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The Digital Revolution Sweeps New York Film Academy
Jerry Sherlock plays with fire
For Jerry Sherlock, nothing compares to hands-on experience--the thrill of moviemaking while holding the camera and playing with fire. So he founded the New York Film Academy in 1992 with the hope of offering all ranges of artists the opportunity to get quality instruction in the heart of the indie scene.
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Geoffrey Rush’s Golden Year
Lifelong student of acting reprises his role in The Golden Age
Known for depicting unique and unusual characters like David Helfgott in Shine,” Captain Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean, Sir Francis Walsingham in Elizabeth and a wide assortment of misfits and madmen, Geoffrey Rush has steadily become one of the most preeminent actors of our time.
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NYC Horror Film Festival Takes a Bite of the Big Apple
Festival is scaring up horror fans in its sixth year
When it comes to Halloween in New York City, there are certain spine-tingling traditions that don't change, including the New York City Horror Film Festival, which will celebrate its sixth year when it kicks off a five-day event on October 24th.
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Alex Rodriguez’s International Language of Editing
The Oscar-nominated editor of Children of Men gets the final cut
With a recent Oscar nomination for Children of Men and his latest film, Gael García Bernal's Déficit, playing major festivals like Toronto and Cannes, French-born editor Alex Rodgriguez has become a vital part of the new wave of Latin American cinema.
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Kasi Lemmons Finds the Voice to Speak Out in Talk to Me
For writer-director Kasi Lemmons, making movies has never been a question of black or white, but rather varying shades of gray. "The gray area is so much more interesting and so much more realistic and valid to our experiences,” says the 46-year-old multi-hyphenate. “People are not all good or all bad. They’re complicated. Complicated characters are what interest me."
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Chicago’s Hidden Hollywood
It’s the Windy City—home to Oprah and presidential hopeful Senator Barack Obama. But to moviemakers big and small, the city of Chicago is so much more says resident Ruth L. Ratny. Ratny also happens to be the editor and publisher of ReelChicago.com, an online magazine dedicated to uncovering the city’s hidden movie world.
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Mill Valley Film Festival Celebrates 30 Years of Cinema
Since the Mill Valley Film Festival came to exist in 1977, it has managed to remain a cornerstone of the film festival circuit, encouraging the careers of once-beginners like Ang Lee and offering great programming for movie aficionados, selling approximately 40,000 tickets each year for its 11-day event, which kicks off its 30th year on October 4th.
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Cinematic Storytelling
Editing and sound are just two of the elements that can make any script more “cinematic”
From Citizen Kane to American Beauty, the history of cinema is filled with examples of "cinematic storytelling" - films that use the full complement of moviemaking tools to tell theis stories.
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Other People’s Money
How to make a living while building a name in Hollywood
You've learned how to block a scene, move a dolly, mix a soundtrack, cut a negative, color-correct a work print, watch Hitchcock and critique Spielberg - but you don't know how to make money. Here's how.
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Balancing the Roles of Writer and Director
Determining the roles of "writer" and "director" begins and ends with one simple question: What is the story I'm telling?
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Casting is Everything: Expert Advice on How to Cast for Success
Warren Beatty may have said it best when he declared that "Casting is everything." And sometimes type-casting is the way to go.
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The Context of Innovative Film Finance
You have a great script, an incredible director, cast and team and you're passionate about making this film. Sounds like a slam dunk, right? Wrong! You still need the money - and, in an ideal world, the distribution to pay it back.
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Cycle of the Screenwriter
Every Story—and Screenwriter—Needs a Beginning, Middle and End
Just like the stories they write, a screenwriter's life is one based on cycles. One of Hollywood's most in-demand scribes sounds off about his own.
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Script Criteria Checklist
Six Must-Have Elements for Financiers and Buyers to Take You Seriously
Whether you're looking for investors for your latest project or getting ready to finance it yourself, make sure your script has these six essential elements - which translate to audience appeal.
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Great Adaptations: A Winning Script Doesn’t Have to be Totally Original
With so many of today's successful movies based on existing material, it pays to know how to translate a literary work into a cinematic one.
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Coming Clean: Confessions of a Hollywood Hack
Know thyself. A Hollywood screenwriter comes clean on the freedom he found when he got his mind and his talent in alignment.
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Writing Backwards: Plot Construction Using Reverse Cause and Effect
Every script has a beginning, middle and end - but sometimes it can be helpful to write them in reverse order.
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Killer Script
James Vanderbilt goes back in time for David Fincher's Zodiac
Selling a spec script is no easy task. Selling a spec script about a real-life serial killer who was never caught is slightly harder. So how did writer James Vanderbilt manage to do just that with Zodiac? By writing a cohesive, suspenseful and surprisingly humorous screenplay about one of the most fascinating manhunts in U.S history. (It didn't hurt to have David Fincher attached to direct.)
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Around Every Corner
Forget your best friend, neighbor or Uncle Larry. Finding a professional actor for your project is as easy as S-A-G.
