People are shooting again. And as film production lurches forward amidst a mass of new protocols and restrictions, Film Finances has brought together members of their own working group — both company executives and producers — as well as producers who have been working in the field to discuss shooting in the age of coronavirus. Among the topics discussed in this very informative webinar are: * What percentage of a film’s budget should be allocated towards Covid-19 compliance? * What’s the job of the Health Safety Supervisor, and what should their team look like? * The use of apps to […]
Cinematographer Laura Merians-Gonçalves shot Pacified in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Directed by Paxton Winters, the film won awards at the 2019 San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Aruanda Film Festival in Brazil, and the Sao Paolo International Film Festival. Merians-Gonçalves received the Best Debut Cinematography at the 2019 Camerimage in Toruń. Merians-Gonçalves spoke to Filmmaker from Los Angeles in May. Filmmaker: Where were you when the lockdown began? Merians-Gonçalves: I was here in Los Angeles. I had just wrapped a project that I shot for writer/director John Ridley in March, while simultaneously prepping a new movie. We were […]
The second season of the Dead to Me marked cinematographer Toby Oliver’s first Netflix TV series production. The series has been ranked in the platform’s top ten since it was released in May, spending a week or so at number #1. Oliver, originally from Australia, has worked frequently with Blumhouse, including shooting the breakout hit Get Out. He spoke with Filmmaker from Los Angeles. Filmmaker: How were you hired for Dead to Me? Oliver: I was in Mexico working on a movie called Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar, which was written by and stars Kristen Wiig and […]
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor Now, I find myself in the middle of post-production in a post-apocalyptic New York. I lift my eyes to the calendar behind my computer and sigh at the sight of the […]
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor When coronavirus hit New York, I had just moved into a new office along with my producer Gabriel and associate producer Nick. This move represented a big step for us, almost […]
In April, as we began to put together the Summer, 2020 issue of Filmmaker, we asked directors, cinematographers, editors and other film workers to send us their thoughts on the quarantine and their own creative lives. The responses printed here were collected from April through mid-June — personal statements that speak variously to individual filmmaking practices, films halted mid-production, politics, art and life. Read all the responses here. — Editor We were halfway through our eight-week shoot in Buenos Aires on my second fictional feature, The Vegas, when we were forced to halt production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shoot […]
Just before Spring break, I took one of the production classes I teach at the New School’s Screen Studies department on a field trip to a New York post-production house, Goldcrest Post. The date was March 11th, and while there were mounting fears about the novel coronavirus, only a handfull of cases had been confirmed in New York City. As my class walked the four avenues from The New School to Goldcrest’s West Village facility, we chatted. Despite the budding trees and pleasant disposition of the day, there was a palpable tremor of uncertainty in the air as the students […]
Lesli Linka Glatter began her career in the arts as a choreographer and dancer, and this early experience clearly informs her work as a director. On shows as varied in genre and style as Twin Peaks, NYPD Blue, True Blood and Mad Men, one thing remains consistent when Glatter is at the helm: an astute attention to the dramatic rhythms that are created by finding the precise visual corollary for whatever is going on emotionally in a scene. Hers is a cinema of extreme precision, defined by clear, bold choices when it comes to her compositions and rigorous control over […]
Each Friday, Filmmaker sends out a free newsletter containing an original Editor’s Letter as well as news of film openings, events, etc. (the latter mostly streaming and online, these days). The Editor’s Letters usually aren’t posted online, but here’s last week’s, which deals with the uncertainty around obtaining production insurance in this pandemic environment. It’s been passed around quite a bit, so I’m posting it here for easier reference. If you’d like to receive the Filmmaker newsletter, you can subscribe for free here. — SM “It’s what we call ‘a hard market,’” said the insurance broker on the phone. I didn’t need […]
In light of SXSW’s cancellation, a private “homespun” screening of the only local production in the festival’s narrative line up, Caleb Johnson’s The Carnivores, was arranged at its cinematographer’s (Adam J. Minnick) Austin residence on the night it was scheduled to premiere. The event hoped to encapsulate the spirit of the festival all at once. Upon entrance, invited press, programmers and audience got their photo taken on a polaroid against a classic yellow backdrop and laurels. That polaroid fit snug inside an imitation festival badge. After attendees stuffed themselves with Tacodeli they dragged over the red carpet to their seats […]