October 22, 2024 • 15 mins
What makes a film truly captivating from the very first scene? Join us as we welcome Max Adler, a judge at the Mammoth Film Festival, to uncover the secret behind grabbing audience attention right off the bat. Max shares his journey as a first-time judge, offering insights into the importance of evaluating films independently to maintain a fresh perspective, and the possibility of forming genuine connections with fellow filmmakers—sometimes even through charming scenarios like being snowed in together.
In the second half of our conversation, we shine a spotlight on the nuanced world of short films and the critical role editing plays in shaping a narrative. Discover how subtle elements, like a well-timed blink, can make or break the authenticity of a scene. We dive into recurring themes within short films, noting the rising trend of stories rooted in the entertainment industry, and discuss why short films might just be the future of cinema. Their ability to captivate audiences with limited attention spans offers a dynamic viewing experience that promises to engage and inspire. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone interested in the intricacies of filmmaking and the creative potential unlocked through film festivals.
For our listeners, CFA’s teamed up with We Make Movies to get you a discount on production management services, including access to comprehensive production insurance and workers' comp for your next shoot.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I guess the first thing is like does it hook me
right away?
Okay, which is sad, becausesometimes I make things I'm like
just wait till, like you know,page 20 it's gonna be really
good later, yeah, yeah just stayin.
But I'm like, it is true, likewhen I'm watching like 80 films,
kind of like if you're watchinglike an audition, it's like you
kind of know in those firstcouple minutes like, am I going
to be invested in this?
Do I care?
Is this different?
Have I seen this before?
So it's kind of like dosomething to kind of get them
(00:23):
hooked, get the audience hookedand gripped right away.
Do I believe the actors?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This is the Cinematography for Actors
podcast.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
More than a podcast.
Cinematography for Actors is avibrant community devoted to
bridging the gap between talentand crew.
Each week, our show offerstransparent, insightful
conversations with industryleaders.
We unveil the magic behind thescenes, from candid discussions
about unique filmmakingprocesses to in-depth technical
exploration.
Join us in unraveling theintricacies of filmmaking, one
(00:54):
episode at a time.
It's more than just cameras andlenses we aim to inspire,
educate and empower as we peelback the curtain on the art of
effective storytelling Now on tothe episode.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to a Cinematography
for Actors.
Podcast episode, specialedition live, not live.
We're always live, but thistime we are not from Mammoth
Film Festival.
I am joined, indiana Underhillhere.
I'm joined with my co-host,haley Royal.
Hi and our first guest ofMammoth Film Festival aside from
the red carpet, max Adler.
Wonderful judge, hello, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Hello, thank you so much.
I'm honored.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I am so excited to have you here as our first.
We were introduced as victims,so it's like we were.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That was quite an introduction.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, I know, I'm like we're like linen, we're not
too scary over here, I think.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
No, it kind of unified us it was like hey
battle together, we're all.
We're on the same page here.
You know, especially in theblizzard, we're all victims in a
blizzard.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, so it's both.
It's all three of our firsttimes at Mammoth.
Oh, how about that um, which isjust kind of wonderful, because
I think every film festivalyou're probably the same because
you're an actor and directorand producer and you've been to
multiple festivals is.
It is kind of like thatcommunity of you like see the
same people every day.
You rely on that, you find yourown network within that time
frame.
It's fun, right?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
so exactly how I've been describing it.
Yeah, weirdly is.
And you've been to otherfestivals too.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of themare bigger in you know,
population size, geography andit's like I'm I like major FOMO
and I feel like, I'm like Ican't hit every party and see
everybody and do every lunch andlike I'm like, ah, I, I missed
out on this and this.
I feel like I get to doeverything.
(02:26):
I get to see everybody.
I get to cross paths withpeople that either I know or I
just met.
There's one place for a partythat everyone gets to get
together with at the end of thenight.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
No ego it's great.
No egos we love that.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love a no ego, collaboration and collaboration
and uh, and it's blizzarding andbeautiful and there's
responsible drivers and alsolike the possibility of a
blizzard, really like traumabonds you quickly to everyone
here.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So that community you're like we're gonna be stuck
in the snow together.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, exactly, yeah, everyone's got a really good
attitude about it I know like wemight get snowed in, but like
we're all together and have alot of resources, yeah, exactly,
I brought my dogs so they'rewith us did you really yeah, we
have two puppies with us.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
They they at.
They're hiking all day with thedog pipe.
