nofilmschool » interviews

'Palindromes' DP Tom Richmond: 'The Grammar of Filmmaking is a Good Place to Start'

Micah Van Hove — Fri, 24 May 2013 04:46:15 +0000

Here’s another awesome Craft Truck interview to munch on. Cinematographer Tom Richmond, who has shot some insane movies with the likes of Todd Solondz, Roger Avary, and James Gray, puts emphasis on composition and understanding that photography in a film is its own language. They discuss the grammar of the language and why working with directors is more akin to being a “Detective of Photography.” Hit the jump for the full interview: (more…)

Introducing BitTorrent Bundle: Pioneering Decentralized Digital Distribution & Marketing

Micah Van Hove — Tue, 14 May 2013 13:00:17 +0000

BitTorrent, a tech company whose name is commonly and incorrectly associated with pirating, has been running a legitimate business since 2004 with over 2 million pieces of licensed content in the BitTorrent download manager, which serves more than 170 million people monthly. The company is now beginning to launch a new endeavor to empower those in the content creation business. BitTorrent Bundle provide a way for creators large and small to have all the advantages of the peer-to-peer protocol while also maintaining control over their content by creating ‘gates’ that must be unlocked by the consumer. We had a chance to chat with Matt Mason, VP of Marketing at BitTorrent, who is very impassioned about what this new publishing platform could potentially mean for creators. Read on for the interview and get the full scoop: (more…)

Derek Cianfrance Breaks Down Scenes from 'The Place Beyond the Pines'

Micah Van Hove — Sun, 12 May 2013 03:23:52 +0000

Derek Cianfrance’s followup to the extraordinary Blue Valentine comes in the form of a three act Shakespearian crime drama, The Place Beyond the Pines. Collider goes behind the scenes with the director to discuss the filmmaking and break down a few scenes, discussing camera placement, character choices, working with ‘movie stars’ and blending a performance together across many different takes. Hit the jump for the video and analysis: (more…)

Janusz Kaminski & Julian Schnabel on Creating New Conventions for 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly'

Micah Van Hove — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:28:07 +0000

DP/30 brings us some of the most casual yet penetrating interviews with filmmaking talent, and this one pushes that envelope even more. In the format of a roundtable lunchtime chat in sunny Southern California, the creative crew behind The Diving Bell and the Butterfly exposes their approach to material that had no precedent, the perks of making the film outside the United States, and creating new conventions where none existed. Hit the jump to watch the 30 minute segment: (more…)

DIY Co-Directors Talk About Their First Feature Film Experience 'Hills Green'

Micah Van Hove — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:18:21 +0000

In between their 9-5 jobs, filmmakers Ryan C. Glover and Krista Dzialoszynski have been working diligently on their feature film debut Hills Green, and after several years are proud to say it’s finally complete. It’s a story about two friends’ escape to the country to discover what their relationship is made of, and is brought to life with the power of real-life nostalgia. The duo is now set for the film’s Canadian premiere at the ReelHeART International Film Festival on June 24th in Toronto. Hit the jump for the trailer and our interview with the first-time feature filmmakers: (more…)

Cinematographer Sam Levy on Motivation: 'It's Just a Feeling'

Micah Van Hove — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:13:16 +0000

From Wendy and Lucy to The Romantics, Sam Levy’s work as a cinematographer is marked with naturalism and attention to character blocking. Here he sits down with Craft Truck to discuss his work, how he began as an assistant and lensed his first feature film on a standard def Mini DV camera. Hit the jump to learn more and to watch the full interview: (more…)

Rambling On With Directors, an Insightful Round Table With Today's Prominent Independents

Micah Van Hove — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:00:55 +0000

There seems to be an influx of great candid discussions with some of the most interesting working filmmakers today — one of the awesome benefits of having more people with cameras out in the wild. Produced by Shoebox Pictures and Filmmaker Magazine, moderator Russell Costanzo sits down with Craig Zobel, Alex Karpovsky, Ry Russo-Young and Antonio Campos to discuss some of the important questions that directors face, starting with the big one: “Why do you direct?” Watch the full piece after the jump: (more…)

Cinematographer Wolfgang Held Explores the Ethics of Vérité: 'The Camera is a Catalyst'

Micah Van Hove — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 02:02:16 +0000

Craft Truck brings us another great candid interview, this time with cinematographer Wolfgang Held. Wolfgang has shot countless films over the past 20 years, from documentaries, to commercials, to narratives. He is perhaps best know for his vérité work, ranging from the social labor of love Children Underground, to the cult Metallica doc Some Kind of Monster, to Bruno (whatever that is). Hit the jump to hear Wolfgang discuss vérité filmmaking in the digital age, his favorite focal lengths, and the undercover shenanigans of working with Sacha Baron Cohen: (more…)

'Frozen River' DP Reed Morano on Shooting Movies: 'It's Not for You, It's for Someone Else'

Joe Marine — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 03:15:26 +0000

There was quite a bit of back and forth regarding the role of the DP on a recent post about Andrij Parekh, much to the surprise of myself and a few others. The DP is one of the most important people on a production. The real purpose of the last post was to hear from a working professional that the cinematographer has to be a collaborator and must serve the story. Now we’ve got another Craft Truck interview from Jeff Glickman, this time with Reed Morano, the director of photography on Frozen River. In the video below, Reed talks about her process and her career, and how she’s risen up through the ranks. (more…)

'Blue Valentine' DP Andrij Parekh: 'People See Movies for Great Performances, Not Nice Photography'

Joe Marine — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 03:58:56 +0000

There is no question the director of photography is one of the most important jobs on set. The DP helps the director set the look of the film, and depending on their working relationship, may actually have quite a bit of influence on the final film. In the end though, the DP’s job is to help the director get the movie “in the can” at all costs, even if that means sacrificing time for lighting and camera moves. Blue Valentine director of photography Andrij Parekh sat down with Craft Truck, a website that focuses on discussions with technical storytellers from the world of film, to talk about his career and how he sees the role of the cinematographer. (more…)

Leaving It All on the Court with 24 Hours Left: Everything I've Done to Promote #Manchild

Ryan Koo — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 03:59:22 +0000

Exactly 24 hours left in the Man-child campaign, and we’re so close! Despite this screencap from my Twitter campaign video, I haven’t had a team to help. But what I have had is help from a lot of other websites! So in addition to writing a dozen posts about Man-child here on NoFilmSchool, participating in Independent Film Week, Facebooking and Twittering almost non-stop, and writing my own Press Release — all while simultaneously trying to post the latest helpful news about filmmaking here, as usual — I’ve also thankfully popped on a lot of other web sites. Some of these were guest posts, some were interviews, and some were posts written by others out of the simple desire to help the campaign. This has been a community effort that has made it this far thanks to, literally, thousands of people. I can’t say it enough: thank you so much for helping. It takes a village! As I say in the post title — and to use a sports analogy — I’ve left it all on the court. Now we’re on the cusp of making history together. Here’s a list of appearances elsewhere that I’ve been able to keep track of over the last 37 days: (more…)

Three Interviews About 'Man-child,' DIY Filmmaking, Film School and DSLRs

Ryan Koo — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 21:07:35 +0000

It’s been a very slow Labor Day weekend for the Man-child campaign — dang federal holidays! So while I’m working on a video update specifically for NoFilmSchool readers, in the meantime here’s a brand-new video interview I did with TV Writer Podcast presented by Script Magazine. In the interview, we talk about film school, crowdfunding, DSLRs, and DIY filmmaking (please forgive the aggrandizing bio at the beginning): (more…)

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

Ryan Koo — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:30:27 +0000

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…)