My Favorite Media of 2014
Another year has come to an end, many hours were spent consuming hours of great work from different mediums. Here’s some of my favorite media from the year 2014:
The Crime Anthology Trifecta: Fargo. True Detective. Serial.
In case you didn’t hear: the anthology genre is now back on prime-time television thanks in part to FX’s Fargo and HBO’s True Detective. Fargo was an adaption no one thought we’d enjoy that turned out to be an exceptional companion piece to the original Coen Bros 1994 movie of the same name. It is dark comedy at its best with characters portrayed by such a talented ensemble (hey, Allison Tolman, let’s collaborate on a project some day.)
Over the last few years many producers have set eyes on Louisiana’s tax incentive program to shoot their projects in the southern state. The minds behind True Detective took advantage of the states’ tax credit and successfully adapted the show’s events to take place in southern Louisiana and its hauntingly beautiful locations. The final product is fantastic: eight smartly written episodes of gripping crime drama shot on gorgeous 35mm. The site No Film School posted some details about that 6-minute single take shot from episode 4.
Only one thing is clear to me after listening to season 1 of Serial: I want every crime investigation to be explained, narrated to me by executive producer and host Sarah Koenig. Serial is a new podcast, a spin-off of the public radio favorite This American Life, the show dives into a nonfiction story and it’s told week by week, over multiple episodes. I wrote about the show a few weeks ago. Please go, download the episodes.
Gone Girl
Gone Girl is my favorite film of 2014, it’s a fast paced thriller that defies the expectations of the audience and reinvents the formula of the genre, just as some of David Fincher’s previous films. Gillian Flynn adapted the screenplay from a novel of the same name (also by Flynn) released in 2012, her published material falls into the psychological thriller genre, featuring strong female protagonists in unpleasant situations: it’s the perfect material for Fincher.
I admire what director David Fincher and his team have accomplished with Gone Girl and his previous two films The Social Network and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Can we please start calling them the “Anti-Hero Trilogy”?) Over the last few years Fincher has embraced new filmmaking techniques that have refined his work footprint: his team has properly used RED/Blackmagic digital cameras with beautiful results, experimental workflows during the post-production process, collaborating with Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross for the creation of unique film scores inspired by “massage parlor music” that surprisingly work.
Please go watch this in theaters and please don’t watch this on a first date.
Lena Dunham
Actress/producer/writer/director Lena Dunham is one of the great millennial voices in media today. People familiar with her name seem to either despise her work or appreciate it; I’m definitely on the appreciative side. The third season of HBO’s Girls contains some sharply written episodes: “Dead Inside” (co-written by Dunham), being my favorite of the season, deals with Hannah insensitively dealing with the unexpected death of her e-book editor and Jessa finding out a late friend believed to be dead was alive, despite having received an invitation to her dead friend’s funeral. The episode deals with the relationship between 20-year-olds and their poor perception of death.
2014 also saw the release of Dunham’s memoir Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She’s “Learned” which was met with polarizing responses. It contains some interesting stories that accurately depict the dysfunctional, indulgent nature of my generation.
The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer
I was introduced to Star Wars when I was 12 years old, just as Revenge of the Sith was in post-production and there seemed to be Star Wars fatigue after the release of Episodes I and II a few years before; sadly, I didn’t get to experience the excitement around Star Wars and its comeback to popular culture. In 2012, after the acquisition of LucasFilm by The Walt Disney Company and the involvement of J.J. Abrams on what would be the first entry of a new Star Wars trilogy, a new light was shone over the path of the beloved franchise. The teaser trailer for The Force Awakens was released this past December, making this the first time I get to anticipate a new Star Wars film. Mark your calendars: The Force Awakens will be out in theaters on December 18th, 2015.
Crowdfunding Your Project
If your are a filmmaker and looking to finance your next project you have probably considered crowdfunding it. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are among a number of crowdfunding platforms that allow creators to find backers that are willing to pledge money to bring these projects to life. This year we saw the release of The Veronica Mars Movie and the great Australian horror film The Babadook thanks in part to the people who donated money on their respective Kickstarter sites. Crowdfunding has been an amazing tool for filmmakers and other creators trying to get their projects off the ground, I can’t want to watch other film projects successfully financed this way.