Quote: Anticipation
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There is no terror in a bang, only in the anticipation of it.
.(Alfred Hitchcock)
Screenplay Formatting Search Engine
After continuously referencing the web for formatting questions while writing, I made a little customized search engine, which searches specific directories on sites like scriptologist and storysense or posts with a formatting tag on blogs like the always interesting johnaugust.com. Using my search engine saves me plowing through dozens of links resulting from a general Google query and gives me an answer to my question in 95% of the cases. Say you want to find out about how to go about writing a flashback sequence. Instead of typing “flashback screenwriting format” into Google and then go fishing for results, just punch “flashback” into the search field and you will get the right answer in a blink.
I’ve been using the search engine for several months now all by myself, and only recently had the idea that it might be something other writers would find useful. So, if you are working on a screenplay right now and don’t want to thumb through your copy of The Screenwriter’s Bible
Equation for Suspense
Character empathy + Likelihood of threat + Uncertainty of outcome = SUSPENSE.
. (Karl Iglesias/Writing for Emotional Impact
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Drowning the flood
Between RSS feeds, Twitter, Facebook, email, various instant messenger accounts and SMS, it sometimes seems almost impossible to focus on the task at hand. Especially when that task has to do with writing or trying to create something.
Tapping into that fragile pipeline which connects the page with the subconscious seems hopeless when mounds of new information, chatter and distracting clutter are incessantly being thrown into our stream of thoughts and litter the creative process with useless noise and incoherent input. Accessing the undigested mass of awesomeness that lingers just below our thoughts, needs a brain that gets a break every now and then.
Trying to tame the daily avalanche of new information, I went out looking for helpers to “cut the crap” and get me working. I stumbled upon these four tools, which have made my days a hundredfold more productive. Read more about the trick ponies I found working best for me…>>
Dangerous Days
Blade Runner seems to be a movie that is never really done. One of the first movies ever to be released as a Director’s Cut, it recently has been re-mixed, re-mastered, re-cut and re-tinkered with all over again, and may have reached it’s conclusive incarnation with the Final Cut on this 5 disc edition
Watching the movie in it’s “most recent” final version the movie, I thought that it is as fantastic and atmospheric as it’s predecessors, and even more dense. (I don’t want to ramble on about the different cuts and versions; for that you should read a more informed overview – for example the one tucked away in this Amazon review, written by an absolute Blade Runner buff, who is watching the movie “once a week and [has] done so for almost 10 years”.)
But the most interesting thing on this Ultimate Edition might actually be one of its special features: The 3 ½ hour documentary “Dangerous Days”, directed by Charles de Lauzirika. If you liked the movie (I don’t care which version), you have to watch this Uber Making Of. It is highly captivating and contains tons of interviews and insights about the creation of this Sci-Fi classic. Every chapter has it’s own story arc, which makes the documentary tremendously exciting to follow, and many of the topics go beyond a general or superficial description of the filmmaking process. Honest and sometimes uncomfortable, it deals with the tension between the studio, the writers, the crew and the key creators of the masterpiece(…s).
Dedicating 3 ½ hours to watching how a 2 hour movie was made is quite a chunk of time, but actually the chapter structure allows for dividing it up into bite sized pieces – I watched it in 3 sittings and it didn’t lessen the fascination for me.
10 minute clip from “Dangerous Days”:
Inglourious Clapper
Check out this montage of clapper Geraldine Brezca working on set of Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”. Instead of calling the slate simply with take, number and version, she has her very unique style of announcing the next take to be filmed, which lead to her being credited as “clapper/camera angel” on the movie. (This clip is a special feature from the DVD/Bluray release of the movie
DSLR cinematography hacked
Pulling off a narrative short, a documentary or even feature film without any backing can seem monstrous. But now Ryan Koo chopped off a few claws of this ogre’s paws. He compiled the most comprehensive guide to low budget digital cinematography with DSLRs you will find anywhere. Choosing the right camera, filters, post production and many ways how to hack your digital still camera, turning it into a real filmmaking tool – Ryan Koo describes it all. Like he puts it, the guide contains “what you need to know to make beautiful, inexpensive movies”. Theodore Roosevelt said “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” And what you have just got upgraded by Ryan Choo.
Check out Ryan Koo’s “DSLR Cinematography Guide” here.
If you’re still uncertain if DSLRs are for you and your next projects, check out this list of beautiful DSLR cinematography Ryan Koo put together.
A short shot entirely on the Canon 5D Mark II: “Solitude”, Robin Risser
Mamet’s memo
“TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT
GREETINGS.
AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.
THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN DRAMA AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.
Nurturing creativity
A gem you forgot about: “25th Hour”
*Note: This post contains spoilers about the movie “25th Hour”.*
The first time I saw Spike Lee’s “25th Hour”
Then there is, of course, Edward Norton’s monologue in the bathroom. He tears the whole world down. He tries hard, really hard to make it all look bad, screw everyone! But in the end he knows, he’s going to miss every single bit of it. In the end, you can not blame the world for messing it up. You can only blame yourself. Watch my favorite scene & read more…
