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Super Bowl Spots

February 3, 2012 | By Scott Lehane
Super Bowl Spots

For the commercial production industry, Super Bowl Sunday is the main event of the year. With an estimated audience of 111 million people, and a 30-second spot going for $3.5 million, Super Bowl advertising demands the highest production values, and top-notch talent. »

Iran’s Best Foreign Film Nominee: Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation

January 31, 2012 | By Jack Egan
Iran’s Best Foreign Film Nominee: Asghar Farhadi’s <em>A Separation</em>

One of the surprises of this awards season is A Separation, a highly lauded film from Iran that has captivated reviewers and moviegoers and garnered two Oscar nominations. The beautifully photographed movie tells a multi-layered story of a modern-day couple in Tehran who are on the verge of a divorce. The wife wants to... »

Contender – Visual Effects Supervisor Matthew Butler, Transformers: Dark of the Moon

January 31, 2012 | By Mark London Williams
Contender – Visual Effects Supervisor Matthew Butler, <em>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</em>

Digital Domain’s Matthew Butler finds himself with his first Academy Award nomination, one of the co-VFX supervisors on Transformers: Dark of the Moon, along with Scott Farrar, who suped for ILM’s share of the work, and special effects supervisor John Frazier. Animation director Scott Benza rounds out the quartet. »

Contender – Visual Effects Supervisor Erik Nash, Real Steel

January 27, 2012 | By Mark London Williams
Contender – Visual Effects Supervisor Erik Nash, <em>Real Steel</em>

In Oscar’s “final five” in the visual effects category, Erik Nash finds himself nominated as the VFX supervisor for the robotic fisticuffs opus, Real Steel, along with very busy animatronic supevisor John Rosengrant, animation supervisor Dan Taylor, and digital effects supervisor Swen Gillbert. »

Academy Award Nominations

January 24, 2012 | By Mark London Williams
Academy Award Nominations

And so here we are, on State of the Union day, as – on America’s other coast – Oscar nominations are announced and a different media frenzy begins. Which might be more fatuous or less serious, we leave to you. But both processes are similar, as early caucuses and primaries – in this case, other... »

Contender – Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life

January 24, 2012 | By Jack Egan
Contender – Director of Photography Emmanuel Lubezki, <em>The Tree of Life</em>

“On most films I’ve worked on, the most important thing is to 'make the day,'" (keep to the shooting schedule) says Emmanuel Lubezki, director of photography on The Tree of Life, helmed by imagistic director Terence Malick. “Working with Terry, sometimes I can shoot a whole day and not know if there’s anything that’s... »

Danish Director Nicolas Windng Refn Pushes Drive into High Gear

January 23, 2012 | By Jack Egan
Danish Director Nicolas Windng Refn Pushes <em>Drive</em> into High Gear

Nicolas Windng Refn, director of Drive, doesn’t himself drive. He has failed his driver’s license test eight times. Yet the heralded Danish director came to Los Angeles, the city of cars, to make a film filled with some of the most authentic and exciting car chase sequences seen on the screen in years. »

Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

January 13, 2012 | By Mary Ann Skweres
Stephen Daldry’s <em>Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close</em>

Once he read the book and script for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, it was "very simple" for Academy-Award nominated director Stephen Daldry to immediately say yes to directing the film for producer Scott Rudin, who he had worked with on The Hours. The first decision scriptwise was to see the story primarily through... »

Contender – Production Designer Stuart Craig, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II

January 13, 2012 | By Leslie Lindeman
Contender – Production Designer Stuart Craig, <em>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II</em>

It’s been more than a decade since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone debuted and now production designer Stuart Craig closes the eight-volume book on the series, an “octalogy,” in fact, having designed every movie in the series including 2011’s finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II. »

Contender – Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski, War Horse

January 13, 2012 | By Jack Egan
Contender – Director of Photography Janusz Kaminski, <em>War Horse</em>

In its visual sweep and narrative scope, War Horse, directed by Steven Spielberg, harkens back to the kinds of movies Hollywood used to make. Much of the film’s impact derives from the eye-filling images created by director of photography Janusz Kaminski. And at a time when technology is remaking cinematography, the DP relied almost... »

Director Series

Iran’s Best Foreign Film Nominee: Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation

January 2012 | By Jack Egan

Iran’s Best Foreign Film Nominee: Asghar Farhadi’s <em>A Separation</em>

One of the surprises of this awards season is A Separation, a highly lauded film from Iran that has captivated reviewers and moviegoers and... »



Danish Director Nicolas Windng Refn Pushes Drive into High Gear

January 2012 | By Jack Egan

Danish Director Nicolas Windng Refn Pushes <em>Drive</em> into High Gear

Nicolas Windng Refn, director of Drive, doesn’t himself drive. He has failed his driver’s license test eight times. Yet the heralded Danish director came... »


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