Is it hiking Puppy hikingcompany?
Yeah, we found them here.
There's a puppy hiking companythat takes your dogs and hikes
All day.
That's incredible.
Eight hour hike.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Eight hour hike, really yeah, I need to get that
for my toddler.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Did you bring your toddler?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
No, no, no, no, no.
When he's a little older He'llbe four next month.
No, this will be too chaoticand crazy and late nights and
snow, but when he gets a littlebit older, for sure they should
have a daycare.
Yeah, definitely that would bemy next business, oh yeah, yeah,
cfa babysitters yes
Speaker 3 (03:38):
yeah, um now let's dive into judging okay this is
such an interesting um piece ofa festival.
It is integral and a lot ofpeople actually don't know what
goes into judging and I knowthis is your first time- yeah
here.
But also, is it your first timejudging at a festival?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
my first time judging at a festival, so I don't
really know what other festivalsdo or what the criteria is, but
I know, yeah, for this onethere were, I'm just short films
.
They like divide them up by,like you know, certain people do
the features.
There's like music videos,episodic.
There's shorts, and so my taskwas shorts.
Um, I had, and what's coolabout this was they send them
(04:14):
all to you ahead of time.
There's like a like a linkcalled Film Freeway.
You see all the films, you getto watch them, and so it's nice,
because then you're notinfluenced by like oh look, I
met this person and I'm like nowwe have this bond.
You're like the audiencereacted this way.
You're also not in a darkcinema, all day Right, which can
be a while.
Yes, I can like quite a fewcertain ones like stand out in a
(04:40):
big way.
I've met some of thosedirectors and actors from those
films and I'm and told them,like hire me, I want to work
with you, like you're reallygood, but yeah, it's um, it's
cool just to see what's outthere that like how much, how
large budgets are for shortfilms, right how many?
people are it takes to produce ashort film, how much of their
life like.
I met a guy who I flew out hereyesterday with who's from
(05:00):
brazil, who like got into thisfestival and flew himself from
brazil.
It's like this huge deal.
He might like move to americanow, like like this.
This means literally like theworld to a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So it's kind of like a short film, but like it's a
game-changing thing so you'resaying you were sent these links
and you were able to watcheverything before you got here,
so that you are influenced bythe people you're meeting and
people you like?
Does that mean that yourdecisions are made already?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They are.
I've given my favorites to thefestival coordinators and I
don't know if they know thewinners.
I think they're still tallyingeverything up, okay, but yes,
things are decided basicallybefore the screenings even
happen.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Great.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Which is actually good, because I heard one of the
files yesterday was corrupted.
We were there for that, oh, sothat.
But like guess what Judgesalready saw it.
We know how good it is, wealready know.
We already know.
So, yeah, and it was just kindof like pretty simple.
It was like best actor, bestactress, you know, best film,
like what's like what I thoughtthe best film was, like
filmmaking, but then like whatwas like my personal favorite
(06:03):
cinematography, that kind ofthing.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So yeah and so criteria I know you just said
like there's the differentactors, cinematographer, things
like that.
What are the criteria you'vecreated to evaluate, or are
there ones you're going off of,based off the festival itself?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's a great question.
There was no criteria reallygiven to us, so I guess it's
just me watching as like anactor, producer, yeah, um, I
guess the first thing is likedoes it hook me right away?
Okay, um, which is sad, becausesometimes I make things I'm
like just wait till, like youknow, page 20 it's gonna be
really good later yeah yeah,just stay in.
But I'm like, it is true, likewhen I'm watching like 80 films,
(06:37):
kind of like if you're watchinglike an audition, it's like you
kind of know in those firstcouple minutes like, am I going
to be invested in this?
Do I care?
Is this different?
Have I seen this before?
So it's kind of like dosomething to kind of get them
hooked, get the audience hookedand gripped right away.
Um, do I believe the actors ordoes it look like short film
actor?
You know actors like take meaway and transport me and make
me forget I'm watching a film.
(06:57):
No-transcript, so that's kindof my criteria.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
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(07:35):
Slash insurance and use codeCFA23 on your intake form for
10% off your quote and for likethe actor brain in you, yeah,
when watching, like touching onthe short film acting, what are
the things that take you away,like take you out?
Um, like not bad acting, butwhat are some of the things you
notice when you're like, oh,that doesn't feel true to
character?
Yeah, what pulls you out of thestory?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
yeah, bad editing oh, interesting, yeah, okay, cool
because that's like a, when it'slike I'm, I'm like oh, they
weren't there a second ago, like, not like mentally there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's like they're in a different headspace or like
their choices.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I'm like that.
No, like that wasn't theperformance that they were
giving, Like you've tried towedge this in and like now I'm
jarred.
Maybe just you know an editor.
I love editors but likesometimes there's bad editing
and I think that to me is thatkind of separates, like the
award winning shorts from thenot is, you know, just just the
(08:24):
I guess the production side ofit more so than the acting,
because you know the acting youcan only okay the acting.
You know you're kind of doingwhat you're given and you know
there's not a lot of time andnot a lot of days and not a lot
of hours, $30,000 or whateverinto a short film like you
better, you better get a prettydecent crew because like it's
(08:47):
competitive and people aresubmitting from all over the
world and, like you know, do doa good job a lot of pressure on
an editor like it is, it is thecrown.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but editors, Ifeel like you know they can make
a performance absolutely andthey've made mine.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Or you know, like they, they really do control the
pacing, like there's a bigresponsibility in the blink,
blink of an eye where they youknow actors are taught like wait
to blink, because an editorwill always cut on or after the
blink.
Totally yeah, or right before,depending on what the story is.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
But yeah, you, definitely they're in control of
, kind of how long that'splaying out it's very
interesting because just actingwith like an acting coach of
mine, he was saying likeblinking kind of like betrays,
like the truth, like when you'reblinking it's like it's like a
tell, like you're not reallyconnected, you're not really
feeling it, like you're like youknow, it's like when you say
something you're like, oh, butlike my brother died, you know,
no, like it's like that kind ofa thing.
(09:37):
Yeah, that's like you know youcan't, like you know like you
shouldn't be thinking like don'tblink, don't blink, don't blink
, because then like you're notin the scene, for sure I do.
It's so distracting nowwatching it and I'm seeing like,
just like going crazy and it'slike, oh, like you're because
you're lying, like you're havinga tough time saying that word
and like believing it.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, trying to remember a line or something
right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's a lot going on when you know when filming,
but yeah but again.
That's the the editor to me.
Hopefully saves that, but um,if they go the other way, that's
the thing.
I think that separates right,but I love.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah.
What are some of the commonthemes you saw this year
actually?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
that's a great question, but there I don't
think I saw, I don't know, acommon theme.
They were all so different.
There was there was animatedones, there's ones about acting
school there's.
Well, I guess the common themewould be uh, kind of inside
baseball, like a lot of them didtake place, like in the
industry.
It was about about, like youknow, notes for scripts, or
about actors, or about actingclasses or about yeah, there's a
(10:35):
lot of like I love movies likethat, when we get to evaluate
our own industry, people tell it.
It's like write what you knowand, like you know, you're
friends with like a lot of theactors.
You have the gear.
Let's just show the gear likeyou have access to, like the
acting class room and like thestudio, so that uh came up a lot
.
Um, I don't know, I was.
I honestly was just impressedbecause I just, you know, you
(10:55):
think like short film and you'rekind of like yeah it's like you
know, amateur hour, but likeit's really.
I was like I was blown away bythe caliber of short films that
I saw.
I was like this is it was likereally genuinely good filmmaking
.
Yeah, this is a competitivefield, and like you know, the
Oscars are giving awards for forshorts now too, so it's a field
that's worthy of competing inhonestly, I truly believe that
(11:15):
short film is the medium of thefuture.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
It's in the past year we, since we've been doing this
.
Uh, the short film that I havewatched and been extremely
inspired by has just been someof the most deeply artistic and
like explorative work that I'veever seen.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And no one has a detention span anymore.
I don't have an attention span.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I don't want to go watch a feature film anymore.
I want to watch a block, a onehour block of seven minute
shorts, because I know if Idon't like the one I'm watching,
it'll be over soon and I'llprobably see something really
awesome next well, becausethat's how you live life, right,
it's like with tiktok orinstagram.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You're kind of like it's just curated, like I can go
to what I want and like skippast what I don't want, and and
you're right.
And also I feel like it givesthe filmmaker like the autonomy
to like do what they want to do,and it's like a proof of
concept.
Like showing like hey, studios,like if you did give me 50
million dollars, like this is myvision, this is what I can do.
And it's like showing a lot ofpeople their art.
