Film Making Tutorials: 2013

Monday, July 15, 2013

10 Screenwriting Tips

1) Ignoring film rules only works if you get to make all your movies on your own little island – McQuarrie

2) Explore concepts that allow you to create characters audiences have never seen before –
introduce unexpected characters into their screenplays, an easy way to turn stereotypes on their head. An african with a chinese name.

3) Don’t drop your reader into a blender in the first few minites. Pay a tremendous amount of attention to orienting your reader into your story.

5) CONFLICT ALERT –the best drama is packed with conflict. A character who wants something and a character who doesn’t want to give it to him. Now you have a sceane and many sceans for a story.

6) A CLEAR MYSTERY the audience can easily follow.

7) Characters should speak in their own unique voice and own way.

8) Always think like an actor when writing characters – McQuarrie
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9) You must be smarter than the reader in the subject matter you’re writing about

10) When writing a group of characters, make sure to create dynamics WITHIN the group – They all have side friendships, people they like and dislike, histories, guys they trust and don’t trust. Here,

10 lessons on film acting

1) When speaking to an actor off-camera, look into one eye and stick with it.

2) Film acting is, in large part, reacting and listening.

3) While rehearsing something with a fellow actor, if a crew member can come up and recognize you’re rehearsing vs. having a real conversation, then you aren’t doing it right.

4) An actor relaxes in front of the camera by concentrating, and knowing that you have no enemies on set, everyone’s on your side and doing their best to make you look your best for the movie.

5) The camera catches everything you do, so don’t be afraid to play things subtley.

6) If you’re going to smoke on-screen, you must plan it absolutely perfectly, don’t mess up the continuity.

7) All actors steal certain gestures and behaviors from other actors — but the best actors make these gestures their own. Steal from the best, and make it your own.

8) You can make four pictures as an actor in the time it takes a director to make one — so if you’re an actor planning on becoming a director, consider the financial aspect.

9) A majority of movie acting is relaxation. If you’re knocking yourself out, you’re doing it wrong.

10) Theater acting is an operation with a scalpel, movie acting is an operation with a laser.

source ( http://nofilmschool.com)

Friday, May 24, 2013

Entertainment in storytelling

Audiences want the emotional experience and entertainment.

Does the story take the audience to an unfamiliar place?
Does the story have luxury?
Does the story have things you can't have?
Does the story have fantasy?
Does the story have war or extreme violence?
Does the story have large crowds/armies?
Does the story have exotic foreign locations?
Does the story have sex/romance?
Does the story have booze/drugs?
Does the story have guns?
Does the story have murder?
Does the story have other crime?
Does the story have juicy gossip/scandal?
Does the story has music and rhythm?
Does the story have dance?
Does the story have fun?
Does the story have humor?
Does the story move fast?
Does the story have elements of another interesting time period?

How would you make audience care about a hero?

"pat the dog" :
most people like dogs and consider them to be "good" animals, anyone who likes dogs is probably also good. Anyone who doesn't like dogs is probably bad. Therefore the hero must at some point (figuratively) pat a dog, and the villain should (figuratively) kick a dog.

Heros are kind to good animals such as dogs, horses, kittens, small birds, etc.

Villions like grown cats, snakes, insects, etc.
Heros are courteous, protective and kind to women, care for children who are defenseless.
They have suffered misfortune and not complaining. They have to work harder than everyone else.
They are captured and beaten, or at least threatened, by the villain.
The hero has to survive against unfair events
Villian embarrass the hero.
Hero suffered great misfortune in child hood.

Screenplay characters

The story has to have good characters that are believable, interesting , backgrounds and talents. They are not all good or all bad.

Characters should surprise the audience. They must be special.

Protagonist is the hero with a a clear goal or problem to solve.
Antagonist is the opponent of hero.
Both are introduced as early as possible in the story.

Audience love Characters with clever way with words.
Audiences like glorious and amazing heros and evil and corrupt villains.
Robin Hood, Zorro and James Bond, not super heroes with super powers but mortal people, very clever, tricky and charming.

Use small number of characters just enough to tell your story.

Have good entrances, good dialog and provide interesting personalities for the talents to explore.

Think how each character talks? dresses and smiles, walks and etc.
Speak the dialog lines out loud to check flow smoothly.

Conflict

The most important element of a story is conflict.
Every Story must have a central conflict.
The conflict must be relevent to the audience.

The audience experience the story with emotions of the protagonist trying to solve the conflict.

Conflict
Two people want the same thing and want it very badly, but only one can have it.

The protagonist is trying to get what he wants and prevent the other from getting it. The conflict is a real do-or-die, I can't go on living if I can't have you is a conflict.
Achieving the thing should be very difficult, but not impossible.

The story should always focus on the main conflict.

The story shouldn't way off into side-stories unless they directly relate to the central conflict.

The central conflict should be the most important event in the characters lives, and maybe the most important event in the the world. Finally the hero will face conflict in a final crisis and win or loose.

Synopsys

The Fugative
A doctor is sentenced to be executed after being wrongly accused of murdering his wife. On the way to prison, he escapes and begins a desperate race to find the real murderer before a relentless police detective can capture him and return him to be executed.

Your idea isn't anything until it is fully developed and written into a dynamite screenplay.
Different people often come up with the similar ideas at the same time for the simple reason that we're all humans experiencing similar lives at the same time in human history.

Ideas can't be copyrighted until they are turned into a screenplay, or at least a full story outline. The way to protect your idea is to to develop it into a killer screenplay which you can copyright.

Rear Window is a thriller about a photographer who is convalescing in a wheelchair after a serious accident who, after thinking he has witnessed a murder, wants to learn the truth by investigating the suspected neighbor. This becomes increasingly difficult when the neighbor learns what he is up to and decides to silence the helpless photographer.

