7.31.2014

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger
82. Thunderball
83. You Only Live Twice
84. The Bride of Frankenstein
85. Son of Frankenstein
86. The Mummy
87. The Ghost of Frankenstein
88. House of Frankenstein

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The Illumination of Invisible Men

Roger Deakins' Favorite Scenes : No Country for Old Men

Creative Spark: Betsy Heimann

Paul Schrader on Noir & Pulp

Discovering Hamlet

Jonathan Ross on Hamlet

7.30.2014

Stephen Fry on Twelfth Night

Tom Hiddleston Interview on Shakespeare in the Movies

Gielgud on Hamlet and Richardson on Gielgud

John Gielgud Performing & Reading Shakespeare

John Gielgud - An Actor's Life

7.29.2014

How to Make a Giant Creature



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Apollo 11 Saturn V Launch (HD) Camera E-8

Cinematography in the films of Richard Linklater

Christopher Plummer - Hamlet "To be or not to be" soliloquy

Peter O'Toole Talks "Macbeth"

7.28.2014

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger
82. Thunderball
83. You Only Live Twice
84. The Bride of Frankenstein
85. Son of Frankenstein
86. The Mummy
87. The Ghost of Frankenstein

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Microfiction: Up

The two of them walk in the dark. No romance here. Only dark, and stars, and the moon, and science. In the distance, the space port has a rocket on the launch pad. They continue to walk over a hill and into a depression away from their own light pollution so they can look at the sky.

"What do you see when you look up?" she says.

"Possibility. The future. You?"

"Where we belong."

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Richard Burton - Henry V St. Crispin's Day Speech

Richard Burton's Hamlet

World War One Poetry

Readings of The Raven

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

7.27.2014

Writing Partner


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The Absence of Terrence Malick

In Search of Terrence Malick

Days of Heaven

Way Too Indie Video Essay: The Screen Poetry of Terrence Malick

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger
82. Thunderball
83. You Only Live Twice
84. The Bride of Frankenstein
85. Son of Frankenstein
86. The Mummy

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Pressure And The Press: All The President's Men

7.26.2014

The Story of a Story From Brikk


The Story of a Story is an attempt to translate the love and effort we put into every film we make.The idea came while we were talking about how hard it can be for outsiders to understand the workflow behind what we do.It can all seem a bit too magical and otherworldly (because in a way it is), but it’s also a damn serious process. We wanted to explain how each step leads to another in the twist of a story and have fun with loads of different animation techniques.An ode to our own job, ‘cause that’s how much we love it!

William Wyler

The Making of Paprika

Satoshi Kon - Editing Space & Time

7.23.2014

FEAR ON FILM: Landis, Carpenter, Cronenberg

7.22.2014

Michael Goi, ASC

Producers Guild of America - Hot Producing Tips

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James Gunn

A Passion For Filmmaking - Complete Film Courage Interview with Brian Jun

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Hollywood: A Celebration Of The American Silent Film

7.21.2014

Making Our Own Stories: The Evolution of Games, Storytelling, and Entertainment

Apollo 11 - 45th Anniversary

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Stephen J. Cannell on his advice to aspiring writers

The Creation of The Rockford Files

James Garner

7.20.2014

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger
82. Thunderball
83. You Only Live Twice
84. The Bride of Frankenstein

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48 Hour Film Fest Nola: American Hurt

This is what I spent my day doing yesterday. Nine pages in 13.5 hours. Pretty proud of our krewe:


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A Conversation with Alejandro Jodorowsky - SXSW 2014

BAFTA GURU - In Focus: Editing

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The Man with the Movie Camera



Wikipedia entry.

