Production
Filmmaking - Production
-
Five Questions for A Plague So Pleasant Director Benjamin Roberds
Putting a new cinematic spin on the zombie genre is Benjamin Roberds’ microbudget (under $3,000!) indie, A Plague So Pleasant. In the film’s near future, a zombie epidemic has created an undead population that is largely harmless, attacking only when threatened. It’s even a felony to shoot a zombie in the U.S. A Plague So Pleasant‘s drama turns on protagonist Clay Marshall’s desire to do just that — shoot a zombie, the boyfriend of her sister, in order to jolt her back to reality. Also significant about A Plague So Pleasant — the filmmakers are releasing it online and for […]
-
Crowdsourced Vine Short Film by You and Airbnb
A film can be as simple as coming up with a concept, brainstorming the shot list, shooting, and editing. That’s what Vine, the app that lets you produce six-second video loops, and Airbnb, the site that lets you rent people’s apartments, are counting on for their short film Hollywood & Vines. Airbnb is tasking Vine users with creating the content that will comprise its crowdsourced short, which will premiere on the Sundance Channel on September 12th. From August 22nd to 28th, Airbnb disseminated the shot lists hourly between 8am and 5pm via Twitter. Each tweet issued a creative prompt for […]
-
“I’m Envisaging a New Kind of Movie:” SFX Legend Douglas Trumbull on Kubrick, Malick and the Future of Film
Douglas Trumbull has been behind some of cinemas most spectacular special effects. His impressive C.V. includes working on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner and most recently Tree of Life. He also directed Silent Running in 1972 and Brainstorm in 1983, most remembered as the final film appearance of Natalie Wood. He has also been one of cinema’s great pioneers, always pushing technology to its limit, whether that be designing films for World Fairs, making rides for Universal and Luxor Hotels, or simply backing new technologies such as IMAX. Never standing still, the self-proclaimed […]
-
Be Natural: Interview with documentary filmmakers Pamela Green and Jarik van Sluijs
Filmmakers Pamela Green and Jarik van Sluijs have worked on documentaries in various roles including as co-producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary Bhutto. Their company, PIC Agency, has produced titles for movies including 42 and The Kingdom, and they have also produced content for award shows, commercials and other productions. “People come to us to add to the story when you can’t turn the camera back on,” says Green. They have specialized in creating new content by combining graphics, stock footage, new footage and editorial. These techniques should be especially useful for their first documentary, Be Natural, about the first female […]
-
Joe Swanberg and the “Fun” Mandate
Drinking Buddies was conceived and executed as Joe’s “bigger” film. Bigger in the sense of its intended audience — we knew we wanted to reach as large an audience as possible — and bigger in scale. Unlike his past films, which he had made largely on his own, this one had a 50-person crew, multiple investors and movie stars. It was an experiment that could have gone very badly. What if we gave Joe all this money and resources and he just shot into a corner? What if the new infrastructure crushed what was special and intimate about his films, […]
-
5 Lessons on Making a “Bigger” Movie
Movies come in all sizes. On one end of the spectrum, there’s the micro-micro, you-and-your-friends, five-person-crew, max-out-a-credit-card and play a festival (maybe) movie. And then there’s Spiderman. In between, there are steps — adding a more famous actor, getting slightly more money, shooting in a place that isn’t your apartment with people you’ve never met before. Below, some tips for adjusting to your “big movie” – some collected from experience, some handed down to me. YOU WILL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE DOING. Part One: You have no idea what you’re doing… and don’t worry about it. If someone rolls […]
-
Getty Museum’s New “Open Content” Initiative Makes 4,600 Pieces of Art Free to Use
The Getty Museum made an unusual move for the art world last week when they decided to launch their new “Open Content Program”, making over 4,600 pieces of the Museum’s private collection available to download, use, modify and publish for any purpose (all in beautiful full resolution). About this decision, the museum explains: “The Getty was founded on the conviction that understanding art makes the world a better place, and sharing our digital resources is the natural extension of that belief.” Though there are no films included in the Open Content Program, there’s no doubt a vast treasure trove of […]
-
The POV Conversation: Josh Aronson and Adam Larsen on Finding the Story
Last year, to celebrate POV’s 25th anniversary, Filmmaker organized a series of conversations between documentary directors whose work had been featured on the PBS non-fiction showcase. Last month we continued this series with a discussion between filmmakers Stephen Maing and Lixin Fan. This week we are featuring a conversation between Adam Larsen, whose first feature-length documentary, Neurotypical, is currently streaming on the POV website, and Josh Aronson, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary on deafness, Sound and Fury. Here the two discuss how they went about searching for a story. Click here to watch Larsen’s Neurotypical, an exploration into living with autism and how it reflects on what it means […]
-
Ian Hendrie and Jyson McLean at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit
Co-writer/directors Ian Hendrie and Jyson McLean were recently at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit with Mercy Road, a feature based on real-life events that “traces the spiritual odyssey of a small town housewife and mother, as she becomes willing to commit violence and murder in the name of God.” The following is what the pair wrote about their experiences at the summit. We are making our third and final climb up “The Mountain.” As the shuttle from the airport snakes up the winding forest-crested road, we anticipate spending a few last days in this special place. There’s a feeling of coming […]
-
Gabrielle Nadig at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit
Producer Gabrielle Nadig was recently at the Sundance Creative Producing Summit with King Jack, a project written and directed by Felix Thompson about a 15-year-old boy looking after his younger cousin for the weekend who must also deal with the local bully. The following is what Nadig wrote about her experiences there. The Sundance Creative Producing Lab has changed my life. I realize this is a bold statement but I know that my five fellow producers chosen to participate in this year’s Lab would say the same. I have never been a part of a program that was so nurturing, generous, uplifting, […]
