Bandit Films

2012-02-27T21:33:00.001-08:00

The Fuel Tank Annual DVD releasing in March 2012. Profiling local Custom and Hot Rodding automotive culture in Victoria Australia

Deep Blue

2012-02-15T01:52:00.000-08:00

Modern Motor Cycle Company

2011-12-24T03:47:00.001-08:00

Modern Motor Cycle Company from Fuel Tank TV on Vimeo.

Modern Motor Cycle Company is our last film for 2011, and will be featured on the Fuel Tank Annual DVD to be released in late January/ early February 2012.

To explain more about MMCC, and it's founder Christian Condo, here's an excerpt from the article ‘Much to Learn’ published in Head Full of Snakes magazine:

“Modern Motor Cycle Company is quite straightforward as an idea. It’s a workshop and a shopfront where Christian can sell some parts and some posters while making bikes of his own initiation as well as bikes for customers and friends. Christian trained as a car mechanic, and then as an industrial designer. Having found himself then designing shitty kitchenware for a couple of years in CAD, and feeling a disconnection from the realness of mechanical work, he started MMCC to make bikes and hopefully combine his design and mechanical training. At times he’s felt the frustration of having too much mechanical work and not enough time making bikes from the ground up, but on the whole he’s doing pretty well. I think he is satisfied.”

Excerpt from article ‘much to learn’ from ‘Head full of snakes issue one’.
http://www.headfullofsnakes.blogspot.com/

Modern Motor Cycle Company
www.modernmotorcyclecompany.com

Directed by Aaron Cuthbert
Edited by Aaron Cuthbert/
Produced by Aaron Cuthbert/Tom Broadhurst

A Bandit Films/Fuel Magazine Production

Camera Operators
Daniel De Silva
George Husband
Aaron Poupard
Aaron Cuthbert

Photographs
Luke Ray
Tom Broadhurst

Music Nathan Hollywood

http://www.myspace.com/search/Music?q=Nathan%20Hollywood

http://www.messandnoise.com/releases/2000080

Shot on location around Melbourne, Australia

http://www.fueltank.tv/
http://www.fuelzine.com/
https://www.facebook.com/fueltanktv

The Human Fog

2011-11-13T19:41:00.001-08:00

We have finally (thank fuck!!) completed Post Production on The Human Fog thanks to the genius's of Brendan and Doron down at Music and Effects and the guys at Digital Pictures, sending out to festivals this week. Here's the new poster art by Tom Holt.

The Eldorado's

2011-10-29T22:01:00.000-07:00

We visited the South Muckleford Eldorado's on Friday night..things got a little wild

Weekend Shoots

2011-10-16T04:50:00.000-07:00

Shooting continues for our first release via Fuel Tank TV, The Annual, DVD release December 2011, check here for updates.

Fuel Tank Tv Annual 2011

2011-10-09T18:55:00.000-07:00

Fuel Tank TV Annual DVD / Trailer from Fuel Tank TV on Vimeo.

The Fuel Tank TV Annual to be released in December 2011 is a collectable DVD release of all Bandit Films and Fuel Tank TV films released to date, including unseen films, combined with full coverage of the recent

Chopped Rod and Custom festival 2011
http://chopped.com.au/

Taking place an hour and a half north of Melbourne, Chopped is a unique cultural experience similar to that of being thrown back to a 1950s/60s Hop Up Carnavale. Thousands of fans from around the country partake in a mix of traditional style hot rods & custom cars alongside bobber & chopper motorcycles with entrants running head-to-head throughout the show in two-lane old-style dirt drags entertaining the crowds.

All this and more... COMING SOON DECEMBER 2011

Keep checking out these links for updates and information about the future release date and where/how to purchase:

https://www.facebook.com/fueltanktv
http://www.fuelzine.com/
http://www.fueltank.tv/

MUSIC:

Artist: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion /R.L. Burnside
Track: Shake’em on down
Album: Dirty Shirt Rock n Roll: The First Ten Years
http://thejonspencerbluesexplosion.com/
http://www.myspace.com/jsbluesexplosion

Editor:
Aaron Cuthbert
Camera:
Tom Broadhurst
Aaron Cuthbert
Still Photography:Tom Broadhurst

SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS
TO KEEP MAKING FILMS

thanks

Fuel Tank TV
Bandit Films

THE MOUNTAINS ARE IN MY BLOOD: by Bandit Films on Pozible

2011-09-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

THE MOUNTAINS ARE IN MY BLOOD: by Bandit Films on Pozible

Charlie Rose - Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson Part2

2011-09-28T18:36:00.001-07:00

Charlie Rose - Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson Part1

2011-09-28T18:35:00.001-07:00

Rancho Deluxe

2011-09-28T18:28:00.001-07:00

Ryan Ford

2011-09-22T05:38:00.001-07:00

Ryan Ford from Fuel Tank TV on Vimeo.

