Dote-Worthy Directors Part V: Steven Spielberg

Steven-freaking-Spielberg.

I mean, the man is a legend. I honestly could gloat about all how great of a film maker he is, about how he has revolutionized the film industry, about how every film that this man touches is golden, about how you associate the words "classic" and "Spielberg" almost automatically, but the truth is, if you live in any country that has even a remote bit of technology, you have seen one of this man's movies. I grew up on Spielberg movies and I love them every bit now as I did when I was younger. Although Tim Burton is my personal muse and inspiration, Spielberg definitely laid that foundation down, and I can only hope to accomplish even just a speck of the success and longevity that Spielberg has earned.

The other day, my boyfriend, our friend, Chris, and I decided to get together and do a test shoot-- which isn't necessarily out of the ordinary, since we do test shoots quite a bit. However, with this specific instance, we got together to do a shot primarily testing out what we like to call "The Spielberg Effect". As film makers, there is no question that we have been influenced and inspired by Spielberg.. in fact.. we're avid fans of his. With the release of Super 8 nearing, however, we were more tempted than ever attempt to recreate that "classic Spielberg look". You guys know what I'm talking about. You can't quite put your finger on it.. but you know a Spielberg film when you see one. There is a certain quality to something that Spielberg has worked on, and we wanted to attempt to recreate it. If you haven't seen the test shot here it is:

It needs more work, of course, but I think we did rather decently considering it was our first shot and we don't necessarily have a studio at out disposal. BUT ANYWAYS.. I'm trailing off here.. the whole reason I bring this up is because we decided to study some Spielberg films and certain shots and try to decipher what it is about Spielberg films that set it apart from others. We came up with several different answers-- all of which are valid-- but I wanted to share with you what I personally have found that I love about his films.

All of Spielberg's films tend to deal with some kind of element that is seemingly far greater than the characters in his films.. or humanity as a whole for that matter. Don't believe me? Let's go over just a few of his films, shall we:

*Jaws: Mega shark threatening to kill off an entire community.

*E.T.: Alien encounter.

*Back to the Future: The possibility of time travel.

*Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Again, aliens.

*Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs..

Beginning to see a pattern, here? I thought so. What I love about his films is the way that he depicts humanity in these instances-- as such a small speck compared to such seemingly grandiose things-- and the fact that in the midst of depicting the frailty and minute condition of humans.. his films don't make you feel hopeless. Not in the least bit.. rather.. you feel a sense of awe and wonder. Any film maker can easily bring that feeling of characters seeming small and overwhelmed by their surroundings about by implementing an extreme long shot, but it takes a GREAT film maker to make you feel awe and wonder while viewing the shot.. and THAT is just one reason why I love his films.

I've talked for quite a while now about Spielberg, so I will attempt to make this short and just list a few of his films that are favorites of mine:

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Back to the Future

Jurassic Park

Indiana Jones

Jaws

I seriously could go on and on but I'll spare you lovely readers my rambling. Normally, this is the point in my post where I would recommend you go out and watch these films.. but I am sure most of you have.. therefore.. I beseech you to go out and watch Super 8 when it hits theaters this summer.

This film is directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg and it certainly has Classic Spielberg written all over it. It is E.T. meets the present, yet still set in the 80's, shrouded in mystery. Seriously.. there has been so much talk over this film and yet nothing is revealed. I cannot wait for it to hit theaters. If you haven't seen the trailer you can watch it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDngtvkn8qk

Love and love,

Karla Von Guerra.

With the release of Super 8 nearing.. we just couldn’t resist doing some test shots inspired by that classic Spielberg look. Yes, we know, it’s directed by J.J. Abrams.. but it’s Spielberg produced (and as most filmmakers know.. they often play a bigger part in the production of a film) and it seems anything that Spielberg touches has a certain quality about it. We decided to look through classic Spielberg trailers and dissected the Super 8 trailer to see what shots we could re-create with our limited resources.. this crane test shot is the product. Keep in mind that we don’t necessarily have a studio lot or studio equipment, but I think it came out rather decently all things considered. We will probably experiment more with the Spielberg effect! Oh— and don’t mind my dead pan face in the first few seconds of the shot. The constant staring up at the light left me blind in between takes. >.< Either way, it’s simply a test shot. :) Enjoy!

Interview with Steven Tsapelas of We Need Girlfriends and My Future Girlfriend

As most of you know from my previous post, I had the awesome opportunity to interview Steven Tsapelas of We Need Girlfriends and My Future Girlfriend. I admit, my week has been so hectic that I've barely had enough time to even log on.. let alone post! So here it is, fellow readers, the long awaited interview. Enjoy and please don't forget to watch My Future Girlfriend when it premiers April 1, 2011! Add them on facebook here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Future-Girlfriend/233489998992

for more news and details. :) Enjoy!

-- "We Need Girlfriends has enjoyed some internet popularity, is the outcome you received what you initially had in mind?"