Your story name) is a (genre) about a (description of your hero) who, after (something big happens to them), wants to (what is the solution the hero seeks?) by (what is the hero's plan?). This become increasingly difficult because (what obstacles and complications happen?).

The Script

The script is the "blueprint" that will guide the other filmmakers through the production of the film. Based on the strength of the screenplay, budget, talent, and enthusiasm will fall into place.A good story that holds viewer's attention from beginning to end.

Write What you know
write from your personal experience. Make the story, characters and tone believable.

Write for a LOW BUDGET FILM

A film can survive marginal acting, bad lighting and many errors, IF the story is fantastic. Never fo

The fist step is find the idea with few sentences instantly getting your attention.

Combined Genres
crime and comedy
comedy & drama
horror & Action

The concept

Concept is simply an idea of what the story will be about.

Developing a concept is one of the hardest steps in the film making process. A good concept can either make or break a movie.

Lucid Dreaming is a popular method for coming up with story concepts as it allows the mind to freely develop and remember a scene. It is advised to write down dreams soon after you wake up to avoid forgetting. Lucid dreaming means dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming, triggered by the dreamer noticing some impossible or unlikely occurrence in the dream, such as flying or meeting the deceased.

Documentary Short Films

Documentary Film

to record, reveal, or preserve
to persuade or promote
to analyze or interrogate
to express

Can students think of documentary films fit into these categories?

Ask students to note down their thoughts on each example:
what seems to be the purpose of the film?
what different approaches can they identify?
(Now, ask them to consider the following list as the four distinct (but sometimes overlapping) purposes of documentary film (as suggested by Michael Renov):

to record, reveal, or preserve
to persuade or promote
to analyze or interrogate
to express

Can you think of documentary films fitting into these categories?
How are these different motives intersect?
Are there any other purposes they seek to fulfil?

Ask students to note down their thoughts
What seems to be the purpose of the film?
What different approaches can they identify?
use of narration, direct questioning, observational
What do they notice about the editing ?
How is story constructed?
What are the plot points?

challenge students to re-visit their definition of documentary

Short Film Study: Child Soldier / Soldier Girl

Short Film Study: Child Soldier / Soldier Girl

Compare and contrast

encourages students to analyse the macro and micro elements of film language in order to understand how filmmakers convey broader themes and ideas.

Activity
Ask students to express similarities and differences in
story , setting, sound, cast/characters, props and lighting.

Ask students express their observations
race, class and representation, as well as action, sound, language and tone.

Encourage students to think about two broader questions:

Why is Child Soldiers such a powerful theme for short film?
What broader themes do they think the films are addressing?

What does films sensitive portrayal
Why it is uncommon?
How do they exploring relationships, emotions, tensions and beliefs.

how skilfully confront high emotions of child soldiers

Writing Short Film Screen Plays

Short films are story-driven narratives, in which screen play a major role. At the heart of all short films is a story of a character.

The protagonist.
The active question or the basis of the action.
Who or what opposes the protagonist.
Whose point of view is the story
The theme of the story.
The style of the story.

The protagonist is the person in center of the story and dominates the story.

Springing Lenin (Andrie Nekrasov, 1992)

The active question, what are the actions in the film?
What is the audience would be interested in?

The Curious (Director : Stephen Brown, Writer: Robert Smith, 1994),

Decide on an incident which will form the basis of the film's climax,. Most films made from true incidents.

Yellow (Director Billy Elltringham and Simon Beaufoy: 1998)

The film can be a single defining moment in the central character's life, which creates challenge, situation or a problem to solve.

The Cutter (Director :Carl Prechezer, Writer: Peter Salmi, 1992)
Springing Lenin: Germ of an idea (0:45)
Zinky Boys Go Underground: My brother (0:50)
The Curious: A vision (0:51)
Yellow: The wasp (0:40)
Deep Down: The dress (0:57)

Knowing why a character can't deal with a situation, or he is forced to do something different other than their normal way of response. It is critical to develop an engaging points in story.

The Cutter: Father and son business (0:47)
Deep Down (11:30)
Zinky Boys Go Underground: 'The party's over' (0:50)
Springing Lenin: Mrs Shillinglaw (1:14)
Deep down: Mother and daughter (1:41)

Point of View & Theme

The Curious (1994)

Once you have decided
1. Who shall be the film is about (The protogenist)
2. What or who opposes them (antagonist)
3. What it is the audience is being asked to follow (the active question)

next is 'Whose point of view is the audience see ?'

short films are exploiting background information and character's motivations, in a very small time space. Hence narration, and narrators, are very useful in short films.

Finding a theme is critical to giving a film a dramatic unity. It need to relate directly to the audience's emotions.

Yellow: rivals (0:56)

Style & Tone

The Cutter (1992)

The style
You have a challenge in creating a emotional climax in ten minute film! Use surrealism, Curiosity and the point-of-view (POV) camera work, and the heightened color and effects.

Include tragic situations
Make audience guess what will happen next
Make central character uncertain
Create audience's fear of uncertainty/chaos

This sense of uncertainty is at the heart of short films.
Characters need to have mixed outcomes in their actions
They might solve a problem only to be faced immediately by another or, if they win something, it's at a loss.

Make audience engage.
Let the audience feels the powerlessness of the central character using POV shots and emotional camerawork.
A neutral tone of the narrator help the audience
to engage with a vicious and threatening world.

Yellow: Natalie (0:17)
Yellow: Jim (0:46)
The Curious: Eye test (1:22)
The Curious: Dream (0:23)
Deep Down: Rest in peace (0:58)
The Cutter: An accident (1:12)
Springing Lenin: Legal tender (1:08)

Source : screenonline.org.uk