Press Release

Sundance Institute announced the launch of DocSource, a new website designed to extend the Sundance Documentary Film Program’s support for contemporary social issue documentary storytellers into the virtual arena. The site launched today in conjunction with the 2008 Sundance Film Festival at www.sundance.org/docsource. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27, 2008 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance, Utah. more

By Darroch Greer
Listen in on an exclusive interview with Choke Director Clark Gregg as he talks about the creation of his Sundance film. Digital Content Producer Contributor Darroch Greer asks the questions.
To listen to the podcast interview click here.
(To download: Right Click, Save As)
Check out our entire Sundance Podcast Archive.

Yesterday at the Avid booth, the Perfect Pitch contest got underway with many festival goers pitching their story lines for big prizes from Avid Technology (to see the list of prizes, click here). The following video is a pitch from Brandon Hughes given live at the Avid booth in the New Frontier (333 Main).

Click here to download the Pitch (it’s about 30MB, so depending on your connection…).

(DivX Required–download it for free)

Often times, even when dealing with short films, it is sometimes difficult to remember that storytelling is not always the first priority. After all, film is like any other form of art and should not be held to any hard and fast rules—like plot, character development, and all the other things we associate with narrative filmmaking. Rather than being relegated to the art museum, experimental films get their day in the sun at Sundance (no pun intended) right alongside the more traditional modes of filmmaking.

Shawn Bannon’s Ignite is a three-minute film that surveys the raging intensity with which the fires in Griffith Park, Calif. burned last year by using stark, color time-lapse cinematography sped up to an alarming degree. Helicopters streak through the night sky, but are mere flashes. They look more like comets with blinding tails. Later, the ashes of the landscape are contrasted with cigarette ashes and only a brief flash, burning photo, of the people who were affected by it. Seven time-lapse cameras were used to capture the event, which is melded together with a soundtrack of crackling fire that’s all wind and clipped microphones.

“You cut my tongue, now only my heart speaks.�
– Tania Willard

Nikamowin is a fascinating 12-minute short from Director/Editor Kevin Lee Burton that asks the musical question, “What happens when you start speaking Cree?â€? D’arcy O’Connor is responsible for the intricate score/sound design, which is made up entirely of spoken words in the Cree language. While O’Connor’s linguistic soundscape unfolds with rhythmic cadence, Burton channels a little bit of Koyaanisqatsi, using both city and natural landscapes to illustrate the impressive sound collage. He also employs quite a bit of split screen, only he visually highlights the layers of Nikamowin‘s complicated music by going horizontal—and using up to five images consecutively. The short was produced with cooperation from the Canada Council for the Arts. Read On at Scene-Stealers.com

A charming, moving low-tech antidote to all the high-tech developments I’ve been covering today: Brent Green is a self-taught filmmaker who lives in the middle of nowhere, Pennsylvania, and animates by photographing hand-drawn cels (numbers visible) and stop-motion wood-carvings with his Nikon D70. He edits these stills in iMovie.

At the New Frontier center, he showed his films and hollered the narration like Conor Oberst exorcising demons. The band Califone accompanied Green, perfectly fitting the haunting, raw, fantastic imagery. This one is Green’s favorite; it was mine too.

He’ll be doing the same thing at New Frontier (basement of 333 Main St.) on Sunday and Monday at 6:30pm, so don’t miss your chance to see some spontaneous live energy mixed in with the usual programmed entertainment.

By Michael Goldman
One of the more highly anticipated documentaries appearing this year at the Sundance Film Festival is Morgan Spurlock’s Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? The movie was largely shot by Spurlock’s small crew using primarily a Sony HDW-F900 camera system as they literally traveled the world attempting to unravel the mystery of the notorious terrorist’s whereabouts. He returned from his adventure with hundreds of hours of HD footage to sort through as he built the movie, and much of that job fell to co-editors and frequent Spurlock collaborators Julie Lombardi and Gavin Coleman. Along with co-editor Sean Frechette and two assistants, they spent months sorting their way through “pieces of a thousand-hour puzzle,� as Lombardi explains it, working primarily on four Avid Xpress Pro systems (three running with Avid Mojo acceleration systems) and a Unity server system at Spurlock’s editorial headquarters in New York. As the Sundance Festival was about to begin, Lombardi and Coleman spoke with millimeter Senior Editor Michael Goldman about the project’s challenges and their creative approach to cutting the documentary together.
To listen to the podcast interview click here.
(To download: Right Click, Save As)

Check out our entire Sundance Podcast Archive.

After following the production story for the feature film Fix via conversations with director Tao Ruspoli (see the Dec. 11, 2007 article “Slamdance’s HD Fix” from our HD Focus Newsletter), I was excited to see the world premiere of the movie albeit in the cramped conference-room-turned-theater at the Treasure Mountain Inn. Seeing the resulting footage from Ruspoli’s hand-held and Manfrotto Fig Rig-stabilized Panasonic HVX200 shots on a larger screen–along with Ruspoli’s excitement and gratitude–added significantly to my experience.

While sitting in anticipation of the film, I found myself seated next to a couple gracious attendees who also play significant roles in both Sundance and Slamdance–head honchos of Playa del Rey, Calif.-based animation and design house The Ebeling Group. more

An interesting film project was the subject of a session on Creating a Low-Budget Film with High Production Value at the New Frontier center today. To create a horror/psychological thriller for under $250,000, Michael Phillips of Avid teamed up with Norm Hollyn, associate professor at the USC Film School and head of the editing track there.

The 89-minute feature, titled Jack in the Box, involved an 11-day shoot with a small crew. A single location, a creepy basement room where all the action happens, kept the budget manageable. As did a heavy dose of pre-planning. During the session, Phillips projected a chart that listed off all the video and audio formats that might ensue, such as a 1080p/23.976fps HDCAM-SR program master, and RGB 2K files on LTO tape in case a film version is needed. The chart listed postproduction processes that would affect the shooting, such as pan-and-scan for a 3:2 version. (The producers aren’t ready to say what cameras they used.) All this pre-planning on deliverables, Phillips said, would make it easier for a distributor to decide to pick up the project.

For editing, Phillips worked in Media Composer (big surprise there), in SD for the offline and in HD for the online, both on the HP 8400 workstation. more

By Cristy Lytal
Momma’s Man, which premiered at the Library Center Theatre yesterday, takes the concept of a momma’s boy one step further. In his third feature and Festival debut, writer-director Azazel Jacobs tells the story of Mikey (Matt Boren), a married father who visits his bohemian parents in lower Manhattan and can’t quite bear to leave. As he enjoys his mother’s cooking, plays songs of teenaged angst on his guitar, and reads comics, his life in Los Angeles crumbles. After the premiere, Azazel Jacobs, accompanied by his parents Flo and Ken Jacobs – who also play his parents in the film – and several other members of the cast and crew, fielded questions about his cinematic exploration of returning to the womb. Read on at Sundance

Featured Post:

Technicolor Provides Services for 15 Films Premiering at 2008 Sundance Film Festival

BURBANK, CA – (January 18, 2008) – Thomson announced that its Technicolor Services division provided services for 15 theatrical features premiering at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, which began Jan. 16 and continues through Jan. 24 in Park City, Utah. Sundance remains the preeminent showcase for independent filmmaking, bringing together a remarkable assemblage of films from around the world. Read on at The Briefing Room

More news from Sundance 2008