Winter 2015
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Boycott!
For several weeks at the end of last year, it seemed as though the racial tension building in the United States might reach a boiling point. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of law enforcement had produced an energy of outrage and frustration, sparking heated national debate. It was a debate that didn’t hinge on whether or not America had a race problem, but how bad America’s race problem actually was. For some, the deaths of Brown, Garner, Rice and others were proof that there was a systematic, inherent disregard for black lives […]
by Zeba Blay on Jan 21, 2015 -
Lost in a Dream
“I don’t think humans communicate well.” —Lisandro Alonso I agree with the Argentine director. In our present age — when everyone has to be “connected” all the time, doing more than one thing — the chatter, the noise, can be maddening. Encountering the work of Lisandro Alonso makes me recall the feeling of lying on the floor and listening to a record as a teenager: not texting or talking or answering emails, simply listening. Alonso’s films let the viewer pay attention and dream simultaneously. Spare in dialogue, attentive to landscapes, meditative in pacing, they allow one to get lost in […]
by Alix Lambert on Jan 21, 2015 -
Here Comes the Ocean: Ron Howard on In the Heart of the Sea
Ron Howard is one of those filmmakers who often feels like a throwback to the directors of the classical studio era, guys such as Victor Fleming and Michael Curtiz, who would jump from action flick to comedy to melodrama and back again without missing a beat. At the beginning of his career, he followed up an R-rated comedy (Night Shift) with a romance for Disney (Splash) and then went on to do an Oscar-winning biopic (A Beautiful Mind), Westerns (Far and Away, The Missing), prescient satires (Gung Ho, EDtv) and massive tentpoles (The Da Vinci Code, How the Grinch Stole […]
by Jim Hemphill on Jan 21, 2015 -
What Everyone Does on a Film Set
For those new to physical production, here is a list of film set departments, with notes on their staff positions, responsibilities, benefits and attractions. PRODUCTION Personnel: Production Manager, Production Coordinator, Office PAs, Assistants to Directors and Producers. Responsibilities: Organization, preparation, taking care of actors, producers and director. Join this department if you like: Working on a movie without being chained to a set, knowing everything that’s going on, fielding constant complaints. Favorite Game: Choosing a new person to hate every day. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT Personnel: 1st AD, 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd AD, Key PA, On Set Interns. Responsibilities: […]
by Brandon Tonner-Connolly with Alicia van Couvering on Jan 21, 2015 -
Girl Gangs and Tweetstorms: Super 8
Larry Gross’s Twitter Amidst of sea of social media me-too-ism and diffidently composed schtick, screenwriter and critic Larry Gross’s Twitter feed stands out. Often composed in tweetstorm-style, the author of films ranging from 48 Hours to We Don’t Live Here Anymore spills out arresting meditations and poetic aphorisms on everything from Alain Badiou’s take on St. Paul to the poetry of Wallace Stevens to Paul Thomas Anderson’s intuitive understanding of the crisis in American cinematic narrative. twitter.com/@larryagross Y2K What separates Y2K from other independently developed role-playing games? According to the designers at Ackk Studios, their novelty comes from being a […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2015 -
Let’s Kill the Web Series
Recently I conducted a nonscientific survey among friends. I asked, “What do you think when I say ‘Web series?’” The response was overwhelmingly negative. From a Hollywood agent friend, I heard, “Waste of time and money.” From a television writer, I heard, “Someone asking me to help crowdfund their reel.” But the most damning response came from a friend outside of the new media/film/TV industry. Their response was simply “Ugh.” As someone who has made a career making Web series and online videos, that’s disheartening, to say the least. You could have the most brilliant concept for a Web series, […]
by Todd Bieber on Jan 21, 2015 -
Computational Storytelling
In October 2014, the University of California, Santa Cruz announced a new Department of Computational Media. Described as the first of its kind and housed in the university’s Baskin School of Engineering, the department is designed to create a truly interdisciplinary home for new directions in computation as an expressive form by uniting the humanities’ concerns and methods with those of computer science. The department builds on the existing game design and computer science programs, as well as on the work of faculty members, research groups and graduate students who, over the last decade, have explored the computational processes of […]
by Holly Willis on Jan 21, 2015 -
23 Fragments on the Future of Cinema
Asked to address the question of the moment, James Schamus responds with this provocative, exhilarating meditation on cinema, its death, and the possibilities of its non-future. A speech given November 18, 2014 at the German Film Academy. 1. Let us begin with a quotation, from the late, great Theodor Adorno: “Whoever speaks of culture speaks of administration, whether this is his intention or not.” 2. You have invited me here tonight to speak on the topic of “The Future of Cinema.” This is not an easy task, given all the challenges buffeting our industry and our art form, challenges such […]
by James Schamus on Jan 21, 2015 -
From My Screen to Yours: Carlos Marques-Marcet on 10.000 KM
Technical pyrotechnics are a relative concept, to say the least. Hollywood-style CG can create alien worlds or giant explosions in tentpole films as well as illusorily seamless cinematography in mid-level independent dramas such as Birdman. Still, seldom do these applications seem to come from a place of necessity as opposed to an external, directorial flourish. The 23-minute unbroken take — realized practically, without effects — that opens Carlos Marques-Marcet’s quietly transfixing debut, 10.000 KM, is the best kind of pyrotechnic: scarcely noticeable and utterly essential. Over the course of these 23 minutes in a dimly lit Barcelona apartment, Alex (Natalia […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Jan 21, 2015 -
Venice, Paris, Brazil…: Load & Play
Don’t Look Now Asked by Time to name the sexiest sex scene of all time, three female writers and producers of Showtime’s Masters of Sex came to immediate agreement: Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie’s memorable coupling in Nicolas Roeg’s otherwise entirely scary Don’t Look Now. Simultaneously encompassing lust, despair and forgiveness, the scene shows the married couple passionately overcoming grief and mutual recriminations in their new Venice flat following the drowning death of their young daughter back in England. The scene sparked rumors neither actor was acting — an allegation Roeg has denied — but what makes the scene so […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 21, 2015
