David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
Where Is The "Tiny Furniture" Discussion Thread? I just saw it at the flicks, and got things to say.... but can't believe that there is not a thread discussing this movie... or I can't find it. Any links?
Where Is The "Tiny Furniture" Discussion Thread?
- Thread starter David G. Smith
- Start date
Jawa Ex Machina
Veteran
The best way to get a link to a thread you can't find around here is to just start a new one on that topic.
Someone always have enough time on their hands to search up the old one and tell you about it. =)
Someone always have enough time on their hands to search up the old one and tell you about it. =)
Billy Pilgrim
Stye in my eye
I guess this is the thread now. I saw this film tonight and really enjoyed it. It was very well-made and subtly funny. And it was shot on a 7D!
David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
Yep, I guess so... Yeah, I really enjoyed the film, but it took a little while, I have to admit. Of course, I went to see it, really, because I wanted to see a feature flick, shot on a HD-DSLR, and because of the great press it has been getting as a SXSW darling. However, watching it was another thing. It did take me a while to get into it. While I admire, without qualification, the writer/director Lena Dunham, as the lead character Aura, I had a hard time warming up to her. I think it is mainly because of our totally different backgrounds. I am working class and Southern, and this character is from the New York intellectual/art scene elite. My first, knee jerk reaction to the character's "Dilemmas" was, "Jes*s Henry Kay-Rist, quit your b*tching, get a job and get on with your life....". The more I watched the more I really warmed up to the character, and her situation, and the more I came to admire the writer/director. While she and I are from very different backgrounds, she took what she knows, who she is, where she is from and even her actual family, and made a rather enjoyable movie about it. I love that!
Now, I do have some issues with the flick, that is for sure. The acting of the mother and sister, played by the director's actual mother and sister, pretty much sucked. Also, there were some scenes that just did not work. The "Party scene" and the "Break down in the hallway" were, IMHO, ham handed and did not work. However, there are some gems to be found. The character Charlotte, played by Jemima Kirk, is an example. Her scenes are outstanding and Ms. Kirk has great screen presence and is very compelling as the character Charlotte. All in all, it was an enjoyable movie, made much more so with the realization that it was made by a person using her available resources to there full advantage.
As far as, "How did it look?" Well, I saw it at one of the Detroit area's premier alternative cinema venues, projected digitally, on a screen about 60 feet wide, and I was blown away by how good it looked. My biggest issues with the look are differences in opinion about some of the cinematographic choices made, mostly in the lighting, then in the capabilities of the format chosen. I come from a film back ground, shooting a lot of 16mm, and what I have been really looking for, in the "Digital Video Revolution", is the ability to have a low cost alternative to 16mm film, that would look as good on a big screen. "Tiny Furniture" proved to me that we have reached this threshold, and, maybe, surpassed it. We are NOW at the point where unaffordable gear can NOT keep a passionate independent filmmaker from telling his, or her story. Are HD-DSLRs "Good enough" to make A feature fictional narrative movie? YES. Are they good enough to make ANY feature fictional narrative movie? Of course not. BUT, if you are a low budget filmmaker and want to make passionate personal films, well, you can not use the excuse of, "The gear cost too much", anymore. What I learned most from "Tiny Furniture" is to get up off of my ass and go out and make the films that I want to make, and has given me the confidence that this is possible. So, if you get a chance to see "Tiny Furniture", I recommend it.
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J Davis
Veteran
What a great and balanced review David. Your words about different backgrounds and knee-jerk reactions also describe my own initial feeling to this film but now I'm going to make a point to see it.
Chris Adler
Veteran
Haven't seen it. I'll wait until its on Netflix Instant Streaming. Absolutely not my cup of tea. But I watched the trailer.
I guess what it shows me is that the indie scene is ALL about marketing. If you can get your tiny film noticed, and it doesn't even have to be very good, then it can take you places. I guess in reality film isn't any different than any other business in that regard. Quite often success doesn't go to the best product, it goes to the one that, for whatever reason, was noticed and got attention. In the film world, the cheaper the budget the further that attention will take you. It looked okay in my web-watched trailer though I thought it was maybe all too brightly lit. It felt harsh.
If this was really the best movie to show at SXSW then I flinch thinking about the crap that must have been submitted, and worst of all, the crap the programming team scheduled.
