The 1930's Fresh Air Award

Episode #44 - Welcome to the fifth Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have advanced cinema in some way and made a lasting impression on how movies are made. This episode delves into the decade that saw the first full decade with sound becoming mainstream in film and the introduction the Technicolor three color process, 1930-1939.

To start the episode, our host, Justin Joseph Hall goes through a quick history lesson on what was happening in cinema business and technology in the decade.

The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, John Robert Hammerer and Kevin Hinman. Any moving images that came out in the appropriate decade is eligible for nomination. Nominations spanned documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films. They featured cinema with thoughtful use of sound design, the first feature animation, films with the Technicolor three color process, the template for romantic comedies, and maybe the most famous film of all-time.

Here is the link to all the nominations: 1930’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list

There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist:


John Robert Hammerer nominees

Duck Soup (1933 )

Freaks (1932)

Porky in Wackyland (1938)

Rules of the Game (1939)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)




Kevin Hinman nominees

M (1931)

Flowers and Trees (1932)

King Kong (1933)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)

The Wizard of Oz (1939)



To find the 1930’s Fresh Air Award winner click on this link!

We hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening, Season 8 to come shortly!

Thank you to our cinephiles who did joined this out of their passion. To hear more from them, visit links below:

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, & Kevin Hinman

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

The theme song of Season 6 is New Tires by Silent Partner.

Additional Music - The Beat Goes On by Backyard Wrestling & As the Stars Turn by Pandelion.

Riki McManus: Rated, Purple Rain

Episode #43 - Riki McManus began with her own talk show on KQRS Radio in Minneapolis while still in high school. She went on to the commercial industry in Minneapolis as On Camera and Voice Over Talent. McManus continued as an agent and then became the Director of Plaza Three Model and Talent Agency. She opened the first casting company in Minnesota, where Purple Rain was the first feature she casted. Since then, she has cast approximately 20 feature films. She won a Clio Award for a self-promotion piece she did with The Fallon Agency in Minneapolis for her company.

Our screening took place at the Minnesota Discovery Center the largest museum the largest museum complex in Minnesota outside the Twin Cities.

Boxed lunch given to each audience member for screening of Rated.

For her short, Riki brought Rated Directed by John Fortson with his directorial debut that won 14 Best Short FIlm Awards at Festivals. We have to say our audience would have given it award as well. The subject matter of the film is so relevant in our technilogical world, it’s a short about social media commenting how kind we are in our society. We had The Rustic Pig pack a school lunch for each of our audience members to enjoy during the screening.

The feature Riki brought to screen was Purple Rain, which was not only Prince’s debut feature, but also the first feature Riki worked on as well. She tells stories of when she met Prince, the difficulties in casting the film, and experiencing one of Prince’s famous free concerts. So check this out and don’t forget to drink some champagne and celebrate Prince as we did on this very memorable night at the Minnesota Discovery Center.

Riki McManus

Credits:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production & Event Space - Minnesota Discovery Center

Food - The Rustic Pig

Post-Production - Quatre-Vents

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

Production Assistant - Elizabeth Chatelain

The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.

Justin Joseph Hall: Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City, Fog of War

Episode #42 - Justin Joseph Hall is an award-winning, multilingual multimedia director and founder of Fourwind Films and Quatre-Vents. His work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more.

Justin Joseph Hall, photo by Laura Davi

Our screening resumed back at Fourwind Films’ headquarters.

For his short, Justin brought his short series, Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City. The five episode season has won six awards and been nominated for many more around the world. The documentary is of New Yorker Illustrator Marcellus Hall who also wrote the song Life Is Still Sweet that inspired Float On performed by Modest Mouse.

We screened the entire series back to back and served white and yellow cheese with steak in conjunction with the series.

The feature Justin chose inspired his series with a one-on-one interview that endures the entire documentary. It was Errol Morris’ Oscar winning Fog of War where Robert McNamara goes through thought processes of military decisions during major wars of the United States of America. We served a juicy homemade Vietnamese Beef And Lettuce Curry during the screening.

To learn more about Justin Joseph Hall, sign up for Fourwind Films newsletter.

Credits:

Host - Laura Davi

Production & Event Space - Fourwind Films

Post-Production - Quatre-Vents

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.

Colin Buckingham: November Ninth, Unidentified Objects

Episode #41 - Colin Buckingham is an actor and writer who’s worked on Mr. Robot & Sleep No More. He cares deeply about how to improve society as a whole and reflects that in the work he pursues. We held the live event an intimate Fourwind Films studio with a small group of friends and colleagues.

For his short, Colin brought the short he wrote and starred in, November Ninth, a personal tale of being assaulted on the election day in 2016. Colin coalesces his accounts of being bullied for his dwarfism into an eight minute action revenge story that takes place in a Manhattan bar and hence we served our audience beer.

The feature Colin chose was an account of two outsiders going on a roadtrip during COVID that yields an unexpected friendship between a woman who believes in aliens and a sad recluse with dwarfism. The chosen fiercly independent movies were paired showing experiences of dwarfism and living with a condition not fully understood by society. Our audience enjoyed Chinese takeout and a classic diner ham sandwich and fries plate during the screening.

Check out more from Colin Buckingham for his latest via his website.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Production & Event Space - Fourwind Films

Post-Production - Quatre-Vents

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

The theme song of Season 7 is New Tires by Silent Partner.

The 1920's Fresh Air Award

Episode #40 - Welcome to the third Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an artform during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have changed movies in some way and made a lasting impression on how movies are made today. This episode delves into the decade that saw the beginning of successful commercial sound in cinema: 1920-1929.

Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, our host Justin Joseph Hall goes through a quick history lesson on what was happening in the decade businesswise and technology-wise. 

The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, and Kevin Hinman. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it is eligible for nomination. This group chose an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including films with the first synchronized score with animation, the first montage, a commercially successful duo tone color film, and the first soundtrack synched on the film strip.

Here is the link to all the nominations: 1920’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list

There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist:

To find the 1920’s Fresh Air Award winner click on this link!

We hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening, Season 7 to come shortly!

Thank you to our cinephiles who did joined this out of their passion. To hear more from them, visit links below:

Elizabeth Chatelain

Quatre-Vents Post-Production

Movie Directing & Writing

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Tracey Goessel, Justin Joseph Hall, & Kevin Hinman

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

Additional Sound Recordist - Elizabeth Chatelain, Kevin Hinman, Ricky Rosario

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Additional Music MOMFG & The Drums! provided by Kevin Hinman & Magnum Opus for interludes.

Music in the public domain used in this podcast:

Deep Blue Sea - Clara Smith

One of Battleship Potemkin’s Scores - Eisenstein wanted the scores to be updated about every decade.

Don Juan Soundtrack - Context on who wrote it “William Axt used two pieces that owned by Robbins-Engel, "The Fire Agitato" and "In Gloomy Forest," along with several pieces of European classical music including compositions by Richard Strauss.

Justin Joseph Hall: Yeon-Gi, Samsara

Episode #39 - Justin Joseph Hall’s work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more. He is Director and Founder of Fourwind Films. Dorie Hall hosted the podcast which was held as a private screening in Minnesota.

For his short, Justin brought a never publicly screened version of Yeon-Gi, an experimental Buddhist themed movie. This version was created in 32x9 aspect ratio, and includes a full reflections visible on screen. The emotional short created a lot to talk about in our discussion.

Dorie Hall, Justin Joseph Hall - photographer Laura Davi

The feature Justin chose to screen is the famous location documentary, Samsara. During the screening Fourwind chefs served a mouthwatering combination: potstickers, burgers, fries, and a cola.

Through the visuals of nature and human altered locations, Samsara shows nature on land nearly void of life until we encounter various locations of cities and former settlements. It’s an emotional journey around the earth with seemingly no connection except our location on the earth and what the montage movie weaves together through the beautiful images.

To learn more about Justin Joseph Hall, sign up for Fourwind Films newsletter.

Credits:

Host - Dorie Hall

Editor - Billie Joe Laitenin

Sound Mixer - Hans Bilger

Event Space - Hall Family Home

Photographer - Laura Davi

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Choosing Hard Drive Differences

Episode #38 - WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode.  It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be a confusing listen if you do not have an interest in the material.  If you do not have that particular background skip to another one of our episodes.

Welcome to another Feature & a Short workflow episode where we chat about differences in working in Feature versus short movies. In this episode Director, Editor Justin Joseph Hall explains what criteria to look for when choosing a hard drive in general, but specifically what will save you time on feature projects.

