Dungeons & Dragons: Gangsta Edition

Chuck Jones - The Evolution of an Artist

Another good watch from Every Frame a Painting

The Revenant

This looks pretty awesome and this trailer is awesome.

Practical Effects and Sets

Following Chris' post - here is the reel they released for the new Star Wars at Comic Con.
 

Practical Effects

Coming off the high of Mad Max it seems that Hollywood is going back to embracing practical effects again. The new Mission Impossible is releasing videos actually highlighting the fact that their stunts are real. I find it kind of interesting that this stuff always works in cycles, and I just enjoy the real effects better anyways.

One-Minute Time Machine

We've been talking about short films a lot lately, and while not completely unique, I thought this was clever, fun and a really simple concept that was executed really well.

Funny and Well Told

As we talked about sound design and about the shoot tomorrow I thought of this video. This was made by Film Riot and has a very Spielberg kind of feel. I think they also used special effects very well without over doing it. Enjoy



U.F.Oh Yeah (Sci-fi/Comedy short film) from Ryan Connolly on Vimeo.

A Woman's Work: Marie-Louise Sciò

I was inspired by this elegantly done short form doc.  Its subject certainly seems like she inspired the ultra intentional B-roll. This, to me, demonstrates the poetic power of documentary film-making.

Subconscious Cinema

Still in love with dream sequences...

Chef 2014 - Twitter Usage

I finally got around to seeing Chef (2014) last night. A feel good movie about a Chef who finds creative satisfaction through a food truck. A cute movie but what I really came away with was how they showed social media usage.

In the past, portaying texting, social media, or other phone based activities has been boring and anticlimactic to me. Now filmmakers are not only making the display of these devises more engaging to the audience, these intangibles are playing more of a central role in stories. In Chef, it could be argued that social media itself is a character in the film and had to be portrayed somehow. All that to say, I was really impressed how twitter was used.

The Rush

If you have ever played StarCraft, you should enjoy this.
-From RocketJump

True Detective Season 2 Main Titles

Moody, minimal, and drenched with rich color. Plus Leonard Cohen made the theme song so, yeah, thats awesome.

True Detective Season 2 Main Titles from Patrick Clair on Vimeo.

WdKA - Creating Pioneers

We've all been there. Aside from being too true, I really like the way this was made. Specifically the different mediums used to illustrate the creative process.

WdKA: Creating Pioneers from From Form on Vimeo.

Film + Music

Film + Music is a new online and print publication from The Music Bed and Film Supply. They can tell their story best through these videos...

Introducing Film + Music Magazine from Musicbed on Vimeo.

A Look Inside Film+Music Magazine from Musicbed on Vimeo.

That said, I've been reading a few of the online articles and have been very impressed. I particularly like these two so far... The Golden Age of Documentary: A Conversation with Wendy Cohen of Picture Motion is, in short, about Wendy Cohen and her experience with Picture Motion. Picture Motion distributes socially aware documentaries and helps film makers find an audience. While talking about her process she notes that...

"On every film, we try to do something we’ve never done before. We always start with a lot of research, a lot of listening. We make 20, 30, 40 phone calls to hear what’s happening in the issue, what the issue is going to look like in the next 12 months. What are the organizations that are working on this, who has been doing this work since long before the film existed and will be doing this work long after? We figure out how the film can help them, these organizations. Then we put a strategy together. We think about what we want to accomplish, the goals."

I also really liked this article about the art of short filmmaking entitles New Theories of the Short Film: A Conversation with Dr. Richard Raskin. In the story, Raskin illustrates how short filmmaking and short stories differ from traditional story telling models that revolve around conflict, character development, and context. The article paints him as an authority of the short film format. In fact, Raskin says...

"Very few academics are passionately interested in the short film. Sometimes I get the impression that I am the only one. In any event it’s a niche I am happy with, and I get to give seminars on short-film storytelling at festivals and film schools... I love narratives that are very short and meaningful. Jerry Seinfeld once said: “If I wanted a long boring story with no point to it, I’ve got my life”. I have a low boredom threshold; and films running, for example, six or seven minutes are just right for me."

Kung Fury

When the trailer of Kung Fury showed up in 2014 on kickstarter with a goal of $200,000 it quickly went viral and has amassed around 11 million views to date. They eventually raised $630,000 USD, and they ramped up the production to include 400 visual effects shots created in partnership with Swedish vfx studio Fido.