Before before they wouldn'teven be given an opportunity
(12:15):
like that yeah, there's so muchmore.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Uh, leeway is not the right word, but it's the one
I'm going to use leeway for.
Uh, just exploring something Ithink that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's not getting notes from like studios and
networks and it's like what theywant to do, they do and they
put it out there as buck wild asyou want in a show yeah, yeah
and people will be like yeah 20years later, you're not gonna
have to release a director's cutto prove that that's the movie
you wanted to makeso yeah, yeah and even like with
producing now like I've readlike feature scripts that like
come with like a short and I'mlike oh, it's like you read the
(12:46):
script and like yeah I'm like oh, now I see, exactly like now
I'm visually like stimulatedafter like reading this script
and I'm like it's yeah.
So I think you're right, Ithink you're onto something now?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
what are your biggest ?
Um wrapping up here, what arefor next time?
This is the first time judging.
You saw the films, short filmsspecifically.
You know who the winners are inyour brain, right?
What is the workflow or howwould your process change next
time you're judging?
Would you change any way aboutthe way you evaluated films or
um?
Talk to the filmmakers when yousaw them?
Like anything that would changefor next?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
time.
Yeah, I had a foot and mouthmoment because because how did
they send this link like anemail?
You know, click link on likefilm freeway, and so for me it's
just easy to like click it andwatch it on my phone.
But I told a couple directorsthat I watched the phone.
No, especially, yeah, theanimator who did like mushka and
he was just like oh, he's likeI worked.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
He was like yeah, I was like, oh, but it was really.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I was like I have like my son here, we were
watching it, like it held hisattention span and like you did
really great.
But yeah, I will never.
No, next time I'm going to haveto stream it to the big TV, so
that was my fault.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It is, I think, as a cinematographer we're so used to
being told this is going to beseen on a.
You shoot it for a big screen,but the majority of your
audience is going to be watchingit on a smaller screen.
I know Well, even.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
But Nolan said like, yeah, watch Oppenheimer on the
phone, I don't care.
He's like just watch the filmTotally I just did a film yes In
uh in December and it was likethe whole crew instead of video
village there's like a yes theyhave they're watching the
monitor on their own phoneanyway and I'm like okay, on a
big TV next time.
But otherwise I liked theprocess and I feel pretty good
(14:25):
about my decisions.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Well, we are so happy that you're the first guest we
had here.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Max.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Adler, thank you so much for joining us and we can't
wait to see you at the rest ofthe festival.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Cool, I'm excited to see you guys.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I hope so.
It's lovely.
I don't feel like a victim.
Everyone.
We'll see you later.
Bye, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
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make.
I guess the first thing is like does it hook me
right away?
Okay, which is sad, becausesometimes I make things I'm like
just wait till, like you know,page 20 it's gonna be really
good later, yeah, yeah just stayin.
But I'm like, it is true, likewhen I'm watching like 80 films,
kind of like if you're watchinglike an audition, it's like you
kind of know in those firstcouple minutes like, am I going
to be invested in this?
Do I care?
Is this different?
Have I seen this before?
So it's kind of like dosomething to kind of get them
(00:23):
hooked, get the audience hookedand gripped right away.
Do I believe the actors?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
This is the Cinematography for Actors
podcast.
Speaker 4 (00:30):
More than a podcast.
Cinematography for Actors is avibrant community devoted to
bridging the gap between talentand crew.
Each week, our show offerstransparent, insightful
conversations with industryleaders.
We unveil the magic behind thescenes, from candid discussions
about unique filmmakingprocesses to in-depth technical
exploration.
Join us in unraveling theintricacies of filmmaking, one
(00:54):
episode at a time.
It's more than just cameras andlenses we aim to inspire,
educate and empower as we peelback the curtain on the art of
effective storytelling Now on tothe episode.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to a Cinematography
for Actors.
Podcast episode, specialedition live, not live.
We're always live, but thistime we are not from Mammoth
Film Festival.
I am joined, indiana Underhillhere.
I'm joined with my co-host,haley Royal.
Hi and our first guest ofMammoth Film Festival aside from
the red carpet, max Adler.
Wonderful judge, hello, welcome.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Hello, thank you so much.
I'm honored.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
I am so excited to have you here as our first.
We were introduced as victims,so it's like we were.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
That was quite an introduction.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Yeah, I know, I'm like we're like linen, we're not
too scary over here, I think.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
No, it kind of unified us it was like hey
battle together, we're all.
