Fantastic art compositions. Reality as it could be on the perfect day at the right time.

This book is the perfect road-map to guide you through the exciting but occasionally overwhelming world of the background artist. Learn everything from on set jargon and etiquette to wardrobe and makeup secrets. Get insider tips from peers on how to survive long film shoots, standing in line and so much more

When the popularity of Western movies faded with the public, it opened the gate for a new sub-genre that blended the classic fundamentals with other elements. In Twistern: 50 Twisted Western Movie Reviews, a sub-genre is not only defined, but celebrated for its creativity, ingenuity and downright bizarreness. Hitch a ride on this wild wagon ride and prepare for the journey of your life

Motion picture audio is one of the least understood parts of filmmaking and is neglected by many film students and filmmakers alike. It's boring, scary, too technical and not considered important by most filmmakers. Until they get into the editing room and realize that by not paying attention to audio earlier they are screwed. Over the years tons of false information has spread through the independent film world, and most students and filmmakers don't want to deal with sound. If they do it is usually done incorrectly through ignorance and at a huge financial expense. This book is intended to shatter the myths and mysteries around film audio and give both students and experienced filmmakers the knowledge and tools so that their films will sound like they have come from the Hollywood studios without huge Hollywood budgets. I have assembled a lineup of some pretty amazing people in all areas of audio production for film and television. This group consists of location recordists, sound designers, picture editors, sound editors, re-recording mixers, and post-production supervisors. This all-star cast has won Oscars and Emmys in addition to awards from various film industries worldwide. In the book's interviews, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Jim LeBrecht, Ron Eng, Harry B Miller III, Peter Kurland, Lee Haxall, Ken Karman, David A. Cohen and a host of others discuss their methods and secrets. Sound is an excellent carrier of emotion. And film is about emotion. - Gary Rydstrom, sound designer - Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park (winner of 7 Academy Awards) Sound is NOT the enemy - Lee Haxall, editor Crazy Stupid Love I'm capturing a performance, and that performance is only going to happen one time the way they want it, in the environment, with everybody in the mood. - Peter Kurland, location recordist - No Country For Old Men In my mind, dialog is king, if you can't understand what they're saying then the movie is a waste of time. - David A. Cohen, dialog editor - Lost In Translation A good dialog editor can figure out a way to make nearly every line of dialog usable. Milly Iatrou, dialog editor - Walk The Line I would rather see no music than music used improperly. - Ken Karman, music editor - Forrest Gump We're like the ugly evil stepchildren in the basement. - Jana Vance, foley artist - Toy Story When I look at a film or look at a script I think of what I'm gonna need to make that world. Jane Tattersall - sound effects editor - Naked Lunch I like off beat stuff, weird sounding films and subtle sound tracks as compared to bombastic. - Ron Eng, supervising sound editor - Mulholland Drive Sound is kind of invisible, but when it's wrong we know it immediately. - Jim LeBrecht, sound designer - The Singing Detective Good sound goes unnoticed, bad sound ruins a film. - Dan Olmstead, re-recording mixer - Cecil B. Demented The rule of thumb for good sound is: does it tell or promote the emotional content of the scene, does it support and/or reveal the story. - Tom Johnson, re-recording mixer - Alice In Wonderland (winner of 2 Academy Awards) If you want to see what the future of storytelling looks like then check out Kelley Baker. Brian David Johnson, Futurist, filmmaker, author If you read only one book on sound, this is the one, and, after you've read it, you'll never, ever, ever say, "We'll fix it in post." William M. Akers, author of Your Screenplay Sucks

Over 100 years ago, Western-Europeans invented cinema technology along with its visual aesthetics, production techniques, and rules of filmmaking: the Universal Way of filmmaking. Are there other Ways that make more sense to the experiences and perceptions of other cultures? More and more filmmakers worldwide say yes. Even Western-Europeans seek new Ways to see outside the century-old box of the movie screen. This book is for both novice and seasoned film and video makers (students and professionals) who are searching for a more powerful and sensible Way of making movies. They need a Way with personal and cultural relevance and meaning. At its core, this book is about creating these alternative filmmaking Ways. This book does not presume to tell anyone what his or her particular cultural Way of film is (although many examples are offered). What it does provide are insights and strategies for self-discovering a Way. Specific production methods and techniques are detailed that can be used to shape a new Way. Additionally, the history, theory, and science behind these practical production strategies is reviewed. This book is an eye-opener for those seeking alternatives to conventional media industry methods and who want to innovate their own unique, artistic Way. To make film and video in new Ways, in natural Ways, in Ways that are often hidden...that is the mission of this book.

