Film Formally returns! What's changed?

1. We're a video podcast now! 

Otherwise, you know the drill:  Devan Scott and Willa Harlow Ross - and sometimes a guest - dive deep into the formal building blocks of cinema. Or sometimes preservation. Or sometimes even more niche academic topics! All the stars are here.

This week: Devan went and made a video essay debunking myths about shooting format size, and it stirred up some controversy! We're here to sift through the pieces and and answer some questions about exactly we talk about when we talk about format size. We'll discuss the finer points of image formation, perspective distortion, rectilinearity, and why industry icons inadvertently perpetuate misconceptions.

Welcome back!

Chapters:

Shownotes and Resources: 

WORKS CITED:

Devan's video essay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nqa-OBV5ik

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING.

Please note that, due to sync necessities, there are a few gaps in the episode’s discussion: we’ve filled with with snippets of Will’s original score for the film.

A box of stunning family photos unseen for decades awakens lost memories as they are viewed for the first time on camera.

In this episode, we discuss:

Hybrid documentary and fictional elements.

Still Processing’s long production and post-production schedule.

Photographic storyboards.

Audience expectations and documentaries about grief.

Composing the score.

What did we learn?

Sophy’s films can be seen on the CRITERION CHANNEL - feel free to sign up for a free trial if you aren’t a member.

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.

Old dogs are celebrated in ten short stories about love, loss, and letting go.

In this episode, we discuss:

Why the CBC hired Sophy to make a dog documentary.

Cinemascope as a canine-friendly aspect ratio.

A talking head documentary without talking heads.

Documentary structure.

Will and Sophy’s correspondence editing style.

Sophy’s films can be seen on the CRITERION CHANNEL - feel free to sign up for a free trial if you aren’t a member.

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.

A young woman grapples with the declining health of her beloved dog in this film about mortality, cloning, and Barbra Streisand.

In this episode, we discuss:

Creative “Labour” and filmmaking.

Cross-country collaboration.

Norman’s TIFF pass.

Conceptual cinema.

The opportunities afforded by non-traditional modes of production.

Sophy’s films can be seen on the CRITERION CHANNEL - feel free to sign up for a free trial if you aren’t a member.

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.

Two women trade stories of misogyny while carving pumpkins over Skype as part of a Halloween tradition.

In this episode, we discuss:

The film’s extremely truncated pre-production and production timelines.

Ultra low-budget filmmaking and unconventional production methods.

Structuring 45-minute conversations with editing.

Documentary, fiction, and the way that PUMPKIN MOVIE inadvertently became a hybrid of the two.

Sophy’s films can be seen on the CRITERION CHANNEL - feel free to sign up for a free trial if you aren’t a member.

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.

An unexpected encounter during an afternoon at the cinema catapults a young woman into a confrontation with her own grief.

In this episode, we discuss:

Creative geography.

The learning process of collaboration.

Working with actors on an indie budget.

Remastering NINE BEHIND and IT’S HIM.

Restructuring IT’S HIM in post-production.

The transition from the relatively large production of IT’S HIM to the stripped-down minimalism of PUMPKIN MOVIE.

FILM FORMALLY is back! This month, friend of the podcast Sophy Romvari’s films are premiering on the CRITERION CHANNEL and to mark the occasion we’ve recorded a set of commentaries for six of these films - NINE BEHIND, IT’S HIM, PUMPKIN MOVIE, NORMAN NORMAN, IN DOG YEARS, and STILL PROCESSING. We’ll be releasing one per week for the next six weeks.

Calling her grandfather in Budapest to learn about the Hungarian film industry, a woman instead finds the conversation shifting to her family’s history.

Sophy’s early works leading up to NINE BEHIND.

The influences and production of NINE BEHIND.

The lessons learned on this set and how they informed Sophy’s next film, IT’S HIM.

It’s our one-year, 43rd-episode spectacular, and we’re once again answering your questions! We go deep on the new WONG KAR-WAI restorations, our thoughts on Zach Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE, the merits of handheld camera operation, film scores, not one but TWO aspect ratio rants from Devan, and more!

But first, some NEWS.

We’re going to be taking a bit of a hiatus, and we’re adjusting our Patreon to reflect this. In the interests of keeping the quality of this podcast high and sustainable, we’re going to take our time with the next season. It’ll be ready whenever it’s ready, but it will happen! As such, our Patreon will now be structured on a per-creation basis. Our previous tiers will be retired in lieu of $1 and $2 per-creation tiers.

(04:24) Criterion’s THE WORLD OF WONG KAR-WAI box set, and our mixed feelings on the changes made to the films contained within.

(29:11) Handheld vs Tripod: the final showdown.

(33:58) Will opines on this year’s film scores.

(40:43) Zach Snyder’s JUSTICE LEAGUE: it’s out! What do we think?

If you’d like to support the show, here’s a link to our Patreon. We’ve also released a bonus mini-episode wherein we discuss PREFACE TO A HISTORY and THE MARTYR.

How an acclaimed director’s versions of a famous film be unavailable for decades — when there’s nothing stopping their release? How can a small group of fans gather the evidence and means to reconstruct those versions? How can they finally have a hand in its official release? Endless passion — and a lot of luck. It’s a subject and film as near and dear to our hearts as any, and we’ve brought on superfans Benji Heran and Jordan Krug to talk about the film prints, continuity scripts, and years of tireless, unpaid passion that they’ve put into preserving Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Adapting literary works to the screen involves a certain amount of translation. There are certain things that are easily conveyed in writing that cannot be conveyed in a straightforward way onscreen; likewise, there are elements of cinematic language that open up new routes to expression. John Le Carre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a useful case study in this regard: it has been the subject of two acclaimed adaptations that could not be more distinct in the toolkit each uses to translate book to screen. We’ve invited Tim Brayton, film critic at Alternate Ending, to discuss both the 1979 John Irving adaptation as well as Tomas Alfredson’s 2011 take.

Literary accuracy versus formal expressiveness in adaptation.

Focal lengths, zoom lenses, and the observational mode.

1970s BBC television house style: is it any good?

Narrative obscurity.

John Le Carre’s stylistic toolit as a writer and the challenges it poses for adaptations.

The construction of performances through lighting and framing.

Mark Strong: MVP?

If you’d like to support the show, here’s a link to our Patreon.

Works discussed during this episode:

The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)

Smiley’s People (1982)

The Little Drummer Girl (1984)

The Tailor Of Panama (2001)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

A Most Wanted Man (2014)