CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN INDEPENDENT FILM 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Christine Holmlund | 9781134576210 | | | | | Contemporary American Independent Film 1st edition PDF Book The personal computer and non-linear editing system have taken away the use of editing stands such as the KEM, dramatically reducing the costs of post-production, while technologies such as DVD , Blu-ray Disc and online video services have simplified distribution; video streaming services have made it possible to distribute a digital version of a film to an entire country or even the world, without involving shipping or warehousing of physical DVDs or film reels. However, having a film audience-classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there's no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis. Provocative, opinionated and a little crazy. At once imaginative myth-making and insightful, demystifying critical essay. The founding work of so-called Screen theory — which is where I came in, although it has now left me behind, or me it — is still a pretty enjoyable read today. Join and support. A bizarre concoction it undoubtedly is, but Donnie Darko raised the bar for independent thinking and reinvented the teen genre for the new Millennium. As a postgrad studying aesthetics, I was enthralled to find an English-language philosopher who understood cinema! SIU Press books. Already veterans of Hollywood, the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. Clerks was quickly picked up by Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein, who overlooked its dodgy production values, ropey acting and a story that resists the description 'threadbare' because he saw a raw vitality in its balls-out dialogue; a vitality and spirit and, more importantly, laugh-out-loud humour that ensured that Clerks connected instantly with disenfranchised tweens and shop workers everywhere. Accurate pricing will only display for registered users. Unlike the films made within the studio system, these new low-budget films could afford to take risks and explore new artistic territory outside the classical Hollywood narrative. She is working on a book on action films. Founded in by Jonas Mekas , Stan Brakhage , Shirley Clarke , Gregory Markopoulos , and others, the Cooperative provided an important outlet for many of cinema's creative luminaries in the s, including Jack Smith and Andy Warhol. Few people have done so much to revive interest in silent cinema and none has written so well about it as Brownlow. This was the question we asked 51 leading critics and writers, and their answers are printed here in full. Based upon a common belief that the "official cinema" was "running out of breath" and had become "morally corrupt, aesthetically obsolete, thematically superficial, [and] temperamentally boring", [9] this new crop of independents formed The Film-Makers' Cooperative , an artist-run, non-profit organization which they would use to distribute their films through a centralized archive. Over the years this little volume must surely have been the Bible for many of us. Was Donnie schizophrenic? I loved his willingness to find excitement in unexpected places, to do justice to merit when he found it and to write in such a strongly personal voice. Dutton, Showing a whole generation of black filmmakers the way forward, the guerrilla filmmaking and canny marketing campaign also provide pointers for every no-budget filmmaker following in its wake. Like most people in the unique position of foreknowledge of what others have said, I have avoided the choices that now seem obvious in this survey. A strange mixture of seedy violence, frank nudity and the sort of language you'd expect to hear from gangsters in New York's Little Italy, the film is nonetheless drenched in a veil of Catholic guilt lead Harvey Keitel, as Charlie, a small-time hood who knows that he should get the hell out of the game, constantly chastises and tests himself and seems to act as a permanent celluloid confessional for Scorsese's baser instincts. The film was almost entirely improvised by the three leads who were often just as terrified as the audience and initially passed off as a documentary, a ruse given credence by an entirely fictitious web-based backstory and a much-aped viral marketing strategy. By the early s, Hollywood was producing three different classes of films: 1 big-budget blockbusters , 2 art films , specialty films and niche-market films produced by the conglomerate-owned indies and 3 genre and specialty films coming from true indie studios and producers. Has anyone ever written this beautifully about Dovzhenko, Renoir or Straub-Huillet? Levine and others. This was the question we asked 51 leading critics and writers and the results Before there was Star Wars, George Lucas made this dystopian vision of a future in a galaxy quite close by. The resulting film is an absolute joy, an endearing, beautiful indie that manages to discuss abortion in a frank and balanced way while its whipcrack dialogue zinged zang? It's entirely impossible