Daily Archives: October 31, 2024

The terrifying ‘documentary’ movie that’ll genuinely scare you this Halloween

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreThere’s an underrated found footage film available to stream that will terrify you this Halloween.For horror fans, successfully finding a film that genuinely unnerves you – or disturbs you so much you need to stop watching it entirely – is an increasingly challenging task.But Horror in the High Desert might do the trick. The film, which was released in 2021, is a faux documentary about the strange disappearance of hiker Gary Hinge (Eric Mencis) in the High Desert region of Nevada.Talking heads, including Gary’s sister (Tonya Williams-Ogden) and a private investigator working the case (David Morales), share details about Hinge, as the film attempts to shed light on the whereabouts of the missing hiker. As the film draws on, it becomes clear there is something more sinister at play – and the film ends with a sequence that is not for the faint-hearted.The trailer for the film informs the viewer: “Over 600,000 people go missing in the United States every year. an estimated 90 per cent are recovered annually… dead or alive. It is suspected that the remaining 10 per cent vanish into the American wildlands.”Instead of being a jumpy horror, the film, written and directed by Dutch Marich, builds up dread slowly, but effectively, and is one of the more chilling found footage films in recent years. Some fans have compared it to Lake Mungo, an Australian found footage film that has generated a cult fanbase since its release in 2008.‘Horror in the High Desert’ is a scary must-watch

‘Emilia Perez’ movie melds Mexican culture with musical melodies

‘Emilia Perez’ movie melds Mexican culture with musical melodies | WTVB | 1590 AM · 95.5 FM | The Voice of Branch County Close For the health and safety of everyone, our offices are temporarily closed to the public. If you have won a prize from us we will be mailing it to you or…

