July 2010
6 posts
10 tags
Ni no Kuni for PS3
A Level 5 and Studio Ghibli game! :)
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The Social Network - Trailer
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Alamar - Trailer
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Arashiyama
I’m slowly getting through the Japan trip pictures. Here’s a few from Arashiyama, located in Western Kyoto. It’s a lot of walking through the area, but it’s beautiful and well worth it. Going down the Bamboo Grove is especially wonderful and is a great escape from the sun’s heat too!
These cats are everywhere! They’re like the dancing Santa, etc. but cuter...
June 2010
4 posts
Japan
Tonight’s my last night in Japan after 11 days split between Yokosuka, Kyoto, and Tokyo. I’ve wanted to go to Japan ever since age 7, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokemon, so coming here was quite fulfilling.
I’ll update with some photos and more details (I just wanted to post while I’m still here), but now I have to sleep to catch an early flight to the Philippines! I...
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Never Let Me Go - Trailer
I love Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and Remains of the Day. The trailer and score are lovely.
HD trailer is also up at Apple.
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May 2010
16 posts
4 tags
Iron Baby
Ah too cute. I want one.
Directed by Patrick Boivin (and starring his daughter Marguerite!), who is also well known for his stop motion such as Iron Man vs. Bruce Lee among other great work. Visual Effects and 3D by STROB (who is Marguerite’s uncle!).
More at his YouTube
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Akino Kondoh
Maybe It’s A Train
Ladybugs’ Requiem
Akino Kondoh’s Site
(via Boing Boing)
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The Adventures of Prince Achmed
I saw a part of Lotte Reiniger’s silhouette animated film, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, in my Language of Film class. I was amazed by the animated silhouettes and the contrast of colors and further surprised to learn that the film was released in 1926, apparently the oldest surviving animated feature film.
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Running on Empty
By Ross Ching
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Celestial Navigations: The Short Films of Al...
A collection of Jarnow’s work has been released by the Numero Group.
Curled up on our couches in the wee hours of the morning, in reruns, and nostalgic You Tube forwards, filmmaker Al Jarnow has touched our lives and changed the way we look at the world without us ever knowing. Beginning with his work for a certain public television show that featured a big yellow bird, Al Jarnow...
9 tags
Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Commercial
This Super Mario Galaxy 2 commercial makes me think of Disneyland. Can’t wait to play it!
There’s several other great SMG 2 commercials on the Wii YouTube channel.
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Pixel - a pixel art documentary
By Simon Cottee
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How Pixar Built Toy Story 3 →
allthingspixar:
Wired magazine on the step-by-step process of making an animated blockbuster.
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Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff -...
A documentary film by Craig McCall about British Cinematographer and Director Jack Cardiff.
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MUBI Blog: Immerse yourself in cinema at home with... →
Cannes, 18th May 2010: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe [SCEE] has announced a partnership with leading online film library MUBI, to bring to PlayStation®3 (PS3™) a new service that will break open the world of independent, international and classic cinema, and introduce PS3 owners to…
Please come to the USA too :)
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The Betrayal
The Betrayal, beautiful documentary photographed by Ellen Kuras (who directs it, with Thavisouk Phrasavath).
Description from PBS: Filmed over 23 years, The Betrayal is the Academy Award-nominated directorial debut of renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras in a unique collaboration with the film’s subject and co-director, Thavisouk (“Thavi”) Phrasavath. After the U.S. government...
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WatchUncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives - Trailer Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
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Watch“To a child, there are no boundaries of culture, no barriers to acceptance of any external stimuli — as long as it’s cool. Explosions of color, light, music and funky characters are a universal constant, and never fail to, even in our adult lives, zap our inner kid cores into sweet submission. The hit kids’ television show “Yo Gabba Gabba!”, an awesome program...
April 2010
3 posts
6 tags
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Before Sunrise & Before Sunset
“Linklater’s two films move us towards a new understanding of the genre of romantic films. While conventional romances spend almost all of their energy convincing the audience that, consequences be damned, this particular couple is going to hook up, and it is going to be worth all of our emotional commitment because if they don’t hook up, we’ll, like, die or something....
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A conversation with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai
On Charlie Rose, Tuesday, July 26, 2005
“Making movies is like loving a very dangerous woman, you have to serve her, make her happy, and care for her, or she’ll leave you.”
March 2010
15 posts
8 tags
Air Doll
Air Doll’s cinematography (by Mark Lee Ping-Bing) and score (by World’s End Girlfriend) are beautiful. I saw it at the Walter Reade, and it really was lovely to see in theater. Although the movie can be rather blunt at times, there are some great moments and acting, especially by Bae Doo-na, that still warrant a watch.