I guess what it shows me is that the indie scene is ALL about marketing. If you can get your tiny film noticed, and it doesn't even have to be very good, then it can take you places. I guess in reality film isn't any different than any other business in that regard. Quite often success doesn't go to the best product, it goes to the one that, for whatever reason, was noticed and got attention. In the film world, the cheaper the budget the further that attention will take you. It looked okay in my web-watched trailer though I thought it was maybe all too brightly lit. It felt harsh.
If this was really the best movie to show at SXSW then I flinch thinking about the crap that must have been submitted, and worst of all, the crap the programming team scheduled.
Welcome to the next phase titled: Now I actually have to do something.
Haha. Kidding, but not really. I had the same experience about three or more years ago when I saw my HVX200 + Redrock M2 footage projected at the Kodak Theater. Now, that's ORIGINAL HVX200, and ORIGINAL M2... and I was pretty much blown away at how awesome it looked. At that point, I think I did realize that the cameras weren't the issue anymore...
It still took another four years to get to business, though.
I haven't seen Tiny Furniture, I've heard that it's fairly bad but I'd like to watch it and formulate my own opinion. I'm going to see if I can bum my friends Netflix account off of him.
I haven't got a chance to see this yet, it's from the same girl who did "Creative Nonfiction". I'm really happy all these young filmmakers who are my age are able to make cheap, tiny films that people actually want to see. It makes me very hopeful.
That being said, if I see one more film about a college graduate who sits around all day unemployed, I'm going to jump off my roof. And this is coming from someone who is living that exact life right now.
That being said, if I see one more film about a college graduate who sits around all day unemployed, I'm going to jump off my roof. And this is coming from someone who is living that exact life right now.
David G. Smith
Steak Knife Member
Oh Kholi, you are absolutely right. It is all about, "Now I actually have to do something". This is really the first time I have seen any low budget/prosumer HD projected and was impressed. I just came back from seeing "Black Swan" and thought that the HD-DSLR footage in that movie held up well to the Super 16mm footage of the rest of the film. Like you said, NOW, it is the hard part.... Quite MY bitching, get up off MY ass, and MAKE the movies I want to make.
djkarn105
Well-known member
By no means is it perfect and it's definitely not for everyone that's for sure. If you think Woody Allen is a genius it's probably up your alley.
The other thing it will most likely showcase is how absolutely terrible your local independent theatre's digital projection system is. When I saw it at the Lumiere in SF it looked like it was a DVD playing on a business projector. Netflix HD will actually probably be a better picture than most theatres sadly.
In the end, I think the point is, a film made for ~$10K and people know who she is now. I'd say it's been a success for her career.
notharrylume
Active member
Great article in this month's American Cinematographer:
Filmmakers’ Forum: Cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes discusses using the Canon EOS 7D to shoot the independent feature Tiny Furniture
Bottom line was that although he liked the 7D's images "never again" would he shoot a feature with one because of the drawbacks such as moire issues forcing all locked off shots, awful ergonomics, etc.
Filmmakers’ Forum: Cinematographer Jody Lee Lipes discusses using the Canon EOS 7D to shoot the independent feature Tiny Furniture
Bottom line was that although he liked the 7D's images "never again" would he shoot a feature with one because of the drawbacks such as moire issues forcing all locked off shots, awful ergonomics, etc.
Snapper123
Well-known member
I just watched the preview, I have to say that at least the preview had some good lighting directions going on for a indie film, and if I was walking down the street at 11pm, and fairly drunk, and then I looked up and saw this playing at some indie theater for a $1 ticket, it'd sure be a relaxing experience, a bit toward my tastes. Even then though, films like Welcome To The Dollhouse and its sequel, Palindromes, are the type of disturbing dramas I really enjoy; I really wish the DSLR filmmaking movement would really catch up to using very envelope-pushing scripts, these films are really stuck in the quirky drama, campy comedy, camcorder zombie, AppleCutPro soldier, teenage spy film zone and I really wish one good script would come along and shake things up. It doesn't have to be big, it doesn't have to be special, I just wish something would shake things up in a way that's truly shocking for year 2011. I wish for a very surreal, strange drama film, if anything. Less artsy-fartsy, less action, less cliche, more outside the box.