Print Version

Independent Support
Means of support:
o Advance funding from video presales:
Rise of videotapes and direct-to-video productions.
o Financing from U.S. cable / European broadcasting
companies.
Independent Film Channel, Sundance Channel, HBO,
Showtime
o Sundance Film Festival
Began as the Utah/US Film Festival in 1978
With Robert Redford changed to Sundance Film
Festival in 1991.
Most important independent film festival in the US.
o Sundance Institute
Began in 1981 by Redford
Institute to assist making films:
Half Nelson (2006), Me and You and Everyone You
Know (2005)
Miramax
Formed in 1979 by Bob and Harvey Weinstein
Produced and distributed independent and foreign films
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Steven Soderbergh's sex lies and videotape (1989)
Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994)
Clerks (1994)
Swingers (1996)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
The English Patient (1996): Best Picture Oscar
Shakespeare in Love (1998): Best Picture Oscar
Dimension Films
o Scream (1996, 1997, 2000)
o Scary Movie (2000, 2001, 2003, 2006) series
Owned by Walt Disney Company since 1993 > Weinsteins left in
2005
Weinstein Company (founded in 2005)
o Sicko, Grindhouse, Halloween, 1408 > all 2007; Sin City 2
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Jim Jarmusch
Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
• Cost about $100,000
• Little editing
• Black and white
• Small crew
Down by Law (Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
• With Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto
Benigni
• $1M budget
• Non-studio production or distribution
Night on Earth (1991)
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999 with
Forest Wittaker)
Broken Flowers (2005 with Bill Murray)
Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch, 1991)
Five interrelated short films:
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Los Angeles
New York
Paris
Rome
Helsinki
Jarmusch selected locations according
to actors he was interested in working
with.
Music by Tom Waits.
9 international production companies
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Week 12 Questions
• What is your reaction to Night on Earth?
• Why might this film be considered independent?
• What positive and/or negative impact might the structure,
locations, and languages of the film have on audiences?
• What impact might these have on the film’s financial support?
• How would you interpret this film? What is this film about?
What are the themes it is exploring?
• Do you think the “vignettes” structure of this film is effective?
Why or why not? Eplain.
Steven Soderbergh
sex, lies, and videotapes (1989)
– Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival
– Top Prize at Cannes Film Festival
– Commercial and critical success
– With James Spader and Andie MacDowell
Other films:
– Out of Sight (1998)
– The Limey (1999)
– Erin Brockovich (2000)
– Traffic (2000),
– Ocean's Eleven (2001)
– Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
– Bubble (2005)
– Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
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Spike Lee
NYU graduate
She’s Gotta Have It (1986)
• $175,000 budget
• Made in 2 weeks
• Woman with 3 boyfriends
Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Race relations
• Controversial
• Lack of clear meaning
Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1984): USA
Neo-noir
Starring:
– Frances McDormand
– M. Emmet Walsh
Sundance Film Festival 1985: Grand Jury
Prize
$1.5 Million budget
$2.15 Million domestic box office
Started in film with Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead,
1981)
1st film by the Coens: Blood Simple
Other films include: Raising Arizona (1987),
Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big
Lebowski (1998), No Country for Old Men
(2007)
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Week 11 Questions
• What is your reaction to this Blood Simple?
• Why would this film be considered an independent film in the
1980s?
• Although the film was very well received by critics at the time it
was released, one of the criticism was that the style of the film
was emphasized over its content. Do you agree with this
criticism? Explain using examples from the film.
• What does the style provide to the experience of the film?
Particularly the ending of the film?
• Go to http://www.imdb.com and search the film, then click on the
director’s name -- you have probably seen some of the Coen
brother’s films. How is this film similar to the other Coen films
you’ve seen?
1980s Film Genres
• Remakes and sequels dominate box office
• Popular Genres:
– War film / Vietnam
– Neo Noir
– Horror / Slasher films
– Science Fiction
– Teen Pics
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Teen Flix
Begins with Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy
Heckerling, 1982)
John Hughes: leader of Teen Films in the 1980s.
