While at the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, I attended a seminar titled “New Technologies and Low Budget Films” presented by the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Emmy winner George Spiro Dibie moderated the event and demonstrated a humorous side to shooting Independent Films.

It was an all-star panel with ASC cinematographers including Stephen Lighthill, Daniel Pearl, Richard Crudo, Isidore Mankofsky, Richard Kline, Steven Fierberg, Rodney Taylor, Michael Goi, Dante Spinotti, Ron Garcia, and Daryn Okada President of ASC. The floor was open for questions as new emerging cinematographers and filmmakers asked these experts compelling questions about filmmaking.

At this informative seminar, the ASC cinematographers alluded to the fact that if you have a good cinematographer, they are going to be your biggest asset and you’re going to get a good picture no matter what style you film in.

Steven Fierberg mentioned that you must always test your equipment to make sure it doesn’t scratch. He said that with independents there are so many last minute factors that occur day to day that you want your equipment to be something you don’t have to worry about. He also mentioned that it’s necessary to “make sure post is comfortable with the format and what you’re shooting on.”

Daryn Okada pointed out that everything from the lens back is going to capture everything from the lens forward and it’s critical that you have an idea of what you want your finished result to look like. He mentioned that your project has to make it to a screen or everything you put into it doesn’t matter.

Stephen Lighthill said that its important that you find a method and equipment that you feel comfortable with before you explore new equipment. He went on to say “with every new camera there’s always a price to pay. All new cameras have a shake out period.” For example, he learned while filming in extreme weather just how far you could push your camera to work in certain conditions and the importance of educating yourself while preparing for a shoot.

They also stressed that it’s all about discipline. Thoe behind the camera ¾ not just the actors ¾ should be as prepared as possible.

Share This

If you love film and docs, you have to see NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LASZLO & VILMOS, the new documentary about the artistry, triumph and lifelong friendship of the great cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond. Directed by James Chressanthis, ASC, with cinematography by Anka Malatynska, it tells the story of how the two, using just film school equipment,  shot the Soviet crackdown of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and then, as refugees, struggled to make it in Hollywood—finally breaking into the mainstream with such seminal films as Easy Rider, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Five Easy Pieces, Paper Moon, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the The Deer Hunter. Featuring the likes of Karen Black, Peter Bogdanovich, Sandra Bullock, Richard Donner, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper,  Tatum O’Neal, Bob Rafelson, Sharon Stone, Vittorio Storaro,  Jon Voight and Haskell Wexler, the movie skillfully weaves their conversations with clips from the memorable films that Kovacs and Zsigmond shot. A must for any fan of the ‘70s – and of cinema in general.

Share This

Just saw Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the charming sequel which looks certain to continue audiences’ current love affair with talking animals. It’s significant that Beverly Hills Chihuahua easily destroyed Leo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott at the box office!

The Paramount Pictures release featuring the voices of Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric The Entertainer,  Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin and will.i.am . It is directed by Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath, who helmed the original Madagascar, which earned more than $500 million in worldwide box offices.

I hung out with will.i.am at the W Hotel in Westwood. He told me he’s getting more and more into movies now. He even shot a film in Brazil to promote his solo CD, Songs About Girls, “but it didn’t turn out very well,” he admits. But unfazed he’s still “really into” movies and acting, and next stars in the new X-Men film, X-Men Origins; Wolverine.

Share This

It’s a small world and I’m always amazed at some of the coincidences and links that happen. When I first moved to Topanga, I met Alexis Sonnenfeld, a great contractor, who helped us redo our house. We became good friends, went to his wedding, and met his brother, Stefan. It turned out that Stefan Sonnenfeld was this amazing colorist who then became the Company 3 Co-Founder.

Meanwhile, another good friend, Colleen O’Mara, formed the very successful Hype PR agency, and now handles Company 3. She tells me that Company 3 and Method Studios are announcing a unique, collaborative partnership to provide clients around the world with a full spectrum of state-of-the-art postproduction services. Stefan and Method Co-Founder/VFX Supervisor Alex Frisch saw a need for combined, solutions-based services ranging from color correction for commercials/music videos, digital camera capture, feature VFX to feature film digital intermediate.

Company 3 and Method now have a presence in Tokyo as well through their new partner: Digital Garden. On November 3, Method Studios will open their New York office at Company 3’s current New York location. Early next year, Company 3 and Method will move their New York teams into a new building in the Chelsea district. Recent Company 3 commercial projects include: campaigns for Apple, Nike, BMW, Travelers Insurance and Heineken. Recent feature film credits include Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, 300, Dreamgirls and Rush Hour 3.

Share This

I’ve had lengthy conversations with Quentin Tarantino throughout the years, and for quite some time he’s been talking about “writing this big WW11 script, The Inglorious Bastards,” as he calls it. Well, his dream is finally a reality as Inglourious Basterds – as it’s now known - began principal photography last week on location in Germany.  The star-heavy ensemble cast of Inglourious Basterds includes Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Mike Myers and Cloris Leachman and the film reunites Tarantino with Academy Award-nominated Editor Sally Menke, Academy Award-winning Director of Photography Bob Richardson and Production Designer David Wasco.

Joining Tarantino for the first time is Academy Award-nominated Costume Designer Anna Sheppard. So why the long wait? Quentin told me “it’s the script that took so long,  and I ended up writing two scripts. Then I got inspired about doing Kill Bill. Don’t forget, when I came out with Reservoir Dogs, I’d already written True Romance and Natural Born Killers and From Dusk Till Dawn. And after Reservoir Dogs came out, I wrote Pulp Fiction.

“So, the reason anyone knows who I am is because I have this big body of work which gives you a nice sense of my writing style, my personality, my dialogue, all that kind of shit. And suddenly it all got made in one big burst. And what happens with most writer/directors is, once you use up all that stuff, you’re like, ‘OK, what do I do next?’ And you have to start from scratch again. And you’ll notice that what happens with a lot of people who become famous as writer/directors - not Woody Allen - is that at a certain point they stop writing their own scripts, as it’s too much of a pain in the ass to always start from scratch. So they look for a script they like and then rewrite it or develop it. But I like to write my own stuff.”

Academy Award-nominee Lawrence Bender is producing Inglourious Basterds; Bob and Harvey Weinstein are the executive producers. The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures, through its newly formed International Studio, are co-financing and co-presenting the film with TWC handling domestic distribution and Universal handling international distribution. The two companies are partners on the project, which will be released worldwide in 2009.

Share This

By Dyana Carmella

This year, the DV Expo was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center right in the heart of Downtown. The blue-carpeted breezy venue had wall-to-wall exhibit booths showcasing the industry’s top digital video products.

A highlight at the Expo was the Keynote Presentation from DP David Stump, ASC. “Cameras don’t make movies; people make movies,” said Stump. “We just need the cameras to do it…give yourself the freedom and education to do it.”

Smart Sound was showing off their music score software, Sonicfire Pro 5, which included special features, such as timing control, mood mapping and spotting. Alan Gordon Enterprises, Inc. showcased the Glidecam Camera Stabilization System and JVC was on hand demonstrating their wide range of broadcast and studio equipment.  RED had a boot camp exhibit where you were able to learn the basics of the RED One camera in a hands-on environment, and the folks at Redrock Micro were busy at their booth with the Canon 5D Mark II and Redrock accessories on display.

But it was Sony that stole the show by displaying a banner that was visible from across the showroom floor and a mini theater where the HVR-Z5U Digital HD Video Camera Recorder was being demonstrated. Throughout the floor, there were smaller theaters in the open, which included “Lighting Master Classes,” “The Best of Slamdance Shorts,” HD Editing Seminars and “Photo Montages Made Easy.”

I found that the Expo gave exhibitors the opportunity to meet and greet some of the industry’s top professionals in a rather friendly environment.   

Share This

By Iain Blair

Britain and India have been closely linked ever since the Empire days, and it continues. The latest merger is the UK/Indian film industries. A Brit producer friend – whose son is a DP and who last year married an Indian girl (whom he met at film school in London) -told me that a big deal was afoot while I was in London last month. Now comes word that UK and Indian filmmakers gathered at a top level summit in London recently to explore how they can work more closely together to benefit the industries in both countries.

The event was extremely timely given that the new UK India co-production treaty has just come into force and Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, which shot in India with a largely Indian crew, will close the BFI London Film Festival next week.  The film which won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto International Film festival has fuelled excitement about the type of collaborations that the UK and India can make together – which makes perfect sense, as the Indian film industry makes more than 1,000 films a year and the international market for Indian film billed $25.8 billion in 2006.

