Monday, August 22, 2011

The Last Circus

If you can get past the freaky clowns in this trailer, I can say with the upmost confidence that you probably haven't seen a film like this before. The Last Circus is definitely a film I can't wait to see.
Can't wait to find out what movies are coming out this fall??? Checkout IFC's Fall Movie Preview.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Making Music Videos is Fun..

We have always been interested in making music videos and watching the "behind the scenes" of this new Moby video only inspires us more....I'm digging the "Red" camera they are using in this shoot.

We are entering our favorite time of the year for films...after the summer movies have fizzled out the good films start to trickle out to your neighborhood Art House theatre. Check out this trailer for Senna.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Comic Con


Hey All,

We had a pretty busy July and are finally starting to catch our breath after completing some big projects in the first half of the year. Comic Con was as fun and hectic of a shoot as ever. Check out the Upcoming Movies.com website's Comic Con Blog to see some of our work from the event.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Tutorials and movie releases...

So we are finally putting the finishing touches on God with a Gun and stumbled upon this Sound Track Pro tutorial on how to remove unwanted background noise. Check it out:

Need to color correct your footage? Checkout this great on how to color correct the right way.

Color Correction Tutorial After Effects [The Right Way!] from ☞ Michael DeVowe on Vimeo.

There are some additional instructions here
And if you own After Effects and need to create a quick vignette, checkout the clip below:

Another great film from the folks at Oscilloscope.





Thursday, August 04, 2011

Good Things Come to People Who....

Read our blog posts!!! Sorry, its been awhile...we have been busy covering Comic-Con and working on some other artistic endeavors...but anyway enough about that...Francis Ford Coppola was at Comic Con this year promoting his new movie Twixt. At the panel, Coppola utilized an unique approach to the presentation of Twixt that incorporated live music by acclaimed independent performance artist Dan Deacon. Deacon attend Comic-Con with Coppola to help demonstrate the interactive experience of the film, which incorporates both 2-D and 3-D elements. Staring Val Kilmer, Twixt was inspired by the work of Edgar Allan Poe' and Nathaniel Hawthorne and and came to Coppola in a dream "while on a trip to Istanbul." The trailer is below...let us know what you think.


Check out this interesting video

Paraic King from Ricardo Zapata on Vimeo.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Blank City....and more

First-time director Celine Danhier assembled archival footage and contemporary interviews about New York's underground film scene in the 1970s and 80s. As self proclaimed film jeeks, we can't see enough documentaries about the process of making film, music, and art. Should be an interesting doc....


DIY TIP OF THE DAY:

How to make an explosion- After Effects Tutorial



Ever wanted to know how to create realistic looking Terminator make-up effects??? Look no further.

Monday, March 21, 2011

The Beaver...& more....

Although the early reviews have been positive about Mel Gibson's performance. Its a safe bet that we won't be lining up to see this one...
2011 Accepted Film: The Beaver


Checkout this other 2011 SXSW film...

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

SXSW FILM FEST & MORE....

The South by Southwest film festival is in full swing and unfortunately we cannot be there. Despite this fact, we will be posting some of the coverage from this years festival. Hopefully we can make it next year.

This looks awesome...

Satan Since 2003: SXSW 2011 Accepted Film


Duncan Jones at the Source Code Red Carpet Q&A: 2011 SXSW Film Festival.


Man & Machine: A Naked Robotic Love Story - SXSW 2011 Accepted Film

Monday, March 07, 2011

Film Rumors...Tips and Tools and...Hobo with a Shotgun

Hello everyone...sorry for the delay between posts. We are working on that. But honestly we are knee deep in editing GWAG at the moment and hopefully we will be finally done with it soon. Anyway whilst taking a break in the action I stumbled upon these interesting Quentin Tarantino rumors....first off, Hobo with a Shotgun premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and is set to be released on March 25th....well at least in Canada. But this is the 2nd Grindhouse Trailer film spinoff to be released. The trailer is of course ridiculously funny and honestly I can't wait to see it.

The 2nd rumor is that several media sites are reporting that Tarantino is getting behind the directors chair to make a Spaghetti Western staring Christoph Waltz among others....stay tuned.

Cheap Film Sound Tips..

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The Oscars were....

pretty boring...well except for a F-Bomb, and the auto-tunemashup got a few laughs. Franco and Hathaway gave it their best but mostly came up short due to the Academy playing it safe and staying away from anything deemed obscene or funny....well at least fan favorite Inception didn't win best picture...

List of Winners....


