{"id":12205,"date":"2011-06-21T06:29:58","date_gmt":"2011-06-21T05:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/?p=12205"},"modified":"2018-01-03T13:24:13","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T13:24:13","slug":"interesting-filmmaker-websites-lynch-wright-deakins-bay-august-murphy-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/2011\/06\/21\/interesting-filmmaker-websites-lynch-wright-deakins-bay-august-murphy-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Interesting Filmmaker Websites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the year 2011 how do filmmakers use the web for more than just promotion?<\/p>\n

I often wonder how famous directors from the past would used online tools in either the making or the promotion of their films.<\/p>\n

Maybe Orson Welles<\/a> would have put out his 1938 interview with H.G. Wells<\/a> as a podcast.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock<\/a> would have filmed his classic trailers<\/a> especially for YouTube.<\/p>\n

One can only guess what Stanley Kubrick<\/a> would have made of the more developed online world we now live in.<\/p>\n

Like many celebrities, over the last couple of years various actors, directors and producers have embraced Twitter<\/a> as a self-promotional tool which use to engage fans and post updates.<\/p>\n

But what about those filmmakers whose online activities go a little deeper?<\/p>\n

Here are my pick of the most interesting.<\/p>\n

DAVID LYNCH<\/strong> (www.davidlynch.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I can’t remember when I first heard that David Lynch had a website, but it was a few years ago and when it turned out he was selling ringtones<\/a> and doing weather reports<\/a>, I had to check it out. Designed and maintained by the indexsy seo agency<\/a>, it is now mostly dedicated to his music and you can also see the live Duran Duran concert<\/a> he recently directed, as well as various music tracks from his films and TV shows. He also occasionally does cooking videos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

EDGAR WRIGHT<\/strong> (www.edgarwrighthere.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever since securing the ingenious URL www.romzom.com (sadly no longer active) for his breakout film Shaun of the Dead<\/a> (2004), Edgar Wright has been fairly active online with behind-the-scenes video podcasts<\/a> for Hot Fuzz<\/a> (2007)\u00a0and his own website<\/a> which seemed to start in 2009.\u00a0He\u00a0regularly\u00a0posts articles, videos and a lot of photos (at one point he even did a daily photo thing<\/a>), but he also engages with people in the comments section, puts up videos he’s directed (be they music promos<\/a> or early experiments in editing<\/a>) and generally has a bit of a laugh whilst doing so. He’s also pretty active on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ROGER DEAKINS<\/strong> (www.deakinsonline.com\/forum2<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What does one of the world’s greatest cinematographers do when he’s not shooting films like True Grit<\/a> (2010), No Country for Old Men<\/a> (2007) or The Shawshank Redemption<\/a> (1994)? It turns out he runs a pretty active forum<\/a> on his own website, where he answers questions from readers all around the world.\u00a0Whether you have a query about cameras<\/a>, lighting<\/a>, digital intermediates<\/a>, whether 4K really matters<\/a> or the merits of anamorphic over super 35mm<\/a>, Roger is there. It is more for the technically minded film fan, but given his amazing back catalogue of films<\/a>, there are some illuminating stories on how scenes were shot and put together. An incredible resource, it’s a bit like having Paul McCartney give out song writing\u00a0tips at your local music venue.<\/p>\n

MICHAEL BAY<\/strong> (www.shootfortheedit.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Although his site probably won’t be getting bookmarked by Sight and Sound<\/a> readers any time soon, Bay is one of the few A-list Hollywood directors to have his own website<\/a> and forum<\/a>, where he posts quite candidly<\/a> about his films. Whatever you think of his work, his official forum provides some interesting insights into the blockbuster process. Just a month away from Transformers: Dark of the Moon<\/a> being released, we learn: he is curious to hear about local advertising from readers around the world<\/a> (to keep Paramount’s marketing folks on their toes?), his displeasure with a ‘cheap ass trailer company’<\/a> who apparently stole Transformer sounds to use in a Green Lantern TV spot, the fact that Mercedes wouldn’t allow him to make their cars into a bad Decepticon<\/a> and that he cut out a stunt<\/a> because a building “wanted a $40,000 location fee”. Oh, and the Autobot Twins<\/a> are not back in Transformers 3<\/a>.<\/p>\n

JOHN AUGUST<\/strong> (www.johnaugust.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The screenwriter of Go<\/a> (1999), Big Fish<\/a> (2003) and\u00a0Charlie and the Chocolate Factory<\/a> (2005) runs a site he describes as ‘a ton of useful information about screenwriting’ and he’s not wrong with that description. When you think of screenwriting gurus<\/a> who charge hefty amounts for books and seminars, it’s worth noting that a successful, working screenwriter is giving away lots of useful advice for free on a regular basis.\u00a0More than that, he takes time to answer reader comments and also blogs with a lot of insight about storytelling<\/a> and the wider industry<\/a>. It is particularly useful for those little practical details which confront the working screenwriter, be it formatting<\/a>, genres<\/a> or pitching<\/a>. He has also created an iPad app for reading screenplays (FDX Reader<\/a>) and a web browser extension (Less IMDb<\/a>) that makes the movie reference site easier to navigate.<\/p>\n

DON MURPHY<\/strong> (www.donmurphy.net<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The producer of Natural Born Killers<\/a> (1994), Apt Pupil (1998), From Hell (2001) and the Transformers franchise runs what appears to be a fairly old school site. But look deeper and you find some hidden treasures, such as a message board<\/a>, genuinely interesting links<\/a>, and some fantastic Hollywood stories.\u00a0There are sections titled good guys<\/a> (Michael De Luca), bad guys<\/a> (Peter Biskind), fun with lawsuits<\/a> (eye opening to say the least) and an archive<\/a> of related stuff going back to 1997. You can also make him happy<\/a> by sending him the front page of the LA Times from June 18th 1952.<\/p>\n

TED HOPE<\/strong> (http:\/\/blogs.indiewire.com\/tedhope<\/a>)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The successful US indie producer (American Splendor, In The Bedroom) has been an active blogger<\/a> and Twitter user<\/a> at a time of great turmoil and change for the independent sector. Part of that is down to the challenges facing filmmakers and distributors in a world where old economic models have been disrupted by new technologies and the financial crisis.\u00a0His previous blog<\/a> has now moved over to IndieWire<\/a> and is a good place to visit to find out what the future of the industry might look like, as the ideas and debates he encourages may filter through to the mainstream.<\/p>\n

If you have any other examples of filmmakers using the web in interesting ways, then leave them below.<\/p>\n

> Movie\u00a0Directors, Writers and Actors on\u00a0Twitter at \/Film<\/a>
\n> Filmmaker Magazine
\n<\/a>> The Daily MUBi on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do David Lynch, Michael Bay, Edgar Wright, Roger Deakins, John August, Don Murphy and Ted Hope all have in common?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,8],"tags":[648,2092,1103,2090,2091,1819],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16646,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12205\/revisions\/16646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.filmdetail.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}