Thursday, December 20, 2007

Turn up the contrast (or why we like crazy astronauts)

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I often hear people say how much they love a film because it is “dark.” They wax poetic about dark films because they feel that they are mo...
2 comments:
Monday, December 03, 2007

Theme Beats Logic

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“Don’t give me logic, give me emotion.” — Billy Wilder’s instructions to his writing partner, I.A.L. Diamond Let’s start to explore this ide...
2 comments:
Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The ultimate sophistication

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"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." -- Leonardo da Vinci Da Vinci’s quote on the sophistication of simplicity has been al...
6 comments:
Sunday, August 05, 2007

The Secret of Magic

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Years ago a good friend of mine was an apprentice film editor at the same time as he was learning carpentry from his father. One day the fil...
5 comments:
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

A Genius - Part 2 (or Chaplin's Blog)

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I have said it before: The people who made films "in the old days" were better at their craft than those who make them now. I have...
18 comments:
Tuesday, May 15, 2007

A Genius -- Part 1

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"I like Keaton's [films]. But Chaplin is the best of 'em all." -- Howard Hawks Charlie Chaplin was a genius. I know, I...
6 comments:
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

FLIP-FLOPS

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When I say flip-flops I don’t mean shoes. Flip-flops is the name that I give characters who are opposites, but exchange character traits. O...
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Get Rich Quick! Become a Hollywood Screenwriter!

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“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” -- Thomas Edison I was once asked to show a s...
5 comments:
Monday, January 22, 2007

Please Don’t Kill The Animals

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In the last couple of years, several animated films have used animals as major characters. Now I am told by my friends in that business that...
4 comments:
Thursday, January 04, 2007

The New Holy Grail

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People tell me about how good the stories are in games nowadays, but I have never seen this to be true. The games are exciting and the grap...
18 comments:
Monday, November 13, 2006

The Artist’s Vision

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“Why do you want to build an amusement park, they’re so dirty.” -- Walt Disney’s wife, on his idea for Disneyland For those of us born afte...
12 comments:
Friday, October 13, 2006

Target Practice

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"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." -- Mic...
4 comments:
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Hero Worship

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"One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being." -- May Sarton What happened to heroes in stories? In olde...
3 comments:
Tuesday, September 05, 2006

WHAT’S WRONG WITH EMOTIONS, ANYWAY?

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When was that last time you felt anything in the movie theater? I mean really felt something for the characters. Did you care who lived an...
1 comment:
Wednesday, July 12, 2006

SUPERIOR POSITION

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 From an interview with Alfred Hitchcock: "There is a distinct difference between ‘suspense’ and ‘surprise,’ and yet many pict...
4 comments:
Friday, June 16, 2006

"The Humble Improve"

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“The Humble Improve” – Wynton Marsalis The sketches in this blog were done by my friend Derek Thompson who works for Pixar and has sat in...
5 comments:
Friday, May 26, 2006

The Amazing Disappearing First Act

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"Learn the fundamentals of the game and stick to them." --Jack Nicklaus I hate to come back to the whole “three act” thing, but...
6 comments:
Monday, May 15, 2006

The Other Side of the Rollercoaster

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It is at this time of the year that the studios put out their big movies – their “tent-pole” films. Their marketers will call these “non-st...
Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Inkblot Cinema

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A while ago I had a talk with a musician friend of mine. He told me that he had gone to see a modern classical concert. He said that it was ...
5 comments:
Thursday, April 20, 2006

A Look Inside My Brain part 2

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Flickering Images from Marcus Donner on Vimeo . In this post I will once again explain my process while making a short documentary for...
5 comments: