Screenplay Basics - Scripped A Scripped Compendium by Johnathan Carr Traditional storytelling recounts past events, whereas screenwriting is locked in the present - thus you may not deviate from PRESENT TENSE. You may also be tempted to describe every inch of the world you're creating - don't! Take comfort in the idea that a screenplay is not meant to have any literary value. As you're writing, be mindful to preserve only the most important details: information that will advance the story. At the beginning of a feature film script, often but not always, the first line will be: FADE IN. While you can write a longer ACTION paragraph, think about keeping it under five lines at a time. In the ACTION line, be sure to capitalize SOUND EFFECTS, CAMERA DIRECTION and the first appearance of a speaking CHARACTER. Use a PARENTHETICAL to note an action the speaker is performing while speaking or if you want to indicate whom the speaker is addressing such as addressing a new character in mid-DIALOGUE. Think subtext.
Film & Video The following films are presented for educational and non-commercial use only. All copyrights belong to the artists. About UbuWeb Film & Video UbuWeb is pleased to present thousands of avant-garde films & videos for your viewing pleasure. However, it is important to us that you realize that what you will see is in no way comparable to the experience of seeing these gems as they were intended to be seen: in a dark room, on a large screen, with a good sound system and, most importantly, with a roomful of warm, like-minded bodies. However, we realize that the real thing isn't very easy to get to. We realize that the films we are presenting are of poor quality. UbuWeb
Part 1: Basic Terms French for "author". Used by critics writing for Cahiers du cinema and other journals to indicate the figure, usually the director, who stamped a film with his/her own "personality". Opposed to "metteurs en scene" who merely transcribed a work achieved in another medium into film. The concept allowed critics to evaluate highly works of American genre cinema that were otherwise dismissed in favor of the developing European art cinema. Director Abbas Kiarostami appearing as himself in the last scene of Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e Guilass, Iran, 1997) The diegesis includes objects, events, spaces and the characters that inhabit them, including things, actions, and attitudes not explicitly presented in the film but inferred by the audience. Different media have different forms of diegesis. The joining together of clips of film into a single filmstrip. Picture: Yelizaveta Svilova at the editing table of Man with the Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom, Dziga Vertov USSR, 1929)
30 Amazing Stanley Kubrick Cinemagraphs The Lobby is a multiverse of random things we found on the interwebs, along with the occasional 3AM drunken rants by our founders and their minions. These posts are curated by our highly trained group of crazy, up-jumped, Scarlett Johansson-obsessed, hard-drinking monkeys on a vision quest in a sacred North Dakota sweat lodge at the invitation of our great native elder, Chief Running Nose. The Lobby is currently the world’s largest repository of dead YouTube links and contains quite possibly the best tasting nacho cheese dip in existence. All In this relatively brief 4,000 word video essay John lobs a metaphorical bomb into the cottage industry of “Exposure Triangle” Videos. I got a chance to host a Cabaret type show showcasing my favorite songs from the last 100 years of cinema. Darken, Lighten, Soft Light – every program has them but do you really know what they all do? If you would like to study the graphics further they are available in our course supplemental:
Pandora’s digital box: From the periphery to the center, or the one of many centers A laserdisc of The East Is Red; a VCD of Peking Opera Blues. DB here: On my first visit to Hong Kong in early 1995, one of my missions was to acquire video copies of all those HK films I wanted to study. The VHS tapes I’d seen in the States had grimy images and pan-and-scan framing. For those too young or too sequestered to know this format, I should explain. In the US, laserdiscs were for sale, but Hong Kong ones typically weren’t. As I made the rounds during my trip, I persuaded many shops to sell me some LDs, unfortunately for me at rather high prices. On the same trip I met the LD’s downmarket cousin. VCD = Very Curtailed Definition Video Compact Discs (VCDs) were 4.8 inches across, flimsy, and cheap (US$4 for a legit one, much less for a bootleg). The results were pretty feeble. Want some measure? Debuting in 1993, the VCD was the answer to a film pirate’s prayers. Historically, I think, the VCDs played an important role. 16mm: Digital exhibition’s dry run Overshoot and good enough
The only film making advice you really need — Cinema Advanced Cinema Advanced Yesterday, I told you how Listening to ’so called’ experts could destroy your film career before it even starts . Today I’m going to share with you the few principles you really need to know. If you’ve ever dreamed about being a director, then this post is a must read for you. The 9 things you need to do if you really want to be a film maker. Shoot the damn thing – Stop obsessing over what gear you need, stop worrying about raising money, stop obsessing over every little detail. If you can’t raise the money you need, then figure out how to do it with less money. Tagged as: advice , film making , filmmaking advice , filmmaking for dummies
Top 25 Horror Movies of 2009 The Definitive List - HorrorMovies.ca - StumbleUpon By now you should have probably noticed a ton of Top Lists for 2009 on site written by the staff members of our site. To give you an objective overview of what the top films of 2009 really were I have taken all the Top Lists written by the staff and compiled them into one master list. I have also include the votes of our readers to make this list as accurate as possible. So without further ado here is the Definitive List of the Best Horror Films of 2009. #25: Last House on the Left Remake: Quite honestly all things considered I really do not disagree with the choice of Last House on the Left landing at #25 on our Top 25 since it was both disturbing and dark. #24 House of the Devil: At #23 on our list is House of the Devil which tells the story of an attractive college student who takes a job in a creepy old mansion as a babysitter to earn money for a deposit on an apartment. #21 Dead girl: Dead girl is a film summed up easily with the word Sadistic. #14 Thirst: This one needs no intro.
