Daily summary of the life/movie world.
I can tell you that the qualities I look for in a 2nd AD apply to the 1st AD as well.
– A calm unflappable personality under extreme pressure
– Real attention to detail
– The ability to plan ahead and think on your feet if the plan falls apart
– The grit to do a great job when they are sick / exhausted / just had their car stolen / got yelled at by someone above the line or any number of other things that would put a regular person off their game
– Sense of humor – essential!
Ute Bergk answered the set of questions I emailed her on the airplane on her way to Budapest, Hungary to complete the television mini-series “Emerald City”. Based on the “Wizard of Oz” universe, Ute promises that the series is “going to be something else” and that director Tarsem Singh is a delight. Two months in… Continue reading Interview with Set Decorator Ute Bergk (The Dark Knight, Enemy at the Gates)
Based in Italy, Luigi Rocchetti has worked with some of the greatest filmmakers of our time as the lead Make-Up artist. He currently just wrapped the remake production of Ben-Hur. It was such a pleasure speaking with him about the art of makeup in film.
There was a “Cagney & Lacey” episode in 1984 called “Heat”. It was about a hostage situation. The producer of the show called it a movie that was also a TV episode. I’m very proud of that episode because the director Karen Arthur won an Emmy for it. The first time a female won a Best Directing Emmy.
There was a scene where someone gets shot in the episode and instead of showing them get shot down, I focused on the reaction of the husband and let the sound of the gun and his face tell us what happened. That’s editing!
No matter the medium it’s all a delicate balance between style and craft. I put 100% into every project so they all require the same amount of blood, sweat and tears.
A storyboard artist, or story artist, creates storyboards for film productions.
Storyboard Artist Cristiano Donzelli is a wealth of knowledge. You can feel his passion for what he does. No wonder all of the top filmmakers in the world who venture to Italy want to work with him. He simply makes all the films he storyboards better.
Cristiano’s credits include Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Rome (2005). Zoolander 2 (2016), The American (2010). Ben-Hur (2016), The Young Messiah (2016), and Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)
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.
‘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.
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.
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 =(
Matthew Toffolo's Summary 