Hollywood thinks you are stupid From all-too revealing trailers and remakes, to over-priced fuzzy 3D movies, is there no end to the condescending ways the big studios will try to sell you their latest blockbusters? American Popcorn is a compilation of scathing, honest commentaries from film critic Dennis Willis on a wide variety of subjects, including the broken MPAA rating system, ill-conceived movie star vanity projects, and how tough it is to be a Star Wars fan. Funny and insightful, you'll never look at movies the same way again

Reflecting upon his experience making his 2010 feature film Mothers, a cinematic triptych interweaving three narratives that are each, in their own way, about the often tenuous lines between truth and fiction, and one of which actually morphs into a documentary about the aftermath in a small Macedonian town where three retired cleaning women were found raped and killed in 2008 and the murderer turned out to be the journalist covering the story for a major Macedonian newspaper, the Oscar-nominated Macedonian-born and New York-based writer-director Milcho Manchevski writes that, "Most of us look at films differently or accept stories in a different way if we believe that they are true. We watch a documentary film in a different way from the way we watch a drama. We read a magazine article in a different way from the way in which we read a short story. Sometimes, we even treat a film that employs actors differently than a regular drama because we were told that it is based on something that really happened. We treat these works based on truth or reporting on the truth in different ways. Why? What is it in our relation to reality or in our relation to what we perceive to be reality that makes us value a work of artifice (an art piece) differently depending on our knowledge or conviction of whether that work of artifice is based on events that really took place?" In this extended essay, or letter, Manchevski ruminates the different ways in which both filmmakers and audiences create, experience, and absorb the cinematic narrative with a certain trust and faith in the artwork to render, not the factual truth, per se, but the importantly shared experience of trusting "the plane of reality created by the work itself," such that "we trust its inner logic and integrity, we have faith in what happens while we give ourselves to this work of art." Truth becomes a question of what artist and audience can see and feel together: what feels real becomes the world we inhabit. The book also includes an Afterword, "Truth Approaches, Reality Affects," by internationally renowned film scholar Adrian Martin.

Tired of turning raw video footage into ho-hum productions that make people yawn? Or, worse yet, just putting raw video out there and hoping for the best? If so, this guide is for you. It clearly explains how to research, plan, shoot, assemble, edit, and fine-tune video productions for just about any purpose. Richly illustrated with stills from an example movie, it'll get you on the right track to making movies that'll inform, entertain, and impress your audience.

Catalog of an exhibition at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, January 6 to January 29, 2011. These are large prints of abstract images based on a series of constructions using geometrical forms. The images explore strong colors and textures.

Peter Forgacs, based in Budapest, is best known for his award-winning films built on home movies from the 1930s to the 1960s that document ordinary lives soon to intersect with offscreen historical events. "Cinema's Alchemist" offers a sustained exploration of the imagination and skill with which Forgacs reshapes such film footage, originally intended for private and personal viewing, into extraordinary films dedicated to remembering the past in ways that matter for our future.

Contributors: Whitney Davis, U of California, Berkeley; Laszlo F. Foldenyi, U of Theatre, Film and Television, Budapest; Marsha Kinder, U of Southern California; Tamas Koranyi; Scott MacDonald, Hamilton College; Tyrus Miller, U of California, Santa Cruz; Roger Odin, U of Paris III Sorbonne-Nouvelle; Catherine Portuges, U of Massachusetts Amherst; Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan U; Kaja Silverman, U of Pennsylvania; Ernst van Alphen, Leiden U, the Netherlands; Malin Wahlberg, Stockholm U.

"Political Matinee: Hollywood s Take on American Politics" is a fresh approach to teaching politics. This anthology presents readings on a broad array of topics related to American politics on film, including film history, film genres, and analysis of film. A guide for students to use when analyzing films for political content, this text covers timely topics such as political ideologies and institutions. Select readings also show readers how to effectively write about films.
With a mix of both contemporary and classic readings, Political Matinee provides a comprehensive selection of highly-relevant source materials. This is an ideal text for courses that examine the ways in which films depict politics in the United States, and it provides invaluable fodder for lively classroom instruction and discussion.
Richard Herrera is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Arizona State University, who specializes in American politics. He has been teaching American Politics and Film online and in the classroom for many years, as well as other courses in American politics and American political parties."

Catalog of an exhibition in the Gallerie im Einstein, Unter den Linden, in Berlin in 2011.

A catalog of an exhibition at the Khaki Gallery, Boston, MA, consisting of two very large diptychs on canvas, 12 prints, and a series of silk scarves.

Using collage and montage as a medium and always in connection with his own biography, Marcel Odenbach investigates politically and culturally relevant topics of his time, such as for example the process of coming to terms with Nazi crimes, remembrance culture, the effects and after-effects of European colonialism in Africa, racism and time and time again the relationship between the individual and society. The artist Marcel Odenbach (*1953) lives in Cologne, Berlin and intermittently in Ghana. Since 1976 he has worked with video. His filmic collages and installations have contributed to the fact that today video art is a central medium in contemporary international art. Parallel to this he has created a wide-ranging graphic oeuvre. In the joint consideration of his video and paper works it becomes clear that Odenbach regards art and culture under a socio-political perspective and at the same time relies on the strength of the sensuous-aesthetical experience of images.

