Film: Oscilloscope Labs mix music, film, Beastie Boys
Redefining lean and mean, Adam Yauch's Oscilliscope Labs was created as a "music and film production company", according to their website. Recently they have announced the creation of "Oscilloscope Pictures", their new distribution arm. The whole mantra behind this endeavor is to have everything done in-house; in their NY lair are post-production facilities, a recording studio (where the Beasties' "To The 5 Boroughs" was recorded & mixed) and graphic designers who can create films, soundtracks, and all marketing materials (trailers, DVD artwork, film posters, etc.) on location. Yauch tapped David Fenkel, formerly of THINKFilm, to head up the experiment. The Scope, as it's fondly referred to, will be acquiring films as well and offering finishing funds to promising directors and their projects.
The next film in the hopper was just announced: "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot", a documentary which follows 8 high school basketball players from all over the country as they arrive at Harlem's Rucker Park for the first annual "Elite 24" competition, which aims to fast track kids to the NBA. As a telling sign that Oscilloscope is taking filmmaking seriously, the director is credited as "Adam Yauch" instead of his usual alter-ego "Nathaniel Hornblower". According to the site the film will feature "raw hip hop music" but it remains unclear how much of it will come from the scope's recording studio and how much of it will be licensed. We suppose we can take solace in the fact that music for this film - and for all future scope films - won't be an afterthought. Check back here often for soundtrack details as they develop. The film is slated for a theatrical release June 27, 2008.
To whet your appetite, here's the trailer for "Awesome, I Fuckin' Shot That", directed by Hornblower, and the first film to come out out of Oscilloscope:
