You might recall the $1000 Speilberg blog, which I mentioned back in November. Recently, the site has moved to a new location and its been renamed $1000 Dollar Film, which is more generic and perhaps more clearly representative of the site's goal. Anyway, the website is shaping up with some interesting reading to be had, but one article that caught my eye is 'How to write a genre movie in seven days'. Although I'm not much of the screenwriter type myself, I found this to be a pretty interesting exercise regarding speed writing. Other than being amusing, it does have sound tips on how to be a productive writer, with the final goal of having written something that is watchable and doable, but not necessarily a masterpiece of screenwriting.How to write a genre movie in seven days
You might recall the $1000 Speilberg blog, which I mentioned back in November. Recently, the site has moved to a new location and its been renamed $1000 Dollar Film, which is more generic and perhaps more clearly representative of the site's goal. Anyway, the website is shaping up with some interesting reading to be had, but one article that caught my eye is 'How to write a genre movie in seven days'. Although I'm not much of the screenwriter type myself, I found this to be a pretty interesting exercise regarding speed writing. Other than being amusing, it does have sound tips on how to be a productive writer, with the final goal of having written something that is watchable and doable, but not necessarily a masterpiece of screenwriting.The MacGuffin
One of my favorite blogs, Signal vs. Noise, has a long article on MacGuffin. A name coined by Alfred Hitchcock, who described the element: a "device, the gimmick, if you will, or the papers the spies are after...The only thing that really matters is that in the picture the plans, documents or secrets must seem to be of vital importance to the characters. To me, the narrator, they're of no importance whatsoever." The element that pushes all the other elements into action. Even though it merely acts as a plot agent, it has inherent power. Most writers use it, even if they don't know what a MacGuffin means. Some legendary directors like Truffaut and Mamet are quoted in the article on power of the MacGuffin. One of the best recent examples was the glowing briefcase in Pulp Fiction.
YourBroadcaster: social networking meets movie collaboration
YourBroadcaster.com is attempting to take social networking to a different level with their movie social networking site:A movie social network promises to meet the requirements of any individual who has genuine interest in movies and filmmaking. A true movie buff would not pass up the chance to be part of the creation of a feature length film from casting the film, choosing the director or simply playing a major decision-making role throughout the entire production process. This is a test whether a film can be done with most of the major production decisions made through an online social network.
Launching in 2007, members of the YourBroadcaster social network can become involved in 5 different movie projects. Members will be able to upload scripts, auditions, characters, etc that will be voted on by all members to determine what will be used in the movie project. A subscription fee of $10 (one project) to $35 (multiple projects) is required for full participation. The 5 movie categories are bollywood, horror, thriller, drama and comedy. Advertisers can also get in on the movie making action with opportunities of product placement within each movie. This will be interesting to follow once the official site is launched and we get more details into how things will operate. The official site is yourbroadcaster.com but you can find more information at their corporate site, yourbroadcaster.tv.
Writer's Dreamtools
This is very cool. WritersDreamTools.com provides all the things you would want to know about any decade from the 1650's on. Things like major historical events, catch phrases, who the major characters were, who died, the bad guys, what music played, what was the entertainment like and so on. You can see how useful this would be for a writer. It can also be very useful to directors, set designers, costume people and cinematographers. But even more than that, it is very nice way to learn history.
A look at Pixar's beginnings
If you are into creating animation then you may like to take a step back in history by viewing this video below. The video shows early computer generation animation technology that was used to animate cartoons back in the 1980s. The video shows you how characters and backgrounds were built up in black and white vector animation sketches on a computer that were then colored in. When describing what it was like to color in the objects the video states the whole process is like stretching a piece of skin over a wire mesh frame. The originator of the video was working for Disney at the time, but when Micheal Eisner took over, he got canned. Don't feel too bad, he went on to start Pixar. For the full drama story, follow the read link, otherwise sit back and watch away...
