Feature & a short

Episode #25 - WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that background skip to another one of our episodes.

Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Setting Up in Post-Production Differences, which focuses on how to set up a project in post-production.

What differs the most between working on features and shorts is which software editing you use. Owner of Fourwind Films’ Justin Joseph Hall suggests Premiere for faster turnaround time and Avid for longer projects. He also gives us some tips about folder structures and file labeling. Specifically that organization skills are extremely important in post-production. Know your camera. Know your codec. You wanna make sure that things will sort in a logical manner in order not to cause yourself a lot of work towards the end of the post-production process.

Here is a link to our folder structure template that is mentioned in the episode.

YYYY-MM-DD (Name of Project)

Host - Justin Joseph Hall.

If you have any post-production questions, email Justin directly at [email protected] or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.

Produced by Fourwind Films

Host: Justin Joseph Hall

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, Additional Music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Episode #24 - Welcome to another COVID film list Feature & a short Black Media Matters which focuses on the importance of black voices within the film industry and how diversity within the cinema space benefits the art form. For so long black talent has been suppressed within the industry but when a diamond shines so bright, one can’t help but notice it in the rough; Paul Robeson who began making films in 1925 with Body and Soul. Josephine Baker who was the first black woman to star in a film in 1934 with Zouzou. And perhaps one of the most influential black filmmakers, Spike Lee who made his mark as a staple director with his first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It.

With so many gifted black filmmakers & actors, it can be hard to narrow it down to a mere listicle; but in this episode Justin Joseph Hall and Laura Davi hone-in on some of their favorite films which also happen to focus on stories that revolve around black lives, experiences, and issues. (Spoiler alert: Spike Lee is mentioned more than once on the feature films list and throughout the podcast.)

Short films discussed include Hair Love, Child of Resistance, 3 Brothers: Radio Raheem, Eric Garner and George Floyd, Dock Ellis & the LSD No-No, and Halfway Home: A Father’s Story.

To donate to the Connecticut Children with Incarcerated Parents, please check out their website here.

Feature films include The Butler, 13th, If Beale Street Could Talk, Malcolm X, Pursuit of Happyness, and Do the Right Thing.

And perhaps just as important as the filmmakers themselves are the actors & actresses that help bring the craft to life. These artists, plus additional filmmakers mentioned by Brian Trahan during this episode, are as follows:

Charles Burnett (Director) - Nothing but a Man

Viola Davis (Actress) - Fences

Jordan Peele (Writer/Director) - Get Out

Oprah Winfrey (Actress) - The Color Purple

Thandie Newton (Actress) - Crash

Melvin van Peebles (Writer & Actor) - Classified X

Debbie Morgan (Actress) - Eve’s Bayou

Thanks for tuning-in! Stay safe.

Produced by Fourwind Films

Host: Justin Joseph Hall

Contributor: Laura Davi

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, Additional Music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Episode #23 - Welcome to a totally COVID kind of Feature & a short. Fourwind Films has decided to dedicate a podcast to talking about the best of the contagion films seen by our accountant Laura Davi, and your host, Justin Joseph Hall who has been called a movie encyclopedia. We redirect our documenting of our small film events to bring you our second film list episode!

The definition of an epidemic an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area and affects an exceptionally high proportion of the population. We are doing this episode because our lives have been stagnant and we’re looking for ways to cope.  Films are a quick way for humans to process other people’s minds.  So what will this list do for you?  If you watch these films, you may help understand the conditions of contagions in society through the medium of film.  These are the films we think are the best at communicating what life might be like during the time of a contagion.

First we discuss the BEST SHORT and FEATURE FILMS since STAY AT HOME ORDERS March 22nd in New York 

Tusalava

This animation film appears all over YouTube.  A great few minutes to take a step back and reflect.

The Shawshank Redemption

Frank Darabont watched Goodfellas (1990) every Sunday while shooting this film and drew inspiration from it, on using voice-over narration and showing the passage of time. 

Place Beyond the Pines

Compelling two part story about family and mystery with hunky lead actors, Bradley Cooper and Ryan Gosling.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

We loved this film so much we actually watched another film from Céline Sciamma’s earlier work as she’s been making films over the past two decades.  The real similarities I noted in her style is her use of music.  The absence of a score until the music is so utterly embedded in the moment or feeling of the film.  The silence let’s the music drive emotion more when it is present and Céline has mastered this art in Portrait of a Lady on Fire.  Also, best title ever.

BEST CONTAGION FILMS - Movies that teach us about possible scenarios of human spread contagion

Fast Spreading Contagion Films list

Philadelphia

TriStar the studio actually felt there was a need for this film, not so much about the disease, but to have Jonathan Demme have a homosexual main character was essential in the director and studio’s eyes.

