Atoning for the Oscars

I haven't really watched the Academy Awards since The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) swept all eleven categories it was nominated for in an unprecedented victory (and one that kind of made everyone feel bad for the other films nominated that night). Every year there's at least one movie that excites me - Finding Neverland (2004), Hotel Rwanda (2004) or Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - but these films, if even nominated in the top categories, are usually the underdogs. And usually they don't win.

Oscars, schmoscars, I say.

I probably won't bother watching the 80th Academy Awards as there were no films in 2007 that I'm really rooting for this year and it seems unlikely the underdogs will cause any upsets. Johnny Depp really doesn't have a chance of winning for Sweeney Todd (and the fantastic Helena Bonham Carter missed out on her nomination).

Of the five films nominated for best motion picture this year, there are only two that I've actually seen - Juno and Atonement. While Juno is charming and Ellen Page delivers a vulnerable and funny performance in the title role, I'm not so sure that the film is one of the top five of the year. This little indie trouper got lucky - good timing coupled with excellent word of mouth and riding high on the coattail of that other heart-warming indie film to get nominated last year, Little Miss Sunshine (2006). It will probably win best original screenplay but is unlikely to garner any of the other awards.



Atonement, on the other hand, probably will snag a few wins (original score, cinematography, and possibly even the coveted top prize). This sweeping narrative is at once an epic love story and a collection of quietly understated vignettes. While the visuals are far from muted (vivid colors abound), the film itself is subdued, made up of subtle moments that become significant, simply by being - an encounter at the fountain, a secret rendezvous in the library.

Even the war scenes are seemingly secondary moments not usually dwelled on in film. Rather than battle scenes, we are given the intermission - the parting lovers, a nurse giving comfort to an unknown soldier on his deathbed, and most staggering, a tracking shot through a beach of thousands of loitering soldiers all waiting to be shipped away to the next stage of battle and possibly to their deaths. The film's score is less subtle, penetrating the transitions relentlessly, pounding typewriter keys as the story unfolds.


Atonement ends somewhat unexpectedly with a bittersweet finale that few unfamiliar with the original source material (novel by Ian Mcewan) will see coming. It's hard to deny that the film is a rather beautiful, unique love story, but it is one that has failed to inspire me to tune in on February 24th. I'll be rooting for the film, I suppose. But only from a distance.

*8/10*

Just one question: How did the raw, Irish film Once, a love story told in song, fail to receive a nomination for best original score? That film's music really had the power to seep beneath the skin and grab a hold of the heart.

The Producer's List - Part Two

This is a continuation of The Producer's List - Part One, a bullet-point list of big and small details that might get overlooked, particularly by independent filmmakers working in major cities like NYC.

Regardless of the size of the production, there's always the chance that some important detail will be overlooked, unless the producers have their eyes open and their toilet brushes in hand, for when the on-location bathrooms are too disgusting for the cast and crew to use and the unpaid PAs are all off running errands. Suck it up, producers, and soldier on.

• A responsible film crew leaves a location in slightly better condition than the location was found. When on location, be sure to have plenty of trash bags and trash cans. Most importantly, know where the trash needs to be taken out and which days the trash is picked up, and any other trash collection restrictions that may apply.

• When shooting on location, know how much electricity is available - not just for the film lights, but for everything that might need to be plugged in. Prop lights. Heaters. Air conditioners. Fans. Battery chargers. Lights for the green room. Blow dryers. Coffee makers. Never forget the coffee makers. All the electricity in the world won't be enough if there's a shortage of outlets and extension cords.

• When shooting on location (especially in older buildings), make sure that the electricity has been properly grounded. If there's no record of the building's electrical history, have an electrician or someone qualified check out the wiring. If faulty electricity causes any of the film equipment to short circuit, most likely that will be deemed neglect by the filmmaker and insurance will not cover the loss.

• The general advice is never to feed pizza to your crew. Never say never, of course, for sometimes pizza makes excellent, quick comfort food after a long day of shooting. The most important thing to remember is balance in your catering and craft services. For every bagel, have cereal or fruit as an alternate. For every chocolate bar, have a vegetable or cheese platter. For every cup of coffee, have twice as many bottles of water. Find out in advance the dietary needs of your cast and crew. If there are any vegans or vegetarians, lactose-intolerants, diabetics, or people with severe food allergies, plan accordingly.

• Check the weather religiously before the shoot begins, and then every morning afterwards (keeping note of the weather is usually an assistant director's responsibility when preparing the call sheets). Have alternate shooting schedules if weather conditions prevent the exterior scenes from being shot first. Be prepared with plenty of tarps, umbrellas, and plastic raincoats should foul weather spring up unexpectedly.

• When shooting on weekends or in particularly isolated areas, know what's available to you and when. Most rental houses are closed on the weekend, though some may have a weekend emergency contact. Local businesses may have shorter hours or may not be open at all. Film is hard to come by on the weekends, but especially hard to find anywhere outside of the major film metropolises. Have an emergency film backup available to you or plan accordingly and don't run out.
  

• Have everyone's number stored in your phone or at least immediately on hand at all times. EVERYONE. Cast, crew, AAA, location owners, rental houses, taxi cab services, any emergency contacts other than 9-1-1, the state department, etc. You never know what may come up.
  

• Have plenty of actor release forms available and at least one person in charge of collecting signatures, from the lead actors to the background extras, to the random passersby who happened to stumble into the last shot. Do it before you have to track individuals down or resort to blurring out faces in wide shots. Make sure that all legal points are covered in the releases and that a minor has a legal guardian signing in his or her place. Don't leave any room for a lawsuit if you can help it.