We're on the same page here.
You know, especially in theblizzard, we're all victims in a
blizzard.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, so it's both.
It's all three of our firsttimes at Mammoth.
Oh, how about that um, which isjust kind of wonderful, because
I think every film festivalyou're probably the same because
you're an actor and directorand producer and you've been to
multiple festivals is.
It is kind of like thatcommunity of you like see the
same people every day.
You rely on that, you find yourown network within that time
frame.
It's fun, right?
Speaker 1 (02:06):
so exactly how I've been describing it.
Yeah, weirdly is.
And you've been to otherfestivals too.
Yeah, I feel like a lot of themare bigger in you know,
population size, geography andit's like I'm I like major FOMO
and I feel like, I'm like Ican't hit every party and see
everybody and do every lunch andlike I'm like, ah, I, I missed
out on this and this.
I feel like I get to doeverything.
(02:26):
I get to see everybody.
I get to cross paths withpeople that either I know or I
just met.
There's one place for a partythat everyone gets to get
together with at the end of thenight.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
No ego it's great.
No egos we love that.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
I love a no ego, collaboration and collaboration
and uh, and it's blizzarding andbeautiful and there's
responsible drivers and alsolike the possibility of a
blizzard, really like traumabonds you quickly to everyone
here.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So that community you're like we're gonna be stuck
in the snow together.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, exactly, yeah, everyone's got a really good
attitude about it I know like wemight get snowed in, but like
we're all together and have alot of resources, yeah, exactly,
I brought my dogs so they'rewith us did you really yeah, we
have two puppies with us.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
They they at.
They're hiking all day with thedog pipe.
Is it hiking Puppy hikingcompany?
Yeah, we found them here.
There's a puppy hiking companythat takes your dogs and hikes
All day.
That's incredible.
Eight hour hike.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Eight hour hike, really yeah, I need to get that
for my toddler.
Speaker 4 (03:19):
Did you bring your toddler?
Speaker 1 (03:21):
No, no, no, no, no.
When he's a little older He'llbe four next month.
No, this will be too chaoticand crazy and late nights and
snow, but when he gets a littlebit older, for sure they should
have a daycare.
Yeah, definitely that would bemy next business, oh yeah, yeah,
cfa babysitters yes
Speaker 3 (03:38):
yeah, um now let's dive into judging okay this is
such an interesting um piece ofa festival.
It is integral and a lot ofpeople actually don't know what
goes into judging and I knowthis is your first time- yeah
here.
But also, is it your first timejudging at a festival?
Speaker 1 (03:52):
my first time judging at a festival, so I don't
really know what other festivalsdo or what the criteria is, but
I know, yeah, for this onethere were, I'm just short films
.
They like divide them up by,like you know, certain people do
the features.
There's like music videos,episodic.
There's shorts, and so my taskwas shorts.
Um, I had, and what's coolabout this was they send them
(04:14):
all to you ahead of time.
There's like a like a linkcalled Film Freeway.
You see all the films, you getto watch them, and so it's nice,
because then you're notinfluenced by like oh look, I
met this person and I'm like nowwe have this bond.
You're like the audiencereacted this way.
You're also not in a darkcinema, all day Right, which can
be a while.
Yes, I can like quite a fewcertain ones like stand out in a
(04:40):
big way.
I've met some of thosedirectors and actors from those
films and I'm and told them,like hire me, I want to work
with you, like you're reallygood, but yeah, it's um, it's
cool just to see what's outthere that like how much, how
large budgets are for shortfilms, right how many?
people are it takes to produce ashort film, how much of their
life like.
I met a guy who I flew out hereyesterday with who's from
(05:00):
brazil, who like got into thisfestival and flew himself from
brazil.
It's like this huge deal.
He might like move to americanow, like like this.
This means literally like theworld to a lot of people.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
So it's kind of like a short film, but like it's a
game-changing thing so you'resaying you were sent these links
and you were able to watcheverything before you got here,
so that you are influenced bythe people you're meeting and
people you like?
Does that mean that yourdecisions are made already?
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They are.
I've given my favorites to thefestival coordinators and I
don't know if they know thewinners.
I think they're still tallyingeverything up, okay, but yes,
things are decided basicallybefore the screenings even
happen.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Great.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Which is actually good, because I heard one of the
files yesterday was corrupted.
We were there for that, oh, sothat.
But like guess what Judgesalready saw it.
We know how good it is, wealready know.
