4th Annual New Directors Showcase
On May 25, SHOOT unveiled its fourth annual New Directors Showcase reel. The 25 helmers–including three two-person teams–selected for the Showcase come from diverse backgrounds. However, the bond they share is great style, vision and commitment–whether it be reflected in comedy, visuals or storytelling. Helping fashion the Showcase lineup were entries from SHOOT‘s ongoing “The Best Work You May Never See” gallery, assorted submissions, and feedback from agency creatives and producers. Here’s a look at this year’s field:
Jody Lauren Miller
No company affiliation
Aquafina 2006 Resolutions’ Siphoning (Web film)
How did you get into directing?I began my production career at NFL Films. I started out edge numbering film as an intern and slowly advanced to popping film cores as a production assistant. I was so good at my first two jobs that I quickly moved up to crashing Avids as an associate producer. I finally achieved my ultimate goal of having an office with a door. Between writing scripts, editing segments, and directing shoots it wasn’t too hard to figure out that directing was the coolest part of the whole process.
Why do you want to direct commercials?I have such a passion for directing spots. I love the :30 story and the challenge of making “it work”.
What is your most recent spot project?I just finished going through the Group101Spots program. Group101 has been the most amazing whirlwind of insanity that I am not even sure which spot was my last. I shot seven spec spots in six months with my own money so I am a little dizzy. But after a good nap I can say with much certainty it was Dunkin Donuts’ “Status” for Dan Cassidy.
Do you have plans to work in other areas–e.g., shorts, films, features or TV? Have you ever done any of that in the past?YEH! I’m certainly focusing 100% on spots right now, but like every director I too can say, “I have a screenplay, or 3, I want to shoot!”
What do you think is the best part about being a director?There are a lot of “best parts”. For example: getting the right performances from your actors, taking an idea scribbled on a napkin and turning it into something great, being around all kinds of talented and ambitious people. There really isn’t much I don’t like about directing.
What’s the worst part?The pressure — no wait — I love the pressure. The hours — nahhhh — I can do an 18-hour day no problem. So I’m not really sure what the worst part is for me. I have had my share of bad production experiences, but the absolute worst ones were when I was a PA … so as a director I’m not going to complain about much.
Review: Writer-Director Andrea Arnold’s “Bird”
"Is it too real for ya?" blares in the background of Andrea Arnold's latest film, "Bird," a 12-year-old Bailey (Nykiya Adams) rides with her shirtless, tattoo-covered dad, Bug (Barry Keoghan), on his electric scooter past scenes of poverty in working-class Kent.
The song's question — courtesy of the Irish post-punk band Fontains D.C. — is an acute one for "Bird." Arnold's films ( "American Honey," "Fish Tank") are rigorous in their gritty naturalism. Her fiction films — this is her first in eight years — tend toward bleak, hand-held verité in rough-and-tumble real-world locations. Her last film, "Cow," documented a mother cow separated from her calf on a dairy farm.
Arnold specializes in capturing souls, human and otherwise, in soulless environments. A dream of something more is tantalizing just out of reach. In "American Honey," peace comes to Star (Sasha Lane) only when she submerges underwater.
In "Bird," though, this sense of otherworldly possibility is made flesh, or at least feathery. After a confusing night, Bailey awakens in a field where she encounters a strange figure in a skirt ( Franz Rogowski ) who arrives, like Mary Poppins, with a gust a wind. His name, he says, is Bird. He has a soft sweetness that doesn't otherwise exist in Bailey's hardscrabble and chaotic life.
She's skeptical of him at first, but he keeps lurking about, hovering gull-like on rooftops. He cranes his neck now and again like he's watching out for Bailey. And he does watch out for her, helping Bailey through a hard coming of age: the abusive boyfriend (James Nelson-Joyce) of her mother (Jasmine Jobson); her half brother (Jason Buda) slipping into vigilante violence; her father marrying a new girlfriend.
The introduction of surrealism has... Read More