Best Picture
"Black Swan," Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
"The Fighter" David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
"Inception," Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
"The Kids Are All Right," Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
"127 Hours," Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
"The Social Network," Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán, Producers
"Toy Story 3" Darla K. Anderson, Producer
"True Grit" Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"
WINNER: Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"

Actor in a Supporting Role
WINNER: Christian Bale in "The Fighter"
John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"
WINNER: Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
WINNER: Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"
Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"
Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"

Animated Feature Film
"How to Train Your Dragon" Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
"The Illusionist" Sylvain Chomet
WINNER: "Toy Story 3" Lee Unkrich

Art Direction
WINNER: "Alice in Wonderland"
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"
"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"

Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
WINNER: "Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen
"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth
"True Grit," Roger Deakins

Costume Design
WINNER: "Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood
"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres

Directing
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Tom Hooper
"The Social Network," David Fincher
"True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Documentary (Feature)
"Exit through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
WINNER: "Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

Documentary (Short Subject)
"Killing in the Name"
"Poster Girl"
WINNER: "Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"

Film Editing
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
WINNER: "The Social Network"

Foreign Language Film
"Biutiful," Mexico
"Dogtooth," Greece
WINNER: "In a Better World," Denmark
"Incendies," Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria

Makeup
"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot
"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
WINNER: "The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman
WINNER: "The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
WINNER: "We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Animated)
"Day & Night," Teddy Newton
"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
WINNER: "The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)" Bastien Dubois

Short Film (Live Action)
"The Confession," Tanel Toom
"The Crush," Michael Creagh
WINNER: "God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Sound Editing
WINNER: "Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger

Sound Mixing
WINNER: "Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Visual Effects
"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
WINNER: "Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"127 Hours," Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
WINNER: "The Social Network," Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
"Toy Story 3," Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

Writing (Original Screenplay)
"Another Year," Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception," Written by Christopher Nolan
"The Kids Are All Right," Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
WINNER: "The King's Speech," Screenplay by David Seidler

Coming Soon..

Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Oscars and its rainy and cold in SD....

I know the weather is nowhere near as bad as other parts of the world but its been rather cold and wet the last couple of days here in San Diego. Just the kind of weekend to stay in, catch up your DVR list, and watch the Oscars tomorrow night. Anyway even though we haven't seen every movie that is nominated this year we are definitely opinionated about our picks to take home an Oscar but everyone knows that The Social Network and Restrepo will win in there categories....or will they??? I am interested to see if Banksy will make an appearance.

Below is the list of nominated films.

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids are All Right
The King's Speech
The Social Network
127 Hours
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening (The Kids are All Right)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine)

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem (Biutiful)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
James Franco (127 Hours)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)
Jeremy Renner (The Town)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids are All Right)
Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom)

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Toy Story 3

Best Documentary Short Subject
Killing in the Name
Poster Girl
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
The Warriors of Qiugang

Best Short Film (Animated)
Day & Night Teddy Newton
The Gruffalo Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
Let's Pollute Geefwee Boedoe
The Lost Thing Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary) Bastien Dubois

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Confession Tanel Toom
The Crush Michael Creagh
God of Love Luke Matheny
Na Wewe Ivan Goldschmidt
Wish 143 Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Achievement in Art Direction
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
The King's Speech
True Grit

Achievement in Cinematography
Black Swan (Matthew Libatique)
Inception (Wally Pfister)
The King's Speech (Danny Cohen)
The Social Network (Jeff Cronenweth)
True Grit (Roger Deakins)
Achievement in Costume Design
Alice in Wonderland (Colleen Atwood)
I Am Love (Antonella Cannarozzi)
The King's Speech (Jenny Beaven)
The Tempest (Sandy Powell)
True Grit (Mary Zophres)

Achievement in Directing
Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
David Fincher (The Social Network)
Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit)

Best Documentary Feature
Exit through the Gift Shop Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)
Gasland Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)
Inside Job Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)
Restrepo Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)
Waste Land Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

Achievement in Makeup
Barney's Version
The Way Back
The Wolfman

Achievement in Film Editing
Black Swan (Andrew Weisblum)
The Fighter (Pamela Martin)
The King's Speech (Tariq Anwar)
127 Hours (Jon Harris)
The Social Network (Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall)

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Biutiful (Mexico)
Dogtooth (Greece)
In a Better World (Denmark)
Incendies (Canada)
Hors la Loi (Algeria)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)
How to Train Your Dragon (John Powell)
Inception (Hans Zimmer)
The King's Speech (Alexandre Desplat)
127 Hours (A.R. Rahman)
The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross)

Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)
"Coming Home" from Country Strong Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
"I See the Light" from Tangled Music and Lyric by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from 127 Hours Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3 Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Achievement in Sound Editing
Inception
Toy Story 3
TRON: Legacy
True Grit
Unstoppable

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Inception
The King's Speech
Salt
The Social Network
True Grit

Achievement in Visual Effects
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Hereafter
Inception
Iron Man 2

Adapted Screenplay
127 Hours (Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle)
The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)
Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
True Grit (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen)
Winter's Bone (Debra Granik and Anne Rossellini)

Original Screenplay
Another Year (Mike Leigh)
The Fighter (Paul Attanasio, Lewis Colich, Eric Johnson, Scott Silverand Paul Tamasy)
Inception (Christopher Nolan)
The Kids are All Right (Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko)
The King's Speech (David Seidler)

Random...but pretty cool.

The Insane Console History Video 2.0 from Elder-Geek on Vimeo.


___

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Sunday Night Editing

While we are both really busy working on some editing projects, I managed to stumble upon these tutorials on how to create basic effects in Final Cut Pro. Enjoy!

Muzzle Flashes/Explosions and more!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

How to Clone Yourself and more....in Final Cut Pro....

So we are currently working on A's film and have been researching on how to do all kinds of stuff when we stumbled upon these cool tutorials....I always wanted to learn how to create a clone effect and never knew it was this easy.

Want to know how to layer video???

How to remove camera shake in Final Cut Pro

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Howlin' for You...

Checkout this new project trailer from "Las Teclas Del Negro"...aka The Black Keys....good stuff.
Click here.
Need some more Black Keys??? Checkout the video for Next Girl below.

Heading out to Austin??? Click here to see the 2011 The South by Southwest Film Festival lineup.

Tuesday, February 08, 2011

How to Composite Video

Wanna learn how to composite video using Adobe Premier or Final Cut Pro? Checkout how to do it using Adobe Premier and After Effects from Videomaker.
How to Composite Video for Inserting Backgrounds in Sets
Own Final Cut Pro? Then checkout the video below:

And one more FCP how to video..

Coming Soon...
Even in the Rain

Tuesday, February 01, 2011

Mister Brainwash Does the Oscars...

Well, if you have seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, then you knew that this was coming...a large mural of "Exit Through the Gift Shop"-related street art on La Brea in LA was put up overnight signed by Mister Brainwash. Now if Exit wins the Best Documentary Oscar, who will accept the award? Should be interesting. Stay tuned.

Want to know more about Exit Through the Gift Shop? Click here to read an interview with Banksy.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Not Dead Yet....

With advances in digital video and photography happening all the time, many professional filmmakers and photographs still prefer the film medium over digital. Although many believe digital video will surpass film or is now actually a better medium, the debate goes on. Not sure which you prefer? Checkout John Mellencamp's tour trailer shot entirely with super 8mm.

John Mellencamp Trailer from Rounder Records on Vimeo.

Don't even think about putting away that super 8 camera...thanks to popular demand Kodak has recently released a new super 8 motion picture film. According to the article on Kodak's website:

"Super 8 mm film is a versatile, affordable option for filmmakers who require the image quality and flexibility of film," says Chris Johnson, product manager, Entertainment Imaging Division, Eastman Kodak Company. "Quantum leaps in film emulsion technology have made Super 8 - once considered a hobbyist's format - a viable option for professional filmmakers and students."

As a fan of all things film, (I regularly shoot 35mm and super 8mm) I am excited to see what the new super 8 color reversal film can do. Recently we shot some test rolls of Kodak Ektachrome 64T color reversal film and some Kodak TRI-X B&W reversal film, to see if we can employ this into our rig as alternative to the cold crisp reality that HD delivers. Yes film is slow, grainy, unpredictable, and development and transfer costs can add up. However, regardless of what anyone tells you, most Hollywood pictures today are still shot with 35mm film. Yes there has been a number of advancements such as the Red Camera or high-end HD cameras such as the camera that George Lucas used during his Starwars Prequels, or plugins and even iPhone aps that replicate the look of film.... but nothing delivers the warm, resolution, and depth of field of film. So for filmmakers and students alike, super 8mm is still a viable alternative. To read more about Kodak's new Super 8mm film, click here.