Well, that's all for now. Though there's plenty more to remember, so be on the lookout for The Producer's List - Part Three!

The Producer's List - Part One

A producer's responsibilities are many and varied, regardless of what medium they are working in, whether they are producing a film, television series, or an art exhibit. Producers must macro- and micro-manage, overseeing the big details - assembling the people, the places, the how and the when - and they must also look out for the small detail specifics, planning for every potential Murphy's Law disaster, allowing nothing to slip through the cracks along the way.

From conception to completion, a producer's responsibilities are all-encompassing.

While attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in film and television production with a minor in producing, I produced a number of student films. Through my varied experiences, and often thanks to trial and error, I've gathered up quite an extensive list of the dos and don'ts of independent film production, the must-not-forgets for anyone who finds themselves as the head of production on a shoot where if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Many of these bullet points are especially paramount when producing in a big city like New York with more rules and regulations and parking tickets than item lines in the budget.

It shouldn't come as a surprise that part one of this list has to do largely with transportation concerns. Driving and parking in NYC on a normal basis is a bitch, but dealing with the needs, size, and limitations of production vehicles on top of everything else is a bloody nightmare.

• When working with oversized production vehicles, from cargo vans to 24' cube trucks, be aware of the weight, height and width restrictions on city streets, bridges, and tunnels. If your vehicle is 12' tall, you need an alternate route not involving the 11' high tunnel. Do the math.
  

• Keep a list of all of the parking lots or garages able to accommodate your vehicle and know their hours of operation and restrictions. Be sure to make reservations in advance if the lots are likely to fill up fast. Have plenty of cash on hand - parking is often more costly than the vehicle rental.
  

• In NYC, commercial vehicles are not allowed to park on residential streets overnight. As far as parking tickets are concerned, a vehicle is commercial if it has a commercial license plate or visible lettering on the vehicle's sides, advertising a service. Even if you rent a U-Haul truck for a personal reason, the truck is considered commercial. If your move (or movie) takes more than one day, be aware of legal parking around your residence.

• It's near-impossible to find legal street-side parking for a compact car in Manhattan, much less legal parking for production vehicles. It's a good idea to pad your production vehicle budget to account for the price of parking and gas - but also the expense of parking tickets. You're bound to get at least one. Those meter maids are merciless.

• Map Quest driving directions are misleading, especially estimates for how long it actually takes to get anywhere within city limits. Always account for rush hour traffic, road construction, traffic accidents, getting lost, and finding parking. And then some.

• Leaving anything of value in production vehicles overnight or unattended is taking a big risk. Insurance won't cover theft or damage deemed to be the result of neglect (aka: leaving shit in the van), so if your equipment in stolen, you'll likely be in for more than the deductible, but for the replacement value of everything that's ended up on the underground Panasonic, Kodak, and Arri black market.
  

• While the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre, & Broadcasting can secure permits for parking and for shooting on city-owned property for your production (all you need is insurance and permission), the smaller your production, the fewer parking laws you are able to ignore and the less traffic you can interfere with - pedestrian or vehicular. Parking permits are only available for production vehicles, not for personal use.
  

Juno, Classic Indie Charmer

Like Napoleon Dynamite in 2004 and Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, Juno (2007) is the little independent film that could, chugging up from oblivion and into the hearts of millions of movie goers across the nation. In classic indie fashion, Juno's slice of (slightly surreal) life is filled with quirky characters, off-beat dialogue, and a 1:1 ratio of pop culture references to minute of film.

It's impressive that an indie film about a pregnant teenager who decides to give her baby up for adoption has managed to garner major attention via word of mouth and critical acclaim, racking up a total of four Academy Award nominations (a tie with Little Miss Sunshine in 2007) - Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. How did this film, and others like it, manage to sneak past the Hollywood blockbusters and billion-dollar film franchises to infiltrate popular culture and eventually, DVD collections everywhere?

It's fun to root for the underdog, especially when the underdog is funny and charming.

In the title role, Ellen Page is a classic indie heroine: a witty fast-talker (ala Gilmore Girls), oozing with conviction, and so overflowing with cutesy colloquial slang that you're sure she's likely to burst, and not just from the baby. Yet even as she's smugly pimped out on the lawn of her would-be boyfriend, reclining in an arm chair with a pipe in hand, Page reveals Juno's vulnerability as she falters, unsure what to do and say next. She may be clever and she may be cocky, but she's just as three-dimensional as the rest of us - overwhelmed and insecure; a teenage girl who doesn't know who the hell she really is.

As a film, Juno is fairly down to earth, sticking to the feel-good comedy genre and shying away from the potential melodramatic plot lines that run amuck in most Hollywood/Lifetime "My Baby is Having a Baby" productions. The supporting cast is strong, with plenty of laughs to go around, although Ellen Page is the real standout. Some of the colloquial slang and euphemisms are fun, but Juno and her best friend Leah drop so many of them in "casual" conversation that it can be overwhelming. No real teenager talks like that all the time, no matter who they are trying to impress.

The film's most underplayed relationship, and perhaps one most deserving of recognition, is Juno and Leah's friendship. Leah is there for Juno from the beginning, acting as her confidant, passing no judgment, and supporting her through school lunches, ultrasounds, and the birth. High school can be especially hard for teenage girls (pregnant or not), and it's refreshing to see a character who actually does stick up for her best friend, despite the established peer rejection and Juno's pariah status. While Juno may be lucky to get her guy in the end, she's just as lucky to have a friend she can rely on, through pregnancy and beyond.

*8/10*