Thank you to Bobby O’Brien for requesting this podcast

The Biggest difference between a selecting a hard drive for feature or a short movie is really the transcoding, export time, and transfer times (time to create backups).

The first thing to look for in either a feature or a short movie is the connection. There are three modern connections found in the fall of 2022

          1. USB-C

          2. Thunderbolt

          3. USB-3.0

Ethernet connection to a network is also an option if you happen to be working off of a large storage network in an office. Otherwise another storage device to consider is a RAID = redundant array of independent disks. It’s probably not worth it to invest in an expensive RAID for short. There are 3 main ways to set up your RAID.

          1. RAID 0

          2. RAID 1

          3. RAID 5

We go through all types, but recommend RAID 0 for editing digital video, mainly because it’s the fastest way to read and write data.

Don’t forget to backup your hard drives in three separate physical locations. Plan out before you start post-production where your three locations will be.

Justin suggests a few brands

    1. G-RAID

    2. Seagate

    3. LACIE

    4. OWC

Justin also suggests to diversify backup types including going through what an LTO tape is. Quatre-Vents is Fourwind Films’ sister company in Minnesota!  They can be your solution for LTO Tapes and all other Post-Production needs .  In the podcast Justin tells how you can get 70% back on video expenditures through tax incentives through Quatre-Vents.  Some are direct rebates, just by hiring us and others in the region. Justin also goes through various options of powering your drive and pricing for drives. And don’t forget to always include hard drives in your budgets!

Thanks for listening! For more content like this check out other podcast episodes as well as our blog posts, where a wide variety of film and multimedia professionals share what they’ve learned.

Credits:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Jo Laitinen

Audio Mixer - Hans Bilger

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Ellen Goosenberg Kent: Anastasia, Afghan Dreamers

Episode #37 - Ellen Goosenberg Kent is an Oscar winning documentarian who knows how to produce a compelling story first and foremost. She is always interested in the price paid by common people going against difficult odds, often fighting government systems often unintentionally. She is incredible in her long and varied work. We had the pleasure to talk with her at Nitehawk Cinema - Williamsburg in front of a live studio audience while we screened the documentary.

For her short, Ellen brought MTV short Anastasia. Activist Anastasia Shevchenko was accused of being a threat to Russian state. She was kept under house arrest for two years. Sarah McCarthy’s short documentary tells the story of a civil rights advocate and single mother who longs to see her children grow up in a free society in a deeply personal account of her family and the sometimes unseen cost of activism. The movie is a deeply humanizing tale of the price paid by a woman struggling for freedom and her family’s safety and peace of mind.

Host Justin Joseph Hall and Ellen Goosenberg Kent - Photo by Piper Werle

The feature Ellen chose is her latest, Afghan Dreamers also courtesy of MTV. During the screening Nitehawk’s chefs served a mouthwatering combination: Sheer Chai, an Afghani Salad, and Kabuli Palaw.

Through the story of a robotics team in Afghanistan, Afghan Dreamers recounts the advancements of women in the country since the American invasion and the effects of the Taliban taking over after the Americans left. Using various stock footage of government officials, the story of these high school students is a rollercoaster of joy, pain, hard work, and the country’s struggle for women’s rights in a conservative society.

See Afghan Dreamers on Paramount + in 2023.

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Joe Laitenin

Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan

Sound Mixing Assistant - Hans Bilger

Lead Marketing Agent - Isabel Restrepo

Event Space - Nitehawk Cinema - Williamsburg

Photographer - Piper Werle

Sponsors: Documentarian Emanuele Mengotti & the documentary Stranger at the Gate by Joshua Seftel.

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

Shirley Venard: The Railroad Lady, Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

Episode #36 - Shirley Venard is an incredible Minneapolis-based actress who uses her life experiences to embody a character. She’s kind, thoughtful, and a teacher. She loves to tell stories which is why we love her.

Shirley brought Oscar-winning short movie The Railroad Lady (La Femme et la TGV). The first tale of a lonely woman in this pairing. Shirley looked at the great actresses of the 1900’s to find her short and her and Justin talk of Jane’s fake orgasm that made her famous.

The feature Shirley chose is the Zellner Brother’s Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. The Japanese, Texas made movie that was largely shot in Minnesota. It was a Sundance Film Festival favorite, making Minnesota & Japan look beautiful on the silver screen.