Don't agree? Here is some experts debating the subject:



Can't get enough? Checkout Robert Rodriguez - Film is Dead

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Banksy....Not a fan of 20th Century Fox

The elusive street artist Banksy has produced an intro for the Simpson's that takes aim at 20th Century Fox's alleged animation outsourcing to Asia. The intro shows factory workers creating animation, promotional products, animal abuse, etc under hazardous conditions. The extended intro is definitely not a typical intro for the show and is interesting considering that the Simpon's are show on Fox. Take a look below.

Even though the 2011 Sundance Film Festival is ending today, this video gives you an overview as to what happens at the festival and demonstrates why you need to go next year. Well, at least we are thinking of going...

Making the transition from day job to filmmaker is easy as...

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Sundance Film Festival News....

Isabella Rossellini on directing:

Checkout this interesting trailer for Pandemic 41.410806, -75.654259, which is premiering at this years Sundance Film Festival.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Sundance Film Festival 2011 "Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul"

The Sundance Film Festival has always been the place to release cutting edge independent film to the industry and film fans alike. Top films from around the world compete in the perfect setting to celebrate the art of cinema. This year is no different.
Checkout the trailer for Skateistan: To Live and Skate Kabul.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The 83rd Annual Oscar Nominations

And the nominees are....Yes its Oscar season once again. Will the The Network or Black Swan or even The Kings Speech take home the best picture Oscar??? We weren't shocked by any of these films being nominated...well other than Inception.....any thoughts?

The 83rd Annual Oscar Nominations

Best Picture
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right ”
“The King’s Speech”
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Best Direction
Darren Aronofsky for “Black Swan”
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
David Fincher for “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper for “The King’s Speech”
David O. Russell for “The Fighter”

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
James Franco in “127 Hours”
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
John Hawkes in “Winter’s Bone”
Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Adapted Screenplay
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy for “127 Hours”
Aaron Sorkin for “The Social Network”
Michael Arndt, story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich for “Toy Story 3″
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for “True Grit”
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini for “Winter’s Bone”

Original Screenplay
Mike Leigh for “Another Year”
Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. Story by Keith Dorrington and Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson for “The Fighter”
Christopher Nolan for “Inception”
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for “The Kids Are All Right”
David Seidler for “The King’s Speech”

Animated Feature
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”
“Toy Story 3″

Art Direction
“Alice in Wonderland”: Robert Stromberg (Production Design), Karen O’Hara (Set Decoration)
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″: Stuart Craig (Production Design), Stephenie McMillan (Set Decoration)
“Inception”: Guy Hendrix Dyas (Production Design), Larry Dias and Doug Mowat (Set Decoration)
“The King’s Speech”: Eve Stewart (Production Design), Judy Farr (Set Decoration)
“True Grit”: Jess Gonchor (Production Design), Nancy Haigh (Set Decoration)

Cinematography
“Black Swan”: Matthew Libatique
“Inception”: Wally Pfister
“The King’s Speech”: Danny Cohen
“The Social Network”: Jeff Cronenweth
“True Grit”: Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland”: Colleen Atwood
“I Am Love”: Antonella Cannarozzi
“The King’s Speech”: Jenny Beavan
“The Tempest”: Sandy Powell
“True Grit”: Mary Zophres

Documentary (Feature)
“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”
“Inside Job”
“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

Documentary (Short Subject)
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”
“The Warriors of Qiugang”

Film Editing
“Black Swan”: Andrew Weisblum
“The Fighter”: Pamela Martin
“The King’s Speech”: Tariq Anwar
“127 Hours”: Jon Harris
“The Social Network”: Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Foreign Language Film
“Biutiful”: Mexico
“Dogtooth”: Greece
“In a Better World”: Denmark
“Incendies”: Canada
“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)”: Algeria

Makeup
“Barney’s Version”: Adrien Morot
“The Way Back”: Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
“The Wolfman”: Rick Baker and Dave Elsey

Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon”: John Powell
“Inception”: Hans Zimmer
“The King’s Speech”: Alexandre Desplat
“127 Hours”: A.R. Rahman
“The Social Network”: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong” Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey
“I See the Light” from “Tangled” Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours” Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3″ Music and Lyric by Randy Newman

Short Film (Live Action)
“The Confession”: Tanel Toom
“The Crush”: Michael Creagh
“God of Love”: Luke Matheny
“Na Wewe”: Ivan Goldschmidt
“Wish 143″: Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite

Short Film (Animated)
“Day & Night”: Teddy Newton
“The Gruffalo”: Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
“Let’s Pollute”: Geefwee Boedoe
“The Lost Thing”: Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”: Bastien Dubois

Sound Editing
“Inception”: Richard King
“Toy Story 3″: Tom Myers and Michael Silvers
“Tron: Legacy”: Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague
“True Grit”: Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
“Unstoppable”: Mark P. Stoeckinger

Visual Effects
“Alice in Wonderland”: Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1″: Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
“Hereafter”: Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell
“Inception”: Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
“Iron Man 2″: Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

Sound Mixing
“Inception”: Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick
“The King’s Speech”: Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
“Salt”: Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
“The Social Network”: Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
“True Grit”: Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

Sundance 2011 News
In case you haven't seen it...here is Kevin Smith full Red State speech on Film Distribution....

