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Don’t Forget the Writers

December 31, 2015 by carlcasinghino

The Revenant

DiCaprio and Iñárritu discussing a parenthetical.

Hollywood Studios and television networks are notorious for their thorny relationships with screenwriters throughout movie history.  Things change.  And some things don’t.

Here are some recent end-of-the-year pieces of interest for screenwriting-related issues.  The New York Times recently visited with a number of the top writers from feature films this year in this piece on Alejandro González Iñárritu, Amy Schumer, Aaron Sorkin, Paolo Sorrentino (Youth), Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation), and Phyllis Nagy (Carol).   

For fans of media literacy inquiry, here’s a question for your students: “What’s fishy about this article related to the movie Trumbo (about legendary screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, as played by actor Bryan Cranston) in the Times?”   (See answer 1 below.)

And here’s another: “What’s odd about the journalism — and lack of media literacy expertise — in this article by Cara Buckley about the new movie Joy, directed and written by David O. Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence.”  (See answer 2 below.)

Happy New Year and be back soon!

1:  It’s not journalism.  It’s a paid piece posted amidst the online articles of the Times.  See also: irony.  [RE: Dalton Trumbo]

2: When the director and actors of a movie compare themselves to Cassavetes‘s or Bergman‘s collaborative “troupes” and it’s only their second movie together, please call them on it.  See also: puff piece.  

 

Posted in Chapter 7 | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Sinking into Sound, Part 2

November 30, 2015 by carlcasinghino

Can you already hear it?

Can you already hear it?

In earlier posts, we have immersed ourselves in the work of creating soundscapes for movies, from Sinking into Sound with sound designers to the work of foley artists and voice specialists.  Here are some more great videos from filmmakeriq.com to review these fields: Foley and Sound Effects, ADR and dubbing, or a number of links here for sound design.  And in less than three weeks, we will be hearing what the new (and old) pings, buzzes, crunches, and whooshes and all else of the Star Wars universe sound like in The Force Awakens, directed by J.J. Abrams — with veteran sound masters Gary Rydstrom, Matt Wood, and the legendary Ben Burtt returning to this key franchise in movie sound history.

Posted in Chapter 3, Music & Sound Design, Resources | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

End of the Year Movies

November 28, 2015 by carlcasinghino

storm-troopers-10-was-star-wars-prequels-improve-seriesLooking to check out, review, or share what the upcoming or just-released movies are right now?  Here’s a thorough yet compact interactive article put together by the New York Times.  Good resource for a fun session of watching trailers and reading about what’s up in American moviedom.

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Women Pioneers of the Cinema (and more): Hedy Lamarr

November 9, 2015 by carlcasinghino

1442501489740“Any girl can be glamorous,” Hedy Lamarr once said. “All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.”  Well, Hedy Lamarr did much more than that: along with being one of the most glamourous actresses of her era, once she had become bored with her life being typecast as an exotic seductress in movies she became a successful inventor; her early work brought forth versions of wireless technology that led eventually to what we know as wi-fi and bluetooth.  The exceptional Google Doodle that is being unveiled today is a superb little movie in its own right and a fine homage to this inspiring and very interesting woman.

Posted in Chapter 8, Media Literacy, Women Mediamakers | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Women Pioneers of the Cinema: Agnès Varda

October 31, 2015 by carlcasinghino

varda_art3In earlier posts, a variety of exemplary female filmmakers have been discussed, from early pioneer Alice Guy Blaché to cinematographer Ellen Kuras to screenwriter Pamela Gray to casting director Marion Dougherty and many more.  This year has seen more inspiring landmarks and creations in the exceptional life and career of Agnès Varda, one of the featured directors of Chapters 5 and 6 of Moving Images (and who showed notable generosity towards our project).  From the Moving Images text, “director Agnès Varda has maintained a long career in which she has led her own production company and has made films that have established her highly personal integration of community life and a spontaneous method and style in her movies.  Varda has created some of the most innovative and free-spirited short and feature films of her time shooting with an impressively wide range of approaches: feature productions in 35mm; documentaries in 16mm or other platforms; commercials and public service announcements; journal type projects in videotape and digital video, among others.”

3boutonsAt the Cannes Festival this past May, Varda received a lifetime achievement award — only the fourth given in the history of the festival — and more recently, she premiered a lively short film starring teenager Jasmine Thiré — Les 3 Boutons — that provides a neat introduction to her original approaches to moviemaking and storytelling.  From casting to locations to editing to narrative digressions, it is pure Varda and a treat. She is a master of cinematic language through both image and sound.  The Criterion Collection has also released a new box set of some of her less known work, and it includes such important and innovative shorts as Uncle Yanco and Black Panthers.  

Posted in Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Women Mediamakers | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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