Ryan Ford is a Pinstriping artist located in Central Victoria Australia. He is also the owner of Chopped Magazine and the Promoter of the Chopped Rod and Custom three day festival where pre-1965 style custom cars and music fanatics from across Australia roll into Victoria.

Taking place an hour and a half north of Melbourne, Chopped is a unique cultural experience similar to that of being thrown back to a 1950s/60s Hop Up Carnavale. Thousands of fans from around the country partake in a mix of traditional style hot rods & custom cars alongside bobber & chopper motorcycles with entrants running head-to-head throughout the show in two-lane old-style dirt drags entertaining the crowds.

www.chopped.com.au/
www.kustomlinez.com/

Directed by Tom Broadhurst
Camera: Aaron Cuthbert &Tom Broadhurst
Edited by: Tom Broadhurst

Take note:
Bandit Films and Fuel Tank TV will be producing a documentary of the 2011 Chopped Rod and Custom festival and will be distributing a DVD for sale. So support independent filmmakers to keep on making these productions (they aren't easy). Keep updated about the films progress and distribution at the following links:

www.fuelzine.com
www.facebook.com/fueltanktv
www.fueltank.tv
www.banditfilms.blogspot.com/

Much Much Go

2011-09-17T19:06:00.001-07:00

Much Much Go from Bandit Films on Vimeo.

Nick Eterovic is a car designer with Ford and a proud petrol head who loves to be working on a project. Nick's produced two competition winning bikes in the last couple of years, and is always thinking about the next project to approach.

Director: Tom Broadhurst
Editor: Aaron Cuthbert
DOP's:
Daniel De Silva
Aaron Cuthbert
Tom Broadhurst
Producer
Luke Ray

Music :
Los Angeles by Phosphorescent
myspace.com/phosphorescent

Links:
www.fueltank.tv/
www.fuelzine.com/
www.facebook.com/fueltanktv
www.banditfilms.blogspot.com/

The Mountains are in my Blood

2011-09-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

The mountains are in my blood from Bandit Films on Vimeo.

This is a trailer for a documentary I have been shooting for the last 12 months about a friend of mind David Braniff, who suffered a psychotic breakdown whilst living in London during 1996. He has since made a recovery and has gone onto work as a regional mentor in the Australian Mental Health sector. "The mountains are in my blood" is David's story about drifting into a mental illness and the path towards recovery.

- Tom Broadhurst / Director

Music: Fume by Bon Iver
http://boniver.org/

James Gray talks about the visualization of a scene

2011-09-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

Aaron Sorkin

2011-09-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

The Human Fog

2011-09-03T16:07:00.000-07:00

We'

We've been in post production on The Human Fog for some time, a black comedy that began as a short film and is now slowly morphing into a dramatic "web experiment" or DWX as I like to call it. I say web experiment, mainly because that's what I feel it is. Its not a web series, a narrative/dramatic invention/concept I feel has failed woefully right across the web. I feel this is mainly due to poor writing and average production standards, it isn't easy making a film, any kind of a film. With The Human Fog I feel I have created some characters that seem to have a lot more to say beyond the typical Film Festival 15 minute short film. The first installment of The Fog will be around the 25 minute mark and seems to have been a marathon process of creative discovery for myself as a Writer and as a Director. I seemed to start the production of The Fog with the smallest kernel of an idea orbiting around a friendship of co-dependence between an anxiety riddled cynic and an anxiety riddled optimist and the story and dramatic conflict seemed to grow from there, very slowly. We had our first shoot just after Easter in 2010, that was more than a 1.5 years ago and The Human Fog has been given the psuedo title by the cast "The never ending short film". I'm not sure why it has taken so long. Finance, time, busy lives etc have all played a part. The whole production seems to have a destiny and a life of its own. This has been frustrating, but as we enter the final stretch, I can see light at the end of this strange tunnel and see reason and meaning behind why this has taken so long to create and finish. For myself as a filmmaker its been a steep learning curve, working with talented actors, crew and looking at screenwriting and storytelling in a different light...allowing pages of script to just disappear and working away at problems and trusting your gut instinct, these have all been powerful lessons with regard to the creative and collaborative process of making a film. Some films come out quick, some films are a slow burn, I'm just glad this film was a struggle and I'm looking forward to how audiences will respond to this strange 25 minute character development, which is what the film really is, a character study, the first installment of what I hope will be an ongoing narrative focusing upon a myriad of characters as they struggle with what it means to be human in these increasingly confusing times. We have plans to maybe make a feature for Video on Demand next year...fingers crossed..maybe that will happen.-regards Tom Broadhurst

How Would You Use All 27 New Platforms Available For Direct (aka DIY/DIWO) Distribution? Hope for Film

2011-09-01T18:21:00.000-07:00

How Would You Use All 27 New Platforms Available For Direct (aka DIY/DIWO) Distribution? Hope for FilmI often wonder why emerging and established filmmakers spend so much time trying to gain a theatrical release. There are so many emerging platforms for content delivery and film distribution across the web, here's a list of a couple from the ever optimistic Ted Hope.

Ray: A life underwater

2011-08-31T09:05:00.001-07:00

The Human Fog

2011-08-31T04:47:00.001-07:00

Nicholas Jones

2011-08-05T17:13:00.000-07:00

Our new film for Craft Victoria about the very talented
and committed Melbourne artist Nicholas Jones

Behind the scenes on Factory 6

2011-07-25T19:02:00.000-07:00

Here's some shots from the behind the scenes on the shoot a few weeks back of our series of films called Factory 6
Photographs by Luke Ray.

Factory 6

2011-07-19T13:40:00.001-07:00

Luke Ray (pictured) from Fuel magazine and myself have combined evil forces to begin Fuel Tank TV, a digital platform that will curate short films gleaned from the web as well as producing our own. This shot was taken in Factory 6,a kind of massive shed filled with blokes smashing, bashing, painting, dreaming and creating all manner of stuff..a lot of it relating to various normal modes of transport like cafe racer motorbikes, hot-rods and drag racers. Film will launch on Fuel Tank TV @

http://vimeo.com/channels/fueltanktv Sunday 24th around 9.00pm EST

New short films for Craft Victoria

2011-07-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

We're really excited about some new short films we've been shooting for Craft Victoria over the last month, we still have a few more to shoot. The enigmatic Mr Nicholas Jones was one artist who's studio was in the beautiful and intriguing Nicholas Building in Melbourne's CBD.
A committed craft professional making some truly amazing work.

Ksubi Kolors

2011-07-02T20:35:00.000-07:00

The Luger Story

2011-07-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

I love it when I find a film by an Australian Writer/Director who's willing to take some chances, pays homage to the craft of cinema and pulls it off..Maziar Lahooti is a real emerging talent to watch.

The Dark Side of The lens

2011-06-28T04:45:00.000-07:00

Every now an again you see a film that blows you mind...this is one of them.

Brunswick

2011-06-15T01:28:00.001-07:00

Brunswick, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.
Tom Broadhurst Copyright 2011

The Human Fog

2011-06-15T00:06:00.001-07:00

Billy / The Human Fog, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Billy Dunlop considers the inherent confusion that smothers his life. All this confusion, combined with the omnipresent nature of poor human insight that seems to be the very fabric that glues our cruel universe together.

Frisbee

2011-06-12T04:18:00.001-07:00

Frisbee, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

PROFESSIONal

2011-06-12T02:42:00.000-07:00

Metal-fabricator Neil Youngberg never planned on taking over his grandfather's business and is now faced with passing on his legacy.

In this short-form profile, VitaBrevisFilms interviews Neil Youngberg for the beginning exploration of our "Professional" series. Shot on location in Neil's metal fabrication shop, the 3rd generation craftsman gives a sincere overview of his life's work, dispensing hard-worn wisdom while illuminating the sobering realities of the role private business plays in an ever changing economic landscape. A deeply personal project for all involved, this on-going series seeks to shed-light on forgotten trades and practices in an evolving America.

Music:
Caspian: For protection
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: Destined for great things
Bon Iver: Beach Baby

Direction: Skylar Nielsen
Cinematography: Ian Rigby, Lance Clayton
Title design: Michael Hall

VitaBrevisFilms.com

Meet 2011 TED Prize Winner: JR

2011-06-08T21:14:00.001-07:00

"Chromjuwelen En Route"

2011-06-07T00:48:00.000-07:00

I've never actually met Ralf Becker, but he seems like a cool dude who loves cars and has a mate who has a Mad Max V8 Interceptor..in Germany. There's some nice photography in this video..well done Ralf and the creative team.

Fuel Magazine No.7 Launch Party

2011-06-06T19:27:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we went down to Rancho Deluxe in Collingwood and documented the launch of Fuel Magazine's No.7 "Custom Issue". There were some very cool cars hanging about. Hats off to Dan De Silva for this little promo-doco clip. We will hopefully be combining forces with Fuel Magazine in the future when we launch "Fuel Tank.TV" a web based channel of classic car related content from Australia.

Cassavetes

2011-06-04T23:09:00.000-07:00

“What happens to artists is that it’s not that somebody’s standing in their way, it’s that their own selves are standing in their way. the compromise really isn’t how or what you do, the techniques you use, or even the content, but really the compromise is beginning to feel a lack of confidence in your innermost thoughts. and if you don’t put these innermost thoughts on the screen then you are looking down on not only your audience but the people you work with, and that’s what makes so many people working out there unhappy. these innermost thoughts become less and less a part of you and once you lose them then you don’t have anything else. so many people have so much to say and there are so many really worthwhile things to say that it seems impossible that we could cut ourselves off from this whole avenue of enormous excitement.”

Reckoner

2011-05-25T04:58:00.000-07:00

House of Cards

2011-05-25T04:52:00.001-07:00

Ted Hope

2011-05-25T00:56:00.001-07:00

Idea Virus

2011-05-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

Grey Goo

2011-05-25T00:25:00.001-07:00

The creative landscape is changing. Some talk about a revolution. Others talk about a natural evolution. These changes affect everything. From creatio

2011-05-25T00:20:00.001-07:00

JasonWoodyWood

2011-05-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Spotty Horse

2011-05-21T02:16:00.001-07:00

Here are some recent photographs taken while I was up in Corryong shooting a documentary called "the mountains are in my blood". Its been a difficult shoot, with the tyranny of distance playing a major part.

Spotty Horse, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

feel the

2011-05-21T02:13:00.001-07:00

feel the, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Pink Room

2011-05-21T02:04:00.001-07:00

Pink Room, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

A series of different colored hotel rooms photographed up near Corryong while making the documentary The Mountains are in my Blood

Green Room

2011-05-21T02:03:00.001-07:00

Green Room, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Yellow Room

2011-05-21T01:58:00.001-07:00

Yellow Room, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Ben Thomas

2011-05-18T05:39:00.003-07:00

Ben Thomas, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Rancho Deluxe

2011-05-18T05:39:00.001-07:00

Rancho Deluxe, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Ben Eine

2011-05-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Oliver Stone a conversation with history

2011-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

2011-05-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

The Green Book Materials

2011-05-09T19:18:00.001-07:00

Thanks Ray Ray for sharing your heart with us.

Canon 7D

Produced: Jason Wood
Directed / Edited: Eliot Rausch
Director of Photography: Luke Korver + Matt B. Taylor
Score: (NIN) - 34 Ghosts IV + 13 Ghosts II /
(Evening Hymns) - Cedars

Documentary Release 2010

phospictures.com

The Lost Thing sound design

2011-05-07T00:00:00.001-07:00

SoundWorks Collection: "The Lost Thing" from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.

Henry Miller, its a voyage of ideas

2011-05-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

SELF

2011-04-30T04:19:00.001-07:00

SELF, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

The Human Fog

2011-04-29T22:37:00.001-07:00

The Human Fog promo poster, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

This is the strangest project I've created thus far. Its been a hard slog nutting this film out, a little like jelly wrestling within the confines of the minds of two characters and their respective personalities, waging a covert war against the stubborn bastard bureaucrats of creativity and my inherent and highly sophisticated stupidity sabotaging everything on my behalf. I went through a long period of hating this film, mainly because I'd written myself into a corner. I think this happens on most things I write, but for some reason this was a real labor. This wasn't a film that had all the normal narrative tweaks, it was a succession of cerebral rants, anxiety laced streams of consciousness and now as I close in on nailing this thing, I feel I hate it even more, maybe. I just didn't want to sit down and write something and then make a film that had your typical beginning, your typical middle and then the typical ending, inciting incidents and all. So much of modern screenwriting is so formulaic and boring. Short films are those rare times in film making where you get to experiment, play with the characters you've created and see how it all evolves. The Human Fog was a slow evolution for a myriad of reasons. I always intended the narrative to be a snippet of a friendship. A reflection of the fog of war inherent in some friendships. The cast and crew have been brilliant..I'm just glad they didn't follow me into some fierce battle..it'd be a suicide mission of endless frustration, none would survive..maybe just me... and I'd deliver The Poor Widows (nice name for a rock band) the news. Film making? Not only is it a tough business at the top..its a fascinating swine like misery at the bottom.

Coming to a small screen near you..The Human Fog

Ride time

2011-04-24T07:32:00.003-07:00

Ride time, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Smoko

2011-04-24T07:32:00.001-07:00

Smoko, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Shane

2011-04-24T07:31:00.001-07:00

Shane, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

The Human Fog

2011-04-24T02:35:00.001-07:00

The Human Fog, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

One take

2011-04-24T02:34:00.001-07:00

One take, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

On the job

2011-04-23T23:10:00.001-07:00

On the job, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Ben and his Ford

2011-04-23T23:07:00.003-07:00

Ben and his Ford, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Dan with Kessler Krane

2011-04-23T23:07:00.001-07:00

Dan with Kessler Krane, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Shane Connolly

2011-04-23T22:59:00.001-07:00

Shane Connolly, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

gettin ready

2011-04-23T22:58:00.003-07:00

gettin ready, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

The Bullrider

2011-04-23T22:58:00.001-07:00

The Bullrider, a photo by Bandit Films on Flickr.

The Squire

2011-04-23T21:22:00.001-07:00

The Squire a video by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Bitter Films..brilliant writing and direction

2011-04-23T21:19:00.000-07:00

2011-04-23T20:57:00.001-07:00

2011-04-23T20:51:00.001-07:00

Elmore Leonard gives it up

2011-04-23T20:40:00.001-07:00

Rancho Deluxe

2011-04-23T18:50:00.001-07:00

Rancho Deluxe a video by Bandit Films on Flickr.

The Ride

2011-04-23T07:07:00.001-07:00

The Ride a video by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Welcome to Murray Country

2011-04-23T06:13:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Murray Country a video by Bandit Films on Flickr.

Bette Davis telling it like it is..god bless her

2011-04-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

Hud..one of the great dramatic scenes of all time

2011-04-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Roger Deakins..I'm just starting

2011-04-11T19:02:00.001-07:00

Roger Deakins...genius

2011-04-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

GUP - Guide to Unique Photography

2011-04-10T06:22:00.000-07:00

GUP - Guide to Unique Photography

The Human Fog..Graham in the park

2011-04-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

Production still of Graham Sully (Lee Mason) in the upcoming short film The Human Fog

Roman Polanski and Chinatown

2011-04-10T03:11:00.000-07:00

Roman Polanski gives a masterclass on the making of Chinatown. Hear why he believes it to be his best film, and learn the stories behind his approach to script construction, mise en scene, directing difficult actors, and unhappy endings

CHINATOWN Is A Truly Tragic Story

Conrad Hall interview

2011-04-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

Conrad Lafcadio Hall, ASC (June 21, 1926 – January 4, 2003) was an American cinematographer from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Named after writers Joseph Conrad and Lafcadio Hearn, he was best known for photographing films such as In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, American Beauty, and Road to Perdition. For his work he garnered a number of awards, including three Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards.

In 2003, Hall was judged to be one of history's ten most influential cinematographers in a survey of the members of the International Cinematographers Guild.

The son of "Mutiny on the Bounty" co-author James Norman Hall, American cinematographer Conrad Hall initially intended to follow in his father's footsteps as a writer, but a bad grade in a journalism class at the University of Southern California turned him in the direction of filmmaking instead. Forming a small production company with two fellow USC classmates, he entered the business when they sold their prize-winning class project "Sea Theme" to television. They shot a little bit of everything (i.e., industrials, commercials), including footage for Disney's acclaimed feature documentary "The Living Desert" (1953) before deciding to do a low-budget outdoors feature, "My Brother Down There/Running Target" (1956). The three drew the top three positions (producer, director, cinematographer) out of a hat, and Hall's picking cinematographer propelled him further down the cameraman's road. There was another low-budget feature ("Edge of Fury" 1958) before he embarked on life as an assistant cameraman, apprenticing with the likes of Ted McCord, Robert Surtees and Ernest Haller.

After working on the ABC TV series "Stoney Burke" (1962-63) and "The Outer Limits" (1963-65), Hall made his feature debut as director of photography on "The Wild Seed" (1965) and immediately drew critical praise, earning Oscar nominations for that year's "Morituri" and "The Professionals" (1966), his first collaboration with director Richard Brooks. Hall's decision to use anamorphic lenses on Brooks' bitterly monochromatic "In Cold Blood" (1967) placed the picture slightly outside of the documentary style inherent in filming on the exact locations where the famous murders had transpired, thereby involving the audience more deeply on a dramatic, storytelling level.

Despite his start in black-and-white, Hall began learning the "color" ropes with "Harper" (1966) and won Oscar three years later for the hazy, desaturated, mythic look he brought to "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid", shooting through smoke, steam, branches, anything to help accomplish the effect. He also used extremely long zoom lenses to dehumanize the relentless posse chasing the bandits, so that zooming in on them at a distance of five miles left them a faceless presence. His inspired work on John Huston's "Fat City" (1972), however, did not help it at the box office, and he has often used the film as a teaching aid, studying it to see why nobody went to see it.

Hall's cinematography for John Schlesinger's "The Day of the Locust" (1975), long considered by his contemporaries as a perfect example of visual mood wedded to dramatic content, garnered him a fifth Oscar nomination, but after shooting Schlesinger's "Marathon Man" (1976), he "retired" from big screen work until he accepted the position of director of photography on "Black Widow" (1987). In the interim, he partnered with Haskell Wexler in a commercials production house and even helmed numerous TV spots while hoping to develop a project with which to make his feature directorial debut. Hall was back in the running for the Academy Award with Robert Towne's "Tequila Sunrise" (1988), ratcheting the golden romanticism of "The Day of the Locust" a few notches higher to upstage the lackluster script. If working with first-time director Steve Zaillian on "Searching for Bobby Fischer" (1993) showcased his facility for human-scale films emphasizing the close-up, he was equally at home on his second outing with the writer-director, the much larger-in-scale "A Civil Action" (1998), in which he contrasted the world of rural New England with that of Boston, achieving the effect through naturalistic lighting and an almost monochromatic color palette. For his efforts on both films, Hall racked up his seventh and eighth Academy Award nominations.

He wove a similar magic working with first-time filmmaker Sam Mendes on the universally-praised "American Beauty" (1999), employing three distinct styles in the course of the movie--tightly composed tension-inducing movements for the main scenes, fluid movements for the fantasy sequences and handheld video footage for the films shot by Wes Bentley's character. The overall effect was to find corresponding visual stylings to the film's emotional narrative which he did brilliantly, earning his second Academy Award for his efforts. Although Hall had yet to make his feature directing debut, his planned adaptation of William Faulkner's "The Wild Palms" stood ready in the pipeline just waiting for a "go". Hollywood would never see the fruits of Hall the director, however; his last film work would be as director of photography for Mendes' gangster opus "Road to Perdition" (2002), for which Hall's work was praised to the heavens--even at his advanced age, Hall filmed throughout weeks of long nights, including a sequence where the whole crew, himself included, was knee-deep in freezing mud . Indeed, at the time of his death in early 2003 Hall had already won or been nominated for several awards for his final project, including a 2002 Academy Award.

Cinematographer Gordon Willis talks about Godfather

2011-04-10T01:44:00.001-07:00

Francis Ford Coppola talks about stealing art

2011-04-10T01:42:00.000-07:00

The Last Word with Sidney Lumet...I do it because I like it!

2011-04-10T00:35:00.000-07:00

Sidney Lumet, a director who preferred the streets of New York to the back lots of Hollywood and whose stories of conscience — “12 Angry Men,” “Serpico,” “Dog Day Afternoon,” “The Verdict,” “Network” — became modern American film classics, died Saturday morning at his home in Manhattan. He was 86.

“While the goal of all movies is to entertain,” Mr. Lumet once wrote, “the kind of film in which I believe goes one step further. It compels the spectator to examine one facet or another of his own conscience. It stimulates thought and sets the mental juices flowing.”

Social issues set his own mental juices flowing, and his best films not only probed the consequences of prejudice, corruption and betrayal, but also celebrated individual acts of courage.

In his first film, “12 Angry Men” (1957), he took his cameras into a jury room where the pressure mounted as one tenacious and courageous juror, played by Henry Fonda, slowly convinced the others that the defendant on trial for murder was, in fact, innocent. (Justice Sonia M. Sotomayor of the United States Supreme Court said the film had an important influence on her law career.)

Almost two decades later, Mr. Lumet’s moral sense remained acute when he ventured into satire with “Network” (1976), perhaps his most acclaimed film. Based on Paddy Chayefsky’s biting script, the film portrays a television anchorman who briefly resuscitates his fading career by launching on-air tirades against what he perceives as the hypocrisies of American society.

The film starred William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Peter Finch as the commentator turned attack dog whose proclamation to the world at large — “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” — became part of the American vernacular.

“Network” was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including best film and best director, and won four: best actor (Mr. Finch), best actress (Ms. Dunaway), best original screenplay (Mr. Chayefsky) and best supporting actress (Beatrice Straight).

Honorary Oscar

Yet for all the critical success of his films and despite the more than 40 Academy Award nominations they drew, Mr. Lumet (pronounced loo-MET) never won an Oscar for directing, though he was nominated four times. (The other nominations were for “12 Angry Men,” “Dog Day Afternoon” and “The Verdict.”)

Only in 2005 did the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences present him with an honorary Academy Award. Manohla Dargis, writing in The New York Times, called it a “consolation prize for a lifetime of neglect.”

In 2007, in an interview that was videotaped to accompany this obituary online, Mr. Lumet was asked how it felt to receive an Academy Award at long last. He replied, “I wanted one, damn it, and I felt I deserved one.”

That he was more a creature of New York than of Hollywood may have had something to do with his Oscar night disappointments. For Mr. Lumet, location mattered deeply, and New York mattered most of all. He was the quintessential New York director.

“Locations are characters in my movies,” he wrote. “The city is capable of portraying the mood a scene requires.”

He explored New York early on in “The Pawnbroker” (1964), the story of a Holocaust survivor, played by Rod Steiger, numbed and hardened against humanity by the horrors he has endured, who deals with racketeers in his Harlem pawnshop until his conscience is reawakened by a vicious crime on his doorstep.

‘Serpico’

The city loomed large in Mr. Lumet’s several examinations of the criminal justice system. Police corruption particularly fascinated him, beginning with “Serpico” (1973). The film, based on a book by Peter Maas, was drawn from a real-life drama involving two New York City police officers, David Durk and Frank Serpico, who told David Burnham, a reporter for The New York Times, that they had ample evidence of police graft and corruption.

Publication of their story led to the mayoral appointment of a commission to investigate the charges and ultimately to major reforms. Both the book and the film concentrated on Detective Serpico, played by Al Pacino, and his efforts to change the system. Mr. Pacino’s performance brought him an Oscar nomination.

Mr. Lumet returned to the theme in 1981 with “Prince of the City,” for which he shared screenwriting credit with Jay Presson Allen. Based on the book by Robert Daley, the film dealt with an ambitious detective, portrayed by Treat Williams, who goes undercover to gather evidence for an investigative commission and who winds up alienated and alone after being manipulated into destroying the lives and careers of many of those around him.

Mr. Lumet focused on criminals, rather than the police, in “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), telling the story (again, based on fact) of a botched attempt to rob a Brooklyn bank. Mr. Pacino again starred, this time as Sonny, the leader of an amateurish gang of bank robbers whose plans go awry and who winds up taking hostages and demanding jet transport to a foreign country. It turns out that Sonny, although he has a wife at home, had planned the robbery to pay for his boyfriend’s sex-change operation. In 2009, the film was added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

New York, or at least a fantasy version of it, was even the backdrop for Mr. Lumet’s most uncharacteristic film, “The Wiz,” his 1978 musical version of the “The Wizard of Oz” starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. Roundly panned, it was also a box-office failure.

By the time he finished shooting “Night Falls on Manhattan” in 1996, Mr. Lumet had made 38 films, 29 of them on location in New York City. That film, written by Mr. Lumet and based on another Daley novel, “Tainted Evidence,” once again looked at the justice system as it moved from a shootout with drug dealers into a revealing courtroom trial.

The courthouse was one of Mr. Lumet’s favorite arenas for drama, beginning with “12 Angry Men.” He returned to it again in “The Verdict” (1982), with a screenplay by David Mamet and a cast led by Paul Newman as a down-at-the-heels lawyer who redeems himself and his career when he represents a malpractice victim in a legal battle with a hospital.

But Mr. Lumet’s concerns could also range more broadly, to issues of national survival itself. One of the most sobering films of the cold war era was his 1964 adaptation of Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler’s novel, “Fail-Safe,” a taut examination of the threat of accidental nuclear war, with Henry Fonda as the president of the United States and a young Larry Hagman as his Russian-speaking interpreter. The film concluded with a harrowing suggestion of an atomic blast on American soil, rendered as a series of glimpses of ordinary life — children playing, pigeons taking wing — simply stopping. The scenes were from the streets of New York.

Sidney Lumet was born on June 25, 1924, in Philadelphia to Baruch Lumet and Eugenia Wermus, both actors in Yiddish theater. His father was born in Poland and moved his family to New York when Sidney was a baby and joined the Yiddish Art Theater. By the time he was 4, Sidney was appearing onstage with his father, and he went on to make his Broadway debut in 1935 as a street kid in Sidney Kingsley’s “Dead End.” He appeared in several more Broadway shows, including Maxwell Anderson’s “Journey to Jerusalem” in 1940, in which he played the young Jesus.

After wartime service as a radar technician in the Far East, Mr. Lumet returned to New York and started directing Off Broadway and in summer stock. His big break came in 1950, when he was hired by CBS and became a director on the television suspense series “Danger.” Other shows followed, including the history series “You Are There.”

His career soared in 1953, when he began directing original plays for dramatic series on CBS and NBC, including “Studio One,” “Playhouse 90” and “Kraft Television Theater,” eventually adding some 200 productions to his credits. He returned to the theater to direct Albert Camus’s “Caligula,” with Kenneth Haigh as the Roman emperor, and George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman,” among other plays.

Among the highlights of Mr. Lumet’s television years were a full-length production of Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Iceman Cometh,” with Jason Robards as the salesman Hickey, and “12 Angry Men,” which he directed for television before turning it into his first film.

Some of Mr. Lumet’s early films had their origin in the theater. He directed Anna Magnani and Marlon Brando in “The Fugitive Kind” (1960), an adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play “Orpheus Descending”; he traveled abroad to film part of Arthur Miller’s “View From the Bridge” (1962) in Paris, with Raf Vallone, Maureen Stapleton and Carol Lawrence, completing the film on the Brooklyn waterfront; and he returned to the world of O’Neill to film “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” (1962), with Katharine Hepburn and Ralph Richardson as the tormented Tyrones. His 1968 adaptation of Chekhov’s “Sea Gull,” however, was generally deemed uneven despite a stellar cast that included James Mason, Simone Signoret and Vanessa Redgrave.

A trainload of stars turned out for Mr. Lumet’s 1974 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” a project that took him abroad again, this time to Britain, France and Turkey, to film the famous whodunit in which the detective Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) must single out a murderer from a crowd of suspects that included Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery and John Gielgud.

There was a run of less-than-successful films, including “Running on Empty” (1988), with Judd Hirsch and Christine Lahti as ’60s radicals still in hiding from the F.B.I. 20 years after participating in a bombing; the police drama “Q & A” (1990), with a screenplay by Mr. Lumet, about a racist New York detective (played by Nick Nolte); and “Critical Care” (1997), a satiric jab at the American health care system.

