Film Formally

Movies these days are dim, flat, dull. You know it, we know it, everyone seems to know it. But is it true? If so, how did we get here? If not, is it mere nostalgia, or is something deeper amiss? To sort through the wreckage of this discourse, Film Formally gets back to basics with a Willa-and-Devan-hash-it-out special.

In today's episode, James Flower and James White from Arrow Video join us to discuss the world of film preservation and boutique home video labels, and in particular their recent release of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy. 

The story of this restoration of Leone's opus is one of years of false starts, hunts for reference prints and high-quality source materials, navigation of complex technical hurdles, and maddening quality-control processes. Join us as we tell the tale!

00:00 - Introduction to Arrow Video

Works Cited:

Arrow Films:

Shownotes and Resources: 

If any modern colourist has seen it all, it’s Dirk Meier. From the long-take trenches of the early digital masterpiece Russian Ark and the boundary-pushing slow-motion of Antichrist, to emulating distinct formats in Happy as Lazzaro and Romeria, Meier has witnessed many of the key inflection points in digital cinema. Now, he joins Film Formally to share his war stories, the lessons he’s learned along the way, and his philosophy for look-development and aesthetic frameworks in the digital era.

We discuss how to conceive and define visual language through an analytical lens, breaking down images into variables of color, texture, and motion. We also dive into insights from Meier’s collaborations with directors like Roy Andersson and Lars von Trier and cinematographers like Hélène Louvart, explore the nuances of celluloid and MiniDV emulation, and the ways in which digital workflows allow for nonlinear image design.

00:00 - Introduction

Devan's LetterBoxd list on Digital Cinema: https://letterboxd.com/devanagscott/list/digital-cinema/

Edited by Griffin Sheel

Shownotes and Resources: 

In this extra-hot special emergency dispatch episode, Devan's in Bologna, Italy at Il Cinema Ritrovato, the world's premiere archival film festival! Every year, tens of thousands of cinephiles gather in Italy to watch old movies presented anew. He's joined by Tom Charity, VIFF Centre's year-round programmer, to discuss this remarkable festival, the films they saw, and all the questions raised by various methods of film exhibition.

Chapters:

00:00 - Welcome to Bologna

Shownotes and Resources: https://www.filmformally.com

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.