In the beginning, no. We (by that I mean myself, Angel Acevedo and Brian Amyot) had come off of making short films and competition films and thought YouTube, which was relatively new (this was '06) would be a good place to get our work seen. Around that time, webshows were starting up and with little competition, we thought maybe we could get our stuff seen. There were no ulterior motives. We just wanted to make stuff because it was fun and because we thought we were good at it. We had no intention of selling it, which is why I think it was so oddly personal. About halfway through, the fanbase grew bigger and bigger, and we started to think that, maybe, one day, we could make a TV show. We really could not imagine that people from Los Angeles were already watching our little show. It was very unbelievable.

-- "Plushgun was featured in the score for We Need Girlfriends, and Dan Ingala has also composed a score for My Future Girlfriend. Do you feel your relation with Dan Ingala is a symbiotic one?"

Dan and Ragtag have certainly become very connected. We met in an interesting way. At the time that I was making "We Need Girlfriends," I was working for reality shows, and my boss wanted me to find talented singer/songwriters for a competition show. I ended up stumbling upon Dan's Plushgun page on MySpace and liked his music so much that I asked if he could contribute a couple of songs to WNG. Since he was local, I invited him to a barbecue and, before long, we became part of the same circle of friends. It's a good way to score free Plushgun tickets. For this project, especially, his synthesizer skills really paid off in referencing '80s music and culture.

-- "We Need Girlfriends was filmed in Queens, NY while My Future Girlfriend was filmed in sunny California. What prompted the move?"

Things were heating up with the "We Need Girlfriends" CBS sitcom and it looked like the pilot was headed for production. While the webseries was shot on the gritty streets of real New York, the CBS bigwigs decided that the sitcom would be better suited for a fake New York on a Los Angeles backlot. We were also having a lot of phone meetings with West Coast based production companies and thought the timing was right to explore all of our options. Once there, we realized production and development of a sitcom was just as slow if we were close or far from it, so, we got bored, and did what we do, which is make stuff.

-- "In what ways is production for My Future Girlfriend different from We Need Girlfriends?"

It was bigger in scope, scale and storytelling. "We Need Girlfriends" utilized what we had - which was, exactly, nothing. An apartment. A few friends. Local streets. With this, I wrote a bigger story with bigger scope. That meant getting bigger locations, securing a top notch DP like Jeff Billings, and top notch sound guys like Chris Hall and Evan Menak.

-- "We Need Girlfriends was picked up by CBS and abruptly dropped. What happened?"

It was actually not abrupt at all. We were in development with them for two years, with several different scripts and a couple of different showrunners. As we were heading towards the finish line known as "the start of production," CBS decided that the show was no longer for them and dropped it. We were all incredibly disappointed, but it's just the way it shook out.

-- "How did We Need Girlfriends get noticed by CBS? Was there anything that you guys did to make that happen or was it internet fame?"

I think it got noticed through consistency. We worked hard to make it good every month. It wasn't the most viewed webseries out there in terms of hits, but it was done in a way that made it easy to see how it could be translated to a longer form. As far as the "story" of how it got noticed, we were finalists for the Online Emmys, where we were seen by a producer named Clark Peterson, who brought it to his producing partner Dennis Erdman, who brought it to their friend Darren Star, who brought it to Sony, who brought it to CBS.

-- "What do you feel My Future Girlfriend has to brings to the table that is different from other web series?"

It's hard for me to say, because I haven't been too into the webseries world as of late, but I think this is more of an attempt to do long term storytelling in a webseries, as opposed to doing quick, one shot episodes. It really plays more like a truncated feature film as opposed to a traditional web or even TV show.

-- "What genre does My Future Girlfriend fall into?"

It's like if the cast of "The Terminator" invaded an episode of "We Need Girlfriends." So, a sci-fi rom com.

-- "What do you feel was the most challenging obstacle during production with My Future Girlfriend?"

There were many. Los Angeles, being the city it is, is more savvy and cynical about film shoots, so unlike "We Need Girlfriends," where we could nab locations for free, we had to dish out money for these. Luckily, my brother came on as a producer, and was able to help us out there. We also were working with five incredibly talented actors that were very good at booking jobs, so we had to work around their busy schedules. We also were filming five episodes simultaneously, which greatly complicated things. It was the toughest, most challenging shoot we've ever done.

-- "What goals do you wish to accomplish with My Future Girlfriend?"

First and foremost, I want people to watch it and like it. I know how hard it is to get noticed with so many people making webseries nowadays, but I'm hoping the quality in filmmaking, storytelling and performance will help it stand out and get noticed. If, by some miracle, we sell this to another medium, I think it would work very well as a feature film.

-- "Are there any web series that you are a personal fan of?"

I feel a little out of the loop, really. I haven't watched many webseries in the past few years. I didn't like a lot of what I saw and thought people were making things too quickly with little thought put into it. It wasn't my type of entertainment. However, I love "Dorm Life." Are they still making "Dorm Life"?

-- "What advice can you give aspiring film makers who are just starting out?"

