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Showing posts from May, 2013

SCRIPT TO SCREEN: Fast and Furious 6

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Fast and Furious 6 | Justin Lin | 2013 | USA | Format: 35mm | 130 min Fast and Furious 6 had a monster weekend in terms of box-office but more importantly fans and critics lauded the film for its high-octane humor and its well-directed  action sequences. Director Justin Lin's efforts paid off in a big way and his storyboard artist, Anthony Liberatore , played a crucial role in helping Lin visualize the crucial action sequences and sight gags.  Recently, Storyboards Inc. interviewed Liberatore on his work with Lin and included storyboards from the infamous tank scene. In the interview, Anthony talks about what it takes to be a storyboard artist, his work methods and process, the importance of developing a shorthand rapport between the storyboard artist and the director. Below are excerpts of the interview discussing the visualization of the movie, some of Lin's storyboards and the related video of the chase sequence to compare and contrast.  I have added

PRODUCTION TIP: BETTER Foods for your Cast and Crew

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Feeding your cast and crew is usually overlooked until the last minute. Then on the morning of the shoot there's a mad scramble to get coffee, water, bagels and granola bars.  Now this is understandable, since the director and producer are usually preoccupied with more weighty matters regarding the production.  However, providing food and water is crucial to morale and is even a form of compensation for many who work deferred or on no-budget projects.  Even on studio projects, above-the-line people will haggle over what's going to be on the craft services table.  Forward-thinking producers will plan out what to feed the cast and crew and even go as far as catering to people who have particular tastes, vegeterian preferences or allergies.   But what if the food you feed your cast and crew could do more than just satisfy a hunger and thirst.  What if it could improve performance on the set and sharpen their focus to get the job done?  That would be a boon since productions

CASE STUDY of VOICE-OVER, an award-winning short film

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  I-will-not-tell-you-whose voice leads us through three extreme situations that are actually the same… Will you survive? Voice-Over is an award-winning, global-spanning short film directed by Martin Rosete, written by Luiso Berdejo and produced by Koldo Zuazua, Sebastian Alvarez, and Manuel Calvo. "A short film on an epic scale, its main feature is the titular voiceover. The clearly agitated narrator informs you that the astronaut on the screen is you. And you’re in trouble. You see, you’ve crash-landed and your pressurized suit will only keep you alive for a limited amount of time. But before your air runs out, you’re whisked away to a totally different scenario. And then, with a similar race against time counting down, it happens again. Each scenario is gorgeously shot, making for three mini-action movies in one. But it’s the denouement that will have you cheering. Writer Luiso Berdejo is much more famous for his involvement with the horror films REC a

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Darren Aronofsky on Pi

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Pi , also titled π , is a 1998 American surrealist psychological thriller film written and directed by Darren Aronofsky . It is Aronofsky's directorial debut, and earned him the Directing Award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival , the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Gotham Open Palm Award. The title refers to the mathematical constant pi .    Like most of Aronofsky's films, Pi centers on a protagonist whose obsessive pursuit of ideals leads to severely self-destructive behavior. Pi was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky , and filmed on high-contrast black-and-white reversal film . It was produced on a sufficiently low budget of $60,000, but proved a financial success at the box office ($3,221,152 gross in the U.S.) despite only a limited release to theaters. It has sold steadily on DVD .  ~~ Wikipedia E xcerpts f rom director Darren Aronofsky's diary: January 31, 1996 Back From Sundance '96 Just go

SCRIPT TO SCREEN: Start Trek - The First Contact storyboards by James Mann

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Star Trek: The First Contact | Jonathan Frakes | 1996 | USA | Format: 35mm | 111 min

PRODUCTION TIP: How to find time to write and shoot

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Most filmmakers don't have the luxury of ONLY working on production projects 24/7.  They have families to tend to, businesses to run, bosses to please and other non-film/video things that keep them away from their passion project.  It's even harder for those who couldn't even make it to film school but have a burning desire to shoot a story of some kind.  The thing is that the only way to become that filmmaker who is working on production projects 24/7 means you HAVE to find time to make that passion project NOW so that it opens those doors for you. You can buy all the  screenwriting and filmmaking books in the world but you will only improve and make it to the top if you write and rewrite alot of screenplays and shoot lots of stuff.   But you're busy with family, your main job and life, right? So how do you find time to do the time-consuming tasks required for writing, developing, producing, shooting, editing and/or distributing your production? Here are

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: Werner Herzog on Fitzcarraldo

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Fitzcarraldo is a 1982 film written and directed by Werner Herzog and starring Klaus Kinski as the title character. It portrays would-be rubber baron Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, an Irishman known as Fitzcarraldo in Peru , who has to pull a steamship over a steep hill in order to access a rich rubber territory. The film is derived from the real-life story of Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fitzcarrald . The story was inspired by the real life Peruvian rubber baron Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald; in the 1890s, Fitzcarrald did bring a steamship across an isthmus from one river into another, but it weighed only 30 tons (rather than over 300), and was carried over in pieces to be reassembled at its destination. In his autobiographical film Portrait Werner Herzog , Herzog has stated that the film's spectacular production was partly inspired by the engineering feats of ancient standing stones . The film production was an incredible ordeal, and famously involved moving a 320-ton

SCRIPT TO SCREEN: Taxi Driver storyboards by Martin Scorcese

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Taxi Driver | Martin Scorcese | 1976 | USA | Format: 35mm | 113 min

PRODUCTION TIP: William Friedkin on the most important thing

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"The most important thing that I think the director does is choose his material .  That's the single most important thing you do.  In other words, how are you going to spend your time for the next whatever it is?  In my case, on The Exorcist, it was 2 years, which is excessive.  But generally, on a feature film these days, it's anywhere from 6 months to a year. So number one, it's what are you going to do? What do you want to do? That's the most important decision. " -- William Friedkin

CASE STUDY of ¡Libérate!, a public service announcement (PSA)

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¡Libérate! (Free yourself) is a "call to action" social marketing campaign using film and fashion and urging the community at large to let go of the heavy burdens that accompany homophobia.  Juntos Construyendo, a subset of the Latino Commission on AIDS, funded the production of the PSA.  Hector L. Torres III, my co-producer on the PSA, wanted to do something different from the typical PSA that bores its audience.  We came up with a simple but artistic idea for a PSA that treats homophobia as an affliction that affects the homophobic as much as the homosexual.  Hence, the need for both the homophobe and the homosexual to liberate themselves so that all people in the community can heal and grow.  Here's a teaser: The main production strategy was to shoot something artistic and ambiguous unlike your typical PSA.  To do so, our creative concept had to overcome a tiny budget, a small cast and crew and a short amount of time. Elements of the Strategy KNO