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Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Weird Science (1985)
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Pretty in Pink (1986) writer and producer
Some Kind of Wonderful (1987) writer and
producer
Music is a central component to the films /
defines them
Brat pack: Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Rob
Lowe, Demi Moore, Andrew McCarthy, Judd
Nelson
Psycho-Slasher
Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978)
Produced for $400,000 > made
over $50 million
In 1981: 61% of films produced
were slasher films.
Sequels:
o 9 Halloweens
o 11 Friday the 13th
o 8 Nightmare on Elm Street
Slasher films:
o had a strong influence on
mainstream horror films
o were massively produced
o has a significant impact on
box-office
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Neo Noir Films / Erotic Thrillers
Resurgence of Film Noir in the 1980s / powerful
woman / femme fatale
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Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan, 1981) with
Kathlene Turner and William Hurt
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)
Against All Odds (1984 -- Out of the Past)
Blood Simple (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1984)
9 1/2 Weeks (Adrian Lyne, 1986)
Fatal Attraction (Adrian Lyne, 1987)
Continued into the 1990s and 2000s:
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Basic Instinct (Paul Verhoeven, 1992)
Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarentino, 1993)
Sin City (Robert Rodriguez, 2005)
Vietnam Themed Films
Last American soldiers out of Vietnam in 1973
End of the war in 1975 / fall of Saigon
Vietnam films in the late 1970s: The Deerhunter, Apocalypse
Now, Coming Home, ...
Hollywood finally allowed Americans to come to terms with
the Vietnam War and its aftermath in a combination of
films employing a successful formula: a stoic, gung-ho
action hero.
Myth of hero:
o Sylvester Stallone in First Blood (1982) and Rambo (1985)
o Chuck Norris in Missing in Action (1984)
More critical perspectives:
o Platoon (Oliver Stone, 1986)
o Full Metal Jacket (Stanley Kubrick, 1987)
o Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone, 1989)
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Science Fiction / Fantasy Films / Special Effects
Increase of popularity in the 1980s:
o Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
o Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
o Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis,
1985)
o The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989)
o The Terminator (James Cameron,
1984)
Increase in Computer Generated Imagery:
Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic
(started in 1975 for Star Wars)
Digital Technologies
Last 10-15 years: a shift towards more digital technologies to make films.
Why?
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Film costs more than digital tapes
Film needs to be processed and printed
Digital files are less bulky than film
Digital files are more flexible and immediate
Main problem: film is mostly of higher quality than digital capabilities.
High Definition 24 fps digital camera: 2 million pixels per frame
35 mm. frame: equivalent of over 12 million pixels
Technical goal: achieve the quality of film with the flexibility of digital
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CGI: Computer Generated Imagery
CGI allows the greatest control over an image.
CGI is used to:
o Enhance and modify color
o Special effects
o Simulate climate and weather
o Creating three dimensional characters that can interact with actors
o Compositing: combining multiple digital images into one frame
o Removing unwanted elements from a shot
o Lighting effects
o Creating crowd scenes
Control over the image and potential cost effectiveness of distribution and
exhibition:
o Digital projectors (Star Wars: Episode 1 > first film exhibited digitally)
o Film downloads
Early CGI Development
3 dimensional CGI first appeared in
Futureworld (1976)
Hand and face simulation
Dr. Edwin Catmull worked in the film
and wrote the program to create
the effect while still in school.
George Lucas was aware of him >
producing Star Wars (1977)
Lucas had just formed Industrial
Light and Magic in Van Nuys in
1975.
Formed to produce Star Wars
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ILM: Industrial Light and Magic
Formed in 1975 for Star Wars
1979: hired Catmull for Empires Strikes Back
1980: ILM developed the Pixar, a high resolution
computer designed for graphics.
1986: computer graphics department of ILM was sold
to Steve Jobs at Apple Computers.
o First CG animated film: Toy Story (1995)
Jobs renamed the department Pixar, and produced
films with Disney Pictures.
