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Earlier this year I had the pleasure of filming an interview with Woody Allen at his studio. Woody Allen recently recorded audiobooks for some of his books and these are now available at Audible.com. Woody’s theater studio is very warm in color and littered with interesting memorabilia.
The interviewer is screenwriter Doug McGrath. The technical crew consisted of my co-worker and I, each with a Canon 7D. I had my 50mm F1.4 on Woody and he had a 35mm on Doug. We had a very simple light kit setup and used two low-grade lavalier microphones. Click the image above to play the video:
Listen to some Woody Allen short stories at Audible.com.
July 20th, 2010
Logrithmic
I went to see Inception last night at the only IMAX theater in New York City. I showed up over 2 hours early and was about 40th in line. Perfect. IMAX is definitely overrated but overall I was satisfied with my experience. The color and sharpness have convinced me to go back to the Ziegfeld next time.
Now, I usually don’t like to know who directed a movie. I don’t have favorite directors, actors, etc. Movies as with any art should stand on their own without the weight of any creator’s names attached to them. Unfortunately, with this film being so big it was impossible to not hear “Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan”. Apparently he’s a big fan of Bladerunner because the influences here are abundant. Inception is a cross between Bladerunner, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Primer, and The Matrix. Inception is a lot easier to follow than all of these. Go see Primer if you want to experience the Inception mind-exercise times three, minus the explosions and car chases.
The acting here is great and the storytelling is excellent. The art of storytelling gets lost all too easy these days. Leonardo DiCaprio is in this movie and does his forehead-scrunching acting but it does far from take away from the movie. Although you know how the movie ends within the first 20 minutes, it’s very exciting to watch it play out.
I’m not the biggest fan of special effects but it was stunning to watch scenes play out as time and physics were bent. I’ve never seen multilayered motion ramps within a shot before and this effect is stunning. Inception is PG-13 so children are welcome and will love these visuals.
There were many corny cultural references in here such as M.C. Escher but I couldn’t help but notice my favorite Edith Piaf song being played in the movie. I sampled it seven years ago and made a song with Stark the Dutch. It wasn’t until later in the movie that I remembered that the actress, Marion Cotillard, played Edith Piaf in her biopic. I’m sure this connection in Inception was done purposely.
Inception deals with sharing dreams. Ever since the beginning of movies people have considered the movie-going experience a communal dream. So, above all other homages in this movie, this was the most interesting homage. Thank you Inception for letting me share this dream with so many others.
July 17th, 2010
Logrithmic
Check out my boys’ Hip Hop show on
uStream. Videos, music, interviews, and live performances.
July 15th, 2010
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July 13th, 2010
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