SAGIndie ads seem ubiquitous of late. They're on billboards throughout U.S. cities and popping up in all sorts of national magazines (including MovieMaker). Often featuring a neophyte moviemaker with a recognizable actor, the ads make it appear as if casting a "name" is relatively easy.
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Leave Your Inhibitions at the Door
The Reeling Film Festival celebrates 25 years as Chicago's foremost gay and lesbian film festival
With an influx of gay and lesbian themed films making their way into mainstream America, you would think that running a gay and lesbian film festival in this country would be a money-making breeze, right? Well, sort of. As the second largest LGBTQ film festival in the country, Chicago's Reeling Film Festival is truly a groundbreaking event.
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Henry Jaglom: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
Tell the truth.
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Guillermo Navarro: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
Experiment with commercials. I have shot commercials between features since the beginning of my career. They can be experimental, both technically and in the visual language, which contributes to telling stories. I once shot a commercial in the Yukon Mountains where dusk lasted for hours. That gave us an extraordinary opportunity to dig deeper and explore the photographic variables of the location.
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Guillermo Navarro’s Filmmaking Fairytale
Celebrated cinematographer makes history with Oscar for Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro, ASC made history when he earned an Academy Award for Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth in 2007, as it was only the second time that a foreign-language film with English subtitles claimed top honors in the Best Cinematography competition.
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Mike Binder: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
1. Take a nap at lunch. The A.D and producer will always beg you to have some meeting or scout something, or talk through another scene, but always say no. They'll learn to find other times for your attention. You need time alone in your trailer or on a walk or a drive for yourself, or hang out with a buddy. Get a half hour where no one's asking you something at the very least. The second half of the days dailies will thank you for it.
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Amy Vincent: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
I was a camera loader, assistant and camera operator on crews with Bob Richardson, Bill Pope, John Lindley and Darius Wolski. All of them are master cinematographers. They were my mentors. I saw up close how they made decisions and dealt with the cast and crew. That was a big part of my education.
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James Vanderbilt: Things I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
There are a lot of smart and intelligent people working in this business who are excited to make challenging films.
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Christopher Rouse: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
Story comes first. And last.
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One Day in September
Oscar-nominated editor Christopher Rouse reunites with director Paul Greengrass to retell the events of September 11th in United 93
From bringing the world's last pregnant woman to safety in a post-apocalyptic London to sniffing out a rat in Boston's Irish mob, this year's collection of Oscar-nominated editors were faced with a host of tough obstacles. But no editor had as difficult a challenge as Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson and Christopher Rouse, the trio of editors who were tasked with the delicate duty of cutting Paul Greengrass' United 93.
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Michael Ballhaus: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
You never stop learning. I'm still learning every day, on every picture.
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A Lesson in Collaboration
The Departed marks the seventh collaboration between acclaimed cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and legendary director Martin Scorsese
As he approaches his fiftieth anniversary in the movie business, cinematographer Michael Ballhaus sat down with MM for a candid discussion of his life's work-from Beware of a Holy Whore to The Departed-giving plenty of insight into the fine art of writing with light.
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Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker
The budget doesn't matter. $5,000 or $50 million, there's always someone to tell you "there's not enough money."
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Bridging the Gap
David Paterson brings his mother's famous novel to life in the big-screen adaptation of Bridge to Terabithia
Most screenwriters will tell you they feel a personal connection to the scripts they write, but David Paterson has a whole other layer of attachment. His most recent effort, Bridge to Terabithia, is based on the Newbery Medal-winning novel written by his mother, Katherine.
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Things I’ve Learned as a MovieMaker
I know from being on the other side of the lens how important it is for the director to be able to communicate and earn everyone's trust. The first few times I directed, I only thought about recording the actors' performances. Every once and a while I would get an idea about how framing a shot could have an impact, but I didn't really understand that part of filmmaking in the beginning. I'm always prodding myself and whatever cinematographer I'm working with to try to encourage me to think of ways to assist the actor with the composition and cinematic choices.
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Happy Days Forever
After 50 years in Hollywood, actor-writer-director-producer Ron Howard admits that he's still got a lot to learn
Though the role of cinematographer is not one he's ever tackled directly, actor-writer-producer-director Ron Howard's behind-the-camera prowess has been impressive enough to earn him the 2007 American Society of Cinematographers Board of Governors Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to advancing the art of moviemaking.
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Film Arts Foundation Still Growing Strong
After 30 years, Film Arts Foundation more relevant than ever in digital age
In 1976, the Film Arts Foundation opened in San Francisco with 15 original members. Today it's still growing-servicing more than 2,400 members-and changing with these digital times. Veteran and independent moviemakers find assistance through the foundation in all aspects of the industry, from education to distribution.
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Latest from the blog:
Doorpost Awards $300,000 to “Undiscovered” Moviemakers
The Doorpost Film Project, a “contest aimed at discovering and developing moviemakers capable of producing films that inspire and influence rather than simply entertain,” just finished round one and is now left with 15 finalists who are described by Nathan Elliott, the Project's director, as “a globally, ethnically and racially diverse group of filmmakers that have one important thing in common: They're enormously talented."
Posted 07.23.08 | News/Commentary | No comments yet...
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