Live Cinema and Its Techniques

May 15, 2017
Legendary filmmaker Coppola, director of such films as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, turns to a new form he terms “live cinema.” He describes the creation of a film in real time as a lifelong dream. Coppola recounts two recent proof-of-concept workshops, both rehearsed like plays, with cameras finding their blocking as the actors perform and the final product beamed out to theaters at the end of the process. These are not the teleplays of the 1950s golden age of television (though they are certainly inspired by them) but intentionally cinematic ventures, aiming at the kind of artfulness for which Coppola is renowned. Live cinema is possible, or so he contends, through advances in technology thus far only deployed by live sports broadcasts and 24-hour news networks. Coppola’s natural abilities as a storyteller, regardless of the medium, are evident here. Sections deal with his relationship to the prehistory of live cinema are as personally revealing as they are fascinating. A few areas are perhaps overly technical, though the book is referred to in places as a handbook of sorts. Nonetheless, this consummate filmmaker’s enthusiasm for cinema is infectious. Readers will find themselves rooting for Coppola to one day write a full-fledged memoir.

July 1, 2017
The award-winning film director makes the case for a new kind of cinema.Despite all of Coppola's (The Godfather Notebook, 2016) accomplishments and awards, one thing has eluded him: "I never got to try my hand at Live Cinema." After he finished Apocalypse Now (1979), "probably the most daunting and terrifying experience, both artistically and financially, I have ever had. It was clear that I had flown, like Icarus, too close to the sun," he decided to quickly do another film, a comedy set in Las Vegas, One from the Heart (1982), which would "fulfill my life's dream to do Live Cinema." However, it failed critically and financially while Apocalypse Now began to make money. So what is Live Cinema? It meant doing the piece live and then beaming it out to theaters while making it available for home viewing as well. It demands "far more precision than movies, theater, or television." For Coppola, it was "exhilarating and exciting to work in this new form." In 1987, he worked with Shelley Duvall's Faire Tale Theatre, and each show was shot with continuous continuity but not broadcast live. Coppola's "Rip Van Winkle" was his "lone commercial foray into something close to the live television medium." Most of the book deals with technique. Coppola calls it a "manual," a guide to how LC might be done, focusing on the actors, rehearsing, and the use of sophisticated technology. One-third of the book includes the author's journal notes for a LC experimental workshop conducted in Oklahoma City in 2015. Fans hoping for a personal book about Coppola and his work will be disappointed, but there are a few nuggets scattered about they will enjoy: his admiration for John Frankenheimer's live TV work (a forerunner of LC); The Thief of Bagdad is his favorite film; and he's always been a fan of Jerry Lewis' movies, which were "eccentric and did unexpected things." Technical and prescriptive, this will appeal primarily to hard-core aficionados.

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