What’s up good people?! It’s your weekly roundup of all the short film and movie news you desire. It has been a whirlwind week for itsashort.com after the SXSW Film Festival in Austin. It was an amazing Stretch of talks, meetups, screenings and networking opportunities.
One of the best SXSW discussions we attended featured Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams. All told, 2,000 people attended the discussion, which occurred directly after President Barack Obama’s keynote.
Abrams talked about the impact of technology on filmmaking, particularly as it relates to the making of The Force Awakens:
The idea was, in the case of Star Wars, to both create a sense of analog authenticity visually, and most importantly to make sure the humanity of the characters wasn’t getting lost wherever possible,” he said. “That was our ambition, it’s up to every viewer to decide whether that worked — but that was the idea, to try and make sure the movie felt as human and as emotional as possible.
#SXSW See you next year! We leave you with a short clip of signing hour of #jjabrams and @andrewjarecki #StarWars pic.twitter.com/FKQmIqZyIr
— It's a Short (@itsashort) March 16, 2016
Abrams, who participated in a discussion alongside writer and director Andrew Jarecki, also advised filmmakers to take this approach when incorporating technology into story:
The challenge with what we all do, using whatever technology is that we use, is to hide it, in a way,” Abrams said. “The machinery — whether it’s the technology of what a story is, the map of a story, whether it’s the technology you’re using to code something — you’re trying to make that invisible so that the audience or the user is having as effortless an experience as possible and they’re as engaged as possible.
Truth.
Don Cheadle Talks Miles Davis
If you thought that was groovy, the SXSW panel discussion with Don Cheadle was absolutely phenomenal. The actor talked about the making of “Miles Ahead,” his biopic on jazz legend Miles Davis.
“I wanted it to be something that was innovative and crazy and kind of gangster,” Cheadle said of the movie.
“I was more interested in making a movie in the way that I think Miles Davis would approach that medium, and create a film that he would want to star in as opposed to making a Cliff Notes version of his life.”
Cheadle, who directed, co-wrote and starred in the film, went to great lengths to convince Davis’s family members that he was the right guy for the lead role, according to one relative.
“This guy Don Cheadle, he really cared what the family thought,” said Davis’s nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. “He really wanted our input, a lot of times you sign on the dotted line and that’s it, then the director changes their phone number.
“He took time on his break and had us come to his trailer. He really cared.”
“Miles Ahead” hits theaters April 1, and we at itsashort.com can’t wait to see it.
You can watch the rest of Cheadle’s conversation below:
Perfect Match
We would be remiss if we did not mention the latest accomplishment by our friend Brandon Broussard. Brandon served as a co-writer for the film “The Perfect Match,” which stars Terrence Jenkins, Paula Patton, Lauren London and Brandy Norwood (yes, that Brandy). The film was directed by Bille Woodruff and executive produced by Queen Latifah.
It’s a fun, romantic comedy about a playboy who meets his match in the love department.
Check out the trailer for this cool, funny flick below:
Again, a huge mazel tov to Brandon for the release of the film, which is in theaters now. Go out and support.
Our Mission
Itsashort.com is a platform for filmmakers and creators the world over. We love the short film genre. Plus, we at itsashort.com want to introduce audiences to award-winning and award-nominated artists who create movies, web series and videos. Check out itsashort.com and register to see the wonderful work of these creatives here.