Dallas Buyers Club

This is one of those “based on a true story” that isn’t quite accurate but is more of a conglomeration to express the mood of the times.  Based off of the man Ron Woodroof, but the film budget was incredibly low and they shot the film on twenty-five shoot days.

High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell

Everyone knows the crack epidemic.  Wordlwide 585,000 people died as a result of drug use in 2017.  COVID-19 is 232,180 at the moment.  This story is visceral, not only is my favorite film by Episode 21 guest, Jon Alpert who was a producer and cinematographer on the film.   Jon and the team with Downtown Community Television captured Christian Bale’s character Dicky Eklund.  It’s only an hour and packs an unbelieveable wallop

Thriller

The death count of zombies is unknown and presumed to be zero.  But this metaphor for disease and/or stupidity is a favorite in the film genres.  This film is my short, very closely followed by One Cut of the Dead that Thomas introduced me to in our 2010’s Fresh Air Award Episode.  Director of Blue’s Brother’s SNL spinoffs, John Landis spent half-a-million dollars in the 1980’s making this 13 minute film.

Requiem for a Dream

Based on a book written by Hubert Selby, Jr. in 1978.  Greeks, Egyptians, Sumarians, Chinese, Americans, Germans all have encountered this seemingly endless contagion in our society.  Darren Aronovsfy makes this disease live through music and compression of time.  He orchestrates everything you may notice in drug use, especially heroin use.

These are our top Contagion films, please write us at [email protected] or shout out to us on social media for the films we overlooked @fourwindfilms

Host, Justin Joseph Hall

Produced by Fourwind Films

Host: Justin Joseph Hall

Contributor: Laura Davi

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Episode #22 - Christian Felix is an actor from Chicago now based in New York City. He now regularly does a specific kind of acting in diversity training, which is one of the coolest jobs you’ve never heard of previously. No matter what you say about Christian, he is definitely a professional storyteller. On top of him expressively recounting amazing adventures , he’s a spectacular listener. This is what makes him successful throughout his years and his willingness to be professional in all setting yet still have fun. The exact person you want on any filmset.

Christian’s theme for the episode is how film sets can be fun and funny or incredibly contentious and still create great works of art. The short film Book Club by VARIETY SHAC Christian brought is a film where he was a background actor with hilarious comedians (Chelsea Peretti and Fred Armisen to name a couple) where his main job was not to laugh. He talks about other television sets such as the show Blacklist that were more stressful and lead us directly into his feature choice Blue Collar.

Blue Collar had three lead actors who were in a tif during the time of shooting. Richard Pryor, Harvey Keitel, and Yaphet Kotto were all told they were the lead and drugs and feuds lead to a rough set life as Christian explains in descriptive detail. The story centers around worker’s unions and the fight of the worker against the larger system is a story that continues to be retold and relived throughout the test of time.

If you want to hear more of Christian, please check out our podcast We Don’t Even Know where he co-hosts with Shonali Bhowmik.

Produced by Fourwind Films

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, extra music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Welcome to a totally different kind of Feature & a short. Inspired by the podcast format of Filmspotting’s Best of episodes and award shows, Fourwind Films has decided to dedicate a podcast to talking about the best of the 2010 decade. We’ve picked a panel of four people who love films to discuss their favorite films of the decade. At the end the group will be begin a Fourwind tradition giving out the Fresh Air Award for the film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art form during its decade.

The four people in the panel to discuss the years 2010-2019 are: Justin Joseph Hall, Thomas Kelsey, Jasmine Szympruch, and Elizabeth Yoo. They all are New York based cinephiles. For each below category each panel member presented 5 films. The group chats movies around a table in a normal New York apartment, heaters, fridge noises, sleepy dog and all.

First the panel discusses the best shorts of the decade. To prevent spoilers below is the link to all the nominations. Read the description to see who nominated them:

Best shorts of the 2010

Second the panel jumps to discuss the best features of the decade. Below is the link, read the description to see who nominated them:

Best features of the 2010’s

Third the panel is giving away our first Fresh Air Award for the film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art from. We plan to give away a Fresh Air Award each year for our final episode for the entire following decade. This is our way to honor commercially successful experimenting in film. Below is the link, read the description to see who nominated them:

2010’s Fresh Air Award Nominees

Hope you enjoy, please share with us your lists, comments, arguments, and for sure films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms

Thanks for listening, Season 4 to come shortly!

Credits for Season 3 podcast:

Produced by Fourwind Films

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer

Theme song of Season 3 is Johnny's Tune In Waltz by Salitros Ridin’ Rainbow

Interlude music by Sun Nectar

Thank you to Laura Davi, Daria Huxley, and Thomas Kelsey for helping throughout Season 3 of the podcast. Thank you to Cisco Bradley & Jennie Romer by hosting us at New Revolution Arts for one podcast.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.

Episode hosted by Daria Huxley.

Episode hosted by Justin Joseph Hall.