A defining moment in the making of American Son was when the financing fell through four weeks before production. Six months of preproduction and planning evaporated with one phone call. That disappointment forced me to dig deeper and commit to making the film by whatever means necessary. In hindsight it was the best thing that could have happened. After digesting the initial disappointment, I was suddenly reconnected to the initial inspiration that was the genesis of the film. I felt like I was back in control of the creative process — it was from that moment on that the film […]
It took me a few moments to really find the most specific and significant answer to this idea. In my experience on this particular film, I have to respond by saying that if I had 10 percent more of anything, it would definitely be AVAILABILITY. Since I have the most sincere and genuine respect for all positions regarding the many aspects of filmmaking, it was my duty as a multiple player on this production to wear many different hats. Serving proudly as the screenwriter, director, actor and producer (among others) on this film had some serious consequences. The most important […]
Sat, Jan 19th, 8:30pmWed, Jan 23rd, 10am Interview by Brandon Harris Jack Frost’s playboy lifestyle in New York City is rocked by the news that his childhood love is engaged. Jack plunges into whiskey and self-destruction. until his eleven-year-old neighbor, Sophie, an unlikely mother figure, leads Jack back into himself, and out of the nostalgia and excess that consumed him. Interview with Steve Clark Where were you when you heard you’d been accepted to Slamdance and how did you react?I was in my apartment in NYC about to take a shower, when I picked up the phone, and one of […]
Fri, Jan 18th 4:30pmTues, Jan 22nd, 7pm Interview by Brandon Harris Eva Weber’s doc short City of Cranes takes you on a journey high up in the sky, to look at London’s ever-changing landscape through the eyes and words of crane drivers. It is a glimpse into a world unnoticed by most of us, yet fundamental to our lives. What initially drew you to the world of cranes?I started making this film as I was fascinated by the fact that there is almost another world above London; yet most of us never look up to notice cranes or their drivers. […]
As I type this I’m on my way to the Sundance Film Festival, where the Filmmaker team will be filing coverage all week. I’ll be blogging along with Jason Guerrasio and Justin Lowe; Jamie Stuart will be shooting video – creating one of his own typically personal and idiosyncratic portraits of festival life as well as filming interviews with directors and actors which you’ll see in the months ahead; if all goes well, Brian Chirls will be shooting and posting video from the fest’s panels and programs; and, Brandon Harris will be covering Slamdance, blogging news and reviews from the […]
My first thought was I wished I had an additional 10 percent of everything! As an independent filmmaker, I don’t think you ever feel like there’s enough time or money or resources. You always feel like you need just a little more. In the end it’s about finding creative ways to make what you do have go that extra 10 percent… and it’s about making choices and compromises that hopefully don’t hurt the film. As we traveled around the world filming I never felt ready to leave one location and go on to the next. You can’t help but wonder […]
I suppose we always could have used 10 percent more daylight since we attempted to shoot as much of the film as possible during “the magic hour.” It seems that regardless of the production’s size, there’s never enough resources, financing, time. In spite of these obstacles our shoot went smoothly and was a really liberating, fun experience. This was in no small part due to our friends and collaborators who filled in the gaps otherwise created by our budget limitations. These limitations also forced us to be resourceful and creative in ways that positively contributed to the film’s overall aesthetic. […]
Easy enough: I definitely wished that I had 10 percent more head capacity. Call it intelligence, understanding, analytic ability, lateral thinking, insight into psychology or just mathematics. I felt a deficit. As a first-time feature director I went pretty fucking cockily into the process. I reckoned my vast experience in music videos, commercials and short films had prepared me for anything that would come my way, production-wise. I believed my life as a devoted reader had rendered me understanding about characters and stories and, finally, that my love for film had filled my mental archive to the brim of how […]
In making an independent movie, you go into it understanding that you have certain limitations and therefore you have to find ways to compensate and not sacrifice content or the essence of what you are attempting to do. What Just Happened? was shot on a very lean 33-day schedule, and there were more than 80 locations. I shoot fast so it wasn’t a problem, but where I actually found myself constrained in terms of dollars was in the editing room when we were choosing the music for the film. There’s a good amount of source music, and you find yourself […]
Well seeing as making a film can feel like living a lifetime this is the kind of question I imagine being asked by St. Peter when reaching the gates of heaven (although what with the nature of getting a film off the ground perhaps my chances of making it that far have now rapidly declined). However much like life, what I wanted 10 percent more or less of seemed to change every day. We shot in prison cells where we could certainly have done with 10 percent less heat from the lamps and in the sewers and water tanks we […]