Illumination Dynamics has moved its Los Angeles headquarter from San Fernando to a new location in Santa Clarita. The new, 67,639 square-foot facility is located at 21335 Needham Ranch Parkway, within sight of the 14 Freeway and just a few miles from Interstates 5, 405, and 210. As such, it allows easier access to the thriving film industry in the Santa Clarita Valley, while still remaining just a short distance from Hollywood.
As Hawthorne College winds down for the Christmas holidays, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority sisters one by one. Produced by Jason Blum (Halloween, Get Out) for Blumhouse Productions, Black Christmas is a re-imagining of the 1974 cult classic for the 21st century audience. The horror film was directed and co-written by Sophia Takal (Always Shine). Although Takal was a fan of the original film, she wanted to bring attention to contemporary women’s rights issues, in particular the Me-Too movement
Jordan Levy, veteran commercial director of photography, shot FCA U.S.’s new The Summer of Jeep campaign starring Jeremy Renner, with Cooke Anamorphic/i lenses. The campaign was directed by Levy’s friend and long-time collaborator Jeff Tomsic, with whom he has worked for a decade. It began airing in the States on July 10.
In Dopesick Nation, recovering addicts Frankie and Allie take on the heroin epidemic by working to save as many addicts as they can. The series, which premiered on Viceland last year, takes place in southern Florida and also tries to expose the corruption and exploitation that takes place in the rehab industry.
Part Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, part Goonies on skateboards, director Lije Sarki’s Concrete Kids tells the story of two nine-year-old boys from Venice, California who, for a contest, set off on a mission to cross Los Angeles on skateboards at night to reach the Staples Center by morning. Now streaming on Amazon Prime, the low-budget feature from The Orchard was shot by cinematographer Daron Keet with Panasonic VariCam LTs in available light mainly at night.
The Supervisory Board of the Arri Group, at its meeting yesterday, decided to appoint a new member to its executive board of the Arri Group which currently consists of Dr. Joerg Pohlman and Dr. Michael Neuhaeuser. Effective April 1 Markus Zeiler, until now head of the business unit lighting at Arri, will join them on the board. His new area of responsibility within the board will be the management of Arri’s global rental business.
Crazy Rich Asians is one of the summer’s biggest success stories. Shot by cinematographer Vanja Černjul, ASC, HFC (The Perfection, The Deuce, Marco Polo) with VariCam Pure cinema cameras, the film is based on the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan, and tells the story of an Asian American woman who meets her boyfriend's family, only to find out they are one of the richest families in Singapore. The Warner Bros film was directed by Jon M. Chu (Now You See Me 2, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) and features an all-Asian cast, including Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Ken Jeong, Michelle Yeoh, and many others. It is the first Hollywood studio film to feature Asians in leading roles since director Wayne Wang’s 1993 film, The Joy Luck Club.
Premiering at the 2017 Austin Film Festival where it won Best Narrative Short, Demon tells the story of a desperate man emerging from the night where he encounters a solitary shack in the middle of the desert. It is in this night setting where he discovers a dark secret that the property owner possesses. Cinematographer Drew Dawson shot the supernatural drama/thriller, directed by Caleb Slain just outside Joshua Tree National Park. The Demon script had the setting as a desert landscape with a full moon. According to Dawson, the goal was to capture the entire film with moonlight, practicals, and minimal film lights
“I think if you’re making a high school movie, you can’t not watch John Hughes movies for reference,” said cinematographer Hillary Spera (Duck Butter, Submission). “Even if it’s subliminal, they’re woven into the language.” Filmmaker John Hughes had a string of hit films in the 1980s that were a true depiction of high school life in middle class suburbia. Movies like 16 Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Pretty in Pink portrayed teen characters with depth and intelligence but were also comedic.
Written during the McCarthy era and published in 1953, Ray Bradbury’s classic dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, is set in a society where books are outlawed and firemen are charged with burning them. The novel has had many adaptations, most famously in François Truffaut’s 1966 film, which starred Oskar Werner and Julie Christie. In 2018, Ramin Bahrani co-wrote and directed the film adaptation for HBO, starring Michael B. Jordan, who also served as executive producer. The stylized film was shot by cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau, ASC (Game of Thrones, Thor: The Dark World, Terminator Genisys).