Halloween indie horror movie Curse of the Sin Eater looks like a blockbuster

There are video and filmmaking tools that can take the horror out of making a hit Halloween movie, as crafting a film is both a daunting and laborious task. Ask any filmmaker, and especially an indie creator, like director Justin Denton, who’s new horror flick Curse of the Sin Eater was just released on Amazon Prime Video, and made possible by Blackmagic Design’s software.Creating 90 minutes of perfection is not easy. So you can understand why filmmakers are always looking for the best workflow that the tech world can offer. “I’ve been in the film industry for over 20 years on major television productions and $200M+ features,” says Denton. He told us that for this production “DaVinci Resolve was our hub for the film. We used the same Resolve project across all the major stages of production.” He adds, “This was the best overall pipeline I’ve ever worked within.”When the wild west of digital film production came on the scene, Avid became the darling of Hollywood. It was very pro-driven, resource intensive, and expensive. And film editors loved its workflow. Then “desktop” apps like Adobe Premiere, Sony Vegas and Apple’s Final Cut Pro entered the game and competition became fierce.But soon it became clear that while each application had its pros and cons, all of them could cut a movie. What really differentiated one from the other was workflow. As with many things in our creative industry, Adobe seemed to understand this early on. With Premiere, After Effects and Audition, an editor could do it all within Creative Cloud. Adobe was quick to highlight that when the blockbuster movie “The Social Network” was cut on Premiere and their Creative Suite back in 2010.Making Curse of the Sin Eater: Blackmagic Design’s workflow(Image credit: High Fliers Films Ltd.)Enter Blackmagic Design. A company that has described itself as catering to the ‘feature film, post and broadcast industries’, and features in our best video editing software guide. While Blackmagic Design was barely even known when The Social Network came out, it has since taken the entire industry by storm. Like Avid, and unlike Adobe, here was a company that came from film and “gets” film production. It truly understands how production software needs to interface with production tools and cameras. It doesn’t hurt that it also happens to make some of the best cinema cameras and other tools in the business (read our Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K review).Over the last few years Blackmagic Design has jumped to the front with its all-in-one DeVinci Resolve Studio software. This one application, which was upgraded to version 19 earlier this year, provides seven separate tabs along the bottom of its interface. Each tab contains what is essentially an entire application with specialised tools. Its editing suite is found under the tab simply named “EDIT”. The “FUSION” tab offers a powerful nodes-based compositing toolset. And its full digital audio toolset (DAW) is labeled “FAIRLIGHT”. It also has a tab simply labeled “COLOR”, which has been the industry’s top colour grading toolset for years. (A category of tools that Adobe no longer even offers since their callous purchase and killing off of the wonderful SpeedGrade application years ago. Yes, the writing was on the wall, eh?)While Creative Cloud apps have what Adobe calls their ‘Dynamic Link’ technology that shuttles clips between programs, DaVinci keeps it all under one umbrella. The most obvious advantage being that switching from one tab to another is both faster and more reliable than needing to move your project files between different applications. It also means that there is just less to keep track of, less to update, and less to go wrong.Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.(Image credit: High Fliers Films Ltd.)Curse of the Sin Eater’s editor was Valerian Zamel. “My first objective was to set up a feature editing workflow as fast as possible, without an assistant, and in that sense, DaVinci Resolve and its many features became my assistant for that process. I was able to quickly organise the dailies into scene timelines, set up my bins, sequence settings, auto sync audio, and name all our dailies with scenes and take numbers, and really hit the ground running with editing.” says Zamel.This was Zamel’s first time editing a project with DaVinci Resolve, and yet was able to start cutting the film even before principal photography had wrapped. DaVinci Resolve’s collaboration features are what really helped. “Justin and I had to work simultaneously, with me editing in Los Angeles and him testing looks and early concepts for VFX in Chicago. DaVinci Resolve and Blackmagic Cloud made that seamless,” says Zamel.It’s not that film teams didn’t work remotely before, but there’s little question that the COVID years required enhanced capabilities that are proving to be very valuable today. For example, the same DaVinci Resolve file can be worked on by an editor in one location, an effects artist in another, and the audio treatments by a third person on the other side of the globe. But hey, having the whole team work on the same file at the same time is awesome, even if that team were all in the same office.(Image credit: High Fliers Films Ltd.)Blackmagic offers their broad range of cloud services, known as the Blackmagic Cloud for just this type of workflow. And by contrast to similar systems we’ve seen in the past with a whole lot of restrictions, Black Magic Cloud offers an almost dizzying range of options.For example, all file changes and updates are controlled and if needed can be rejected. Multiple people can work on the same timeline. When changes are made, you can see and accept them in the viewer, changes are only applied when you accept updates.This system also offers a level of openness and inclusiveness that Black Magic, as a company, has really become known for; such as affordable cinema cameras and freeware versions of its software. In that same vein, collaboration of post-production content can be shared through its Cloud, but you can also use Dropbox or even Google Drives as well.Other features include proxy generation, being able to sync a live cam to the Cloud, and more. This will soon include a “Presentations” module that will allow sharing edits and being able to get feedback comments within the system. Obviously invaluable for all stakeholders and client reviews. Along with the system’s built-in and secure chat functions, this becomes an entire ecosystem.Achieving a lush visual style on a budget(Image credit: High Fliers Films Ltd.)Director Justin Denton shared with me that his film’s pre-production lasted just five weeks. Not a long time for any movie project, but particularly short for a movie that was striving for, and nailed, very lush and stylised imagery. “This started with storyboards drawn in Procreate on an iPad” and then exported as JPEGs that were used in Resolve to create the animatics.“Post lasted about nine months. We weren’t on a strict schedule which allowed us to work with the awesome team at Periscope Post & Audio. This also let us do two test screenings to massage the edit.” He added, “Not bad for a $1M indie film.”(Image credit: High Fliers Films Ltd.)While Adobe’s touting of its use in The Social Network was showing how its tools could “punch up”, I find it interesting how Blackmagic Design, which is a mainstay on many blockbusters, is choosing to tout its use in an indie production. Clearly to show how its tools can be used on any budget.Again, I can’t think of any other company that has worked so hard to make high-end tools available to everyone. This is underscored by their free version of DaVinci Resolve (which does 95% of the paid version), the low price of their paid “Studio” version (just $295), and the fact that they have never even charged for years of upgrades. All have been free.And while some editing packages only run on Mac (looking at you FCP), and others only on Mac or Windows, DaVinci runs on Mac, Windows and Linux. Not only does this once again reflect Blackmagic’s egalitarian outlook on content creation, it also reflects the fact that many high-end studios over the years have preferred the Linux platform. Making it ideal for both the indie, and the blockbuster.[embedded content]Inspired, then visit the DaVinci Resolve website to download a free version, and if you’re keen, read our guide to the best laptops for video editing.

7 Nigerians on the First Nollywood Movie They Saw at the Cinema

The cinema holds a special place in our collective Nigerian imagination. It’s where we escape reality, laugh, awww, and sometimes cry. For many of us, our first cinema experience was more than just a movie; it was an event.

In this article, we asked seven Nigerians to take a trip down memory lane and revisit the first Nigerian movie they saw at the cinema. From peer pressure to hyped film and movie dates, their stories highlight the power of cinema to shape our perceptions, spark conversations, and create lasting memories.

Lola, 26

The first Nigerian film I watched at the cinema was The Wedding Party. I have always watched foreign movies in the cinema, but I used to avoid Nigerian films because it wasn’t giving back then.

It makes sense that I first saw The Wedding Party at the cinema because I love weddings. I like the overall glamour of a Lagos wedding. But the cast of the movie was the selling point for me. They packed many of my favourite Nollywood people into one project. I was already in love with Adesuwa and Somkele and wanted to see them on the big screen. I won’t lie; I loved most of the cast members, so it was an easy choice to make.

After TWP, I went to see the likes of Merry Men, Chief Daddy, Lost in London, and The Wedding Party 2. I will go to the cinema to see any film I see my faves.

Francis, 24

It was 2019 in Ilorin. My friend’s babe wanted to go to the cinema. She brought her friend alongside her and introduced her to me. We all went together. It was around 4 PM, and James Abinibi’s The Call was the only film available for viewing. We watched it, but I didn’t pay attention all through. It wasn’t my type.

That was my first time at a cinema and also the last time I saw a Nigerian film in a cinema.

Tonye, 28

It was Fifty. Everyone was talking about it, and I heard there was a sex scene, so I went to see it. It was worth it. At the time, it was ₦2,500, which was expensive. But I enjoyed the film. It’s a good movie. The production was tight. It’s a modern film. It was different from what was in the cinemas at the time. It convinced me to see more Nollywood productions in the cinema, and I’ve seen a lot since then.

Folaranmi, 27

My first time at a cinema, I saw Mami Wata by CJ “Fiery” Obasi in 2023. It was worth my money. Throughout my university years, I avoided the cinema and any discussion that suggested going there. I hated large crowds. Even when I saw Mami Wata, there weren’t a lot of folks in the cinema. So, I totally enjoyed the silence and space, even though it was not like I had them to myself.

I have gone to see more Nigerian films at the cinema, but dates with babes took me there, to be honest. If not, I’d be binge-watching in my house. If there’s any Nigerian movie that’d motivate me to go willingly to the cinema, it’d be Mami Wata, but unfortunately, it’s not showing in any Nigerian cinema again.

Adefunke, 24

It was Ayinla. I love Lateef Adedimeji. I had just met someone at that time, too, and the person was fascinated with the biopic, so I wanted to see what they liked. I heard that there was also going to be some singing in it, which got my interest. I enjoyed the film very much, though people made a lot of noise in the cinema, which disgusted me. That’s why I haven’t been to the cinema since then. I’d rather wait for the film to come out on streaming platforms.

Mariam, 24

The one I vividly remember was A Tribe Called Judah in 2023. I went with my mom, brother and nephews and when we got to the cinema, it was crowded AF. We didn’t factor in that it was a festive period, and everyone would be out with their families. When the movie started, I had a great time. The movie was fun, and everyone at the cinema was laughing. It was a feel-good moment.

I haven’t gone to the cinema since then, though I have no reservations about watching Nollywood there. If I have the luxury of time, I will.

Korede, 26

I watched Ayinla in the cinema because I am a Tunde Kelani and Kunle Afolayan cult follower. That day, I had a good time, actually. I went to Ilorin to see friends after uni. Afterwards, I insisted all I wanted to watch was Ayinla. They wanted to watch something else. They had to watch it with me. We all liked it.

The film producers were decent with the rollout. That was when the Apala music conversation on social media platforms peaked. I was in Abeokuta last month, and I was shown Ayinla’s family house from afar. The movie hit once more.