Uncut Gems

Started by wilder, September 24, 2019, 08:39:00 AM

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Drenk

Ascension.

Fuzzy Dunlop

The Safdies version of "Couch"

Robyn

Saddest shit I've ever seen. Life is tough out there.

I was waiting for it to end with Scotty Doesn't Know, though. Glad they are diverse in their sources of inspiration!

Quote from: Fuzzy Dunlop on January 16, 2020, 03:48:49 PM
The Safdies version of "Couch"

As in it's the peak of their career?

jenkins

I won't be there but

Knocked out of the fairfax cinemas opening

35mm print headed to new bev

Q&a with bros

Double with the object of beauty

http://thenewbev.com/program/february-6-uncut-gems-the-object-of-beauty/

mogwai

Not surprisingly a great performance by Adam
Sandler. I personally feel his performance in PDL is ok but I think he definitely has grown as an actor.

©brad

whoa hello old friend!

WorldForgot

The high-tech secret behind the stunning cinematography of 'Uncut Gems'

QuoteThat sensation of constant propulsive force was a tonal must for the film, but the Safdie brothers' particular filmmaking methods made that a unique challenge. The co-directors get some of their best material by fostering a sense of spontaneity, so they eschew marks — electrical-tape X's on the floor tipping off actors on where to stand — and encourage free movement about the set. They also believe that actors work best when hulking machines aren't all up in their faces, so they prefer to situate their cameras far from a scene's action and shoot using super-long zoom lenses. "The margin of error in these extreme closeups is less than an inch," says Chris Silano, Khondji's A-camera assistant on Uncut Gems.
[...]
That would be Howard Preston, the inventor of the Light Ranger and a friendly guy who's modest about his estimable achievements. Preston Cinema Systems has been expanding the frontiers of what cameras can do since the late 1980s, a time when the changeover to video had experts rethinking a lot of what they'd taken for granted. Preston envisioned a way to improve on the autofocus system for both analog and digital cameras. "Something affordable, viable for on-set use, something that could fit in a case," Preston says. "The idea was a device that someone already handling the work of adjusting focus could use, which wouldn't require a specialist on the payroll."

Throughout the 1990s, Preston produced three beta versions of what he'd dub the Light Ranger. (The name refers to the pulse of infrared light used by "time of flight" cameras.) It made the work of keeping a subject in clear view simpler and more intuitive. "The puller" — the person working the knob that keeps the images onscreen in focus — "could simply press a button, and as long as he kept the crosshair on a subject, they'd stay in focus," Preston says. "It was purely mechanical."

The most prominent early usage of the Light Ranger 1 took place on Without Limits, a 1998 sports drama about distance runners. The renowned Conrad L. Hall had signed on as director of photography, and found the Light Ranger tremendously useful in calibrating on-the-move closeups of running legs.

Also impressed was Tom Cruise, who'd stepped in as producer on the film while gearing up for Eyes Wide Shut with Stanley Kubrick. Kubrick had already achieved legend status among gear nerds for using ultra-rare lenses acquired from NASA to shoot 1975's Barry Lyndon by candlelight, and Cruise rightly assumed the Light Ranger would be of interest to the auteur.

"Eyes Wide Shut, heh, that's a fun story," Preston chuckles. "Stanley gave me a call, which was quite a surprise. I was incredulous, naturally. I spent a few weeks with him in London during the filming, and that was a wonderful experience. But we couldn't make it work, because his approach changed quite a bit from the time of our chat to when he actually began shooting. He ended up using lenses that didn't necessitate so much of the Light Ranger. We had a conversation about putting this to work on his next film, but unfortunately, he never got the chance." (Kubrick died in 1999, prior to the release of Eyes Wide Shut.)

Jeremy Blackman

I think this is the best acceptance speech I've ever seen.

  https://youtu.be/ihalG3Rw_QA

jenkins


mogwai


Freddie Dodd




This legend was snubbed for his authentic performance as "Holly Roller."