TV is better than film Read Film Editor Dave Calhoun's retort. 1. TV takes the time to go much, much deeper At a real stretch, film directors have four hours of footage (excluding the possibility of a money-grubbing sequel or two), whereas TV directors can have anything up to 22 hours for a series. The movie industry cannot match the long-running subplots and subtle elucidation of characters’ personalities in a series like ‘Six Feet Under’, or the exquisitely paced novel-like intricacies of ‘The Wire’. 2. Post-‘This Is Spinal Tap’, it’s hard to think of any mould-breaking film comedies: meanwhile the sophisticated use of cartoons pioneered by ‘The Simpsons’, the aggressively nonsensical meeja parody of ‘The Day Today’ and the intrusive camerawork of ‘Peep Show’ have led the way. 3. Audiences heading to the local multiplex pick and choose their viewing, so their chances of watching something they’re not interested in are minimal. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Read Film Editor Dave Calhoun's retort.
666 DIY Horror Filmmaking Tutorials It’s that time of year again, so we thought it was time to update last years killer feature “Horror Filmmaking: From Script to Scream.” That’s right a sequel! This time we are narrowing the focus a bit and concentrating on the DIY (Do It Yourself) elements. Hopefully this will help you slash the budget without murdering your production values. DIY: Blood, Bullets & Stunts DIY: Stage Effects/Green Screen DIY: Digital Effects After Effects Sony Vegas DIY: Make-Up/Costumes DIY: Static Props DIY: Motion Props DIY: Horror Sets DIY: Packaging Prop Shops & FX Supplies How to write a good short film script - Bulletfilm Blogs "By luck, I stumbled upon your site, and of course I wanted to try it out. I went on to deposit $500 on OneTwoTrade, then opened 5 positions and won 4. Took out the $500 and still have the profit of $288 to trade with. This is a great system you got there Sir, I definitely owe you one." Shelly Green - New York "I began with $200 on OneTwoTrade and I went down to $100 the first day. John Bates - Los Angeles "I didn't know what to think about this system at first, as I have always looked at trading as too complicated and only for professionals... obviously I was wrong. Julia Moore - Chicago "Just started trading binary options a month ago. Scott Parker - Miami
TSPDT - Ain't Nobody's Blues But My Own: A selection of 250 mostly obscure, mostly overlooked, and/or mostly unloved films. For the most part, TSPDT’s 1,000 Greatest Films project has garnered a generally positive reaction amongst the net’s film-list lovers. It seems to be reasonably well-liked. However, after the update of the list in January 2010 many began to question that the list was becoming a little tired and predictable. So then, does the middle-ground suck? So we thought, let’s do it. Then the answer suddenly became clear, and our indecisiveness ground to a halt. Some critics/filmmakers whose unique choices we've used include Tim Burton, Miranda July, Mike Leigh, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Fred Camper, Nancy Savoca, Alexander Payne, D.A. In summary, Ain’t Nobody’s Blues But My Own is a listing of 250 films that have only ever featured once on any critic’s or filmmaker’s list of favourites (that we have compiled to date). This is an extremely eclectic group of 250 films. We intend to update this list on an annual basis, probably each February or thereabouts.
202 DIY Filmmaking Tutorials Why buy it when you can build it? Well… most of the time you don’t have a choice. Other times it’s just way too much fun! In our first DIY (“Do It Yourself”) featured list we will focus on the production side of filmmaking. ****Update: We have two new entries in our 202 Series “202 Sony Vegas Tutorials,” “202 Final Cut Pro Tutorials” and coming soon “DIY Horror: From Script to Scream!” Dollies XL-1 Table DollyIroning Board DollyDolly and Track SystemBuild Plan DollySkate Wheel DolliesRadio Controlled Camera PodBuild a Tracked Camera Dolly for CheapSimple DollySnodart’s DollyPVC dollyEazy DollyD8 Ladder DollyFilming Dolly With 10′ TrackSodart’s DollyJsal27′s Dolly system Stabilizers/Steadicams $14 SteadycamLight-Duty “Steady Cam” StabilizationImproved Steadicam for under 40 dollars! Car Mounts Poor Man’s process method for shooting an in-car sceneBack-seat-view car mountExterior car mountLow-budget (not DIY) car mountCar RigsCinesaddle Car Mount JIB Arms/Cranes Misc. Lighting Audio Make-Up/Gore