Best Of The Film Industry: February 2016

Here are my favorite film industry and production articles + videos from around the internet from the last month. There is an awful lot of junk to sort through every month, so I’ve broken down my favorite articles and videos to help cut through the clutter.

VIDEOS

Director/Editor Joey Scoma is here to talk to you about something simple: cuts and transitions. Except… there are so many different kinds!! In this video essay, Joey lists and defines the different cuts and transitions available to you as an editor, with examples from classic and modern films. It’s up to you to decide when and why you’d use them!

 

How do you film a conversation? Most likely, you’re going to block the actors, set up the camera, and do shot/reverse shot. But where do you put the camera? What lens do you use? And how do you cut back and forth? Today, I consider the Coen brothers — Joel & Ethan — and see how these choices lend a particular feel to their version of shot/reverse shot.

We spent some time with (the eccentric) Barry Rollins on location in the Pacific Northwest to get a deeper insight into how he operates, what sliders and cranes he uses, and what makes a b-roll artist tick.

Create an Awesome Glitch Intro in After Effects

Get the film look with this awesome steadicam stabilizer called Yelangu s60t. It’s affordable so it’s perfect for indie filmakers. You get the steadycam in a small bag together with a manual, a hex key and some extra weights. It’s made out of carbon fiber, and weights only 800 grams without the weights.

Inside Game of Thrones

From his unique perspective as a director, producer and actor working across the world on stage and screen, mainstream networks and the internet, Kevin Spacey considers the changes sweeping across our industry and the opportunities for innovation and creativity for those who live to tell stories and engage audiences.

ARTICLES

Danny Boyle’s 15 Golden Rules of Filmmaking: “Danny Boyle has directed hit films in a wide array of genres—from the cautionary drug saga Trainspotting to the inspirational, Oscar-winning drama Slumdog Millionaire. In 2010, Boyle enumerated his 15 Golden Rules of filmmaking exclusively for MovieMaker Magazine, just as 127 Hours hit theaters.”

Download over 60 Free Film LUTS for Editors, Colorists and DITs: “Film emulation LUTS, creative look LUTS, camera profile LUTS, negative LUTS, print LUTS. There seems to be a LUT for everything these days! With the proliferation of the use of Look Up Tables (LUTS) in the production and post-production process, there’s never been a better time to understand what they are and how best to use them. But if you don’t care about that and just want to get your hands on some freebies – scroll down!”

ART OF THE CUT: On cutting “DEADPOOL” with Premiere Pro CC: “Vashi Nedomansky trained a team of Avid editors and assistants for their switch to Premiere Pro for “Deadpool” and delivered a workflow that put the big-time box office hit in theaters everywhere.”

Stanley Kubrick Died This Month in 1999. Reflections on His Legacy: “He was a film director who invented himself. Positioned between the directors of the Hollywood studio system and the generation trained in university film schools, Stanley Kubrick was an autodidact and a twentieth century filmmaking pioneer. He completed only 13 features in a half-century, but his larger-than-life status was achieved by his consistency of vision, fierce dedication to total control, and mastery of the cinematic medium. ”

Iñárritu, Aronofsky and How To Tell A Story Through the Eyes of Your Protagonist: “Trying to pump up a character’s emotional depth? The solution may lie within the pupils of your actor.”

How BJ Novak Separates the Idea Phase and the Execution Phase: “After the writing process he learned and developed working on the Office, comedian, screenwriter and director BJ Novak also shared about how he creates a distinction between Ideas and Executions, to ensure that the two process don’t overlap and freeze each other…”

What Does “Work For Hire” Mean for Moviemakers?: “”I was hired to work on a film as a DP and the contract stated that it was a “work for hire.” I’ve seen that in a bunch of employment contracts, but I never really understood what it meant. Can you shed some light on it?…”

Did I leave anything out? Let me know in the comments below!