I’m listening to the composer Vijay Iyer and poet/rapper Mike Ladd discuss their collaborative song cycle, “In What Language,” on WNYC’s Soundcheck. It explores the inner lives and thoughts of people in international airports, and it rocks.
Iyer and Ladd composed the multi-layered, improvisational music/vocal suite in response to the experience of an Iranian filmmaker who was detained, harassed and deported at JFK a couple of years ago.
The first scene of my first short, Souvenir (November 2001), is in Charles deGaulle, where the new security rules spur the story into action (such as there is). Clearly, I’m pre-wired to like “In What Language,” which was first performed in May at the Asia Society, and is out on CD, the launch of which is being celebrated at Joe’s Pub Jan. 20.
Fake Documentary-making in The Court of The 5th Baron of Saling-in-Essex
Christopher Guest talks at length with the Guardian‘s Richard Grant about the incredible levels of authenticity required for making fake documentaries.
Hilarious anecdotes from This is Spinal Tap and A Mighty Wind ensue. If Grant’s right when he calls it “the funniest film ever made,” the DVD of Spinal Tap is twice that funny; the outtakes and deleted scenes are easily as long and as good as the original version. A Mighty Wind opens next week in the UK.
Oh, and Jamie Lee Curtis says she gets better dinner reservations when she calls herself Baroness Haden-Guest. I’m sorry, but is that something you actually call yourself? Isn’t that why you employ a herald? I need to check with some titled friends on that and get back to you.
Yet Another “Largest Film Ever Edited on Final Cut Pro”
On another site, the headline would read, “Walter Murch edits Cold Mountain, but on MacCentral, the headline is “Final Cut Pro used to edit Cold Mountain.”
Posthouse DigitalFilmTree set Murch up on four full FCP stations and several PowerBook-based “satellite stations, ” which they used when there was massive amounts of footage. DVD Studio Pro was used to burn and distribute the dailies to everyone, and special effects went back and forth for review via Quicktime.
Apple, thankfully, lets Murch–who is an editing legend, if for no other reason than surviving the year-long torture that was editing Apocalypse Now–do most of the talking. If you like that interview, you should definitely read his book, In the Blink of An Eye, which recounts some Apocalypse Now tales while exploring the theory of why editing works in the first place.
Related: Murch also praised FCP for enabling him to give his assistants experience editing professionally shot material. In a sidebar on Apple.com and an article at Post Magazine, he explains how he’d create tutorials with dailie and his notes, and let the kids have a go at it. Nice work if you can get it.
And if that’s not enough for you, check out Millimeter’s detailed article on Cold Mountain‘s workflow, including putting 600,000 feet of film into the shared storage/access system; creating change lists and synching FCP with post-production sound tools (both challenges which the new FCP4.0 addresses handily. time to upgrade, I guess); and color-correcting. After all that, you, too will be able to finish a $130 million Romanian epic. But by the time you raise the money, the whole process’ll be available on a laptop.
WTC WTF?
According to Herbert Muschamp, he has discovered the way to “liberate the site from the clutches of politicians, architects, their publicists and other unqualified figures who have presumed to speak in history’s name. And it could slow the breakneck redevelopment timetable imposed by Gov. George E. Pataki.” That, or he’s completely lost it.
On the day when the LMDC Jury is set to announce the “winning” Memorial design, Muschamp waxes poetic–without any actual facts or reporting to back up his excitement–over what’s called a Section 106 Review, a federally mandated evaluation of the WTC site’s historical significance. Part of the National Historic Preservation Act, the review must be completed before federal money can be spent on the site. Muschamp sees this as a saving act: “Architectural preservationists are coming to the rescue one more time,” he says. [Q: Are you counting the Main St USA-style streetlamps on the West Side Highway as the first time, Herb?”]
Here are some Section 106 facts, from the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which administers the law:
1. There was already at least one WTC-related Section 106 review, which dealt with a damaged landmark 1905 office building by Cass Gilbert. The ACHP case study praises the way in which the Sec. 106 process was adapted and “streamlined” so as to not get in the way of other activities on the site.
2. When Section 106 was invoked to preserve the 18th c. Negro burial ground discovered during the construction of the Foley federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, GSA listened politely, then ignored ACHP as it built. It then declared itself in compliance with Sec. 106.
3. I’m sure it means nothing, but the two presidential appointees of the ACHP are from Houston–and Albany.
If the Times were the 1/9 train, Muschamp would be the guy who gets on at 103rd, whose jabberings scare the passengers boarding downstream into other cars.
Ugh. Maya Lin Strikes Again

The worst design of the worst set of finalists was just chosen for the World Trade Center Memorial.
