While SHOOT has covered crossover chapter and verse over the years, it’s a dynamic particularly prominent in this week’s issue. We offer the DGA Award nominees story which includes David Fincher’s accomplishment of gaining nominations in both the feature and commercial categories, as well as our features in the Editors & Post Series–one on spot savvy editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter of Rock Paper Scissors who cut the Fincher-directed The Curious Case of Benjamin Button; the other on commercial editors who contributed to fare at the recently concluded Sundance Film Festival.
Adding an extra dimension of social importance is the latest crossover endeavor of hybrid artist Larry Bridges, founder of Red Car. Director/editor Bridges has helmed a series of video conversations with leading authors as part of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture.
The Big Read–which the NEA presents in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest–brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.
Bridges (who also edited several of the videos, with others cut by his Red Car colleagues) directed insightful individual conversations with such luminary authors as Amy Tan, Rudolfo Anaya, Tobias Wolff, Ernest J. Gaines, Cynthia Ozick and Ray Bradbury.
These videos will be screened at assorted venues, most notably at Big Read events in some 400 U.S. communities in ’09 during which attendees get the opportunity to read and discuss a single book, with related sessions such as author readings.
Bridges’ conversation with Bradbury reflects the inspirational spirit of the Big Read. Bradbury talks about his childhood, which was energized by his love of books and his “discovery” of public libraries. His fascination with dinosaurs, fairy tales, ideas and humanity led him to his career pursuit. As a struggling writer, he needed an office and recalls his first professional workspace, the basement of a UCLA library where he could rent a typewriter for 10 cents a half hour.
For a typewriter expenditure of $9.80, he wrote The Fireman, the predecessor to what became the now classic Fahrenheit 451. He came upon the title of that book by calling a fire department chief in downtown Los Angeles, asking him at what temperature book paper burned. The response was 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Big Read hopes to address a big need. An NEA report titled Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young (a more recent study shows an encouraging bit of improvement on this front for adults but there’s much more progress to be made).
The Big Read includes innovative reading programs in selected cities and towns, resources for discussing classic literature, a national publicity campaign and a website providing comprehensive information on authors and their works. Log onto www.neabigread.org.
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More