Filmmaking

A SUNDAY AFTERNOON WITH THE GOTHAM BREAKTHROUGH DIRECTORS

I moderated a panel this rainy Sunday afternoon in New York with the five nominees for the Gotham Breakthrough Director Award: Lance Hammer (Ballast), Dennis Dortch (A Good Day to be Black and Sexy), Barry Jenkins (Medicine for Melancholy), Antonio Campos (Afterschool) and Alex Rivera (Sleep Dealer). I’m not a big fan of reading (and writing) panel conversation blow-by-blows, but it was a good talk and some interesting contrasts and comparisons between the directors emerged during the conversation. I’ll note them here. 1. Independent films can take a long time to make. Four out of the five directors spend several […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 30, 2008 Filmmaking
BREAK UP AT&T AND VERIZON?

In Filmmaker‘s Summer issue we ran David Rosen’s “The Next Telecom War,” which argued that net neutrality debates are distracting us from the real goal of infrastructure common carriage. Now, Rosen has contributed to “What Now for Broadband and the Telecoms,” posted on the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard’s Nieman Watchdog site. Bruce Kushnick’s article poses a series of relevant questions regarding broadband and telco policy to the incoming Obama administration: Q. Will you set the goal of broadband access at 1 gigabit in every American home? Q. Why aren’t telecom subsidies being directed to cover much-needed infrastructure improvements? […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 29, 2008 Filmmaking
ALL THE COLORS OF SOFIA COPPOLA

Andrew Sullivan picked this up from the Today and Tomorrow blog, which in turn picked it up from Bored and Beautiful: Alan Woo’s “Pie,” described thusly: “Curious to see if there were any stark similarities or contrasts within particular films, Pie aims to create an incredibly simple and concise baseline of comparison of films trough one particular trait: colour. The outcome is a number of triptychs comparing various films of particular trilogies, directors or genres. A program written in processing captures each frame of each movie and essentially creates a ‘pie chart’ of the colours contained within each film producing […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 28, 2008 Filmmaking
MONEY, THAT’S WHAT I WANT

Expertly timed to premiere today, on so-called “Black Friday” when many parents rush to the stores to buy the latest must-have gifts for their sons and daughters is Lauren Greenfield‘s documentary Kids + Money. Greenfield is the photograher and author of the seminal Girl Culture, a book chronicling the reality of being a teenage girl in America today. Visit any filmmaker, screenwriter, production designer, of costume designer who has worked on a teen film and you’ll find this book on their shelf of reference materials. Next Greenfield made Thin, a photo essay and also documentary film about girls with eating […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 28, 2008 Filmmaking
HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL OUR READERS

Before I head out of town for a couple of days I want to post here my best wishes for a great Thanksgiving to you, our readers, and your friends and families. It’s been a tumultuous year for independent film and independent filmmakers, but on the eve of this holiday, it is clear that we have much to be thankful for. The indie film world may be cash and credit-deprived at the moment, but, at least from my vantage point, it is rich in creativity and passion. It’s also blessed with a deep brain-trust capable of thinking ourselves out of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking
TOP 100 CRIME FILMS

The people who run the Masters of Criminal Justice website, which provides “valuable resources to help you make a career transition into criminal justice or to advance your current criminal justice career,” like lists. On the site now are the “100 Best Open Source Security Tools” and “DIY Home Security: 100 Essential Tips, Tools and Resources.” There is also the site’s picks for the “100 Top Crime Movies of All Time.” A lot of the expected classics are there — The Godfather, Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction — but what’s interesting is that the list is broken down by sub-genre. The Matrix, […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking
FLY ATTACK! TOUR DE FOURS, EPISODE 4

A fly infestation, event-based audience building and a grape-eating contest at the Golden Gate bridge — they are all part of what is turning into the On the Road of indie film web series, Tour de Fours. The webisodes are Todd Sklar and Range Life Entertainment’s chronicles of their movie road tour in which four titles — Box Elder, In Memory of My Father, On the Road with Judas, and Registered Sex Offender — are presented by their makers in theaters across the country. For more on the tour click here.

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking
LEAKING SUNDANCE ’09?

Look forward to a blog post later this week or early next in which we print and comment upon the list of films accepted into this year’s Sundance Film Festival. And while word-of-mouth generally circulates that a few titles are in, for the most part filmmakers keep a lid on it until the list comes out. This year, however, leaks are occurring. Sean Means’s blog at the Chicago Tribune lists a few films that the filmmakers themselves have posted news of their acceptance. The blog for Cory McAbee’s Stingray Sam says that the director’s follow-up to The American Astronaut will […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking
DAN COGAN ON THE NEW SUNDANCE PREP

Over at Ted Hope’s Truly Free Film blog, Dan Cogan, producer and financier (his Impact Partners funds socially-relevant docs and features) posts advice for filmmakers who may, depending on a phone call they get this week, be looking to leverage the boost that a Sundance selection will bring them. Interestingly, the piece is titled “What Financiers Want Now,” suggesting a shift in the desired rhetoric of an indie film pitch. Rather than endorse the traditional high-risk/high-reward model of most indie-film business plans, Cogan and his company emphasize the filmmaker’s ability to mobilize the multiple smaller revenue streams that arise from […]

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 26, 2008 Filmmaking
MOVIEMAKING ON THE CANON EOS 5D

Billed as the first short film shot on the new Canon EOS 5D still camera, here is “Tokyo Reality.” Hat tip: Movie City Indie. Tokyo Reality (Canon 5D MarkII) from utsuru on Vimeo.

By Scott Macaulay on Nov 25, 2008 Filmmaking

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