If you really, really, really, really, really, really want to do this and see NO other option but filmmaking for yourself, you have to stick with it, you have to listen and learn from criticism, and you have to make things happen for yourself. Now, more than ever, that is possible. Pick up a camera. Get some cheapo editing software. And go for it. Tell stories that only you can tell but tell them in an interesting, accessible way. Utilize the internet. Surround yourself by like-minded, hard-working people. And have fun. It was so much fun making "We Need Girlfriends" and I feel like, after the trials and tribulations of actually trying to produce and develop something for TV, I'll never be as young and excited as I was then.

We Need My Future Girlfriend

If you haven’t heard of the web series, We Need Girlfriends, may I implore you to stop whatever it is that you are doing right now and take some time to watch an episode or two (though I will make you aware that it may very well lead to a marathon) right now here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omE_8VJN9Eo

For those of you individuals who have not watched and are too stubborn to watch right now, We Need Girlfriends is a web series that gained an incredible amount of internet popularity when it released on youtube. The show was so popular, in fact, that CBS picked up it with the intention of making it a sitcom on their network. The sitcom never fully made it to completion for reasons not mentioned in this post (but that will be answered, later on— stay tuned). It chronicles the lives of three twenty-somethings who are in desperate need of.. you guessed it.. girlfriends. The things these three go through during this quest to conquer the “squirrels” of New York City (you’ll have to watch for the reference) is downright hilarious.. yet.. it has enjoyed such popularity due to being so relational. Unless you live in some deluded kind of white picket fence reality, all of us, at some time or another have been where these three guys find themselves: lonely and desperately searching for a significant other that isn’t completely off-the-radar crazy. Am I right, or am I right? This simple fact is what I believe has made the show what it is today— the fact that everyone has been there.. and that maybe, just maybe, these crazy exploits that take place during this season aren’t so crazy and far-fetched after all.

Just trust me when I say, it’s worth the time to sit down and watch.

Now, Ragtag Productions (the production company behind We Need Girlfriends) is on the brink of releasing another web based series, My Future Girlfriend. It is a Sci-Fi romance comedy presented in five parts that is set to release on April 1, 2011. Rest assured, Ragtag Productions has denied any claim that the release date is an April Fool’s joke— this is the real deal, kiddos. Though this project has yet to be seen, it seems promising, packing just as much (if not more) punch than We Need Girlfriends. Watch the teaser trailer here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX9tyBKDdPg

That being said, I have the incredible honor of interviewing Steven Tsapelas, writer and director of We Need Girlfriends and writer of My Future Girlfriend, and presenting it to you directly. Stay tuned to the next few posts for the full interview!

Until then..

Love & love,

Karla Von Guerra.

Dote-Worthy Directors Part IV: Darren Aronofsky

If you have not heard of, nor seen, any of Darren Aronofsky's films, believe me when I say you are sorely missing out. I can rest assured knowing that when I sit down to watch an Aronofsky film, I will not only enjoy it, but I will leave doing something that all films in some extent or another should do-- make the viewer THINK.

The first Aronofsky film that I ever had the pleasure to watch was an independent film that not too many people have heard of called Pi.

This film chronicles a paranoid mathematician scrambling for a number that will solve all of the universe's mysteries. I won't say too much, lest I give it away, but it is such a brilliant film. One thing that sets it apart from others is that it was shot in a modern noir style. Noir is one of my absolute favorite film styles and it's a shame that it is not used very much today.

After watching Pi, my next brush with Aronofsky came in the form of Requiem for a Dream.

This film is a little bit more widely known, and the first film for which he was truly noted. It is the chilling and heart wrenching story of four drug-addicted individuals. This movie was a difficult one to sit through and watch, but I loved it because of its realism and fearlessness. It really sheds a light into what life is for those that suffer from intense addictions to drugs.

The Fountain is another one of Aronofsky's films that I love.

This film can be a little more difficult to follow-- in fact-- I had to re-watch it a few times to really catch the meaning, and even then, it's one of those type of films that lets you come to your own conclusions. All I can say is that it is visually beautiful and so packed with depth that it's hard not to walk away from it unaffected.

The last Aronofsky film I will highlight is the most recent and perhaps the one that he will go down as best known for, The Black Swan.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this film.. and make note.. this film is not for everyone, but you have to appreciate the art of film making during this one. I absolutely LOVED this movie-- point blank. It was genius from start to finish in my opinion. Every now and then, a film will come around that reminds me why I am going into the film industry.This year, the Black Swan, was definitely it.. it left me speechless and tearful. I was mostly silent for a good hour after watching because of the beauty and emotion that this film provoked. I highly recommend it, though, I advise you again, this is not the film for everyone. If you are easily spooked, and do not like sexually explicit scenes, then you may want to opt out of this one.

All in all-- Darren Aronofsky is one of my favorite directors for reasons that I can't really even fully explain. This blog has been mostly highlighting his films, because in my opinion, I believe that it conveys why he's so brilliant better than my words ever could.

Until next time, my dear readers!

Love & love,

Karla Von Guerra.