Who writes this crap!?

Bored? Enjoy doing me favors? Go ahead, read these two scripts and tell me which one I should re-write and which I should put away in a drawer, never to see the light of day (at least until my much younger third wife publishes it posthumously, against the wishes of my children from wife number two)

JAC — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 13:42:34 +0000

Bored? Enjoy doing me favors? Go ahead, read these two scripts and tell me which one I should re-write and which I should put away in a drawer, never to see the light of day (at least until my much younger third wife publishes it posthumously, against the wishes of my children from wife number two)

Planet of Peril

Action Figures

A Game of Thrones

JAC — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 00:22:12 +0000

I am a dork. I read comics, I buy action figures, I can tell you how the U.S.S. Enterprise’s warp engines work, & I have a signed photo of Kurt Russell from “Big Trouble in Little China”.
But as dorky as I am, I never got into Fantasy. Elves, Faeries, Orcs, Dwarves; they all left me cold. Now I loved reading history books about knights, Robin Hood, & the Crusades. I watched “Excalibur” and loved it, so what was such a turn-off about Fantasy? I think it must have been Dungeons & Dragons.
The idea of hanging out in somebodies basement, eating Funions and drinking Mountain Dew out of two litre bottles was a real stomach turner. You see, I’m a self loathing dork.
And then I read “A Game of Thrones”.
Soon to be a series from HBO, “A Game of Thrones” is the first novel in author George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Fire and Ice” series of novels. So far there have been four published out of a proposed seven.
I figured if HBO was making a series, it had to be somewhat decent, and it was only a $10 download to my Kindle (dork, remember?), so I gave it a shot.
Wow… just, wow. What “Deadwood” was to Westerns, “A Game of Thrones” was to Fantasy.
The reason it won me over is that the author concentrated on the most important aspect of all, compelling characters. Too often in genre writing, the author has created an interesting world ( or just an idea for a world that goes unrealized) and has cardboard cutouts for characters (*cough* *cough* Avatar).
But Martin has fully living, breathing characters full of contradictions; a villain can have a moment of selflessness or a hero may betray out of jealousy.
Each chapter is told from the Point of View of one character, and Martin does an amazing job of letting the reader hear the character’s inner thoughts, letting us see how what they say and what they think can be very different things.
As to the Fantasy elements, they are handled with a very deft touch. They are sprinkled in so lightly they’re never alienating and no one ever acts alien. Everyone acts as a human would, even when it disappoints or infuriates, it’s always believable.
I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially if you’re NOT into Fantasy. Don’t let the genre scare you off. Read it. Love it.

Shooting your own video

JAC — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:53:09 +0000

A discussion about shooting your own movies came up in my Screenwriting Workshop, so I sent out a little “get started” guide & figured I’d post it here.

FIRST UP: Kickstarter is a site where you post a creative proposal, people pledge their support, and if enough people pledge, they fund your project.

Birnes & Saqwyer is having a workshop June 26^th, called SHOOT, CUT AND POST DSLR WORKSHOP where you learn everything from what camera to use, to how to post your video to the internet and how to use social media to promote it.

Vincent Laforet started everyone looking into using DSLR’s with this video, Reverie (which he describes as a “bad cologne commercial”. He has lots of info on is blog.

Laforet, along with David Lynch, Morgan Spurlock, and others are judging an online video festival. What’s neat is not only can you post a video, but you can nominate the video of someone else.

Philip Bloom, currently shooting footage for Lucas’ new movie with a $2500 camera, is one of the big proponents of DSLR filmmaking. Here’s an interview he did with Chris Jones, the man behind this website that is supposed to teach how to make short films, and the writer of the Guerilla Filmakers Pocketbook.

Cinematographer Shane Hurlbut is a big fan of these cameras

Now more of the technical stuff

Beginner DSLR Guide.

The DV Show has podcasts and courses on video production

A list of short films http://www.zacuto.com/category/steves-picks to watch

The Camera Assistant’s website has free info.

DSLR Forum

Learn DSLR video store (note: I have two video if anyone wants to borrow them)

Make your video look pretty with Magic Bullet Looks ($400 but you can find it cheaper on ebay and a LOT cheaper on bitTorrent, not that I would condone such a thing)

Finally, a word of caution; none of this matters if you have no idea what to shoot, which is where I am right now. Any ideas, let me know.

Bokeh

JAC — Fri, 28 May 2010 17:39:34 +0000

As I’ve been mucking about with DSLR’s, I learned a new word, bokeh. Bokeh is an Americanization of the Japanese word boke, meaning blur.
In photography, it’s used to describe the aesthetic quality of the blur in the out of focus portion of the image. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh
Which got me thinking about writing (of course).
Ideally, a scene should not be about what the characters are actually talking about. You don’t want to be too on the nose, spout exposition, or *shudder* tell and not show. What you want to do is to have some stuff in focus and some stuff out of focus.
So, now when I write, I think about the bokeh of the scene.

What should my next story be?

JAC — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:57:00 +0000

View This Poll

Rough Draft of “Avatar” analysis to finish up my degree

JAC — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:14:25 +0000

Story Analysis
EXCERPT: Imagine if the Na’vi were established to abhor physical imperfect, or perhaps viewed an injury such as paralysis as too much of a burden on the tribe. Then with Jake becoming the leader, imagine if they were to discover that their leader was in fact, imperfect. Imagine the conflict between him and the other warriors. His integration with the tribe would be far more complex.
Now let us push things even farther. Imagine if Jake’s Avatar was irreparably harmed and he had to abandon it. Now Jake, utilizing one of the mechanized walkers, led the Na’vi in the battle, a part of neither world but choosing to fight with them because of his convictions. True, this eliminates the possibility of Jake permanently occupying the Avatar body, as is the ending of the current movie, but the issue is adding drama to an essentially drama less story.

Learning to Love “Good Enough”

JAC — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:03:57 +0000

A screenplay is never finished. It can always be tweaked, changed, made better, (made worse).

One of the hardest things for me to learn is to accept that a piece is “good enough”, especially this week. The deadline for the Nicholl’s Fellowship draws nigh (love that word).

My script needs work, lots of it, just not another years worth. Yeah, I think a couple of more months would be helpful, but I ain’t got ‘em.

So here I have script where I love the characters, I love ever scene, yet the thing doesn’t work together as a piece. What to do? Shrug, and say, “Good ’nuff”.

HOUSE Season Finale shot on DSLR

JAC — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:41:28 +0000

We’ve been hearing about how digital video is going to revolutionize Hollywood for years. Well, it’s finally happening.

You see, people have discovered that the video produced by a couple of Canon DSLR’s, the 5D Mark II ($2500) and the 7D ($1500) look really good. Well, better than good, actually. For Example.

And this

And now Hollywood has begun to take notice, the “House” season finale was shot with the 5D.

Check out this interview with Greg Yaitanes, Executive Producer & Director of the episode.

So if you’re interested in more than just writing movies and actually want to make them, get out there and do it!

Three Act Structure

JAC — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:21:23 +0000

I hear a lot of moaning from new writers regarding the 3 Act Structure. Yes, yes, you all a re creative rebels, you don’t need to be stifled by “Hollywood” cookie cutter storytelling structure… blah blah blah blah.

Listen; the 3 Act structure is not a creative straitjacket. Instead, think of it as a comfortable pair of Levis.
Levis were designed for a utilitarian purpose, long since passed, yet their style is timeless. They can be paired with t-shirt to a suit jacket. They are a foundational garment that shouldn’t call attention to themselves (no bedazzlers, please).
Have I tortured this metaphor enough?

Three Act Structure

JAC — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:21:21 +0000