Zen of Film

Traditionally, film runs through a projector in a very specific manner that produces a slight flicker - for me, this is an important difference to video or TV.
In the olden days, film frames were shown at a rate of 16 frames per second (fps), you can still see this in old black/white films, although many […]

This article is an unfinished sketch!
What are these? A kind of human talisman, mojo or lucky charms? Or is it pure talent? Whatever you call it, fact is that every movie where these guys had their hands in are gems and stand out immediately or over the long haul. So yes, I think there […]

Did you know that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences accepts DCP (Digital Cinema Package) files for their OSCAR submissions, in addition to traditional 35mm and 16mm film prints?
So especially for smaller and independently produced films the question arises what’s more viable: doing another film copy for the Academy or paying for a […]

Meet Thomas Tull. Wired recently had an interview with geek-pictures producer Thomas Tull, head of Legendary Pictures. The outfit is now home of a 45 picture deal with Warners. They can pride themselves for hits like the newer Batman series namely Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, 300, Watchmen and a few more, and with […]

Ironically enough, being modern in the realm of film these days means doing films who center themselves around the ideas of postmodernism, postmodernist films. Although most of these works haven’t done so well on the box-office, films in the post-modern tradition receive great academic acclaim and film nerd appraisal.
Just for you to be on […]

This article is an unfinished sketch!
Watching reruns of classic films can be an enlighting endeavour. Today, I had the chance to see the British film SOS Pacific from 1959 (imdb). Besides having an entertaining time in front of the telly with this black-and-white gem, I couldn’t help but discover some obvious and not-so obvious similarities […]

A very interesting film genre is that of gangster films. Born in the 1920, 1930, time of the Great Depression, alcohol prohibition (and alcohol smuggling) and in between two World Wars, the narratives of the time explored the realms of twilight, analyzed gangster and mobsters (as evil twins of the capitalist) and gave rise to […]

Finally I had the chance to watch Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) (imdb, wikipedia, clipland) and besides the fact that it is an entertaining upbeat perfect-fit-for-christmas film, I couldn’t help myself but noticing a number of structural influences the film obviously had on following film works.
First, there is 1989’s Christmas Vaccation (imdb), one […]

Achieving the “film-look” is still the main criteria why many filmmakers and cinematographers prefer film-based equipment, 35mm or 16mm, cameras over the sometimes cheaper digital alternatives like camcorders or digital cinematography 24p HD equipment.
The need to cut down costs on independent and low- to no-budget productions urged many filmmakers to think about alternatives, while pleasing […]

After I had the opportunity to watch The Wizard of Oz (imdb, Wikipedia) yesterday, I noticed various hints that this 1939 masterpiece inpired various works of popular culture. Here’s my list of observations:

The Tin Man’s sway - Michael Jackson’s gravity defying sway moves at the end of the “Smooth Criminal” music video.
The Scarecrow, the Cowardly […]