See Shirley Venard’s work in our short movie Prologue. In the forecast to look forward to please check out the award-winning series Marcellus Hall an Artist in New York City which is playing around the world in 2022.

Shirley Venard at the Question & Answer with host Justin Joseph Hall

Credits:

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Editor - Billie Joe Laitenin

Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan

Sound Mixing Assistant - Hans Bilger

Lead Marketing Agent - Isabel Restrepo

Event Space - The Woman’s Club in Minneapolis

Photographers - Dakota & Dorie Hall

The theme song of Season 6 is Getting It Done by Kevin MacLeod.

The 1910's Fresh Air Award

Episode #35 - Welcome to the third Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art form during a particular decade. To be nominated, a motion picture has to have changed movies in some way and made a lasting impression on the filmmakers. This episode continues our discovery of the silent era: 1910-1919.

Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, our host Justin Joseph Hall reads an excerpt from film historian David Kiehn of the Niles Film Museum about the second full decade of cinema. 

The four cinephiles who select the nominees in this panel are cinephiles Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, Kevin Hinman, and Jason Tucker. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it is eligible for nomination. This group chose an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including one with the film with the first synchronized score.

Here is the link to all the nominations: 1900’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list

There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist:

Elizabeth Chatelain nominees

Rituais e festas borôro (1917)

Birth of a Flower (1910)

Gertie The Dinosaur (1914)

A Man There Was (1917)

Shoulder Arms (1918)


Justin Joseph Hall nominees

Suspense. (1913)

The Oyster Princess (1919)

The Perils of Pauline (1914)

Cabiria (1914)

The Cameraman's Revenge (1912)


Kevin Hinman nominees

A Dog's Life (1918)

J'accuse (1919)

Different From the Others Richard Oswald (1919)

Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)

South (1919)


Jason Tucker nominees

Rapsodia Satanica (1917)

Frankenstein (1910)

Falling Leaves (1912)

Spring Fever (1919)

 The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918)

Link to Underrated by Undercast - a recommended podcast - we suggest starting with “Death to Smoochy” where Justin Joseph Hall joins hosts discuss the films that we feel are; underrated, underappreciated.


Link to Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum thank you again to David Keihn for writing our historical essay.

Hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening, Season 6 to come shortly!

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, Kevin Hinman, & Jason Tucker

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan

Additional Sound Recordist - Dakota Anthony, Kevin Hinman

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar.

Justin Joseph Hall: Halfway Home: A Father's Story, High on Crack Street: The Lost Lives of Lowell

Episode #34 - So many colons in this title! Justin Joseph Hall is an Emmy winning Editor of vérité documentary movies. He love sifting through mounts of footage to carve out the most interesting aspects of what he discovers in a short amount of time. Today he honors Downtown Community Television where he learned to cut their style of vérité footage by showing his favorite movies they’ve made.

For his short Justin brought an off-shoot of the Frontline episode Life on Parole. The short is called Halfway Home: A Father’s Story. It’s a movie that follows a father who was released from prison on parole for an entire year to see what life is like after prison. It’s an example of people with forgotten paths that are ignored by society with trials and tribulations that are often ignored by society. Justin speaks of the challenges of editing the movie and the challenges the main character faces in a complicated social justice system. The food served for the short was an apple and cake.

The feature Justin selected is an often forgotten movie he considers near perfect High on Crack Street: The Lost Lives of Lowell. The documentary that inspired the movie The Fighter was directed by Maryann DeLeo, Richard Farrell, and Jon Alpert. It covers the use of crack cocaine and the spiral it causes in one’s lives and the pull of addiction to the powerful drug. They served donuts, popcorn and domestic beer for this feature.

Learn more about Justin Joseph Hall and his work sign up for Fourwind Films’ newsletter. In the forecast to look forward to please check out host Justin Joseph Hall’s newest movie coming out a comedy special by Nimesh Patel called It’s Dark & Patel Is Hot.

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Justin Joseph Hall

Host - Laura Davi

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar

Ilaria Polsonetti: Dulce, Black South Rising: Inside Charlotte's Mostly Black and Brown Government

Episode #33 - Ilaria Polsonetti is an Emmy nominated Editor of documentary films. She creates smooth edits in her edits and enjoys creativity in her work. She is kind and collaborative in her process which she goes through today in our episode.

