The Storyboard Artist - USING “TOON BOOM STORYBOARD PRO ” SOFTWARE

The Production Assistant - I Promise I Am Still Alive

The Genre Director - Five days of Fantastic Sex, Food, Wine, Cinema

 

Fantastic Fest is the most fantastic, satisfying festival I have ever been to in 35 years of sporadic attendance at such events.

Located at the Alamo Drafthouse, a stylish new breed of multiplex in Austin, Texas, FF does not cater to cinema snobs or pretentious culture vultures, rather it provides the grass roots genre/fantasy fan with an eclectic selection of movie treats from around the world, some of which are just as intellectually and artistically grounded as anything that Cannes or Venice has to offer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shuttles are provided for regular pick up and deposit at the major hotels, but if you travel by car, there are acres of parking in front of the theatre. (Nothing worse than cutting it fine for a movie, then finding nowhere to park.) Lobby screens play trailers from the upcoming schedule; and posters old, new, and rare, decorate your passage to the theatre of choice. Then there is comfortable stadium seating (with leg room for us tall people. Woohoo!) in front of a bench that runs the length  of each row. On slips of paper provided, you write your food and drink order from an extensive three course menu, then stick it upright in the groove at the rim  of the bench. It doesn’t take long before your server returns, first with the booze, then the food, always staying low so as not to obscure the screen. Last orders are taken half way through the movie.

The standard of projection is excellent. Focus and light level is monitored constantly. Also there is no sound bleed thru from any other theatre. I remember, at one foreign festival, confronting the projectionist who had played reel 3 of DEAD END DRIVE IN ahead of reel 2. “Catastrophe…je suis désolée,” he said with studied indifference, a bent Gauloise hanging from his lip. No way was he going to stop and correct the mistake, the screening schedule was too tight. Hijo la chingaso!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bill Murray at the Lockhart Cavern Party.

No, the Alamo Drafthouse cares deeply about providing their patrons, be they Festival audiences or regular year round Austin moviegoers, with the best possible Cinema experience. This is the vision of Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim and Karrie League, and their hard working staff and volunteers carry out that mandate with enthusiasm. Because they all love movies. They are a splendid example of what exhibitors used to be before television - showmen.

In 5 days I saw SAUNA, ACOLYTES, DONKEY PUNCH, CHASER, CHOCOLATE, ZOMBIE GIRL: THE MOVIE,  THE BURROWERS, ALIEN RAIDERS, FEAR(S) IN THE NIGHT, THE SUBSTITUTE, DEAD GIRL, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD, FIGHTER, SPINE TINGLER!, in addition to hosting my MAN FROM HONG KONG and TURKEY SHOOT and joining Mark Hartley in Q & A for his NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD. There were many more titles I did not have time to see. More on these movies next blog. But for now, click on the wonderful shot from a personal favorite of mine, the 100 Best Kills Party:

 

 

 

 

 

FF’s great line-up is courtesy of founder and head programmer Tim League, co-founder Harry Knowles (Ain’t It Cool News - it was wonderful to finally meet the great Harry), with additional programming by Alamo Drafthouse Cinema executives Karrie League, Zack Carlson and Lars Nilsen. Also contributing was Todd Brown (Twitchfilm.net), and Blake Ethridge (Cinema is Dope). And a special word of praise for tireless Thomas Hanawa, the Robo-Warrior of problem solvers; also guest manager and Yellow Rose of Texas Jill Lewis, one of the sweetest girls on the planet.

A generous quote from Todd of twitchfilm.net: “Man From Hong Kong director Brian Trenchard-Smith is the guy you most want covering your back in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.” Thanks Todd. He runs a great site. Check it out.

“There was also skeet shooting, debates, boxing, swimming, 100 Best Kills, World Air Sex Championships, karaoke, cave dwelling and Texas BBQ. A fabulous and exhausting time I strongly recommend to anyone choosing a festival to attend. You will not be disappointed.

