Natural acting - without rehersal?

        

Just read an interview with two young actors - Theo Taplitz and Michael Barbieri.
Which were casted in film - Little Man directed by Ira Sachs. This film is screened at this year Sundance Festival.
In the interview they were also discussing directors technique of leading actors and this part is really interesting so I thought it would be nice to discuss.
Quote:
"Ira believes filming should be natural. If we rehearsed it over and over again he would say, "Oh, well no, it’s just you saying some lines." He wants it to be, you’re not acting, you’re just being yourself and this camera is coming around you. --M.B.

The Process of Translating a Poetic Novel On Screen in Ross Partridge's 'Lamb'

       

 

"Books are very seductive to me," says actor/director Ross Partridge, "but the voice of the book has to be different than the voice of the movie."  

In his directorial debut, that's exactly what Ross set out to do with the boundary-pushing Bonnie Nadzam novel about the controversial relationship of a 48-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl. Ross sat down with No Film School at SXSW 2015 to share his process of staying true to the text of a subtly poetic novel, while still finding an original voice for the film, as well as how he balanced the roles of actor and director in the making of Lamb, which comes out today on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and in select theaters.

Meet YoCam, the 'Smallest Waterproof Camera' That Shoots 2.7K at 30P

 

GoPro has dominated the action cam market pretty much ever since it launched, but the folks at Mofily have introduced YoCam, a tiny waterproof camera

 

 

 

 

that gives the GoPro Session a run for its money.

The YoCam, which has raised nearly $400K on Kickstarter, surpassing their initial $80K goal by over 478%, has a bunch of useful features: it's small, light, shoots 2.7K at 30p, has remote connectivity, and contains MoSteady image stabilization. Check out their Kickstarter video below to learn more about it, as well as see some sample footage:

 

How to Make Compelling Lighting Decisions that Support Your Story

pix by Factoryfilmworks

It's something that aspiring cinematographers hear all the time: "Make sure your lighting supports the story you're trying to tell." But how the hell do you actually accomplish that?

Over the past few months, Simon Cade of DSLRguide has become one of my favorite YouTubers for cinematography tutorials. Sure, he may be young – as people are always quick to point out in the comments – but his understanding of advanced cinematography concepts and techniques goes well beyond his years, and his ability to explain and demonstrate them is excellent. Don't believe me? Just check out his previous videos on storytelling through composition and this beautifully-executed Scrabble metaphor for filmmaking.
Simon's newest tutorial attempts to answer the question at the top of this article. How the hell can we use light to tell better stories? It's an incredibly difficult question – the answer to it is situational and always shifting – but Simon has some great actionable tips for how to think more critically about your lighting:

How to Make Your Film Look Cinematic in a less ideal light set up

   

One of the most common questions young filmmakers ask is, "How do I make my film look cinematic?" Usually the answer is "good lighting", but what if you don't have access to any?

in this video, 100% natural light is used to produce images that have that desired "cinematic" aesthetic. In other words, in this  aspects of filmmaking you can focus on to capture beautiful, professional-looking images if your lighting setup is less than ideal. Check it out below:

 

 

 

2016 Academy Award Nominations list.

 

      

 

It's been another interesting year for nominations, with some of the same folks returning from the Golden Globes, along with a bunch of surprises (as usual). Scroll down for the complete list of nominations, and be sure to check out the show live on Sunday February 28th, at 7PM EST/4PM PST (on ABC).
Here's the complete video of the nominations being announced:

That moment when your sitting on 3 great short film ideas...

        

Okay so I just finished up a short film called Doppelgänger and it's been very well received among my peers and it won the Chattanooga Film Festival for best short. It's been a real confidence booster for me as a filmmaker. I was so sure I wouldn't win any award for it, I slept through the awards ceremony at home and ending up missing my acceptance. Fail.
Now I'm on the fence about my next project. I have 3 ideas, all of which I want to do equally as much as the next but they are all very different genres. I have a comedy idea that everyone wants to get in on and shoot, were talking mass cooperation from all my friends. I have a sci-fi drama that I keep getting asked about as well. I am most excited because it would be a movie I'd pay 12 bucks to see in a theater if it were actually made. I am just thinking it may be too ambitious for me now. I've got a horror movie screenplay written out that is in my mind, and to my knowledge totally original (which doesn't happen much anymore.) I don't know how to make this decision so basically I've made zero progress on any ideas.
I'm floating on all these ideas and can't figure out how I should push forward with just one of them.
Oh! and here is a trailer for Doppelgänger if anyone was curious.
https://vimeo.com/127358969