#indiewood

Fox’s independent subdivision, Fox Searchlight Pictures, backed (500) Days of Summer financially, situating the film in the in-between space of Indiewood.  Ryan points out that the resultant combination of destabilizing intentions and stylized aesthetics allow the film to have a broad and “niche” appeal (42).  The function of “naturalizing” in cinema—which Susan Hayward defines as “a process whereby social, cultural and historical constructions are shown to be evidently natural” (285)—reveals the extent to which (500) Days’ appeal to a mainstream audiences and subsequent destabilization that which they assume to be “natural.”  Indiewood presents a unique opportunity, then, and Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber’s script provides a base upon which the director, Marc Webb, builds; the three construct a character who embodies the naturalizing process of cinema and, in doing so, disrupt the cinematic apparatus and its patriarchal ideology by revealing the ways in which the male lead, Tom, actively constructs the female lead, Summer, through dishonest representations and subjective memories.

For a key example, consider the shot above; Tom, who has just had sex with Summer for the first time, looks into a car window; rather than seeing his own reflection, though, he sees Han Solo from Star Wars winking back at him.  Tom does not perceive reality, but rather a cultural symbol of cool and suave brought into language by another film.  This is a call to both mainstream cinema and popular opinion on representations of “cool,” but also a subversive indie technique that reveals how Tom confounds reality with his perception and thus calls attention to the way a film creates an unrealistic portrayal of reality due to the filtration through the main character’s perspective.  Tom’s perspective is the viewer’s perspective, and thus his ability to manipulate reality reveals to the viewer the role of cinema in manipulating reality. The technique has both popular appeal and indie sensibilities with its intertextual reference to a famous cinematic text, which is a major component of (500) Days that will be explored further.

Any... actors, art directors, cinematographers, screenwriters, composers, designers, directors, editors, animators, fight choreographers, hairstylists, make-up models, musicians, photographers, producers, programmers, sound designers,,storyboard artists, voice actors, webdesigners etc. ...here? 

I have a great website for you to join :)

www.indiewood.tv/

As if indie filmmaking isn't hard enough today, on top of all the roles and details that are involved in making a film, you also have to be an ardent promoter of your work. Adding one more stress into the creative process can be a drain. In the past we've had great screenings for our personal films and ones we're curating through CCFF and we've had some skimpy crowds. The not-so-successful events make the good screenings that much sweeter. 

This weekend we had the premiere of a short film, BATTER, that was produced through our company FlowFeel Films. The project was cast, crewed and shot almost entirely within the small town of North Webster, Indiana, which is our summer home location. We shot the film in the winter and the premiere went down this past Friday in the creative hub of the town, the North Webster Community Center. And we are thrilled to say it was a big success!  Not only did a robust crowd of 75 sit in on the screening, but the energy was positive and the feedback was encouraging. A question and answer session followed the screening that brought out lots of info and suggestions. We also had the opportunity to talk with people about the feature Dramedy that we'll be shooting in the area this Fall. We ended the evening with a spirited after-party on the shores of the lake.