6577 Results for “production”
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DPs Axel Schneppat and Max Preiss on Filming the “Digital Scavengers” of The Cleaners
One of 12 films to compete in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at Sundance this year, The Cleaners tells the story of so-called “digital scavengers.” These are individuals outsourced by Silicon Valley companies to delete supposedly inappropriate content from the internet. The Cleaners takes place in a nocturnal Manila designed to evoke Blade Runner and Gotham City. The film’s cinematographers – Axel Schneppat and Max Preiss – spoke with Filmmaker before the film’s five showings at Sundance. Below they discuss the cinematic challenge of shedding “light on an industry virtually kept in the dark.” Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2018 -
David Gutnik on Editing the Psychological Thriller NANCY Starring Andrea Riseborough
Writer/director Christina Cho and editor David Gutnik met during their time at Columbia University’s MFA Film Program. Gutnik edited Cho’s thesis film, I Am John Wayne, which won the Grand Jury Prize for best short film at Slamdance in 2012. Their new film together, NANCY, is one of three films at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival to star Andrea Riseborough. Below, Gutnik discusses the genre elements of this psychological thriller and how he sought to ensure that “every edit is connected to the central nervous system of the character, and by extension the soul of the film.” Filmmaker: How and why did you […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2018 -
“Unpredictable, Loud, Hot, and Dangerous”: Director Michael Dweck | The Last Race
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? The track where we shot The Last Race was a reflection of the speedway next to my childhood home where I would sneak under the fence to watch races on hot Saturday summer nights. Later, as an adult, I spent years creating still photographs there, and during that time, I lived and breathed the world of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2018 -
“I Wanted My Cinematography to Embrace the Ugly and Mundane”: DP Drew Daniels on Arizona
Prolific cinematographer Drew Daniels has shot more than 40 shorts and features since 2009. His recent credits include the films of Trey Edward Shults (Krisha and It Comes at Night) and the SXSW-winning short Thunder Road. Daniels was tapped by first-time feature director Jonathan Watson to shoot Arizona, a darkly comic thriller featuring Danny McBride, Rosemarie DeWitt and Seth Rogen. Below, Daniels discusses the film’s visual influences, his love of natural light and capturing the “dusty, burnt out quality of the suburban Southwest.” Arizona screens in the Midnight lineup at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 22, 2018 -
“The Story Is Not about the Actual Shooting”: DP Patrick Scola on Police Brutality Drama Monsters and Men
One of Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of Independent Film in 2015, Reinaldo Marcus Green makes his feature debut as a writer/director with Monsters and Men. The film tells the story of a police shooting and its aftermath in the community of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Green hired cinematographer Patrick Scola (Southside with You) to shoot the film, which screens in competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Ahead of the film’s premiere, Scola spoke with Filmmaker about how he sought to blend both “naturalism” and “heightened reality” in the film’s visual approach. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2018 -
DP Matías Mesa on Shooting Sundance Drama The Queen of Fear
The directorial debut of Argentine actress Valeria Bertuccelli, The Queen of Fear holds its world premiere at Sundance 2018 as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition. The film was co-directed by Fabiana Tiscornia and stars Bertuccelli as an actress set to open a one-woman show. Matías Mesa, the film’s cinematographer, has DP’d a number of Spanish-language shorts and features in addition to his camera operator work on Okja, Triple 9 and The Road. Below, Mesa speaks with Filmmaker about lighting a blackout sequence and the visual influences on The Queen of Fear. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2018 -
DP Kirsten Johnson on Filming the Kronos Quartet Documentary A Thousand Thoughts
Kirsten Johnson was among the most in-demand documentary DPs even before her much-celebrated 2016 film Cameraperson. Johnson has shot more than 50 films for such directors as Laura Poitras, Alex Gibney and Kirby Dick. Her latest film, A Thousand Thoughts, is a doc on the Kronos Quartet from directors Sam Green and Joe Bini. The film will be presented at Sundance as a “live documentary” with Green narrating live and the Quartet conducting the score in person. Before its premiere, Johnson spoke with Filmmaker about finding innovative ways to film a concert and how a shot from Cameraperson wound up in A […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2018 -
Ask Not What Festivals Can Do For You….
As filmmakers, we sometimes get so concerned with what film festivals can do for us and for our films that we forget about what our films can do for the festivals, and more importantly, for their local audiences. This year more than ever, I’ve seen festivals in communities around the world overcome violence, natural disasters and other communal sources of anxiety to put on amazing celebrations of cinema. They’re helping to spark conversations, rebuild damaged economies and in general just get people celebrating again with their neighbors, friends and visiting filmmakers. I’ve had a first-hand look at some of these […]
by Dan Mirvish on Jan 21, 2018 -
“The Bisbee Deportation Doesn’t Matter Unless it Relates to our Real Lives Today”: Robert Greene on Bisbee ’17
Sundance vet Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine, Actress) returns to Park City this year with a film quite unlike his previous features, at least in subject matter if not approach. For Bisbee ’17 Greene turns his trademark technique of fusing fiction and nonfiction elements on the story of a sordid anniversary, the 1917 Bisbee Deportation, in which 1,200 immigrant miners in Bisbee, Arizona were rounded up, shipped out of the copper town on cattle cars and left to die in the desert. Through staged recreations developed and performed by local residents — including an actor whose mom was deported to […]
by Lauren Wissot on Jan 21, 2018 -
“I Literally Shot the Whole Movie with Dolls on a Miniature Set”: Director Nicolas Pesce | Piercing
As you made your film during the increasingly chaotic backdrop of the last year, how did you as a filmmaker control, ignore, give in to or, conversely, perhaps creatively exploit the wild and unpredictable? What roles did chaos and order play in your films? I’m too neurotic for chaos. But there’s always going to be some element of chaos in the process of making any movie. To me, it’s a matter of making sure you encounter as little chaos as possible. As such, I’m a voracious planner in an attempt to try to avoid that inevitable chaos. On my first […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 20, 2018