We already know.
So, yeah, and it was just kindof like pretty simple.
It was like best actor, bestactress, you know, best film,
like what's like what I thoughtthe best film was, like
filmmaking, but then like whatwas like my personal favorite
(06:03):
cinematography, that kind ofthing.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
So yeah and so criteria I know you just said
like there's the differentactors, cinematographer, things
like that.
What are the criteria you'vecreated to evaluate, or are
there ones you're going off of,based off the festival itself?
Speaker 1 (06:16):
That's a great question.
There was no criteria reallygiven to us, so I guess it's
just me watching as like anactor, producer, yeah, um, I
guess the first thing is likedoes it hook me right away?
Okay, um, which is sad, becausesometimes I make things I'm
like just wait till, like youknow, page 20 it's gonna be
really good later yeah yeah,just stay in.
But I'm like, it is true, likewhen I'm watching like 80 films,
(06:37):
kind of like if you're watchinglike an audition, it's like you
kind of know in those firstcouple minutes like, am I going
to be invested in this?
Do I care?
Is this different?
Have I seen this before?
So it's kind of like dosomething to kind of get them
hooked, get the audience hookedand gripped right away.
Um, do I believe the actors ordoes it look like short film
actor?
You know actors like take meaway and transport me and make
me forget I'm watching a film.
(06:57):
No-transcript, so that's kindof my criteria.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
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10% off your quote and for likethe actor brain in you, yeah,
when watching, like touching onthe short film acting, what are
the things that take you away,like take you out?
Um, like not bad acting, butwhat are some of the things you
notice when you're like, oh,that doesn't feel true to
character?
Yeah, what pulls you out of thestory?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
yeah, bad editing oh, interesting, yeah, okay, cool
because that's like a, when it'slike I'm, I'm like oh, they
weren't there a second ago, like, not like mentally there.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
It's like they're in a different headspace or like
their choices.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I'm like that.
No, like that wasn't theperformance that they were
giving, Like you've tried towedge this in and like now I'm
jarred.
Maybe just you know an editor.
I love editors but likesometimes there's bad editing
and I think that to me is thatkind of separates, like the
award winning shorts from thenot is, you know, just just the
(08:24):
I guess the production side ofit more so than the acting,
because you know the acting youcan only okay the acting.
You know you're kind of doingwhat you're given and you know
there's not a lot of time andnot a lot of days and not a lot
of hours, $30,000 or whateverinto a short film like you
better, you better get a prettydecent crew because like it's
(08:47):
competitive and people aresubmitting from all over the
world and, like you know, do doa good job a lot of pressure on
an editor like it is, it is thecrown.
Yeah, yeah, yeah but editors, Ifeel like you know they can make
a performance absolutely andthey've made mine.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Or you know, like they, they really do control the
pacing, like there's a bigresponsibility in the blink,
blink of an eye where they youknow actors are taught like wait
to blink, because an editorwill always cut on or after the
blink.
Totally yeah, or right before,depending on what the story is.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
But yeah, you, definitely they're in control of
, kind of how long that'splaying out it's very
interesting because just actingwith like an acting coach of
mine, he was saying likeblinking kind of like betrays,
like the truth, like when you'reblinking it's like it's like a
tell, like you're not reallyconnected, you're not really
feeling it, like you're like youknow, it's like when you say
something you're like, oh, butlike my brother died, you know,
no, like it's like that kind ofa thing.
(09:37):
Yeah, that's like you know youcan't, like you know like you
shouldn't be thinking like don'tblink, don't blink, don't blink
, because then like you're notin the scene, for sure I do.
It's so distracting nowwatching it and I'm seeing like,
just like going crazy and it'slike, oh, like you're because
you're lying, like you're havinga tough time saying that word
and like believing it.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
Yeah, trying to remember a line or something
right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
There's a lot going on when you know when filming,
but yeah but again.
That's the the editor to me.
Hopefully saves that, but um,if they go the other way, that's
the thing.
I think that separates right,but I love.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Yeah.
What are some of the commonthemes you saw this year
actually?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
that's a great question, but there I don't
think I saw, I don't know, acommon theme.
They were all so different.
There was there was animatedones, there's ones about acting
school there's.
Well, I guess the common themewould be uh, kind of inside
baseball, like a lot of them didtake place, like in the
industry.
It was about about, like youknow, notes for scripts, or
about actors, or about actingclasses or about yeah, there's a
(10:35):
lot of like I love movies likethat, when we get to evaluate
our own industry, people tell it.
