Being Winston Wolfe: 9 Reasons Why 'Pulp Fiction' is the Management Guide Every Indie Filmmaker Needs Winston Wolfe in "Pulp Fiction." Remember Harvey Keitel as Winston Wolfe? Of course you do. His appearance in “Pulp Fiction” as the fixer, the cleaner who knew how to take care of Jules’ and Vincent’s boneheaded mistakes, was a model of efficiency under pressure -- a no-nonsense performer who got the job done with style. And, as producer Justin Szlasa presents in this terrific essay, if every movie set were run by Winston Wolfe, the world would be a better place. Szlasa recently produced the digital filmmaking doc “Side By Side” that premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. It looks like the time he spent in that considerably wonkier arena will serve him well as an independent filmmaker. However, there’s a dearth of Winston Wolfes in the world, and certainly on indie film sets. So here’s Justin Szlasa’s take on how to do just that. -- Dana Harris THE WOLF I'm Winston Wolfe. We read the trades and attend panel discussions. We have excuses. Prioritize This seems obvious.
Nolan vs. Nolan DB here: Paul Thomas Anderson, the Wachowskis, David Fincher, Darren Aronofsky, and other directors who made breakthrough films at the end of the 1990s have managed to win either popular or critical success, and sometimes both. None, though, has had as meteoric a career as Christopher Nolan. His films have earned $3.3 billion at the global box office, and the total is still swelling. On IMDB’s Top 250 list , as populist a measure as we can find, The Dark Knight (2008) is ranked number 8 with over 750,000 votes, while Inception (2010), at number 14, earned nearly 600,000. Yet many critics fiercely dislike his work. I have only a welterweight dog in this fight, because I admire some of Nolan’s films, for reasons I hope to make clear later. Four dimensions, at least First, let’s ask: How can a filmmaker innovate? You can innovate by tackling new subject matter . You can also innovate by developing new themes . Style without style Well, on the whole they aren’t stylistic. Swedish sleeplessness
100 Ideas That Changed Film by Maria Popova How the seventh art went from magic lanterns to state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery in 100 years. When a small handful of enthusiasts gathered at the first cinema show at the Grand Cafe in Paris on December 27, 1895, to celebrate early experimental film, they didn’t know that over the next century, their fringe fascination would carve its place in history as the “seventh art.” But how, exactly, did that happen? In 100 Ideas that Changed Film, Oxford Times film reviewer David Parkinson and publisher Laurence King — who brought us 100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design and the epic Saul Bass monograph — offer a concise and intelligent chronicle of the most influential developments since the dawn of cinema. Parkinson promises in the introduction: What follows is as much a chronology of business opportunism and technical pragmatism, as a celebration of artistry, social commitment, and showmanship. Idea # 1: MAGIC LANTERNS Idea # 20: SERIALS Idea # 28: GENRE Idea # 54: SHORTS
Film Studies For Free | The Permanent Seminar on Histories of Film Theories | Observations on film art The Adventures of Prince Achmed. Kristin (with some help from David) here: David and I have been offering this greatest-of-90-years-ago series almost as long as this blog has existed. For earlier annual entries, see 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, and 1925. I approached 1926 with the assumption that it would present a crowded field of masterpieces; surely it would be difficult to choose ten best films. Instead it turned out that some of the greatest directors of the era somehow managed to skip this year or turn in lesser films. Still, the Soviet directors were going full-tilt by this time and contribute three of the ten films on this year’s list. The Russians are coming Vsevolod Pudovkin’s Mother was a full-fledged contribution to the new Montage movement in the Soviet Union. Along with Potemkin, Mother was one of the key founding films of the Montage movement. Mother was released on DVD by Image Entertainment in 1999, but it seems to be very rare. Petit mais grand
Screenplay Basics - Scripped - StumbleUpon 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. 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. Off camera (O.C.) and off screen (O.S.) are identical, which one you use is really a personal preference. Think subtext.
15 Film Production Credits Explained Ever wonder what all those strange credits are when they roll by at the end of a film? I used to, until I moved to LA, where I started meeting Best Boys and Dolly Grips with their kids when I took my son to the playground—yes, Hollywood, where you meet Gaffers and Armourers at your average Saturday night house party. So I started asking questions, and here's what I've learned: 1. Boom Operator No, this job has nothing to do with explosives or pyrotechnics. 2. Now this job does deal with explosives, of a sort. 3. Though the gaffer manages the entire electrical department, all the guys who run cables and hang lights, his main responsibility is mounting and positioning lights and lighting rigs. 4. Grips are sort of like worker bees. 5. This guy runs the Grips dept and assists the Gaffer. 6. This guy has nothing at all to do with a wedding, unless we're talking something like Wedding Crashers . 7. A dolly grip operates the movie camera dolly. 8. 9. 10. This guy oversees the painting dept. 11.
Metaphilm - See through cinema. Nel labirinto della Mente – “Inception”: l’ingannevole realtà del sogno Con Nel labirinto della Mente, Nientepopcorn.it vi propone una serie di film caratterizzati da trame in cui la psiche umana è protagonista, generando sub-realtà capaci di trarre in inganno sia i protagonisti della vicenda che il pubblico: il nuovo appuntamento è con un dramma camuffato da thriller diretto da un acclamato cineasta contemporaneo. Le rivelazioni sono dietro l’angolo, per cui, occhio allo spoiler! Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) e uno dei suoi collaboratori, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), in azione Vincitore di 4 Oscar e di un numero notevole di premi ricevuti in occasione delle manifestazioni cinematografiche a cui ha partecipato in tutto il mondo, il film INCEPTION (2010) ha per protagonista Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, SHUTTER ISLAND), conoscitore di una tecnica capace di valicare le barriere delle Menti altrui, entrando in esse ed agendo al loro interno mentre il soggetto ospite giace assopito nella realtà. Il totem usato dall’Architetto Ariadne (Ellen Page) L’anziano Mr.