From Taste of Cinema:

This is the grandfather of all movies about movies, Dziga Vertov’s Chelovek s kino-apparatom (Man with a Movie Camera). As opposed to all other movies on this list, Man with a Movie Camera is not a documentary about the making of a film. 
Whilst movies were already big business in 1929, documentaries were still rare and “making of” documentaries were non-existent. This movie is a film about film. Vertov believed that narrative film could not do justice to real life and consequently came up with this silent experimental film about life in a modern Russian city from dusk till dawn. 
Even though the subject here was modern urban life, The Man with a Movie Camera distinguishes itself by constantly drawing attention to the film making process itself by blatantly using every optical trick in the book (and some that weren’t in the book yet) like slow and fast motion, split screens, double exposures, animations and even the breaking of the fourth wall by including the film maker and his camera in the footage to add to the frantic representation of modern city life. 
In 2012 Man with a Movie Camera was voted 8th best Movie Ever by the British Film Institute’s Sight & Sound magazine.

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The Shining

Charlton Heston Reads The Old Man And The Sea

7.19.2014

David Mamet - The Playwright Directs

GIFF 2014 Master Class: Ralph Fiennes

James Shapiro on Shakespeare

Tom Hollander reads Richard III

Simon Callow as Shakespeare's Prospero

7.18.2014

Alejandro Jodorowsky: Film, comics and conversation

David Fincher's Zodiac

David Gordon Green: How to make it as an independent filmmaker in America


DON'T BECOME A STUDIO SLAVE 
"The beauty of independence is that you can make your own model, carve your own path and find your own distribution. Independence just becomes whatever you want it to be. In my head the corporations have basically taken over and, in many ways, the internet dissolved a lot of these distribution companies so the theatrical experience for distribution is certainly not as profitable. Those models weren’t making enough to justify their existence within the umbrella of the corporation, which made them very un-independent anyway." 
BANKROLL YOUR OWN PROJECTS 
"The smartest thing was putting my own money down. I worked really hard and had a lot of jobs and then spent it all on my first movie. For me, that’s the thing. There are a lot of people who are just waiting for grandma to die to give them an inheritance, or for some rich friend to give them money to bankroll their first film. But for me the big risk that I first took was that I worked for like a year and a half to make as much money as possible then I’m going to spend it all to make a movie. So I wasn’t asking anybody for anything. I could just be in charge of every dime and be real smart about where I’m spending money, and very aware of it, so that’s something that I’ve always recommended to people whenever they ask, 'How do you find money to make a movie?' I say you go and you get a job and you make a movie." 
GIVE IT SOME FLARE 
"When Easy Rider came out, it showed you that lens flares were not such a bad thing, and zoom lenses are okay in narrative film. You don’t have to project for the microphone, you don’t have to have everything perfectly composed and staged, and something about it struck a chord with culture: everything’s stripped down. You went from very composed Hollywood design of cinema, and there were a few independents working before that – like On The Bowery did exist – but Easy Rider is what kicked it. 
There’s a real movement and a great audience that appreciates something to experience together that doesn’t have to be so polished and pronounced excites me. I don’t know what form that's going to be, and I don’t know that it’s going to be a traditional theatrical experience, but something culturally is going to happen that does show everybody that old waves of polish aren’t necessarily all that we need." 
MAKE YOUR OWN MICRO BUDGET 
"You can also pull something off for $30,000. There’s a great new wave of great people making micro budget movies, films that I admire, and it’s super great that movies that can be made for that price have that freedom and find an audience. It’s hard to make a movie between three and 30 million dollars. 
SADDLE UP FOR THE SMALL SCREEN 
"The world of television has really revolutionised, and in many ways sucked out the theatre audience because you can go watch a spectacular hour of True Detective and not have to pay $13 to go to a movie, waste 45 minutes watching commercials, and pay $20 for popcorn. It’s just economic sense that if something is really rewarding and it doesn’t cost any money and it’s better than what's out there then there’s a great alternative. 
There are a lot of future filmmakers that are turning to that medium because it’s where more people are letting us loose. On Eastbound & Down – that HBO show I've directed – no one's ever given me a note on casting or editing ever, so it’s a beautiful place to work. Whereas now if you're working in a studio realm making a big Marvel comic book movie, I’m sure there’s a handful of people who are working very closely with you to make these decisions in a way that television used to be, and I’m sure still is on network sitcoms, but I don’t know that world – I’d like to, that’d be fun." 
IMMERSE YOURSELF 
"With 3D and Oculus Rift – it all just goes to some other form of doing things. So many guys I know don’t go to movies at all – they play video games. They’re going to be stoked about that, that’s a new way to go entertain yourself. When I was a kid playing Super Mario Bros., it was fun for about 45 minutes before I wanted to go to a movie, you know?"

