Jason Maeda

who cares if he's a drunk? he does great work. It isn't as if he works at a bank. I've worked for countless fashion photographers and all the really good ones were just like him. The rest sit around and talk about movies like "The Departed" as if it was something worth watching. "Oh i think Leo really deserved an Oscar nod blah blah blah..." Ask them who Robert Bresson is and you'll get crickets. It is a bunch of bullshit and god bless him for knowing the difference.

"the terrorizers" is so great, worth buying even without subtitles. that's really too bad. I'll look around nyc and let you know if i find out anything.

Max that sucks. Keep an eye out for asian film festivals: In between the J-Quirk and K-Horror you might see Taiwanese New Cinema. Also, here in NY, they recently had a great series on local public television. Also, do you have a multi region dvd player? you might be able to get a dvd directly from an asian company. also, maybe a bootleg off of ebay. It's too bad Yang's films haven't found better video distribution in the west. I guess it's better than the days when there were no dvd's at all... Hou Hsiao-Hsien has a bunch on dvd, though. Don't start with "Millenium Mambo", it's his weakest feature. And "Flowers of Shanghai", while great, uses a constantly moving camera so it doesn't fit the criteria of the films we are talking about.

Edward Yang was a great filmmaker. Max, there are so many amazing films that came out of the "new cinema" movement in 80's and 90's Taiwan. They explore various techniques and subject matter, but the fixed, long take medium-to-long shot is ubiquitous. Later on, the camera moved more, with mixed results. Hou Hsiao-Hsien, "Edward" Yang, Zeng Zhuan-Xiang, Wan Jen, Tsai Ming-liang... watch everything by these directors.

Umm... I don't get it. Anyway, I just thought it was a shitty thing to say to someone, and in this case factually incorrect in that you said it to the only member of this whole forum making a grand-scale hollywood film. You're entitled to your opinion though, Tiger.

My friend tells me it's set in New York, but with a Japanese influence. I saw that Ghost in the Shell is in pre-pro for a live action remake as well. There is no way they are going to leave all that dialogue intact. Probably more of a dumbed-down, "Matrix" style plot-line. Regardless, there is potential in these two projects to do some very interesting things in terms of cinematography and cgi.

I'm sure it will be well done if for no other reason than there will be ONE strong leader running the show. It seems to me that a lot of films that rely heavily on new technology can suffer as a result of too many chefs. I've worked with Cameron before... he's insane, and I mean that as a compliment.

hahaha. Wow Brad, maybe a little research next time, guy. Anyway, I know what you're saying: negativity can be a drag, or whatever, but I think if contemporary art suffers from one thing it is that all the power has been taken away from the audience and has been given completely to the artist (read: art dealer). A little discernment out of people would be pretty refreshing. I don't think it's any great secret that it's pretty fu**in hard for an artist to squeeze a great film through the Hollywood system undamaged.

Anyhoo, I threw "Paris, Texas" in as a result of this thread. So, thank you fellow cinema lovers.

uhhh... ok.

I didn't see any mention of this film anywhere else in the forums, but according to a couple of my friends it's in production, full steam ahead. I'm wondering what direction the look will go, and how close to Otomo's vision you plan on staying. Congratulations, btw.

Man you people are the biggest group of loser butts. Stop obsessing about the U.S. and get on topic. This forum is weakened every time someone draws the conversation onto issues of politics or race or ideology or religion or cultural beliefs. God, you fu**ing retards can't even spell correctly with spell-check embedded in the software. Go fu** yourselves or read a book or something.

I don't know if anyone needs to be called a slut... I've worked with Jen and she's great. She's really camera shy actually. Anyway, I also don't know if being a lighting assistant for photographers is the same as being a grip - i flew biz class and stayed at the Chateau Marmont every other weekend, but I most certainly was "below the line" if such a thing exists in fashion photography (it might as well) - but I and many of my assistant friends absolutely f'd our way through hollywood and the model agencies. Those chicks all want hang with the one straight guy in the room who acts normal with them, instead of staring at their tits and laughing at all their stupid "for-the-whole-room-i'm-the-talent" jokes. Whoever said "free t-shirt tucked into wranglers" is a genius. By the way, before 9-11 Adriana Lima dated and lived with a photo assistant for like 4 years. She's about as smart as my foot but cool as hell. jm-k :ph34r:

Sorry I know this is way late but I've been busy as all hell. I can't really compare No Country... with The Assassination..., I just thought the first was a much better film with stronger direction. As usual the Cohens' hands were clearly visible in the cinematography right from jump street, and the deliberate nature of the film (in shooting and thematically) was a pleasure to behold. I was really into all scenes that took place at the drug-deal-gone-bad location and the one scene with the dog chasing James Brolin's kid was especially beautiful. The changing light was striking and effective. The suggestion of off screen space seemed unusually convincing for the Cohen's (it's hard to credit that to Deakins without knowing how big a role he played in all the factors needed for that to happen), but then it's been a while since I saw most of their films. interesting comparison to Rolling Thunder someone made. Didn't Paul Schrader write that? What an awesome writer. jm-k :ph34r:

spectra film and video. I have never had a problem with their work, the colorist will sit on the phone chatting for hours if you want, and they will guard your film like it was a live baby. jm-k :ph34r:

Niki i got your sarcasm. At the same time I don't think either argument can be made very definitively. There has always been a high-gloss standard to meet for many films (often bigger budget, wide audience pictures) as well as anti-perfectionists at work behind the camera, be it for artistic reasons or purely out of lack of interest (or money). Cloverfield was a big budget film that looked to intentionally run counter to the idea of pizzaz cinematography for a violently ultra-realistic effect, while The Blair Witch Project, a very similar film in style, did the same probably as a tactic to offset sparse production resources. Stan Brakhage made amazing films without using a camera, forget lights and gloss! Blade Runner is a marvel of art direction and cinematography that continues to influence dp's twenty years later. (almost 30?) Check out Hou Hsiao-hsien's work. It is absurdly beautiful, without resorting to common "prettification", and totally without artifice. jm-k :ph34r:

I don't get it... I wasn't joking about anything. jk :ph34r:

i have a super 8 dof chart. every page you open just says "yes". ha ha actually, i think the american cinematographer's handbook has super 8 charts. http://www.amazon.com/American-Cinematogra...3354&sr=8-1 jk

good ideas, david.

those are really good topics david. I might add "creating convincing eyelines" with blocking and camera angles...

he's a great shooter. hell, he made a whole generation of film goers think "in the mood for love" was a great film!!! jk :ph34r:

no problem jk :ph34r:

" I can keep going if you like?" yes, for your 8th post ever, please "keep going". jk :ph34r:

"Being high and incomprehensible should really help your career." obviously you've never met Chris Doyle...or ANY fashion photographer, for that matter! ha ha, seriously, though. I personally know big shooters who pretend to have thicker accents than they really have in order to seem more elusively genius than they would if they spoke perfect english. Then again, back in the day "reciprocity test" was our code for doing coke behind foamcore, so I'm sure we aren't all that coherent. Still, the quality spoke for itself... jk :ph34r:

Anne, John went out of his way to help me on more than one occasion and was truly a special man. You should be so proud of him. Jason Kollias