Black Animated film 'Hair Love'

I donated to the Kickstarter (fundraiser) for this film. You can read more about that below and more about this film and the other films I donated to at the 'Nother Brother Entertainment blog at the bottom.

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#TBT From AUGUST 2017 my post about HAIR LOVE that was just announced yesterday as being picked up by SONY PICTURES ANIMATION.🙌🏾🖤 You can read more about that @ the new link @ the bottom and also @ the Link in my BIO☝🏾 REPOST: When the short film #HairLove was announced a month ago I knew I had to be a part of it.❤️ 'Hair Love', is a 5 minute animated short film that centers around the relationship between an African-American father, Stephen, his daughter, Zuri and her hair. It's a story about an African American father trying to do his daughters hair for the first time. As the creator of this project @matthewacherry put it, "I've had the idea for this project for a couple of years now, but it wasn't until I recently started coming across a lot of viral videos of black fathers interacting with their sons and daughters online that I finally had the confidence to try and make this a real thing." See this story is ALL TOO REAL to me. One morning☀️before school, I TRIED to do my daughter's hair and it was an EPIC FAIL!🤦🏾‍♂️ I tried to do her hair the way I'd seen her mother do it dozens of times, but I was failing miserably and her school bus 🚌 was due to arrive soon.🙇🏾 I eventually put something together, but I wouldn't call it a hairstyle or "done". 🤦🏾‍♂️ She made her bus, but I felt so bad for her that day.😥😔 After that, the only thing I did with her hair was grease her scalp after it was braided (pictured, top left) and I did that WELL! 👌🏾LOL On a last note: Any resemblance between the shirt color of the animated father and mine I'm sure is pure coincidental. LOL 😂 Because of almost 5,000 people that backed 'Hair Love' it surpassed its initial goal of $75K and is currently the most funded short film in the history of @Kickstarter raising $284K, 378% of its goal.🙌🏾 🔷NEW LINK: “Sony Animation Picks Up ‘Hair Love’ Short From ‘BlacKkKlansman’ EP Matthew A. Cherry” https://deadline.com/2019/03/blackkklansman-executive-producer-hair-love-film-matthew-a-cherry-sony-pictures-animation-kickstarter-1202579320/ also @ the Link in my BIO☝🏾

A post shared by Dankwa Brooks (@dankwa) on Mar 21, 2019 at 5:38am PDT

MARCH 20, 2019
Sony Animation Picks Up ‘Hair Love’ Short From ‘BlacKkKlansman’ EP Matthew A. Cherry

Click the titles below

Why I Donated to AFFRM

Why I Donated to Spike Lee’s Fundraising Campaign

David Fincher's Kickstarter Success

The Goon Kickstarter is a Success!

by Spencer Perry, Superhero Hype

November 12, 2012

The Kickstarter for The Goon is a bit of a touchy subject for some people. The ambitious campaign is now a success though some don't understand why a Kickstarter was neccessary. Why can't producer David Fincher simply write a check and it be done? Co-director Tim Miller said it best in an interview on Last Call with Carson Daly: "David Fincher writing a check for $400,000 is not going to get this made. It's about getting the fans involved and showing the studios it's not just a Hollywood vanity project." The fans certainly showed up to support Frankie and The Goon as the campaign surpassed its $400,000 goal.

The purpose for the Kickstarter was for the creation of a story reel, an animated story board with voice actors, sound effects, and music added on. This story reel will span the entire film and gives potential investors for the actual movie a better idea of what Fincher and Blur studios want to make. The campaign was successfully funded yesterday with $441,900 pledged and donated by over 7500 backers, some donating as much as $10,000. The studio has broken down what will happen with the funds for the project in a graph (seen below).

Creator Eric Powell took to Twitter after the funding was reached to thank fans: "I can't tell you how much I appreciate you guys. Thanks for pushing us to do a kickstarter and thanks for pushing it! Won a major battle, Goon fans. To win the war we still have to sell the film." We certainly hope you win that war Mr. Powell.

The film would see Clancy Brown playing The Goon with Paul Giamatti as his friend Frankie. The Goon follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories have a paranormal and comedic edge to them and concern ghosts, zombies, bog lurks, mad scientists and "skunk apes."

180 Degree Rule - Filmmaking [VIDEO]

A good break down of something that was drummed into our heads in film school.

Cool Trivia About 'Dog Day Afternoon' or Why Al Pacino is So Awesome!

Last weekend was the first time I'd ever seen Dog Day Afternoon (Don't judge me!) and this is what I said after viewing it.

#nfotd #DogDayAfternoon was excellent! The classic everyone says it is! Great
direction by SIDNEY LUMET & excellent performances by the WHOLE cast with
another especially outstanding performance by the one and only AL PACINO
http://tl.gd/ilpgvr

Also my usual modus operandi after I see a movie I like is to read more about it on Wikipedia and IMDb (the Internet Movie Database) Below is some of the trivia I found about Dog Day Afternoon and on some my comments in red.

The original working title was "Boys in the Bank." Director Sidney Lumet hated it because he thought it made the film appear to be a "light, fluffy comedy," and he had it changed to "Dog Day Afternoon." I think that was the right move! That original title did make it seem like a "light, fluffy comedy"

The entire film is mostly improvised, though around the script. After rehearsing the script for weeks with his cast, Sidney Lumet took the improvisations that were made while rehearsing and made that the official screenplay. Excellent choice by Lumet. Really lent itself to the spirit of the picture.

