A post about the aesthetics and tools adopted by 10 strong cinematographers for their films at Camerimage: from New Naturalism, to Neo Vérité and Cine Expressionism, from film negative to Alexa 65. link: http://bit.ly/Ten2018FilmsBenjaminB +++
— Variety and others report some disturbing US box office trends: 1. Movie theater attendance went down 6% in 2014 from 2013 2. Young people are going to the movies much less +++ Link: Variety article: http://bit.ly/1xaGKlk
Congratulations to my friend Jacques Delacoux for receiving the Legion of Honor, a great distinction in France. Jacques is the founder of Transvideo, the manufacturer of video monitors for the set, and also the president of Aaton Digital. I took some photos of the ceremony, which took place at the Femis film school. +++
In alphabetical order, these are the 7 masterful movies that especially touched me in 2013: 12 YEARS A SLAVE by Steve McQueen ALL IS LOST by J C Chandor BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR by Abdellatif Kechiche GRAVITY by Alfonso Cuaron HER by Spike Jonze IDA by Pawel Pawlikowski INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by the Coen [...]
—— Thanks to a lengthy campaign by British filmmakers and friends, the BBC has finally cancelled its scandalous ban of material originated on Super 16mm film — an egregious example, if ever there was one, of the engineering tail wagging the creative dog. Bravo to Directors UK for spearheading this return to sanity! +++ Links [...]
I have just published my second article on the new business model for Hollywood, on thefilmbook blog on theasc.com. The first part focused on foreign markets & China, this part focuses on the economics of American Indies (independent films). The topics include: – possible futures for global cinema – Soderbergh explanation of why studios don’t [...]
Actor Kevin Spacey speaks eloquently, putting forward his series House of Cards as a business model for television giving people what they want, and predicting that the distinction between features and television will disappear. watch on YouTube +++ I liked the last part of the speech so much, that I transcribed it, on these 2 [...]
+++ I wrote a simple introduction to the current Hollywood business model: box office, profits, international growth — and published it on my blog on theASC web site. This helped me understand why future studio movies will continue the trend towards action franchises in 3D and Imax, with Chinese characters & settings. +++
The take away points: – 2/3 of the world box office comes from international, and 1/3 from US/Canada – Only one film, Hunger Games, in the top 20 made more in the US than overseas – The top 20 films accounted for about $14 billion, 40% of the total 2012 gross of $35 billion – [...]
Despite the bad reviews, I had looked forward to seeing Paul Schrader’s The Canyons. I feel that Lindsay Lohan is under-rated, and that she is an easy target for the Hollywood press because of her off-screen drug problems. For example, Lohan’s much-derided performance as Liz Taylor in Liz & Dick was pretty good, and the [...]