Actors and directors are being wooed by media giants aware of their bankability overseas and the international film business is courting the country’s filmmakers and studios as important partners.  Only recently, Spielberg’s Dreamworks signed a $550 million deal with Reliance Entertainment.  The new UK India co-production treaty which has recently come into force will help British filmmakers to break into this expanding market. As my friend noted, the UK film industry’s relationship with India goes back decades and in the past 15 years the bond has been strengthened with Indian filmmakers choosing the UK as a production destination. In turn, Indian films and Bollywood films in particular have struck a chord with British audiences.  Hindi films are the most common foreign language films played in UK cinemas and accounted for 52 releases last year, or 10 percent.  Pretty impressive growth!

Share This

I had dinner with Clint Eastwood a few years ago up in Carmel and it was fascinating to talk about filmmaking with him. One of the main things he stressed was that, “most movies just cost too damn much,” and that growing up in the Great Depression had taught him the real value of a dollar saved.

Now, with more than 30 films to his directorial credit, Eastwood has mastered the economy of shooting and his latest – Changeling, which I just saw – is another great example of the frugal director at the peak of his creative powers. Set in the golden Jazz Age of the late ‘20s, the true murder story stars a terrific Angelina Jolie and the bustling city of Los Angeles as the backdrop of the story. But finding authentic ‘20s locations wasn’t easy. An extensive amount of research was necessary to duplicate specific locations and images of the late ‘20s and early ’30s.

Initial location scouts revealed that older buildings had been torn down, streets replaced by superhighways and complete neighborhoods razed. In the end, Eastwood and his team used untapped suburban locales in San Dimas, San Bernadino and Pasadena, among other sites, to stand in for ’20s-era Los Angeles.

The art department—complementing the location shoots and sets that were built on the Universal Studios back lot—supplemented key scenes. And visual effects supervisor Michael Owens was called in to add effects enhancements and re-create backdrops, such as the city skyline and the red streetcars that then populated the region.  Recalls Eastwood of Los Angeles’ changing landscape over the years, “I remember a lot of those things growing up.  When I first came to L.A. in the ’50s, it was quite a bit different.  Even then, the red streetcars were everywhere.  They were very popular at the time.” Another Eastwood trademark in the film? His loyalty to his crew. Leading the behind-the-scenes talent is a seasoned crew of Eastwood film veterans, including director of photography Tom Stern (Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers), production designer James J.. Murakami (Letters from Iwo Jima, Rails & Ties), Oscar®-winning editor Joel Cox (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) and editor Gary D. Roach (Letters from Iwo Jima, Rails & Ties), costume designer Deborah Hopper (Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River) and visual effects supervisor Michael Owens (Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima)

Share This

By Iain Blair

Had lunch with Bruce Lyon, an old friend who is now the co-founder and CEO of hot new company, Integrated Media Technologies Inc. The Burbank-based company  - check it out at www.imtglobalinc.com - “offers ground-breaking solutions for creating, managing, storing and distributing digital media content,” Bruce told me. “We’re building out the next generation of digital storage.”

Bruce, a former executive from Sun Microsystems and an Oscar winner for Technical Achievement, formed IMT just a year ago. The team includes Chairman John Zanotti, former CEO of wireless entertainment company Astrum Digital and broadcaster Citicasters Inc., SVP of Sales Mike Braico, formerly Sun’s top media and entertainment sales executive, and CFO Jack Fluor, former director of finance at Spark Networks.  Rob Kobrin, former SVP for Worldwide Product Marketing at Avid, recently joined the company as CTO.

The company’s areas of expertise include enterprise class computing, networking and storage systems. It also offers IT consulting services, including project management, infrastructure design, and systems engineering for media and entertainment companies. In just 12 months of operation, IMT has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments. Its roster of clients includes Paramount, Technicolor Inc., Deluxe Film and Video, Fox Entertainment, Mainstreet Pictures, and DirecTV. “We just created a state-of-the-art digital production studio for The Jim Henson Company to support the HD production of its new series Sid, The Science Kid,” said Bruce. IMT has also designed an archiving system for Rhythm & Hues, one of Hollywood’s most successful special effects producers.  The company is currently working with Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane and Main Street Pictures on an ambitious new project for the Web. Spurred by its success, IMT plans to shortly double the size of its facility.

Share This

“I think this is a show that is going to work for New York,” says Bob Zupka, Product Manager with Schneider Optics. “These workshops are where I get my ideas for the products. You have to talk to the shooters.”

The venue was an old brick railroad building located in Manhattan’s waterfront area on the Hudson, thus the name the “Waterfront.” I believe this show will follow the footsteps of the Los Angeles show and just keep growing. Incidentally, I’m looking forward to the LA show that is coming up on October 29-30 and will be at the Burbank, Marriott.

Check them out at www.hdexpo.net.

Share This