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December 4, 2008

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Guillermo Navarro’s Filmmaking Fairytale

Cinematographer Guillermo Navarro displays his much-deserved Oscar for Guillermo del Toro's <i>Pan's Labyrinth</i>. Photo: AMPAS

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. (No comments yet)


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. (No comments yet)


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. (1 comment)


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. (No comments yet)


Christopher Rouse: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

Story comes first. And last. (No comments yet)


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. (No comments yet)


Michael Ballhaus: Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

You never stop learning. I'm still learning every day, on every picture. (No comments yet)


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. (No comments yet)


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." (No comments yet)


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. (No comments yet)


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. (No comments yet)


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. (1 comment)


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. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

Stick to your guns. I got a lot of pressure from the studio heads [shooting the pilot for "Scarface"], who wanted me to "brighten it up." I'd tell them that 'the director doesn't want it bright.' The studio barred me from timing the TV show, but I went into the suite at 5:00 a.m. and did it anyhow. I wasn't invited to shoot another film for that studio for more than 20 years. (No comments yet)


Donald Morgan is Still Making Movie Magic

Cinematographer Donald Morgan. Photo by Ken George.

For veteran DP Donald M. Morgan, the best is yet to come

In a career spanning more than 30 years, cinematographer Donald M. Morgan has worked with Robert Zemeckis, John Carpenter, Roger Young and Joseph Sargent, among others, pulling in six award nominations from the American Society of Cinematographers and nine from the Emmy Awards along the way, all the while maintaining a moxie that pushes the boundaries of his art form. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

Only a madman would sit down to write a script believing that it will one day become a successful movie. Be a madman. As the Book of the Samurai notes, "Nothing great was ever accomplished through common sense. One must become insane and desperate." (1 comment)


Family Values

Screenwriter Michael Arndt gives the family road trip a whole new meaning in Little Miss Sunshine

For a screenwriter, there's no greater risk than throwing in the towel of a life of secure employment and handing yourself over to the writing trade. And there's no greater payoff than writing a hit movie the first time out. As the awards season kicks off, MM chatted with Little Miss Sunshine scribe Michael Arndt about risking it all for Hollywood. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

You can't be fatalistic. You can't sit down and let it roll downhill. You can't say films are all about fantasy, and meanwhile we destroy the planet. (No comments yet)


Fighting Irish

Ken Loach takes on the Irish resistance in The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Although the storyline of Ken Loach's new film, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, seems somewhat forced, the movie succeeds in making the subject vibrant and visual for viewers today. MM caught up with Loach and The Wind That Shakes the Barley screenwriter Paul Laverty to get to the bottom of the matter. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

Don't ever let them see you panic or lose your composure. (No comments yet)


Luck of the Irish

Brad Gann trades in his pen for a director's chair with two back-to-back films, Invincible and Black Irish

With a hit movie just barely out of theaters, it's hard to believe Brad Gann's second feature film is already in the can. But as his script for Invincible, starring Mark Wahlberg and Greg Kinnear, was being shot in Philadelphia, Gann was already busy on the set of the 24-day shoot for Black Irish, a movie he wrote, produced and directed. (1 comment)


Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

It's a good thing to be frightened. In fact, you should be scared every day you go to work. There should be something that is daunting to you that you haven't eliminated all doubts about. There should be something that keeps you awake at night. (No comments yet)


Picture Perfect

Allen Daviau celebrates almost 40 years in the cinematography business

Allen Daviau worked his way up the Hollywood food chain by providing lighting for high school stage plays, working the graveyard shift in photo labs and shooting a live television show for $100 per week. These days he's best known as the cinematographer behind some of cinema's most beautiful photographic moments in such films as E.T., The Color Purple, Empire of the Sun and Bugsy. In the course of his career, Daviau has earned five Academy Award nominations and, in February of 2007, he will receive the American Society of Cinematographers Lifetime Achievement Award. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

Follow through with your word. People give a lot of false promises in this business. Fight that temptation. (No comments yet)