It's like write what you knowand, like you know, you're
friends with like a lot of theactors.
You have the gear.
Let's just show the gear likeyou have access to, like the
acting class room and like thestudio, so that uh came up a lot
.
Um, I don't know, I was.
I honestly was just impressedbecause I just, you know, you
(10:55):
think like short film and you'rekind of like yeah it's like you
know, amateur hour, but likeit's really.
I was like I was blown away bythe caliber of short films that
I saw.
I was like this is it was likereally genuinely good filmmaking
.
Yeah, this is a competitivefield, and like you know, the
Oscars are giving awards for forshorts now too, so it's a field
that's worthy of competing inhonestly, I truly believe that
(11:15):
short film is the medium of thefuture.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
It's in the past year we, since we've been doing this
.
Uh, the short film that I havewatched and been extremely
inspired by has just been someof the most deeply artistic and
like explorative work that I'veever seen.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
And no one has a detention span anymore.
I don't have an attention span.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
I don't want to go watch a feature film anymore.
I want to watch a block, a onehour block of seven minute
shorts, because I know if Idon't like the one I'm watching,
it'll be over soon and I'llprobably see something really
awesome next well, becausethat's how you live life, right,
it's like with tiktok orinstagram.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
You're kind of like it's just curated, like I can go
to what I want and like skippast what I don't want, and and
you're right.
And also I feel like it givesthe filmmaker like the autonomy
to like do what they want to do,and it's like a proof of
concept.
Like showing like hey, studios,like if you did give me 50
million dollars, like this is myvision, this is what I can do.
And it's like showing a lot ofpeople their art.
Before before they wouldn'teven be given an opportunity
(12:15):
like that yeah, there's so muchmore.
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Uh, leeway is not the right word, but it's the one
I'm going to use leeway for.
Uh, just exploring something Ithink that's right.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It's not getting notes from like studios and
networks and it's like what theywant to do, they do and they
put it out there as buck wild asyou want in a show yeah, yeah
and people will be like yeah 20years later, you're not gonna
have to release a director's cutto prove that that's the movie
you wanted to makeso yeah, yeah and even like with
producing now like I've readlike feature scripts that like
come with like a short and I'mlike oh, it's like you read the
(12:46):
script and like yeah I'm like oh, now I see, exactly like now
I'm visually like stimulatedafter like reading this script
and I'm like it's yeah.
So I think you're right, Ithink you're onto something now?
Speaker 3 (12:56):
what are your biggest ?
Um wrapping up here, what arefor next time?
This is the first time judging.
You saw the films, short filmsspecifically.
You know who the winners are inyour brain, right?
What is the workflow or howwould your process change next
time you're judging?
Would you change any way aboutthe way you evaluated films or
um?
Talk to the filmmakers when yousaw them?
Like anything that would changefor next?
Speaker 1 (13:17):
time.
Yeah, I had a foot and mouthmoment because because how did
they send this link like anemail?
You know, click link on likefilm freeway, and so for me it's
just easy to like click it andwatch it on my phone.
But I told a couple directorsthat I watched the phone.
No, especially, yeah, theanimator who did like mushka and
he was just like oh, he's likeI worked.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
He was like yeah, I was like, oh, but it was really.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
I was like I have like my son here, we were
watching it, like it held hisattention span and like you did
really great.
But yeah, I will never.
No, next time I'm going to haveto stream it to the big TV, so
that was my fault.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
It is, I think, as a cinematographer we're so used to
being told this is going to beseen on a.
You shoot it for a big screen,but the majority of your
audience is going to be watchingit on a smaller screen.
I know Well, even.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
But Nolan said like, yeah, watch Oppenheimer on the
phone, I don't care.
He's like just watch the filmTotally I just did a film yes In
uh in December and it was likethe whole crew instead of video
village there's like a yes theyhave they're watching the
monitor on their own phoneanyway and I'm like okay, on a
big TV next time.
But otherwise I liked theprocess and I feel pretty good
(14:25):
about my decisions.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Well, we are so happy that you're the first guest we
had here.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Max.
Speaker 3 (14:30):
Adler, thank you so much for joining us and we can't
wait to see you at the rest ofthe festival.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Cool, I'm excited to see you guys.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I hope so.
It's lovely.
I don't feel like a victim.
Everyone.
We'll see you later.
Bye, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
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