Art
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The Microbudget Conversation: Social Change
In keeping with a bit of our theme from last week we tackle the subject of using our films to make a larger audience aware of a subject or group, and in turn gain a network of people we would have never come in contact with. If crowdsourcing is a way to gain a new following and engage an audience in the filmmaking process, then social change can do the same thing, but also give back to a community or group in more ways than just one narrative film can. It can also serve to engage a larger network in […]
by John Yost on Jul 5, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: Crowdsource… Not Outsource
I first met Jesse Borkowski back at RIT in 2002, and we became fast friends. His interest in experimental filmmaking mirrored my own, and soon we were the dynamic duo of cinematographer and assistant on over ten short films. Our verbal short hand and similar visual language made it easy for us to work together, but it wasn’t until now that we’ve collaborated on a project as co-directors; It was bound to happen. The film I’m referring to is Engram. This “epic” micro budget is an experiment in many things, one of those things being crowdsourcing. My last few attempts […]
by John Yost on Jun 28, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: Perspective
So last week we presented one type of manifesto knowing full well it’s almost impossible to define what this all is. The feedback was wonderful and I want to take a moment before I present the next two manifesto perspectives to comment. I think some people are completely right about the fact that sometimes the point of micro-budget is to NOT be part of a group. However, as humans, we group ourselves, and others, together so that we can quickly categorize and compartmentalize the world around us. Which is the very reason I started thinking about a rule book. Groups […]
by John Yost on Jun 22, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: Call To Arms
Our last few posts have really sparked a great conversation and it seems to be one of definition. Not just of micro’s structure, but definition of our stance on art vs. commerce, and our perspective of micro’s purpose. A while back I made a half-joke on this column that someone should write a manifesto for micro-budget filmmakers. The more I thought about what it would contain, the more I realized I was writing one of my own. I immediately contacted one of our column alums Jamie Heinrich. Jamie is in the process of financing and shooting his next feature via […]
by John Yost on Jun 15, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: A Filmmaking Tool
After our last post the response was overwhelming in regards to what micro is, if it’s important, and where it’s headed. In the spirit of conversation I worked with Todd Looby (pictured below) on a post almost exactly the opposite of Scott’s. Todd sees micro-budget filmmaking as a skill, a tool, and somewhat of a stepping-stone. Our conversation wouldn’t be a conversation without this point of view. To me, microfilmmaking is not an end that anyone in his or her right mind should be pursuing. Of course, as people interested in filmmaking, we are not necessarily right in the […]
by John Yost on Jun 7, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation : Art And Poverty
This week I leave you in the capable hands of our editor Scott Macaulay. One of the exciting aspects of this gig is learning from a fella like Scott. A producer of some of my favorite indie films, he has been a great mentor and producer of this column. I asked him to just go nuts and write what was on his mind. Voila! Last fall, I posted a call for new columnists for this website, and the first to respond was John Yost with the idea for this “Micro-Budget Conversation.” I liked John’s proposal for a number of […]
by John Yost on May 12, 2011 -
VISITING “PANDEMIC” MISSION CONTROL WITH LANCE WEILER
I stopped by Sundance’s New Frontiers building yesterday and visited Pandemic 1.0 with its creator, Lance Weiler. Here’s a short, casual Flip video with Weiler showing me the two rooms of the installation. For more info on this piece, read Weiler’s column in this issue of Filmmaker. And here’s Jamie Stuart’s piece on Weiler shot this week in Park City at our Main Street lounge.
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 28, 2011 -
HOLZER AND BECKETT’S WORDS
If you’re in London this week, check out artist Jenny Holzer’s public art work for the Beckett Centenary Festival. From the press release: As part of the Beckett Centenary Festival at the Barbican, American artist Jenny Holzer presents a series of light projections on the Barbican and buildings around London including City Hall and Somerset House. Writings from Beckett and a selection of works by celebrated poets, are cast onto well-known London landmarks, allowing light and text to flow over the cityscape, creating an extraordinary visual experience. Holzer rose to prominence with her text series Truisms (1977-79). In 1990 she […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 8, 2006 -
FAMILY PROGRAMMING
Dennis Cooper writes about artist Ryan Trecartin in the pages of Artforum this month, situating the 24-year-old’s work somewhere alongside that of “Kenneth Anger, Jack Smith, and early John Waters.” From the piece: “…everything aesthetic about his videos — from the baroque screenplays that polish flippant teen slang into cascading soliloquies to the dueling fascinations with profound loneliness and extremely affected behavior to the swarming, jumbled, yet precisely composed shots that pack each frame to the rafters with visual stimuli — displays a near obliviousness to what’s going on in his field, whether it be the cliches of current video […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jan 3, 2006 -
MOVIE POSTER WORD BALLOONS, PART TWO
Below I posted about the empty word balloons I spotted affixed to various movie posters in the subway and said they were obviously the work of some renegade artist. Apparently, Gothamist posted about this back in September. They’re the work of artist Ji Lee, whose The Bubble Project is intended as a “counterattack” on corporate advertising’s invasion of the public space. Click on the link to see samples of of the “bubbles” filled in by random citizens.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 28, 2005