"Blair Witch" team at it again
Back in 1999 The Blair Witch Project became the most financially successful independent film of all time, partly due to the way the producers played the internet to create a lot of buzz. Now, the team is at it again with another movie, Altered. Granted, the film is backed by mainstream Rogue Pictures, but we'll have to see whether the team can pull it off again. Investor Ken McCarthy seems to think so and is on board with the horror flick. Since The Blair Witch Project was hailed as one of the first successes of "viral marketing," way back in the late 90's, it'll be interesting to see what approach the film makers take now that the internet is even more pervasive. Check out the trailer below:More stop-motion Earl
Just to follow up on a previous post, Studio Daily has an interview with the folks that worked on the My Name is Earl episode that featured stop-motion character animation. While there's not much new here, there is a video available of the interview which shows a few glimpses of the behind the scenes setup. So if you're into stop-animation or just curious, you might enjoy checking it out.South Park meets World of Warcraft, how the episode was created
Machinima.com has a great interview with the South Park crew discussing the recent South Park-World of Warcraft episode. You get a little behind the scenes info on where the inspiration to use WOW came from, plus a few techie details on how the episode was created. For example, they treated the game capture sessions just like regular shoots using a Mac Pro with SnapzPro software for capturing. The captures were then imported into Avid systems and cut into the show which gave them immediate feedback if the captures worked in the scene, or if they needed to re-capture from the game. And just like a real location shoot, they did have some issues such as random players walking into the area they were capturing. But unlike a real shoot (hopefully), they were able to kill off anyone who wondered into the shot and continue on. Check it out, it's a fun read.[via Create Digital Motion]
Who Backs Movies and Why
Christopher Stack at his Deepstructure blog was kind enough to jot down notes from one of American Film Market's (AFM) recent seminar titled "Who backs movies and why." A lot of good stuff, I'd suggest you read it through. Basically: get representation, have a plan for your script, focus on script, pitch truthfully and excitedly. That one line summary was for what you independent filmmakers can do. A lot of the talk also focuses on the current market, check it out.(via HD for Indies)
My name is stop-motion Earl
If you saw last weeks episode of My Name is Earl, you found out what can happen if you eat too much of a potent herbal medicine meant for your skin. Randy sure learned the hard way. But we've got a secret, it wasn't real. Nope, it was months of hard work with a Canon 20D digital camera, After Effects, Shake, Avid and other fun tools. Check out this article over at DV.com that goes into detail on how the 2 1/2 minutes of animation was created. If you missed the episode, you can check out some clips over on NBC's website.Confessions of a Genius Script Reader
This is one of the wittiest articles on scriptwriting I have read. It goes up there with Josh Friedman's blog. Allan Heifetz, writing for Film Threat, jots down "The Golden Dont's" for screenwriters. Briefly: no breaking the fourth wall, enough with the swearing, don't abuse the thesaurus, don't go nuts with funny names or titles, cut down on the soundtrack notes, no time like the present and men should stick to writing about men. Again, all this is much funnier and informative in the article. Here is a sample: "Throw your thesaurus away. You have nothing to lose but your pneumatic, pulchritudinous manacles! Remember; the better it looks on paper, the worse it's going to sound on film."I am not a script reader but here are couple of things I'd like to add:
- Be careful with the amount of detail you put in a script. It is like music, you can only listen to so many things.
- Dialog is a little different. Good dialog or realistic dialog seems to be coming from many directions.
- Work and family are important parts of people's lives. Include it as much as you can. Even cool people have silly dads.
- Don't be afraid of modern objects. Writers love old stuff, old cars, old clothes. Other people don't.
- Same thing for locations. Strip malls are almost never seen in a movie. But most Americans spend much of their time outside their homes and cars there.
Final Draft 7.1.3 released
Final Draft has released an update to its popular scriptwriting software. It doesn't look like there is anything major added to this version, but it does include a few enhancement as well as bug fixes. For detailed info on the changes in 7.1.3, check out the readme file. Current version 7 users can update for free, new users can get a brand spankin' new copy for $229.FX tips and more
Need a few FX tips? Run, don't walk, over to fxguide.com. You will find some really good tips and tutorials on their tips page. It's not all special effects stuff, you'll find info on a variety of subjects related to workflow and post production. Also check out their podcasts and articles that take you into the guts of various productions. But don't blame me when you lose track of time and don't get anything productive done today.IMDbPro: Useful resource for professionals
IMDb has become THE film database. Actors, directors and other film professionals yearn to get on its listings. IMDb offers a lot more than a database namely its Pro features. These features are actually quite good: - Contact Listings for over 65,000 people. Get in touch with that star that will make or break your film.
- Company Directory of over 10,000 companies. Get an agent and reach more professionals.
- Entertainment News from the Hollywood Reporter.
- In Production Charts for over 5,200 film and TV projects.
- Rankings for over 1.6 million people in IMDb.
- Message Boards for entertainment industry professionals.
- Box Office for US daily, US weekly and international.
- Calendar of theatrical releases, film festivals and events.
- Advanced Search generates millions of customized reports.
Making a movie without the actors?
I suppose this could be a dream come true for a director, the ability to control and fine-tune minute details of an actor's performance. Thanks in part to technology from Image Metrics actions can be mapped to a 3D model. While motion capture is not a new technique, subtle things like movement of the eyes, wrinkles, and the area around the mouth have foiled past methods. Will this render (no pun intended) the role of big movie stars obsolete? I don't think so. For one thing a virtual actor can't do real world publicity. But with that aside, isn't there something missing? Some human quality that technology will never be able to capture? I think the best use of this stuff would be for completing a movie after the main actor has died, like The Crow. As this technology becomes more and more refined, expect to see it (although hopefully you won't notice it) used more often. And didn't BET use something like this a while ago?
