Tyler Perry—who is something of an industry unto himself—has written, directed, and produced dozens of films over the past two decades. But even given his prolific output, Perry’s latest film—The Six Triple Eight—represents new territory for the filmmaker: a large-scale war picture telling the story of the only all-Black, all-women American battalion to serve overseas … Continue reading THE SIX TRIPLE EIGHT – A Tale of Two Steadicams
What does it mean to see and be seen? That is the question at the heart of Nickel Boys. Not just in the nature of the film’s central creative choice to be presented entirely from a first-person perspective, but also in the story of two young Black men navigating life in the Jim Crow–era South, where … Continue reading NICKEL BOYS – SOC Creative Spotlight
After taking home five Oscars and becoming one of the highest-grossing films of 2000, development quickly began on a sequel to Gladiator, but after years of false starts the project appeared to be dead. Director Ridley Scott, however, refused to let the idea die, and now, 24 years after the original film’s release, Gladiator II has arrived in … Continue reading GLADIATOR II – Egoless Operating
Blending the worlds of chemistry and cooking, TV production and education, and women’s rights and civil rights, Lessons in Chemistry shows both the connections and the tensions between these things as protagonist Elizabeth Zott fights to make space for herself in a world that would prefer her to be just a pretty face. In telling this story, … Continue reading LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY – Chemistry on Set
In the year 2024, Saturday Night Live is an institution—culturally ubiquitous and perpetually known for “not being as good as it was when I was in college.” Fifty seasons on from its debut, it’s hard to imagine a time when NBC’s late night variety show was seen as such a risky gamble that the network was, in … Continue reading SATURDAY NIGHT – Organized Chaos
Despite being categorized as a “comedy series” for the purposes of awards by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, watching The Bear can often feel like having a panic attack. Between stellar performances from the series’ principal cast, bold direction, and ambitious camera work, the visceral thrill and white-knuckle terror of working in a busy kitchen … Continue reading THE BEAR – Every Second Counts
Where once a hard line stood dividing film from television and broadcast from cinema, the rapid advancement of filmmaking technology over the last few decades has caused that line to blur. These days, many of the biggest live events employ techniques and visual language that have traditionally been more associated with scripted, narrative filmmaking, pushing these … Continue reading Focus on Cine+Live – Insights from Pioneering Leaders Advancing Creative Content Delivery
Apples Never Fall, Peacock’s limited series thriller about a family unraveling in the wake of their mother’s disappearance, comes on the heels of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers as the third major television series to be adapted from Liane Moriarty’s novels. While the action of the story has been relocated from the novel’s … Continue reading APPLES NEVER FALL – Performance-Driven Operating
In the current cinematic climate, an adult-oriented sports drama centered around tennis as an elaborate metaphor for sexual frustration doesn’t necessarily seem like a surefire hit, and yet Challengers has proven to be a commercial success as well as a critical one, opening at number one in the US box office when it was released … Continue reading CHALLENGERS – Tension and Release
In 1998, Pixar’s sophomore feature film A Bug’s Life showed audiences an “epic of miniature proportions,” cleverly blending the fable of The Ant and the Grasshopper with the structure of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. Now, more than 25 years later, National Geographic’s A Real Bug’s Life similarly aims to give audiences a “bug’s-eye view” of … Continue reading A REAL BUG’S LIFE – Shrinking the Camera Crew
David Daut 