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Leonard Nimoy Reading From Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man

Leonard Nimoy Reads From Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles

7.17.2014

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger
82. Thunderball

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Dame Helen Mirren: 'I would love to play Juliet... too late'

Sir Jonathan Miller on Directing King Lear

William Friedkin Masterclass

10 Tips for Successfully Producing a Micro-Budget Feature

From Indiewire:

1. Make sure the script is written as a micro-budget feature.

That the script must be excellent is a given. You can't make a good movie from a mediocre script. But if you're intending to shoot a micro-budget movie, you also need a script that works with --  rather than fights --  your budgetary constraints. Of course that means avoid car chases, tons of VFX and period pieces. Moreover, think about where your film fits in the marketplace. Don't make a $200K version of a studio romantic comedy – you won't have the star power or marketing budget to compete with "Valentine's Day." "Mutual Friends," for example, is an ensemble romantic comedy, but the tone fits squarely in the indie genre – it's honest, awkwardly real and specific where four-quadrant movies must be broad.
2. Have a "home base" location during production.
When you're filming, much time is lost to loading in and wrapping out. When you need to shoot 5, 6, 7,  or even 8 (yikes!) pages a day, you will rue the time your crew spends lugging c-stands up a four story walk-up. Write one primary location into the script. Somewhere you can shoot (for free) for perhaps half of your shoot days. The shoot days spent here will be walk-aways. You can pre-light. If you're lucky, you can even use this spot during prep as your production office/rehearsal space/wardrobe and art staging.
3. Open it up.
I'm going to contradict what I just said, but even with a home base, you can't have the whole movie take place at just one location or it will look micro-budget and feel visually stagnant. I definitely advocate for a home base location, but you’ve also got to get out and about as much as possible. On "The Big Ask," we were lucky because, filming in the desert, the backyard of our home base was an endless expanse of open terrain, including ravines and mountains. And being in a rural area, we were able to gain access to tremendous locations including bars, hotels and, of course, Joshua Tree National Park (which offers the strangest moonscape any filmmaker could hope for). On "Mutual Friends," we shot in NYC. While securing interior locations was tricky, for exteriors, the city was our oyster. We did walk and talks through Riverside Park, shot scenes (with minimal dialogue) in the hustle and bustle of Chinatown on Canal St. (Note: I completely broke this rule on "Dead Within," but the entire premise of the movie relies on one location: apocalypse outside, our characters, trapped inside).
4. Shoot while locations are open.
It costs money to compensate a diner for shutting down during the breakfast shift so you can get your shot. Shoot while they're open and they may not charge you a thing. Of course, you don't have the same control as you do when you 'own' a location, and of course, this tip doesn't work for every scene, but I've been shocked by how many times I've gotten away with this. On "Mutual Friends," in particular, we shot at a bakery, yoga studio, cafe, Asian goods emporium, and other locations, all while the businesses were operating normally. We got permission from the owners ahead of time to avoid problems, found a quiet spot on the day-of, and played out the scene with the actors lav'ed (with a mic on their person).
5. Cast matters. A lot.
There are certainly examples of tiny indie movies with no-name talent that came out of nowhere and catapulted to great success. Those movies are the exception. If you premiere at Cannes, you don't necessarily need name actors to obtain distribution. But "premiere at Cannes" is not a great distribution strategy.
