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Showing posts from May, 2014

Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw at Poetic Justice Fundraiser for Coalition For Engaged Education

Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw at  Poetic Justice Fundraiser for Coalition For Engaged Education. That hat looks great!  #494221803 / gettyimages.com

Director William Friedkin's Film History

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Academy Award winning director William Friedkin gives us his favorite films of all time and more in this 2012 interview for FADE IN MAGAZINE.

Alien (1979) Behind The Scenes

What I love about Alien is that it seems like you are living in a nightmare. The imagery is so intriguing that it doesn't leave your mind. Ridley Scott at his best. Working with many limitations, Ridley encouraged the best from his collaborators...the result was magnificent. 

Money, Power, & the Mob: Inside Francis Ford Coppola's Fight to Make 'The Godfather'

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By the time he made  The Godfather ,  at the age of 33, Francis Ford Coppola had already had a decade’s experience in the movie business, co-earning an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for the biopic  Patton . Even that, though, didn’t make getting the film greenlit an easy or sure proposition. With pressure coming from all sides (several of them armed), Coppola began the first of his epic, career-long battles against everyone and everything that would stand in the way of his vision. Time and again, the director  has gambled Sometimes, he’s won, and very big. Sometimes, not so much. But whatever it is, he gives his all (including property). Now learn some of his tricks of the trade as Coppola, (along with the  recently late DP Gordon Willis , Brando, Pacino, Caan,  et al. ) outwits everyone to make an American classic, his way in this 1990 doc,  The Godfather Family: A Look Inside . Read more http://nofilmschool.com/2014/05/inside-francis-ford-coppola-fight-to-make-the-godfathe

Budgeting Films on Sunday

#465171399 / gettyimages.com Although I may not be as triumphant as this guy, I'm still as happy that I went through three film production budgets today. Currently I find myself chiseling through two short film budgets, one a drama and the other a graphic novel. The bigger one is a documentary feature, which is skewed different from the short narrative productions for obvious reasons. Each one is challenging but interesting because you can start seeing possibilities come together. A script is important to keep the story and vision intact, but without a budget and schedule it is just another form of text. This is an ongoing challenge, but at least they've been started. 

Breaking down film scenes by JJ Abrams

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How do directors conceive and think through monster and action scenes? by  JJ Abrams , Writer-Director Every scene has its own unique requirements. This is true whether it’s a comedic scene, a still scene, or a busy scene, a scene that’s all in-camera vs. one that requires visual effects and CGI. As you break down a scene with increasing resolution, the first thing to do is figure out what you want the sequence to be and how it serves the story. Once you figure out what the scene is supposed to do, your mind races trying to figure out what would be cool. In a sequence with a creature, first and foremost you want to approach it from as visceral a place as possible. You need to figure out what the endgame of the sequence is. Once you figure that out and what you’re going to do, then the fun becomes how you are going to do it. You often begin to come up with a sequence, but what you discover is that a dozen shots that you thought were critical are actually superfluous. Part of

Techniques from Alfred Hitchcock

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If you’re looking at your project right now — maybe you’re going over the footage you shot today or are editing all of your raw material — and you’re feeling like it’s falling a bit flat, it might be time to take some notes from the master.  Alfred Hitchcock  wasn’t just the Master of Suspense; he was the master of capturing and eliciting powerful emotions from his actors and audiences through several cinematic techniques — ones that every filmmaker should learn at some point in their career. This  video essay breaks down many of Hitch’s chosen methods of storytelling, from using the MacGuffin to training his camera to the faces of his actors, so continue on to check it out. http://nofilmschool.com/2014/05/make-a-film-like-alfred-hitchcock-breakdown-of-the-masters-techniques/

Jon Favreau Interview - Chef (2014) JoBlo.com HD

Lawrence Of Arabia -- (Movie Clip) Bedouins And Gods (+playlist)

William Friedkin on Stanley Kubrick

Röyksopp & Robyn - Do It Again (lyric video)