is a consideration on the subject of death as it is depicted in three of this year’s films by one of those writers, Fariha Roisin. — SM In Michael Haneke’s latest film, Amour, an opening wide shot captures a crowded mass. An audience is watching a piano recital, and we are hypnotized, unsure of where to look, or rather, who to look for. The shot gives us no clues and yet a romanticism lurks, […]
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“I Need to Feel When I Make a Film That I’m Not the Same Person Who Made the One Before”: Director Leos Carax on Holy Motors
“The social web can’t exist until you are your real self online,” said Sheryl Sandberg on Charlie Rose last year. “I have to be ‘me’, and you have to be ‘Charlie Rose,’” the Facebook COO told the talk show host. “It’s me” — that single line appearing late in Leos Carax’s Holy Motors unexpectedly devastated me at the film’s Cannes premiere, and perhaps its memory is what’s causing me to recall Sandberg’s statement, which is certainly in line with similar comments by her boss, Mark Zuckerberg. In an age in which online platforms offer the possibility for anyone to craft for themselves a variety […]
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Can Hackathons Save Independent Film?
Technology, collaboration and the rewards of spontaneous thinking — hackathons harness all three in events that are equal parts meet-up and late-night college term-paper deadline marathon. These multi-day crash sessions are popular in the tech world, gathering strategists, designers and developers to produce everything from fleshed-out concepts to fully designed apps. But does the hackathon format have anything to offer film? Can the problems of independent film — challenges of audience-building, discovery, and monetization — find their solutions in such accelerated brainstorming? Bond Influence and Strategy sought to find out this past weekend with Hacking Film, New York’s first film-centric […]
