Filmmaking

CONGRATS TO PAUL KRUGMAN

Not film related (not, that is, if you don’t think the general economy has anything to do with film production, studio or independent), but congrats to Paul Krugman for his Nobel Prize in Economics, announced today. Today in the NY Times he asks whether British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has saved the world economy. That topic is also discussed by screenwriter Howard Rodman (Savage Grace) in his Huffington Post blog titled “Hank and the Swedish Model.” (That’s “Hank” as in “Paulson”).

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 13, 2008 Filmmaking
THE CONCLUSION OF JAMIE STUART’S NYFF46

Here’s Stuart, Mickey Rourke, and the conclusion of this year’s series. Be back in a year for NYFF47.

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 13, 2008 Filmmaking
$27,117,737

This is the amount producers of David Fincher‘s upcoming film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will receive by cashing or selling off tax credits in Louisiana according to The New York Times today. It’s no secret that for the last five years or so many states have been welcoming films with enticing tax incentives to keep them from packing up their sets and heading up north to Canada. It worked, but with the current economic climate (and some shaddy dealings) many states are beginning to rethink their incentive plan. An excerpt from the NYT piece: As the number of […]

By Jason Guerrasio on Oct 12, 2008 Filmmaking
iPHONE APP CALCULATES FILM FOOTAGE, HARD DRIVE SPACE

Producer Noah Harlan of 2.1 Films sent us news of his latest production: an iPhone app. Entitled the 2.1 Film Calculator, it “is a multi-purpose tool for filmmakers to aid in common tasks of film conversion and counting in pre-production, production and post-production.” From the site: Film Calculator has three basic functions: Length & Time Converter: This function allows the user quickly convert length to time and vice versa for a variety of film stocks and speeds. Choose from Super-8mm, 16mm, 35mm or 70mm stocks and preset frames per second rates (12, 24, 25, 48) or enter your own. Then […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 12, 2008 Filmmaking
LAWRENCE LESSIG’S 5-POINT COPYRIGHT LAW PLAN

Lawrence Lessig has a new book coming out this week entitled Remix, published by Penguin Press. It’s excerpted/adapted in the Wall Street Journal today; in the piece, Lessig argues that current copyright law is outdated and counterproduction, stifling both creativity and economic progress. An excerpt: The return of this “remix” culture could drive extraordinary economic growth, if encouraged, and properly balanced. It could return our culture to a practice that has marked every culture in human history — save a few in the developed world for much of the 20th century — where many create as well as consume. And […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 12, 2008 Filmmaking
OPERATIC EVANGELISTA

Without consciously thinking about it, I regularly seem to link to Steven Klein’s photography in this blog. In August, 2005, I loved the mini-cinema that was his Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie “domestic bliss” W magazine spread. Two months late I was arrested by his collaboration with Tom Ford, also for W. His latest W piece is titled “Love/Hate,” and while it’s not as epic it is still very much worth a view. Especially great is Klein’s choice of subject: ’90s supermodel icon Linda Evangelista, who plays some kind of tormented society queen in these shots.

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 11, 2008 Filmmaking
JAMIE STUART’S NYFF46 IN THE WASHINGTON POST

Filmmaker‘s own Jamie Stuart is profiled in the Washington Post in the Sunday Arts and Living section by Ann Hornaday. It’s one of her “Studio” features in which artists explain the significance of one image they’ve created. The image Jamie talks about is here, and following is Hornaday’s text: For the past four years, Jamie Stuart has made short Web films at the New York Film Festival (as well as Sundance and Toronto). Commissioned by Filmmaker magazine, and with a love for the quirky detail, he has brought a poet’s eye to festival junkets, news conferences and sundry rituals of […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 11, 2008 Filmmaking
MAPPING LUCRECIA MARTEL

Filmmaker John Magary has been writing over at the newly reinvigorated The Reeler, and he has a great interview up with director Lucrecia Martel, whose The Headless Woman is playing at the New York Film Festival. The interview comes with the drawing reprinted here, which Martel explains: Undoubtedly, all of my films are organized in layers. For example, if I had to draw it, it wouldn’t be a straight line … [drawing a single arcing line] … Normally the structure of a film would be a single line: starts here, then this happens, then it evolves, then it ends. For […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2008 Filmmaking
YEAST PREMIERES ON DAILYMOTION

It used to be that you could share a movie you’ve seen by loaning a friend a DVD or just recommending that he or she go see it in the theater. Now, however, you can share your viewing queue. For example, I haven’t yet caught up to Mary Bronstein’s Yeast, which I missed at SXSW last year. It’s just been posted as an online premiere on Dailymotion, I’m planning to watch it this weekend, and I’m sharing it with you by embedding it here. In an interview posted on the Linear Reflections blog, Mary talks about her impetus to make […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2008 Filmmaking
BARRY LEVINSON ADVISES JOHN McCAIN

Or, maybe, director Barry Levinson should have advised John McCain. In his blog at the Huffington Post, Levinson conjectures: Over the years since directing Wag The Dog I have been asked whether Hollywood producers are directly involved in political campaigns. I hear rumors from time to time that they might be pulling the strings but no hard evidence. But my suspicion is, no Hollywood producer is involved in the McCain presidential run. I say this for a simple reason, it’s badly orchestrated, lacks a narrative, and when they come across a good story idea they bungle it. An example: When […]

By Scott Macaulay on Oct 10, 2008 Filmmaking

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