I don’t come from a traditional film background. I have a grand total of 0 hours logged in film school. My filmmaking experiences come entirely from the films I have produced in addition to whatever I can get my hands on through books, blogs, screenplays, conversation with other filmmakers and of course films.
Here are 3 documentary films that have helped me grow as a filmmaker over the past year. Each documentary explores a different aspects of the filmmaking process.
It never ceases to amaze me how much emotion can be communicated by the way a filmmaker decides to frame a shot. Here is a supercut of “back to the camera shots” that convey excitement and/or fear in epic proportions.
I also found this resource on framing by the Home Film School Studentuseful.
Here is another great blog post by LA Video Filmmaker on Steven Spielberg Film Techniques. I particularly liked this blog post because of the visual examples like the ones i’ve included below.
Tom Hopper, the director of Les Misérables and The King’s Speech, discusses shooting his first film about a runaway dog, what inspired him as a teenager and why you should never turn down work in the industry.
In his directorial debut Levitt explores the media’s influence on how we define love. Levitt very cleverly juxtaposes two forms of media that play a pervasive role in modern society; pornographic media and romantic films with Hollywood endings.
Over exposure to either form of media can distort our expectations of what love should look like and how we are to behave in its presence.
What I am most impressed with is that Levitt made a film about love, but masked it in a film about a guy who is addicted to pornography.
This Q and A is from the Berlin Film Festival in Feb 2013. It doesn’t really start till 5:45 min mark.
A film by Kim Nguyen, in theatres April 20 KOMONA , a 14 year old girl, tells her unborn child the story of how she became a rebel. It all began when she was 12; kidnapped by the rebel army, she was forced to carry a AK 47 and kill. Her only escape and friend is MAGICIAN, a 15 year old boy who wants to marry her. Despite the horrors and daily grind of war, Komona and Magician fall in love.They thought they had escaped the war, but fate decided otherwise. In order to survive, Komona will need to return to where she came from and make amends with her past. Around them, war rages on…. A tale set in Sub-Saharan Africa, KOMONA is a love story between two young souls caught in a violent world yet filled with beauty and magic.
Michel Dumont is a convenience store delivery man who is separated from his wife and two young kids when he is charged for a rape he denies ever having committed. During the course of his trial, he falls in love with Solange, a young single mother who believes in his innocence. While he serves his time in prison, Solange marries Michel and embarks on the colossal task of proving his innocence to the court. L’AFFAIRE DUMONT is based on a true story.
A Quebec doctor discovers the heartbreaking absurdity of life in Israel’s divided West Bank, in this intense, politically-charged drama from the producers of the Academy Award®–nominated Incendies and Monsieur Lazhar
The third feature from Montreal’s Xavier Dolan (J’ai tué ma mère, Les Amours imaginaires) centres on a young bohemian couple whose defiantly exclusive relationship is sent spiraling when the man, Laurence, confesses that he believes he’s transgendered. This audacious and searing mediation on love and sexuality is shot in hyper-florid style and driven by gutsy performances.
Labeled an outcast by his brainy family, a bouncer overcomes long odds to lead a team of under performing misfits to semi-pro hockey glory, beating the crap out of everything that stands in his way.
Before this year’s BAFTA Film Awards Fellowship is announced, we’re taking a look at those who have received the award over the past five years. The Fellowship is the highest accolade given to an individual for an exceptional contribution to film.
In 2012, Martin Scorsese was presented the award by Max von Sydow. Other film directors who have received the award over the years include such illustrious figures as Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin and David Lean. Over the course of his career, Scorsese has won three BAFTA Film Awards, all for Goodfellas (1990); Best Film, Achievement in Direction and Adapted Screenplay.
On receiving the Fellowship, Scorsese stated: “It is a great honour to be recognised by the British Academy and to join the ranks of such an esteemed group of industry colleagues and friends”.
To find out more about the BAFTA Fellowship, head over to BAFTA.org.
