Film!

[Captain Zissou]

anyone else here into making films? lets get some discussions goin if so...

[ah schucks]

If by into it you mean I went to film school and have a BFA in Film and Television with an emphasis in Writing and Directing---then sure I love talking about film!

[Captain Zissou]

sweet...yeah i knew you were into it already but i wasnt sure how into talking to a 17 year old you were.

[ah schucks]

Lets generate a specific topic about film: Pre-production

The brain of a movie is born eons before studios, cameras and directors breath life into a project. Like most artforms an idea is formed by the artist- in this case a screenwriter. That said not every writer generates the idea themselves. Studios very often see books, video games, news articles and generate movies from this forms---so I pose this question to writers and imaginative people.

If any idea is not generated by the screenwriter but brought to him or her by a studio or producer who is after money- can that idea, that script, that film ever be on par with an idea created or persued by the screenwriter?

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Count me in, troops. BFA in theatre directing, BA writing (play and screen) with foci in film and Shakespeare. I'm developing a biopic about John Houseman and Orso Welles and their fascinating working partnership during the Mercury years. Yee-haw.

[ah schucks]

Count me in, troops. BFA in theatre directing, BA writing (play and screen) with foci in film and Shakespeare. I'm developing a biopic about John Houseman and Orso Welles and their fascinating working partnership during the Mercury years. Yee-haw.

OHHHHHHHHH man, I had a concept for a short, revolving around Orson Wells and the incident involving the broadcast of War of the Worlds. A black dark comedy. Someday I will make it and my good friend Patrick bares a stunning resemblance and voice to the late legendary director/actor.

On a side note I think I am the only person who is furious that Spielberg has taken War of the Worlds and set it in modern time period. The appeal of the HG Wells book was the helplessness of the time period, the lack of technology. A modern incarnation will only end up looking like a remake of "Independence Day"

[LSPoorEeyorick]

OHHHHHHHHH man, I had a concept for a short, revolving around Orson Wells and the incident involving the broadcast of War of the Worlds. A black dark comedy. Someday I will make it and my good friend Patrick bares a stunning resemblance and voice to the late legendary director/actor.

On a side note I think I am the only person who is furious that Spielberg has taken War of the Worlds and set it in modern time period. The appeal of the HG Wells book was the helplessness of the time period, the lack of technology. A modern incarnation will only end up looking like a remake of "Independence Day"

The only one? You have obviously not spoken with the people around me, at least. We're all grouchy about it. What Spielberg is doing is sacrilige. Especially asinine considering he supposedly turned Welles down when Welles asked for funding for a final film.

WotW will figure in our film somewhere, but it's the Mercury theatre and pre-WotW stuff that is most fascinating to me. Have you ever read Houseman's memoirs? Some really amazing stuff in there, and presumably more believeable than Bogdanavich's "This Is Orson Welles."

[ah schucks]

WotW will figure in our film somewhere, but it's the Mercury theatre and pre-WotW stuff that is most fascinating to me. Have you ever read Houseman's memoirs? Some really amazing stuff in there, and presumably more believeable than Bogdanavich's "This Is Orson Welles."

Aiming to creative a definitive Orson Welles movies or story could prove to be difficult. Of the few films that deal with moments in his life "Cradle Will Rock" or "RKO 281" did excellent jobs giving viewers glimpses at the legend.

[LSPoorEeyorick]

Indeed, but we're not focusing on the events as much as the relationship. Frankly, it's Houseman we're interested in.

[Captain Zissou]

Basically the Hollywood blockbuster seems to be dying...especially in the horror department. countless films are being re-made for the sole purpose of money. (and maybe the director loved the film as a kid). King Kong, WotW are the biggest right now. i guess im a little excited for king kong, just to see what pete is going to do with it, but in my opinion, films should be left alone. as should television shows...talk about out of ideas. why is it necessary to have movies based on bewitched and the honeymooners? im in favor for books being made into films (who isnt?) but when they make unecessary sequels, i.e. jurassic park 3 and 4, it just gets out of control. videogames...if its done well, then im ok with it. but the super mario bros. movie, tomb raider, resident evil and final fantasy movies should be erased from history. video games are basically interactive movies, so why is there a need to create a film off of them? money i guess. heck disneyland rides are being made into movies! POTC was great but Haunted Mansion was such a let down. im tired of eddie murphy and his B comedy movies. he was great in the 80's but he needs to go away...the movie could have been so awesome, but alas in disney's pursuit to make family movies they couldnt make it scary. to summarize: Hollywood is dissapointing sometimes. thank mickey for independent film. now if you'll excuse me, i must go get in line for the remake of citizen kane with jim carrey, then im going to go see jurassic park 4, and finish the day off with a movie based on banjo kazooie and then maybe the i dream of jeannie movie.

[stalking lily chou-chou]

One of my favorite "Ornson Welles" characterizations is in the film 'Ed Wood.' I love the idea of Wood and Welles sitting at some small, nondescript Hollywood bar letting off a little steam with one another, Wood meeting his hero and simultaneously realizing he's not as alone as he feels and that his problems are the same problems as those of even the most revered filmmaker of the time.

[Alan]

Rosebud.

[ah schucks]

I was hoping we could steer this thread back on course and discuss filmmaking and avoid film critism- everyone is a critics so let discuss the art and the craft of filmmaking.

[Captain Zissou]

good idea. im building a set right now and its taking forever and/or falling apart every 2 seconds. ive got some old pics of it in a thread in the disneyland section of the forum. im really hoping that itll work out (its desgined to be a huge temple set, but we only built 3 walls that we hope we can just interchange and mess with the lighting to make it look like there are different sections.) anywho, whats the latest on your projects everyone/schucks?

[ah schucks]

I am working on documentaries at the moment cause I am on the cheap $$$

[IndyJn511]

I would love to start making movies, but I have niether the time, nor the money to do so. Perhaps I can get my children to star in remade live action disney classics someday....you know...when I actually have some...

[Cousin Orville]

Wellesisms

CO admires Orson Welles..So this Avitar is in his honor for right now..

Some of my favorite Welles' quotes are

1. "Oh how they'll love me when I'm dead".

2. "In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. "

3."Movie directing is a perfect refuge for the mediocre."
"The director is simply the audience. So the terrible burden of the director is to take the place of that yawning vacuum, to be the audience and to select from what happens during the day which movement shall be a disaster and which a gala night. His job is to preside over accidents."

And we'll leave you with...."Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch"

[ni_teach]

anyone else here into making films? lets get some discussions goin if so...

[Captain Zissou]

i use all 3 of those, well 2 i guess...(i have no idea how to use AE) but luckily my friend in Texas does so i just send him all the footage that needs digital work and it gets done.

[ah schucks]

I am still an Avid man and fan! Especially as we enter the high def era I am thrilled to play around with Avid's high def suite. I went by my old film school and got to play on the computers that have a Mojo card- which accept component cables to capture at a very high resolution. They gave each of the two rooms that have the mojo cars- a terrabyte of memory so footage could be captured and edited with being compressed.

I am very avidly concedering getting a 24p this summer. I have used the Panasonic and Sony but I really like the look and feel of the Canon model. Those direct XLR inputs are a beautiful thing. On the Canon model it comes equipped with a slot to hold a shotgun mic, run it through a microprocessor that you put in a messanger bag and you can literally become a portable high quality crew, laying your audio directly onto the tape! Love it!

Edit: Canon XL2- Review from Cnet.com