My favorite shot (even better in motion):
Trailer:
...
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Plastic Bag by Ramin Bahrani
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AK100
Happy Birthday!
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Raging Bull - Opening Sequence
We watched the opening sequence to Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull in class today.
I’ve not yet seen the film, but I believe this will be my next Scorsese film (after Shutter Island, which was my first).
The black and white cinematography is beautiful.
Art of the Title has a nice write-up and a hi res version for viewing.
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Orange and Teal Hollywood
Great thoughts by filmmaker Todd Miro on the overuse of Orange and Teal, two complementary colors often set together to make an image “pop,” in the color grading of films.
Read at his blog Into the Abyss.
(via greg.org)
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L.A. Ladies Choir
photo by Aaron Rose
So beautiful!
I was googling Aska Matsumiya after hearing some of her work on Spike Jonze’s “I’m Here” and learned about a band she recently formed with other musicians and creatives called L.A. Ladies Choir.
T Magazine calls them “a disarmingly beautiful group of women who sing covers of old folk songs with a sound akin to a group...
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I'm Here
Spike Jonze’s short film “I’m Here” is now playing online (in limited viewings per day it seems). The score and cinematography are lovely!
The trailer is attached below:
More info at the movie site and tumblr.
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Watch Selections from Cannes for free!
The Auteurs and Stella Artois are playing online a selection of movies from the Cannes Film Festival. For free through June!
A great set, including: Amarcord L’Avventura Climates Divorce Italian Style Fat Girl Happy Together Mon Oncle Our Beloved Month of August Harakiri
Big thanks to the Auteurs and Stella Artois!
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Cities Around the World
A collection of images of cities around the world, presented by University of Wisconsin Madison and the American Geographical Society.
Seems to have been around for several years now, but just found it while looking for photos of Manila during the 60s (which they do have).
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Tom Ford Interview by Gus Van Sant
Director Tom Ford talks to Director Gus Van Sant about A Single Man
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The Return of Amateur Cinema?
From ”The Age of Amateur Cinema Will Return,” an essay by Jia Zhangke:
For some reason, conversations about films always get people trapped into sentimental feelings. In order to get out of this mood, Tony brought up a new topic and asked me, “What do you think will become the driving force for the development of films in the future?” Without hesitation, I replied, “The age of...
DIY Ikea Camera Dolly
EOS 7D + DIY dolly / 1st (snowy!) outdoor test from Aalto on Vimeo.
ikea hacker: Ivar loves Dolly
Last DIY for today.
DIY Microphone Blimp →
Another DIY film/movie-making project.
(via MAKE)
DIY Steadicam →
Haven’t really done any DIY camera stuff, but should make a great summer project!
(via Coudal)
February 2010
5 posts
7 tags
Mean to Me
“Mean to Me” is a minute short film written and directed by David McDermott and Peter McGough and featuring model Agyness Deyn and Linus Roache.
Huffington Post sums up the film’s style nicely: ‘Aesthetically-speaking, “Mean to Me” itself is a studiously detailed, 13-minute love letter to the Deco era: deep, rich, film noir lighting; ornate period opening...
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First Spring by Yang Fudong
Commissioned by Prada for its Spring/Summer 2010 campaign.
Interesting thought by Wee Ling Soh of the Shangaist: “While we get the bleak overtone, we see the perfectly attractive models and we’re amused by its accompanying surrealist art references, we wonder - if a film looks better when it is paused (flawlessly-executed visuals in almost every frame), is something seriously...
Che and the Digital Cinema Revolution
On shooting Che with the RED ONE (via The Playlist).
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Steenbeck & Hokushin
This afternoon we worked with the Steenbeck editing machines for the first time. We’ll be using them to cut our 16mm films shot on Arri S cameras.
The coolest part was, with lights all off, we started scrolling through the film, and the film was moving across to the other reel really fast, and all the individual pictures turned into motion. It was so quick! That’s probably a...
The 180 Rule and When to Break It →
“The 180 degree rule is the most basic rule in filmmaking. There is a really good short primer on it here (thanks wikipedia!). I will attempt to explain it briefly for those who are unfamiliar with the rule, but mostly I want to talk about the fact that live action filmmakers break it occasionally, while in animated films (at least in my experience at Disney) it is considered a big taboo. On...
January 2010
5 posts
5 tags
A Young Man's Game
“Screw business!” you might say, but the reality is that filmmaking is a collision between art and commerce (even the cheapest of films will cost more than your average Mercedes). And within the context of Asian American films, the big elephant in the room has always been its business viability. “It’s a young man’s game,” a filmmaker once told me about Asian American films, “it’s fun to talk about...