6583 Results for “production”
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Takeaways From Dogfish Accelerator’s Demo Day
Back in October, Filmmaker spoke with a few of the driving forces behind Dogfish Pictures’ Accelerator Program, which seeks to bring the start-up financing model to independent film production. I’m pleased to report that James Belfer and Company’s months of hard work culminated in a successful Demo Day at the Microsoft Technology Center in midtown Manhattan last Friday. For myself, and a few others in the audience who aren’t necessarily of the tech-ilk, it was our first brush with this sort of presentation marathon, where one or two representatives from each team take to the floor for with a Powerpoint pitch before […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 10, 2013 -
Abnormal Frequencies: Sound Designing the Short Film Hum
When I made my first short film in 2011, the idea was to set a goal for myself and let that drive my process. The short ended up being Mr. Fitzpatrick, and my goal was simply to present a character and show a day in his life. That’s it. No story or anything complicated. I didn’t even want to get to know him very well–just get an impression. I’m pretty happy with the way the film came out, but the one thing people always comment on is its sound design. We shot the film completely MOS (with the FGV-PL7D and […]
by Iain Marcks on Dec 10, 2013 -
D.P. Phedon Papamichael Talks the B&W Imagery of Nebraska, Lighting Movie Stars and his Online Film School
Cinematographer Phedon Papamichael is finding a new audience of fans with his striking black-and-white camerawork in Nebraska, a father-and-son road trip starring Bruce Dern and Will Forte. With this third collaboration with director Alexander Payne, following Sideways and The Descendants, Papamichael is on a list of potential Oscar nominees. He was recently included in a Hollywood Reporter roundtable of five top cinematographers, a series that often portends year-end award winners. His other work includes James Mangold’s Walk the Line and Oliver Stone’s W. He just completed Monuments Men with George Clooney. Papamichael was born in Athens and studied photography and art […]
by Rania Richardson on Dec 9, 2013 -
“That’s the Movie, That’s the Kind of Overlapping Mess That Bob Loves:” Joan Tewkesbury on Writing Nashville
Robert Altman’s Nashville is one of the towering achievements of 1970s New Hollywood Cinema, a portrait of the hub of the country music scene by juggling a myriad of characters, from self-appointed king of the community Haven Hamilton (Henry Gibson) to its biggest star, Connie White (Karen Black), from the emotionally fragile Barbara Jean (Ronee Blakley) to comically intrepid BBC reporter Opal (Geraldine Chaplin) and campaigning politician Hal Phillip Walker (Thomas Hal Phillips), a presence seen but never heard. A huge, highly accomplished cast — which also includes Ned Beatty, Shelly Duvall, Lily Tomlin, Keith Carradine, Barbara Harris and a very young Jeff […]
by Nick Dawson on Dec 6, 2013 -
Children of the Revolution: Director Narimane Mari on her Award-Winning Bloody Beans
The focus this year’s edition of the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (commonly known as CPH:DOX) was squarely on the political, with programs exploring the intersection of art and activism. Guest curators Ai Weiwei and The Yes Men programmed eclectic sidebars under the festival’s theme “Everything is Under Control.” A section devoted to Chinese documentaries emphasized the medium’s vital role in surveying the state, and the festival added a new award explicitly addressing the recent crop of documentaries that operate between investigative journalism and activism. Taking the festival’s top prize was Bloody Beans, the first feature by French-Algerian filmmaker Narimane Mari, […]
by Paul Dallas on Dec 6, 2013 -
Getting White Reindeer Off The Ground
Zach Clark’s White Reindeer is not your average Christmas tale. Flush with WASPy cheer, real estate agent Suzanne Barrington (the note-perfect Anna Margaret Hollyman) eagerly anticipates the holiday until her meteorologist husband Jeff is whacked in their suburban home. What follows is an earnest and surprising unravelling as Suzanne rides a second wave of grief upon the discovery of Jeff’s affair with a stripper. With a script both original and subversive, Clark and his producers Daryl Pittman and Melodie Sisk went out to finance White Reindeer as the debt crisis hit. Clark was kind enough to reflect upon the process […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Dec 6, 2013 -
Sundance Announce Spotlight, Midnight, Kids and New Frontier Titles
Yesterday Sundance released its initial slate and today the second burst of titles emerges. In Spotlight, which houses fest favorites (many by alumni of the festival and/or the labs), there’s only one title that’s new to me, namely R100, Hitoshi Matsumoto’s wild erotic comedy about a “mild-mannered family man with a secret taste for S&M” who “finds himself pursued by a gang of ruthless dominatrices—each with a unique talent.” That’s definitely one to check out. In the Midnight section, new films from Adam Wingard and Taika Waititi (who reunites with his Eagle vs Shark star Jemaine Clement in a vampire mockumentary) are definitely […]
by Nick Dawson on Dec 5, 2013 -
What Do You Do When Your Funding Falls Through? PROXiMITY
What do you do when the funding for your short movie falls through? Make a different short movie! That’s what Ryan Connolly of Film Riot did after a large portion of the funding he was counting on for his big-budget short film project Outsiders fell through just days before shooting was to begin. In a similar situation most people would probably spend a week or so re-evaluating their life choices. But since they had the gear and the people had already flown in, Connolly decided instead to come up with, and shoot, a different short. The result is PROXiMITY, an […]
by Michael Murie on Dec 5, 2013 -
James Gray Blasts Film Critic Peter Bradshaw Over Immigrant Review (and Bradshaw Responds)
At the Marrakech International Film Festival, American director James Gray fired a broadside at British critics who reviewed his new film, The Immigrant, out of the Cannes Film Festival, singling out the much-respected and acclaimed film critic of The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw. Speaking to a group of international journalists on a roundtable he called The Guardian review, “The dumbest review I’ve ever read.” Without referring to Bradshaw by name, but citing the review extensively, he called Bradshaw, “a failure as a critic,” and “corrupt.” Gray turned on British critics when he was asked by Finnish journalist Kalle Kinnunen about the […]
by Kaleem Aftab on Dec 5, 2013 -
Director Ryan Lightbourn shoots Sleepwalkers with the RED Scarlet and a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera
Ryan Lightbourn grew up in the Bahamas, but went to business school in the U.S. Becoming interested in music, Lightbourn transferred to Full Sail University after graduating. He wanted to become a music producer, but after playing with Final Cut Pro he started making “goofy little short films and music videos with my friends.” Switching to the film program he quickly decided that he could learn more by going out and actually shooting things than by going to class, so he dropped out and bought some gear. He continued shooting music videos, but always wanted to make films, and in […]
by Michael Murie on Dec 3, 2013
