Now Over 1.5M Screenshots! Microbudget Masterpieces, Musicals and Gangsters.

FILM COLLECTION

Microbudget Masterpieces

This month, we released a selection of Microbudget Masterpieces on ShotDeck. Making a film can often seem like an impossibly expensive endeavor, but these movies, all made for less than $250,000, prove that you can make something amazing and innovative on a shoestring budget. 

Our selection includes vastly different portrayals of Los Angeles, from Swingers, a classic of the “hangout” genre that launched the careers of household names like Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Doug Liman, to Killer of Sheep, Charles Burnett’s triumphant drama that took vérité techniques and reimagined them in a more contemplative visual style. There’s also films such as Take Out, Sean Baker and Shih-Ching Tsou’s electric portrait of New York City’s Chinatown which was shot for just $3,000, Tiny Furniture, Lena Dunham’s quirky comedy inspired by her mother’s artistic practice, and Paranormal Activity, which became an international sensation and launched one of the most well-known horror franchises of this century. Check out these movies and this month’s other Microbudget Masterpieces today!

FILM COLLECTION

Technicolor Musicals

We released hundreds of shots from eleven Technicolor Musicals in November, celebrating some of the most visually arresting musicals of the 1940s, 50s and 60s from all over the world, all made with one of film history’s most well-known color processes.

First introduced as a two-color system, before eventually becoming its more well-known three-strip form, and finally a single-strip “monopack”, Technicolor was a family of color motion picture processes that revolutionized the use of color in mid-20th Century movies by not requiring any special equipment to project it in theaters. But the new technology also came with drawbacks. Special, bulky sound blimps were required on set, cameras needed triple the amount of film, and the process of splitting the image reduced the amount of light reaching the film stock, causing big budgets and boiling hot sets from all the additional lights that were needed to expose shots adequately.

Still, Technicolor brought the world some of its most celebrated films, especially in the musical genre. This month, we’ve curated Technicolor Musical classics like The Music Man, Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady, as well as international titles such as Mother India and underrated gems like Brigadoon, Sweet Charity and Calamity Jane.

FILM COLLECTION

Italian Neorealism

In November, we also released hundreds of shots from 6 iconic entries in the Italian Neorealist movement. Characterized by stories set in working-class communities, often filmed in real locations using first-time or non-professional actors, Italian Neorealism shone a vital lens on Italian life in the aftermath of the social and economic turmoil wrought by World War II. 

Our curation of Italian Neorealist films this month includes Umberto D., Vittorio De Sica’s masterpiece that follows the struggles of an elderly pensioner as he struggles to make ends meet (which also features one of the all-time great dog performances!); Roberto Rossellini classic (and Martin Scorsese favorite) Paisan, which studies the relationship between American soldiers and Italian locals in the aftermath of the war; and Dino Risi’s Il Sorpasso, an all-time classic in the road comedy genre.