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Showing posts with the label brain power

PRODUCTION TIPS: 10 Film Questions That Will Make You a Better Director

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How many times have you asked someone about a movie and they just said, "It was great!" or "It sucked!"? More times than you can count, I'm sure, in fact we all do it, even the person who writes a dissertation on the brutality in millenial horror films and French art cinema . There is nothing wrong with that per se since we don't always have the time or the interest to analyze a film.  BUT as budding filmmakers and lovers of cinema, it is worth the time to dig deep into a film that moves you to love it or hate it. We have all heard the stories of film directors who never went to film school but just watched tons of movies and learned everything they needed to know about directing and storytelling from that. Legendary screenwriting teacher, Syd Field, always recommends watching movies as part of his way to teach screenwriting. Advising filmmakers to watch movies to become better directors is nothing groundbreaking but it bears repeating. Howev

PRODUCTION TIPS: Form an Alliance, Make your Film

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The Bullitt team More filmmakers should be doing this : Bullitt, a branded entertainment firm the Russos co-founded with Fast & Furious director Justin Lin and producer Todd Makurath... Bullitt works with brands and ad agencies to produce commercials and longform content. The production company is set up as a filmmakers' collective -- its roster includes directors Louis Leterrier and Troy Miller and cinematographer Phedon Papamichael -- and has a strategic partnership with RSA Films, founded by Ridley and Tony Scott. And by this, I mean, form collectives.  Whether in the service of working on advertisements. Or webseries. Or films. Or videogames.  The point is to find other talented creatives and business people who you can vibe with on a strategy and a vision together.  The terms are up to YOU to decide how it can work but having partnerships and collectives helps spread the risk of filmmaking, expands the network of people, experiences and equipment at your disposal

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