» Posts Tagged ‘seen’
I’m not sure why this project is holding my attention so. David Fincher and Sony Pictures aren’t exactly DIY filmmaking, so it’s not hugely topical to this site. And on the list of true stories I’d like to see told by Hollywood, the founding of Facebook isn’t on top. But with the official trailer for The Social Network hitting the web today, I can’t help but stay interested in the project. The RED-shot film is loosely based on the book The Accidental Billionaires and the trailer is masterfully cut to a choral version of Radiohead’s Creep by the Scala and Kolacny Brothers. The film itself will be scored by Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, who says of the film, “it’s really fucking good. And dark!” Trent Reznor is calling a film about Facebook “dark?” Maybe that’s why I’m interested. More »
I caught the new show from the Neistat Brothers on HBO On Demand the other night and found myself sucked in by the decidedly low-fi, autobiographical chapters. The show is appropriately named The Neistat Brothers, because that’s what it’s about: them. Them and their creative process, which ascribes to a total NYC/DIY aesthetic. Because of its use of indie music and first-person narrative, but also due to the DIY nature of the production, the show reminds me a lot of the terrific Four Eyed Monsters podcast, which was about the making of the DIY feature Four Eyed Monsters — the difference is, Neistat Brothers has no associated feature film attached. It’s just about the Neistats, who are fellow graduates of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces (class of 2006, in their case). Normally I’d find a show about a show — which is essentially what it is — to be solipsistic and navel-gazing, but the brothers work it out. More »
I don’t remember where I heard it, but someone mentioned that Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay for The Social Network was the best they’d read in years. Now that I think about it, this was probably an unsubstantiated internet rumor, not from someone I actually know in person! Regardless, this stuck with me, as it’s pretty hard to imagine exactly what a movie about the founding of Facebook would look like. Those rumors about Justin Timberlake playing Mark Zuckerberg (Timberlake is in the film, but Zuckerberg is being played by Jesse Eisenberg) didn’t help. And now the teaser from Sony Pictures reveals very little about the film — other than the fact that they’re taking it very seriously: More »
What happens when an oversexed Hollywood actor has a daughter? This seems to be the question posed by the trailer for Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, a possible spiritual successor to Lost in Translation
Pixel art, along with its musical counterpart the chiptune, describes a game, video, or song produced on old computer equipment (or produced to seem like it was produced on old computer equipment). I suppose pixel art is no different from any revivalist pursuit, but there’s something uniquely funny about designing for a 192×160 screen (which is less resolution than the image at left) in an era of 1080p (and higher) resolution content. In an era of over-produced pop stars and slick but empty movies, perhaps that’s exactly the point! Simon Cottee’s 10-minute documentary on pixel art makes for an interesting follow-up to the retro-yet-high-tech short PIXELS posted here a couple weeks ago. More »
The Last 3 Minutes, a DSLR short from director Po Chang, reminds me a bit too strongly of a video released a year ago by director Chris Milk, entitled Last Day Dream. Even the titles are similar! Both videos are shot in their entirety from a first-person perspective, enabled by the small size and maneuverability of the DSLR du jour, the 5d Mark II. Here they are in chronological order (Last Day Dream was released a year before The Last 3 Minutes). NSFW language in the former: More »
Cold War Kids’ “I’ve Seen Enough” is multi-color, multi-angle
The interactive video for Cold War Kids’ “I’ve Seen Enough” video isn’t multi-angle — it’s more “multi-take” — but the idea is the same. While I designed a multi-angle music video player in a similar vein for MTV (it’s in my portfolio — scroll down to the second image), what interests me most isn’t multi-angle storytelling but rather multi-story storytelling, where more than one narrative thread is unfolding simultaneously — and the viewer has a choice as to which one they follow. My in-and-out-of-development project 3rd Rail is exactly this.
Here’s the Cold War Kids video: More »
If you saw the original Social Media Revolution video a year ago, let me save you some time: the new version making the rounds (yes, via social media) isn’t worth watching. However, if you didn’t catch that video or you’re one of the people who responded “I am afraid of social networks!” on my ongoing survey (please take it if you haven’t already!), this might serve as good brain candy for you: More »
From a production standpoint, $5k and a two day shoot gets you a lot more than it used to. Shot on a RED ONE.
