I am most proud of my latest film, 10 Cloverfield Lane, because the photography is very close to what I had hoped we could achieve, and in some scenes, better than I hoped. My favorite experience was receiving an email from JJ Abrams about 2 weeks into principal photography, telling me how great he thought everything looked.
Category: interview
Interview with Special Effects Coordinator Donnie Dean (Emmy Winner – American Horror Story)
You have to really enjoy what you do, so much so that you don’t care about the money. You really have to give yourself over to it just like a Doctor in Medical School, it has to become the most important thing for a while. You don’t know what day that moment will come when you get the call and everything has to go on hold because it’s your opportunity. We work 12-14 hour days 5-6 days per week, you won’t even know what day of the week it is, much less if its a birthday or anniversary, and NO ONE understands why from your “real life”. You can’t RSVP to anything…well you can but you might have to cancel. There are a LOT of people who think they want to work in film in general, but its not for everyone.
Interview with Cinematographer Natasha Braier (The Neon Demon, The Rover)
I think working with Nicolas Winding Refn is a gift for any cinematographer, because he is interested in visual story telling, in poetry, in suggesting rather than narrating. He doesn’t care about the conventional established representational mode of film story telling, he goes beyond, and for me thats what always been exiting in film making. I always tend to look for directors that are working in this direction, but Nic is probably the most extreme of them, and that’s what I love about him. He pushes me to get the bravest part of myself, to jump the abyss, he doesn’t care if we fall and crash while trying, he would rather try and fail than to stay in a safe territory. So, I love jumping with him, and most of the time, we don’t fall but we fly.
Interview with Editor Jake Roberts (Oscar Nominated film BROOKLYN)
‘Brooklyn’ was a great experience. There was a really positive energy throughout the shoot and it felt like we might be working on something quite special. It was personal to a lot of the people involved and that seemed to come through in the material and that makes you want to raise your game, especially when you’re watching a performance like Saoirse’s unfold you feel a huge pressure to do it justice. Once John and I were back in London we cut for about 3 months and obviously there was plenty of back and forth but at the same time it was quite a calm and controlled process. We had a very strong first assembly and we never deviated too far from it or went down too many experimental cul-de-sacs. This is largely a testament to Nick’s script which only needed the subtlest of refinements so essentially it was about distillation, making it as tight as possible and all the while carefully calibrating the emotional journey through the performances. As for the Oscars it is all a surreal bonus, like I say you hope as you work on something that it is special and obviously a nomination suggests you did something right but the most thrilling thing is that a wide audience gets to see it and thankfully it seems we managed to strike a chord with a lot of them.
Interview with Cinematographer Mitesh Mirchandani (NEERJA)
Mitesh Mirchandani is a rising cinematographer in the industry who is currently based in based in Mumbai. Only 26, he DP’d the feature film Neerja, which could be the sleeper hit movie of 2016. From here on out, his future is bright. http://www.miteshdop.com/ Interview with Mitesh Mirchandani: Matthew Toffolo: How is the film scene in India? What… Continue reading Interview with Cinematographer Mitesh Mirchandani (NEERJA)
Interview with Filmmaker Oliver Park (Award Winning Short VICIOUS)
I write what scares me. As a massive horror nerd, I often walk into a space and think “wouldn’t it be scary if….”. Vicious was born from wanting to tell a story that is both horribly tense yet looks beautiful – something that could happen to any of us and that the audience could take home with them afterwards. I wanted to make a short film that was in the league of all these incredible three minute scare-shorts, but one with a meaningful story behind the tension.
Interview with Director Rob Hawk
The benefit of wearing many hats has a lot of benefits. I am fortunate enough to know how to write, shoot, and edit. When doing projects on a smaller budget it certainly can eliminate a lot of expenses if you have the expertise to do it yourself. The question is, do i prefer to do it myself. Yes, and No. It’s a lot of work. I wrote the Cold film, i casted it, i directed it, i got the locations, i directed it, i edited it, and so on. The end result of it is simply amazing. I got exactly what i wanted in that picture. However, with Fight Valley, i agreed to let the distribution edit it and it’s hard to allow someone else to take control of your vision. You just feel like you’re not getting what you want and if only you could just edit it yourself. At the same time, it helps because i was able to move on to another film while the editing was being handled. It’s a double edge sword. I prefer to write it, direct it, shoot it and edit it if i had to choose. But sometimes, ya gotta let it go =(
Interview with Filmmaker Scott Lyus (SILENTLY WITHIN YOUR SHADOW)
SILENTLY WITHIN YOUR SHADOW played to rave reviews at the WILDsound Best of Horror/Thriller Festival in February 2016.
Read interview with the director Scott Lyus:
Interview with Filmmaker Luke Guidici (TIME TO EAT)
TIME TO EAT played to rave reviews at the WILDsound Best of Horror/Thriller Festival in February 2016.
Interview with the director Luke Guidici:
Interview with Production Designer Jane Musky (When Harry Met Sally…, Ghost)
Jane Musky is one of the top Production Designers working in the industry today. She has designed over 40 films in the last 30 years, working with directors Mike Newell, Ivan Reitman, Andy Tennant, Gus Van Sant, Jerry Zucker, James Foley, and The Coen Brothers, to name a few. She also happens to be married to the President of the United States (well on the TV show Scandel) for the last 28 years too!
It was an honor to interview Jane and talk about her amazing career, and it looks like she’s just getting started.
Matthew Toffolo's Summary 