Here’s excerpt two of “What They Don’t Teach You at Film School.” This one touches on finding vulnerability and empathy in yourself and translating that into your work to connect to your audience. I believe that this is one of the most important skill sets to have and to remember when you’re writing a script, looking for that certain angle, or grading to elicit that special feeling.
Yesterday, I came across some interesting books while spending time at a thrift store: the screenplay to ‘Pulp Fiction,’ ‘Marilyn: A Biography by Norman Mailer‘ (which has such amazing photographs), ‘Photography and Language‘ by San Francisco’s Camerawork Press (with photos from the 1930s-1970s) and the book mentioned in the title of this post, “What They Don’t Teach You at Film School.”
I recently stumbled upon this beautiful trailer for The Bicycle City, a documentary directed and edited by Greg Sucharew with Frank Trotta as DP about the Pedals for Progress foundation and their work in Nicaragua.
What made this piece so inspiring for me was not only the amazing cinematography, but also the story within the dialogue. Being relatively new to film making, I am constantly struggling with developing a story that resides not only within the images, but also within what’s being told. Coming from a narrative film making background where you form the story before you start filming, doing documentary has been a challenge as I sift and look for the story in what a person shares with me. It has definitely been a learning process, albeit very frustrating at times haha, but I do believe that by the end of this, I’ll be a better story teller which will allow me to create stronger pieces.
I really should be finishing up Renato Resaldo’s “Culture and Truth,” but I just read this article about Ava DuVernay, a filmmaker based in LA, in the New York Times and had to share this with you all. Some of you folks may know her from BET’s first original documentary, ‘My Mic Sounds Nice,’ which she directed and produced, that discussed the relationship between women and hip-hop. If not, be sure to check out dvahq.com and become acquainted with her work. I guarantee you’ll be hearing her name more often.
I hope that this news reaches out to more black female filmmakers, and any other aspiring filmmakers of marginalized backgrounds, and evokes the same feeling of inspiration and admiration it did within me. We have stories to share and it’s important to make sure that we are able to have the access and means to promote our work.
Check out her director’s reel below the cut.
A friend sent me this wonderful, short biodoc on Scott Schuman, the man behind the fashion blog ‘The Satorialist.’
Because effects should become part of your video, not something that’s applied upon it.
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One of my favorite groups right now is Denmark’s Quadron. I fell in love with them when I came across their Yours Truly video and have been rocking them ever since. I had the pleasure of shooting Coco at SOM earlier this year and that was an amazing experience. A few months back, I was approached by Robin, after seeing my ‘Saturday Morning’ video, to do a video for ‘Simili Life.’ Talk about a dream come true!
I haven’t done an ‘Inspiration’ post in quite some time. As a matter of fact, this is only my second one. I created these ‘Inspiration’ posts to pay respect to artists, primarily filmmakers, that move and motivate me to be better at the art that I create.
Today, I have decided to showcase Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari – together better known as California is a place. I randomly stumbled upon their Scrapertown video while perusing through a group on Vimeo and fell in love. If the thumbnail of the above video didn’t grab your eye right away, the cinematography in the video, as well as the rest of their videos, most definitely will. Other than their amazing production skills and the depth of the stories that they document, what really engages me is the emotional feeling that I get while watching these shorts. You can tell that above anything, these two are doing what they love and are passionate about the stories they capture.
Check out the rest of their videos when you have the chance. Their latest titled, ‘Honey Pie,’ focuses on Matt McCullen and his creation, the Real Doll. If you haven’t heard of a Real Doll, you definitely need to check out the documentary called, ‘Guys and Dolls’ (which you can watch in its entirety here.)
The latest episode of hypebeast.tv finds us catching up with graphic designer Benny Gold in our own backyard of San Francisco. Benny has been long known for producing work alongside some of the premier companies in our industry; HUF, Carhartt, REBEL8 and Gravis just to name a few. Amongst the many subjects, we focus on the growth of Benny’s own label and his transition from a home office into a brand new retailer/design studio locale.
An amazing and inspirational video produced by The WereHaus.com on graph designer Benny Gold. He shares some really beautiful thoughts and shows how living your passion and loving what you do makes life, life.
