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I recently partook in the screening and discussion of Mike Wallace Is Here at Hunter college directed by Avi Belken.  There was much to learn from this event! Belken wanted this documentary to be a product of a genesis story -- how did 60 Mintues and its acclaim and reputation start? After asking himself that question and doing some research he immediately realized he had to do something of a case study on Mike Wallace who proved to be an iconic figure in the history of 60 Minutes.  Upon learning of this realization of his, I myself unexpectedly realized that his documentary was nothing short of his own investigative journaling of his subject, Mike Wallace. I've learned that when choosing a subject for your film, there may be off shoots that are as interesting or even more interesting than the intended subject and that gives it all the more reason to change the trajectory/subject of your film -- in some instances the film will come to you, as opposed to your choosing the ...

This scene starts with a close up shot of a door knob and the key hole getting blown off, with appropriate sound effect, cutting to  a panning shot, left to right, of the villain Chigurh, close to the floor following his feet and the captive bolt pistol he used to blow off the key hole.  The panning shot ends with a long shot of the back of Chigurh walking down a hallway. There is a cut on action of him walking toward the door at the end of the hallway with the next shot coming from inside the room and his walking in after opening the door. The next quick couple of shots are shot/reverse shoots and over the shoulder shots (of Chigurh) as he moves closer to two men sitting at a desk.  During these shot/reverse shots, one of the men at the desk rushes to get a gun from a draw, but Chigurh is ahead of a game, already shooting him with the captive bolt pistol. We then cut to a MCU of Chigurh as he is looking downward at the man he just shot while we hear the sound effect...

During Samuel Maoz's (Lebanon, Foxtrot) master class at the Roxy Cinema Tribeca, Maoz spoke about his decision to film Lebanon and the way he decided to film it, and his background as it pertains to the film, giving a few filmmaking tips along the way. He wanted to shoot Lebanon because he wanted to share his experience of the war he partook in, in Lebanon, with everyone.  However he wasn't able to shoot it directly after his involvement in the war due to his PTSD.  It was only after years of distancing himself from his war experiences that he was able to touch this subject again, and when he did, it was therapeutic. I've learned that it's natural that filmmakers may want to film something that draws from their past experiences, especially if it has had a deep enough impact on them that they want to share it with others.  But as Maoz pointed out, in order to do such a thing, you have to look at that experience from both an objective and personal point of view, n...