Return to Television

In 1995, Mr. Lumet published a well-received memoir, “Making Movies,” in which he summed up his view of directorial style: “Good style, to me, is unseen style. It is style that is felt.”

He returned to television in 2001 as executive producer, principal director and one of the writers of a new courtroom drama for cable television, “100 Centre Street” (the title was the address of the Criminal Court Building in Lower Manhattan). The series, which ran for two seasons on A&E, had an ensemble cast, with Alan Arkin as an all-too-forgiving judge known as Let-’Em-Go Joe.

The director seemed immune to advancing age. Before long, he was behind the camera again. “Find Me Guilty” (2006), which starred Vin Diesel, was a freewheeling account of the events surrounding the federal prosecution of a notorious New Jersey crime family.

And he marked his 83rd year with the 2007 release of his last feature film, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” the bleakly riveting story of two brothers (Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke) propelled by greed into a relentless cycle of mayhem. The film drew raves.

Mr. Lumet’s first three marriages — to the actress Rita Gam, Gloria Vanderbilt and Gail Jones, the daughter of Lena Horne — ended in divorce. He married Mary Gimbel in 1980. She survives him. Besides his stepdaughter, Ms. Gimbel, he is also survived by two daughters he had with Ms. Jones, Amy Lumet and Jenny Lumet, a screenwriter; a stepson, Bailey Gimbel; nine grandchildren and a great-grandson. Mr. Lumet also had a home in East Hampton, on Long Island.

Ms. Dargis called Mr. Lumet “one of the last of the great movie moralists” and “a leading purveyor of the social-issue movie.” Yet Mr. Lumet said he was never a crusader for social change. “I don’t think art changes anything,” he said in The Times interview. So why make movies? he was asked.

“I do it because I like it,” he replied, “and it’s a wonderful way to spend your life.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/movies/sidney-lumet-director-of-american-classics-dies-at-86.html?hp

Welcome to Murray Country

2011-03-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

Machines come and go, usually becoming the victims of human progress..

Murray Markwell of Southern Customs, in Pakenham Melbourne loves his American Muscle Cars, he also loves having a beer and having a chat. Murray is a walking talking encyclopedia of information about cars and car culture. Bandit Films were happy to go along for the ride and film this old NASCAR behemoth, a true testament to speed, power and money...

Director: Aaron Cuthbert

Director of Photography, Editing/Colour Grade: Daniel De Silva

Producer/ Photography: Tom Broadhurst

Music:

Title: The Outside Man theme music

Composer: Michel Legrand

Meet Murray Markwell

2011-03-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

Murray loves cars, especially the classic American Muscle cars of the early 1970's

Rancho Deluxe

2011-03-07T20:42:00.000-08:00

Bandit films on Daily Motion

2011-03-04T21:27:00.000-08:00

TheHumanFog's videos on Dailymotion

Billy was a Truck Driver

2011-03-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Billy is a nice old bloke who allowed me to interview him while we were having a beer at the local pub around the corner from where I live.

Shot on a Canon 7D

Music: Sime Nugent "I'm away" from the album
Broke and Banned
simenugent.com/

Being a Cowboy

2011-03-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

Dispatches: Bandit Films

A group of old friends, all ex Australian Rodeo champions meet at the Legends of Australian Rodeo @
Tallangatta Rodeo January 2011. A short film about old friendships and seasoned Rodeo riders who still have a thirst for the adrenalin of riding a Bull.

Camera:
Aaron Cuthbert
Tom Broadhurst

"The Squire" production photos

2011-03-01T18:47:00.000-08:00

Various photographs from the production shoot of "The Squire"

Rodeo Photos

2011-03-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Series of portraits shot at the Tallangatta Rodeo in January 2011

The Human Fog trailer 2

2011-03-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.

- Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)

The Tragedy of being human can be sadly... a funny thing

Starring Lee Mason & Brett Swain

A Bandit Films production

Written & Directed by Tom Broadhurst

The Human Fog

2011-03-01T16:50:00.000-08:00

This is one of a few trailers we've posted around on the web. The Human Fog started as a way to make a film and work with professional actors. Its been a hard road towards finishing this film, tinkering with the script etc...its been a labor of love. A Black Comedy about anxious people groping in the dark with all kinds of issues. Hopefully we'll get it finished soon and upload it

The Ride

2011-03-01T16:43:00.000-08:00

We shot this film up at the Tallangatta Rodeo in January 2011. Tough guys and rough Bulls..

The Squire

2011-03-01T16:36:00.000-08:00

This a short film we shot recently about a mate of mine; Kyle, he loves classic cars of the early 1960's. He has this zen like way of building, creating, restoring and perfecting pretty well much everything he touches...he's an amazing illustrator as well