Today, Pixar is owned by The Walt Disney Company
(05/2006 for $7.4 billion)
14 Best Visual Effects Oscars.
ILM Development
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
– First extensive photo-realistic computeranimation sequence to appear on screen
– “Genesis Effect” > created with Catmull
– Explosion captured at 2,500 frames per
second
Tron (Steven Lisberger, 1982)
– First film from a major studio to use computer
graphics extensively.
– Thirty minutes of computer-generated
animation.
– Not nominated for Academy Awards because
computers were used.
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ILM Development
• The Abyss (James Cameron, 1989)
First computer generated 3D
character and introduced the
Digital Set. (AA 1989)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
First computer-generated main
character, the T-1000.
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Jurrasic Park (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
First time digital technology used to create a
complete and detailed living creature.
Animatronic dinosaurs and CGI. (AA 1994)
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Forest Gump (Robert Zemeckis, 1994)
Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995)
First full-length computer generated
animated film.
Academy Award: Special
Achievement Award
Pixar and Walt Disney studios: 1991
deal to make 3 features.
$30 million budget
Over $360 million box office world wide
Toy Story 2 (1999): $60 million budget,
over $480 million box office world
wide
Toy Story 3 (2010)
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Digital Domain
CGI company founded by James Cameron after the
success of Terminators 2
Produced over 40 films
Titanic (James Cameron, 1997)
o Combination of live action and CGI to
simulate a disaster on an epic scale.
o Creating extras / duplicating stunt people.
o 450 special effect shots
o Cost over $200 million
o With Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet
o World box-office: over $2 billion
o Mass ancillary market: $30 million TV deal,
$400 million from the soundtrack sales, $700
million in video sales.
Weta Digital
Based in New Zealand
Founded in 1993 by Peter Jackson and
others.
Formed to produce Heavenly Creatures
(1993)
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
o MASSIVE program
o Allows the animation of a large
amount of agents.
o Independent character acting
independently according to pre-set
rules.
o Key frame animation and subsurface
scattering rendering technique for
Gollum and King Kong (2005)
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Partical Animation
Twister (Jan de Bont, 1996)
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven, 1997)
Considered landmarks in the history of CGI
because they were the first films to feature
effects that would have been impossible to
create without CGI.
Particle Animation:
o Software that simulates natural growth
such as randomness, accidents, changes
in movements.
o Allowing the CGI to think for itself.
o Often used for rain, leaves, fire, smoke, a
flock of birds, etc.
Other Developments
• The Matrix (Washowski Brothers, 1999)
Animal Logic (AA 1999)
Flow Mo or Bullet Time photography:
o Wire frames
o Image digitization
o Image capture
o Still cameras
• Gladiator (Ridley Scott, 2000)
Without CGI, the budget of a film like Gladiator would
be as much as three times higher. (AA 2000)
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Digital matte painting
Digitized photography
Actual buildings
CG models
300 (Zack Snyder, 2006)
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Contemporary presence
Today the cost of CGI had dropped so low
that even exploitation producers could
afford CGI and even independent
filmmakers.
Color correction and eliminating elements
from a shot.
The impact of digital technology on feature
films has been equally profound in terms
of editing, sound design, as well as acting.
Ex: Richard Linklater:
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Waking Life (2001)
Shot with digital cameras.
Digitally rotoscoped and animated on G4
Macs.
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Ancillary Markets
VCR > 1976 with Sony’s Betamax > led to VHS : large market
DVD > 1996/1997 > 6 regions
Blue Ray (25 GB single layer / max 200 GB)
HD-DVD (15 GB single layer / max 60 GB)
Different regional DVD formats
•The techno-aesthetic: digital effect
on viewers
•Remote viewing: moving through a
film
•Special editions: extras / various
cuts / authenticity?
•Alternative canons: rise of cult
films: ex: Office Space (1999)
•Film collecting
•Repetition: part of one’s life
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