Opening in theaters today from Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures is Creative Control, Benjamin Dickinson’s wickedly intelligent social satire set in a near-future advertising world enamored with the latest thing: augmented reality. The New York-based writer/director’s second feature, following 2012’s lo-fi apocalyptic drama, First Winter, Creative Control is an impressive leap forward. Realized on a modest budget, the film won a special jury award at last year’s SXSW for “visual excellence,” and, indeed, Dickinson and his collaborators incisively riff on the very plausible possibilities of augmented reality rigs like Google Glass and Magic Leap to imagine a world where avatars, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 11, 2016It’s often been said that the porn industry pioneers practices that independent film later adopts, so it’s not too surprising that adult film star James Deen, who stars opposite Lindsay Lohan next month in Paul Schrader’s The Canyons, has taken part in “The 1st Porn Shot on Google Glass.” (I shouldn’t have to tell you that this video is NSFW.) How soon before indie filmmakers follow suit?
by Nick Dawson on Jul 25, 2013On the rerelease of his collage novel, A Crackup at the Race Riots, Harmony Korine is interviewed by Christopher Higgs at the Paris Review. Here, Korine describes the process that created the book 15 years ago: At that point in my life I had no idea how to contain my ideas. The creative process was more explosive for me. And I didn’t have a filter, and I didn’t try to filter anything, as much as just try to get stuff down. So, I would just write everywhere. I would wake up in the morning and hear a conversation on the […]
by Scott Macaulay on May 12, 2013The San Francisco International Film Festival is underway, the first under the San Francisco Film Society’s new head, Ted Hope. In an interview with Casey Burchby at the San Francisco Weekly, Hope tells the story of his move from producing in New York to running the organization in the Bay Area and how it reflects his own evolving ideas on independent media in the 21st century. I especially like this quote about how artists can rethink their process in a time of plenty. Emphasis added below: Burchby: I wanted to connect your vision for the SF Film Society to the […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 28, 2013At Vulture, Jerry Saltz bemoans the “Death of the Gallery Show,” particularly the effect new ways of seeing and purchasing art are having on the discourse around art itself: Gallery shows: light of my life, fire of my eyes. I love and long for them. I see maybe 30 a week, every week of the year. Much of what I know about contemporary art I learned from hanging around artists and from going to galleries. Bad shows teach me as much as good ones. A great thing about galleries—especially for someone who spends most of his time alone at a […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 21, 2013I discover the links for these weekly columns through one source: Google Reader. Well, last week, Google sent the beloved Google Reader to its graveyard. I didn’t initially understand how difficult it will be to replace Google Reader until listening to last week’s Accidental Tech Podcast, even as the show’s Marco Arment believes that Google’s departure from the RSS space will be a good thing in the long run. Still, the shutdown has prompted a lot of press, and not all in the tech field, questioning our dependence on Google given their penchant for launching and shuttering services. For Google […]
by Scott Macaulay on Mar 24, 2013Google has released a new video demonstrating its Google Glass and is launching a new campaign, “If I Had Glass,” offering creative people a chance to buy the product early. Read details at the link but, in short, you have 50 words on Twitter or Google + to say what you’d do using Glass, the deadline is February 27, and, if selected, you have to pre-order Glass for $1,500.
by Scott Macaulay on Feb 20, 2013Filmmaker Greg Pak (Robot Stories) has released his graphic novel Vision Machine as an iPad app and, in the process, is pointing the way towards new storytelling formats and new production and distribution partnerships. Set in the year 2061, Vision Machine is a dystopian thriller revolving around augmented reality technology not unlike Google Glass. Touching on issues like privacy and digital rights, Vision Machine was funded by the Ford Foundation as an awareness tool, and after it was completed Pak teamed up with ITVS to reimagine it as an iPad app. After learning about Vision Machine from producer Karin Chien, […]
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 4, 2012Eyeglass cameras have been around for years… but, hey, this short film is made up entirely of footage not from just any old eyeglass camera. We’re talking about Google Glass! Here, Diane Von Furstenberg and her models take you through their New York fashion week. Some of this footage looks quite nice. At the New York Times, David Pogue discusses his try-out of Google Glass. He’s got a lot of details in his piece, but here’s how he concludes: But already, a few things are clear. The speed and power, the tiny size and weight, the clarity and effectiveness of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Sep 13, 2012If you’re like me, you watched the product demo for Google Glass, found its hipster-targeting — learning about a new band from a street poster? — silly and didn’t think too much more about it. I mean, don’t we need to find a way to interact with our personal computing devices less, not more? But this morning after reading Jon Evans’ TechCrunch piece, “Heads Up! This Was Google’s Apple Moment,” I’m changing my mind. As a product category, Google Glass has a lot of potential — potential that’s fascinating and scary. In the fascinating category are some immediate uses for […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 7, 2012