Page 286 – NYFA

Julie Pacino Producing Mary Pickford Biopic

Mary Pickford is finally getting the Hollywood treatment from the Hollywood she helped to create. Pickford, the curly-haired ingénue considered cinema’s first “America’s Sweetheart” was a huge star in the silent era and early days of Hollywood.

Pickford wasn’t just one of the first starlets of the silver screen—she was also a powerful force behind the camera. During her career, she co-founded two significant institutions. The first, with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and her husband Douglas Fairbanks, was United Artists, a studio controlled by actors and filmmakers in an attempt to wrest power from the major studios. UA continues as a major producer to this day as part of MGM.

Pickford’s other contribution was even greater—she was one of the original 36 co-founders of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organizations of cinema’s professionals in all fields and provider of the annual Oscars. Pickford won two Academy Awards herself, a Best Actress Oscar for 1929’s Coquette and an honorary lifetime achievement Oscar in 1976.

It’s no surprise then that her fascinating life is being made into a film, adapted from Eileen Whitfield’s biography Pickford: The Woman Who Made Hollywood. The movie is being scripted by Josh Fagin and directed by Jennifer DeLia. DeLia is producing the film with Julie Pacino, a New York Film Academy graduate who co-founded Poverty Row Entertainment with DeLia. The two also collaborated on Billy Bates, the haunting look at a tortured artist. Pacino, the daughter of Al Pacino, is the perfect choice to tell the story of a Hollywood legend.

MFA Filmmaking Grad Wins Best Short at Golden Pomegranate

Congratulations to the MFA Filmmaking graduate Jing Wen, whose film A, B, C, or D? won Best Short Film and Best Cinematographer (Xiaolong Liu) at the Golden Pomegranate International Film Festival in China. The film will also screen at Cannes in the upcoming Cannes Short Film Corner, where many of our students will have the chance to showcase their work to the public for the very first time.

As most of know or remember, A, B, C, and D are the choices in a multiple choice test. This is precisely where Wen came up with the title for her film.

“When we were young, there was always someone who could give you the right answer — maybe the teacher, maybe our parents,” recalls Wen. “When we grow up, A, B, C and D seem like the different choices in our life. What should we choose at every corner, or which one could lead us to success? Only you can discover the answer.”

In Wen’s film, her main character, Gary, is a 45 year-old man — an age at which most people lose their energy to pursue lifelong dreams due to the pressures of family, work, money and responsibility. The conflict occurs after Gary is notified by his department manager that he will need to the blame for a particular mistake. This leads Gary with a very difficult decision: should he tell his boss the truth or keep silent?

You can find out his decision at Wen’s next screening of A, B, C, or D? this May at the Cannes Short Film Corner.

Wen is currently set to direct The Disappeared Fish, a forthcoming feature comedy film from Bai Ge Zhuang Film & Media Company.

PlayStation’s Original Content Powers On

Another day, another trailer. This one, however, for the new original series Powers, is a little different, and a sign of big changes ahead for the television industry. Powers, an adaptation of the popular graphic novels by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming, tells the story of a familiar, realistic world filled with superheroes and supervillains, much like the NBC series from last decade, Heroes. Unlike NBC’s Heroes, however, Powers intends to be much darker, grittier, and bloodier, if the trailer is any indication.

The season’s main antagonist, played by comic and TV/movie vet Eddie Izzard, oozes danger in the brief looks we get at him. He’ll be facing off against the show’s leads, police officers played by Susan Heyward and Sharlto Copley, who first won sci-fi fans over with his starring role in District 9 and is currently starring as the title character in Neill Blomkamp’s Chappie.

However, the most remarkable aspect of Powers may be where you can watch it—exclusively on your PlayStation. The show is the first attempt by the video game console to create and stream its own original content, hoping to take a piece of the pie Netflix and Amazon have been stealing away from the traditional TV networks. It is a bold but savvy move, considering many cord-cutters currently stream Netflix and their other television through the PlayStation already. It’s safe to say the industry, from television writers to television producers will be watching Powers’ ratings closely. Judging by the trailer, a lot of fanboys and fangirls will be watching too.

‘Inside Out,’ Pixar’s New Film About Emotions, Is Sure To Play With Yours

Pixar, the animation giants that seem to release hit film after hit film, have put out a 2nd trailer for the upcoming Inside Out.

The initial trailer did not reveal much about the plot of the film. Rather, it showed the interaction between a girl and her two parents…and the voices that go on inside each of their heads.

The follow-up trailer exposes a bit more about the story, however. The little voices controlling the conversations are actually emotions. There are five to be exact. Inside the girl’s head are Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader), and Anger (Lewis Black).

Things get messy, however, when Joy and Sadness get sucked out of the brain’s central control system and into the depths of the mind, leaving the other three emotions to operate.

That leaves Disgust, Fear, and Anger to run the show. That doesn’t sound very pleasant, and you can tell from moments in the trailer that the story isn’t all happy. We won’t know why until we see the film, though.

Pete Docter, screenwriter and director of the film, has worked on several of Pixar’s other big hits like Toy Story, Monster’s Inc., Wall-E, and Up.

Pixar doe snot shy away from pulling at the audience’s heartstrings, and this film about emotions is sure to play with yours.

Check out the trailer below:

Oscar Nominated Editor Discusses Cutting Best Picture Winner ‘Birdman’

New York Film Academy students gathered in the school’s own Los Angeles theater this week for a screening of the Academy Award Winner for Best Picture Birdman followed by a Q&A with Douglas Crise, the Oscar nominated editor of the film. Crise received an Oscar nomination for Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel in 2007. He has since cut John August’s The Nines, starring Ryan Reynolds and Melissa McCarthy; David Schimmer’s Trust, starring Clive Owen; and Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage, starring Richard Gere which has received much critical acclaim. His collaboration with filmmaker Harmony Korine on Spring Breakers—which stars Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens—has been talked about as revolutionary. Doug just received a BAFTA nomination for is work on Inarritu’s Birdman starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Emma Stone and Zach Galifianakis. The discussion was moderated by producer Tova Laiter and NYFA LA’s Dean of Students Eric Conner.

It is often said that the best editors make their cuts “invisible” to the audience, stitching shots together in just the right so that the audience can lose themselves in the story and not focus on the filmmaking craft. Douglas Crise achieved this in a very literal way with Birdman—the vast majority of which appears to be all one shot, but in reality is composed with many, many edits. These cuts are nearly impossible to see at all, even with the trained eyed. So how many cuts were there in Birdman? This has been a topic of hot debate, and while the number of cuts have been kept secret but the team, the special effects department had spilled the beans and said it was 100, which Douglas didn’t deny. This is compared to the 30 definite edits planned before the shooting of Birdman.

To cut together the best film possible, Crise had to dig deep down and use every trick in the book, and even invent many himself to make the impossible possible. For instance, director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu would like Michael Keaton’s performance at the beginning of one long shot and Edward Norton’s performance at the end of it. Douglass would have to dig deep to think of solutions such as rotoscoping Michael Keaton out of the first shot and laying him onto the background where Edward Norton appears in the next shot until Keaton walked offscreen and the second shot took over completely. Douglas Crise enjoyed working with Inarritu because the demanding director always pushed him to do his best work, and to achieve levels he originally thought impossible.

Crise discussed his contrasting, yet equally fulfilling experience, editing Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers. Whereas Birdman required working within strict limitations, Douglas was called upon to nearly rewrite Spring Breakers in the editing room. He moved things around out of chronological order, laid dialogue and sound over scenes from the footage of other scenes, and worked from a rough outline instead of a detailed script. Harmony’s approach to Crise was more relaxed, as the two discovered the story together from the footage. Having worked so well with two iconic directors whose working styles are at different ends of the spectrum Douglas has exhibited how creatively flexible he is.