In the process of selling my four films, every single sales agent or distributor I spoke to asked one question first: "who's in it?" When your marketing budget is close to $0, you need to rely on publicity, which is free (cost of the publicist aside). What generates publicity? Recognizable actors. Aim high. Get a good casting director. As with a $50 million budget, your cast is your insurance policy for your investors' money.
6. There's no excuse for bad production values.
In today's world of $3,000 pro-sumer cameras which produce images that look shockingly good, there's no excuse for a movie that looks like crap. People always come out of my work-in-progress screenings bowled over by how good/big/real the movie looks. If you're going to go through the tremendous effort of making a feature, it had better look and feel like a "real" movie. That's the minimum barrier to entry to be taken seriously professionally, and without that your movie simply will not be commercially viable. You don't have to shoot on an Alexa (not once has a sales agent/distributor asked me what camera we used) but the finished product does need to look professional.
7. Make sure your cast and crew have worked at your budget level before.
When I first met fabulous DP Aaron Kovalchik, who shot "The Big Ask," we talked about the challenges of shooting the night exteriors in the middle of the desert. Aaron said, "Maybe we could rig a china ball onto a fishing pole." I fell in love. You need your team to consist of professionals who bring creativity, flexibility, and problem-solving skills. It may seem exciting to get a DP with high budget credits, but if they've never had to work without cushy toys or an IATSE crew, they (and you) will be in for a world of hurt. The same is true across all departments.
Bonus Tip: It's easier to get your movie to look good than sound good but bad sound is the tell-tale of low budget films. Your resources are precious, but spend some of them on getting good sound – in production and post.
8. Figure out how your core filmmaking team will pay their bills while you make the movie.
Micro-budget filmmaking is not financially sustainable, but it does take quite a lot of time - often several years to take a feature from development through release You have to know going into the process how you're going to pay your rent, and still have time to edit/do the festival circuit/market your film. "The Big Ask" co-director Rebecca Fishman, for example, plays Christine McVie in a Fleetwood Mac cover band (yes, awesome). Talk with members of your team so you can try to schedule your busy 'money-work' periods for different times, and pass the baton of the film back and forth.
9. Know what you can figure out on your own, and when you need to pay for an expert.  
Micro-budgets are DIY by default – you can't always (or even often) pay for others to do things so you Do It Yourself. I’m not a lawyer, but I do a lot of the legal work on my movies myself. I've developed a good folder of templates I can adapt to almost any situation. That said, when it came time to sell "The Big Ask," Tribeca Film had an in-house business affairs team as well as outside counsel. I needed to hire a lawyer.
10. Budget through release.
I cannot stress how important this is. It's great to have a festival copy, but if you don't have money to apply to festivals, it's not going to do you much good. Likewise, if you get into a big festival, but don't have money to transport you and your cast there and maybe even hire a publicist, you'll be missing a major opportunity to attract publicity and thus buyers. And finally, even if you've got your distributor and they do a great job placing your film with iTunes and all the cable VOD providers, perhaps a few theaters (win!), but having a little kitty reserved for marketing can go a long way. Often the distributor doesn't have the resources to do the grassroots marketing the filmmaking team can. With a little cash, you can send your director and lead actor on a book tour-type series of promotional screenings, or hire a social media guru to help manage your Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr feeds, or throw a couple hundred bucks into Facebook ads, all of which can translate into higher visibility and grosses for your film.
Bonus tip: Work with people you like. You're not making money producing micro-budgets, so you’d better be having a great time.

