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Darren Aronofsky Talks About Film School, His Early Years, and Gives Advice to Aspiring Filmmakers

05.17.11 @ 10:30AM Tags : darrenaronofsky, interviews, makingof

Darren Aronofsky, who needs no introduction, sits down below for an interview about his early years attending graduate film school at AFI, his experiences famously shooting Pi for $20k, and gives some worthy advice for up-and-coming filmmakers. More »

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Video Shows There's a Lot More CGI in 'Black Swan' Than You Might Think

03.22.11 @ 4:38PM Tags : blackswan, cgi, darrenaronofsky, visualeffects

Amidst folks judging the authenticity of Natalie Portman’s ballet form in the outstanding Super 16mm/DSLR-shot Black Swan, it turns out that even some of the head-to-toe shots of Natalie dancing were in fact performed by professional dancer Sarah Lane. If the mark of good CGI is for the audience not to notice it, Darren Aronofsky’s gritty, grainy feature is a prime example of good visual effects. Watching the behind-the-scenes video, I’m sure you’ll see a lot of elements that you didn’t perceive as CGI: More »

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Werner Herzog and Darren Aronofsky Think You Should Read These Ten Books

02.15.11 @ 4:57PM Tags : books, darrenaronofsky, reading, wernerherzog

In a conversation with Errol Morris at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Werner Herzog stated that you can’t be a filmmaker without reading books. More recently, Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky shared a list of his own favorite books. Taking their suggested reading lists in tandem, we now have a list of ten “must read” books from a pair of auteurs; the first five are Aronofsky’s selections and are on the topic of movies, and the second five are Herzog’s and aren’t limited to a particular topic. I’ve only read three of the ten; how about you? More »

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Darren Aronofsky's 'Black Swan' Shot on ARRI Super 16mm, Canon 7D, Canon 1D Mark IV, and Canon 5D Mark II

12.22.10 @ 11:11AM Tags : blackswan, cinematography, darrenaronofsky, dslr, hdslr

I finally saw Darren Aronofsky terrific Black Swan last night, and the wonderfully textured, handheld 16mm cinematography of Matthew Libatique, ASC is one of the film’s many highlights. There were a couple of shots that looked eerily familiar to me, however: the scenes taking place on a subway train. Here’s why: I recently shot on a New York City subway with a Canon DSLR, and Black Swan in fact did the same thing. In addition to the ARRI Super 16mm camera, Aronofsky and Libatique employed a Canon 7D and 1D Mark IV on the film itself, and shot the ballet rehearsals on a 5D Mark II. More »

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Get Ready for a Ballet Thriller: Darren Aronofsky's 'Black Swan' Trailer Debuts

08.18.10 @ 11:09AM Tags : blackswan, darrenaronofsky, trailer

Darren Aronofsky, who made his directorial debut in 1998 with the $60k black-and-white Pi (which went on to gross over $3 million at the box office), will be premiering his latest film Black Swan at the Venice Film Festival September 1st. The trailer for the Natalie Portman and Milas Kunis-starrer has hit the internets, and it’s a mysterious one: More »