I sat so long and dined so well at the Alamo Drafthouse that I must ramp up my exercise schedule for the next couple of weeks, starting today with three hours of fencing, my particular hobby. I leave you with a short film sent to me by my Hawaiian fencing buddy Colin Chock, that in some way captures the exhilaration of this great combat sport:

 

 

Tags: Director, Filmmaking, Film Blog, Movie Blog, Movie

The Web Producer - Why web-only film festivals are retarded

There are a zillion short film festivals out in the world. I just got an advertisement for a Hitchcock-themed contest in my inbox yesterday. That makes about 3-4 that I’ve become aware of this month. Just today I read about the “first ever web-based film festival”. …

Tags: Movie Bloggers, , Oscars, Television, Actor

The Editor - What Film Editors Can Teach Journalists

I’ve been spending the last several days jamming to finish the remaining few chapters of my book, which accounts for my late entry this week.

I was writing something that sparked some thoughts that I’d like to share with you.  It’s about changes in journalism and the way in which they tell stories.  I’ll paste it in here and add a few comments below it.

[NOTE: The name of the book is THE LEAN FORWARD MOMENT, and deals with how we shape our stories using all of the crafts of the filmmaker. That would account for my continual mention of that phrase in the piece.]

========================================

The Lean Forward Moment in Journalism

Journalism has certainly been undergoing major changes in the last ten years, as it moves from printed to electronic distribution. Television journalism, faced with competition from reality television and other forms, is trying to attract and keep viewers.

It has always been an axiom of journalism to begin with a strong leading paragraph (the lede). You can think of this as crafting a strong Lean Forward Moment at the very start of the piece. This is not dissimilar to beginning a television episode with a strong opening scene and is done for the same reason—to keep the audience from moving on to another story.

After the lede, journalistic style is structured around something called the inverted pyramid, in which information is presented in decreasing order of importance, leaving the audience with the expectation that they will receive much of the crucial and interesting information near the beginning of the article. In my opinion, this type of style will make it more difficult for online journalists to keep an audience attentive all of the way through a piece (it is also, I believe, one reason for the decrease in news stories which jump to other pages of a newspaper).

Vibrant news reporting, in the era of web and video presentation, will require journalists to shape their stories differently, providing periodic Lean Forward Moments, and arcs in their stories, while still maintaining journalistic integrity.
===========================================

My Additional Comments

A year or so ago I gave a talk to the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board who were all interested in how to use new media techniques to tell their news stories (I do some consulting in addition to all of my regular jobs). It is no secret that newspapers are fast disappearing, as they lose customers to television and web sites, classified ads to Craig’s List, and display ads to everyone. So most good news organizations with any money are trying to figure out a way to keep writing about the news, but incorporating Internet tools. Of course, they are being to do all of this with no increase in personnel or salaries.

It’s that bad out there for them.

We talked about a number of things, including how to use social networking and user generated content, to present local news stories that people cared about but they couldn’t afford to cover. Another thing we talked about was how to tell better, more immediate stories. In other words, how to learn from films and television in order to keep themselves relevant. We didn’t discuss it then, but it strikes me that the way in which we editors tell stories — with strong beginnings, and then a series of escalating emotional ups and down, leading to a large and satisfying denouement — is very different from what journalists do. In fact, news writers who don’t lead off with the strongest statements are often accused of “burying the lead.”

But, burying the lead a bit might not be such a bad idea in terms of emotional storytelling. It seems natural to me that you’d want to parcel out the story in continually evolving chunks, not dump it all in the beginning and hope that the reader will bother to turn to an inside page when they meet the words “Continued on page…”

In what ways do you think journalists can learn from film editors? And what can we learn from them?

