On this podcast episode I interview Hannah about her work on The Planters, a quirky, character-driven comedy that won Best of the Fest, Best Cinematography, and Best Song at Nashville Film Festival. Along with Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah co-wrote, co-directed, co-starred, and co-shot the film. The Planters ended up taking 127 days to shoot, and Hannah and Alexandra were the only crew members on set.

Some of the things we discuss include

• How to shoot a high-quality film with a two-person crew
• The camera and lighting setups they used for the film
• How the stop-motion sequences in the film came together

At the end of the episode you can hear a preview of “You and Me Together,” the film’s award-winning song from Phil Danyew.

Sponsor for this Episode

nsavides productions – I make friendly, engaging videos for earnest people.

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This is Up to Date, a short comedy about a blind date gone wrong. It’s the first live-action short I directed a few years ago, and it was written by Stephen Hoover. His script Damage Control was a finalist in the Nashville Film Festival’s screenwriting competition, and he helped to make possible my podcast festival coverage.

More of my videos are here.

Say hello: podcast@nsavides.com

Related Episode

If you’d like to learn more about how comedy works, then check out this interview I did with Steve Kaplan. He teaches comedy workshops around the world. Companies like Dreamworks, Disney, HBO, Paramount, and Touchstone regularly hire him as a consultant and script doctor. 

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Related Things

• Nashville Film Festival
• The Planters
  • Facebook, IMDb, Instagram
• More of my podcast coverage of Nashville Film Festival

• Shortcut for the podcast: nicksav.show

Additional music for the show provided by Rob Costlow.

If You Liked the Show

• Donate $1 to help keep the show going.
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• Subscribe or leave an honest review:

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Thank you for visiting!

The post How to Make an Award-Winning Film with a Two-Person Crew: The Planters appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

All three are from Fable House, a production company in Baton Rouge that has produced over $2 million in content. Whether shooting commercials for Toyota and Airbnb, working with artists like Kendrick Lamar and 30 Seconds to Mars, directing films with all kinds of creatures (including the dreaded zombie shark!) or doing effects work for projects like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Game of Thrones, and Star Trek: Into Darkness, Matt, Misty, and Sam truly have experiences that run the gamut of what film production involves.

This is a variation of the postcards we handed out at SXSW, which were designed by Shelby Criswell.

Some of our discussion topics include

The post Our SXSW Live Show with Fable House! appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

Thus far, The Shape of Water has received a Golden Globe for Guillermo, it won the 23rd Critics’ Choice Award for Best Picture, Director, and Production Design, and Dan’s work on the film was nominated for an Outstanding Achievement Award by the American Society of Cinematographers. Quite possibly the film will receive more accolades as we progress through this awards season.

On this episode we discuss

• What Dan does for inspiration
• How he likes to prep for a show
• How he works with a director and a production designer to develop the colors used in a film
• Specific stylistic choices he made on John Wick 2, Crimson Peak, and The Shape of Water and why
• How he has collaborated with Guillermo del Toro and what he’s observed about his shooting style
• His approach to shooting challenging content

Want to hear another camera-related episode? You might appreciate this interview with Douglas Kirkland, the iconic Hollywood photographer and Canon Explorer of Light who has photographed stars throughout the ages, from Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, Marilyn Monroe, and other legends of Hollywood’s Golden Age to more contemporary stars like Sean Connery, Meryl Streep, and Nicole Kidman.

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Films Mentioned

• Apocalypse Now
• Brotherhood of the Wolf
• Citizen Kane
• Crimson Peak
• Frankenstein (1931)
• John Wick: Chapter 2
• Lawrence of Arabia
• Mimic
• No Country for Old Men
• Pan’s Labyrinth
• Rebecca
• The Shape of Water

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Books Mentioned

• The Divine Comedy
• Gilgamesh
• Harry Potter series
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• The Odyssey

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The post Shape of Water Director of Photography: Dan Laustsen appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.

Paul’s IMDb photo

In this interview, Paul talks about the challenges of working with visual effects, how to plan for a period piece, and what are some of the tradeoffs between shooting a big-budget film and shooting an indie.

Listen to the podcast here:

[powerpress]

Related Things

• Paul’s IMDb page
• Paul’s vimeo page

The car he borrowed from James Dean … 

• The Southern Screen Film Festival
• My rather unconventional blog post on James Dean.

If You Liked the Show

• Sign up for The nsavides Newsletter. (Look up and then look left, pilgrim.)
• Subscribe or comment!  
• Say hello on Twitter.
• Check out Support the Show! for more ideas. (Beware: The ideas might be too unconventional for some. Proceed with caution.)

The post Matrix and Mad Men Cameraman: Paul Sanchez appeared first on NICKSAV Film & Music SHOW.