Boston Globe Movie Critic Speaks at The Meeting School

On Saturday, May 1, Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr spoke at The Meeting School in Rindge about the future of movies and moviemaking.

In his presentation, Burr suggested that the most exciting things happening in the movie industry today are with short films, telling his audience that filmmakers can go places with metaphor and message in short films not possible in full length movies.

Also, with the readily available cameras, editing software, and You Tube distribution, it is possible for many more filmmakers to create and distribute their work today. He says that “between the feet of the dinosaurs of Hollywood there is a new way of making films taking place.”

While Burr is adamant that filmmakers don’t need a big budget to create meaningful films, he does believe that “every major movie will be in 3-D in ten years.”

Burr talked a little bit about the economics of television. He said that essentially, advertisers are the "buyers" of television content - they are the ones who pay to have it on air. The consumers of television - us (or those of us who have televisions) - are the ones being purchased. The movie or television show is the bait.

Ty Burr has been a film critic for The Boston Globe since July 2002. For ten years prior to that, he worked for Entertainment Weekly as the magazine's chief video critic, and also covered film, music, theater, books, and the internet. He began his career at Home Box Office in the 1980s, where he helped program the Cinemax pay-cable service.

He is also the brother of one of our faculty members, Emily Burr.

(Blog photo courtesy of student Liz Stillwell)