Ilaria brought the New York Times OpDoc Dulce. It’s an ideal documentary for Ilaria that has patience, fantastic locations and subjects, and great sound. It’s an example of the documentaries she would always love to work on in a Direct Cinema style slice of life.

The feature Ilaria chose is VICE’s Black South Rising: Inside Charlotte's Mostly Black and Brown Government. Ilaria and her VICE team put together the time after the killing of Keith Lamont Scott by the police in Charlotte, North Carolina documenting the change in the government as more people of color ran for office. It was an emotional screening that shows what it is like when new people take place of old governments.

Learn more about Ilaria Polsonetti and her work on her website. In the forecast to look forward to please check out host Justin Joseph Hall on With Nothing to Say chatting about his entry into film and how he shaped his career.

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Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Ilaria Polsonetti

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

Line Producer - Laura Davi

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar

Rebecca Stern: Snowy, The Thin Blue Line

Episode #32 - Meet Rebecca Stern, a director and producer of documentary films. She has absolutely soared in her career since one of her first jobs as a Production Coordinator on the Oscar-nominated feature documentary Cartel Land. Her directorial debut Well Groomed is now streaming on HBO. Rebecca, or Becky, is open, humble, and a delight to talk with.

Our appointed contributors for Feature & a short are asked to choose one short and one feature, and they have to have been involved with one of them but not the other. Rebecca brings the sleeper success Snowy. This documentary short about a pet turtle named Snowy whose owner embarks on a journey to find what would make him happy got into Sundance after a cold submission. We discuss what it’s like to get into Sundance, funding short films, and what Rebeca thinks needs to evolve in that process.

The feature is The Thin Blue Line, a film Becky had never seen — though she has worked on films about the legal system and incarceration in the US.

Learn more about Rebecca Stern and her work on her website.

And keep an eye on a Fourwind Films short-form documentary series coming soon: Marcellus Hall: An Artist in New York City.

Appointed contributor, Rebecca Stern.

Appointed contributor, Rebecca Stern.

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Rebecca Stern

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

Line Producer - Laura Davi

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar

Creating a Master File Differences

Episode #31 - WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode.  It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be confusing if you do not have that background.  If you do not have that background skip to another one of our episodes.

Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Mastering File Differences. In this workflow process share, Director/Editor Justin Joseph Hall explains how to export the proper master file for your archives or for delivery.

This is important in order to future-proof your final file and what you’ve invested all of your time and your money into. Justin shares how to preserve the best possible quality for your project’s posterity by covering:

  • Equipment

  • Creating a master file for a short film versus for a feature

  • High resolution

  • Why you should avoid letterboxing & pillarboxing (black mattes — black bars — above, below, and around the moving picture)

  • Suggestions for finishing codec (not H.264!)

  • JPEGS, for example, JPEG 200 files or Targa files for animation 

  • Incorporating audio and graphics into your master file

  • Subtitles (don’t include them)

  • File labeling

    If you have any post-production questions, email Justin directly at justin.joseph.hall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.

7117 Faas 031 Creating Master File Differences.jpg

Thanks for listening! For more content like this check out other podcast episodes as well as our blog posts, where a wide variety of film and multimedia professionals share what they’ve learned.

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Audio Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

The theme song of Season 5 is This Monster by Sun Nectar

The 1900's Fresh Air Award

Episode #30 - Welcome to the second Fresh Air Award! Four cinephiles continue a Fourwind Films tradition of awarding a film that pushed cinema forward the most as an art form during a particular decade. The film has to have changed movies in some way and made a lasting impression on the filmmakers. This episode goes way back in film history: 1900-1909.

Before getting into the nominations with the panelists, Justin Joseph Hall delves into what early motion picture making was like, from the origins of the term “movie magic” to describing early stop-motion animation, which included a story of cheese attacking people, because of course it did. They were all silent films. 

The four cinephiles in this panel are filmmakers Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, and Inga Moren Tapias, as well as actress and public speaking coach, Shirley Venard. If the piece has moving images and came out in the appropriate decade, it’s up for nomination. This group chooses an array of documentaries, shorts, animated films, and feature films, including one with the best-trained dog in cinema history.

Here is the link to all the nominations: 1900’s Fresh Air Award Nominees - Letterboxd list

There were several overlaps, but here are the main nominations made by each panelist:

Elizabeth Chatelain nominees

A Trip to the Moon (1902)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1903)

The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903)

Fantasmagorie (1908)

Justin Joseph Hall nominees

The Enchanted Drawing (1900)

The Coronation of King Peter I of Serbia (1904)

Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903)

Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)

Fantasmagorie (1908)

Inga Moren Tapias nominees

The Flying Train (1902)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1903)

The Man with the Rubber Head (1901)

La Glu (1907)

Fantasmagorie (1908)

Shirley Venard nominees

Mary Jane’s Mishap (1903)

The Life and Passion of Jesus Christ (1903)

Rescued by Rover (1905)

Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906)

Fantasmagorie (1908)

To find the 1900’s Fresh Air Award winner click on this link!

Hope you enjoy this episode! Share with us your own lists, comments, arguments, and films that we left out via social media @fourwindfilms. We’re on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Thanks for listening, Season 5 to come shortly!

6962 Faas 030 The 1900's Fresh Air Award.jpg

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Fresh Air Award Contributors for 1900s Decade - Elizabeth Chatelain, Justin Joseph Hall, Inga Moren, Shirley Venard

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer - Brian Trahan

Additional Sound Recordist - Dakota Anthony

The theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Megan Masur: We're All Alright, Short Term 12

Episode #29 - Meet Megan Masur, a Brooklyn-based Director of Photography and Steadicam operator. She’s an incredible utility person with a ton of technical experience having worked in animation, as a DIT, and as a camera assistant while building towards her career as a cinematographer. Fourwind Films has had the pleasure of hiring Megan for a number of projects, including as a Camera Op for Prologue.

Megan chose a short film she shot called We’re All Alright, which she fell in love with as soon as she finished reading the script. She talks about the film’s central themes of depression and female friendship, what it was like working with a majority female team, and the challenges of filming on a fire escape.

For the feature film, Megan stuck to the theme of mental health with Short Term 12, about young staff members working at a foster care facility. It’s an independent film that continues to find fans years after its release (2013) and is also known for its phenomenal ensemble of now critically acclaimed actors including Lakeith Stanfield, Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, John Gallagher Jr., and Rami Malek.

Megan’s advocacy for films and open discussion about mental health is evident in her curation for this podcast. We appreciate her coming on for this episode during a time where so many people can benefit from viewing and discussing these kinds of stories. Follow Megan’s work on Instagram, and by watching Prologue at the IndieBOOM festival from Dec. 21 - Jan. 3, 2021.

Megan Masur at the fully-masked, limited capacity, Feature & a short podcast recording. If voices sound a tad muffled, now you know why!

Megan Masur at the fully-masked, limited capacity, Feature & a short podcast recording. If voices sound a tad muffled, now you know why!

Credits for podcast:

Production Company - Fourwind Films

Appointed Contributor - Megan Masur

Host - Justin Joseph Hall

Sound Mixer & Additional Music - Brian Trahan

The theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Justin Joseph Hall: Prologue, The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Episode #28 - There’s a connection between 70’s cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and Justin Joseph Hall’s directorial debut, “Prologue,” which he gets into this episode of Feature & a short. After watching the two films, Justin answers audience questions. He shares what it was like collaborating with writer Piper Werle on Prologue’s script, how locations are characters in themselves, the casting process, and horror movies that explore the fear of having children.

Prologue is a multiple award-winning short film charged with secrets and terrible communication skills. It follows Julie, a young Italian immigrant living in Northern California who is perfectly happy in her marriage until she stops being able to go along with what her husband wants. With the unexpected help of an elderly stranger who thinks Julie is someone she is not, the young newlywed navigates how to live her truth.

Starring - Claudia de Candia, Shawn Thomas Diefenbach, Shirley Venard, Ariel Woodiwiss

Screenwriter - Piper Werle

Assistant Director - Kate Branom

Assistant Producer, Set Photographer - Daria Huxley

Producer - Ricky Rosario

Cinematographer - Gary Jaquez

Director, Editor, Colorist - Justin Joseph Hall

Justin Joseph Hall is an award-winning, multilingual Director and founder of Fourwind Films and Quatre-Vents.  His work has been acquired by major television networks such as HBO and he’s worked as a lead creative on projects that received awards at The Emmys, TriBeCa Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, and more.

