Exactly.
(Source: electricfeeling)
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Central Park, a set on Flickr.
Spent the afternoon shooting around Central Park. My mission: to shoot people, which I did successfully for the most part. A fun afternoon spent photographing strangers!
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Darnell Martin - Directrix.
I wanted to continue talking about a few directors you may or may not know about, specifically female directors of color since it’s February which is Black History Month, leading into March which is Women’s History Month.
Last week I told you about Maria P. Williams and her film “The Flames of Wrath”, what is thought to be one of the first films ever directed by a black female. On the other end of the spectrum is Darnell Martin, reputedly the first black American woman to write and direct a film for a major Hollywood studio with her film ”I Like It Like That”:
If you haven’t seen the film, I would highly recommend you do, as it’s an entertaining, well made first feature shot in NYC. Extremely well written, with characters that are funny, believable, and easy to relate to telling a pretty touching story about relationships.
Shortly after making “I Like it Like That”, Darnell directed another feature, starring A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip and the uber talented Mary J. Blige called Prison Song, followed by stints directing for TV (Oz, Law & Order), only getting back to directing with 2008’s “Cadillac Records” which was a pretty big hit thanks also to stars like Beyonce and Adrien Brody.
It looks like Darnell has since gone back to the land of television, directing shows like “Gossip Girl”, “The Mentalist” and most recently the show “Grimm” also helming a film made-for-tv called “The Lost Valentine” for USA Networks, starring Betty White and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Are you noticing more female directors in television? What shows are you seeing as being more female-centric in their production? (Aside from the obvious choices of ‘30 Rock’ and ‘Up All Night’). I know I’ve seen a handful of episodes of “Breaking Bad” and “Sons of Anarchy” directed by women. Have you seen any TV shows lately with female names in the credits?
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Film Review: Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie (2012)
For years I’ve been waiting to see what Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie would actually look like. I mostly imagined it would be some bizarre Jodorowsky-on-(more)acid-esque 90 minute journey, all frenetic editing and Cinco product advertisements, complete with midi-produced soundtrack. I was a little unsure of how the full 90 minute feature would be conceived and received, knowing a few people who can’t even sit through their 15-minute long Adult Swim show. Would T&E really sell out and make a “studio” film, and would it be successful?
Well, yes, they have made a major feature film but I would say it is definitely on their own terms, thumbing their noses at Hollywood.
They’ve in essence made a ‘meta’ movie almost to the standards of “The Human Centipede 2” in it’s self referencing: Tim and Eric are given a billion dollars to make a movie, but get so caught up in the Hollywood bullshit that they waste the money and make a piece of shit (starring a handsome Johnny Depp look-a-like), and THIS film is the story of how they try to pay those billion dollars back.
But of course it’s not really about that. Anyone who has watched their TV show knows the plot is just a frame for where they must eventually bring the story back to. Along the way you see lots of awesome infomercials, bizarre musical interludes and meet random characters who may or may not have anything to do with the story. Many of the characters are actors who also show up on Adult Swim: Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, Jeff Goldblum, Will Forte, John C. Reilly, and a musical performance by Aimee Mann. Their performances do not disappoint (except maybe for John C. Reilly who I’d always rather see as Dr. Steve Brule)
I think the one thing that is noticeably missing ARE those frenetic moments, the over obsessive, repeated editing of words, moments, etc. which I think detracts from the ‘art’ of what they do, but makes it more palatable to a wider audience (or maybe I miss it just because I myself am an editor, and have a weird sense of humor?) If you get annoyed by being annoyed, this film is probably not for you. T&E really push the limits of your patience at some moments in this film, but for true fans of Tim & Eric, this movie is a gem@
Now playing OnDemand, and in Theaters March 2nd.
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Dear Mr. Fassbender...
…You can get crunk with us and we will not kick you out for having a good time!
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The months of February & March
Something historically important for female filmmakers happened this year at Sundance. That today marks the start of Black History Month makes it even more poignant: Director Ava Duvernay is celebrating her historic win as the first black woman to take home the Best Director prize at Sundance for her film Middle of Nowhere.
Again, kind of pathetic that something like this has to be big news (and I should mention that two other women won top prizes, Director Lauren Greenfield, for The Queen of Versailles, as well as Director Lucy Walker for The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom), but let’s give recognition where it’s due — yes, there have been other women in years previous to take home top prizes, but Duvernay is the first of color. There is certainly low visibility for female filmmakers in general, but consider also that there are really no well known black female directors, though they are creating films and have been for many years.
We’re all taught that Alice Guy-Blache was the first female to direct solo, but do you know who the first black female director was?
Her film A Woman’s Errors was produced in 1922. Her name was Tressie Souders, and sadly that’s about all we know about her. History seems to have ignored her work and not saved it for posterity.
