I just took a minute to google “DV Guide”, I hope you are all doing the same as you prepare for the ride.
Here’s a resource I ran across for all you i-phonophiles to enjoy.
Looks like any DV capturing/editing that we do in class or in the lab will be done using iMovie.
This is a great place to start for beginners, and for those of you with editing experience, iMovie should provide a simplified interface that will allow you to concentrate on storytelling without all the bells and whistles and distractions of more advanced software.
I recommend that you start exploring some of the tutorials I’ve linked below to familiarize yourself with iMovie’s capabilities. http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie
We are also currently working on a schedule for lab time.
As the Tuesday night classes are going to focus mainly on the pre-production phase, I encourage anyone who requires iMovie instruction to attend at least one extra lab per week. This is where we will explore some of the tutorials above in more detail.
We will discuss the available lab times on Tuesday the 26th.
The creative community spirit is alive and well in Memphis.
Thanks to folks like these.
Plug yourself in at Live From Memphis, a volunteer organization that thinks big, and an invaluable resource for local artists. Find the help you need and network with other creatives. http://www.livefrommemphis.com/
Just a note to let JMM and HG know that ‘somebody’ is trying to pay attention! Thanks for facilitating this class, we enjoy and will definitely benefit from the small group setting and the personal interaction. With your experience and insights to guide us, how can we NOT make some interesting short films! MRD
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.
As a “professional” CG artist, I’ve often heard (and shared) the sentiment that CG (or computer graphics) has liberated the imagination of the amateur filmmaker from the constraints of budget, time, location, etc. While there is a certain truth to this statement, I want to remind anyone who may be wondering how to “spice up” their production about the long tradition of practical effects in film.
I’m talking about front projection, matte painting, makeup. miniatures & models, the list goes on and on.
I have a few books in mind that I’d love to share with you, but apparently I’ve already shared (and lost!) most of them. Maybe you just want to take a minute and see how the masters, like Ray Harryhausen and Stan Winston did it before computers.
They might be a black box to most of us, but don’t be fooled into thinking computers are magic. Green screens are great, but filling them in takes real time, skill, and/or $$$ if you don’t know how to do it yourself. That said, don’t let reality stand in the way of your vision, Ed Wood didn’t, neither did Benny Hill.
Why there isn’t an online shrine to the visual FX genius of the two men I don’t know! (and if you think that’s facetious or ironic, you just don’t know me that well yet.)
Anyway, before this turns into a rant, I just want to encourage you all to think big. As you develop your scripts, give free rein to your imagination. But when it comes to your production, think practical!
Visual FX have been my passion for a long time, maybe that’s why I feel it’s a ripe topic for discussion. But I hope you’ll agree that “where there’s a will, there’s a way”.
Here’s a little page that turned up in my cursory search…
So… I’m not in the class… but I do enjoy a good production…
I just wanted to drop you guys a line to let anyone who is interested know that I am available to aid in your production madness.
I’m pretty versatile and can be of use in most departments: Video, audio, gaffing, grip, props, AD dept, editing, etc…
Just drop me a line if you are looking for some help. (I accidentally typed “hope” just then, instead of “help,” which I can offer as well, but is generally not on my skill list.)
On February 25, 1973, David Bowie, as Ziggy Stardust with his Spiders From Mars, played downtown Memphis at North Hall (within the building called Ellis Auditorium). It was the second Ziggy appearance in Memphis for Bowie, who had performed five months earlier in September 1972. This earlier visit was the second Ziggy show in America (Cleveland being the first), and Bowie was a big Elvis fan; they share the same birthdates: January 8th.
The first low budget 1972 Spiders’ tour is well documented with photographs from Mick Rock. The second tour in February was not…ironic, considering Bowie was now in “eyebrow-less,” “Aladdin Sane” mode, his follow-up album to Ziggy Stardust and yet another concept character which Bowie described later as, simply, “Ziggy in America.”
It was in this guise that teacher and artist Dolph Smith came to meet Bowie in the main gallery of the (then) Memphis Academy of Art, February 26th, 1973.
Dolph Smith had learned of Bowie and the song “Space Oddity” through students at the school and was inspired to do a series of watercolors based on the lyrics of Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and it’s character ‘Major Tom’. Also at play here are visual cues from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” which, of course, had informed Bowie in the first place. Dolph had been using paper airplanes as a theme of “fragile shapes against nature” and in-vigorously incorporated this element into the five pieces as well. The pieces were hung in an exhibit dedicated to line drawing and Dolph remembers being criticized by local critic Frederic Koeppel for working outside the theme.
Dolph used connections at FM100 to reach Cherry Vanilla, a former actress from the Warhol camp and Bowie’s PR person. Cherry visited the school, saw the work, and immediately informed Bowie that he should appear at the school, time allowing, and do the same. Luckily, Bowie was still in Memphis the night following his show (who knows why; perhaps to catch a glimpse of Elvis?)
To Dolph’s amazement, Bowie appeared around 10:00 p.m. on February 26th, bringing along two Spiders: guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey. Dolph presented Bowie with a watercolor piece entitled “A paper airplane having just spotted a fallen comrade.” Cherry Vanilla photographed the small event, and that was that. It would seem everything was then lost to time…a pleasant distant memory outside the marginalia of rock and roll history.
I attended the Memphis Academy of Art from 1984 through 1986, receiving my Bachelor’s there in 1987. Dolph had actually been my first teacher (in paper-making), but I knew nothing of his past, let alone my own. One day, I was doing work-study in the school library, and I came across one photograph of Dolph and Bowie (with Bowie holding the “Fallen Comrade” painting) reprinted, I suppose, in some random school publication. I knew very little about the Spiders from Mars, at the time, but I played in a punk band, and I knew that Bowie was important – I just hadn’t gotten to him yet, nor did I fully understand Memphis rock and roll history.
All in time…
Flash forward to 2008: For me, three bands, 6 feature films, and fifteen comic books later, when the current administration at the Memphis College of Art (in the person of CeCe Palazola) asked if I could do a free form film class for the Continuing Education program, I immediately knew what it would be; an invitation for students (and me) to interpret this meeting between Dolph Smith and David Bowie as metaphor – thus celebrating the 35th anniversary year, intertwining Memphis with Dolph’s watercolors and Bowie’s trans-gender rock and roll.
This was to be THE FILM CLASS THAT FELL TO EARTH.