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15 Tips On Making Your First Micro-Budget Feature

From Indiewire:

1. Get off your ass and make a movie.
Frustration and impatience are essential traits if you want to make a feature film with no money. Combine this frustration with an important realization: Unless your last name is "Coppola," your short film received major attention at Sundance, or you have many rich uncles you're not going to be make a feature film for more than $100,000. You're going to have to work for it. And even after that work, it's unrealistic for you to make something with a significant budget. 
2. Stop worrying about writing something marketable.
Write something you deeply care about: Our first script was horror because marketability was essential to our business plan. Looking back, even if we had a Clooney-sized attachment, we still wouldn't have raised a dime. No one knew us and we had no industry presence. And unless that's different with you, you need to recalibrate your expectations. Make your nano-budget film personal. It should become the movie you're willing to die for. For me, committing to making something incredibly private was what gave me the energy to endure the hardship to come. 
3. Work with your close friends, especially the brutally honest ones.
I'm not exaggerating when I say that making your first feature will be the most stressful thing you've attempted. And the less money you have, the more difficult it will be. Work with people who will challenge you, who aren't afraid to be candid, and who will push you to do better. Work with people you respect, not those who will simply be nice. In addition, work with people you deeply trust. What does trust look like in an artistic collaboration? It means that the commitment to the betterment of the work comes first. It also means that neither of you are concerned with subverting or undermining the other. The thing that binds you together is a shared trust in doing whatever it takes to make the best film possible. These collaborations are rare. Once you find one, hold onto it with all your strength.