Monday, January 24, 2011

Transmissions from Sundance...

Kevin Smith is at the Sundance Film Festival premiering his latest effort Red State which is a departure from his usual fare. Not to mention that Smith is using "alternative methods" to release and promote his film. We applaud his efforts and can't wait to see how this all plays out. Checkout the "Red Statement" regarding their marketing and distribution play and view the trailer below.

"The Harvey Boys have witnessed first hand the vagaries of "studio math" - the byzantine numbers game that sees an uneducated media and public celebrating "huge" openings at the box office while ignoring the obscene marketing costs attached to reach those figures. We believe it's a pyrrhic victory to simply "buy" an opening weekend by pouring millions of dollars into TV spots, billboards and print ads. As storytellers, why not instead use our creative abilities that resulted in a film in the first place to also creatively SELL that film directly to our public?

We believe the state of film marketing has become ridiculously expensive and exclusionary to the average filmmaker longing simply to tell their story. When the costs of marketing and releasing a movie are four times that film's budget, it's apparent the traditional distribution mechanism is woefully out of touch with not only the current global economy, but also the age of social media.

Therefore, The Harvey Boys will not spend a dime on old world media buys (such as TV/Print/Outdoor) as we self-distribute our film, Red State, in an admittedly unconventional, yet extremely cost effective, word of mouth/viral campaign.

Knowledge is power, and we believe in empowering the filmmaker - so the Harvey Boys vow to make the financials of Red State open and transparent from which anybody hoping to follow suit can learn. We will do what no studio has dared: open up our books for the world to see so anyone interested in pursuing a similar independent release strategy has a better understanding of the BUSINESS of Red State.

And if we're successful - or even merely effective - at producing a film distribution apparatus that can stand apart from the cost-prohibitive studio model currently viewed as the only way to get a movie into a theater? It is our intent to use the groundwork we lay with Red State to aid other filmmakers in releasing THEIR films, via our newly launched SModcast Pictures.

Don't hate the studio; BECOME the studio. Anybody can make a movie; what we aim to prove is anyone can release a movie as well."

The Harvey Boys

Jon Gordon & Kevin Smith



Sunday, January 23, 2011

Unseen Orson Welles flick finally being released....

According to an article on The Guardian, the day has come for Welles unseen film The Other Side of the Wind to be released. Welles started work on the film in the late 60s, shooting periodically from 1969 - 1972, with Wells declaring that the film was 96% complete that year. Some short clips have surfaced on Youtube and add to the mystic of film as being cutting edge for its time through its use of alternative production techniques and psychedelic visuals. Now this definitely isn't Welles only unfinished film as he has several projects that have never seen the light of day. Despite this fact, we are definitely looking forward to its release.

Here is another clip.

As many of you know, the 2011 Sundance Film Festival is underway in Park City Utah. I had an opportunity to attend back in 2007 and loved every minute of it. We weren't able to go again this year but that hasn't stopped us from keeping up with everything that is happening at the festival. This year, the festival is streaming many of its films and panels for free online. That's right! So click here to follow what's going on.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Filming with digital SLR cameras

Whenever we discuss buying new equipment Andrew has always pushed for purchasing a digital SLR like the Canon 7d as our backup HD video camera. I've been hesitant to consider a digital SLR because the idea of filming with a handheld digital camera just feels WRONG to me. Well, I think its time I get over it. The other day we were walking in Balboa Park and caught a small crew shooting some kind of sight seeing segment and lo and behold what did I see-oh yes, a shiny Canon 7d was perched atop their tripod, so small and unassuming. If that wasn't convincing enough I found out that one of the top video production companies in SD lists the 7d as one of their standard shooting cameras. So obviously I need to suck it up and hop on the digital SLR bandwagon. Especially now that Nikon and other have come out with competitively priced answers to the 7d priced under a thousand. So hopefully we'll be purchasing a digital SLR very soon this year and posting gorgeous vids with 35mm depth of field and detail like the following one we found on vimeo

D3100 test from newreverend on Vimeo.