On my website http://www.guerrillamonsterfilms.com, I began to gather information regarding Bowie in Memphis. Memphians, who attended Bowie shows in Memphis, provided me with ticket stubs and essays about their youthful experiences at Ellis Auditorium, seeing the Spiders From Mars… experiences that I wish I’d had. But, in 1973, I was a ten-year-old boy growing up on a gravel road in Mississippi. My only art class was comic books I read in my tree house.
I got in touch with Dolph Smith who provided two more photographs. A fourth photograph came from former student Julie Finnell. Amazingly, the only two photographs that exist from the 1973 Spiders’ performance are provided by Richard DeLisi before he was forced to remove his camera from the event, and these hastily taken slide images ‘bookend’ our short piece. So, there are more photographs of Bowie being himself in Memphis at the Art School than there are of Ziggy from the night before.
All this information called for an introductory film of some sort – but how and when?
On the very first night of the six week course, Dolph spoke (or ‘spake’) about his brief memory with Bowie and his larger re-awakening to the potential of watercolor, as brought on by Bowie and the new life that glam rock was injecting into rock and roll. My little movie (with the help of Tom Wayne) hopes to capture just a moment of this thought and set it free in the shape of a paper airplane.
Sometimes memories take on the shape of fallen comrades.
Hey guys, I’ve made a few changes to my narrative……what do you think??????
I’m going to go with being the protagonist but the protagonist is a Spanish medical interpreter that provides the voice for those who find themselves sick in a foreign country: sick, hurting, and without a voice. Much like I did when Gregory first reared his ugly head in Ecuador. ANYway, I am going to shoot several encounters in the hospital (at the MED) of the interpreter bringing two very cultural worlds together (that of the Latin American patient and that of the Western, English-speaking provider) into synchronous orbit so that communication and resolution, thus healing, can begin. The interpreter then finds herself with a spliting headache, at the ER herself, then The Gregory in Me begins…….How do I piece this new information into my own understanding of the world at large and how to I, in turn, help others become agents in their own healing as a physician? Sound too bague? I’m meeting with my actors on Monday ……
Sarah,
I have an outline (three acts) that is collaboration with my writer friend George Takeada. I think it’s going to be called IN THE PARK. the story is based on personal experiences intermingled with Bowie symbolism (which is what I want from all the student films, plain and simple). We will begin shooting in April. I might need to call on you. Thanks, Mike
“In everyday language, “transcendence” means “going beyond”, and “self-transcendence” means going beyond a prior form or state of oneself. Mystical experience is thought of as a particularly advanced state of self-transcendence, in which the sense of a separate self is abandoned. “Self transcendence” is believed to be psychometrically measurable, and (at least partially) inherited.”
-wikipedia
When I see a movie…
I want to have a MYSTICAL experience. and YOUR characters are my guides. I don’t have to like them, I have to LOVE them.
Sarah,
Thank you VERY much for offering to help. I would LOVE a little help shooting a scene with THE Dr. Yasargil. Give me a holler, please, when you get a chance-901.233.9744 (answers in Spanish, then English-long story) I would just give you my email but my keyboard is in Spanish and the at key doesnt work! Muchas Gracias¡- Virginia
William Gibson’s “The Winter Market” concerns a filmmaker of sorts who “made it big”.
…”That’s why Kings of Sleep’s as big as it is, and why the kids buy it, why they believe it. They know.”…”She’s big because she was what they are, ONLY MORE SO” (emphasis mine)…”So she sang it for them, said it the way they can’t, painted them a picture.”…
A photograph or a painting can communicate it’s message in a moment. Hopefully it will invite longer and more studied perception, but a film, like a piece of music must necessarily communicate it’s message over time. That much is obvious right?
Think of how a good storyteller takes you on a ride, keeps you hanging, revealing tantalizing details, skipping over or embellishing the dull parts, saving the best for last…
“ Holy #%&*! “, “That’s incredible!” you say, and they always come back with, “Yeah, and the best part was…!”
.
“Holy #%&*!” you say.
Now think of the way a music producer works on a mixing board. We know that the star of the show was Ziggy, but would “Moonage Daydream” have been as far out without The Spiders? Without just the right mix?
If you consider your ensemble as a band, don’t forget the musicians! If it’s a solo act, you’d better be a virtuoso, or a freakshow! or I’m outta there!…A duet has it’s own domestic dynamic, and an accapella sounds stark, dangerous, mystical, exciting, make sure yours IS. Every element of your film, and your SCENES, from the setting to the actors/characters , to the dialogue and soundtrack, the lighting, the cuts, all of these become threads in an 8-15 minute tapestry, tracks on the mixing board.
I’ve long considered editing video to be very similar to mixing music. The final product to be more like a song than a long series of still frames (which it is). But I think there’s a strong analogy between creating music, and writing and directing as well. That might seem obvious too, but if it helps to think musically when you create, (like it does me) AND if you want to strengthen the themes of the festival in your film I say listen to how Bowie/Ken Scott/Tony Visconti/et al. have told us all these stories in 4 minutes or so. Listen to the individual threads in the music, the vocals, guitars, percussion, effects. Listen to the structure of the lyrics, the song, and consider how your film is supported and your story carried along by it’s various parts. In music, extraneous noise is painstakingly eliminated.
Also, we’ve all nodded to the notion that both Bowie and his music represented some revolutionary ideas in pop culture at large and in music specifically. But have you figured out how this revolution was fought? How was the image manipulated to hold our attention over time? How did Bowie’s music sound different, and how did it sound the same? What pages did he earmark, and what pages has Bowie written in our musical lexicon? And most important, are you sharing that secret knowledge with your audience, or applying it to your own work?
We’ve heard a great deal too about the milieu and the circumstances of Bowie’s visit to MCA, and I’ve wondered, how would he tell that story?
I hope you filmmakers realize what a very unique resource and opportunity this blog is. Not as a chance to hear me pontificate, that’s easy! but as a sounding board for your own ideas, scathing critiques, snarky replies, troubleshooting advice, etc.
Once this class is over, so is the blog! Please don’t let this resource go untapped. You might be surprised who’s reading, and who answers.
…stepping off my soapbox now, to post the lab times i promised…
Mac 2, Mondays, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Mac 1, Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
If you can’t find “Jim Jones”, look for “cults” or “News events” etc. It’s a vast library, and chances are your perseverance will be rewarded with something useful, perhaps even unexpected. Most media is offered in various download formats, find the one that matches your project, or go for the highest resolution you can handle. Just be sure to pay attention to the usage rights assigned to each bit of media, they’re not ALL free.
Happy Hunting.
Good evening to all….
