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Aaron Sorkin and a Generation of Digital Multitaskers

Aaron Sorkin has made a career writing on behalf of idealism. His films and shows – including “A Few Good Men,” “The West Wing,” “Moneyball,” and “The Social Network” – often feature heroes or anti-heroes on quixotic journeys to dismantle and remake the status quo. At the tenth annual Wall Street Journal: All Things Digital Conference, he discussed his own quixotic battle with a modern audience of distracted multitaskers who want their news in 140 characters or less while engaging with multiple screens (Laptops, tablets, televisions smartphones) at the same time. He also offered insights into his writing process while discussing two upcoming projects: “Newsroom,” a new HBO drama chronicling the behind the scenes conflicts of a cable news channel, and a Steve Jobs biopic based on Walter Isaacson’s biography on the late cultural icon.


For a plethora of reasons, television is replacing Hollywood for a lot of the quality cinema being released these days. This change can be viewed through the migration to smaller screens by Hollywood regulars like Dustin Hoffman and Michael Mann (Luck), William H Macy (Shameless), Thomas Jane (Hung), Claire Danes (Homeland), and Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire).

Our appetite for condensed media and instant results has shrunk has evaporated our attention spans from a whopping twelve minutes, to a paltry five, according to this study http://socialtimes.com/attention-spans-have-dropped-from-12-minutes-to-5-seconds-how-social-media-is-ruining-our-minds-infographic_b86479. At one point, it was a whole twenty minutes. This gaping hole in our intellect has created a wide chasm that comprehensive writers like Sorkin must learn to cross. The way his audience watches his work has undergone a facelift. He’d be the first to admit that his material doesn’t make for good “background” music. It requires active participation and concentration, but the medium of television gives home court advantage to other distractions. The living room has become the wild west of digital ADD.

We don’t just watch TV, the way we do when we go to the movies, where we’ve invested (by purchasing a ticket) in the content and where social rules (for the time being) still frown upon using a cell phone in the theater. At home, we sit in front of the screen, check email, order stuff from Amazon, talk on the phone, get NBA, NHL, and MLB updates, while delegating our remaining brain capacity to absorb whatever content is playing on TV.

With millions of potential distractions competing for our attention, how does an old school craftsman like Sorkin change his approach? He doesn’t. He writes the “same way as the guys who wrote I Love Lucy” because “Storytelling is a very old art form, and the important parts of it don’t change at all…I still worship at the altar of intention and obstacle.”

The conversation also covers the accessibility that the digital age offers to aspiring filmmakers, where Sorkin comments on the fact major studios are no longer needed to finance start ups. Anybody can make a movie. But at the end of the day, you still have to “distinguish between what’s good and what’s bad. He also marvels at the intuitive trend of modern technology and cites how many toddlers can pick up a tablet and instinctively know what to do with it. If he could ask Steve Jobs a question, it would be “What’s that magic trick?”

Check out the full interview below for more insights into the mind of one of Hollywood’s smartest screenwriters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN0yzItFWhU&feature=plcp

 

Coming In 2012: Can DiCaprio and Lurhman Strike Gold with New Gatsby Movie?

Baz Luhrmann has never been accused of being subtle. His films (Romeo and Juliette, Moulin Rouge) are camp extravaganzas filled with anachronistic music and visual overdoses of color, so it’s no surprise that the trailer for his adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” an American masterpiece with a reserved, grimy tone and a passive narrator, created a buzz as mercurial as the mysterious Jay Gatsby himself. Like a shot of prohibition era bathtub whiskey, reception is divided between those who are happy to have another serving of the classic, and those who are turned off by the unconventional flavor of the new direction. The title character isn’t introduced until the third chapter in the book, so his characterization up to that point is revealed by the gossip of clueless speculators.  Likewise the Internet is crawling with trolls ripping into the guts of an unfinished movie – that won’t be released until Christmas – based on a two minute put together by a marketing team with no emotional or creative input into the finished product.

This isn’t the first time F. Scott Fitzgerald’s bacchanalian portrait of the “roaring twenties “ has made an appearance on the screen. Its predecessors aren’t exactly memorable, except perhaps for the lack of chemistry between Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Luhrmann’s version, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire, offers a refreshing perspective on the themes of greed, obsession, and opulence that defined the tale of a man, ashamed of his modest upbringing, who turns to bootlegging and other illicit activities to raise a fortune and regain the woman he lost.

Those who criticize Luhrmann for failing to replicate the serious tone of the book should keep in mind that Mr. Gatsby is ultimately brought down by his futile attempts to recreate the past. Adaptations that aren’t given the space to roam from the source material are seldom met with critical praise.

Though the film takes place in 1920s, elements of the trailer are unmistakably modern, perhaps as an attempt by Lurhmann to apply the story’s theme to a contemporary audience. It was shot in 3D with a budget that was well over a hundred million dollars, which is unusual for a film not featuring talking robots, nuclear explosions, and masked vigilantes.

