Gary Winick’s Contribution Should Be Remembered

March, 01, 2011 2:18 pm | On #Gary Winick, Movies

Film students looking for inspiration from the heyday of independent film are likely to fixate on Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, and Michael Moore, but the shining light they should not overlook or ever forget is the little train that could -- and did -- Gary Winick.

His later, most well-known films were not particularly groundbreaking -- "Charlotte’s Web" was a live-action remake, "13 Going On 30" was an update of "Freaky Friday," and "Tadpole" was something of a mash-up of "Rushmore" and "The Graduate" -- but as far as indie street cred and “keeping it real” in the independent film world was concerned, Winick was both an innovator and a giant.

He was groundbreaking in codifying the long-promised but rarely realized business model of offering gross...

Read More

Can the Internet Save Indie Film?

February, 21, 2010 10:06 pm | On #Movies, Reed Martin

Editors Note: This blog post originally appeared on YouTube's Biz Blog.

YouTube’s new rentals service, which launched by offering five Sundance films for $3.99 each, drew just over a thousand paying customers nationally – not enough to shift traditional film distribution paradigms or overshadow Steve Jobs – but this humble beginning masks the opportunity for YouTube and for today’s aspiring independent screenwriters, directors and producers. Just as text blogging gave unaffiliated writers new ways to connect to large audiences and even shape the national discourse, new avenues for distributing and consuming full-length independent films will now give anyone with the talent and drive to make movies, a viable and well-trafficked platform for getting...

Read More

Experts’ Advice for Aspiring Filmmakers

October, 26, 2009 5:37 pm | On #Alexander Payne, danny boyle, Darren Aronofsky, Lawrence Bender, Neil LaBute
DANNY BOYLE
Director, “Slumdog Millionaire”
“After we made '28 Days Later,' people would come up and ask, ‘How do you scare people in a movie? Give me three ways.’ And I would say ‘Sound, sound, and sound.’ Sound is the thing that really ‘sells the blow’ every time. Sometimes in the edit or in a screening you raise the sound up a bit in the mix and certain scenes are unwatchable. People will turn away because the sound amplifies the reality of the image. But if you watch it with the sound off, it’s no problem and they’re not fazed by whatever you show them.
 
“So the two bits of advice I give all aspiring filmmakers are to make sure you work in a team and to save more money than you think you need for sound. The temptation -- especially if you’re working with limited...
Read More
Sign Up For First Take

Get Our Daily Email, and Receive Invitations to Our Screenings Series

Start your day with all of the news worth knowing

What's First Take?

Ear on the Oscars
Transformer Sound
Latest Posts
Most Popular