As you may know my narrative is about when a stranger named Gregory comes to town (a metaphor for when Bowie came to town). Gregory is the name of my brain tumor. I know how I can cinematically represent Gregory;s big fat ass smooshing all the medial (deep) structures of my right brain because I have some MRIs. However, the exciting part of the film is when I use a device called guided imagery to basically imagine my immune cells absorbing and transforming Gregorian cells into healthy ones through meditation as outlined in Dr. Rossman;s book called Guided Imagery for Self-Healing. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it worked. I have cut out a grey piece of paper that is Gregory. Little white cells are all around it. It subsequent shots, the white cells surround the tumor while the tumor shrinks (I make holes the size of the cells in the tumor). Can you think of any other way I could represent this process (enter question mark here, my keyboard is in Spanish and I can;t figure out where the question mark is) I;ve thought of using pasta but that might look cheezy. I thought of using people with different color balloons, I don;t know! Maybe I could download footage of PacMan….no,no……Any suggestions would be appreciated. Muchas Gracias,
Virginia
Virginia,
I think I’d like to see exactly the same imagery that guided YOU through this nightmare. As a theme it suggests a strong backbone for your script. Also I think this process of guided imagery dovetails nicely with the themes we’re exploring. I think you’ll blow our minds, (sorry!) but if you consider the real imagery “boring”, I hope you don’t forget the role of the camera. We will be exactly as interested in your subject as you are, assuming that it’s shot well. If you choose to show us paper cutouts, use lighting and angles that convey the drama and import of the event. Find the action in that scene (scissors cutting? holes punching?) and let us feel we’re participating in it. Don’t forget that you are our surrogate in the scene, react for us. One more thought, if you have a “still” function on your camera, you have the option of using stop-motion as a special effect.
Andrew Earles will speak (Howard, please let’s light him like we did Dolph!)
Tom, can we “mike” him for good sound?
okay….
I’m guessing MORE critiques of FINISHED SCRIPTS will continue.
Please bring a FINISHED SCRIPT to class to read (preferably your OWN)…and be prepared to defend it based on all the brainstorming and the outline info I gave you 5 years ago.
Please also have a concise list of the following items:
ACTORS
LOCATIONS
HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO LIGHT?
DO YOU HAVE A TRIPOD?
HOW MANY SHOOT DAYS
ARE YOU FEEDING YOUR CAST & CREW?
OVERALL BUDGET (whats it costing you?)
All right kids. I admit my patience grows as thin as a certain ‘white duke’ when some of you don’t bring what I ask for to class …or folks just dont show up at all.
Class is half way over. But the shooting and editing are not. I would like to keep everyone on the same page but it grows unlikely. It would be in everyone’s best interest to take advantage of what you’re paying for and not miss any more classes. Remove this conflict from your inner life and put it in your script!
Be honest. Are you seeing another teacher on the side?
If you ever wanted to miss one more class however, NEXT WEEK is the week to do it! IT’S SPRING BREAK!!! That’s right, there is no class on March 11!
If we were on schedule it would be a perfect opportunity to go out and shoot during Spring Breake, but as it is, your ideas seem incomplete; unable to stick to paper.
A good teacher is like a good director: No one’s time is wasted. I really am trying to look out for you all and make sure you are prepared to do your thing. But you have to show up and you have to listen and then you have to shake off this thing that you were before you enrolled. It’s time to leave the capsule if you dare.
I would like to commend non-student Dan Ball the class photographer for having perfect attendance!
Buddy, I appreciate all those posts you are posting, but I don’t think anyone is reading them and they’re beginning to take on the feel of a ‘tome’; unwieldy and unappreciated. Keep ‘em flying, but perhaps closer to Earth.
Hey…was that really Tav Falco? Don’t worry, Howard and Mike. I can’t speak for everyone, but I do intend to get the most out of this thang. Personally, I would benefit from more discussion on screenplay adaptation. I’ll have a script for the next class for all to pick apart!
Good morning,
Looking for a good location to shoot a young girl having a solemn ceremony for someone in her life who has died. Deserted, overgrown, maybe a wrought-iron fence. Some place like a back yard but with character…..a hidden courtyard, perhaps. A little nook hidden from view. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.
Thanks Xenon, and I promise to try and give you the most. Can you clarify, (for me) what you mean exactly by screenplay adaptation?
Virginia,
I know I’ve seen the place you describe, but the only thing that comes to mind is perhaps some quiet corner of Elmwood Cemetery, (be respectful, IMO this is no place for guerrilla style!)…anyone else know a place?
Wow, we all have LOTS to do! Creative urges can lead us (or drive us) out of our comfort zone, and the significant amount of time we will have to dedicate to this project will take a toll on other aspects of our lives.
Everyone taking the class wants to produce something to which they can point (maybe even years later) and say “I made that!” with a satisfying sense of accomplishment, i.e. a feeling that it was WORTH DOING. Having strangers tell other strangers that our picture is WORTH WATCHING is an entirely different matter, and something I personally intend not to get too hung up on.
All the “make it interesting, don’t make it boring” provisos are well and good, but remember that even though there are thousands of megabudget BORE-movies, SOMEBODY thought every single one of them was interesting enough to produce! My point is, if you make a picture that doesn’t bore YOU, that YOU find interesting, that’s the first and most important criterion. Just be honest with yourself as you watch your own footage. If YOU find your attention slacking as you watch your own movie, that’s a sure indicator that something needs done different. If you make it fun for YOU to watch, that’s a success in and of itself!
Good points Michael, and I for one agree with you. We all became artists to satisfy our own urges to communicate.
Without going all Macluhan on you, let me add that I do believe this medium, like all others, has it’s conventions. And if we hope to communicate our vision successfully, we’d do well to be mindful of those conventions, especially if we intend to rewrite them! I’ll point you back to William Blake and say that in those “minute particulars” lie the artist’s opportunity,(obligation?)to make it personal.
I wanted to rant a bit about “memes” too, in regard to how certain ideas might be interpreted by today’s audience, but maybe that’s too much philosophy.
HG, I have edited the three Laugh Humans Laugh test clips (avi’s originally created with my Logitech Orbit webcam and QuickCam software that utilizes the un-Mac-playable IV50 codec) using Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. I just conjoined the three clips and added a simple opening title, then saved it as a Windows Media Audio/Video (.wmv) file using NTSC encoding. I saved the .wmv output file onto a USB thumb drive formatted FAT32. Do you know if this will play on a Mac or not? If not, any suggestions for alternative formatting?