Michael Arad’s barren, sunken pools, “Reflecting Absence,” was a favorite of Maya Lin, according to an unnamed LMDC source who was heavily spinning the NY Post’s William Neuman against the design Sunday.
The only positive aspect of the proposal: it was the only finalist to call for alterations to fellow Israeli Daniel Libeskind’s proposed cultural buildings, including eliminating that one museum from above the North Tower footprint. The LMDC says there’ll be extensive changes to the design, which I hope renders it essentially unrecognizable.
Ultimately, I’m troubled that I, a fervent fan of minimalist art–including Michael Heizer’s works at Dia: Beacon which this is most reminiscent of–am so put out by a half-baked minimalist memorial.
[update: at my WTC discussion page, I added a follow-up on Peter Walker, the just-announced-today new partner in the WTC memorial design. He’s a veteran minimalist landscape architect who’ll probably fill the barren plaza with grids of “teeming groves of trees,” as one juror put it.]
On Learning from The Battle of Algiers
First, Peggy Siegal, take a lesson from Pontecorvo’s publicist, who got such excellent blurbs from the Pentagon screening of The Battle of Algiers, who cares if the people giving them wouldn’t know credibility if it blew up underneath their Humvee:
“How to win a battle against terrorism and lose the war of ideas!”
“Children shoot soldiers at point-blank range!
“Women plant bombs in cafes!”
“Soon the entire Arab population builds to a mad fervor. Sound familiar!?”
But no, when it comes to the newly struck prints of The Battle of Algiers opening in cities this weekend, the The Nation‘s Stuart Klawans wants you to read it for the articles.
And what are the filmmaking lessons we can learn from BofA? Newsreel/documentary-style camerawork lends a sense of immediacy (which Klawans compares to Citizen Kane). Shooting on location makes for killer production design (look, the bulletholes are still fresh!) and saves money to boot. When a producer with money asks you to shoot his script, the proper response is, “I LOVE it!” even if you find it “”awful, and with a sickeningly propagandistic intention.” Then, after rewriting it beyond all recognition, cast your producer as your star. And finally, whenever possible, get Ennio Morricone to do your soundtrack.
Hmm. Replace Morricone with Theremin, and these could be The Lessons of Watching Ed Wood. Still, whether you’re with Rumsfeld, or with The Nation, go see The Battle of Algiers this weekend.
Update 1/12/04: I did see it, and it did rock, even if it has a rather fantasist ending. This Slate article has one more bit of life-imitates-art from the set. Apparently, when two factions of the FLN attacked each other in 1965, Algiers residents thought it was additional shooting for the film.
2004-01-12, This Week in The New Yorker
Issue: 2004-01-12
Posted: 2004-01-05
The Talk of The Town
COMMENT/BEST OF THE “BEST”/ Louis Menand on the art of the Top Ten.
COLLECTORS/ SQUISHED/ Ben McGrath on the dangers of hoarding. [no, you didn’t read this story yet. You read the Times‘ story on the dangers of hoarding. Collect’em all!]
FOSSIL DEPT./ HERE TODAY/ Nick Paumgarten on a department departing the Museum of Natural History.
INK/ STILL HAPPENING/ Adam Green meets the last of the great press agents.
THE FINANCIAL PAGE/ ARMY INC./ James Surowiecki on privatizing the military.
SHOUTS & MURMURS/ David Owen/ 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Ex-Wife
PROFILES/ Mark Singer/ Running on Instinct/ How far can Howard Dean go?
FICTION/ Chang-rae Lee/ “Daisy”
THE CRITICS
DANCING/ Joan Acocella/ Taking Steps/ Savion Glover at the Joyce Theatre.
A CRITIC AT LARGE/ Daniel Mendelsohn/ Why the battles over ancient Athens still rage.
THE CURRENT CINEMA/ David Denby/ Living in America/ “House of Sand and Fog” and “The Cooler.”
by David Denby
WTC Memorial: And then there were two, or three, or…
On the last day of the year, the Times‘ reporter on the World Trade Center beat, David Dunlap, shared a byline with Herbert Muschamp to report that the Jury has narrowed their choices to two or three final designs for the Memorial.
The reported choices:
“Passages of Light,” by Gisela Baurmann, Sawad Brooks and Jonas Coersmeier, aka the “Memorial Cloud,” and “Garden of Lights,” by Pierre David, Sean Corriel and Jessica Kmetovic, aka the apple orchard/prairie.
Michael Arad’s barren “Remembering Absence” is also favored by some jurors, it seems. If Muschamp’s suddenly getting involved in what has been essentially Dunlap’s story, it must be because he’s been talking to one or more of the jurors. For the first time, we hear about “politicking and debates among jurors, who are conscious that prominent figures like former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani have called for a timeout but are also resolved not to be influenced by political pressures.”
