Film Strategy

Lone Survivor | Peter Berg | 2013 | USA | Format: RED Code Raw (negative) 35mm (printed) | 121 min   US poster for Lone Survivor The action drama based on true events and the biography by Marcus Luttrell is gearing up to be a sleeper hit of critical acclaim and box-office strength.  Director Peter Berg secured the financing to make the film by agreeing to direct the big flop, Battleship . It was such a passion project of his that he went low-budget on the shoot, directing it for the DGA minimum, shooting with the RED camera in New Mexico (great production incentives there btw) and convincing his cast to lower their salaries too.  Despite the criticisms of jingoism and being crude propaganda or snuff porn akin to The Passion of the Christ , the movie is generally described by critics as expertly made and engaging. If Lone Survivor makes the $34 million it is projected to make during opening weekend plus gets nominated for and wins some Oscars then the Battleship flop will h

Sometimes it's easy to forget how far we've come because we still have so far to go. Although public outcries forced SNL to hire a black female as a featured player on the show after so many years, opportunities are plentiful for actors of color compared to what it was like in the past.  And the roles are waaaaaaay more dignified.  So as a reminder of how hard it was for black actors who had to accept roles that were beneath them, let's offer a special HBD tip of the hat to... Butterfly McQueen . "She was born on January 8, 1911 in Tampa, Florida, to a stevedore and domestic maid, Thelma McQueen would go on to make cinematic history as one of the few African-American character actors in classic Hollywood. In 1916, her father abandoned the family, leaving her mother and her to travel the East Coast in search of work. She eventually landed in Long Island where she completed her education and learned to dance. She made her stage debut as a part of the Butterfly

HBD John Singleton (director of Boyz in the Hood, Poetic Justice, etc.) and Anthony Minghella (director of The English Patient, Cold Mountain, etc.) [d.] and RIP Victor Fleming (director of The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind, etc.) who died this day in 1949. WRITING: Is it possible to be a screenwriter and have a family ? (the bad news and the good news) PRODUCING:  What is your filmmaking game plan for 2014 ? FINANCING: What are investors considering when they fund films?   DIRECTING: Everyone knows that having famous actors in your movie will help it get financed and screened. So once you have them committed and casted, how do you direct famous actors in a microbudget film ? LIGHTING: Here's an homage to all the things grips and electrics have to do to light and shoot without the gear they actually need... shitty rigs . SHOOTING: How can you use camera angles to sell your scene ? SOUND: A tutorial on the importance of the pre-production process for your sou

​ on loan from Short of the Week - see their 2013 list of shorts 2013 winds its way to a close and we are wiser, wealthier or both.  Hopefully.  Wealth is never a guarantee for the veteran filmmaker let alone the first-timer. And, as a result, the wisdom gained can be bittersweet.  Nevertheless, as a weird mix of artist and entrepreneur, the wealth and wisdom we attain can be measured and classified in a variety of blessed ways.  Wealth and wisdom in practical knowledge, local connections and production experience are valuable indeed. We live and work in interesting times and the tech we use and watch, the society we live and practice in and the tactics and strategies we employ are ever changing taking our beloved art form to strange places. And until the end of time or until film as an art form is supplanted, each year brings something new that mattered in film and TV; whether its a modification of something old for new times or something simply brand new and unexpected.

Amplifier circuit, common-emitter configuration with a voltage-divider bias circuit. HBD to the transistor , the fundamental building block of modern electronic devices , found in everything from TVs, mobile phones, radios, calculators and computers.  That you can read this post is a function of the transistor's capabilities, so thank you John Bardeen , Walter Brattain , and William Shockley for developing it at Bell Labs in 1947.  Thanks to the transistor we can watch movies on screens as large as walls and as small as belt buckles. WRITING: What are the elements of a good scene ? LEGAL: How much does an entertainment lawyer cost ? PRODUCING: Do women prefer films made by female filmmakers ? FINANCING: How do you finance a movie using VOD sales projections ? DIRECTING: How do you turn your boring movie into a Hitchcock thriller ? (h/t to Jeffrey Michael Bays and makes a great last-minute gift) SHOOTING: How do you add diffusion to your image by 'netting

December 18 marks the births of legendary directors Jules Dassin (1911) and Steven Spielberg (1946) and the deaths of classic director Robert Bresson (1999) and influential animator Joseph Barbera (2006).  These 4 figures offer so much to choose from for inspiration and knowledge; they are an expert craftsman of filmnoir, a master storyteller of fantasy and wonder, a French auteur of transcendentalist and ascetic filmmaking and an influential animator who captured the zeitgeist of the 60s, 70s and 80s with his wild and funny cartoons. Jules Dassin Notable works: The Naked City, Night and the City, Rififi   Steven Spielberg Notable works: E.T., Indiana Jones, Jaws, Munich, Saving Private Ryan, and so much more. Robert Bresson Notable works: Pickpocket, A Man Escaped, Au Hasard Balthazar, Diary of a Country Priest Constructive Editing in Robert Bresson's Pickpocket from David Bordwell on Vimeo . Joseph Barbera Notable works: Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound,

Today John Cassavetes would have been 84.  Aside from watching all of his films in an all-day or week-long marathon, there is no better way to pay homage to the godfather of American indie films then by learning from his words and his methods.  Below are excerpts and documentaries on the making of many of his films like Husbands, A Woman Under the Influence, Shadows and more. John Nicholas Cassavetes (in Greek: Ιωάννης Νικόλαος Κασσαβέτης; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He acted in many Hollywood films, notably Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). Cassevetes was also a pioneer of American independent film by writing and directing over a dozen movies, some of which he partially self-financed, and which pioneered the use of improvisation and a realistic cinéma vérité style.  He studied acting with Don Richardson , using an acting technique based on muscle memory. ~~ Wikipedia   Here a