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Saturday, February 13, 2016

The making of:


There are books and TV shows out there about the making of certain motion pictures.

Here is a link to the Making of Star Wars:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Star-Wars-Definitive/dp/0345494768

Here is a link to Youtube video that features the making of Star Wars:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSuDjjlIPak

There are others. Here is the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey

http://www.amazon.com/The-Making-Stanley-Kubricks-2001/dp/3836559544

Please keep in mind that 2001 was written by Arthur C. Clarke, who also came up with the concept of the satellite. He did not make the movie.

And, I haven't researched this but, I remember reading somewhere that George Lucas wasn't a very good writer.

I post these thoughts and links because I think making a movie is similar to making any good piece of art or anything in general. Do a lot of preparation and research. You can wing it and create something quickly, there are plenty of people who do, but I also think your results will vary according to how skilled you already are and how good the subject is and whether or not your audience enjoys your work.

Call it "ten thousand hours." There is more to it than that, being at the right place at the right time. with a receptive audience has a lot to do with how well anything goes over. Read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers for more on this.

Frank Lloyd Wright is known to have waited until the last moment before designing great pieces of architecture and other works. I imagine he had plenty of experience before making short work of great architecture designs.

What I am pointing out is that I think it is important to read and learn as much as possible about any endeavor you attempt. And then properly prepare, like a great 10 course meal.

I think you may have a better idea about how to proceed if you are better prepared.


Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Addiction



A link to a New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/09/opinion/when-addiction-has-a-white-face.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0


For what its worth:



Follow this and read it:

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/inside-ilm/

One of the most important things you can do...


If you are serious about making a movie, digital video, or film...

Go to school for it.

In the United States the, THE film school is at USC, the University of Southern California Cinematic Studies school, Here is the link to the Stark School of Cinematic Studies:

http://cinema.usc.edu/producing/index.cfm

Good luck.

I personally am going to download the PDF files that have the course sylabi available.

By doing this I will be able to read the recommended course books and educate myself about that particular field of Motion Picture making.

The problem is, there isn't a syllabus available for every course BECAUSE:
Many of the courses are hands on and taught by industry professionals. And often the courses do not have a syllabus available because of an agreement by the school and the individual teaching the course. Most of the teachers are working in the industry, and come to the school one day or night per week to teach a course.

Today I went to my local library and took out a book on making a movie, "The complete guide to making a movie - low budget and beyond." By Lorene Wales, reviewed positively by Kritie Stahl, the producer and owner of Whitestone pictures.

Here is a link to a Whitestone online story:

http://whitestonemp.com/film/john-henry-and-the-railroad/

-CB

Monday, February 1, 2016

Listening to your second audio track on a DVD


A couple weeks ago I was playing with the remote and happened to discover the secondary audio available on the SG-1 DVD I had from the library.

As I clicked the audio select button, I came in just as the people were talking about the new SG-1 opening, and that they used a Frazier lens to get the incredible depth of field, which allowed them to put the camera almost on the Stargate, shoot at an angle, and keep the whole curve of the Stargate in focus up to several feet away.

I borrowed the DVD again from the library just to pick up on that little piece of information and was lead to this website talking about the Frazier lens system:

http://petapixel.com/2011/04/19/frazier-ultimate-lens-shows-everything-in-focus-with-massive-depth-of-field/

There is a nice video on that page that shows you how that lens system works.

From there I happen to find another link into the camera company that so many movies are shot with, Panavision:

http://www.panavision.com/products/macro-and-specialty-lenses

And yesterday I inquired about having the garage in back of our house blown up via CGI. I went to http://www.revelpix.com/VideoProduction and then contacted the owner. He was referred by a friend as pretty good with CGI. His reply was it would be about $1500 dollars to create the scene I want with some give or take, depending on how long the segment is and how realistic I need it to be.

The rule of thumb on such is to mark it up by at least 10 percent. So in my head, if I were to budget for this shot, I'd price this out at $2,000. Better to have the extra cushion than to not have it.