Cillian Murphy in Fionn Regan's "The Meetings of the Waters"

This face! My epic crush with Cillian Murphy continues ... 

The Meetings Of The Waters is taken from Fionn Regan's album 'The Meetings Of The Waters' released 14th April 2017 through 常に愛 TSUNENI AI / Abbey Records.

The Cinematography of Frances Ha

One of my top 10 favorite films of all time is Frances Ha, written by Noah Baumbach (who also directed the movie) and Greta Gerwig (who also starred in it). It was shot in beautiful, silvery black & white tones using Canon 5D Mark II cameras.

Here's a video essay on the visual language of Frances Ha by the good folks of Framed.

A look at the visual language of a film filled with dialogue. Framed on Twitter: https://twitter.com/framedessay1 Framed on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJQsuHywTQp4iFnQz8nlvIw Written and Edited by Jop Leuven Title design by Sem Leuven

If you haven't seen the movie yet, please please please put it on your Netflix queue. 

From Screenplay to Screen, the Wes Anderson Style

If you're a Wes Anderson die-hard fan like me, this one's for you!

In Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson's style is the perfect match for the story. He uses details to create a believable world, establishes the rules of this fantastical story, and creates a tone that forms a connection between the audience and the characters of Suzy and Sam.

Behind-The-Scene of La La Land

One of my most favorite films of 2016, all the talk you hear about La La Land is all true.  Everything about this movie is just ... magical! 

Making of/B-Roll of La La Land with director 'Damien Chazelle' interview Subscribe and click the notification bell HERE: http://goo.gl/SrrTlT Subscrive to Filmisnow Movie Trailers: http://goo.gl/8WxGeD Plot: Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.

Behind The Scene of "Hong Kong Strong" with Brandon Li's Director's Commentary

That's a mouthful of a title. But if you follow my blog, you know I'm a huge huge fan of Brandon Li, the talented nomadic filmmaker. His latest short film is Hong Kong Strong. It is a gorgeous roller coast ride through the iconic city. 

To start off, you can watch Hong Kong Strong here.

Brandon Li's new video, Hong Kong Strong, brings a fresh but familiar perspective on a dramatic, unique city full of character and sheer energy. The nomadic director takes us on an epic, cinematic ride through the many layers of Hong Kong.

And here's Brandon's Director's Commentary:

Behind-the-scenes about my short film Hong Kong Strong. How it was made, why it was made, what gear was used. Hong Kong Strong: https://vimeo.com/166929892/91ab1ecb6b Music by Steven Richard Davis srdmusic - at - me.com

And there's also a commentary by Steven Richard Davis, the composer of Hong Kong Strong:

Steven Richard Davis, composer for my short film Hong Kong Strong, gives insight into his working process at Remote Control Productions. How to hit the right points in the picture, how to create tension with chord changes, how to ramp tempo, and how to use a Moog synth to create unique sounds.

If you're totally inspired now to go out there and make your own beautiful travel films, here's a bit of advice for filmmakers from Brandon.

Gus Van Sant's 6 Golden Rules of Filmmaking

Gus Van Sant shared his six rules of moviemaking with Moviemaker Magazine recently. 

Rule No. 6 on Photography is my favorite:

Don’t get cuckoo with the lights; you don’t really need them anymore. Film stocks today can handle wildly different color temperatures and low light levels. Keep the pace lively. Don’t waste too much time making the shot look perfect, moving objects on surfaces, playing with the blocking—just shoot it. Don’t over-think. Get a really good director of photography, but don’t fight with him. He has the same control over you that you have over the actors, so he can make you cry.

The remaining five rules are:

1. Be strong. Confident. Get enough sleep. And relax. 

2. Stand up for your ideas. Be direct, as in being a director. Take it easy, but don’t let them tell you how to make your movie.

3. Take control of the budget. Go through the budget line by line, and decide if the items in there are things that you really need—or need more of. 

4. Make the directions clear and simple for your actors. 

5. Take liberties with the script. It's not written in stone.

For more details, check out this Moviemaker Magazine's article.

MAKE, a Documentary

Musicbed made their first feature film MAKE to explore "the motivation behind a creative life and what drives us to create."

This documentary is a question. A conversation starter. It’s an examination of the reasons we create and the things that drive us to make something new — passion or success. See MAKE, a feature-length documentary featuring Reed Morano, ASC, Aaron Draplin, Eliot Rausch and more, now on Vimeo On Demand! http://mscbd.fm/29GT1tm Listen to the soundtrack here: mscbd.fm/29W3JKv Read Why We Made a Feature-Length Documentary: mscbd.fm/whywmdk Meet the cast here: make.musicbed.com/cast

For more on this documentary, read this Musicbed blog post.

Werner Herzog's Advice for New Filmmakers

I'm reading Werner Herzog's book Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed, a 592-page book full of fabulous passages on life and the art of filmmaking. 

Werner Herzog - image via Google.

Here's my favorite quote-of-the-day from Mr. Herzog, a self-taught filmmaker who saw his first movie at the age of 11:

“The best advice I can offer to those heading into the world of film is not to wait for the system to finance your projects and for others to decide your fate. If you can’t afford to make a million-dollar film, raise $10,000 and produce it yourself. That’s all you need to make a feature film these days. ”

— Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed

Cameron Douglas's "Lisbon Love" - Sofar London

I discovered Cameron Douglas, a talented musician based in London, totally by chance today on sofarsounds.com.

Cameron Douglas, performing at a Sofar London event. Image via Google.

After my sister told me about sofarsounds.com, a website that brings together musicians and music lovers everywhere in the world, I started browsing their list of international musicians. And soon enough, I stumbled upon a couple of YouTube videos featuring Cameron Douglas.

Cameron Douglas performing "Lisbon Love" at Sofar London on June 23, 2015.

On their site, Sofar describes their mission as: 

“Bringing the magic back to live music. Amazing artists in intimate spaces, performing stripped-back sets to carefully curated audiences. Please, arrive on time, stay to the end. Sit down, settle in and just listen. You’re gonna love it.”

— Sofarsounds.com

And you will! When you sign-up to attend a Sofar event, you won't know who will be performing until close to the day of. The live music event can be hosted anywhere, and usually in an intimate setting such as someone's home or rooftop.

A Sofar performance on a rooftop - image via sofarsounds.com.

It's an event made possible by music lovers for music lovers! My sister is attending one tomorrow and promised to tell me all about it!

When I'm next in London, I hope Cameron will be there performing again. 

The Emotions Behind Colors

Wonderful compilation of movies that use colors for visual storytelling.

-MUSIC- Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons "Summer" III.Presto -LIST OF FILMS- Maleficent (2014), Robert Stromberg My Girl (1991), Howard Zieff Boyhood (2014), Richard Linklater Marie Antoinette (2006), Sofia Coppola Grease (1978), Randal Kleiser The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Wes Anderson Chicago (2002), Rob Marshall Mean Girls (2004), Mark Waters Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015), Christopher Landon The Wolf of Wall Street (2011), Martin Scorsese Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), David Yates Jennifer’s body (2009), Karyn Kusama Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), David Yates Moulin Rouge! (2001), Baz Luhrmann Belly (1998), Hype Williams Spring breakers (2012), Harmony Korine Legally Blonde (2001), Robert Luketic Whiplash (2014), Damien Chazelle Big Eyes (2014), Tim Burton Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), George Miller Only God forgives (2013), Nicolas Winding Refn Hard Candy (2005), David Slade The shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick The Aviator (2004), Martin Scorsese 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stanley Kubrick Alice in Wonderland (2010), Tim Burton Fifty shades of Grey (2014), Sam Taylor-Johnson Inglourious Basterds (2009), Quentin Tarantino/Eli Roth American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes Upstream color (2013), Shane Carruth Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), Matt Reeves The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Wes Anderson The Darjeeling Limited (2007), Wes Anderson Born to be wild (2011), David Lickley Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), Wes Anderson Skyfall (2012), Sam Mendes Apocalypse Now (1979), Francis Ford Coppola The Martian (2015), Ridley Scott Pan (2015), Joe Wright The Virgin Suicides (1999), Sofia Coppola Ruby Sparks (2012), Jonathan Dayton/Valerie Faris Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), Alejandro G. Iñárritu Big Fish (2003), Tim Burton Her (2013), Spike Jonze Top Five (2014), Chris Rock Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), Shekhar Kapur Moonrise Kingdom (2012), Wes Anderson Into the wild (2007), Sean Penn Life of Pi (2012), Ang Lee The tree of life (2011), Terrence Malick Lost River (2014), Ryan Gosling Melancholia (2011), Lars von Trier Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Mike Newell Fight Club (1999), David Fincher The Truman show (1998), Peter Weir The Revenant (2015), Alejandro G. Iñárritu Hugo (2011), Martin Scorsese Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001), Chris Columbus The Matrix Revolutions (2013), Andy Wachowski/Lana Wachowski Avatar (2009), James Cameron X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Bryan Singer