Struggling Indie Film Business
Here’s an article from today’s News & Observer about the state of the indie film business. It is following the same path music did. When indie becomes the mainstream, and the major corporations get behind it, budgets grow, creativity suffers and the audience does not follow. The indie crowd doesn’t want their movies or music to become popular, and the average American does not need to feel hip. And in the end, everyone shops at Target.
Recent Movies Seen
I haven’t post a list of recently seen movies since early summer, so here goes. I am trying to get back to regular Netflix viewing (weekly, rather than monthly, or longer), so the DVD list should grow next time.
In the Theater
The Dark Knight
Encounters at the End of the World
Special Showings (in Theaters, Outdoors or group gatherings)
Hot Pursuit (Our Super 8 extravaganza)
In Bruges
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Memento
Purple Rain
Recount
DVD
The Last King of Scotland
United 93
Capote
Silver City
The Black Dahlia
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke
Watching our Film
About a month ago, a group of like-minded individuals banded together with a roll of Super8 film and shot a short film in downtown Durham. Read about in this post. The film was shot with all scenes in order, with no editing. We did not get to see the footage after it was shot.
Tonight was the premiere of our film, titled Hot Pursuit, as well as 8-10 others shot under the same conditions. None of the filmmakers saw their films before tonight. Since the films were silent, many filmmakers provided music to accompany their films.
As I recounted during shooting, we certainly had an adventure making this movie. It was an experience to remember. And if the film turned out good, well, then that was just a bonus. As it turned out, the film was pretty good. It had the look of a 1970s opening title sequence, which is what we were going for. It was also very funny. I don’t know if we got the loudest laughter because our group was laughing so hard. I can’t wait to get an online link so I can share it.
More on The Road
from the NY Times:
ERIE, Pa. — Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Road,” takes place in a world that, because of some unexplained catastrophe, has just about ended. The sky is gray, the rivers are black, and color is just a memory. The landscape is covered in ash, with soot falling perpetually from the air. The cities are blasted and abandoned. The roads are littered with corpses either charred or melted, their dreams, Mr. McCarthy writes, “ensepulchred within their crozzled hearts.”For the crew that has just finished filming the movie version of “The Road” — a joint production of 2929 and Bob Weinstein’s Dimension Films, set to open in November — that meant an upending of the usual rules of making a movie on location. Bad weather was good and good weather bad. “A little fog, a little drizzle — those are the good days,” Mark Forker, the movie’s director of special effects, remarked one morning in late April while the crew was shooting some of the final scenes in the book on a stretch of scraggly duneland by the shore of Lake Erie here. “Today is a bad day,” he added, shaking his head and squinting.
What I Am Watching
Tonight I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I really enjoyed this movie that was true to the series and to its roots in Saturday morning serials. It also bristled with the spirit and pop culture of the 1950s. I wasn’t sure how Harrison Ford would portray an older Indy, but he did it exactly as expected.
Other Movies
Ironman
The Counterfeiters (imdb)
The Dead Zone
The Brood
DVDs
All the Kings Men
Donnie Darko
Hero (with Jet Li)
MI-5 (Season 1)
Sets of Zombie Photos
I haven’t really had the chance to write about my experience as an extra in a Zombie movie called Fistful of Brains (www.fistfulofbrains.com), which was shooting this past weekend in Smithfield, NC. I have, however, posted the pictures. Scroll down for the links.
Here are the links to Flickr slide shows (in 3 sets):
Zombies
Western Town called Shadowhawk
Behind the Scenes of the Shoot
Movie Update
I have seen lots of movies recently, and I will have some trouble recounting them all. I can check my calendar and my netflix queue, but anything that I just went to see, or just watched, I may miss. That is why I do these posts, so I can check back later and see what I watched.
I am not going to comment on each, or provide links to IMDB. If you want to find out about a movie, go to IMDB yourself. If you want to know what I think about a particular movie, leave a comment.
Movies
There Will Be Blood
Persepolis
Delicatessen
The Savages
Academy Nominated Animated Shorts
DVD
Lost in Translation
Once
Seven
Sideways
The Matador
Three Kings
Star Wars Main Title Sequence
Below are main title sequences to Star Wars as if they were produced by great movie title animator, Saul Bass. During his 40-year career he worked for some of Hollywood’s greatest filmmakers, including most notably Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese.
The first is the standard one and the second is the remastered special edition featuring many in-jokes for Star Wars geeks.
Standard Edition
Special Edition
Star Wars Reviewed by a 3 Year Old
Scorcese Channels Hitchcock
Here’s a link to a short film Martin Scorcese made for Spanish sparkling wine, Freixenet. Here’s a blog post explaining the background of the piece.
A definite must watch for Scorcese and Hitchcock fans.