Incredible: A Film Made by Us

This is a must watch trailer! The documentary Life in a Day is the result of a global film project that asked people from around the globe to submit videos about their loves and fears on the day July 24, 2010.  Award winning creators Ridley Scott and director Kevin MacDonald are behind the completed film.

Catch it on YouTube here.

Mr. Lumet Made Movies and Wrote a Book So We Could Too.

After the world lost Sidney Lumet this month -- director of (among many others) one of my favorite movies 12 Angry Men -- I decided to reread his book Making Movies. It was the first book about film making that ever fell into my hands and I remember liking it but I was sixteen then and liked practically anything about film.  After scanning over these pages this past week I was struck with how important this book had been in sparking my passion for aspiring to write and direct movies.  In the book Lumet recounts his own personal process and details how stressful and fun film making can be.  Now that I have worked in the industry, studied film fiercely, and remained an avid theater attendee, I realize just how right Roger Ebert was when he called Making Movies "invaluable."

Author Sidney Lumet breaks down the chapters as stages of bringing one film to life from "The Director: The Best Job in the World" to "The Cutting Room: Alone At Last" and finally "The Studio: Was It All For This?"

Perhaps the best part of his book is that Lumet writes with such a conversational tone that it feels as if he is giving you a personal lesson on being a filmmaker.  You might as well have a seat next to him at a table read with Sean Connery or be standing breathless at his side as his talented camera team attempt to get a complicated dollie shot of a moving train in the early sunrise for Murder on the Orient Express. 

It's an exhilarating read that reminds you how simultaneously strictly scheduled and yet surprisingly spontaneous movies can be.  For Lumet there was no other way to shoot 12 Angry Men but to circle the table three times, for the three stages of daylight, and shoot all coverage of one chair at once; the budget was only $350,000 so when one of the juror's was lit in his chair, the crew stayed there until every line from that actor was imprinted on celluloid.  But he also recalls the many "lucky accidents" that occurred on set -- as when Al Pacino shouted "Attica" at the policemen in Dog Day Afternoon -- a combination of passion and circumstance resulting in completely unplanned but memorable moments.

Sidney Lumet was the director of numerous award-winning films including 12 Angry Men, Network, Long Day's Journey Into The Night, The Wiz, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Murder on the Orient Express, The Verdict, Running on Empty, and more recently Until the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Even though he will never make another film, Lumet has left us with an intimate record of his experiences as a director that encourages us to relish in the process as much as he once did.