Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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“BEGINNERS” & “THE TREE OF LIFE” SPLIT TOP PRIZE AT GOTHAM AWARDS
At last night’s 21st annual Gotham Independent Film Awards Mike Mills‘ Beginners and Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life split the Best Feature prize, closing a night filled with shocking outcomes that included the films with the most nominations, The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene, getting shut out. Along with the eight awards handed out, see full list of winners below, there were also sightings by some of the most respected talents working today, including Tilda Swinton, Jim Jarmusch, Christopher Plummer and the co-hosts for the night Oliver Platt and Edie Falco. In addition, career tribute awards were handed […]
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The Software Camera
We’ve seen several revolutions in the world of camera design over the past ten years; HD video, solid state recording, DSLRs, and large sensor cameras, but one that is often overlooked is the arrival of the software camera. It used to be that when a camera was released its features were set in stone, and only the arrival of a new model – or a very rare recall – saw any changes in the capabilities of the camera. That has changed as the computer-like functionality of video cameras has expanded. As just one example, there were two amazing things about […]
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IFP GOTHAM AWARDS: “BEGINNERS” IN GOOD COMPANY
I was very very lucky. First, because I was blissfully unaware that the Gothams would announce the nominations on that day. In fact I was trying to get used to the idea my film — Beginners— had run its course and now it was time to put it to bed, move on, stop worrying about that project. Which isn’t easy. I started this in 2005, I’m used to putting everything I have into it, and the film contains so many people and places and things I truly love (both the real people who inspired the story and the filmmaking family […]
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IFP GOTHAM AWARDS: LITTLE TIME FOR FANTASIES WITH “WILD HORSE, WILD RIDE”
When my husband and co-director, Greg, and I were first alerted that our film was one of 29 eligible for the Gotham Audience Award, we were intrigued, but realistic. We knew the chances that our documentary, Wild Horse, Wild Ride, would make the top FIVE were slim. After all, we were up against many wonderful and worthy films and while Wild Horse has earned numerous audience awards at festivals, it has yet to be nationally released. Still, we thought it was a tremendous opportunity, a kick-in-the pants so to speak, that would motivate us to reconnect with our audiences, do […]
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The Blue Velvet Project, #47
Second #2209, 36:49 The seconds tick down. Dorothy crawls, in anguish across the floor, coming dangerously close to the closet that hides Jeffrey. She is abject, and also strangely free, the sort of freedom that comes from knowing that the worst is yet to happen, yet again. The sharp expectation of pain that gives life meaning, but that can also carve out what was best in you and wound and warp it forever. It is like a scene from a silent movie, as Dorothy’s body conveys a meaning beyond words. Isabella Rossellini is the star of a hidden drama within […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 5: Roundup
Originally posted April 2011. This fifth and last NAB 2011 blog is really about churn. Churn, to my way of thinking, is the degree of agitation and upheaval in the industry at a given point in time, such as this NAB. Apple’s sneak peek of FCP X at the Final Cut Pro Users Group 10th anniversary SuperMeet reminded me that even a decade ago, indie filmmakers were still coming to grips with the desktop revolution. I remember producers transferring MiniDV cassettes of my footage to Betacam for digitizing back to Avid, oblivious to FireWire or FCP 1.0. How professional could […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 4: 3D
Originally posted April 2011. NAB’s ubiquitous buzzwords this year were 3D and 4K. Or should that be, buzz-acronyms? James Cameron and camera design partner Vince Pace kicked off NAB with a keynote in which they announced founding a new company, Cameron-Pace Group, to spur the industry, particularly television, into rapid adoption of 3D technologies. Cameron, who knows a thing or two about being on top of the world, may have it right again. He and Pace think that TV is fertile soil for 3D, that in a space of five years TV viewers will expect 3D. By then, they contend, […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 3: SSD, Tapes and Storage
Originally posted April 2011. At back-to-back press conferences prior to the opening of NAB’s show floor, both Panasonic and Sony acknowledged the still-unfolding natural disaster in Japan and asked that our thoughts be with the Japanese people. Sony added that despite critical damage to its media plant in Sendai, supplies of HDCAM-SR tape would return to normal by June. Sony’s Sendai Technology Center (which I’ve visited) practically invented the high-performance tapes necessary to DV and HDV (metal evaporated) and HDCAM-SR (metal particle), and still manufactures a preponderance of them. Having persuaded both film and television industries to adopt HDCAM-SR as […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 2
Originally posted April 2011. I wish to continue my notes about developments in large-sensor cameras, but of course the magnesium-powder newsflash sucking up all the oxygen at NAB today is Apple’s stealth sneak peek at Final Cut Pro X last night. Apple hasn’t officially attended NAB for several years—many of us miss the consummate showmanship of their former press conferences—so when news broke on the eve of NAB that an entire slate of speakers at the 10th annual FCP User Group SuperMeet had been swept aside for a special guest, Apple fever took hold. The event sold out in a […]
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Leitner’s Mondo NAB, Part 1
Originally posted April 2011. The big NAB show in Las Vegas opened Monday, and I’ll be filing reports for Filmmaker’s readers at the end of every day through Thursday, when the show floor closes. For those unfamiliar with NAB, it stands for National Association of Broadcasters, a powerful trade association and influential Washington lobby, no bastion of progressive politics. But for filmmakers and indie producers, it also stands for the huge annual April trade show in Vegas, where the latest in cameras, lenses, recorders, lighting, audio, and all manner of production gear are introduced. TV execs, techies, DPs, and crew […]