Director of photography Victor J. Kemper stuck with practical lighting for most of the film, relying on the fluorescents inside the bank. Too cool! Great choice and it lent the proper aesthetic to those scenes.

Although he had initially agreed to play the part of Sonny, Al Pacino told Sidney Lumet near the start of production that he couldn't play it. Pacino had just completed production on "The Godfather: Part II" and was physically exhausted and depressed after the shoot. With his reliance on the Method, Pacino didn't relish the thought of working himself up to a state of near hysteria every day. Lumet unhappily accepted the actor's decision and dispatched the script to Dustin Hoffman. Pacino changed his mind when he heard that his rival was in the fray. An example of true artistic dedication. In hip-hop lingo he goes H*A*M.

Halfway through the production, Al Pacino collapsed from exhaustion and had to be hospitalized for a short time. After production was completed, he decided to stop doing films for a while and return to stage work. Again, dedication!

John Cazale was cast at Al Pacino's insistence, despite being nowhere the age of the real Sal, who was 18 at the time. Sidney Lumet was opposed to the idea because the actor was clearly inappropriate for the part. However, when Cazale came in to read for the part, Lumet was sold on him within 5 minutes. Another reason why Al Pacino is so awesome!

John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon

Again I thought this was an excellent choice. I had only seen Cazale as “Fredo” in the Godfather pictures and while clearly an actor it was good to see this other side of his acting talent. Cazale’s “Sal” was brooding and menacing a 180 degree turn and clear departure from the inept Fredo.

John Cazale in The Godfather Part II

 “During his six-year film career, he appeared in five films, each of which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. He is the only actor to have this multi-film distinction.”-Wikipedia

 Dying of Cancer just three short years after 'Dog Day', it was good to see another aspect of a fantastic actor.

For the lengthy phone conversation between Sonny and Leon - largely improvised by Al Pacino and Chris Sarandon - director Sidney Lumet was faced with the problem of what to do when the film in the camera ran out as it was only good for 10 minutes worth of film. He solved that problem by starting a second camera up just as the first was due to finish.

Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon

Sidney Lumet made Al Pacino do the phone conversation with Leon a second time even though his first take was perfect. Lumet's reasoning was because he saw how much the scene took out of his actor and he wanted Pacino to look exhausted, as the character had been holed up in a bank, and a highly stressful situation, all day. I didn't even recognize Chris Sarandon in this. Excellent performance! He was a damn mess! That phone conversation was one of the great scenes in the picture. So beautifully acted.

Frank Pierson wrote the screenplay. At one point Al Pacino's character says to one of the bank tellers, "Get your mind right." The same line was constantly used throughout "Cool Hand Luke", a movie also written by Pierson. I always thought "get your mind right" had its etymology in the black community. LOL

The production shoot lasted 7 weeks with crews and cast working day and night. Due to director Sidney Lumet's speedy style of working, the film was completed 3 weeks ahead of schedule. An attribute to a great director!

In the end one of the great things I liked about this picture’s great direction was that it was just that—great direction. No fancy fast cuts or wildly revolving camera angles. I don’t even think it had dolly shots and such that I can think of and if it did it was kept to a minimum. Again bang-up directing job by Sidney Lumet, but ultimately the success of this picture was…

External Link
You can read more IMDb Trivia: Dog Day Afternoon @ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072890/trivia

Mary Last Seen

Still from Mary Last Seen

Watching the Extras for the movie 2011 movie Martha Marcy May Marlene... 

Poster for Martha Marcy May Marlene

and they featured the precedent short Mary Last Seen. The short is not a prequel or sequel, but exists as its own story within the world of “Martha.” Before the film the director presented a message. (pictured below. I purposely didn't take a great pic because I retyped what it said below.)

I decided to make the short film "Mary Last Seen" in the summer of 2009. At the time I had been working on the script for "Martha Marcy May Marlene," a film which would eventually become my first feature. I had not shot a narrative short in several years, and at the time, production on "Martha" was at least a year away. I was eager to direct again and wanted to create a short film that related to the world of the feature, but also something that could stand on its own.
.....................
I wrote the script for the short in a few days. We gathered together a crew of five people, cast a few actors, borrowed my sister's car, and drove upstate with a budget of about $500 (which was all we had left on one credit card at the time). We shot for two days and came back with the footage for the short. It was a wonderfully collaborative and pure filmmaking experience, which set the tone for how I would approach making "Martha."
-Sean Durkin 

After his message I wanted to see it to see what kind of film he shot in two days for $500 and—it was really good. Yes it looked like it was shot for only $500, but the technique and the acting was on point. Everything he did was very economical for that budget, yet innovative in style. That's all I can say without you seeing the short and seeing what I mean. Great piece.

As far as I could tell it's not available online, but IT IS on the Martha Marcy May Marlene Blu-Ray (That's how I saw it) and I assume it's on the DVD as well. 

What did I think of Martha Marcy May Marlene?

#nfotd #MarthaMarcyMayMarlene was really great, one of the BEST of 2011, bolstered by an OUTSTANDING performance by ELIZABETH OLSEN!
— Dankwa Brooks (@DankwaBrooks) July 2, 2012

UPDATE November 2015
Mary Last Seen is now on Vimeo! Watch it BELOW

Mary Last Seen from Borderline Films on Vimeo.