to sum up in any thirty-second studio pitch. It turns up the old mental rheostat every time. You only have to look through the homages and rip-offs that have abounded. Contemporary American Independent Film 1st edition Writer Two exemplary ways of making sense of a national film culture: the first is an encyclopedia that invites the seeker to find his or her own way through a labyrinth of myriad relationships; the second offers creative criss-cross readings of topoi and obsessions through various decades, genres and political systems. While there, the company decided to explore new territories, traveling several miles north to Hollywood , a little village that was friendly and positive about the movie company filming there. However, by the late s, audience share was dwindling at an alarming rate. The s and early s saw a Hollywood dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films which benefited from these advances. Read research data and market intelligence. Crowdfunding services like Kickstarter, Pozible, and Tubestart have helped people raise thousands of dollars; enough to fund their own, low-budget productions. The result? It's entirely impossible to sum up in any thirty-second studio pitch. The story of Henry G. His familiar theme of contemporary America under the burden of its own glossed-over history is folded into a murder mystery ensemble piece, spanning two Texan generations, and utilising some of the best flashbacks ever seen. Though Midnight Cowboy was financed by United Artists, the company was certainly a studio. The Independent film industry exists globally. Tarkovsky is my all-time favourite director. By , Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis: either bring in others to help support a costly distribution system or concede defeat. Spaced: The Complete History. However, no one else was doing these interviews. Thirteen years on, many of the interviewees have died. In , the same year that United Artists, bought out by MGM, ceased to exist as a venue for independent filmmakers, Sterling Van Wagenen left the film festival to help found the Sundance Institute with Robert Redford. After first swallowing Bazin whole, I turned against his Catholic humanism, but I find myself returning to him almost every week to check something, to argue with him, and often to agree. The Hollywood oligopoly replaced the Edison monopoly. Already veterans of Hollywood, the four film stars began to talk of forming their own company to better control their own work as well as their futures. It was written over 30 years ago, yet remains the most lucid and critically coherent account of American avant-garde film. Griffith was sent by the Biograph Company to the west coast with his acting troupe, consisting of performers Blanche Sweet , Lillian Gish , Mary Pickford , Lionel Barrymore , and others. This was the volume that made a god awful hour greyhound bus trip to New York seem bearable — in fact, time well spent. However, having a film audience-classified is strictly voluntary for independents and there's no legal impediment to releasing movies on an unrated basis. Learning and training. The acquisitions of the smaller studios by conglomerate Hollywood was a plan in part to take over the independent film industry and at the same time start independent studios of their own. In which the French critic says it all and shows us that further Bergman books must lie in new detail or a broader window on the film world. Hart a year earlier as they were traveling around the U. A thrilling confection of passionate advocacy, youthful extremism, ardent love and lofty disdain. The story, built around the actual events of the Matewan massacre of , follows pacifist union organiser Joe Kenehan Chris Cooper arriving in the West Virginian town under the iron fist of brutal coal companies. Until his so-called "retirement" as a director in he continued to produce films even after this date he would produce up to seven movies a year, matching and often exceeding the five-per-year schedule that the executives at United Artists had once thought impossible. It's also the movie without which the recent zombie revival would never have happened. With their unprecedented box-office successes, these movies jump- started Hollywood's blockbuster mentality , giving studios a new paradigm as to how to make money in this changing commercial landscape. This roll of honour celebrates both, as well as some of the names that didn't achieve the acclaim they deserve. This film was released just after the abandonment of the production code, but before the adoption of the MPAA rating system. Contemporary American Independent Film 1st edition Reviews Here I have to declare an interest, in both senses: an enduring love of the Western, and a role in editing the much-expanded second edition of Inspired only by the concept for its poster five guys in a line-up , the Christopher McQuarrie-penned heist thriller is an ensemble tour de force and, lest we forget, the starting pistol for both Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey's careers in the big time.