10. Enter the Void

Directed by Gaspar Noe

I can’t fully condone Noe’s trip — in my review, I called it a “mash-up of the sacred, the profane and the brain-dead,” and I stand by that. But I’ve come to appreciate its stoner stoopidness as part of its charm. And nothing else in 2010 set off my “What the fuck am I watching?” sensor quite like it. (On DVD Jan. 25)

9. The Ghost Writer

Directed by Roman Polanski

The best Hollywood thriller Hollywood didn’t make this year. (On DVD now)

8. Shutter Island

Directed by Martin Scorsese

The best Hollywood thriller Hollywood did make this year. (On DVD now)

7. Everyone Else

Directed by Maren Ade

Want your Blue Valentine–like dissection of marital strife but could do without the Academy-montage mugging and wall-to-wall Grizzly Bear? Try Maren Ade’s second feature, a grueling (but gorgeous) snapshot of a young couple whose vacation idyll is slowly eroded by the insecurities brought in from outside. (On DVD and Netflix Watch Instantly now)

6. The Red Chapel

Directed by Mads Brügger

The surprise winner of the World Cinema Documentary prize at Sundance in January, Brügger’s hilarious document of his subversive journey into North Korea with two Danish-Korean comedians in tow is, like Dogtooth (see below), concerned with a closed system maintained through manipulation of reality. But Brügger and gang come armed with their own complicated series of manipulations: In The Year of Being Fucked With, the year’s best doc offered a game plan for how to fuck with Them back. (Opening in New York Dec. 29; L.A. release TBA)

5. Somewhere

Directed by Sofia Coppola

The year’s second masterful portrait of L.A. ennui as seen through the camera of Harris Savides (the other is Greenberg), Somewhere should be remembered as a game-changer for Sofia Coppola, the point at which she shrugged off the crutches — music video language and decorative design — that defined her first three films, adopting an entirely new stylistic approach while remaining true to her key concerns. Don’t think of it as a movie about the rich, famous and beautiful from the perspective of a woman who has been all three since birth; think of it as a movie about what happens when you get everything you thought you wanted, and you’re still miserable. (In theaters Dec. 22)

4. Dogtooth

Directed by Giorgos Lanthimos

Feted by Cannes in 2009, heralded by aging tastemakers (David Byrne, John Waters) upon its summer 2010 release in New York, the second film from Greek director Lanthimos is a matter-of-factly violent, blacker-than-black comic parable about sex, pop culture and closed societies set in a single suburban home. (Opens Jan. 7 at Cinefamily for one week only)

3. Daddy Longlegs

Directed by Josh and Benny Safdie

Ronald Bronstein, the director of the 2007 underground opera of awkwardness Frownland, is starting to attract awards attention for his go-for-broke performance as the desperate dad of two young sons in the Safdie brothers’ manic, electric 16mm roman à clef. If only all awards-bait family dramas were as unflinching, honest and funny-horrifying as this. (DVD release in 2011, date TBA)

2. Greenberg

Directed by Noah Baumbach

Through Ben Stiller’s epic depresso Roger Greenberg, a 40-ish Bushwick refugee floundering around L.A. and antiseducing the much younger and surprisingly receptive Florence (Greta Gerwig), Noah Baumbach and soon-to-be-ex-wife Jennifer Jason Leigh distilled a certain toxic stew of unearned snobbishness, generational entitlement and self-defeating self-obsession — familiar from “Losing My Edge,” the 2002 single by James Murphy, who composed Greenberg’s soundtrack — and gave it a name. They also gave Stiller the best role of his career. (On DVD now)

1. Trash Humpers

Directed by Harmony Korine

Influenced by surveillance and prank videos, but hardly haphazard (in fact, its nonaesthetic is the result of intricate design and careful production), Korine’s faked relic about a separatist group of drunken, garbage can–fetishizing, self-mythologizing miscreants is the ultimate, twisted fairy tale allegory for our decaying times. After vacillating on a No. 1, in the end I voted with my heart. And no, I am not fucking with you about that. (On DVD now)

Choosing a camera.

Video shooting basics.

Editing video.

S8 to 35 is a little rough. Consider that there is 14.8 times more image area in the 35 Academy aperture (1.33:1). If you format it for presentation in 1.85 or 2.35 then the actual image area used from the S8 frame is almost microscopic. Another big consideration is registration. S8 gets its stability using a combination of pin and edge guiding. The single, non-full fitting pin used for positioning is 2 frames away from the frame in the gate so edge guiding is an important factor. 35 gets its stability using two pins that are adjacent to the frame in the gate. One of the pins (the “Big” pin) is a full fitting pin that is shaped to match the BH style perforation. Edge guiding is rarely used so imperfections in the film edge do not interfere with the stability.

Perfect exposure is critical in blow-up situations. A bit of underexposure will yield grain that looks like a meteor shower hitting you in the face.

Understand that S8 was designed as an amateur format that used reversal film to shoot and then project the original (often Kodachrome [RIP]) on a 3-4 foot wide screen. Presentation of a 3rd generation film element on a 30-40 foot wide screen is asking a lot from film physics. Please don’t try a blow-up to IMax .

To avoid surprises and disappointments, ALWAYS test the new procedure you are about to get yourself into. Take it through the ENTIRE process from shooting a roll to seeing a 35mm print in a theater – all you need is a minute of footage, nothing fancy. I have saved productions millions of dollars when they followed that advice and I have seen productions lose millions of dollars by not following it.

The 24/25 fps issue is minor. There are some potential pitfalls, but it’s highly probable that nobody will notice.

You mentioned that you are “going for an authentic super 8 look”. Whenever you are going for a particular “look” it’s usually best to shoot the best, cleanest, highest quality, most normal images you possibly can, then add the “look” in post-production. Forinstance, if you are shooting a 35mm feature and want to include some “BW 16mm old newsreel footage” looking stuff. Shoot it normally, ie 35mm color like the rest of the feature, then, in post, decolorize it, scratch it, flicker it, add grain, add contrast, make it jumpy, whatever looks right to you. That way, you’re in control and can adjust the look to suit your taste. If you shoot in 16mm BW, and under/over expose, scratch it, walk on the negative, pull some perfs, you’re locked in to a look that you can’t undo. I had a customer once who shot a whole show and used a technique called cross-processing – shooting 35mm color reversal and processing it in color negative soup. Once he saw the results on the screen, he didn’t like it and wanted to undo it. I told him it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to partially fix it digitally. He started talking about mortgaging his house. I said, “I’m not going to let you do that. Bail out now, consider it a very costly lesson, and do it better next time.

Always try to use the equipment that you are most familiar with. You mentioned buying new S8 cameras. Okay, but make sure you are very familiar with them before doing anything serious. Also, if you are most familiar with shooting S8, then shooting 35 would be a mistake. During a shoot, your equipment should be second nature to you. If you have to think about hardware too much it will burden your creativity.

Yes, the apparent resolution will increase in a 3D situation even though the two images are not identical. The mind is pretty clever that way.

In the few 3D projects I’ve been involved in, we always used just one eye to produce a 2D version. I’ve never heard of blending but I suppose it could be possible.

All my 3D experience has been with 35 or 65/70. Since S8 is a non-registered format, it would seem to me that with a 2 camera rig with each image floating around in a slightly different manner, the results could be a recipe for a serious headache. I think you need to test the theory before you build a custom rig. Shooting about 30 seconds of cross hatched field chart should tell you everything you need to know. You wouldn’t even have to shoot in interlock. Just use two identical locked off cameras, then project the results using two identical projectors superimposing the images. I’m guessing that the horizontal and vertical grid lines are going to be jumping around in different directions quite a lot. Make sure that custom built S8 rig feels like an old friend before using it for a serious shoot.

That’s probably enough to bore the hell out of you…”

Thanks Chris! If you have any details you’d like to ask him, feel free to comment below and we’ll let him know about your question.

So look in your duffel bag ditty kit dresser armoire cupboard luggage case, and make sure there aren’t any undeveloped roles laying around. Or even unexposed rolls that still need to be shot, or will become paperweights…well not exactly paperweights. It will still be possible to develop kodachrome in Black and White, but what fun is that if you have the opportunity for that dreamy color?

To capture the whole screen simply hold down Apple key ⌘ + Shift + 3 and release

To capture a portion of the screen apple key ⌘ + Shift + 4 and release

Capture your dreams!

See more info here.

I thought it was great. I usually am so busy judging the filmmaking during a movie that I don’t get sucked in – but that had me going OMG are these people real? Even in the short time it was playing.

IMDB link is here.

What did you think of it?

I knew I was tired of budgeting by myself, securing locations by myself, scheduling by myself, and calling everyone on the crew every day with schedule changes, and EVERYTHING ELSE. And I knew that the films were suffering as a result, due to my inability and/or unwillingness to work closely with others. And it was just a producer and a DP that I needed. An editor would be nice too, and someone to take care of casting, and a craft services person. And an AD of course. And a production designer/wardrobe person. Oh, and sound. Poor, poor overlooked sound.

I looked at the best films coming out of my school. They were directed by talented people. Very talented people. But as talented as they were, I knew that I could make a better film.

They thing they had that I didn’t, was a group, a tribe they had created, or were born into, a team that stayed together, film after film, which produced films with increasingly growing production values. I had no idea how these alliances were created and it made me frustrated, sad, and angry. These directors were charismatic and easy to like. They seemed to excite people and put them at ease at the same time. I knew I did not make people comfortable. Excited, yes. Intimidated, probably. Comfortable and loved? No. I didn’t love myself to love others. I didn’t let my guard down, so obviously they had no way in. In my anger and sadness I looked around and didn’t see any truly lovely, hardworking people who instantly believed in me and would follow me into battle unquestionably.

I did have friends (they were all directors – I didn’t have to worry about convincing or impressing them into working with me, so it was easier for me to connect with them). I made films with whoever I could find – mostly people who had to, in order to pass a class, or those who were not part of a long-term group, who had been overlooked and possibly undervalued. Our resulting short-term groups, based on flimsy, awkward relationships, faultily modeled by Hollywood, or against Hollywood, and the faculty’s ambiguous desires, often formed days before shooting and disintegrated during shooting. Post-production was always tinged with regret, grudges, frustrations, disagreements, factions, and my solitary retreat into the editing room with passable-at-best footage.

I got mad at one DP who drank on set instead of helping the crew pack and clean up. We had been at odds all day and I could tell he didn’t like the direction I was taking the film. He told me I shouldn’t be hanging out with my girlfriend on set. I told him that he could either work with me in an agreeable fashion or I don’t know what. I don’t really remember. We almost got into a fight but he walked away and I ended up punching a dumpster.

And this was a DP I had worked with on two previous projects. My relationship with the producer on the film deteriorated as well, and by the time we screened our rough cut in class we knew we would not probably work together again. Producers in the past had been extremely flaky. Previous crew members had expressed utter astonishment when I came into class with passable cuts after they had abandoned my chaotic, panicked shoots to do something easier, and more pleasant, like cutting off their fingers and dipping their stumps in hydrogen peroxide. At least these guys showed up and were competent. But we had disagreements – and I did nothing to rectify the relationship.

I don’t know if I was scared to share control, or scared to let people see me direct (one of the most vulnerable, embarrassing things you can do), or if I felt I deserved more respect, or if I felt like I had settled with the various people I worked with (I felt like I rarely worked with the best). The whole thing hurt and what was implicated was that I was inherently a bad director, a bad writer, a bad leader and too hungry and ambitious to connect with anyone.

Well, slowly I learned the lesson. My production of my thesis film was rough – the entirety of pre-production lasted six days – but I made a great choice by approaching my former roommate Lawrence to shoot the film. We met early and connected instantly on the script and the ideas for the visual style. I called Brandon at the last minute and begged him to ditch whatever he was doing to come AD the shoot. Brandon had been my partner in filmmaker crime in high school. The precarious formation of that relationship, and the high functioning of the resulting dynamic, is a story in and of itself. The fact that we had gone to different schools was one reason I was looking for a new tribe in the first place. He agreed, drove three hours to the campus (out main location), slept on my couch, kept us on schedule, stayed behind with me to tear down the set after everyone else had left, and helped me persuade the security lady (who had helped us move a porcelain bathtub into the sound-stage) to keep the gate unlocked past midnight while we tried to figure out how to pack the contents of a small grip truck into my ’89 Nissan Maxima while we ate leftover Hawaiian barbecue from the 10-hour shoot off the roof of the car. I ended up giving the security lady a ton of canned cat food, which my parents had given me (their kitten had gone missing, most likely eaten by the coyotes in the hills above our neighborhood) to feed my roommates’ six cats (but my didn’t feed their cats canned cat food, they fed them organic)… The security lady thanked me profusely for the year’s supply of cat food (she had been taking care of the stray cat who had taken residence on the campus, against the rules of the institution), said that the other students didn’t understand me (she had overheard them talking about me), and basically handed me the keys to the school.

Obviously my relationship with Brandon – surviving multiple, continuing, and varying trials by fire – has led me to the team I am a part of now.

And I am so glad I have a team because God knows, the more people you have to share your cold Hawaiian barbecue in a parking lot with, the better off you are.