Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
At Filmmaker Magazine, Vadim Rizov on the 39 releases in 2014 that were shot on 35mm:
Last year, I posited that Boyhood‘s use of 35mm seemed to be a kind of special effect as much as anything: committing to film ensured an internally continuous look over 12 years of production whose uniqueness would survive despite a digital intermediate and no prints being struck for American release. This type of use of 35mm, separate from its ongoing viability as an exhibition format, was one common reason cited for its use in 39 2014 US releases originating in whole or substantial part from it. That’s a list that’s probably not complete: collating the release calendar against the technical specifications primarily quickly obtainable from IMDB is a flawed process with more informational gaps than you’d expect. It also doesn’t represent the use of film in the industry as a whole, like Bryan Singer using Super 8 and 16mm for ’60s/’70s period ambience in X-Men: Days of Future Past or 16mm’s continued use in the avant-garde.
Following Leviathan‘s online leak, a producer has launched a site to collect donations rather than combating it, Torrent Freak reports.
After reading our extensive interview with Bradford Young, watch a 50-minute discussion with the cinematographer:
At The Dissolve, Scott Tobias on codes, chaos, and the world of Heat:
Michael Mann’s crime epic Heat, Robert De Niro plays Neil McCauley, a professional thief who resides in—and presides over—a modern home of glass and steel overlooking Los Angeles. As with the home of William Petersen’s tormented detective in Mann’s superb 1986 thriller Manhunter, the space mirrors the man: It’s clean, spare, focused, and more than a little distant. Neil’s dedication to the job forbids any personal connections. His mantra: “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you’re not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” Yet Neil gets lonely like anyone else, and he’s drawn into a relationship with a graphic designer (Amy Brenneman), whom he takes to his castle in the sky. They kiss on the balcony. All around them, Los Angeles is arrayed as Neil sees it every night, as a display case full of beautiful, glittering jewels, there for the taking.
Watch Michael Ballhaus discuss shooting The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant:
Jeff Cronenweth discusses his career and shooting Gone Girl at Deep Fried Movies:
I had a Bolex Super 8 when I was in junior high school and we made five or six pretty bad movies. (laughs) Later I had various Nikons and then went to film school at USC and was able to graduate from Super 8 to 8mm then to 16mm and 35mm. But even before I got accepted to USC, I was working in the industry as a (camera) assistant. So I’d worked on a number of projects before film school and I had even started Buckaroo Banzai (1984) with my dad, though he and the studio didn’t finish the movie together.
Watch Sleater-Kinney’s latest “music video” featuring Brie Larsen, Miranda July, Sarah Silverman, Evan Rachel Wood, Ellen Page, Andy Samberg, and many more: