Production
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ON THE GROUND AT INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK
As one of roughly a dozen full time staffers at IFP, I’ve been working the past six months to help launch the 33rd annual Independent Film Week. It’s our first year at Lincoln Center’s new Elinor Bunin Film Center, and more than a thousand indie filmmakers and industry professionals are in town for the festivities. In commemoration, I’ve dug up my long neglected digital camera, and I’ll be sharing photo highlights from IFW all week long. Here are some snapshots from Day 1: The team behind the upcoming Detroit Unleaded (editor Nathanial Sherfield, director Rola Nashef, producers Marwan Nashef and […]
by Jane Schoenbrun on Sep 19, 2011 -
You Have no Business Being In This Business
I have been thinking about Kevin Smith quite a bit lately. Beyond the obvious happenings with his film Red State and his decision to follow in my footsteps (wink) by embracing the Topspin platform to go about his business of building a media empire, I’ve been a bit in awe of how this guy from New Jersey, who began his journey with a $27,000 ’90s Sundance hit that many in the artistic film world passed off as garbage, has weathered many a storm, some arguably manufactured, to be quite possibly the last man standing and perhaps most forward thinking in […]
by Gregorybayne on Aug 2, 2011 -
IT’S ALL UPHILL FROM HERE
“It’s always a battle. Everything…everyday. It’s like,…can I just get off the battlefield for one day? Step out of the war-zone for a minute?” – Jens Pulver from JENS PULVER | DRIVEN This confession from Jens has rung through my head almost daily over the past year as I’ve worked to make, complete and subsequently market and release our film, JENS PULVER | DRIVEN. With the film being fully crowd-funded, having garnered festival play and just released nationally on nearly every major VOD network in North America it can be legitimately counted as a marked success in the micro-budget independent […]
by Gregorybayne on Jul 27, 2011 -
WHAT DOES A SCRIPT SUPERVISOR DO?
Over at The Rumpus, Andrea Manners breaks down her job. From the piece: Rumpus: What’s a typical production day like? Manners: Before we start production, I meet with other departments. I ask the hair department to communicate their ideas for the film, and I ask the makeup department what they plan to do. I’m basically making sure the director’s idea and vision is translated from the script’s point of view. I’m also the liaison between the director and the editor. The editor needs a lot of notes to make the movie since he’s not there. I represent the editor on […]
by Scott Macaulay on Jul 27, 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 -
“PAGE ONE”‘S ANDREW ROSSI AND DAVID CARR
Filmed at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where their documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times premiered and received rave reviews, here are director Andrew Rossi and Times writer, subject, and soul David Carr (pictured above) discussing both the film and journalism in the age of the Internet. Originally posted Jan. 31, 2011.
by Scott Macaulay on Jun 15, 2011 -
TIM HETHERINGTON, R.I.P.
While traveling today I heard the very sad news that photojournalist and documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington, winner of the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize, with Sebastian Junger, for their documentary, Restrepo, was killed while covering the conflict in Libya. Lauren Wissot interviewed Hetherington and Junger earlier this year for Filmmaker, and she began her piece like this: “Most documentary filmmakers attempt to see the world through the lens of the subjects they’re shooting, but few put their lives on the line to do so.” Of the film, which looked at the conflict in Afghanistan through the viewpoints of U.S. soldiers […]
by Scott Macaulay on Apr 21, 2011 -
JIM MICKLE AND NICK D’AMICI, “STAKE LAND”
In so many ruined, dystopian futures, ravenous beings stalk the burned out countryside, praying on the flesh and/or blood of humans, while a small band of tough survivors, almost always including a grim professional killer, a protege and a young refugee, desperately try to escape this world overrun. This basic conceit resembles Jim Mickle’s somber, post-apocalyptic tone poem fashioned as a late night, grindhouse B movie, Stakeland, which proves altogether more satisfying than any of the recent cable and multiplex ready vampire narratives or dystopian dramas (The Road, Time of the Wolf, One Hundred Mornings or Children of Men). Despite […]
by Brandon Harris on Apr 20, 2011 -
The Microbudget Conversation: Dirty Word
It seems that this column is really starting to draw out a conversation from us micro-budget folks, and beyond; I couldn’t be happier. There seems to be a lot of dialogue happening in the comments, and I’m getting constant feedback from filmmakers from all over the world who are trying to make a new DIY model work. Every once and a while I get requests from some folks who want to contribute to the column itself. Many times these requests come from publicists, or folks just looking to sell themselves, but every once and a while a real dialogue is […]
by John Yost on Apr 19, 2011 -
Why Filmmakers Hate Transmedia
I’ve been mulling this topic over for a while, as I encounter many filmmakers — usually independent filmmakers — who kind of sneer at the word “transmedia.” They think it’s just marketing, or they don’t understand why people can’t just sit and watch a good film. I wanted to talk a little about this, as I certainly think there are some filmmaking topics transmedia developers need to keep in mind to make the work as a whole really soar. I’ve noticed a number of common traits in several recent high profile transmedia projects that I think can be improved. I’m not […]
by Mark Harris on Apr 18, 2011