Tags: Movie, Filmmaker, Movie Blog, Movie Theatre, Oscars

The Production Designer - shameless

it is late and I am exhausted. The last few weeks have been magnificent and equally debilitating. I have been fortunate enough to be working with David Turnley, Pullitzer prize winning photo-journalist, on a commercial based in and around L.A. which he was directing out of Furlined. Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club) D.P’d and Scott Craig put the whole thing together. I look forward to seeing the end result as I feel D.T got some amazing performances from the cast, besides which I have to be proved right on my personal belief that a film stands or falls on the various energies determined by the crew, whatever the size or manner of the project. That is to say that films, t.v, commercials or promos that I have been attached to where the vibe on and off set has been the most enjoyable; where everyone is in tune with each other, with the script and with the environment, these are the projects that show up the best as the finished article. ‘Waking Ned’ which we prepped at Shepperton studios, England then shot in the Isle of Man under the wonderful direction of the amazing Kirk Jones, was one such example. Even with an amazing script there is no guarantee that you are going to get an amazing end product, so it is imperative that the director pulls everybody together to share in his enthusiasm and passion for the project. Kirk did this memorably. In fact he even called a meeting early upon our arrival in the Isle of Man, of all the residents of Cregneash, the ancient village we took over for some 10 weeks, to explain to them in detail what we, and the story, were about. This went down very well with cast, crew and vilagers alike and set the tone for the whole process. Consequently, I am certain that the extraordinary passion we all shared on that picture is palpable throughout. Likewise, I am sure the passion we all shared on the commercial will make it just that little bit special. Let’s wait and see. I have neglected my blog of late for which I apologise, but the several very different set of circumstances that have prompted my wife to suggest I take up yoga or meditation to alleviate the various strains on my mind and body, have almost become more than mere mortal should take. Needless to say, life here in L.A is nevertheless proving to be more than exciting and the subtle aroma of possibility constantly arouses my senses to a point where every day is anticipated with baited breath….! Unfortunately, I am far too exhausted to tell you about it. But I’ll try. Next up is a completely new venture for me and one I am eager to pursue. Some bright spark looking to re-create a certain paint finish on an old garage in Melrose avenue, currently being converted into the next Ralph Lauren Polo outlet in Hollywood, decide to take a look at one of my past films and as a consequence I am now designing the exterior of said building together with the wonderful vision of Dikayl who seems to be some sort of product designer or some such for PRL. This is a completely new string to my bow and, frankly, something that only happens to us mere mortals here in Hollywood, just like they said it would when I was just a spit of a lad sweeping the floors at Pinewood. Speaking of which, I met my new friend Barry Isaacson and his lovely family last Sunday down at the beach for some good old ex-pat R&R only to discover that we were both at Pinewood at the same time….1978/80 for gods sake!!!! He, as a runner or some such on the first Superman film, and myself working as a trainee Matte artist with the legendary Cliff Culley and subsequently as a trainee model maker with the even more legendary, Ray Harryhausen! Anyway, I’m hoping to get Barry….now a very successful film producer….interested in my District 6 project which has been on the drawing boards for over 5 years now and every day closer to becoming the masterpiece in my head. I know this will eventually make it to the big screen as I am now in Hollywood and this is where dreams do in fact come true…if you put in the hard graft that is. Living the dream…….. 

Tags: Director, Film Industry, , Movie, Movie Theatre

The Independent Filmmaker - The Film Festival Experience

I’m heading down to the San Diego Film Festival to support a friend who has a film screening and it got me thinking about what festivals can do for you.  Particularly in the world of Youtube and a million little no-name festivals.

There are many things a filmmaker gets out of film festivals and it’s slightly different for shorts and features so I’ll stick with shorts for now.