While they’re right on principle–technically, what everyone is doing is second-guessing the jury–they shouldn’t feel obliged to stand on principle when they’ve so obviously made a weak decision.
warning: 350pp of the new Cervantes novel
has me talking/writing like a knight. I.e., half Quixote, half medieval times. oh, and all posts will be 900 pages long.
Make a film in 24-hours two months ago
Just ask Dharma. According to the Formula, you can have only one creatively named character per sitcom. Fortunately, Wired Magazine articles have no such limit. And so, in this month’s wacky episode edition, Choire and Xeni team up to report on NYC Midnight, a DV Dojo -sponsored contest to write, shoot, and edit a film in New York, all in 24 hours.
What’s that, the contest was in October? And it started in May with a rewritten press release on Daily Candy? So Choire and Xeni had to sit on this great story for months, at least until the damn check cleared? That’s magazine publishing for you. I’d call it tired, but it’s the end of the year; everything’s tired.
More On Dependent Filmmaking, or Barney Cam II: White House Boogaloo
[via Gothamist] Jimmy Orr, the Choire Sicha to George Bush’s Nick Denton, has posted his new short film, Barney Cam II: Barney Reloaded, on his weblog, whitehouse.gov. Elizabeth Bumiller, the Times‘ specialist on the dependent film industry, gives it a glowing review and talks with Orr, who co-produced Barney II with Bob deServi. DeServi is best known for his work as the key grip on many of Scott Sforza’s productions, which are being shown on TV everywhere, all the time, on every channel.

Magic Hour? Scott Orr demonstrates his handheld video technique in
the making of Barney Cam II. Image: Paul Morse, whitehouse.gov
Like Elephant director Gus Van Sant, Orr prefers working with non-professional actors (although it doesn’t seem like he budgeted much time for rehearsals). He’s got a scrappy, run-and-gun style which constrasts sharply with Sforza’s theatrically staged fictions.
As these behind-the-scenes shots reveal, Orr also scorns the debilitatingly large budgets favored by his White Housemates. His equipment package and crew are strictly barebones: a Sony VX-2000 (good, but not Combat Camera good), with a camera-mounted mic feeding into the XLR adapter (no sound guy) and using only available lighting. Of course, none of this is unexpected; compensating for a small package is a recurring theme on Orr’s site.
Also screening at whitehouse.gov:
Secretary Evans Reads “Cowboy Night Before Christmas” [Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, FYI]
Mrs. Bush Reads “Angelina’s Christmas”
Related:
Ungrateful criticism of diServi and Sforza by their star actor
Bumiller’s first review of Scott Sforza and Bob diServi productions.
Combat Camera
Finally, someone’s asking the right questions in Iraq, like, “how’d they get that shot?” Virginia Heffernan reports in the Times on the ultimate embeds: the soldiers who go into battle armed with digital video cameras (“the camera is our first weapon”) to record US military activity. Like Saddam Hussein’s medical checkup, which includes shots–like the glowing underside of Hussein’s tongue–that Heffernan rates as high art.

what’s the opposite of independent? Film, that is. image: nytimes.com/getty images
These combat camera crews use Sony PD 150’s, just like civilian photojournalists (and the rest of us). In fact, I bought my first camera, a Sony VX-1000, from a war-documenting friend (whose production company, no coincidence, is named Combat Camera), who was supposed to star in Souvenir November 2001 until he got pulled into Tora Bora (ahh, the memories).
Like most documentarians, these filmmakers have a hard time getting distribution; Pentagon suits are even tighter-fisted than Miramax. But if they make a real heartstrings-pulling story –like the Jessica Lynch rescue or the Hussein body cavity search–when it does hit screens, it opens verrry wide.
Filmmaking Interviews of Note
Bloghdad.com/Timing
What fortuitous timing. Last week’s announcement of an Iraq-based, Iraqi-run tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity, including “trying Saddam Hussein in absentia,” if necessary, was a convenient pre-emptive strike against too much international meddling. Nice to have those death penalty-friendly ducks in a row just in case, you know, your trail is heating up thanks to intensive intelligence operations and dollar bill serial number-tracking.
Also, it sure is convenient that a former Secretary of State is just leaving on a heavy diplomatic mission when you announce that your current Secretary of State is being operated on for prostate cancer. Bush apparently was informed of the surgery two weeks ago.
Artist Books for the Holidays
If you’re still looking for just the right gift for your Jewish (you better hustle) or Christian friend (you have a little more time), try an artist book from Printed Matter. Here are my, ahem, suggestions: