Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Yasujiro Ozu: Quiet Cinematography


Here's a short case study featuring cinematographer Yasujiro Ozu that focuses on his use of depth, composition and pillow shots.




Monday, May 23, 2016

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Angela Duckworth, PhD, is a 2013 MacArthur Fellow and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. In her new book, GRIT, she explores the science of why some people succeed and others fail, and why talent alone doesn’t guarantee success. She shows that perseverance and passion matter at least as much as talent and intelligence.



// What Is Your GRIT Score?






NPR: Human Brain

// The Power And Problem Of Grit











Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Art of the Heist: The Lady In Gold


Fantastic documentary and unbelievable story about Maria Bloch-Bauer Altmann's battle with the Austrian government to regain possession of her family's famous painting  Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I by master painter Gustav Klimt. The painting was originally stolen from the family by the Nazis at the outset of World War II.

Art of the Heist: The Lady In Gold

















Thursday, May 12, 2016

The 80 Best-Directed Films According to the Directors Guild of America


To commemorate the DGA's 80th anniversary this year, members decided to put together a list of the '80 greatest directorial achievements in feature films since the Guild’s founding in 1936.' How many have you seen? Thanks to @vrenee_nfs over on No Film School for the heads up!






The 80 Best-Directed Films
  1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
  2. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
  3. Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962)
  4. 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
  5. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
  6. The Godfather: Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
  7. Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
  8. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
  9. Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)
  10. Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
  11. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
  12. The Wizard of Oz (Victor Fleming, 1939)
  13. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
  14. Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)
  15. It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946)
  16. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
  17. The Shawshank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994)
  18. The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
  19. Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977)
  20. Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
  21. On the Waterfront (Elia Kazan, 1954)
  22. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
  23. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Steven Spielberg, 1982)
  24. Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
  25. Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998)
  26. Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
  27. A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
  28. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981)
  29. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)
  30. Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950)
  31. To Kill A Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962)
  32. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)
  33. The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)
  34. Forrest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
  35. Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952)
  36. 8 ½ (Federico Fellini, 1963)
  37. The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
  38. The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
  39. Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
  40. The Bridge on the River Kwai (David Lean, 1957)
  41. North by Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959)
  42. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Miloš Forman, 1975)
  43. The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, 1965)
  44. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
  45. Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
  46. The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)
  47. Amadeus (Miloš Forman, 1984)
  48. Doctor Zhivago (David Lean, 1965)
  49. West Side Story (Jerome Robbins, Robert Wise, 1961) 
  50. Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
  51. Ben-Hur (William Wyler, 1959)
  52. Fargo (Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, 1996)
  53. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991)
  54. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
  55. Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
  56. The Hurt Locker (Kathryn Bigelow, 2008)
  57. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948)
  58. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2014)
  59. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)
  60. The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, 1978)
  61. There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
  62. The Sting (George Roy Hill, 1973)
  63. The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
  64. Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)
  65. Rocky (John G. Avildsen, 1976)
  66. The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1970)
  67. Gandhi (Richard Attenborough, 1982)
  68. The Bicycle Thief (Vittorio De Sica, 1948)
  69. Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
  70. Brazil (Terry Gilliam, 1985)
  71. The Grapes of Wrath (John Ford, 1940)
  72. All the President’s Men (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
  73. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)
  74. Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
  75. Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
  76. Unforgiven (Clint Eastwood, 1992)
  77. The Usual Suspects (Bryan Singer, 1995)
  78. Network (Sidney Lumet, 1976)
  79. Rashomon (Akira Kurosawa, 1950)
  80. Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968)

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Spielberg’s Subtext: Jurassic Park vs Jurassic World


Interesting breakdown of subtext in Jurassic Park by artist Mark Hill


Ice Age 5: Scrat Animation for French Commercial


I had a fun opportunity to animate Scrat in a few shots for this French vacuum cleaner commercial a few months ago. Sadly Scrat still doesn't get the nut.