Basically, here’s what you get from festivals…
-    Experience screening your film (including learning how to properly set up your film beforehand because even some of the big fests employ kids to work the booths - and they are usually unsupported, not knowledgeable enough and extremely stressed out from filmmakers jumping down their throats.  Hint: Please, thank you, and a smile goes a long way in this situation.)
-    Practice talking about your film in public (I’m a PR whore so I try to give whatever interview I possibly can to both promote my film and so I get practice giving interviews now when no one gives a crap about me.  It’s painful to watch your first ones, but if you’re honest with yourself you can get better quickly.)
-    Publicity
-    Exposure to lots of great and not-so-great films and filmmakers
-    An opportunity to meet festival programmers
-    An opportunity to meet distributors (though this really only occurs at the bigger fests)
-    A greater understanding of festival programming (there will always be a celebrity-directed film that sucks but screens everywhere, a experimental one that no one seems to understand but also keeps popping up and other such craziness.)  Programming really is an art form though - some fests get it and others definitely do not.
-    Awards (these are much needed because once festival season is over it’s the only thing that sticks around to let everyone know how cool you are.  And if we’re honest, that’s what Hollywood really is, a coolfest.)
-    Bragging rights (see awards)
-    A bit of a vacation seeing the world (most European fests fly you out and put you up.  But don’t get too caught up in this - you could lose a year of your life traveling around when you should be making more movies.)

It’s all a learning experience.  Every moment of this crazy film journey.  And, as a friend reminded me this week, since the only way you really get any value in Hollywood is to direct a feature that wins at major festival or write a script that sells, you have to make your festival experience work for you as much as possible.  Hustle, hustle, hustle people!

If anyone has any questions about what do to prepare for or what to do at film festivals, let me know and I’ll answer them next week.

Tags: Movie, Film, Filmmaker, Oscars, Movie

The Indie Film Producer - IT’S THE END OF THE WEEK AS WE KNOW IT

(This week’s blog post brought to you by scenechronize, the radically useful software for the indie producer.)

Another week, more preposterousness to report:

- The meltdown continues…

- …And that includes the Emmys.

- But at least one indie production company secured financing.

- Spielberg reaches a quicker-than-anticipated deal with the Indians. My Indian …

Tags: Hollywood, , Filmmaker, Movie Bloggers, Movie

The Script Reader - The Worst Script I Ever Read

It had everything you want a bad script to have to be the kind of bad that at least entertains (since you have to read it either way). It was wonderful in its awfulness, and reading it, I could feel the universe opening in front of me with …

Tags: Film Industry, Television, Film Blog, Movie Blog, Movie

The Casting Director - INCA CASTING

I’m back from my two-week, amazing, re-energizing vacation to Peru and Bolivia. I cannot recommend highly enough the importance of visiting this sacred and amazing land full of ancient energy and fabulous people and food! I ate – a lot.

So here I sit a new refreshed me. A lot has happened to me over the past few weeks. I have split with my casting partner and moved into the other office next to hers, which some would say could be awkward, but moving is a pain and I liked the office, so it makes sense to me. I think we can remain friends and that is the most important thing, when these things happen.

As predicted, all of the films I am working on are still in the same place they were when I left. The funny thing is that the film that was hardest to cast, and is still not cast, is now less of a drama for me because the producer had to pick up where I left off. Before I left, I was being accused of being negative because I told the producer my opinions on whether I thought they would be able to secure talent they wanted or not. If it was bad news, to them, I was negative. I’m just the messenger, don’t shoot me! I gave my opinions and educated guesses because that is all I’ve got to go on; experience. If the producer doesn’t want that or want to listen to me, fine, but don’t call me negative, I’m on your team and trying to get the film cast!

Well, two weeks away completely changed the tune of this producer and although I know she would never admit in a hundred thousand zillion years that maybe, just maybe, I was being more helpful then negative, I could tell that after a lot of calling around to the same agents and managers that I talk to daily, she finally caught on to the reality of the situation and was in fact, a little deflated.

But, they have a great cast coming together and when the final shot happens on the last day of shooting, I expect them to say, “Wow, what a great cast, Matt was right!” At least I hope they say that!

I learned that the Inca’s language does not use future or past tense. If you are walking somewhere you walk there, you do not think about walking or have walked, you are just doing, being, going, you are in the present. Maybe, that is what it takes to be successful at casting. Be in the moment, don’t worry about the past or what could be, what you are presented with is your answer, what you are given is your gift of an amazing cast as it is presented to you.

Tags: Hollywood, Movie Theatre, Movie Bloggers, Movie, Television

Next Page »