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DN EP 155: The VICE Guide to Liberia – Shane Smith & Andy Capper

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] I’m very pleased to welcome Andy Capper back to the show, to discuss the journey he and VICE founder, Shane Smith, took into the dangerous heart of Liberia for the latest revelatory film in The VICE Guide to… series. Showlinks VBS CNN Presents VBS.TV Liberia Lariam William Bennett / Cut Hands Jihad Milkshake

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Asides

  • Scintillation is an experimental film made up of over 35,000 photographs. It combines an innovative mix of stop motion and live projection mapping techniques. #
  • I talked about animated style in my post on Pivot yesterday and it's not often you find two such stylized pieces of animation in the space of 24 hours, but after the frantic stylings of Pivot, comes the epic tale of Codehunters. Codehunters was created by the awesome Ben Hibon for MTV Asia and was broadcast as both a standalone short film and used to brand the MTV Asia Music Video Awards. Again, another inspired titles sequences sets the scene instantly and what follows is a Sci-fi Western with all the on-screen panache of Jamie Hewlett's Gorillaz, lets just hope there's more to come Thanks once again to Aziz K and his fantastic Everything Animated Vimeo site, for his dedication to discovering the best animations online. Codehunters from axisanimation on Vimeo. #
  • Was a time when the filmmaker's strategy began with the gamble of maxed out credit cards and (hopefully) ended with the win of an acquisition bidding war at Sundance or the like. However, with the number of festival film buys shrinking and the cash amounts garnered by the lucky few doing likewise, what's a filmmaker to do to avoid ending up in a financial hole they may well never climb out of? Esther B. Robinson has, if not found the solution, presented a well thought out strategy in her Big Art, Little Debt Plan for Filmmaker Magazine. The plan comprises three commandments; 1) Make work that matters, 2) Get right with thy personal cash & 3) Know and keep to thy limits, coupled with five steps to help you adhere to them. Filmmaker Magazine have also been running the filmmaker responses to the questions Esther initially posed when formulating the plan. via Jonathan Goodman Levitt #
  • Sometimes you can tell from the opening frames of a short film, just how much you're going to love it! With Pivot, I knew the moment I saw it's Saul Bass styled opening credits. When creating an animation you have a limitless world at your fingertips, but often the animators and artists can use the same old tried and tested techniques and styles over and over again, making you feel like you've seen it all before. This certainly isn't the case with Pivot, which employs a polygon styled technique to deliver it's frenetic style. However, this short delivers not only with aesthetic flair, but also in storytelling and tension. In fact, I can easily say I haven't felt this tense watching a short in a long, long time. When a man is witness to a murder and takes pictures of the killer, he has to run for his life. During the chase he is able to turn the tables and the prey becomes the hunter. All resulting in an unfortunate ending. Pivot from Pivot on Vimeo. #
  • Just found this fantastic article from Mike Le at Geek Week highlighting the 20 Greatest Extended Takes in Movie History, complete with embedded Videos. #

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