SF Film Club: Production Design & Performance (#3)
A Film Club for Filmmakers in Tech
The SF Film Club is a series of small gatherings for filmmakers creating at the intersection of tech and film. Meetings look like this.
The club screens:
recent major releases from tech twitter
members work (with permission)
shorts & feature films (where relevant)
special requests from members
We host lessons around the fundamentals of film:
directing
writing
producing
cinematography
production design
acting/performance
music composition
editing
and more
It is a collaborative environment focused on craft, study, sharing ideas, mutual learning, and growth. The goal is that you walk away from every meeting a more informed and confident filmmaker.
Our 2nd meeting’s Luma can be found here.
This Meeting
Last meeting we looked at Mirror (1975) and The Color of Pomegranates (1969), 2 films that almost completely abandon traditional act structure. This meeting, we will focus on 2 new topics, production design and performance.
The meeting’s structure will look like this (slides):
Scene Breakdowns (~40m)
We’ll look at 5 pieces across these 2 themes:
Production Design — How do filmmakers tell a story through production design? What happens when nothing is left to chance in the frame? We will look at Jacques Tati’s Playtime (1967) and Kogonada’s Columbus (2017).
Performance — How do filmmakers use performance to do the talking? What does compelling performance look like? We will look at John Cassavetes’s in Faces (1968), Possession (1981) from Andrzej Żuławski, and Meet Lume by Offscript.
RAINBOW PARC* — Future Memories (~30m)
The team from Rainbow Parc* (@krishmysoor @nikhilganesh001 @producer_neil) will share and break down their newest film Future Memories.
Community Presentations (~40m)
We have 3 slots for community presentations (each ~10m long). If you’ve made something, or found something interesting — reach out to @bephrem (or email [email protected]) and I’ll add you to present.
SV Film Fund
We have a $15,000 short film grant open for submissions. Learn more at svfilm.fund.
…
Friday, 4/24, 6:30-9pm. Snacks will be provided.
(Reminder of the) Goals of the Club
#1 — Community: Create a sense of community, friendship, and belonging for filmmakers producing work in tech.
#2 — Bar Raising: Raise the bar for visual storytelling in tech. We aren’t even close to what’s possible. Create the conditions for impossibly good work to get made and create the environment + collaboration that makes that possible.
#3 — Industry Forming: Accelerate the emerging storytelling industry to full fruition. It is still only a small scene right now, with independent filmmakers working in silos. I believe it can be much much larger.