Michael, You’ll need Windows Media Components for QuickTime/Flip4Mac WMV or Windows Media Player for Mac. The real question is, are either of these components installed in our lab? I’ll try to swing by the lab and answer that on Saturday the 8th. In the meantime, you can e-mail me a sample, and I’ll try it on my system.
hgrayvid AT comcast DOT net
I can’t get to movie maker right now, but call or write, and we’ll take a look at it together.
HG, in its current format the 1 min. 53 sec. ‘.wmv’ file is over 10MB, too large to email. I will try to find a place to upload it to and will send you the link if I do. If that doesn’t work out we will have to get together at a mutually do-able time and see what develops. Thanks, MRD
Michael, I’ve tried both mac and pc, still unable to see any video.
But, I occurs to me that Windows MovieMaker is at least as powerful as iMovie, and both provide all the basic tools, as well as the NTSC output we need. Obviously the lab only has iMovie. Both of these programs can be extended cheaply with plugins from Pixelan. http://www.pixelan.com/index.htm
Lots of gaudy stuff there, but some useful ones include extended timewarp tools (for slo-mo), split-screen effects and “movie look” for B/W, film grain, etc.
I cannot guarantee these plugins are available in the lab, but if you’re working at home, they’re worth a look.
Hey all, I did take a few through-the-window snapshots of the snow around my house last night and early this morning. I posted four of them in the ‘Snowjob’ album on my Myspace page. MRD
Success! Everyone check out Michael’s video.
My thoughts on what I saw…
“I hope he really accentuates the fact that it’s shot with a webcam.”"The medium is the message.”"move and cheat the webcam too for effect, like closeups, pans.”
Instead of using one lighting setup throughout, you can use all those to illustrate passage of time, mood, rationality and/or radiation levels…hmm?
“People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another…a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.” The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying. Have something else going on. Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise.
“In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house,” said Alfred Hitchcock.
Not much film making activity “on the outside”. I have been too busy with work, preparing to close on my house sale (this Friday), and beginning the move/pack process. “On the inside” I’ve been mulling over a few changes to the script and trying to translate them into props, costume, makeup, locations, etc. I know there isn’t much time left til next Tue. We’ll see…
Hello all, greetings from England.
I’ve been browsing this fascinating site about your movie course.
Bowie in ’73 was the first concert I went to, Manchester Free Trade Hall, my shoe laces painstakingly painted silver.
4 years later, first day at art school, I slipped out early to get home to catch Bowie on the Marc tv show.
If anyone wants some perspective to add to their mix, feel free to email me.
Arthur
Hey Everyone, I hope the ruthless critiques and nightmare schedules haven’t scared anyone away from pursuing this thing called filmmaking. The process can be daunting, but for those who pursue it with dedication and confidence in their vision might find it to be most rewarding too.
We have only one more class to go, but I hope those of you who have decided to follow this through to completion will stay in touch afterward. As I’ve stated before, networking is half the battle. Stay plugged in to the community and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Commencing countdown…
Mike-
I just wanted to thank you again for inviting me to your class the
other night. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, but
I’m glad that I at least got to hear the president of the college
talk. He had some very interesting points and anecdotes.
Please let me know if you do anything else Bowie-related, because I
would love to take part. I’d also love the opportunity to work with
you, so if you ever need an actress or hold auditions, please let me
know!
Some thoughts on the last class on April Fools night. We were left with three students on Tuesday night.
The event of Bowie’s visit to the MCA had to be celebrated. I need to make a meta-film about the event of Bowie’s visit intermingled with symbolic moments from my experiences in Overton Park. My short “IN THE PARK” has begun shooting in February.
This leads to the question of deadlines. I would love to have these finished to show by June. Sometime in June. Let’s talk about that as time goes on here.
A last note: the folks that have attended the last few courses (by various invitation) have been a god-send; potential actors, speakers, and folks hungry to help. I’ve learned from this and if I teach another class I’d like to open it up more to people I can truly draw energy from, and hopefully vice versa.
All this and Arthur C. Clarke died, I believe, two tuesdays ago. I found out from Sam in the upper gallery where Bowie stood. Quite appropriate.
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OK, JMM,
We’ve been waiting for this class for a while now!
See you tonight!
Xenon
Hello world…
…Good Morning Class.
I just took a minute to google “DV Guide”, I hope you are all doing the same as you prepare for the ride.
Here’s a resource I ran across for all you i-phonophiles to enjoy.
http://www.thedvshow.com/
HG
Looks like any DV capturing/editing that we do in class or in the lab will be done using iMovie.
This is a great place to start for beginners, and for those of you with editing experience, iMovie should provide a simplified interface that will allow you to concentrate on storytelling without all the bells and whistles and distractions of more advanced software.
I recommend that you start exploring some of the tutorials I’ve linked below to familiarize yourself with iMovie’s capabilities.
http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#imovie
We are also currently working on a schedule for lab time.
As the Tuesday night classes are going to focus mainly on the pre-production phase, I encourage anyone who requires iMovie instruction to attend at least one extra lab per week. This is where we will explore some of the tutorials above in more detail.
We will discuss the available lab times on Tuesday the 26th.
HG
Lest we leave Marc, to languish under the mambo sun.
I think I still have episodes of “MARC” (including this one) on VHS…cuz, you know I was dancin’ when I was 8.
ok, sorry,even after creating a free account here, you can’t edit comments.
Here’s the video .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkJeClpQ8zQ
maybe this’ll work.
The creative community spirit is alive and well in Memphis.
Thanks to folks like these.
Plug yourself in at Live From Memphis, a volunteer organization that thinks big, and an invaluable resource for local artists. Find the help you need and network with other creatives.
http://www.livefrommemphis.com/
and for inspiration, can you beat WEVL?
http://www.wevl.org/
Great discounts on fully functional software and some pretty decent tutorials at Creation Engine.
http://www.creation-engine.com/html/default.html
The best media tutorials on the net at Creative Cow.
http://forums.creativecow.net/
Hello!
We will have an eighth student with us tomorrow night: Kristi Duckworth.
I see that no one is responding to Howard Gray on the blog, but here is a link which might help you be more creative.
http://bowiememphis.wordpress.com/2007/11/23/hello-world/#comments
Tomorrow night we will go over the THREE ACT outline that I asked you to write. I will bringing 2 books to class:
(1) Directing Actors by Judith Weston
(2) Writing Treatments That Sell by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong.
Google those words and it might help you prepare.