Much of the criticism also comes from the trailer’s score, which features music from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Jack White’s cover of U2’s “Love is Blindness” instead of tunes native to the time period. It’s not known yet whether Luhrmann will use modern music for the film itself, but based on his previous work, it would not be a surprise. It may not be a bad thing if he does. The book was written over fifty years ago, and chances are, much of the movie going public has not read it. Fans of the novel do not need to be persuaded to buy the ticket, but if the film hopes to turn a profit, it better attract those who aren’t familiar with it.

In any case, any press is good press, and the current uproar incited by the trailer has to be good news for the film’s producers.

Checkout the trailer below and give us your take.

Hollywood Cinematography At The Tip Of Your Iphone

      Portable Cinema


The smartphone is modern man’s new appendage. If you’ve ever left it charging on the counter, as you enter the realm of rush hour traffic, you’ve likely felt handicapped, as if someone chopped off your dominant hand for the day. Smartphones are also the fastest growing, most widely absorbed form of technology in history according to this MIT Study, so it’s no surprise that there is an entire industry devoted to making the phone an extension of the consumer.


This evolutionary climate change has infiltrated the landscape of guerilla cinematography. The quality of viral movies is surging in proportion to their popularity. Check out this short film made entirely on the Iphone.

While smartphone cameras still have their limits, the Olloclip lens kit for the iPhone is the latest tool to bring a professional edge to mobile videos. It connects to your iPhone 4/4S within seconds, and with a simple flip, you can shuffle between fisheye, wide angle, and macro lenses. It will add unique variety to the often stagnant compositions available on most phones, and it fits in the palm of your hand. The storage bag is made of a micro fiber material that doubles as a lens cleaner.

The Ollokit is the perfect companion for anyone who uses the iPhone to chronicle his/her daily escapades, but it’s also a step in the right direction for amateur photographers and videographers who use their creative innovation to compensate for small budgets. At just under seventy dollars, it’s a third of the cost of similar products, and a fraction of the cost of the phone itself!

It’s also an indication of the integrative trend of mobile technology. The future is about efficiency, portability, and customization. Check out some sample videos below.

An intro to the lens system:

http://youtu.be/74HP-_2_nD0

Check out the Micro Lens in action

This is the Fisheye 

http://youtu.be/YxWtqJy5hEg

Movie Monday Review: The Avengers

If you went to the movies this weekend, the odds are nine to one that you saw The Avengers. Marvel’s latest hymn of adrenaline serenaded the hearts of nerds and casual fans alike, smashing opening weekend records along the way, as if the Incredible Hulk himself spiked the box office during a touchdown dance.

It became the fastest film in history to gross 200 million domestically (twelve days), set single day records for Saturday (69 million) and Sunday (50 million), and cashed a combined international check of 640 million dollars. To put it in perspective, only eleven films in history have joined the billionaire’s club. The Avengers will likely be the twelfth by month’s end. It will enter the one percent of cinema royalty where it will mingle with such monumental films as Avatar, The Dark Knight, and The Return of the King.

There were an insurmountable number of variables that went into the film’s production. A few of the more intriguing components are as follows:

The Set Pieces

The “Helicarrier” is a giant aircraft carrier with flight capabilities and a half-mile waistline. It’s iconic to the comics; so it was important to memorably highlight it on film. S.H.I.E.L.D’s floating fortress filled two of Albuquerque Studios’ soundstages (the whole production took six of eight), was as wide as half a football field, and took five months to build.

The Cameras

The film was shot using cameras on two ends of the financial spectrum. It was Seamus McGarvey’s (cinematographer) first venture into the world of digital video and he chose the Alexa by Arri. With its tonal range, clarity, and resolution, the Alexa is praised for bridging the gap between the film and digital shooting formats. It has been featured in a plethora of feature projects since its release in 2010. McGarvey used a 1.85:1 aspect ratio to account for the varying heights of the characters and the Manhattan Skyline.

With its 220 million dollar budget, splurging on elaborate set pieces, an all-star cast, and top end equipment is to be expected, but some of the film’s more intimate shots were filmed using Canon’s EOS 5D Mark 3 DSLR. With an ISO range as low as 50(L) and as high as 102400(H2), compact portability, and pristine HD quality, the Mark 3 proves that quality doesn’t require Tony Stark’s credit limit. It has also been featured in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The First Avenger.

The Marketing

Marvel’s financial success blossomed from one of the more fertile  product placement seeds in recent memory. Who among us didn’t gasp at the sight of Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer) as it crashed into the Earth after Iron Man 2? Tony Stark may have nonchalantly used  Captain America’s iconic shield as a prop, but it enchanted the audience because it foreshadowed the origins of Steve Rogers. The Avengers has already grossed more revenue than Thor, Captain America, and the two Hulk films did throughout their theatrical runs. Its presence radiated throughout the public subconscious years before its debut, and every Easter egg, and post credits scene left the audience foaming at the mouth like Pavlov’s dogs.

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