But in honor of her achievement, the Tressie Souders Film Society was created (http://www.tsfilmsociety.org/) to “combat negative stereotyping of Black women in film, television and media by presenting and preserving film by and/or featuring Black women from around the world in non-stereotypical roles”, also hosting the International Black Women’s Film Festival each year. I encourage you to learn more about other female film directors of color over at “Sisters in Cinema” http://www.sistersincinema.com/
And to do my own part in honoring Black History Month, which also leads into March which is Women’s History Month, I’d like to highlight one of these directors each week this month.
Since I can’t tell you much about Tressie Souders, let’s talk about Maria P. Williams who, from what I can tell, is the 2nd woman of color to produce and direct a feature film.
In 1922, Williams produced and directed the film “The Flames of Wrath”, a five-reel mystery drama for the company she co-owned, the Western Picture Producing Company with her husband Jesse, which was based out of Kansas City, Missouri. Only 1 frame of this movie seems to exist today (another score against our own national archives).
Maria P. Williams was also a community activist, working to better the plight of African Americans in the United States in the early 1900s. Again, not much documentation of her life and work has been preserved but I did find these few images in the archives of the New York Public Library:
Such a shame that our country hasn’t preserved this important information better. Hopefully this information being posted here can help someone else along the way learn about these important female filmmakers!
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Another day, another film-related tirade.
But first, let’s watch something entertaining, OK? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOR2f0EA8Co
I wanted to post this video a while ago but in honor of the protest against the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) I decided to black out all my internet action for the day. And then I wound up holding back on this post because I was afraid it was just too angsty. I’ve decided though that in the spirit of honesty and using this website to voice my opinion, that I should post it.
This particular tirade was prompted by an article a friend of mine posted on Facebook last week, where studios were gloating over the fact that a crappy movie they paid $1 million for (which they re-cut & re-shaped into a movie with a facade of interestingness), made nearly ”$16.8 million in its first day”, but pissed off an entire country of movie-goers because they all felt they got duped into thinking it would be a great movie, a ‘bait & switch’ type situation. In my opinion, the problems with SOPA and the “The Devil Inside” go hand in hand.
So Hollywood is losing money. They think it’s because people are pirating movies, stealing their revenue, etc. The problem is, that’s not why they’re losing money.
They’re losing money because people want to see better movies, but studios keep churning out shit (which your average American isn’t able to discern as total shit because of the way the film is marketed, and because they don’t read reviews first), leading to viewers inadvertently feeding the horrible machine that keeps producing these stinkers, thus resulting in an ever dwindling box office return because moviegoers don’t trust Hollywood AND they really have no desire to see the crap movies they are producing (IF they can discern the shit from the gold.)
Against the behemoth that is “Hollywood”, there isn’t much we can do as indie film-makers except make better movies and try to gain a foothold in our own way, hoping to one day breakthrough and change it all.
But what recourse do we have as movie-goers when the product/movie we choose to purchase is entirely different from what we actually get? You can’t demand a refund like a normal consumer, unless you have an especially caring theater manager (which at the major theater chains is a rarity.) Instead we’re stuck shelling out $12-15 for a film that may or may not be any good.
I was thinking the other day as I daydreamed about my “Hollywood, I’m Breaking Up With You” YouTube campaign (more on that below), that as paying customers of movie studios/theaters there should be some sort of quality control. Why not do something simple, similar to what New York & California have done with restaurants, and institute a ‘letter grade’ system for movies and their advertising?
Grades could be based upon things like:
- —-Truth in advertising of the film - Did the ad campaign for the film inflate the actual film?
- —-Originality of the plot/movie itself - Is it a remake? A story we’ve heard a million times?
- —-Production value - Does it actually look good & professionally made? (this is may be the one value that could be nixed, since some awesome movies (like ::cough:: my own) have low production value, and that standard could shift from viewer to viewer)
- —-Percentage of minorities/range of ages in crew & acting positions - this is just good sense and business for us as a culture.
- —-Typicality of genre, etc. - This could be tied into the originality of the plot, etc.
It should be a set of parameters that any non-judgemental movie-goer could discern, and would not be decided by one person but a rotating group of persons ranging in all sorts of film & non-film worlds. It would still allow the prospective viewer their own personal opinion as to whether the story is actually any good (an original story can still be very bad) but would at least lay the groundwork for a potential viewer to know if what they are buying is what they will actually get. Then if you choose an “F” grade movie that looks pretty good to you, but is not, you won’t feel like as much of a sucker.
Since that will never happen, I think we should start a grass roots campaign to really get Hollywood to understand that “WE ARE NO LONGER BUYING WHAT YOU ARE SELLING.”
My proposed idea is to start a viral campaign having every pissed off movie-goer record a video about why they are breaking up with Hollywood, stating that they will boycott until the studios come together and accept that there needs to be a tide change in the quality of films they are producing, and who they are letting produce them. We need to find a way to directly address Hollywood and demand fresh blood, new stories, new storytellers!
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I realized this morning that I hadn’t posted the link to my newest short film, “The Sucker”. Our composer Justin Schornstein is in the process of finishing up the music, after which we’ll be submitting it to a few festivals.
