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Showing posts with the label Wikipedia

PRODUCTION JOURNAL: How Tarantino Got Reservoir Dogs Funded and Why It's Worth Knowing People Who Know Celebrities

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The gift of overwhelming information to read on the internet burdens us to actually read it. One article that I came across that I found personally engaging was Peter Darling's Best Way to Run a Business. I think it is aimed at solo attorneys and budding entrepreneurs and small businesspeople. I think it is also useful for filmmakers. (To read the entire short article, click here .)  The part that stood out for me and which I find relevant for filmmakers is this one:  There are people all around you excelling at what you’re trying to learn. Start paying close attention to how they do it... Every day I am surprised when I ask clients and filmmakers if they know how "X director" or "Y producer" made "Z film" and the answer is "no." I am surprised because anyone who has been in the trenches long enough will tell you how hard it is to make a film. The difficulty comes in 7 stages, each getting progressively harder: It's hard to c...

SCRIPT TO SCREEN: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari |  Robert Wiene | 1920 | Germany | Format: 35mm, Black and White, Silent  | 51-78 min (varies; different versions) The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari opened today almost 100 years ago in 1920. Gance loved it, Eisenstein hated it. Today it's considered a horror classic and a great experiment in Expressionism. Even though we live in the digital age, it is worth going back in time to study the story of how this movie was made in an era when film was still in its infancy. We stand to benefit from the making of The Cabinet of Dr. Calgari and learn things, such as: How the writers collaborated to combine their experiences and imagination in crafting the script. How the writers used their connections to their advantage even though they had never worked for a studio before. How their passion and unique "pitch" convinced the executive to buy the writers's script. Why it's important to know what rights you are signing away. How collaborati...

SCRIPT TO SCREEN: Interstellar

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Interstellar |  Christopher Nolan | 2014 | USA | Format: 35mm, 70mm & D-Cinema  | 169 min Here's a  supplement to the building a black hole video  about how the animators for the movie actually helped physicists understand black holes better. “Neither wormholes nor black holes have been depicted in any Hollywood movie in the way that they actually would appear,” Kip Thorne said in a promotional video from Warner Bros. U.K. “This is the first time the depiction began with Einstein’s general relativity equations,” Thorne said. Thorne is an American theoretical physicist who has written academic books on general relativity, collaborated with Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking, and is one of the world’s leading experts on all things gravitational. He is also the executive producer and scientific consultant for the film. It took Thorne’s intellect, 30 special effects experts, thousands of computers, and a year of hard work to produce the black hole au...