Douglas Crise gave NYFA students a unique and important insight into the post production process. We sincerely thank Mr. Crise for taking the time to visit us and look forward to seeing his next critically acclaimed editorial work.

R.I.P. Sam Simon, Co-Creator of The Simpsons

Sam Simon, legendary TV writer and producer, has died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 59. His contributions to the television landscape cannot be overstated.

Simon first started out in TV as a writer and storyboard artist at Filmation Studios before moving to primetime. There he worked as a writer and producer for such groundbreaking shows as Cheers, Taxi, and It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. He also executive produced the infant Fox network’s The Tracey Ullman Show, a sketch show that involved intermittent animated shorts starring a yellow-skinned family named the Simpsons.

The Simpsons proved popular enough for its own primetime half-hour spot, and so in 1989 the landmark sitcom was created by Matt Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon. The show went on to become a ginormous part of television and pop culture and still runs today, spouting its own streaming service, fan groups, podcasts, and megatons of merchandise, earning hundreds of millions of dollars for its creators.

Sam Simon was the showrunner for the show’s important first two seasons and was given writing credit for nine episodes, though his contributions far exceeded that. He is considered by many to have defined many of The Simpsons’ trademark tone, wit and humor. Despite leaving the show in 1993, he has been credited ever since as executive producer and the groundwork he laid for the show remains in its DNA to this day.

Simon worked in television on a few other shows after The Simpsons, but soon devoted much of his life to charity. He supported PETA, Save The Children, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and his own Sam Simon Foundation, which provided free meals to the hungry and sponsored a traveling animal surgery clinic. Before his death, he announced he would donate his entire fortune to charity.

Sam Simon won nine Emmys and was part of several legendary TV series. He is mourned by millions—those he touched in a personal way, whether through his charity work or his incomparable contributions to television and pop culture. He will be greatly missed.

‘Gotham’ Shines Light on New Cast

Over the past few episodes, the popular Fox series Gotham, based on DC Comics’ Batman franchise, has shined a light on the Wayne family business and its board members. It was only a matter of time before the series introduced Lucius Fox, a tech genius who, in the comics, has been Wayne’s business manager and the acting CEO of Wayne Enterprises. Fox will be played by Chris Chalk, an actor predominately known for his theater work, but who’s also appeared in HBO’s The Newsroom and Showtime’s Homeland, as well as FX’s Sons of Anarchy and Justified. He also starred in the Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave.

This comes off the news that actress Jada Pinkett Smith and her character Fish Mooney will be leaving Gotham at the end of its first season. Though, in a recent interview on Live with Kelly and Michael, Smith hints that her character could always reappear down the line.

The popular Fox series has also introduced the acrobatic circus family The Flying Graysons. John Grayson and Mary Loyd, who at this point in the show have just met, will eventually become the parents of Dick Grayson, who most of us know as the first Robin. What’s most exciting to us about the introduction to the family is that the role of John Grayson is being played by New York Film Academy Admissions Representative Rob Gorrie. Gorrie has appeared in a number of film and television productions, including his season stints on the popular soaps, As the World Turns and One Life to Live.

27-Hour Marvel Marathon Coming to Theaters

You’ve got a problem. You’ve been seeing the posters and the teasers and the trailers for the upcoming superhero sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron but you can’t quite remember all the backstories of all the characters and where everybody is at this point. How can you truly enjoy Iron Man and Hulk beating each other up or Captain America and Black Widow’s charming banter if you can’t remember what they were doing in the previous Avengers films?

Well, don’t worry, Marvel’s got you covered. They’re offering a marathon of all ten MCU films in theaters, all leading up to a theatrical screening of the eleventh film—Avengers: Age of Ultron. Marvel helped you out last time, remember? When the first Avengers was released, it followed a marathon of the first five MCU films—Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger. In the three years since, the studio has added another four films, so with Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: Winter Soldier, and Guardians of the Galaxy, that adds up to a staggering 27-hour theatrical experience.

