nofilmschool » benhzeitlin

5 Potential Obstacles That Actually Helped Oscar-Nominated 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Succeed

V Renée — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 11:52:34 +0000

Beasts of the Southern Wild is one beast of a movie. Produced by a bunch of old buddies that formed the loose collective Court 13 (which also produced Death to the Tinman), and directed by Behn Zeitlin, the film demonstrates the potential of independent films, as well as revealing its influence on audiences today. In the IFP Q&A video embedded below, the producers of the film go into detail explaining just how demanding and ambitious every phase of production was, and how the team managed to come out the other side with the movie we see today. Based on that video, we’ve got a list of five potential obstacles that could have derailed the film, but actually ended up working in its favor. (more…)

Choosing Super 16mm over Digital and the Cinematography of 'Beasts of the Southern Wild'

Joe Marine — Sat, 22 Dec 2012 00:54:19 +0000

It seems like there have been tons of posts about this movie, but The Creators Project has been slowly releasing their exclusive Behind the Scenes videos over the course of the last few months. We’ve taken a look at the score and other aspects, but now we’ve got a video with Director of Photography Ben Richardson talking about the aesthetic of the film and their choice to shoot on celluloid as opposed to digital. (more…)

The Score of 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' with Dan Romer and Director Benh Zeitlin

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 01:37:19 +0000

It’s a fairly uncommon thing for a director to score his own films — examples come to mind, to be sure, but it’s always interesting to see what comes out of such an arrangement. The director, of course, has a deep understanding of a film’s emotional texture. This makes the prospects of what a director-composer may bring to a film truly unique. Beasts of the Southern Wild is one such case, in which co-composer Dan Romer and director Benh Zeitlin worked together to create a simple but emotively articulate score. (more…)

'Beasts of the Southern Wild' Making of Demonstrates the Benefits of Collective Filmmaking

Mar Belle — Sat, 18 Aug 2012 19:39:55 +0000

If like me you’re drawn to films which experiment with narrative form, presenting strong characters making their way in worlds that are slightly off kilter from our own, then I’m betting you also have Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild pretty high on your must watch list. Following the film’s Sundance premiere (where it won the Narrative Grand Jury Prize and Best Cinematography) and Camera d’Or Cannes screening, the project has drawn accolades for both its story and six-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis’ central performance. Here’s a taste of the Beasts’ world in the trailer: (more…)

Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar Describe the Script's Evolution for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Christopher Boone — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:00:10 +0000

As Sundance and Cannes award-winner Beasts of the Southern Wild grows from festival darling to full-fledged must-see status in its platform rollout across the country, many interviews with first-time feature film director Benh Zeitlin have focused how his creative team managed to film a joyous apocalyptic story off the grid on the water during an oil spill in southern Louisiana with non-actors. Merely getting this film in the can was a miracle. My interest as a writer, however, craves to know more about how Zeitlin and his co-writer Lucy Alibar worked through the adaptation of Alibar’s play Juicy and Delicious to create this Beast. Thanks to Edward Douglas at ComingSoon.net, we have some answers, straight from the co-writers themselves. (more…)