Archive for the 'General Stuff' Category

ASTERNAUTS – A sci-fi comedy short on kickstarter!

It’s been quiet around here for quite some time now, but don’t worry, we’ve been quietly working on “The American Backroom” in the background and news will be coming soon. Also, we’ve been developing a couple other projects and one or two of them just gained monemtum over the last couple of months, meaning that they consumed more and more of our time.

Now, here’s one of these other projects: ASTERNAUTS. A sci-fi comedy short film in Austin, TX, by a fantastic young director: Marta Masferrer. We’ve met Marta at the Berlinale Talent Campus in February, a section of the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival, where she was a finalist of the Berlin Today Award producers pitching session with her project, meaning she pitched it to ten producers from Berlin, including us. We immediately fell in love with ASTERNAUTS, not only because it is one of the best comedy short film scripts I’ve ever read, but also because it is set in the same America that we also like to explore with “The American Backroom”. A perfect match, so wie picked it. And Marta picked us as producers.

Long story short: The film will be shot in early September in and around Austin, and we are also providing full post production in Germany at the end of the year. It’s our goal to get it finished on time for a premiere at next year’s Berlinale! But we still need a little push from you to get it made: We have just launched a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter to close our final gap in financing. Please take a look at the campaign and become part of something great! We have some fantastic rewards for your pledges, and you can also support us by sharing this campaign to your family, friends, co-workers, anyone… Please tweet us, facebook us or even google+ us :) We very much appreciate any contribution towards ASTERNAUTS and thank you so much for your help!

by Admin | July 18, 2011 | 0 Comments
General Stuff, Links, Production and USA

Blizzard Timelapse over America

Due to recent events here’s 20 hours of a blizzard storm comprised within 40 seconds. The snow just won’t stop! Hang in there!


(View directly on vimeo)

by Alex | December 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff

Trailer for Wim Wenders’ 3D film “Pina”

After Werner Herzog’s 3D documentary another legendary German filmmaker brings you a highly artistic 3D film for art house cinemas: Wim Wenders’ PINA.

This is going to be unlike anything 3D that came out of Hollywood so far. It’s dance film and documentary and all in all a beautiful homage to the late Pina Bausch, the famous choreographer of the Tanztheater Wuppertal. Check out the trailer below! Unfortunately in 2D only, so you have to imagine what it looks like in the depth of a 3D screen… I’ve been lucky enough to see bits of it in 3D already and I can assure you, this promises to be an amazing piece of film art that beautifully and expertly explores the pairing of stereoscopic filmmaking with movement in space as created by the dancers through Bausch’s extraordinary choreography. And with another art house 3D film coming to theaters it’s also paving the way for more highly artistic 3D content including our 3D doc “American Backroom”. So tell your friends and be in line when the film hits 3D screens in early 2011.


(SternTrailerPremiere)

by Alex | December 11, 2010 | 7 Comments
General Stuff, Inspiration, Production and Stereo 3D

American Ruins in 3D

American Ruins in 3D! That sounds almost like a scene from THE AMERICAN BACKROOM… or rather like a photo project by Matt Bergstrom. He’s creating three View-Master Sets of abandoned buildings in decay.

“American Ruins” is a three-dimensional, photographic series exploring unusual, abandoned buildings — like a candy factory! — to be viewed on an old-fashioned View-Master. Both an exploration of architectural history and a fun throwback to childhood, backers will receive their very own View-Master viewer and a complete set of reels!

Matt needs a little financial support to get things started so he launched his project on Kickstarter: American Ruins in 3D! How cool is that. Definitely worth our support. Click the image below to check it out:

by Alex | September 15, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff, Stereo 3D and USA

First art house 3D documentary premieres in Toronto

Here it is, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”, the first documentary film in stereoscopic 3D that is targeted at – let’s put it – more sophisticated art house audiences, and hopefully it paves the way for many more films to come, including our little project here. Directed by legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog (whose wonderful documentary “Encounters at the End of the World” already is one of the inspirational sources for THE AMERICAN BACKROOM) “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” leads us into the caves of Chauvent-Pont-d’Arc in France, famous for its extensive cave paintings. Since said cave is not open to the public, I guess you could call it utterly fantastic that Herzog chose stereoscopic 3D to capture images from inside.

The bad news is, so far there are no known theatrical release dates. And considering the numbers of smaller art house movie theaters in Germany that are actually able to screen a digital 3D documentary, I don’t see much hope for it being released in the near future. I’m afraid major theater chains won’t even consider it. It’s a pity. I can only speak for Germany right now, but there is an ongoing (and neverending) discussion about adding and financing digital projection systems to smaller theaters – and right now it seems that the digital revolution on art house screens over here has failed.

Back to “Cave” that premiered last night at the Toronto International Film Festival, and IndieWire got one of the first reviews:

Herzog naturally plays up the enigma at hand with epic grandeur, occasionally overdoing it but usually hitting the mark. Introducing the setting with a majestic crane shot (particularly immersive in 3-D), his camera soars above the cave and surveys the desolate landscape. Unleashing cosmic observations about “the abyss of time” and the like, Herzog ventures into the darkness with his small team, carefully illuminating the 35,000-year-old artwork within. The profoundly magical aura of the footage ranges from charcoal etchings of animals in motion (“almost like a form of proto-cinema”) to hints of attempts at self-portraiture (“as if the human soul was awakened within them”).

Head on over to IndieWire for the full review.

by Alex | September 15, 2010 | 2 Comments
General Stuff, Links and Stereo 3D

3D-Tag auf ARTE mit Alfred Hitchcock und dem Schrecken vom Amazonas! Holt Euch bei uns die passenden Brillen…

On August 28 franco-german TV network ARTE will be broadcasting two classic films shot in 3D: Alfred Hitchock’s “Dial ‘M’ For Murder” and Jack Arnold’s “The Creature From The Black Lagoon”. In order for you to watch it you only need anaglyph 3D glasses. The American Backroom and MovieBrats are giving away 10 sets of the official ARTE 3D glasses – for FREE! All you need to do is write an email to 3D@moviebrats.com, as subject line use “3D glasses” and don’t forget to insert your mail adress into the email. PLEASE NOTE: This sweepstake is only available for participants located in Germany, since we can send glasses only to mail adresses in Germany.

by Admin | August 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
General Stuff, Links and Stereo 3D

Happy Fourth of July

by Admin | July 4, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff

Writing for 3-D

The L.A. Times’ Steve Zeitchik asks the question, if the current 3-D hype is affecting the way screenplays are written. The future of filmmaking that he is describing seems a bit overstated, though. For instance, he’s writing:

While [many directors and writers] express a general enthusiasm for the form, they say executives don’t always grasp all the complexities of adding that extra dimension. As the 3-D storm continues to gather, they point out that 3-D will affect much more than whether a filmgoer picks up a pair of glasses: It will change what films get made, and even the very nature of cinematic storytelling.

While it is true that the big studios are greenlighting more and more films that are a safe bet in 3-D, I don’t think, that the very nature of cinematic storytelling is at stake. It’s more a question of movie genres, and as long as Hollywood’s idea of 3-D filmmaking is limited to 3-D spectacle like action or horror, than yes, writers are forced to write mainly for the spectacle. But sooner or later the time will come, when 3-D is no longer a matter of poking things out of the screen. Even for smaller and more intimate films 3-D can be a stylistic device utilized by the director, cinematographer and editor. Thus, 3-D does not necessarily have any impact on the written word. After all, characters and plot won’t get any better, simply because they are written for 3-D.

I just like to emphasize screenwriter John August’s comment on that:

I’m currently writing a film which is designed to be black-and-white and 3-D. Reading the script, you’d never know it.

For me, I’m very excited about the first 3-D films that are not for the sake of mere spectacle. AMERICAN BACKROOM is one of those alternative 3-D projects, and I am sure, until it gets released, there will be many other films utilizing 3-D in an unexpected way. Just be open-minded, when they come along. You can read about our thoughts on the possibilities of 3-D and documentary filmmaking right here. Steve Zeitchik’s L.A. Times article still seems to be taking sides with 3-D sceptics, and – not surprisingly – is closing with the following quote:

I don’t want to watch “Precious” in 3-D.

I don’t know if that was his intention or not, but it’s funny how it stands in perfect contrast to what Martin Scorsese had to say about 3-D: “Why couldn’t a film like “Precious” be in 3-D? It should be.”

What do you think?

by Alex | April 30, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff, Production, Stereo 3D and Equipment

Happy Birthday, DigitaleLeinwand.de

English language version coming soon

by Admin | April 29, 2010 | 0 Comments
General Stuff, Links and Stereo 3D

On the road: A word about accomodations

When traveling on a shoestring budget – like we did during research last fall – you generally aim for the cheapest accommodations you can get. In our case, we are talking about those cheap and seemingly endless motel chains that cover all of the United States. In fact, our budget for the whole trip was so small, we even had to go with the cheapest of the cheap. No exceptions.

Our first stay was in Newark, NJ, close to the airport. Our plane came in late at night, and we couldn’t get our rental car before the next morning. The hotel we had booked offered a free shuttle service from and to the airport. And so we were waiting with many others at the shuttle area to get picked up. Shuttle busses were constantly coming and going: Imagine brand new vans from Mariott and Hilton, from Best Western and Holiday Inn, painted in the respective colors of their hotels, dropping of travelers and picking up new ones. Drivers helped carrying luggage, loading and unloading. We kept waiting. And slowly began doubting if there was ever going to arrive a shuttle service for us, too.

Well, no reason for a doubt. Just a little more waiting, and an old Dodge van turned into the shuttle area. The Dodge’s color would have been grey, if it wasn’t for all the rust. This van was so dented you could only guess that it took part in Monster Truck Shows in its free time. Not as Monster, apparently. In the windshield was a piece of paper that read Howard Johnson Hotel. That’s our ride! I don’t have to mention that the driver was just a driver, no porter. And as if we needed another confirmation we kept looking for other travelers that needed a shuttle to Howard Johnson Hotel. But we were the only ones. After all, the hotel itself was absolutely sufficient. Our room was right in the middle of the airport approach path and next to the Interstate that went into Manhattan, but we were far too tired to even think about it.

Continue reading ‘On the road: A word about accomodations’

by Alex | April 21, 2010 | 3 Comments
General Stuff, Links, Production and Travel