One guy's take on the web, programming, cigars, politics, Philadelphia, and whatever else comes to mind.
In my rush to get the movie posted, I forgot to thank the stars of the film. Scott, Janice, Ryan and Joe had to put up with me as a demanding director so they deserve more than thanks, but that's all I got for 'em.
If you haven't seen it, check it out.
I finished the movie I've been working on. It's not my best flick, but I don't think anyone will cry over it. I should have the script, and video up after in a week or so. In a new twist, I'll be adding the storyboards too.
I slept most of the day away fighting off a migraine. So I'm up rendering video for this year's Christmas movie. I just finished the video cut and now I have to go back and start editing the sound.
Rendering takes awhile cause my workstation is two years old, and I applied a lot of video tweaks to the movie:
Now comes the awful period that will last until a month after I show this thing at the Christmas party. What I thought was funny has now, after repeated viewing, ceased to entertain me. Doubt creeps in. Will other people find it funny? Will people be offended? Worst, will other people think it's lame?
Okay, it's probably done. Onward to tedious sound design!
Work has an annual Christmas party where we are encouraged to submit videos with a Christmas theme. My first year out, I figured I'd go for a little weird and disturbing, and hence put forth "It's a Wonderful Mensch" where I suggested that the CIO of my company locked up workers in a cage if they gave him a bad Christmas present. I was solidly trounced however in weirdness (and humor) by "You Better Watch Out."
"You Better Watch Out" has finally been put out on the web, and I'll join Dan and Becky in trying to spread the meme. Check it out, it's really worth it.
And while you're at Google Video, feel free to search for Citizen Wumpus...
I forgot about this, Proposition 27, will also be on WHYY this Sunday morning at 5:45 AM.
I can't find it on TiVo. So you all have to stay up and watch it.
Speaking of upcoming TV sightings, Citizen Wumpus' magnum opus, "Eugene Elliot" will be on WHYY this Saturday at 4:20 AM.
Stay up and watch it... or just TiVo it.
Whyy will be presenting Rolodex Girl on Comcast onDemand from November to January. Make sure to watch it, it's free!. I'm not sure what effect it has on Citizen Wumpus if you do so. But I cannot prove you will not die if you don't watch it. I'm not saying you will. But you can't be too careful.
So watch it.
I'm coming up on the end of my first full week posting at FilmFodder.com. I'm happy to say that getting the hang of it. I'm writing faster, and I'm going to hit the lower threshold of my weekly target (10-15 posts a week.) Here are the posts I'm happiest with:
Addtionally this guy lifted one of my articles, which is kinda cool cause he kept my credit in it.
As of today, I'm a professional blogger (sort of.)
I'm writng for filmfodder.com, and getting paid for it.
Here's my first article: Ferrell Starts Production on NASCAR Film.
Google Video is moving to the next stage of operation, and Citizen Wumpus videos are available for viewing. Very cool. Random people are more likey to be mildly bored by our entertainment.
Google Video Search: CitizenWumpus
I was watching a trailer for the Fantastic Four, and heard the Human Torch's signature call "Flame On!" It begs the question to me, how many times did the director have retake that voice over to get "Flame on!" to not sound like a Stonewall battle cry?
In a stunning turn of events, I was able to get Citizen Wumpus' latest movie, Proposition 27, online in record time. Usually it takes me forever cause I have to fiddle with it forever. Not so this time. I only did the following:
Enjoy: Proposition 27 - Video.
I finally posted Eugene Elliot up on the main Citizen Wumpus Site. It's our first movie, and people still seem to love it. This is part of a bigger push to get all of our content online. Until then, check out Eugene Elliot.
We completed work on another 48 Hour Film project this weekend. Propostion 27 is a Sci-Fi flick with all of Citizen Wumpus' dark humor.
See the screening, 7:15pm Tuesday April 11th, at International House in West Philadelphia
Wonder Woman is coming to the big screen with Joss Whedon in the director's chair. Now, who is going to play Wonder Woman. My vote is for Lauren Graham but looking at her IMDB bio, she might be too old for the role. Not that it's fair, but Hollywood likes their women young. But maybe someone will make the same mistake I did, and assume she couldn't possible be past her mid 30's.
