Nerd Pride Radio

The Deer Hunter

That was a good one.

[Director] wrote the first draft in 1997 after graduating from USC School of Cinematic Arts a year earlier. He spent the next seven years pitching his script, but no one was interested, because the material was too unusual to make with a first-time director. He estimated the minimal amount of money for which he could make the film, and asked friends and family for backing. His family were in the construction industry, and contributed enough to encourage others to contribute. After he had acquired about $450,000 for the film's budget, [Movie] began production in 2003.

Moon. David Bowie was HUGE in the construction business.

Haha

[Director] cited Sergio Leone Spaghetti Westerns and Shinichiro Watanabe's Cowboy Bebop (1998) as influences on his visualization of the film. He used shoes as a design element for his characters and saw them as an "instant snapshot of the essence" of the characters.

The Three Burials of .... can't remember the rest

The score harkens back to the style, feel and overall texture of noir films. It features traditional instruments such as the piano, trumpet and violin, and also contains unique and invented instruments such as the wine-o-phone, metallophone, tack pianos, filing cabinets, and kitchen utensils, all recorded with one microphone on an Apple PowerBook.

I'm trying to think of indie movies from first time directors in 03 or 04. I feel like Reservoir Dogs would fit this- except it came out in the 90s.

I'm guessing Napolean Dynamite.

Brick?

The production's model-making department built more than twice as many miniatures for the production than had ever been built for any film before by creating miniatures for buildings, city streets, aircraft, landmarks, and monuments.

Synecdoche, New York

The Grammy Award-winning score for the film was composed by David Arnold and recorded with an orchestra of 90, a choir of 46, "and every last ounce of stereotypical Americana he could muster for the occasion".

Team America: World Police

Always thought Americana was a stand-in for folk or early blues or country. But I guess it means America, Fuck Yeah!

The film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing.

Independence Day

Tanya and Rosie rally her spirits by getting [Donna] to dance with an all female ensemble of staff and islanders. Sophie finds the men aboard Bill's yacht, and they sail around Kalokairi, telling stories of Donna's carefree youth. Sophie plans to tell her fiancé Sky about her ploy, but loses her nerve. Sky and Sophie sing to each other, but Sky is abducted for his bachelor party.

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