The No Film School Podcast No Film School

On today’s episode, No Film School founder Ryan Koo, writer Alyssa Miller, and podcast co-host GG Hawkins discuss their favorite aspects of Sundance 2023. They discuss the most impactful films they watched, the nature of networking at the festival, and the exciting film acquisitions that occurred. 

In this episode, we talk about…

Sundance films that we loved

Mutual exhaustion and excitement everyone experienced at Sundance

Understanding the currency of human emotion

How, without Sundance, it would be difficult for certain films to be made

Why you don't need a full scale production to make a brilliant film

Having to navigate relationships in the industry with a guard up 

The value in making connections in such a concentrated amount of time

Multiple $20 million acquisitions for independent filmmakers



Memorable Quotes


“Diversity in emotion. The entirety of the human experience is found in this slate.” [1:32]

“The currency of human emotion…will probably be one of the hardest things for A.I. to define.” [10:20]

“Wow! Movies are so alive and well. Independent film is so alive and well.” [29:21]

“You really bond when you’re freezing.” [30:26]

“You are your own business as a filmmaker, and you have to be making these connections.” [37:50]




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Recently we were honored to interview the director of Sundance film, The Tuba Thieves, Alison O’Daniel. She shares what it was like to create a film that focused primarily on sound oversight. The Tuba Thieves not only challenges the rules of filmmaking, but it revolutionizes the way we do captioning.

Full transcript available here.

In this episode, we talk about:

A film 11 years in the making. Slow burn by design… 

The future of captioning and O'Daniel's How to Caption resource

Breaking the rules of filmmaking

Finding the champions of your project—both with labs and grants, and without ‘em

Patient, piecemeal filmmaking



No Film School's coverage of Sundance 2023 is brought to you by Adobe.

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No Film School writers, Alyssa Miller, GG Hawkins, and Ryan Koo discuss the opening weekend of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
We share why it has been so great to be back at Sundance in person. Also, we speak to a Powderkeg development executive about the future of indie films.
In this episode, we talk about…

The difficulty in choosing what to go to due to all the options

Approaching your Sundance experience as if you are a character in a script

Sharing our various objectives and goals for the festival

Theories on the budget cuts Sundance has made

The lack of distribution of the films at the festival

Appreciating the happy energy of filmmakers at Sundance

Powderkeg’s purpose for going to the festival

How important it is to build relationships in this industry

Staying true to your voice by not chasing mandates


We also discuss the following Sundance films:

Birth/rebirth

In My Mother’s Skin

Cassandro

Claudio’s Song

Chanshi

Fantastic Machine

Magazine Dreams



Memorable Quotes

“It’s so hard to watch a movie in the middle of your work day and feel like you’re actually at a festival.” [0:50]

“Part of the filmmaker experience at Sundance is knowing where you sit in the pecking order.” [4:30]

“Even if you have a film in the festival, it doesn’t mean you’re getting into the party.” [8:07]

“The reality of Sundance is ditch or be ditched. And it’s gonna happen to you and you just have to accept it and go with the flow.” [8:19]

“Be honest, be authentic and put yourself out there.” [35:05]



Mentioned
Adobe
Alyssa Miller
GG Hawkins
Ryan Koo
Powderkeg

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In today’s episode, we offer our suggestions for how to have a successful Sundance experience. Also, we chat about having our film gear robbed from our cars, and we share our thoughts on a recent lawsuit against A.I.

In this episode, we talk about…

How people, who live in the same city, will make plans to hang out at a film festival in a different state

Why you need to volunteer or attend Sundance regularly 

Getting over your ego and letting people think something was their idea

How to avoid buying stolen gear

Why we are worried about a particular A.I. lawsuit

Figuring out how to wield the A.I. sword in the future


Memorable Quotes

“You start getting stuff into Sundance, five years after you go regularly.” [9:51]

“You learn so much about whether or not you even have a chance.” [12:12]

“My job is to make you think it’s your idea.” [27:07]

“You’re a nerd. I can rent to you.” [36:56]

“There’s so much happening underneath the surface that we don’t know about.” [45:53]



Mentioned
Artists Fight A.I in New Class Action Lawsuit

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Today’s guest is Editor Lee Smith, editor of 'The Dark Knight', 'Dunkirk', '1917' and recently 'Empire of Light'. We chat with Lee and find out more about this invisible art. He also describes what it was like working on the recent film, Empire of Light, now in theaters.

In this episode, we talk about…

Comparing Empire of Light to other films he has done in the past

The difficulty in choosing takes when working with great actors 

Knowing how things will work in post production

Solving rubik's cube situations in the edit

Trusting your own instincts

What Lee thinks is the secret sauce to a good film

The defining film of his career

Pacing and rhythm of a film


Memorable Quotes

“It’s the same kind of thing as cutting a bigger film, just in a shorter amount of time and with obviously less complexity in the visual world.” [4:50]

“There’s a million things in editing that you can do to tweak anything.” [8:30]

“I am a lover of most films. There are very few films I won’t watch.” [13:18]



Mentioned
Empire of Light is in theaters

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In today’s episode, we discuss the importance and benefits of diversity in filmmaking. Also, we chat about the problems with how the industry handles VFX work, and we discuss a big dilemma Francis Ford Coppola is now facing.

In this episode, we talk about…

The Golden Globes problem with diversity

Proactively diversifying our teams 

The clique-like nature of filmmaking

How the industry doesn’t want to acknowledge good VFX work

Our theories about Francis Ford Coppola losing his entire crew

Why you should never self finance a movie



Memorable Quotes

“More diverse teams yield better products,stories, and films.” [5:53]

“Culture fit tends to become this blanket term of something that’s hard to overcome.” [8:35]

“Making conscious effort to find new collaborators is an exciting thing that should be pursued” [10:45]

“There’s a danger in brushing aside the labor that goes into it.” [21:27]




Mentioned

Golden Globe winners

Is Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘Megalopolis’ in Trouble?

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