Shooting on the iPhone has become more of a directors' tool to lower inhibition of first-time actors and nonprofessionals. While it's helped me become more mobile, no pun intended - running around, finding tight areas and different ways of moving the camera - to me it's more about using this device to catch candid moments. That's the biggest thing.
Sean Baker
From a filmmaker's point of view, there is something undeniably cinematic about a location like Santa Monica Boulevard, which is so chaotic and busy and over-stimulating.
I think with 'Tangerine' we were taking that gamble - it was a risk - that we could tell the story in a comedic fashion to attract an audience and shed light on an issue.
'Greg the Bunny,' the comedy television show that I co-created, happened almost by accident. Dan Milano, Spencer Chinoy and myself made a public access show that caught the eye of IFC, and it has had three incarnations since then with a season on Fox.
If more stories are told about marginalized communities, subcultures, and minorities, the less marginalized they will be.
The iPhone always has a different look from model to model - 'Tangerine' is quite smooth, but that was the 5s. I was using the iPhone 6s Plus for 'The Florida Project,' and it has what's called a rolling shutter, and it gave it this hyperactivity and a very different, jarring feel, and we liked that.
I'm always looking for authenticity in my films. They're based in realism.
I went to NYU thinking I was going to make a 'Die Hard' sequel, or maybe action and genre films for the studios, but I ended up falling in love with personal cinema.
Route 192 is its own thing, and you can't find that anywhere else. The colors and shapes of the buildings, the way that all the small businesses in a way feed off of the parks and sort of rip off the themes of Disney - you're not going to find that anywhere else.
Nobody is going to just come and give you money unless you've proven yourself, especially if you're doing something that is unconventional or unorthodox and outside the way the industry thinks.
When you're a child, the colors are brighter, sounds are louder and whatever.
I'm very influenced by Mike Leigh and the way that he always has these climactic confrontations, like in 'Secrets and Lies' and 'High Hopes,' in which the ensemble cast meets in one location.
You know, master classes are essentially extended Q&As. That's how I always approach them. I don't mean to downplay it. It's just that I never fancy myself as someone who is taking a class. 'Master class' insinuates a teacher, and I'm not one.
New York City is the most culturally diverse city in the world, and yet there have been few films about the Chinese, Latino, and Middle Eastern experience in New York.
So many films are being shot on the DSLR, that they're all starting to look the same. There's a shallow depth of field. It's a nice look, but I can always identify a film shot with a DSLR.
The iPhone in conjunction with the Filmic Pro app - the resolution is HD quality.
I make dramedies, but 'Tangerine' really has a lot of comedy, and I saw that it had a great effect - it reached a larger audience.
My one hope for Netflix and Amazon is to be a little more art house- and indie-friendly, pushing those just as hard as they push their originals.
A small lens gives you a very specific look. You don't have a shallow depth of field.
With a lot of these social realist films, the first thing you do is drain the color.
Because I'm a dramatist, I'm allowed to take liberties, but I want my films to be based in truth, and it's very important to me that the community we're focusing on is happy with the film. From an ethical point of view, that's everything.
Like with 'Starlet,' we intentionally did not look at 'Boogie Nights' before making 'Starlet,' and I should have. Because there are one or two scenes that come too close and it looks almost like - because it's about the same industry, and you're going to be covering certain subjects.
Filmmaking has been my love since my mother brought me to see James Whale's 'Frankenstein' at the local library at the age of six.
I'm not a material guy, so I don't need to surround myself with wealth.
I'm an advocate of all mediums - it's a larger canvas for us as artists - but we have to keep in mind that celluloid film is what created this wonderful art form, and we have to keep it alive.
I have friends who are trans advocates, and they were upset that Jared Leto played a trans person.
The films that are coming out of SXSW are incredible, and they should get the same bids that films at Sundance are getting.
Honestly, in retrospect, when I referred to the actors from 'Prince' as non-actors or non-professionals, it was actually a great disservice to them. The fact is that they are all actors and should be viewed that way by the industry. It was our casting process that was non-professional.
If you look over the history of cinema, changes happen when directors embrace new tools and technology and think outside the box.
Cinema is always evolving.
In our most desperate times, people going through true hardships use humor to cope.
There are so many directors who don't like any kind of interaction on set except for producers. I am the opposite.
If I'm telling an L.A. story, I want to tell a fresh L.A. story and show places that haven't been shown before.
Kids are kids. They still need handholding. No matter how trained they are, they need to be told what to do. They need to learn lines and understand blocking. You can't just say, 'I want you to walk from here to there and deliver your line.'
I'm actually very critical of digital cinema.
A movie will live or die with your casting.
In so many reviews that I'm reading of 'The Florida Project,' everyone is assuming it's my second film.
Digital is great; I see the benefits and beauty in both formats. But it doesn't give you that organic quality that celluloid brings.
There's an alchemy that happens in my eyes when you mix it up, when you have a seasoned actor on set and your first-timer.
'The Little Rascals' was set against the background of the Great Depression: the characters were living in poverty. It's just that it wasn't focused on it. It was focused on what makes childhood universal. We're all laughing at kids because we see ourselves in them; we remember our childhood.
I don't have a family. I'm not planning one. I don't have to support anyone but me and my dog.
Somebody who doesn't understand my directing style could be pretty taken aback by it if I start going off the schedule and focusing on something because I'm inspired in the moment.
I'm fine with a title that's open to interpretation.
I come from the school of thought that feels that if you can shoot film, you should shoot film.
I know that 'Tangerine' is getting a lot of attention for pushing the iFilm, but I am really mourning the death of celluloid.
There are characteristics of Central Florida you don't see anywhere else. It's quite beautiful.
It feels dangerous when people say, 'Oh, Sean Baker focuses on marginalised people.' And offensive. As if I'm standing there with my planner thinking, 'OK, where's the next marginalised group I can make a movie about?'
When I see a billboard that literally just has five names, and they're all A-listers, I'm just like, What is that bringing to the world that's new?
I'm seen as a little risky to the industry, I think. All my favorite directors are.
I want my films to be different, to use different techniques, not just make a calling card film.
