Back to the Garden Review

I recently had the privilege of watching the documentary Back to the Garden, Flower Power Comes Full Circle. Having given the trailer a cursory look, I thought it must be some sort of 60s hippie documentary. Once you start watching you realize you’re watching 1988, in Washington State.

Kevin Tomlinson videotaped a community of hippies in 1988 and after almost 20 years went back to see what they were up to. The most beautiful and powerful thing to witness was how happy all these people were. They were living off the grid in the truest sense. They had been growing their vegetables and their chickens and had raised their children in the meantime, who seem to have grown up as confident and loving adults.

As you watch the documentary, you become aware of a ceaseless and awestruck smile that has taken over your face. You cannot believe such people exist. There is no youtube, there is no iPhone, only blueberries and pink banana squashes and acres of open space and agro-forestry and permaculture and recently introduced solar panels. People live without paying rent, feel the earth by walking barefeet and raise children using cloth diapers. It’s about a place that beckons the soul. As you watch, you have a strong urge to shut off your computer, to sell your belongings and plan a ride. You want to leave the world you know, so you can become one with the earth.

I may sound a little melodramatic, but it’s only because you still haven’t watched the film. By the end of the documentary, the director himself abandons his life in the suburbs, and decides to live off the grid with his wife.

This truly is an exceptional little documentary about a community of beautiful souls that gives you hope for mankind. The documentary will be airing on PBS stations nationwide in the beginning of April, 2012. Catch it you must.

Back to the Garden

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PressPausePlay – Review

I got to see this film recently. This is a documentary that every aspiring filmmaker should watch. Instead of buying books about “secrets” on how to become a successful filmmaker and fundraiser, this is the little hour long wake up call that people should watch before they embark on the filmmaking journey.

Let’s be realistic for a moment; for people who want to be filmmakers, this documentary won’t stop them from trying. But I think it will provide them with a healthy dose of reality and inform them about the difficulties of breaking through in an age where we find ourselves inundated by new content, and sometimes find it difficult to sift through the “global masturbation” to the good stuff.

The documentary features artists from all over the world, some of them better known than others, but it drills in the idea that this is the age in which anybody can buy a camera and become a filmmaker, or that anybody with a computer can become a composer. But is the product art? Is the product worth anything at all? On the other hand could Martin Scorsese have been a successful artist, if he were competing with the filmmakers of today? What does it really take to be a successful artist today?

I’m not sure that it answers all the questions of the struggling artist in the digital age. But if you are an artist or aspire to be one, follow the link and watch the film. If nothing at all, it will give you some perspective. Otherwise send it to any aspiring artist you know.

PressPausePlay

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The Parking Lot Movie – Hope for Independent Filmmakers

I recently watched The Parking Lot. It’s a simple documentary about a parking lot and the musings of the attendants, past and present.

What’s brilliant about it is its total lack of scope. The entire documentary takes place inside the parking lot and the living rooms of a few of the people who work there. The brilliance of the film is how the director, Meghan Eckman, pulled a story out of this tiny little hat.

As I finished watching it, I was full of hope. It made me feel good to be a filmmaker. It told me that it still is possible to tell stories with absolutely no budget. That’s what I got out of this movie.

I got other things out of this movie as well, don’t get me wrong. You should see it. It’s a human story, meant for those of us who are looking for these stories that are not often told by Hollywood. It leaves you feeling satisfied. There’s not much else to tell really. It’s just interviews with the employees of one parking lot. The employees philosophize about being a parking lot attendant and about the people who go through the lot. It’s beautiful. You should watch it. If you are an independent filmmaker, it will give you hope. Hope that will get you started on that project buzzing around between your ears. All you have to do is pick up that camera.

Watch the movie!! For an independent filmmaker, this movie is bloody therapy!!

You can download it for $3.99 at Amazon.com: The Parking Lot Movie

Or you can get the DVD for $14.99: The Parking Lot Movie (Independent Lens)
 
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AMC and The Big Break Movie Contest

 
In August 2010, Rogue Pictures and AMC Theatres announced The Big Break Movie Contest. They were soliciting submissions and one lucky film would be chosen and put up on 50 participating AMC theatres across the United States. This would be the big break for unknown directorial talent that Sundance fails to discover every year.

