Zlín – dubbed the “model town of Modernism” – located in the Czech Republic, is a town that was purpose designed to maximise its production of shoes… now that’s what I call town planning.
The town is divided into zones assigned to the areas of working, living, spare time and traffic – a separation of functions [...]

Some of the best instances of long takes – unbroken unedited takes – in movies. The most memorable long take I’ve seen in recent times is the Normandy beach scene from Atonement, an incredible piece of cinematic choreography.
The fact is filmmakers have been doing long takes since the medium was invented. In fact [...]

Good point, just because a comic book story is being adapted for the screen doesn’t mean the producers have an excuse to present their audience with a poor quality production:
The truth is you can make a good to great movie out of any source material. Comic books are simply another medium that can be adapted [...]

It looks like the average episode of South Park makes it through to broadcast by way of little more than the seat of its producers pants.
Each episode of “South Park” comes to life in 6 days, start to finish – a crazy pace for an animated series. Even crazier: each episode arrives at Comedy Central [...]

David Cox, writing for the Guardian, wonders why Australian film makers have forsaken “national identity” when it comes to producing locally made movies.
Oz is unsophisticated, crude, loud and vulgar, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise. No need either, since these qualities come with an enviable flipside. Australian acuity, self-deprecation and directness foster stark insight [...]

Another link for 2001: A Space Odyssey fans, an explanation of some of the special effects and production techniques, including Dr Heywood Floyd’s floating pen aboard the Moon shuttle.
The pen, too, was suspended on a string (actually a special very thin filament) in the more distant shots inside the Orion, but for the close [...]

For Star Wars fans, a collection of photos taking during the shooting of the first movie, circa 1977.

Dan Benjamin, of the The Talk Show, on how to produce a podcast that involves two or more participants, who are in separate locations.
One of the questions people often ask is how we record The Talk Show with me here in Orlando and John in Philadelphia. Many people suspect that we record using Skype, Audio [...]

Design and production are a collaborative process, not a case of “us verses them”. But that’s a no-brainer, right?
Teams must collaborate throughout the project. Designers challenging engineers to at least try their idea. Engineers reminding designers that the supply of time and money being finite, choices have to be made. The two together defining more [...]

New York designer Scott Ballum is embarking on an ambitious year long project to meet, face-to-face, the people who produce the goods he buys, and also learn more about the production processes involved in their manufacture.
There’s probably not too many of us who give much thought to the mechanics that results in a can of [...]