Also very important: Please email me back at mike@guerrillamonsterfilms.com
(my old email jmm@guerrillamonsterfilms.com no longer works!)
See yall tomorrow night at 6 pm.
Mike McCarthy
ps:
Two new pages posted at
http://www.guerrillamonsterfilms.com/archives/2007/bowie_memphis/memphis_essays/Richard_DeLisi.html
http://www.guerrillamonsterfilms.com/archives/2007/bowie_memphis/memphis_essays/bowie_vs_elvis.html
We are watching you Memphian earthlings from far, far away to see how high ‘the Man Who Fell to Earth Class’ @ MCA will bounce…!
Just a note to let JMM and HG know that ‘somebody’ is trying to pay attention! Thanks for facilitating this class, we enjoy and will definitely benefit from the small group setting and the personal interaction. With your experience and insights to guide us, how can we NOT make some interesting short films! MRD
Beware the broad stroke!
He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.
William Blake
As a “professional” CG artist, I’ve often heard (and shared) the sentiment that CG (or computer graphics) has liberated the imagination of the amateur filmmaker from the constraints of budget, time, location, etc. While there is a certain truth to this statement, I want to remind anyone who may be wondering how to “spice up” their production about the long tradition of practical effects in film.
I’m talking about front projection, matte painting, makeup. miniatures & models, the list goes on and on.
I have a few books in mind that I’d love to share with you, but apparently I’ve already shared (and lost!) most of them. Maybe you just want to take a minute and see how the masters, like Ray Harryhausen and Stan Winston did it before computers.
http://www.rayharryhausen.com/
http://www.stanwinstonstudio.com/home.html
and all the kids love Gondry now, right?
I know I do.
http://www.michelgondry.com/
They might be a black box to most of us, but don’t be fooled into thinking computers are magic. Green screens are great, but filling them in takes real time, skill, and/or $$$ if you don’t know how to do it yourself. That said, don’t let reality stand in the way of your vision, Ed Wood didn’t, neither did Benny Hill.
Why there isn’t an online shrine to the visual FX genius of the two men I don’t know! (and if you think that’s facetious or ironic, you just don’t know me that well yet.)
Anyway, before this turns into a rant, I just want to encourage you all to think big. As you develop your scripts, give free rein to your imagination. But when it comes to your production, think practical!
Visual FX have been my passion for a long time, maybe that’s why I feel it’s a ripe topic for discussion. But I hope you’ll agree that “where there’s a will, there’s a way”.
Here’s a little page that turned up in my cursory search…
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual/Visual_Effects
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFVv7LXXlXY
(this one syncs up nicely with “Hang On To Yourself”, try it!)
HG
So… I’m not in the class… but I do enjoy a good production…
I just wanted to drop you guys a line to let anyone who is interested know that I am available to aid in your production madness.
I’m pretty versatile and can be of use in most departments: Video, audio, gaffing, grip, props, AD dept, editing, etc…
Just drop me a line if you are looking for some help. (I accidentally typed “hope” just then, instead of “help,” which I can offer as well, but is generally not on my skill list.)
Enjoy the class!
sef
“Thus Spake Dolph Smith”
On February 25, 1973, David Bowie, as Ziggy Stardust with his Spiders From Mars, played downtown Memphis at North Hall (within the building called Ellis Auditorium). It was the second Ziggy appearance in Memphis for Bowie, who had performed five months earlier in September 1972. This earlier visit was the second Ziggy show in America (Cleveland being the first), and Bowie was a big Elvis fan; they share the same birthdates: January 8th.
The first low budget 1972 Spiders’ tour is well documented with photographs from Mick Rock. The second tour in February was not…ironic, considering Bowie was now in “eyebrow-less,” “Aladdin Sane” mode, his follow-up album to Ziggy Stardust and yet another concept character which Bowie described later as, simply, “Ziggy in America.”
It was in this guise that teacher and artist Dolph Smith came to meet Bowie in the main gallery of the (then) Memphis Academy of Art, February 26th, 1973.
Dolph Smith had learned of Bowie and the song “Space Oddity” through students at the school and was inspired to do a series of watercolors based on the lyrics of Bowie’s “Space Oddity” and it’s character ‘Major Tom’. Also at play here are visual cues from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” which, of course, had informed Bowie in the first place. Dolph had been using paper airplanes as a theme of “fragile shapes against nature” and in-vigorously incorporated this element into the five pieces as well. The pieces were hung in an exhibit dedicated to line drawing and Dolph remembers being criticized by local critic Frederic Koeppel for working outside the theme.
Dolph used connections at FM100 to reach Cherry Vanilla, a former actress from the Warhol camp and Bowie’s PR person. Cherry visited the school, saw the work, and immediately informed Bowie that he should appear at the school, time allowing, and do the same. Luckily, Bowie was still in Memphis the night following his show (who knows why; perhaps to catch a glimpse of Elvis?)
To Dolph’s amazement, Bowie appeared around 10:00 p.m. on February 26th, bringing along two Spiders: guitarist Mick Ronson and drummer Woody Woodmansey. Dolph presented Bowie with a watercolor piece entitled “A paper airplane having just spotted a fallen comrade.” Cherry Vanilla photographed the small event, and that was that. It would seem everything was then lost to time…a pleasant distant memory outside the marginalia of rock and roll history.
I attended the Memphis Academy of Art from 1984 through 1986, receiving my Bachelor’s there in 1987. Dolph had actually been my first teacher (in paper-making), but I knew nothing of his past, let alone my own. One day, I was doing work-study in the school library, and I came across one photograph of Dolph and Bowie (with Bowie holding the “Fallen Comrade” painting) reprinted, I suppose, in some random school publication. I knew very little about the Spiders from Mars, at the time, but I played in a punk band, and I knew that Bowie was important – I just hadn’t gotten to him yet, nor did I fully understand Memphis rock and roll history.
All in time…
Flash forward to 2008: For me, three bands, 6 feature films, and fifteen comic books later, when the current administration at the Memphis College of Art (in the person of CeCe Palazola) asked if I could do a free form film class for the Continuing Education program, I immediately knew what it would be; an invitation for students (and me) to interpret this meeting between Dolph Smith and David Bowie as metaphor – thus celebrating the 35th anniversary year, intertwining Memphis with Dolph’s watercolors and Bowie’s trans-gender rock and roll.
This was to be THE FILM CLASS THAT FELL TO EARTH.