4.
Crowdfund for the first and last time of your life.
We raised the bulk of our budget from Kickstarter. To do this, we (the producers and I) repurposed our Twitter and Facebook accounts into a constant stream of updates, reminders, and personal pleas. Did I lose Facebook "friends" in the process? Yes. Did I lose Twitter followers? Yes. Do I care? No, because I financed my feature film. Social media provides a unique and simple opportunity for you to connect with all the people from your past and present. If you have a reputation for being a kind and considerate person you might be surprised by how many of your friends come to your aid. In addition, the entire crew got involved. So, instead of three or four dudes pushing it, we had fifteen or twenty. But just remember, crowdfunding is best if it's one and done. Once you ask your friends for a favor, it's much more difficult to get them to do it again. 
5. Budget for more than post-production. Budget for film festivals, travel, and theatrical runs.
Even though we raised all the money necessary to complete production, we failed to fully consider the costs of post-production. Do everything in your power to pay for a picture editor and a sound editor/mixer. Don't do it yourself. The picture will suffer. And even if you can't pay much, some goes a long way. It ensures their participation and gives you a bit of needed latitude in the contract formation process. 
Also, make sure to budget for at least thirty festivals. While attending the Maine Media Workshops, I met Maureen Ryan, the producer of Man on a Wire and a professor at Columbia University. One thing she immediately advised was to think in festival tiers: upper (international), middle (national), and regional (lower). You want to make sure you have the money to apply to all three. If you put all of your money into the upper tier festivals, you risk getting into nothing. Middle and lower tier festivals can you help you get reviews, befriend programmers who will push your work via their social media platforms, meet the press, and get tips from other filmmakers. 
Budget for travel and housing. Some festivals take care of this, but you never want to assume that. Otherwise, you will end up unable to attend your own screening, which renders the festival experience meaningless. You can't expect to get reviews and garner buzz if you're sitting at home. In addition, if you're crazy-lucky enough to get your film in theaters, you need to attend as many screenings as possible. This summer we're playing in Chicago, LA, NYC, and Seattle, but because we didn't raise enough money, not all of us are able to attend. 
6. Teach at a Film School.
Instead of moving to LA after I graduated, I decided to do something different: teach. Four years later, it's clear that this was easily the best decision I could've made. Instead of moving my family to a high-priced city where we would struggle from paycheck to paycheck, I chose financial stability and security. Yes, many of my friends moved to LA. And no, none of them have made a feature film since graduating. Is this because they lack talent, resourcefulness, or strategic thinking? Absolutely not! Instead, their headspace is packed with the daily demand of financially surviving LA. 
Teaching frees me up mentally to focus on bettering my craft. Moreover, the very act of teaching sharpens my filmmaking skills. The demand on the instructor to translate one's ideas into digestible information for 18-21 year olds is high. In addition, you have to remain fresh, relevant, and in-the-moment, all of which are good traits to acquire as a director. As a husband and father, it also means I don't have to choose between my family and my career. Plus, I get my summers off, which is when I've shot my last two feature films and will be shooting my third in 2015. 
Students also need internships and, if you're a decent teacher, they will likely want to help you make your movie. To be honest, I really enjoy working with student interns. Yes, they're young and inexperienced, but they're also humble, hard working, and quick to learn. They also want to prove themselves. One last thing: schools want to see you succeed since it represents them university positively, which likely means you will be able to use their gear. 
7. Create "Buy In."
When making your first feature film, you have a lot at stake – and so does everyone else. Your producers, actors, and crew have taken time out of their summer to work for you for free. Why would they do such a thing if they didn't hope to gain something from it? What is it they are seeking out of this experience? If you fail to ask these questions, you've neglected your responsibility to them as the key creative. It's your job to not only treat your cast and crew well, but to make the best movie possible. And if you are willing to sacrifice life and limb to make the best movie possible, you will honor the time and effort they've freely given. Plus, a servant leader will engender fierce loyalty. If you operate from this perspective, you will find that people will buy in and join you in this process. We all want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to transcend the temporary and be part of something collective, something larger. And you can provide this for your cast and crew if you lead with vision and self-sacrifice. 
8. Embrace your Limitations.
In the documentary, "Under The Great Northern Lights," Jack White of The White Stripes discusses his philosophy of creativity. His thesis is that creativity can only exist when limitations abound. While on stage, he implements this methodology by using crappy guitars and placing instruments on opposite sides of the stage. All of this is done because it forces him to work hard for the outcome. For the micro-budget filmmaker, you don't have to manufacture limitations. They abound. But what White reminds us is these limitations must be viewed as opportunities to test your creativity and respond to the problem. These limitations will not only be financial, but also creative (such as the need to shoot almost exclusively at one location to stay under budget.)
