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Articles on Film making

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Spend money on morale, and focus on story, by far the most important element to filmmaking. Canadian comedy icon Kevin McDonald stars in Michael Stasko’s ‘Boys vs. Girls.’ (Jesse Hebert)

4 ways independent filmmakers can make the most of small budgets for big results

Renting locations, hotel rooms, offices and cast trailers can eat the lion’s share of a budget. We rented an off-season summer camp and won best feature film at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival 2020.
Peter Cushing in Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope. LucasFilm

A genuinely believable CGI actor? It won’t be long

Despite the furore over the ‘ghosting’ of Peter Cushing in Rogue One, directors will continue to push for improved technology enabling digital replication of actors.
In virtual reality cinema, the audience chooses what to look at and when. What does this mean for traditional narrative storytelling? Virtual reality cinema in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Sander Koning/ANP

VR cinema is here – and audiences are in the drivers’ seat

VR cinema explodes the frame, placing the spectator inside the space of the film. Audiences effectively edit it themselves, by choosing what to look at and when.
Filmmaker Paul Cox pictured with actor David Wenham in 2012. Julian Smith/AAP

Life lessons from the editing suite of Paul Cox

Editing a movie beside the late, great Paul Cox was like attending ‘a one on one’ film school. The growling auteur was a brilliantly stubborn man, who treated film with reverence and wore his heart on his sleeve.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been praised for avoiding computer generated effects, but why does CGI deserve such a bad name? Image courtesy of Lucasfilm.

Friday essay: Star Wars, Mad Max and the ‘real’ vs digital effects furphy

A growing vocal minority blame poor computer generated images for ‘ruining’ the movies. But digital effects can co-exist with real sets and stunts - and films have always been fake.
Australia’s defining narratives are apparently stories by, for and about white cis men. George A. Spiva Center for the Arts

Three ways Screen Australia can actually improve diversity in the industry

Australia’s defining narratives are apparently, with rare exception, stories by, for and about white cis men. We need more than Screen Australia’s new measures to address gender equity in the film industry.
Perth City.

Philosophy for the people: commencing a dialogue

I have always been interested in how we try to understand the world in which we live, and artworks provide us with a great stimulus for such discussions. My research focuses on aesthetics, ethics and education…
Red Army tells the story of the Russian hockey dynasty of the 1980s and early 1990s, focusing on the story of defenseman Slava Fetisov (pictured top right). Variety

Red Army portrayal of Soviet hockey misses mark

Gabe Polsky’s documentary Red Army opens with the film’s main subject – former NHL and Soviet hockey great Viacheslav (Slava) Fetisov – giving the finger to Polsky while checking his phone. At the film’s…
Hollywood films have long depicted Arabs in a negative light. Pictured is the movie poster from 1921’s The Sheik. Wikimedia Commons

American Sniper perpetuates Hollywood’s typical Arab stereotypes

The first Iraqis to appear in Clint Eastwood’s Iraq War drama, American Sniper, are a young mother and boy of maybe 12. They are seen from the point of view of the man who will kill them: Chris Kyle, the…
Foreign PR campaigns have been waged for decades. Films like 1930’s All Quiet on the Western Front were significantly altered to appease Germany’s Nazi Party. filmjunk.com

How foreign governments can influence American media – and tried to block my documentary

Feature films and television shows notoriously play fast-and-loose with the facts. When prologues proclaim “Based on a True Story,” they’re gracefully implying that what follows is mostly fiction. Awards…
Curtis is one of few BBC film-makers given great artistic freedom. Steve Rhodes

Bitter Lake: Adam Curtis is both self-indulgent and fascinating

Most broadcasters – especially those who work at the BBC – must produce their programmes to conform to strict guidelines. They must be within five seconds of the required length, they must comply with…
Screen production can enhance our understanding of the complexities of human experience. locrifa/ Shutterstock.com

Should film-making count as research? That’s debatable

In the film industry, research is commonly understood as audience research. Films, in contrast, are entertainment or a form of audiovisual communication. But can film-making also be a form of academic…

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