Exposure: Shawn Levy
Shawn Levy, a product of Yale’s drama department and USC’s graduate film program, paid his dues doing one-off acting jobs on many hit TV shows from the late 1980s. And he says acting roles on shows like thirtysomething, 21 Jump Street, China Beach and Beverly Hills 90210 only fueled his aspirations to stand on the other side of the camera. Such ambition led to directing episodes of 1990’s era shows that were not quite as crucial in the cultural zeitgeist – The Secret World of Alex Mack, The Journey of Allen Strange and whatever iteration of Lassie was being produced a decade ago. However, Levy says he did hone his craft, learning the true importance of preparation when blowing through eight or more script pages a day. By the time he got to direct features with more resources and well-known actors, such as Just Married with Brittany Murphy and Ashton Kutcher, he no longer needed to feel his way through the job. That film led to two major studio remakes, Cheaper by the Dozen and The Pink Panther, both starring Steve Martin, so by the time of his breakout hit, Night at the Museum, with Ben Stiller, he was cementing a reputation directing and producing tentpole comedies with top tier talent. With Date Night, an action/comedy starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey, he builds further on that specialty, as Jon Silberg reports.
The Avatar Effect
April 7, 2010 by editor
Filed under Web Exclusives
Interest in performance capture is skyrocketing thanks to the record-breaking film: so which workflow works the best for your production? By Kevin H. Martin
Quiche or Chaos?
Dean Semler, ASC, ACS, lights up New York town for the new action/comedy Date Night. By Jon Silberg
ICG April 2010
FEATURES
DATE NIGHT
DP Dean Semler, ASC, ACS
By Jon Silberg
WHITE COLLAR
DP Russell Fine
By Ryan Stewart
SUNDANCE 2010
By David Geffner
SUNDANCE: FIRST TRACKS
By David Geffner
PALM SPRINGS PHOTO FESTIVAL
By Andrew Takeuchi
PREVIS
By Kevin H. Martin
DIGITAL RESTORATION
By Pauline Rogers
EXPOSURE: Shawn Levy
DEEP FOCUS: Greg Gardiner
FLASH FRAME: Ray McIntyre, Jr.
GEAR GUIDE: HD/VFX
UNSCRIPTED: Theo Van de Sande, ASC / Tom Costain
When Animals Attack
April 7, 2010 by editor
Filed under Web Exclusives
Peter Collister, ASC and friends send in the big RED one for the critters-bite-man comedy, Furry Vengeance. By Ted Elrick