Imagine that combo, Joss Whedon, who got most of his popular cach� from Buffy, a strong female role model, paired up with Lauren Graham, who plays such a strong female character on Gilmore Girls. It would be magical.
So Eugene Elliot has seen a lot of play recently. Coming off it's inclusion in Craig's Variety Show, it's being screened on the big screen again.
If you're free this Wednesday night, come down and check it out:
February 23, 2005
Clearview Anthony Wayne Cinema
109 West Lancaster Ave (Route 30)
Wayne, PA
FREE Admission - 8pm Screenings
Thanks to Fairview Films for hosting the event.
I'm watching a documentary named The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing. It's like a chapter on editing from a film textbook except in fun movie form. If you can watch it, do so. It's on Starz this month.
Thanks to Janice for finding it on TiVo for me.
UPDATE:
This movie contains commentary from Paul Verhoeven and Mark Goldblatt the director and editor of Starship Troopers talking about their opus. If there was ever any doubt, they did take it seriously. Wow.
An Idea
Okay, you've resolved to endure some shame and go down the path. Now you need to come up with something for your movie to be about. Why? Because invariably some one will ask you "What's your movie about?" It will also be helpful in selling it to your actors, making people want to see it, and oh yeah it helps in coming up with the story. Without an idea, you have no story, without a story, you have no script, without a script you will have a painful period of time recorded on film, and people will ask you for a temporal refund after they watch it.
So what's an idea? What makes it different from a story? An idea can usually be expressed in one sentence. It usually introduces the world in which your movie will take place, and the hook. It usually doesn't include details about the characters. A story, on the other hand usually needs more than one sentence to explain, contains cause and effect and usually has a linear structure. "This happens, so the hero does that, so the villian does this, and the hero has to choose..." More about story later.
What does an idea look like?
Of course, I have to ask "Can you guess which idea is what story? As we go down the list, we see the ideas get more specific and more identifiable. Is specific better? I say it depends on your style.
If you have trouble getting started with the whole creative process than absolutely start specific, and this will give you strong momentum. But don't be afraid to deviate if you get a good idea along the way.
If you don't like being creatively limited, then go with the more general ideas. However, don't let yourself meander and not get anything done.
As a cautionary note, I would stay away from mentioning other titles unless the other story is critical to explaining yours. A parody of another story needs to mention it. Otherwise, don't do it .
Bad:
Seven meets Blind Fury in a tale about a blind samaurai master who kills people according to the seven deadly sins.
Ok:
A modern adaptation of A Christmas Carol, set in an office, dealing with a holiday party.
Now, you have an idea, you can start brainstorming about what actually happens in your work, and that's the story.
Here's what movies I thought these ideas referred to.
A Willingness to be Embarrassed
In my humble opinion this is the most important thing one needs to face in order to do any sort of creative endeavor. Every step on the way you have to put yourself out there. You have to show your actors the script. You have to direct a whole bunch of people in public, and security guards will come by. Ultimately you will have to show people your movie. In any of these cases you will have to overcome your embarrassment to get your job done.
I think a lot of closet-artists hide their work out of fear of criticism. They might use excuses like, "My art is for me, I don't do it so other people" or "People don't get me" or "The medium of human skin carving is frowned upon in your society." Nonsense, they don't value criticism. They don't like criticism because they are embarrassed by either positive or negative attention of their work. One can not be objective about their own work. You can only make your work better if you open yourself to the opinions of others. Maybe you'll learn that your script doesn't make any sense, or that you cut to fast and people missed something, or that a particular scene actually had a strong impact on your viewers. In any of these cases you need to show it off, and in order to do that, you need to shrug off your embarrassment to improve your artistic work.
Embarrassment stands in the way of getting the work done, and in the way of improving your work. It has no place in making a film.
I wrote out a whole article and then I accidently deleted it. So this will be a series, instead of a single post as I remember what I wrote.
I make amateur films, and the most frequent comment I hear on them is "I could never do that." When I did improv comedy I heard the same thing. I'm going to try and dispell this myth, by sharing exactly what you need to make a movie.
Disclaimer: I make amateur short films. I have gotten my movies onto local TV, and placed as a finalist for the 48 Hour Film contest for Philadelphia. However, I haven't gotten paid for them, nor have I received any awards. So this might be nothing more than advice for making mediocre shorts.
First, plan for the correct size film. I say, for your first outing, plan on a 5 to 10 minute finished project. Any more than that will become unmanagable quickly.
Now what do you need:
In the next couple posts, I'll try and explain the difference between a story and a script, I'll say some things that will piss off the two Mac users who read Aarrgghh!!, and I'll give tips on how to lose your shame.
I have a new section dedicated to my newest movie, A Christmas Party. My job has had a media competition for the past two years, and so I did this.
I'm pretty happy with it. I think that I hit a certain base level of competence with the whole thing. I couldn't look at any part of it and see glaring errors. The script's mediocre, not fantastic, but okay. So is the directing, as is the editing, as is the design. No part shines, but no part really is blatantly bad.
That sounds like I'm being down on it. I'm not. It's hard be happy with your own work. I'm honestly content, considering I spent 3 hours on the script, 4 hours planning, 3 hours filming, and 10 hours editing. 20 hours from just one person. Not too shabby.
But don't take my word for it. Watch A Christmas Party, and tell me that I'm wrong.
After weeks in development hell, I'm finally done working on Craig's Variety Hour, and they're putting it on the air.
To find out more, go to http://www.citizenwumpus.com/cvs/.
Watch it or set your TiVo's:
January 22, 2005 12:10 AM
Whyy Channel 12.
Magnetism, an animated short by Nye Warburton is now available online. I highly reccomend you see it. It's just a beautiful movie, and it lead to Nye getting a job working on Gil Kenan's Monster House.
Check out Magnetism at Atom Films.
I just posted an article on simulating night vision, over at the main citizenwumpus site.
I imagine that there is an audience of about ten people for this article, but enjoy.
So I was in a short film named Spell Check about a year back. It was on Whyy this Sunday, and my mom randomly saw it.
Go back in time and watch it, Sunday October 17th at 5:20.
So I was just watching a promo for The Alamo on DVD. The selling point: "From the studio that brought you Pearl Harbor". Dude, that's digging a little deep to find something to sell it.
Are we next going to hear: "The distributor that brought you The GodFather is proud to present- Bio-dome?
I hope so.
Really good list, of commonly seen things in bad short films.
http://filmmaker.com/DUMPS.html
I know Mikey will take umbridge at the "Dolly in Zoom Out" being included, but it it is a bit overused at the student level, because:
1. It's extremely noticible.
2. Compared to other moving shots, it's relatively easy to reproduce.
On Noise Reduction
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=25455
How to get the Saving Private Ryan look
http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=25010
On Depth of Field
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/optics/dofskinny.php
http://www.dvcreators.net/shooting/ (Under the "Tiplets" Heading)
On building a lost cost light kit
http://www.dvinfo.net/articles/lighting/spears1.php
I am by no means an expert cimatographer by any means. However I've had to do my fair share of camerawork. So I do have a couple books up my sleeve that have been very helpful in accelerating my knowledge about how to move a camera.
I found more sites by teams that did the 48 Hour film Project or the National Film Challenge. Specifically I found more examples of other projects online.
http://www.humanthinktank.com/tazlake/blog2/blog_comment.asp?blog_id=84
http://www.craigrichards.com/act/1068660820.html
http://www.trudang.com/index.html
http://www.freewebs.com/bystudio/
Feel free to post in comments, ones not listed here.
So as part of my goal to give people a reason to come back to this site I'm starting a series of articles dedicated to various topics related to the movies we make.
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Copyright 2003-2008 Terrence Ryan.
This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here are mine and not those of my employer.
