Jennifer Dean

Storytelling

August 8, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

This morning I came across an Indiewire post with a video where “Darren Aronofsky and a Neuroscientist Discuss How Movies Mess With Your Brain.” The title is a little disingenuous because it’s really about the power of narrative. I was drawn to it because of the written introduction: Darren Aronofsky, director of mind-bending films such as “Pi,” “The Fountain” and “Black Swan,” sat down with psychologist and neuroscientist Jeffrey M. Zacks to discuss storytelling, myth and how human brains perceive these […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film, mythology, philosophy, storytelling

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Consumed with crowdfunding

August 1, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

I have read a few things this week that pertain to what is actually happening in the world. You know the whole on going crisis in the Middle East, the Ebola crisis… those slightly larger issues (please note my tone here which is sarcastic in nature and may not come through online)… but I have been consumed with this fundraising campaign and a few issues I’ve had getting it up and running with the Indiegogo platform which is partnered with […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: ethics, film

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The wonderful world of social media

July 25, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

I am in Los Angeles this week working on pre-production for a short film I am directing and producing for my MFA. I have been meeting with producer friends who have put me in touch with potential cast and crew and helped me in the location scouting process – while at the same time I have been preparing my crowdfunding campaign so I can launch when I return to NYC. My least favorite part of creating work. Fundraising. Although I […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film, social media, women

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Multiple perspectives

July 18, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

Director Rachel Feldman wrote An Open Letter to TV Showrunners this week. It was more than just a plea to television showrunners to hire more women – it was an article chock full of statistics on the lack of women in the industry and full of quotes of why hiring more women matters. She writes: The Geena Davis Institute on Gender and Media has published studies finding that, when woman create media, stereotyping is radically reduced and more female characters appear onscreen. Women […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film, women

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Net Neutrality

July 11, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

This week I am cheating a bit and referencing a video (with some text). It also may seem outside of my general posts concerning women and film – but, to the contrary, women in film will be horrifically affected by the destruction of net neutrality. It is the open internet that has made things possible for women directors who have been denied the route of the traditional studio system. Now there is a huge potential those roads will also be […]

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“Actually”

July 4, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

In trying to prepare another grant for my female filmmakers documentary this week I am once again steeped in reading about the lack of women directors in Hollywood. It’s kind of depressing – and often redundant. I did get a great quote though from a New York Times article announcing that Kristin Wiig will be making her directorial debut. The first half of the quote reiterates the dismal statistics. The second half is a comment made by TriStar chairman Thomas E. […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film

Death and Coincidence

June 20, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

Daniel D’Arezzo left a comment in regard to my reading last week that mentioned Horacio Quiroga, a famous Uruguayan author. Daniel mentioned Quiroga among others (providing a counterpoint to the association of artists and suicide) but this is the one that caught my attention because he wrote a short story called Drifting which a colleague of mine at school is using as the basis for his thesis film which I am producing. Of course it is not really fortuitous that Quiroga […]

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Suicide and Fame

June 13, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

Read an article this morning in the Hollywood Reporter on the suicide of director Malik Bendjelloul (Oscar winner for the documentary Searching for Sugarman). I found Searching for Sugarman inspiring as a film (simple footage incredibly edited and animated to create a compelling story that explored art and commerce and popular culture through the story of musician Sixto Rodriguez) and was shocked to learn of the death of it’s young director. The article, written by Scott Johnson, opens with a […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film

Gender in Greek Tragedy

June 7, 2014 by Jennifer Dean

I am rereading some of the great Greek plays and playwrights in order to give myself food for thought for my thesis film which is a modern retelling of a famous Greek myth. What struck me when reading Euripides was how gender politics represents itself similarly in a play from around 400 B.C.E. as might be discussed today. In Andromache, the Chorus Leader warns Hermione: You speak too freely against your fellow women – forgivable in you, perhaps, but still, women […]

Categories: Jennifer Dean, ZiR • Tags: film, gender, women, writing

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