Mr. Roboto Revisited

Actor Tony Hale is living life after "Arrested Development" to the fullest

He's voiced a pope, rocked out to Mr. Roboto and lost his hand to a dolphin. Now he's playing best friend to an almost-serious Will Ferrell. After rising to fame as Buster Bluth on the tragically short-lived series "Arrested Development," Tony Hale is taking Hollywood by storm, with a slate of new films in various stages of production--including Paul Feig's Unaccompanied Minors and Marc Forster's Stranger Than Fiction. (1 comment)


Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

On every flick since Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, I've been editing while still in the midst of production. I'm not talking about some hired editor piecing together an assembly while I'm on set, either-I mean that, whenever I'm not shooting, I'm in the edit room with my footage. For this reason, we keep our editing bay as close to the set as possible. While the crew is taking 15 minutes to an hour to set-up the next shot, I'm behind the Avid, putting the flick together. (1 comment)


Not-so-Silent Smith Speaks Truth

With An Evening With Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder, writer-director Kevin Smith grins and bares it all

Kevin Smith has built a career on creating characters to whom almost any viewer can relate. His repertoire includes angst-filled retail clerks, heartfelt comic book romantics, fast-talking angels and widowed fathers, and he ties them all together with a no-holds-barred honesty with which Smith approaches his everyday life. (No comments yet)


Evil Indies

The Evil City Film Fest's Jim Muscarella celebrates cinema's underdogs

In a city overrun with film festivals and screening events, it takes a lot to get noticed. Or maybe it just takes a punk rock attitude. Inspired by the indie artist roots of its East Village location, the Evil City Film Festival has made quite a name for itself in just two years-and gained the support of top film and media companies and indie moviemakers in the process. (No comments yet)


Randolph Kret & Shaun Hill: Things We’ve Learned as Moviemakers

Make friends in the industry instead of trying to kill the competition. (No comments yet)


Doing Distribution Right

Indican Pictures' husband and wife team, Randolph Kret and Shaun Hill, make it work in life and business

With an eye toward promoting independent voices and visions, Indican Pictures distributes an eclectic mix of genre films, animations and documentaries among which are Troy Duffy's The Boondock Saints, a cult favorite for its vigilante flare, Monteith McCollum's Independent Spirit-awarded Hybrid and Rosario Roverto Jr.'s social comment comedy, A Wake in Providence. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

Be yourself. If you come as somebody else, one day you'll forget who that is, and you'll look a fool. (No comments yet)


Reel Life Lessons

Screenwriter Jeremy Brock brings The Last King of Scotland and Driving Lessons to the big screen

Jeremy Brock has a knack for depicting the intimate lives of the very famous. Whether it's a grieving Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown or the infamous dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, Brock manages to create complex, larger-than-life characters who are still somehow relatable. But Brock has more than just one trick up his sleeve, as the diversity of his projects attests. In addition to The Last King of Scotland, which is already attracting a healthy amount of Oscar buzz, Brock's first outing as a director, Driving Lessons, hit theaters this month. (No comments yet)


Things I’ve Learned As A Moviemaker

Don't worry if you don't know what your story is about. (No comments yet)


Learning By Doing

At Jerry Sherlock's New York Film Academy, instructors prefer a hands-on approach

For most moviemakers, a career as a successful Hollywood
producer would be enough to satisfy the creative urge. But for Jerry
Sherlock, executive producer on John McTiernan's The Hunt for
Red October
and a number of other Hollywood hits, the desire
to teach the craft of moviemaking was always a lingering desire.
He acted on that desire 10 years ago when he founded the New York
Film Academy. (4 comments)


Rejection Turns Revolutionary

Nodance Film Festival Founder Jim Boyd discusses being Park City's "Number Three" festival

Park City regulars know that if they're in the mood to view some truly original work, Jim Boyd is the man to bring it to them. Part entrepreneur and part revolutionary, Boyd brings his Nodance Film Festival to the mountain for its fifth year this January, and lets us in on the three things every Park City visitor should remember. (5 comments)


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Video Views Pick: Wanted

The editors of VIDEO VIEWS magazine pick Wanted, based on the Mark Millar graphic novel, as the best new DVD this week. Featuring eight bonus featurettes and a cast that includes James McAvoy, Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman, home video watchers can't go wrong.

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