On my website http://www.guerrillamonsterfilms.com, I began to gather information regarding Bowie in Memphis. Memphians, who attended Bowie shows in Memphis, provided me with ticket stubs and essays about their youthful experiences at Ellis Auditorium, seeing the Spiders From Mars… experiences that I wish I’d had. But, in 1973, I was a ten-year-old boy growing up on a gravel road in Mississippi. My only art class was comic books I read in my tree house.
I got in touch with Dolph Smith who provided two more photographs. A fourth photograph came from former student Julie Finnell. Amazingly, the only two photographs that exist from the 1973 Spiders’ performance are provided by Richard DeLisi before he was forced to remove his camera from the event, and these hastily taken slide images ‘bookend’ our short piece. So, there are more photographs of Bowie being himself in Memphis at the Art School than there are of Ziggy from the night before.
All this information called for an introductory film of some sort – but how and when?
On the very first night of the six week course, Dolph spoke (or ‘spake’) about his brief memory with Bowie and his larger re-awakening to the potential of watercolor, as brought on by Bowie and the new life that glam rock was injecting into rock and roll. My little movie (with the help of Tom Wayne) hopes to capture just a moment of this thought and set it free in the shape of a paper airplane.
Sometimes memories take on the shape of fallen comrades.
Mike McCarthy
Memphis
February 2008
Hey guys, I’ve made a few changes to my narrative……what do you think??????
I’m going to go with being the protagonist but the protagonist is a Spanish medical interpreter that provides the voice for those who find themselves sick in a foreign country: sick, hurting, and without a voice. Much like I did when Gregory first reared his ugly head in Ecuador. ANYway, I am going to shoot several encounters in the hospital (at the MED) of the interpreter bringing two very cultural worlds together (that of the Latin American patient and that of the Western, English-speaking provider) into synchronous orbit so that communication and resolution, thus healing, can begin. The interpreter then finds herself with a spliting headache, at the ER herself, then The Gregory in Me begins…….How do I piece this new information into my own understanding of the world at large and how to I, in turn, help others become agents in their own healing as a physician? Sound too bague? I’m meeting with my actors on Monday ……
WOW!
Big Thanks to Sarah Fleming for graciously offering to share her expertise with the class.
If you don’t know who Sarah is, you haven’t been following my links! shame on you!
Sarah,
I have an outline (three acts) that is collaboration with my writer friend George Takeada. I think it’s going to be called IN THE PARK. the story is based on personal experiences intermingled with Bowie symbolism (which is what I want from all the student films, plain and simple). We will begin shooting in April. I might need to call on you. Thanks, Mike
“In everyday language, “transcendence” means “going beyond”, and “self-transcendence” means going beyond a prior form or state of oneself. Mystical experience is thought of as a particularly advanced state of self-transcendence, in which the sense of a separate self is abandoned. “Self transcendence” is believed to be psychometrically measurable, and (at least partially) inherited.”
-wikipedia
When I see a movie…
I want to have a MYSTICAL experience. and YOUR characters are my guides. I don’t have to like them, I have to LOVE them.
Sarah,
Thank you VERY much for offering to help. I would LOVE a little help shooting a scene with THE Dr. Yasargil. Give me a holler, please, when you get a chance-901.233.9744 (answers in Spanish, then English-long story) I would just give you my email but my keyboard is in Spanish and the at key doesnt work! Muchas Gracias¡- Virginia
William Gibson’s “The Winter Market” concerns a filmmaker of sorts who “made it big”.
…”That’s why Kings of Sleep’s as big as it is, and why the kids buy it, why they believe it. They know.”…”She’s big because she was what they are, ONLY MORE SO” (emphasis mine)…”So she sang it for them, said it the way they can’t, painted them a picture.”…
Four-Dimensional Art
A photograph or a painting can communicate it’s message in a moment. Hopefully it will invite longer and more studied perception, but a film, like a piece of music must necessarily communicate it’s message over time. That much is obvious right?
Think of how a good storyteller takes you on a ride, keeps you hanging, revealing tantalizing details, skipping over or embellishing the dull parts, saving the best for last…
“ Holy #%&*! “, “That’s incredible!” you say, and they always come back with, “Yeah, and the best part was…!”
.
“Holy #%&*!” you say.
Now think of the way a music producer works on a mixing board. We know that the star of the show was Ziggy, but would “Moonage Daydream” have been as far out without The Spiders? Without just the right mix?
If you consider your ensemble as a band, don’t forget the musicians! If it’s a solo act, you’d better be a virtuoso, or a freakshow! or I’m outta there!…A duet has it’s own domestic dynamic, and an accapella sounds stark, dangerous, mystical, exciting, make sure yours IS. Every element of your film, and your SCENES, from the setting to the actors/characters , to the dialogue and soundtrack, the lighting, the cuts, all of these become threads in an 8-15 minute tapestry, tracks on the mixing board.
I’ve long considered editing video to be very similar to mixing music. The final product to be more like a song than a long series of still frames (which it is). But I think there’s a strong analogy between creating music, and writing and directing as well. That might seem obvious too, but if it helps to think musically when you create, (like it does me) AND if you want to strengthen the themes of the festival in your film I say listen to how Bowie/Ken Scott/Tony Visconti/et al. have told us all these stories in 4 minutes or so. Listen to the individual threads in the music, the vocals, guitars, percussion, effects. Listen to the structure of the lyrics, the song, and consider how your film is supported and your story carried along by it’s various parts. In music, extraneous noise is painstakingly eliminated.
Also, we’ve all nodded to the notion that both Bowie and his music represented some revolutionary ideas in pop culture at large and in music specifically. But have you figured out how this revolution was fought? How was the image manipulated to hold our attention over time? How did Bowie’s music sound different, and how did it sound the same? What pages did he earmark, and what pages has Bowie written in our musical lexicon? And most important, are you sharing that secret knowledge with your audience, or applying it to your own work?
We’ve heard a great deal too about the milieu and the circumstances of Bowie’s visit to MCA, and I’ve wondered, how would he tell that story?
I hope you filmmakers realize what a very unique resource and opportunity this blog is. Not as a chance to hear me pontificate, that’s easy! but as a sounding board for your own ideas, scathing critiques, snarky replies, troubleshooting advice, etc.
Once this class is over, so is the blog! Please don’t let this resource go untapped. You might be surprised who’s reading, and who answers.
…stepping off my soapbox now, to post the lab times i promised…
Mac 2, Mondays, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m.
Mac 1, Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.
I’m catching up today since I’ve been offline for awhile, so here is one last post.