250 Films were submitted and Sean Kirkpatrick’s film Cost of a Soul was the lucky winner. I just saw the trailer. You can watch it here. I’m not sure that it makes me want to see the film.

This movie is going to be preachy. The trailer wants to punch you in the face with a wrecking ball in case you miss the idea, and I’m already turned off by it. Preachy movies can be great, only if they’re nuanced. The trailer to this film wants to yell it’s seriously important nature in your good ear.

I think these guys responsible for the contest, picked the wrong movie. They picked a story that they think critics will get behind because of the poignant, tear-jerker nature of the story. Even the title “Cost of a Soul” wants to remind me of how worthless my desire to watch a meaningless Michael Bay movie is.

I really don’t know if this pick was a good choice. The trailer makes me afraid that it is not (The dialog wants to hit you in the back of the head with its banality). I’m afraid that Cost of a Soul is going to bomb. I think it’s going to bomb and AMC and Rogue are going to decide that this endeavor was a bad idea and there will not be a second Big Break Movie Contest.

Again, I haven’t seen the movie, and maybe I’m being too harsh. After all, it was an “official selection” at more than one festival, whatever that means. But I think Rogue and AMC picked the wrong horse for their first contest.

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LED vs LCD Monitor

I was going to write a glowing review of LED monitors. Everything I read about LED monitors seem to suggest that they provide more accurate color information. As a result, indie filmmakers, editors and color correctors would probaby prefer LED monitors over LCD ones. Supposedly LED monitors show a truer black and LCD monitor blacks are somehow grey, etc.

I am planning to buy a monitor right now. So I was doing a little bit more in-depth research. Upon further review, and after reading about people who have a two monitor setup, it appears that some LED monitors can be more harmful to the filmmaking process than good, for some people. Some filmmakers with the two monitor setup complain that they’ve had trouble with LED monitors because the colors seem to change depending on the angle that one is looking at the monitor. So if someone has a multiple monitor setup, the same image will look different on different monitors, even if you try to angle things right and keep your head right in the middle.

Some people even have problems with their vision from the  brightness levels and refresh rates. If you get one that has a refresh rate of 60hz, you may strain your eyes. If you’re going to get an LED monitor, get one that is 120hz.

Also, regardless of how much you may be enticed by low prices, for LED monitors, get one that has a resolution higher than 1080.

The most important thing I came away with, I think, is that if you are considering the bottom level prices for LED monitors, you are better off spending that money on LCD screens. The lower priced LED monitors are more likely to have issues than LCD monitors at the same price levels. That was really my takeaway.

So I think I’m going to be buying an LCD monitor after all. My conclusion and general feeling after all this reading is this: If your budget is under $300 (in March, 2011), then go for an LCD monitor. No need for a cheap backlit LED.

UPDATE:
I ended up buying this 27″ LCD Viewsonic monitor. I’m just absolutely loving the screen.

 

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Honest Review of Little Miss Sunshine

I just read a review of Little Miss Sunshine that hit the nail on the head. It was perfect. More importantly, it was honest. It read just how I felt watching the movie: Just another fake movie about fake people, marketed brilliantly by Hollywood. A link to the outstanding review, written by Andre Soares can be found here:

Little Miss Sunshine Review

I had only heard good things about Little Miss Sunshine (IMDB rating of 8 / 91% on Rotten Tomatoes). I move around in the indie filmmaker circle also, meaning that I know a lot of people, like myself, pretending to write screenplays at Starbucks. All they could do was gush at how fantastic and heartwarming this little gem of a movie was. So recently, when I had the chance, I picked up a copy of the movie.

Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed. All I could think of was being duped once again by the Hollywood marketing genius into wasting my time and money watching this cliche ridden depiction of phony people. That’s the problem with most indie movies. The characters in those movies are fake. They’re usually driven by principle to an unrealistic extent. They talk like Juno and her parents. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous because such people don’t exist. I’ve never seen or met any such people.

I was recently criticizing Juno and a filmmaker acquaintance of mine claimed that she knew people like Juno’s parents. Yeah, and I know people like Hannibal Lechter. The difference is that I know that the Hannibal Lechters I know are fictional. Indie Filmmakers believe that Juno’s parents are real. Maybe that’s why most of us indie filmmakers are able to live our fantasy lives, where one day our talent is discovered by Hollywood. I’ve got some bad news, unless you’re related to somebody related to somebody.

