by Xeni Jardin.

Virgin America, the airline on which you can watch Boing Boing’s very own television channel with our hand-picked videos, is producing the “first-ever film made at 35,000 feet,”— Departure Date. Photography took place on Virgin airplanes and covered “3 continents, 28,000 miles, and 20 hours of in-flight shooting.”

Departure Date was written and directed by award-winning writer and director Kat Coiro (L!fe Happens, While We Were Here and A Case of You) and stars Ben Feldman (Mad Men), Nicky Whelan (Hall Pass), Philip Baker Hall, Luis Guzmán, Janeane Garofalo and Max Brown.

Read the rest of this article (and see the trailer) at Boing Boing.

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from Knife Edge Creative.

Ten years ago, I was asked by Heart n Soul Director, Mark Williams, to direct the filming of the Heart n Soul Experience – a pumping soul/funk outfit fronted by Heart n Soul singing legend Lizzie Emeh.

We worked on a number of films documenting, communicating and campaigning around Heart n Soul’s key initiatives, which aim to empower artists, regardless of disability, to create art that touches and changes people’s lives.

It became apparent that a number of Heart n Soul members were interested in writing, directing and acting in their own films – and so a unique collaboration was born between Heart n Soul and Knifedge.

The collaborative process seeks to mentor Heart n Soul artists in the creation of moving image content. And through Knifedge,  they are given opportunities to work with top film and TV industry professionals who donate their time to the realisation of an individual artist’s work.

Gerry Tracey’s film, Twinkletoes - was our first success, and won Best Newcomer at the 2010 Scottish Mental Health Film Festival. With the use of animation, the story of the extraordinary relationship between Gerry and her cat was brought movingly and sympathetically to life. It was screened throughout the UK on the Big Screen Network, moderated by the BBC.

Read the rest of this article from Knife Edge Creative.

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by Prior Aphter.

I was standing in front of a room of aspiring actors. While they were taking their seats, my mind began to wander. I was once these young hopefuls. I had once had undiluted dreams and aspirations about this industry; however, after a decade of working in the entertainment industry the realities of filmmaking and being a professional actor have taken its toll.

As I began talking, the eyes of these eager actors are bore into my soul and I could tell that they were starving for information to help make their journey as easy (and successful) as possible. While I had planned on delving into various acting techniques, I decided that it was more important to teach these young ones about the actual art of filmmaking as it pertains to the actor.

Read the rest of this article from Yahoo! Voices.

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by Kim Adelman.

Kids today are still making Super 8 shorts. The urge to remake “Raiders of the Lost Ark” continues to be irresistible to young men. And pencil drawings have not yet lost the battle to Flash in the realm of teenage-produced animation.

A two-part screening of high school shorts at the Los Angeles Film Festival confirms that the output, hearts, and minds of teen filmmakers remain reassuringly familiar.  If these are the standard bearers for the future of filmmaking, their rallying cry seems to be back to basics.

Read the rest of this article from IndieWire.

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by Fred Wilson.

I was talking to a longtime reader of this blog, Chris Dorr, last night. Chris has been working in the film industry for a long time and blogs at the Tribeca Film Festival Blog. We were talking about changes in the film business and Chris blurted out that “filmakers and software developers need to start sleeping together and it is starting to happen.”

Filmmaking is art, particularly great filmmaking. But the art of filmmaking has always been based on a number of fundamental scientific inventions. And Chris’ point is that the art of filmmaking will continue to be impacted by scientific inventions that are happening in real time.

Read the rest of this article from Business Insider.

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by Times of India.

Having swept the top honours at the 83rd Academy Awards – including the Best Motion Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Lead Role – The King’s Speech joins a long list of critically acclaimed films that took liberty with historical facts. To expect otherwise would not be reasonable. Good cinema has never been about getting historical details right but about dramatising history in a manner that connects with audiences.

Period dramas always leave scope for nitpicking, but that is hardly the point. Unlike in the movie Braveheart William Wallace never wore kilts. Roman emperor Commodus wasn’t killed in the Colosseum as in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator. Perhaps the love story between emperor Akbar and Jodhaa Bai in Jodhaa Akbar was exaggerated. Gandhi wasn’t the blameless saint portrayed in the film Gandhi. So what? All these films have the power to move us, and convey history in a manner that’s relevant to large sections of the audience. And in the end, that is what matters.

Read the rest of this article from Times of India.

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by Angelo Bell.

This is an email I sent to a friend when she asked about my new position and disposition on film-making fans vs film fans.

I am a huge movie fan and my taste in movies is as eccentric and eclectic as anyone’s. I’ve spent the last week or so being a MOVIE FAN, not a FILMMAKER FAN, because a lot of the tweets and retweets and #FB status messages are from filmmakers who are fans of other filmmakers, not their movies.

Read the rest of this article from AngeloBell.

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by Valerie Williamson.

Consider ways to analyze how technology influences style and genre in filmmaking, and if digital photography is a stylistic influence in popular film & TV.

Content analysis is a primary method of investigation in film and television studies. The skills developed in the process of making analyses are very useful to a career in screen production. Genre analyses may be made through a variety of ‘lenses’, depending on what the proposed outcome of the study may be. One such ‘lens’ is that of technology.

Read more at Suite101.

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This article was written by MaryLynn Schiavi.

He peers out into the world at people, places and objects, but what he sees is something different than most. Filmmaker and photographer Harry Hillard, 55, is intrigued by, and passionate about, the use of light, and has dedicated his career to mastering it and using it to convey a particular reality.

Hillard, a lifelong resident of Bridgewater, earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at New York University Film School and has worked as a professional still photographer and filmmaker for more than 30 years.

Read the rest of this article from BridgewaterPatch.

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This article was written by Amy Outland.

Many of the films nominated for Academy Awards this year are based on true stories.  Films based on true stories are often compelling for audiences but according to Steven Zeitchik, real-life stories make the filmmaking process harder for directors, actors and other industry executives.

You’re probably thinking that there can’t possibly be that many films based on true stories in theaters now right?  Wrong.  According to Zeitchik’s article From Real To Reel, there are at  least thirteen such films including 127 Hours, The Social Network, The King’s Speech, Conviction, The Fighter, and Love & Other Drugs, just to name a few.

Read the rest of this article from Entertainment.

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