“I’m here with my mom actually who’s up here for homecoming, we we came to the marketplace to kinda hang out. I mean it’s always fun, it’s kinda cool to see local venues and stuff.” says Joey Daoud, a FSU Film School Student
They actually recorded that on-camera, but for some reason it never aired. I guess I was too articulate for them. I did, however, warn them that I was in fact dragged to the marketplace against my wishes.
And to show how small a film world it is, I found out the person interviewing me is the girlfriend of one of the actors who’s been in many, many films.
So a while back I used to post cool links each Wednesday for a Coffee Break series. For many reasons (mainly time and laziness), I haven’t posted cool links in a while. But I still have a bunch saved up.
So in the spirit of new beginnings, I’m just going to offload everything I’ve had stored up and start fresh.
And just to recap why yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life: Voted in my first presidential election, free Starbucks, free Krispy Kreme, got an iPhone(!), ScottDobie thought my tweet “I feel like today is the day Frodo tosses the ring into Mount Doom” was wittier than both Leo Laporte and John Hodgman, watched the election results at the Democrat results party with all my friends, and the good guy finally won!
The company now offers celebrity wannabe packages, including the A-List—Ariel’s choice—which gives clients four personal paparazzi for 30 minutes and a mock-up of a high-gloss tabloid magazine cover with their picture, for $730. The Superstar package ($990) lasts for an hour and the Megastar ($3,000) provides clients with six paparazzi for two hours, limo service, a publicist and a bodyguard. And for customers who hope to get into places like the Waverly Inn or La Esquina just because of the scene they’re setting, it’s priceless, says Drew Tinnin, Celeb 4 A Day’s New York manager. “We’ve gotten people past the velvet rope. Restaurants and clubs usually like the attention we get them when we show up with our clients.”
The film feels so much like one of the above movies that I forgot these were real people, my age, that had a history before the film and a life after.
This main shock came when I looked at their Facebook fan pages and they had the usual ‘my life in an album’ pictures. This is just a testament to how well the film was made.
Hopefully this will be one of those few docs that will break its way into the mainstream and hold its own against the Hollywood blockbusters.
I really wondered how Nanette Burstein, the director, got such candid shots and access to these teen’s lives, so the Q&A was quite enlightening.
There were lots of pre-interviews and location scouting to find high schools that would cooperate. In the end 10 high schools agreed. They did a casting call to pick who they would follow.
They started following quite a few students, but once the school year and stories unfolded, Nanette was able to focus on who she would feature.
In the beginning the students were still getting used to having a camera follow them, so none of the footage was usable.
Eventually they got used to the camera, and a second camera crew was around all the time, allowing for some nice cutting. Nanette had a small camera on her just in case.
Some of the most intimate moments caught (like filming the girlfriend of one of the main characters cheating on him during a late night swim) were a matter of coincidence and being at the right place. There were a lot of times when the students didn’t want her filming, but what they thought was private didn’t really interest Nanette.
I did stumble across this photo, which looks like they had some serious toys for B-roll (and a serious budget).
I strongly encourage you to watch this any way possible. It’s on a limited theater run, and if it’s not playing near you, since A&E produced it they’ll be screening it.
And of course there’s Netflix. The only thing there isn’t is an excuse, so check it out.
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Following four high school seniors, 