As a little boy, David Dong’s musical passions were “spirited away” by Studio Ghibli. Dong said the soundtracks of films from the well-known Japanese animation studio, such as those found in “Spirited Away” and “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind,” inspired him to study music at the University of California, San Diego. Read more...
Photo: (Bridgette Baron/Daily Bruin)
One of the ’90s’ biggest animated hits is getting a reboot, and who better to lead the way than the biggest movie star of the ’90s – Will Smith. Read more...
Photo: (Courtesy of Walt Disney Studios)
Magic is in the mistakes we make, said Dan Mindel. The recently announced 2019-2020 cinematographer-in-residence at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television has worked on a number of films, including “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Star Trek Into Darkness.” Mindel will return to the “Star Wars” franchise in December with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” In working on the film, Mindel said he focused his efforts on retaining the parables and legacy left by the filmmakers of the original franchise. Read more...
Photo: Dan Mindel, UCLA’s cinematographer-in-residence, returns to the Star Wars franchise in December with “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The key to franchise films is in finding a balance between keeping the tone set by the creators of the previous trilogies while finding a way to give audiences a fresh film, Mindel said. (Courtesy of Simon England)
Winter is here: The final season of “Game of Thrones” is one of the most highly anticipated television events of the last decade. Follow our columnists as they explore students’ weekly reactions as an iconic era of pop culture comes to an end. Read more...
Photo: (Courtesy of Macall B. Polay/HBO)
This post was updated May 20 at 1:49 p.m. “Game of Thrones,” Breaker of Records, Last of its Name. Throughout its eight-year run, the HBO series has become heavily embedded in today’s culture, defining an era of epic, ubiquitous fantasy television. Read more...
Photo: (Juliette Le Saint/Daily Bruin)
Watching sex scenes in films can be uncomfortable. Yet Jordan Barger and Anali Cabrera want to highlight all the awkward and cringeworthy aspects of intimacy. First-year film students Barger and Cabrera wrote and directed their film “Let’s Talk About ‘It'” for the UCLA Film and Photography Society. Read more...
Photo: Actress Lauren Renee plays Yesenia in “Let’s Talk About ‘It’” alongside Ali Graba, who plays Aurora. The film navigates sexual encounters in college, and includes representation of the Latinx community. (Courtesy of Anali Cabrera)
This post was updated April 14 at 10:52 p.m. When Lulu Wang first pitched a film about the real-life story of her Chinese family, no one would finance it, she said. Read more...
Photo: Lulu Wang spoke during a screening and Q&A of her film, “The Farewell.” The writer and director said she incorporated her family members into the A24 film, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. (Courtesy of Adam Karp)