This collection offers a fresh re-reading and re-imagining of Italian Americans in film, from actors to directors, from subject to agency. The trans-Atlantic discourse that emerges from these keenly insightful essays offers a guidepost for future analyses. As we come to understand the evolving paradigm of Italian Americans, whose cinematic representation has long been object of discussion and debate, Mediated Ethnicity constitutes a prismatic lens through which the contemporary viewer/reader may re-discover the cultural positioning of Italians in America. - John Tintori Associate Arts Professor and Chair, Graduate Film Program New York University Tisch School of the Arts

In his signature book, award-winning television producer-director-writer & documentary filmmaker, Craig D. Forrest, provides a wealth of valuable production insights - a field manual of sorts - that include strategies, wisdom, tips and tactics meant to inspire your next digital film or video shoot to be truly professional, organized and effective. Craig's sage advice - both successes and failures - is drawn from a professional career of extensive world travel, diverse media projects and dangerous overseas assignments for leading networks, channels, agencies and groups scattered across the globe. Chapters include Story, Directing, Communication, Planning, Decision-Making, Clients/Talent, Interviewing, Camera, Sound, Lighting, Budget, Editing, Travel, Culture, Teamwork and Taboos. Each chapter also features insider knowledge provided by famous directors, savvy creative talent and notable filmmakers. Whether you're a novice or pro, their practical wisdom alone adds invaluable insight to a filmmaking book designed to be a production benchmark.

When inventor and movie studio pioneer Thomas Edison wanted to capture western magic on film in 1904, where did he send his crew?

To Oklahoma's 101 Ranch near Ponca City. And when Francis Ford Coppola readied young actors Tom Cruise and Matt Dillon to portray teen class strife in the 1983 movie "The Outsiders," he took cast and crew to Tulsa, the setting of S. E. Hinton's acclaimed novel. From Edison to Coppola and beyond, Oklahoma has served as both backdrop and home base for cinematic productions. The only book to chronicle the history of made-in-Oklahoma films, John Wooley's "Shot in Oklahoma" explores the variety, spunk, and ingenuity of moviemaking in the Sooner State over more than a century.

Wooley's trek through cinematic history, buttressed by meticulous research and interviews, hits the big films readers have heard of--but maybe didn't realize were shot in the state--along with lesser-known offerings. We also get the films' intriguing backstories. For instance, President Theodore Roosevelt's fascination with a man purportedly able to catch a wolf in his hands led to "The Wolf Hunt," shot in the Wichita Mountains and screened in the White House in 1909. Over time, homegrown movies such as "Where the Red Fern Grows" (1974, 2003) have given way to feature films including "The Outsiders" and "Rain Man" (1988). Throughout this tale, Wooley draws attention to unsung aspects of state and cinematic history, including early all-black movies lensed in Oklahoma's African American towns and films starring American Indian leads.

With a nod to more recent Hollywood productions such as "Twister" (1996) and "Elizabethtown" (2005), Wooley ultimately explores how a low-budget slasher movie created in Oklahoma in the 1980s transformed the movie business worldwide. Punctuated with photographs and including a filmography of more than one hundred productions filmed in the state, "Shot in Oklahoma" offers movie lovers and historians alike an engaging ride through untold cinematic history.

Catalog of an exhibit of Wally Gilbert's recent abstract graphic work held at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. These images feature strong colors and striking black and white designs.

Trailblazing women working in digital arts media and education established the Midwest as an international center for the artistic and digital revolution in the 1980s and beyond. Foundational events at the University of Illinois and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago created an authentic, community-driven atmosphere of creative expression, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration that crossed gender lines and introduced artistically informed approaches to advanced research. Interweaving historical research with interviews and full-color illustrations, New Media Futures captures the spirit and contributions of twenty-two women working within emergent media as diverse as digital games, virtual reality, medicine, supercomputing visualization, and browser-based art. The editors and contributors give voice as creators integral to the development of these new media and place their works at the forefront of social change and artistic inquiry. What emerges is the dramatic story of how these Midwestern explorations in the digital arts produced a web of fascinating relationships. These fruitful collaborations helped usher in the digital age that propelled social media. Contributors: Carolina Cruz-Niera, Colleen Bushell, Nan Goggin, Mary Rasmussen, Dana Plepys, Maxine Brown, Martyl Langsdorf, Joan Truckenbrod, Barbara Sykes, Abina Manning, Annette Barbier, Margaret Dolinsky, Tiffany Holmes, Claudia Hart, Brenda Laurel, Copper Giloth, Jane Veeder, Sally Rosenthal, Lucy Petrovic, Donna J. Cox, Ellen Sandor, and Janine Fron.

disentanglement

despite an infrastructure of concealed rituals
they appear
bats springing out of porcelain bells
two hands
are as vulnerable
as what they wish to save
(by Shabnam Piryaei)
Shabnam Piryaei was born in Iran and raised in the U.S. Her work has been published in several journals including The Florida Review, Runes: A Review of Poetry, Flashquake, and The Furnace Review. She has been awarded the Poets & Writers Amy Award for poetry, as well as an Elizabeth George Foundation grant. Currently she is developing three short films based on her writings.

An Exhibition at the CJ Gallery, San Diego.