9. 17-18 days makes sense for production. 
Despite the fact that you don't have much money, it doesn't mean you should try to cram your shoot into 8-12 days. If this is your passion project, you don't want to screw it up. If this is the only film you get to make, you want to make sure you have sufficient time to not just get it made, but to make it well. For me, 17 days was a perfect amount given the few amounts of location moves we had to make. For my second feature (a low-budget feature) we had four times the amount of location moves than in "As It Is in Heaven," and we also attempted to shoot it in the 17-18 day range. But due to the crazy amount of location moves, I had to make unnecessary and dramatic cuts to my shot list. But if you've written a script that takes place in primarily in one location, 17-18 days is the sweet spot. As long as your script is less than 100 pages (which it most certainly should be), this will allow you to retain a 4-6 page per day shooting range. The pace forces you to be creative without sucking the soul from your film and demanding compromise from the very first shot. Remember, if your nano-budget feature is going to get in front of an audience, it has to look like a 10 million dollar film. And that takes time for camera, blocking, acting, and lighting. One other piece of advice, have your 1st AD build your shooting schedule around your shot list. This is essential to smart planning. Some scenes simply require more shots than others and building a schedule around your shot list will allow you to be sensitive to this fact. 
10. Get to set early and wake up even earlier.
Something we realized after day three is that making a feature requires a radically different methodology than making a short. Practically speaking, it required two additional hours of preparation a day. When making a short, you have a clear memory of your shot list and of how each scene should work. For features, never trust your memory. To start each day, I would get up an hour earlier than normal and spend time carefully combing through each scene, my script analysis, and my shot list. I would also try to cut shots, if at all possible. Then, the 1st AD, myself, and the DP would arrive an hour before call time and go through each set up so we all understood it beforehand. This was the only thing that enabled us to make our days. Without this prep, we would have gotten a lot less shots, which would impact the storytelling, the morale of the leaders, and the shooting schedule. 
11. Write good contracts or pay someone to do so.
Even though you're working with people you trust, it's essential to make sure all creative leads and producers have a precise idea of what their responsibilities are before production begins. Nano-budget filmmaking generates a lot of stress, which test all friendships. So what happens if your best friend, who swore to work with you until the end, comes to an impasse with you? Are they contractually bound to complete the film? Are there any consequences if they don't? It may sound cynical, but you have to fear the worst. You have to legally bind yourself and your key crew members to their agreements. If they hesitate at signing, it should be a red flag. And if you can't find people willing to sign, then you're not ready to make your film.
12. Make sure you have a post-production supervisor.
If you are serving as the writer/director/producer of your film, it's essential to have someone else serve as the post-production supervisor. You cannot be the only person ensuring the completion of your project or holding people to their deadlines. It's a conflict of interest and you will allow the deadlines to slip to give yourself more time to tweak. And without deadlines you will never get your movie made. 
13. Embrace the fact that you won't get into Sundance.  
Repeat this three times in the morning and three times before you sleep. Remember, you're a micro-budget movie and Sundance doesn't accept nano-budget movies. They accept movies with A-listers, large budgets and industry connections. But if you're going to succeed with your film, you have to think beyond Park City. First, follow the tier system I outlined. Second, send free online screeners to all the press in the cities your festival is located in. Then, email anyone you've ever met who claimed to be a part of the industry. Tell them your story and see if they would like to watch your film. If they ask for an online screener, give it to them. It was this through this that we were able to re-establish old connections and set ourselves up for a limited theatrical run this summer. In other words, you don't have to get into Sundance to play in theaters. You just have to make a good movie and be incredibly resilient and strategic. 
14. Get as many reviews as possible.
For the micro-budget filmmaker, critics are your best friends. They have the power to create positive buzz and help you garner attention from distributors. If you can introduce yourself to them while visiting a festival, and get on a name-to-name basis, maybe they will watch your move. After that, it's up to your film to do the rest of the talking. Because we blasted every critic we knew, we were able to land a review in the Hollywood Reporter. Thankfully, they liked it, and this review got us into conversations with other distributors, theaters, and festivals. 
15. Rinse and repeat.
The beauty of micro-budget filmmaking is that you can easily parlay the success of your first project into another nano-budget feature. It's much much easier to raise money for project two when you've got project two in the can. Now, you have more than vision and passion, you have product. As they say, the best time to finance your next movie is while you're making your current one.

