Film Strategy

I normally reach out to filmmakers and producers when I write a case study but it is a long and involved process of outreach and interviewing and then creating the case study for Film Strategy. Lately, I have been busy with my legal work but I am also developing a documentary based on archival footage and photography and so I have been doing my research on all fronts. Lo and behold, I ran across this case study on a PBS documentary about Fidel Castro based on archival footage, The Fidel Castro Tapes , at Peter Hamilton's great website: www.documentarytelevision.com . Because I found it so useful, I felt I had to share it.  We wondered about the challenges of creating an archive-based film about an 88-year old Spanish-speaking personality who can be dangerously controversial, and who is the founding father of a government whose people are still blockaded by the US.   Castro ‘ s producer Tom Jennings earned a Peabody with the Smithsonian Channel for  MLK: The Assassination

Captain's Log. Star Date 07.22.13 The cycle continues.  A new day begins a new week to learn more about producing, directing, lighting and editing, read about what Hollywood cares about nowadays (hint: s_perh_roes) or get inspired by the rules of a master and the vision of a photographer (who was himself inspired by early films).  You see the cycle continues... San Diego Comic Con 2013 news roundup on all the movies and tv shows discussed, mentioned, poured over, screamed for, drooled about, hollered at and high-fived. Ted Hope and Christine Vachon's FREE 4-hour filmmaking masterclass seminar. Did I mention it was FREE*. (hat tip to nofilmschool ) Wim Wenders' nifty 50 rules of filmmaking. (hat tip to Roger Duck ) Pulp Art Book : a multimedia project by Los Angeles based artist Neil Krug in a creative collaboration with Joni Harbeck, wherein his photography can be seen in limited edition prints, books and films. Check out some pieces from Pulp Art Book: Vol.

Diary | Tim Hetherington | 2010 | UK | Format: various | 20 min   One of the main reasons I felt a section on filmmaker's journals or diaries would be useful on this site is that there are times when it helps all of us to understand the filmmaking process from the subjective view of the filmmaker.  As beginning and even experienced filmmakers hope to make it in the industry, it's always good to see how the filmmakers you admired overcame their obstacles or planned their vision.  Without a doubt, it can inspire and teach you.  But there is also a voyeuristic insight to be gained from peering into a filmmaker's diary and it's not as clear cut as a motivation or a lesson would be.  Maybe the insight we gain from the filmmaker's diary benefits us as artists and fans to understand a filmmaker's work better from an aesthetic, historical and academic perspective.  Or maybe it just satisfies our desire for gossip because it's our human nature to be nosy an