[via Filmmaker IQ]
Yesterday’s post about transmedia and the interactive filmmaker highlighted the challenges of developing a transmedia story for independent creators. It’s interesting, then, to look at an example of an expansive transmedia campaign from a studio — in this case, Warner Brothers’ Alternate Reality campaign for The Dark Knight.1 Independent productions are not going to be able to implement an ARG of this scope, but it’s nonetheless good brain candy for the concept of taking a movie “outside” the theater.
- Much of the transmedia strategy and implementation was run by the folks at 42 Entertainment, some of whom later split off to found No Mimes Media. [↩]
First off, my write up of this year’s Full Frame Film Festival is live at Filmmaker Magazine; give it a read. More important than my writing, however, are the films themselves, so here are some trailers for the great docs from this year’s Full Frame: More »
Plastic Bag, a first-person narrative from the perspective of a discarded grocery bag, is part of the FUTURESTATES series of shorts, which collectively ask “What will become of America in five, 25, or even 50 years from today?”
Directed by Ramin Bahrani, voiced by Werner Herzog. Be sure to check out the other ten FUTURESTATES shorts; I felt a particular affinity for this one, in part because the opening shot of The West Side is of one such piece of migrating polyethylene.
I find motion-captured performances (see: Robert Zemeckis’ CGI films) to be comparatively lifeless when measured against hand-animated fare (see: all of Pixar’s movies). The Netherlands-based crew behind Pivot employ a low-poly look not just to give their short style, but to make their characters expressive.
[via Short of the Week]
According to the New York Times review, the new Playstation 3 game Heavy Rain offers “a glimpse of the future of interactive entertainment, a future when characterization, writing and emotional connection are more important than combat mechanics.”
Another tidbit from the Times review: the script for Heavy Rain was over 2,000 pages long.
As a storyteller I’m less interested in the skill and coordination aspect of videogames, and more interested in the choices one has to make as a player/participant in interactive movies. The rest of the reviews of the game/movie are also overwhelmingly positive, and I look forward to playing/watching (I guess I should I just say “experiencing”) it.
When moviegoers started going to theaters less frequently in favor of watching a videotape or DVD on a home screen, the movie-watching experience became less social. But once you connect that home screen to the internet, suddenly that device can help you become more social. I’m interested in the ways connected devices help us meet and interact with strangers; specifically I think the mobile dating arena is primed to take off, as it combines the convenience of meeting someone in a bar (meaning, it’s local) with the filtration abilities of the internet (clicking a mouse or touching a screen is a much easier, and often more civil, way to get rid of would-be suitors). In light of all this, I found this video about the barebones site Chat Roulette interesting:
If I were to bootstrap a non-film-related startup, I think it would be in the “mobile meeting” space, but I don’t have the infrastructure to support that kind of thing. Regardless, while this technology might be depressingly primitive today — and depressingly populated by what Casey terms “perverts” — where it’s headed tomorrow is the (multi)million-dollar question.
[via NewTeeVee]
The most beautiful footage I’ve seen from the RED ONE to date.
[via Blake Whitman]
Life just feels like this sometimes.
[via Blake Whitman]
Independent producer Ted Hope (Adventureland, 21 Grams, In the Bedroom, and seemingly a thousand other films) is expanding the perception of what “independent film” is and how it should be distributed. I had a chance to sit down with him at Power To The Pixel, where he gave me some very valuable advice; we share the same view of independent film, that with crisis comes opportunity. Ted’s been very generous on his Truly Free Film blog by sharing advice like Ten things to do before you submit a script and Display your value: you are different from them, as well as asking pertinent questions such as What defines an event? In short, his blog is a must-read for independent filmmakers. Here, he answers some questions for the forthcoming film Press/Pause/Play. More »
Ty: Like you stated though, all you need is a PC that runs iTunes (for now) With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
Ty: Ah. Good point. Ever since switching over to Apple I've kind of taken fo… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
William: What I want to see is a device that will bury the cable companies. Time Wa… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait
Koo: That's a good point -- all you need is another piece of Apple hardware tha… With the new Apple TV, Apple Decides the Living Room Can Wait