Many of you have stated that you’d like to use archival footage in your projects. Here is the best resource I know for royalty-free media on the web.
http://www.archive.org/index.php
If you can’t find “Jim Jones”, look for “cults” or “News events” etc. It’s a vast library, and chances are your perseverance will be rewarded with something useful, perhaps even unexpected. Most media is offered in various download formats, find the one that matches your project, or go for the highest resolution you can handle. Just be sure to pay attention to the usage rights assigned to each bit of media, they’re not ALL free.
Happy Hunting.
Good evening to all….
As you may know my narrative is about when a stranger named Gregory comes to town (a metaphor for when Bowie came to town). Gregory is the name of my brain tumor. I know how I can cinematically represent Gregory;s big fat ass smooshing all the medial (deep) structures of my right brain because I have some MRIs. However, the exciting part of the film is when I use a device called guided imagery to basically imagine my immune cells absorbing and transforming Gregorian cells into healthy ones through meditation as outlined in Dr. Rossman;s book called Guided Imagery for Self-Healing. Sounds ridiculous, I know, but it worked. I have cut out a grey piece of paper that is Gregory. Little white cells are all around it. It subsequent shots, the white cells surround the tumor while the tumor shrinks (I make holes the size of the cells in the tumor). Can you think of any other way I could represent this process (enter question mark here, my keyboard is in Spanish and I can;t figure out where the question mark is) I;ve thought of using pasta but that might look cheezy. I thought of using people with different color balloons, I don;t know! Maybe I could download footage of PacMan….no,no……Any suggestions would be appreciated. Muchas Gracias,
Virginia
Virginia,
I think I’d like to see exactly the same imagery that guided YOU through this nightmare. As a theme it suggests a strong backbone for your script. Also I think this process of guided imagery dovetails nicely with the themes we’re exploring. I think you’ll blow our minds, (sorry!) but if you consider the real imagery “boring”, I hope you don’t forget the role of the camera. We will be exactly as interested in your subject as you are, assuming that it’s shot well. If you choose to show us paper cutouts, use lighting and angles that convey the drama and import of the event. Find the action in that scene (scissors cutting? holes punching?) and let us feel we’re participating in it. Don’t forget that you are our surrogate in the scene, react for us. One more thought, if you have a “still” function on your camera, you have the option of using stop-motion as a special effect.
good luck!
How can you not love wikipedia?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematic_techniques
What remains for us:
WEEK FOUR: Tuesday, March 18…
Andrew Earles will speak (Howard, please let’s light him like we did Dolph!)
Tom, can we “mike” him for good sound?
okay….
I’m guessing MORE critiques of FINISHED SCRIPTS will continue.
Please bring a FINISHED SCRIPT to class to read (preferably your OWN)…and be prepared to defend it based on all the brainstorming and the outline info I gave you 5 years ago.
Please also have a concise list of the following items:
ACTORS
LOCATIONS
HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO LIGHT?
DO YOU HAVE A TRIPOD?
HOW MANY SHOOT DAYS
ARE YOU FEEDING YOUR CAST & CREW?
OVERALL BUDGET (whats it costing you?)
All right kids. I admit my patience grows as thin as a certain ‘white duke’ when some of you don’t bring what I ask for to class …or folks just dont show up at all.
Class is half way over. But the shooting and editing are not. I would like to keep everyone on the same page but it grows unlikely. It would be in everyone’s best interest to take advantage of what you’re paying for and not miss any more classes. Remove this conflict from your inner life and put it in your script!
Be honest. Are you seeing another teacher on the side?
If you ever wanted to miss one more class however, NEXT WEEK is the week to do it! IT’S SPRING BREAK!!! That’s right, there is no class on March 11!
If we were on schedule it would be a perfect opportunity to go out and shoot during Spring Breake, but as it is, your ideas seem incomplete; unable to stick to paper.
A good teacher is like a good director: No one’s time is wasted. I really am trying to look out for you all and make sure you are prepared to do your thing. But you have to show up and you have to listen and then you have to shake off this thing that you were before you enrolled. It’s time to leave the capsule if you dare.
I would like to commend non-student Dan Ball the class photographer for having perfect attendance!
Buddy, I appreciate all those posts you are posting, but I don’t think anyone is reading them and they’re beginning to take on the feel of a ‘tome’; unwieldy and unappreciated. Keep ‘em flying, but perhaps closer to Earth.
See ya’ll on March 18th, 6m SHARP!
xoxoxox
McCarthy
I’ve been trying to start a fight for weeks now, and JMM is the only one who takes the bait? C’mon people.
Hey…was that really Tav Falco? Don’t worry, Howard and Mike. I can’t speak for everyone, but I do intend to get the most out of this thang. Personally, I would benefit from more discussion on screenplay adaptation. I’ll have a script for the next class for all to pick apart!
Xenon
Good morning,
Looking for a good location to shoot a young girl having a solemn ceremony for someone in her life who has died. Deserted, overgrown, maybe a wrought-iron fence. Some place like a back yard but with character…..a hidden courtyard, perhaps. A little nook hidden from view. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help.
Thanks Xenon, and I promise to try and give you the most. Can you clarify, (for me) what you mean exactly by screenplay adaptation?
Virginia,
I know I’ve seen the place you describe, but the only thing that comes to mind is perhaps some quiet corner of Elmwood Cemetery, (be respectful, IMO this is no place for guerrilla style!)…anyone else know a place?
Wow, we all have LOTS to do! Creative urges can lead us (or drive us) out of our comfort zone, and the significant amount of time we will have to dedicate to this project will take a toll on other aspects of our lives.
Everyone taking the class wants to produce something to which they can point (maybe even years later) and say “I made that!” with a satisfying sense of accomplishment, i.e. a feeling that it was WORTH DOING. Having strangers tell other strangers that our picture is WORTH WATCHING is an entirely different matter, and something I personally intend not to get too hung up on.
All the “make it interesting, don’t make it boring” provisos are well and good, but remember that even though there are thousands of megabudget BORE-movies, SOMEBODY thought every single one of them was interesting enough to produce! My point is, if you make a picture that doesn’t bore YOU, that YOU find interesting, that’s the first and most important criterion. Just be honest with yourself as you watch your own footage. If YOU find your attention slacking as you watch your own movie, that’s a sure indicator that something needs done different. If you make it fun for YOU to watch, that’s a success in and of itself!
Go forth and do good…
“Half-Jack Arith-a-metak!” — Imnigod Naribnikoff
Good points Michael, and I for one agree with you. We all became artists to satisfy our own urges to communicate.
