Filmmaking

DAVID LYNCH, STRAIGHT UP AND MASHED

David Lynch has launched Interview Project, a “20,000 mile road trip over 70 days across and back the United States,” in which Lynch and his team interview ordinary people. “It’s something that’s human and you can’t stay away from it,” Lynch says on the promo teaser currently up on the site. It’s a simple idea, and from the teaser it seems very Straight Story, but I have to admit that the faces of the interviewees and the basic questions they pose to themselves will have me back at the site on June 1 when it formally launches. Click on the […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 10, 2009 Filmmaking
DOCUMENTARIANS GO TO WASHINGTON TO DEBATE THE DMCA

This past week the effect of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on educators, documentary filmmakers and remix artists was debated during one of the Copyright Office’s tri-annual hearings. Several bloggers and participants have written about the hearings, and one, Gordon Quinn, is the subject of an article by Lindsay Muscato on the Gapers Block blog. Her article offers a good overview of the issue. Her lede: This week in Washington, Chicago filmmaker Gordon Quinn and other advocates prepare for the next battle for filmmakers’ right to quote from their culture. Mass-produced DVDs often encrypt films so that they can’t be […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 9, 2009 Filmmaking
SWINTON ON SWINTON

Over at Filmmaker Videos check out Damon Smith‘s interview with Tilda Swinton about her new film, Julia, which opens today, as well as other revealing thoughts about her career.

By Jason Guerrasio on May 8, 2009 Filmmaking
POWERPOINTING TRENT REZNOR’S BUSINESS PLANS

Thanks to Steve Gallagher for alerting me to this YouTube clip in which Michael Masnick gives us a presentation on Trent Reznor’s forward-thinking business models with Nine Inch Nails following the band’s departure from a major label. People talk a lot about Radiohead, but Reznor’s strategies are deeper and more far-reaching and include everything from free distribution, use of the torrent sites as delivery mechanisms, cultivation of fan communities, Creative Commons licenses, remixing and alternate reality games (ARG’s). There are plenty of ideas here we can apply to our own film marketing campaigns.

By Scott Macaulay on May 5, 2009 Filmmaking
IFP WELCOMES OSCILLOSCOPE’S ADAM YAUCH TO ITS BOARD

The Independent Filmmaker Project, which publishes this magazine, welcomed Oscilloscope founder Adam Yauch (also a member of the Beastie Boys) to its board of directors last night with a cocktail reception hosted by Deluxe Laboratories here in New York. The new Deluxe facility is stunning and the reception, which also marked the DVD release of Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy, was followed by a screening of the film. Attendees included quite a few directors, including Oren Moverman, Todd Rohal, Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden, Ira Sachs, Jenny Livingston, as well as Yauch, the IFP’s Michelle Byrd, and Wendy and Lucy […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 5, 2009 Filmmaking
LARS VON TRIER’S ANTI-CHRIST GETS A SECOND TRAILER

I liked the first trailer for Lars Von Trier’s Anti-Christ a lot, but some people were mixed on it, thinking it looked too much like conventional horror. I don’t agree — or, perhaps, I like the idea of Von Trier doing an out-and-out horror film — but here’s the second trailer, which has a bit more of a psychological vibe. The film opens in Competition this month at Cannes.

By Scott Macaulay on May 3, 2009 Filmmaking
WALKING AND TALKING WITH JIM JARMUSCH

Tied to this weekend’s opening of The Limits of Control, the FilmInFocus site (which, full disclosure, I co-edit) has posted quite a bit of content relating to writer/director Jim Jarmusch and the movie. Below is an excerpt from Lea Rinaldo’s documentary on the making of The Limits of Control. FilmInFocus will be posting sections of this piece, and, having seen the whole thing I can recommend it both as intriguing glimpse into Jarmusch and his production method as well as film in its own right. And, also, I interviewed Jarmusch about the movie’s striking score, which is compiled of tracks […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 3, 2009 Filmmaking
FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S TETRO TRAILER PREMIERES

Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro, which opens this year’s Cannes Film Festival Directors Fortnight, has just premiered online. The film stars Vincent Gallo, newcomer Alden Ehrenreich, Y Tu Mama, Tambien’s Maribel Verdu, Carmen Maura and Klaus Maria Brandauer, and it is posted below.

By Scott Macaulay on May 3, 2009 Filmmaking
RED ONE CAMERA USED FOR MEGAN FOX ESQUIRE COVER

In our current issue there’s a piece on still cameras used to make movies, and now we’ve got motion picture cameras used to shoot stills. Of course, motion picture cameras have been able to shoot stills for a while, but you wouldn’t expect to see one on a magazine cover. This month, photographer Greg Williams has photographed Megan Fox for the cover of Esquire using the RED ONE camera. From the site: For the first time in Esquire‘s history (and, we imagine, magazine history in general), a cover image was shot as a video. Using the RedONE, a video camera […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 1, 2009 Filmmaking
THE EXCLAMATION MARK RETURNS!!!

I twittered this, but it deserves its own blog post: Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian discusses the rise of the exclamation mark in today’s email culture. As someone who was called out recently for excessive use of the exclamation mark in my emails — punctuation I rarely use in other writing — I found this article fascinating. (I’ve also been challenged by my editorial practice in Filmmaker of using exclamation marks to connote laughter rather than using (laughs). An excerpt: Shipley is comment editor of the New York Times, and Schwalbe, editor-in-chief of Hyperion Books. Those of you thinking that […]

By Scott Macaulay on May 1, 2009 Filmmaking

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Cookie	Duration	Description
cfmrk_cic		Used by Cloudflare to route user traffic for this Site.
sparrow_id		Installed by Cloudflare. Used to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not store any personal identifiable information.

Cookie	Duration	Description
OAGEO		Installed by the Revive Ad Server. Used to cache geolocation (session, deleted when closing the browser)
OAID		Installed by the Revive Ad Server to distinguish users.