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Akeelah and the Bee


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For those of you in the Ohio area, "Akeelah and the Bee" (featuring cinematography by our very own David Mullen) will be playing on Thursday, March 16th at 7pm as part of the opening night gala for the 30th Annual Cleveland International Film Festival.

 

Special guests include Director Doug Atchison and actress Keke Palmer. You can find out more at http://www.clevelandfilm.org

 

(I have no affiliation with this other than being a Cleveland Film Society member. Just passing on the information for those of you who may be interested.)

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Craig: Do you know if one can buy an individual ticket just to Akeelah and the Bee? I see that they are selling tickets to individual films, but I don't know if that policy applies to opening-night shows as well. I wasn't very happy with the festival overall last year, and can't really afford buying an all-day pass either. . In any case, I look forward to seeing my first David Mullen film! Impress me Dave!

 

Regards.

 

~Karl Borowski

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Do you know if one can buy an individual ticket just to Akeelah and the Bee? I see that they are selling tickets to individual films, but I don't know if that policy applies to opening-night shows as well.

 

After looking in the programme (and deciphering the confusing membership 'levels' and ticketing rules, it seems as though Upper Level members get in free and that tickets are available to the public, but in limited numbers - non-members pay $25 for just the film, or $125 for the film and the reception.

 

In any case, I look forward to seeing my first David Mullen film!

 

Do yourself a favour and check out "Northfork".

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After looking in the programme (and deciphering the confusing membership 'levels' and ticketing rules, it seems as though Upper Level members get in free and that tickets are available to the public, but in limited numbers - non-members pay $25 for just the film, or $125 for the film and the reception.

Do yourself a favour and check out "Northfork".

 

I've given up non-theatrical film presentations for Lent ;-) Maybe one of these days I'll see it in rotation in the Cinematheque circuit. On a more serious note, do you know what it costs to become a member Craig?

 

Regards.

 

~Karl Borowski

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This is what they have listed on their website:

 

FilmStudent - $25.00

FilmBuffSingle - $50.00

FilmBuffDual - $75.00

FilmFanatic - $110.00

Director - $395.00

ExecutiveProducer - $495.00

MovieMogul - $695.00

 

The "big three" get free entry into the opening night gala.

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If you want to see something of mine that is more visually stylized and photographically striking, see "Northfork". "Akeelah" is grounded in a more straight-forward realistic look and there was always a limit on how moody I would ever be allowed to make it look.

 

However, as a movie experience, I'm very proud of how "Akeelah" turned out and I hope a lot of people go see it. Good script, good acting, etc.

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After watching DEBs I wanted to come here and say how great an example it is of what HD can do. I thought if the hairlights had been just a tad lower in intensity, I wouldn't have been able to tell the that it wasn't shot on film watching on a tv of course. Not blowwing smoke up your --- I really do think it was better than Badass. Badass had too much depth of field and detail enhancement, just way to sharp. Even though it was a comedy and from what I understand low budget, DEBs was impressive cinematography. What kinds of lens did you use? Some of the CG was good but there were one or two parts that looked so fake that it took away from the movie, like the scene where they drive through the underground tunnel. When people ask about HD vs Film I will refer them to either this movie,Once Upon a Time in Mexico, or Collateral.

 

I understand Akeelah and the Bee will be one of the first movies to be sold at Starbucks. That'll be huge I bet for the movie. Yeah after this I hope and pray that you will get a big budget drama to help continue your success.

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If you want to see something of mine that is more visually stylized and photographically striking, see "Northfork". "Akeelah" is grounded in a more straight-forward realistic look and there was always a limit on how moody I would ever be allowed to make it look.

 

However, as a movie experience, I'm very proud of how "Akeelah" turned out and I hope a lot of people go see it. Good script, good acting, etc.

 

I saw the trailer the other day, and I really like the look a lot. Yes, it's a more naturalistic and less stylized look than Northfork, but good-looking naturalism can sometimes be hard to pull off!

 

I especially like the way the light sources are more in the indirect/ambient range of light (as opposed to being more source-motivated); having soft light that comes from a couple directions can look very beautiful and still sculpt some nice modeling. The soft, sheen-like edge light not only appears naturally motivated but also looks especially good on African-American skin.

 

I also recognize how much of a challenge this can be with anamorphic lenses; you often have to pump up the light level beyond what would be "natural" just to get it to look natural.

 

A classy and elegant look. Kudos, David.

 

Watch the trailer here!

It looks especially good in HD if your system can accomodate it.

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Some early reviews came out. In regards to my work, Variety said it was "well-lensed" by me and the Hollywood Reporter said my photography was "clean & crisp". Nice comments, I guess, although not exactly high praise...

That's still a far cry from low praise. Congrats are in order.

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