Without going all Macluhan on you, let me add that I do believe this medium, like all others, has it’s conventions. And if we hope to communicate our vision successfully, we’d do well to be mindful of those conventions, especially if we intend to rewrite them! I’ll point you back to William Blake and say that in those “minute particulars” lie the artist’s opportunity,(obligation?)to make it personal.
I wanted to rant a bit about “memes” too, in regard to how certain ideas might be interpreted by today’s audience, but maybe that’s too much philosophy.
HG, I have edited the three Laugh Humans Laugh test clips (avi’s originally created with my Logitech Orbit webcam and QuickCam software that utilizes the un-Mac-playable IV50 codec) using Microsoft Windows Movie Maker. I just conjoined the three clips and added a simple opening title, then saved it as a Windows Media Audio/Video (.wmv) file using NTSC encoding. I saved the .wmv output file onto a USB thumb drive formatted FAT32. Do you know if this will play on a Mac or not? If not, any suggestions for alternative formatting?
Michael, You’ll need Windows Media Components for QuickTime/Flip4Mac WMV or Windows Media Player for Mac. The real question is, are either of these components installed in our lab? I’ll try to swing by the lab and answer that on Saturday the 8th. In the meantime, you can e-mail me a sample, and I’ll try it on my system.
hgrayvid AT comcast DOT net
I can’t get to movie maker right now, but call or write, and we’ll take a look at it together.
HG, in its current format the 1 min. 53 sec. ‘.wmv’ file is over 10MB, too large to email. I will try to find a place to upload it to and will send you the link if I do. If that doesn’t work out we will have to get together at a mutually do-able time and see what develops. Thanks, MRD
HG, posted the test footage .wmv on my Myspace page. You should be able to click through to it from my name link to the left… MRD
Michael, I’ve tried both mac and pc, still unable to see any video.
But, I occurs to me that Windows MovieMaker is at least as powerful as iMovie, and both provide all the basic tools, as well as the NTSC output we need. Obviously the lab only has iMovie. Both of these programs can be extended cheaply with plugins from Pixelan.
http://www.pixelan.com/index.htm
Lots of gaudy stuff there, but some useful ones include extended timewarp tools (for slo-mo), split-screen effects and “movie look” for B/W, film grain, etc.
I cannot guarantee these plugins are available in the lab, but if you’re working at home, they’re worth a look.
Finally,Windows users check this out…
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/moviemaker/expert/customprofile.mspx
Don’t worry, it only looks techie, but look, you can finally do motion screen captures! well worth the download.
Wow! I hope somebody is shooting this snow we got, talk about an otherworldly scene, for Memphis anyway!
Just curious, has anyone else tried to view Michael’s MySpace video? Still no luck here.
Hey all, I did take a few through-the-window snapshots of the snow around my house last night and early this morning. I posted four of them in the ‘Snowjob’ album on my Myspace page. MRD
Success! Everyone check out Michael’s video.
My thoughts on what I saw…
“I hope he really accentuates the fact that it’s shot with a webcam.”"The medium is the message.”"move and cheat the webcam too for effect, like closeups, pans.”
Instead of using one lighting setup throughout, you can use all those to illustrate passage of time, mood, rationality and/or radiation levels…hmm?
“People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another…a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.” The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying. Have something else going on. Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise.
“In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house,” said Alfred Hitchcock.
http://www.borgus.com/think/hitch.htm
Good info on lighting for DV here.
http://www.mediaed.org.uk/posted_documents/lighting.htm
Sound Basics here.
http://www.mapacourse.com/DVpages/dv%20sound.htm
…shut off your brain’s “noise filter” by using your camera’s headphone jack!
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No class this week, How’s evrybody doin’?
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Here’s a short article about Blocking.
http://www.actioncutprint.com/filmmakingarticle-05.html
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Not much film making activity “on the outside”. I have been too busy with work, preparing to close on my house sale (this Friday), and beginning the move/pack process. “On the inside” I’ve been mulling over a few changes to the script and trying to translate them into props, costume, makeup, locations, etc. I know there isn’t much time left til next Tue. We’ll see…
Hello all, greetings from England.
I’ve been browsing this fascinating site about your movie course.
Bowie in ’73 was the first concert I went to, Manchester Free Trade Hall, my shoe laces painstakingly painted silver.
4 years later, first day at art school, I slipped out early to get home to catch Bowie on the Marc tv show.
If anyone wants some perspective to add to their mix, feel free to email me.
Arthur
… here :
arthurz@hotmail.co.uk
So this is where you guys hide?
Thanks for the article on blocking, I never quite think I get it right, I’m glad to have the tips
Thanks Arthur! About to head to Class #5 right now! Also preparing for the Memphis International Film Fest…. talk soon, Mike
Hey Everyone, I hope the ruthless critiques and nightmare schedules haven’t scared anyone away from pursuing this thing called filmmaking. The process can be daunting, but for those who pursue it with dedication and confidence in their vision might find it to be most rewarding too.
We have only one more class to go, but I hope those of you who have decided to follow this through to completion will stay in touch afterward. As I’ve stated before, networking is half the battle. Stay plugged in to the community and don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Commencing countdown…
Mike-
I just wanted to thank you again for inviting me to your class the
other night. Unfortunately I couldn’t stay for the whole thing, but
I’m glad that I at least got to hear the president of the college
talk. He had some very interesting points and anecdotes.
Please let me know if you do anything else Bowie-related, because I
would love to take part. I’d also love the opportunity to work with
you, so if you ever need an actress or hold auditions, please let me
know!
Thanks,
Natalie
Some thoughts on the last class on April Fools night. We were left with three students on Tuesday night.
The event of Bowie’s visit to the MCA had to be celebrated. I need to make a meta-film about the event of Bowie’s visit intermingled with symbolic moments from my experiences in Overton Park. My short “IN THE PARK” has begun shooting in February.
This leads to the question of deadlines. I would love to have these finished to show by June. Sometime in June. Let’s talk about that as time goes on here.
A last note: the folks that have attended the last few courses (by various invitation) have been a god-send; potential actors, speakers, and folks hungry to help. I’ve learned from this and if I teach another class I’d like to open it up more to people I can truly draw energy from, and hopefully vice versa.
All this and Arthur C. Clarke died, I believe, two tuesdays ago. I found out from Sam in the upper gallery where Bowie stood. Quite appropriate.
Mike McCarthy
If anyone’s still reading, here’s a really useful link; should be of interest to all DIY filmmakers.
Thanx Wheat.
http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/greytipsDIY.htm