The Cinematography Podcast Episode 61: Lulu Wang

The Farewell, starring Awkwafina and directed by Lulu Wang, is based on Wang's own true story about her family conspiring to hide her grandmother's terminal cancer diagnosis from her. Producer Alana Kode sat down with Wang at the Sundance Film Festival last year to talk about how she developed real events in her own life into a story first aired on This American Life, and how it progressed into a film. She worked closely with her cinematographer Anna Franquesa Solano to create very composed and sometimes stage-y shots to play up the comedy. Awkwafina recently won a Golden Globe for Best Actress for her role in the film- the first Asian American to win in this category.

Find Lulu Wang on Instagram: @thumbelulu

Episode Sponsors:

Hot Rod Cameras

Aputure: Aputure makes very good LED lighting products and accessories, and recently hosted a free event with Quasar Science, all about color science behind lighting, that was very educational and well-attended. You can buy Aputure products at Hot Rod Cameras.

Ben and Illya give an update on last week's discussion about the UHD Alliance, “Filmmaker Mode” for televisions and Ben's continued experimentation with Causality scriptwriting software.

Close Focus discussion: Illya's experience at a Digital Hollywood panel at CES this year, where the discussion was all about podcasts. His takeaways- no one really knows where podcasting is going, but advertising revenue for podcasting is evolving. Direct action or direct response advertising on podcasts is starting to get phased out, and bigger sponsors are getting interested.

Ben's short end: “Movie jail” when filmmakers or actors make movies that underperform, bomb, or gain a reputation for being difficult, they can be ostracized by Hollywood. Such was the case for director Richard Stanley, whose experience directing The Island of Dr. Moreau in 1996 went so badly, a documentary was made about his ordeal called Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island of Dr. Moreau.

It looks like Richard Stanley may be emerging from purgatory- he has a new movie coming out called Color Out of Space, starring Nicholas Cage.

Illya's short end: Hayao Miyazaki & Studio Ghibli Deluxe 17 Best Movie Collection is well-worth buying and watching. Includes the films Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Howl's Moving Castle.

LIKE AND FOLLOW US, send fan mail or suggestions!

Facebook:@cinepod

Instagram: @thecinepod

Twitter: @ShortEndz

Podcast Credits:

Editor in Chief:  Illya Friedman
@hotrodcameras instagram
@illyafriedman instagram

Ben Rock:  @neptunesalad twitter
@bejamin_rock instagram

Producer: Alana Kode

Editor: Ben Katz
Composer: Kays Alatractchi
Subscribe to the Podcast on