Tag: Spike Jonze

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Truly Free Film

Who Did What For Me When: Introductions

None of us would ever get anywhere if our friends didn’t look out for us.  Our lives are not of our own making.

Milton Berle said “If opportunity does not knock, build a door.”  But the reality is you need some tools to be able to build; your bare hands won’t suffice.  Certain tasks too really are to big to tackle on your own. Someone sometimes has to hand you that hammer.  Fortunately, I have had some generous people in my life, who have helped me to connect the dots.

This is a time for giving thanks. Perspective comes with offering gratitude.  We need to be reminded of our good fortune.  We did not make it on our own.  Our lives are complicated habitrails, where others build our ramps, rooms, and wonderballs.

I have hesititated in my life fearing that if I displayed thanks, I would inevitably make a mistake and leave people out.  Like me, this is a work-in-progress.  I will make a mistake.  I will leave people out. But we have gratefully left that analogue world of completion and perfection, and here in the land of digital, everything is constantly evolving.  We are free to fuck up. So….

Thanks (in alphabetical order by the introducer’s first name):

Ann Goulder put me in touch with

Continue reading “Who Did What For Me When: Introductions”

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Truly Free Film

How Skateboarding, Cooking, and Boxing Taught Me To Make Films

Guest post by John Zhao

Riding skateboards, boxing with the locals and cooking up a storm were the fun and affordable things I grew up enjoying. Film school I avoided because it wasn’t as affordable and I was paranoid it would take out the fun. After I eventually experienced making a first feature, I couldn’t help realizing a list of pastimes that seemed to inform me of how to go about being a first-time filmmaker. I’m sharing this list from my journal and hope to hear what other filmmakers do in between the cuts.

 

1. SKATEBOARDING (AND FILMMAKING)

Former Skaters Spike and Harmony

That public location essential to your performance will try to kick you out. Have a getaway plan or a good lie.

There’s a lot of fun to be had even if your wallet’s near empty. The world is your playground.

Skate videos are absent of narrative and plot. They’re a cornucopia of rhythms, textures, music, and poetry that can keep me intrigued for hours. How can a feature film do the same?

A general disrespect for money and authority is healthy.

Enjoy feeling pain over and over again. It can take a dozen drafts to find your film’s soul and a twenty takes to nail your best move. See failure as slapstick, not sad.

Skateboarders bail and crash the second they become self-conscious of where to land, or intellectualize their movements mid-air. Take a leap of faith when you’re “almost ready” and WILL IT into existence. Staying delusional like this while making films seems to work out.

Every skateboarder dances their own style. Finding your own style and voice, and being completely yourself can be a challenge. But you can make someone lonely in their world feel less lonely for being who they are. You can teach something new and push things forward.

It’s an athletic art form. Develop a great sense of space, timing and balance. Being physically fit is essential for the ride.

Continue reading “How Skateboarding, Cooking, and Boxing Taught Me To Make Films”

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Bowl Of Noses

Losing Your Teeth

It happens, even in really cute tribute shorts to spike jonze and/or where the wild things are, like this one.

Buildings & Vampires from Nico Casavecchia on Vimeo.

Thanks again to Flavorwire for the tip!

Categories
Truly Free Film

Video: Spike Jonze, Lisa Cholodenko, and me on Financing and The Rule Of The Samurai

Spike, Lisa, and I got to have a great conversation at The Cleveland Public Library early this year, and a great crowd came. An official video was shot of the proceedings and hopefully will be available shortly, but this one came from the crowd, and is a nice little nugget to wet your appetite.

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Bowl Of Noses

Everything Belongs Together

Let Lil Buck show you how to dance to Yo Yo Ma. Who says classical music’s not cool? The fool.

Categories
Bowl Of Noses

Inside all of us….

some wild thing.  

We are hesitant to post trailers in our bowl, but we have been waiting too long for this film and it seems like they may have done everything right!  We are going to get our time machine working this weekend and hop on over to Oct. 17th.  Unfortunately, when we return our memory is always wiped clean so we won’t be able to tell you how great it is quite yet.  Luckily we can enjoy this right here and now.