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7.16.2014

The Beginning Of On The Nature Of Things by Lucretius

David Bevington - Murder Most Foul: "Hamlet" in Recent Film Productions



More David Bevington on Hamlet:



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Stephen Greenblatt: The Poem That Dragged Us Out of the Dark Ages

Stephen Greenblatt - Shakespeare's Freedom

The Raid 2: Rama vs Assassin (Video Storyboard)

Creative Spark: Mike White

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love
81. Goldfinger

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7.15.2014

Creative Spark: Aline Brosh McKenna

Harold Bloom on Shakespeare

Elmore Leonard on The Writer

Ian McKellen: Understanding King Lear, the Character

South Bank Show - Royal Shakespeare Society - 1979



Also check out this series:

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7.14.2014

Patrick Stewart on Hamlet & Shakespeare

Helen Mirren Reads Cleopatra

Harriet Walter's Lady Macbeth

David Harewood's Iago

Ralph Fiennes Reads Shakespeare's Sonnet 129




The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust,
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight,
Past reason hunted, and no sooner had
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait
On purpose laid to make the taker mad;
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
   All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
   To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.

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7.13.2014

What Actors Make of Shakespeare

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Henry IV Stage Fighting - Royal Shakespeare Company

Timothy Olyphant reads from Elmore Leonard's Swag

DP/30 Industry Legends: Editor Michael Kahn

Constructive Editing in Robert Bresson's Pickpocket

7.12.2014

Movies in 2014

1. The Hot Rock
2. The Valley Of Gwangi
3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
4. To Have And Have Not
5. The Third Man
6. Below
7. It Happened One Night
8. State And Main
9. Furious 6
10. Vengeance
11. Running Scared (1986)
12. G.I. Joe: Retaliation
13. The Thing From Another World
14. Matilda
15. The Shaolin Temple
16. The Avengers
17. The Raid
18. In The Heat Of The Night
19. Dillinger
20. The Mission (Johnnie To Film)
21. Odds Against Tomorrow
22. Outrage
23. My Name Is Nobody
24. The Wolverine
25. Fulltime Killer
26. Muppets From Space
27. The Man With The Iron Fists
28. Mad Detective
29. Batman Returns
30. Riddick
31. The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
32. Captain Phillips
33. The Lego Movie
34. Now You See Me
35. Bull Durham
36. Nebraska
37. Big Trouble In Little China
38. Death Rides A Horse
39. Zero Effect
40. The Mercenary
41. A Fistful Of Dollars
42. World War Z
43. Batman
44. Monte Walsh (1970)
45. Ride The High Country
46. The 13th Warrior
47. Nothing Left To Fear
48. Raiders of the Lost Ark
49. Much Ado About Nothing (2012)
50. The Ballad of Cable Hogue
51. Mud
52. Stagecoach
53. Kill Bill Vol. 2
54. Iron Man Three
55. Dallas Buyers Club
56. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
57. Looking for Richard
58. Fort Apache
59. Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2
60. 12 Years A Slave
61. Dead Man
62. Macbeth (Welles)
63. Dragonslayer
64. Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
65. Pacific Rim
66. American Hustle
67. About Time
68. The Searchers
69. Labor Day
70. Solomon Kane
71. How To Train Your Dragon 2
72. R.I.P.D.
73. Pain And Gain
74. The Wolf Man
75. Frankenstein (1931)
76. All Monsters Attack aka Godzilla's Revenge
77. Joint Security Area
78. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
79. Terror of MechaGodzilla
80. From Russia With Love

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Film Editing

This video has been making the rounds, and was the inspiration for collecting various editing videos together:



No Film School posted on this video and said:

many of these moments exemplify the power and allure behind the art of cinema editing, while making us aware of some of the advanced aesthetic techniques that comprise editing grammar. They’re prime examples of techniques that all of us, or at least those of us with an interest in the psychological implications of editing, should learn and internalize for use in our own films.
Edwin Nieves at A Bittersweet Life also posted on this video and said:

The power of a film rests in its approach to storytelling. The way in which a film communicates its story to the audience and how it engages that audience with its arrangement of images and sounds is of the utmost importance to the filmmaker. Thus, editing or “the invisible art” becomes the foundation of a film’s narration. Being unique to the art of cinema, all the layers of the film meet in the edit to hopefully create a cinematic work that captures audiences.
A Bittersweet Life added some videos to go with it:

THE EDITOR from Inside The Edit on Vimeo.

The Cutting Edge - The Magic of the Cine from Hirton Fernandes on Vimeo.

Cinephilia & Beyond posted on this video and added some videos as well:





Cinephilia & Beyond also just had a post on Orson Welles on Editing:



For me, the strip of celluloid is put together like a musical score, and this execution is determined by the editing; just like a conductor interprets a piece of music in rubato, another will play it in a very dry and academic manner… The images themselves are not sufficient: they are very important, but are only images. The essential is the length of each image, what follows each image: it is the very eloquence of the cinema that is constructed in the editing room.




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Peter Fonda on film, life and Dennis Hopper

Theremin Studio Sessions The Day The Earth Stood Still

I love this movie, and this is one of the great, creepy sci fi scores:



Found at The Playlist.

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7.11.2014

Conrad W Hall - Cinematographer

The Making of Magnolia

Rod Serling