Regal Cinemas and AMC are offering this package in limited cities beginning April 29^th. It includes an exclusive Avengers medallion to prove to your boss that you only took off work to see over a day’s worth of comic book heroes. So get ready, it’ll be great practice for that 54-hour marathon in 2019 when Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 debuts.

Only one Hulk movie, though.

BFA Student Shane Golden Shoots Feature Film ‘Tapestry’

With the variety of programs and locations at the New York Film Academy, we provide students with the opportunity to not only explore the world but also hone their craft in several disciplines while earning a degree. One of our former Two Year Filmmaking students in New York, Shane Golden, took advantage of NYFA’s resources by studying in New York City while simultaneously interning for a Hollywood filmmaker. Now, he’s finishing his studies at our Los Angeles campus, where he just finished working as Co-Director of Photography on the upcoming feature film Tapestry.

The film, directed by Ken Kushner, stars actors Burt Young and Stephen Baldwin. The story revolves around a man (Stephen Baldwin) in the midst of a heavy personal and spiritual crisis. Aided by his father (Burt Young), and his family, he embarks on a personal journey that will forever change him.

We recently had the chance to catch up with Golden, who has his hands full with projects both inside and outside of the school.

Hello, Shane, congrats on wrapping your feature film, Tapestry! Can you begin by telling us how you first became involved with this film?

Vanja Ulepic, the Director of Photography of the film asked if I wanted to co-DP on the film with him. He and Ken Kushner, the Director of Tapestry, both really liked the successful online campaign video I had just produced for the tech company, Rocki.

How long was the shoot?

The shoot was in production for a little over 6 weeks.

Would you say your training at NYFA was useful in terms of your transition to DP’ing on a feature film like Tapestry?

Definitely. Between my time at NYFA and the times I’ve been fortunate enough to spend interning, I felt confident in my abilities as a filmmaker. I never considered myself a DP, and had no ambition to become one, but after this experience, I have a new found appreciation and respect for the craft. Before we started I remember thinking, “I have no idea what the hell I’m doing as a DP,” but when I got into action and with the language and skills I developed at NYFA, I was able to effectively communicate with the cast and crew on the production.

Was there any particular shot/scene or influence you had on Tapestry that you’re most proud of?

There are some tracking shots we did of Stephen’s character in the office where he works that came out really great aesthetically for camera and helped to establish the tone of the film.
There’s also a scene we shot with Burt Young in this church that came out phenomenal. The architecture was beautiful and allowed for a lot of possibilities when it came to blocking for both the actors and the camera.

When and where can we see the film? Is there an official release date yet?

The film is set to be released in theaters sometime next year.

stephen baldwin — Shane Golden with actor Stephen Baldwin

Are you currently working on another project? If so, can you tell me a little about it.

I have a few projects, currently. I’m actually now working on the Tapestry soundtrack as a singer/songwriter. Ken, the Director, heard my music and really
loved it. He asked me if I would sing something for the soundtrack and I said of course. It’s being produced by Grammy winning songwriter/producer Jane’t Sewell-Ulepic and Vanja Ulepic. I’m definitely honored and humbled to be this involved with the project. Besides that, I just booked another feature for later this year, but I don’t have too many details on that project as of yet.

What is your goal as a filmmaker and cinematographer?

Simply put, my goal is to tell great stories. I want to make films that touch audiences and inspire my peers to wanna keep creating and producing films that entertain and influence the world.

Is there any advice could give for current students studying cinematography?

I would say just know there’s no right or wrong to this. Experience, technique and knowledge of the equipment obviously helps, but at the end of the day you have to use what you have and, as a DP especially, work to make an image that’s
interesting to you and that best tells the story. Awards and accolade are nice, but I think getting better at your craft is the true gem of any artists pursuit.