Read the review by Andre Soares. Don’t waste your time and money on Little Miss Sunshine.

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The Killer Inside Me Review

DVD Review – The Killer Inside Me

I watched this movie last night. It was a bloody fantastic movie. Not because I found it somehow honest or truthful as some who like it have claimed. It was just different. It’s not your run of the mill Hollywood story. There is something different about it. The acting seemed realistic. The director did such a wonderful job, I took pleasure in the fact that I was watching and listening to 1950s Texas. The acting, by everyone, was outstanding. I liked Casey Affleck more in this picture than in any other.

Now let me tell you what is so frustrating. This movie grossed about $217k domestically and made just north of $3 million worldwide. It was released in only 17 theaters. That makes absolutely no sense. How a movie like this could have done so poorly is shocking. If a movie with Casey Affleck, Jennifer Hudson, Jessica Alba, Ned Beatty, Elias Koteas, etc. does not stand a chance because critics thought it was too violent, how does any independent filmmaker who wants to tell a controversial story stand any chance of getting any exposure at all??

This little rant is not really a review of this movie. I plan to do a proper review in our DVD review segment that I’m planning for the near future. Right now I’m just venting, as an independent filmmaker wannabe. I’m trying to calm down by writing this.

I looked on the net to read a few reviews on it. This one ‘critic’ who’s obviously never shot a scene in his life, called it “A torture-porn wolf draped in arthouse sheep’s clothing.” That’s how he began his worthless insight into the movie. I’m sure it made him feel smart.

It IS a very violent movie. So what? Any war movie worth its salt is violent. Any movie about the holocaust is violent. Are we not supposed to watch them cause they’re “torture-porns?” Who hires these critics?? At least no one hired me. And with my affinity for “torture-porn” it seems no one will either.

All I have to say is that this movie is a must watch for anybody looking for entertainment other than some “proven” sequel that Hollywood thinks we should watch. I have not seen a better film from 2010. Buy it right now. If you watch this movie, I can guarantee you that you will be looking out for the next Michael Winterbottom film. The guy is a brilliant filmmaker.

| Buy it on Amazon.ca | Buy it on Amazon.co.uk

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Best Book on Independent Filmmaking

Book Review: How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 (And Not Go to Jail) by Bret Stern

If you are on a limited budget and don’t have the money to spend on every single book on independent film there is out there, grab this before you run out of cash. Seriously.
I’ll outline the reasons to buy this book below:

Pros: This book will give you real life examples of situations you will actually find yourself in on your set and prepare you on how to manoeuvre through those intractable situations.
Cons: This book was written in 2002.

Even though it is quite an old book and deals with dv guerrilla equipment, it is still an excellent read primarily because this is the only book you will find that will give you real life examples and solutions on how to work your way out of them.

I’ll give you a simple example. The book assumes that since you are an aspiring independent filmmaker, you are probably an artist type, not necessarily a type A marine corps type. So you are probably not predisposed to leadership skills that will allow you to easily command an army of helpers who are UNPAID. So the trick is to make sure that your troupe is always confident about your leadership. One way to do that is to make sure that you always know the answer, even when you don’t. So for instance, if someone asks you, “should I light him from above or below?” even when you don’t know the answer, just pick one. If you say “let me think about it,” you will lose the confidence of your unpaid labourer. So just pick one and then go think about it. So let’s say you picked “lighting from above,” and then you go think about it and you decide you want to light him from below, then come back and tell your people that you want to light from below. If they ask you why from below and not from above as you had mentioned before, just tell them that you changed your bloody mind. But never, whatever you do, never, ever say, “let me think about it.”

This was one of the most important things I learned from this book. You will realize as you are shooting your film and not paying anybody, how important all these little tips are. It keeps your group intact and avoids a mutiny (which can happen at any moment as nobody feels obligated to work towards your vision when they are not paid). People, specially artist types like you and me, find it extremely convenient to discover hidden ‘principles,’ when money is not involved. “Principles” can destroy all your well made plans to finish your feature. The trick is to keep all your people believing in you during the production process. This book makes your job easier.

In any event, Stern is quite a witty writer, so even if you know all the filmmaking principles there is to know, the book is at worst, a hilarious read.

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