#filmuncovered

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Foxcatcher was captured on Kodak three-perf film, a creative decision that according to cinematographer Greig Fraser, gave the film a more "organic" feel.

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When it came to lighting design for Foxcatcher, cinematographer Greig Fraser says "simplicity was my mantra."

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Rhythm Is a Danger

There's a story behind every great performance. In the film Whiplash, Damien Chazelle examines the rigors of life as an artist.

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From Rock Star to Entrepreneur: An Interview with Interlude Founder Yoni Bloch

The man who is reimagining the way we tell stories is also an international rock star. We interviewed Yoni Bloch, musician and founder of the interactive video platform, Interlude.

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When Mohit Israney heard Aloe Blacc’s “Ticking Bomb,” all he saw was a man, running.

Where was he going? Why was he running? Israney didn’t know the answer just yet, he just knew the man in his vision was trying to chase the clock. 

“It connected to some gods in my heart,” says the 26-year old filmmaker from India. “It signified time. I felt, as human beings, that time is something that goes away. It’s over. It’s over for all of us.”

One of the three winners of the Tribeca Interactive & Interlude Music Film Challenge, Israney created an interactive choose-your-own-destiny film to accompany “Ticking Bomb.” Israney stretches his legs in independent film whenever he has a break between movies, and this is his first foray into music videos. The principles he has learned on the movie set motivated him to create a work that many people can relate to.

“If you have to make something, it should be something worthwhile,” says Israney. “I really like to make something which leaves an impact on your mind. It should be something emotionally moving. When you watch it you should feel something. It should be something you just want and don’t remember.”

The story Israney wanted to tell in his film was a snippet from his own life. “I had a granddad who passed away in my arms. He asked me to come home that time, and I made it on time,” says Israney. “While I was making this, I didn’t realize, but it’s a dedicated story to him.” For Israney, the fear of not getting to that happy ending was a haunting look at himself.

This interpretation of Blacc’s song was created by Israney as part of the Tribeca Music Film Challenge, which we developed with our friends from the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to explore the evolution of film. Aloe Blacc himself chose the winning film.

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As a skateboard kid on the streets of Poland, Jakub Romanowicz always wore headphones emitting the soothing sounds of Damon Albarn. Today at the age of 26, Romanowicz works as a filmmaker and animator, and still finds inspiration – and a sense of home – in the work of Albarn.

“He is such an inspiring artist for me,” says Romanowicz. “With every project, he is more adult, more experienced. My age was the same as his projects.”

Romanowicz is one of three winners of the Tribeca Interactive & Interlude Music Film Challenge. His submitted work is an interactive film created to accompany Albarn’s song “Heavy Seas of Love.” Watch as Romanowicz’s protagonist, an animated robot, starts out a rough day in an even rougher city. Then, using the film’s interactive interface, help guide him to a happy ending. Each choice that the viewer makes can change the look of the video itself.

“I always wanted to do something with little robots,” says Romanowicz. In one of his favorite songs by Albarn on an earlier project, the artist sings about humans having robotic and repetitive tendencies. He wanted to turn this concept around and show the possibility of machines having gentle, vulnerable emotions. “This robot, he’s struggling in London. He’s lost. I was in London last year. I was alone and I was lost there.”

The filmmaker wanted to make a work that was relatable to the lost soul, and provide the reassuring and soothing tones that Albarn had always provided to him with his music. “I thought, maybe I will connect these things: robots, my trip to London, and great music of Damon’s.” Coincidentally, the “real park” that is a visual choice at the end of the interactive film is a park in Romanowicz’s hometown in Poland. A signifier of not being found, but being in “safe hands.”

For Romanowicz, the impact of technology on filmmaking is just getting started. “We need to find a way that people can choose their own [story], really their own. You can write something, maybe, and make it happen. I don’t know,” says Romanowicz. “But it’s really great for now.”

This interpretation of Albarn’s uplifting track was created by Romanowicz as part of the Tribeca Music Film Challenge, which we developed with our friends from the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to explore the evolution of film. Damon Albarn selected the winning film.

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“For me, Ellie Goulding is a mermaid,” says Szabó. “Maybe she came from another world.”

Máté Szabó, one of three winners of the Tribeca Interactive & Interlude Music Film Challenge, created a visual interpretation of Ellie Goulding’s “Dead in the Water.” Szabó achieved an enchanting work that was beloved by the artist herself.  “I wanted to create something she would love,” says Szabó. “And she did, apparently. She chose it.”

Szabó was not only inspired by Goulding’s unique siren-like voice, but he immersed himself in her aesthetic. Her repeated use of triangles and pink-blue gradients in the artists’ earlier music videos and album artwork intrigued him. Her noticed that her fans had appreciated and adapted the look in their social media profile pictures, creating a world of liquid-like galaxies when discovering her music online.

Szabó felt that Goulding’s aesthetic strongly evoked the work of ancient Greek mathematician Thales who taught that the repeated use of a geometric shape like triangles could mimic a fluid object, like water, despite being pointed. Szabó was entranced.

The 24 year-old Hungarian filmmaker plans to continue making art and interpreting what inspires him. His drive for success is outshined by his eagerness to learn. “I think nobody can be a professional,” says Szabó. “Everybody needs to learn for their whole lifetime, you know?” 

This interpretation of Goulding’s powerful track was created by Szabó as part of the Tribeca Music Film Challenge, which was developed with our friends from the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to explore the evolution of film.