Elephant

Original Name: Elephant
Country: United States
Direction: Gus Van Sant
Script: Gus Van Sant
Genre: Crime, Drama
Length: 81 minutes
Year: 2003

This movie is very interesting. First because it's based on real events. It portrays the tragedy that happened on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School. It's located in the city of Littleton, Colorado (United States). There, two seniors students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, were responsible for killing thirteen people - twelve students and one teacher.

Also worth watching the film because of the way it speaks of adolescence. Scenes that show the confusion of the youthful mind are merged with classical music. Sad moments are alternated with happy moments, making it almost impossible to know if young people shown on the screen are satisfied with their lives or completely unhappy.

The film shows almost the view that parents have of their children. It's like having an elephant sitting next to you on the dining table. You know how big the problem is, but you keep pretending that all is well, that there's nothing to worry about*.

"Elephant" was produced by Dany Wolf and is the first movie produced by HBO Films.

Trailer
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* The movie title is inspired in a quote from the writer Bernard MacLaverty, that says: "problems with adolescents is like having an elephant in the dining room and pretend that it does not exist".

The Film Producer - Part V

Today's topic: Types of producer

Darla K. Anderson, producer who
won the Producers Guild of America
Award for Outstanding Producer of
Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures
2011, with the movie Toy Story 3

The first to be highlighted is the chief producer, or just producer. He is the chief of all the other producers involved with the film and is responsible for fundraising, hiring key personnel and arranging with distributors.

He works in the four production stages: development, preproduction, production and post production & marketing. In the credits, it's his name that appears in front of all other types of producers (appears in the "Produced by"). 

Then we have:

Lesley Chilcott, winner of
the Producers Guild of
America Award for
Outstanding Producer of
Documentary Theatrical
Motion Pictures 2011, with
the movie Waiting for Superman

Executive Producer: It's him who deals with legal and business issues. To fit in this role, the producer has to make a significant contribution to the cinematographic work (no less than 25% of total funding and should also take care of the copyrights of the movie).

Associate Producer: Performs functions of production delegated to him by the chief producer, who supervises and controls him directly.

Co-Producer: With less responsibility than the chief producer, the co-producer performs a substantial part of production management functions. Note that if a project has more than one producer, this doesn't mean that these individuals are "co-producers" in the technical sense of the term.

Line Producer: He's responsible for managing employees and issues during the making of a film. Line Producers always work in a movie at a time.

Other professionals that also help in the production are: Unit Production Manager, Production Accountant, Production Assistant, Production Buyer, Production Designer, Production Illustrator, Production Manager, Production Sound Mixer, Story Producer, Production Coordinator, Assistant Production Manager, Production Secretary, Post-Production Co-ordinator and Post-Production Supervisor.

(Part VI : Salary)

The Reader

Original Name: The Reader

Country: USA and Germany

Direction: Stephen Daldry

Script: David Hare (adapted from the book of Bernhard Schlink)

Genre: Drama, Romance

Length: 124 minutes 

Year: 2008

Don't fool yourself. This is not a movie like "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" and "Eyes Wide Shut". Despite nudity, "The Reader" has a story much more interesting.

It's true that nakedness overshadows more important issues in the hottest scenes, but we can observe, at all times, the main topic of the film: the maturation of two people who... not really love each other.

The whole thing is just a passion, to be honest. The relationship between them is very superficial and just don't let the film on the verge of superficiality because it has great actors, a great script and producers to cause envy.

This, also, was the last film produced by Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack. Both died months before the release of the movie.

Trailer 

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