Welcome to the Mic'd Up! blog,
where film reviews and commentary are all presented with an in-depth, sarcastic
and fun-loving method of evaluation.
My name is Mike Allan and I am currently
in my last year as a film production and theory student at Augsburg College in
Minneapolis, MN. I'll be covering both mainstream
and art house films that belong to wide varieties of genres. Reviews will range
from Bella Tarr to Guillermo del Toro and news from Hollywood to a budding film
movement can/might/will be posted to this blog. This
is not EXACTLY a news site (news will be
posted though), but much more of an opinion based, technically coherent and theory influenced
analysis blog.
My love of creating cinema was sparked when I was young and I got my first taste of film production: Lego Studios. It was basically a webcam and a bunch of legos, but when they were combined, stop-motion "greatness" was achieved. My 6 or 7-year-old self would spend hours and hours making 5 minute films about robberies and magic. It was not just a hobby for me because I would later on go into film classes in high school and spend days on projects and many hours in the editing room. It was pure bliss for me.
Now I am a freelance filmmaker in my last year of college. My jobs outside of school include grunt work on commercial shoots as well as creating my own web series. My technical skill will be weaved into my reviews to help readers understand just how much (or how little work) went into certain films. My favorite part about film is looking at what kinds of cameras and lenses they decide to use. There will be camera news and updates as I become aware of them, but I might geek out over the Blackmagic Cinema Camera a little TOO much... so just ignore that.
Stick around for reviews, commentary, and news from a technically based filmmaker, avid theory reader and all around cinephile.