His many years in the industry allowed him to guide audiences through unforgettable thought and emotional experiences working primarily as a Director and Editor.  He has held positions as Editor for networks such as HBO, NBCUniversal, and PBS.  At Downtown Community Television he helped pitch and develop the show Axios (2018-2021), the Emmy-winning documentary series.  Abuela’s Luck (2018) was picked up by all HBO’s streaming platforms and slated to be adapted into a full-length feature movie.   His mastery of post-production and the visual arts has awarded him opportunities to work with Major League Baseball, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, National Geographic, Discovery, and BMW, to name a few.

Justin’s work as a Director has procured awards.  Prologue (2020) is a superb, surreal exploration of relationships and miscommunication winning Best of Awards at Manhattan Film Festival and Worldfest Houston International Film Festival.  His docu-series on creative careers, Artist & the City (2021) won 6 awards including the Audience Award for Best Series at YoFiFest.

Justin believes in two things: diverse perspectives help solve complex problems and that first rate execution of an idea matters more than the idea itself.  That’s why since he hit the ground running into his career in 2008 and he has directed and managed a talented workforce from New York to Paris to Tokyo.  

Since 2014 under Justin’s direction, Fourwind Films creates high fidelity media exploring statistically underrepresented perspectives.  It’s sister company, Quatre-Vents was created in 2022 to help create a greater Post-Production industry in his home state of Minnesota.  He disrupts the redundant motion picture industry with relevant, fresh perspectives, including his own.

Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films and this episode’s contributor, dressed for a viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Justin Joseph Hall, owner of Fourwind Films and this episode’s contributor, dressed for a viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Host - Laura Davi

Sound - Brian Trahan

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Coloring Differences

Episode #27 - WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in Post-Production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that background skip to another one of our episodes.

Welcome to another COVID Feature & a short episode: Coloring Differences.

Owner of Fourwind Films, Justin Joseph Hall, has worked on many projects as Colorist. In this episode he gives us some tips about giving working on a feature and a short as a colorist. It’s important to budget your time and tell people how much it costs. You need to know what program you can use, if you are onlining the material and where you are taking the hand off point from the editor (if you are not editing the film.)

Justin guides you through topics like creating a budget and that it’s important to ask questions like how many looks and set ups you need to create. He goes through other essential things to consider in color are color space and exports.

If you have any Post-Production questions, email Justin Joseph Hall directly at justinjosephhall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.

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Credits for podcast:

Produced by Fourwind Films

Host: Justin Joseph Hall

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, Additional Music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Assistant Editing Differences

Episode #26 - WARNING: This episode is a workflow episode. It is made for people with extensive knowledge in post-production and can be confusing if you do not have that background. If you do not have that backgorung skip to another one of our episodes.

Welcome to another COVID Feature & a Short episode: Assistant Editing.

Most assistant editors want to advance their career to become and editor someday.
Owner and Editor of Fourwind Films, Justin Joseph Hall, has worked on many projects as Assistant Editor. In this episode he gives us some tips about Assistant Editing. First off to know the different jobs in Post-Production to find opportunities to experiment and try different things. Always discuss at the beginning of the project how your credit is going to be. Remember that as an assistant editor you gotta be the organizational voice. You want to have an easy-to-read organizational format. Be consistent with the way you label files as you working on a team! Talk to the editor about gaining a system for ingesting and synching. Color-correction and sound-mixing are essential parts to consider for a complete proper project.


It’s your job to make sure that your work is accurate and that you maintain a high quality product for finishing your video!

If you have any Post-Production questions, email Justin Joseph Hall directly at justinjosephhall@fourwindfilms.com or check out Fourwind’s blog page for helpful tips in creating media.

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Credits for podcast:

Produced by Fourwind Films

Host: Justin Joseph Hall

Brian Trahan - Sound Mixer, Additional Music

Theme song of Season 4 is Loopster by Kevin MacLeod.

Setting Up in Post-Production Differences

What differs the most between working on features and shorts is which software editing you use. Owner of Fourwind Films’ Justin Joseph Hall suggests Premiere for faster turnaround time and Avid for longer projects. He also gives us some tips about folder structures and file labeling. Specifically that organization skills are extremely important in post-production. Know your camera. Know your codec. You wanna make sure that things will sort in a logical manner in order not to cause yourself a lot of work towards the end of the post-production process.

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