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film making

Brooklyn Nights

15 June, 2007
Alex, film making, new york
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Over to NY Perks, a very nice venue in Brooklyn, for an evening of short films, including my friend Miles’s premiere of his second short film: Man Up. Got there just in time to be introduced to Jimmy Mar. He is the nicest nutter you could meet. He’s like a cross between Ice Cube and Kevin Smith, but scaled up to giant size. He’s one of the actors in Miles’s film. He and Mr. Robinson are developing a feature film that combines elements of ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ‘Friday.’

The first thing we saw was a trailer for a film with an unusual love triangle. Between a man, a woman and god…. The first short we saw was Squirrel Man by Jeffery Lynn Shepherd. This award winning short uses comedy and action to tell an age-old story in an original way. Once you see this film, you’ll never see feeding squirrels in the park in the same light.

Miles’s film, Man Up came next. It had the same themes as Squirrel man, but was just as unpredictable and original. I would be suprised if you could predict the ending of this one!

The third film was another award-winner: Gabrielle by Stephanie la Keem Jones. This touched on completely different themes – to do with fate and choice and taking the rough with the smooth. It had the feeling of a Twilight Zone episode…

The next projects therefore are the Jimmy Mar project, and a horror film that Miles has the ideal location for…

I also met the lovely Arie Thompson, who is launching an EP at a party next week in Manhattan. She seems like a real go-getter. She had an idea a few weeks ago, put it in motion, and next week she launches more music out into the world. I know it shouldn’t matter, but she’s even more beautiful in person.

Getting to know you

14 June, 2007
editing, film making, screenwriting
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Went to MPEG this evening for Bill Pankow‘s editing masterclass.

He showed clips from the films he’s worked on over the years – including a deleted musical number from the Black Dahlia – burnt onto a DVD from his Avid this very morning.

Here are some of the things he said during and after the seminar.

If you have to choose between making a smooth cut between to a performance that isn’t so great and a jarring cut to the best performance, go for performance very time: “Performance is King… or Queen”

When you’re up for a job editing a film with a director that’s new to you, you get to close the deal by having a short interview. These last for twenty minutes or so, and revolve around the screenplay of the proposed film. As the editor, you should have read the screenplay and be able to come up with various complimentary things to say about it. Bill says that you on to a pretty sure thing by saying that the third act needs a lot of work, because the third act always needs a lot of work.

The director will want to know how forceful you’ll be about any ideas you want to contribute. Some directors what editors who will challenge their conceptions of the film, others want a pair of hands who won’t volunteer any of their own ideas. It’s up to the individual editor to work out if they can be one or the other. The main point of the meeting is to see if you’ll be able to get on with each other over a period of many months working together.

When starting a job, Bill likes to read around the subject. Sometimes the books are quite tangential to the source of the screenplay story, but he never knows what elements will bubble up from his reading and influence his ideas when making editing choices about the film.

Bill says that editors “make a large contribution to the writing of films.”

The highlights will be posted at the new section of the Manhattan Edit Workshop website known as ‘The Vault’ – a place where you can access clips of many famous editors talking tradecraft at previous masterclasses.

Redonkulous deal memo

13 June, 2007
editing, film making
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Jamie’s word of the week: Redonkulous. A fair description of the editor’s deal memo I’ve concocted. It’s for an imaginary editor with a lot of clout, because I was challenged not to leave anything out. Here is my attempt:

A huge deal memo

This is inspired by the course that I’m on, and by my friend Matt Davis, who’s helping me get more professional. I’ve been working as a freelance designer and editor for over seven years now, and have never needed any kind of contract. I’ve been very lucky with the clients I’ve worked with. The advantage of a document like this is that it codifies the agreement editors have with production companies.

That’s the health warning, it’s an approximation that is a good starting point for negotiation (once you’ve removed the clause about business-class travel to premieres)…

…for non deal-makers, at least you now have a new word to play with.

Let’s go and see a documentary about Bolivian illegal immigrants…

12 June, 2007
Alex, editing, film making, new york, screenwriting
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…you might want to see this one!

Donna took me along to Paula’s place near the Lincoln Centre to see a rough cut of ‘La Americana.’

This is the docmentary to see if you want to explore the dilemma millions of people all over the world face: Choosing between being with those you love and supporting those you love.

What would you do if you had to go hundreds or thousands of miles to earn money to support your family. Some people don’t see their families for months on end. For illegal immigrants, months can stretch out into years. Imagine leaving your daughter at home and taking the huge risk of attempting to enter the USA illegally in order to earn money that can’t be found in your native Bolivia. What if you left your daughter when she was six, and she was about to turn 15. Imagine how much of her life you’ve missed out on. What if by returning home you cannot support your family any more?

That’s the story of ‘La Americana’ – by Nick Bruckman, Jesse Thomas and John Mattiuzzi.

The film looked very professional: the ‘rough sound mix’ was perfectly fine, with lots of good music; the picture quality was great; the scenes were edited very well and flowed into each other very well. All there is to do is to sort out the structure a little: to concentrate on the primary story to be told.

The reason I’ve venturing an opinion is because the team from People’s Televison, the production company, came up with a detailed questionnaire for the audience that I enjoyed filling in. Of course they basked in the compliments, but the also invited detailed feedback on sections of the film that could do with some improvement.

Most of my ideas were about structure – which came from my understanding of screenplays. I hope my feedback was useful.

Collateral research

10 June, 2007
editing, film making, screenwriting
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A good aspect of the advanced six week course at Manhattan Edit Workshop is the practicality: our weekend homework is to come up with a good deal memo for editors. Instead of first looking on the net, I went to the local B&N. I found some interesting clauses from some interesting books. I’ll post my final version very soon.

I also looked at some other books in the film section. One of which caught my eye.

As I can control the rights to Quentin Crisp’s literary works, I was interested in book called How to adapt anything into a screenplay. The book was OK, but didn’t lend itself to helping me with my project, but there were some good outlining tips. Here are some I though were worth taking note of:

A. What single word encapsulates the theme?

B. What is your pitch sentence: “What if… And then…”

C. Answer these seven big questions

1. Who is the main character?
2. What do they think they want? What do they in fact need?
3. Who/what keeps them from getting what they want?
4. How do they succeed in an interesting/unusual/original way?
5. What are you trying to say be ending the story in this way?
6. How will you tell the story (voiceover/flashbacks/unifiying filmic devices: colour, symbols)
7. How do characters change over the course of the story?

If you can’t answer all these questions, please don’t start writing your script!

The last restructure

9 June, 2007
editing, film making, screenwriting
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This morning was about an introduction to post-production workflow. That turned into a debate on how much to charge, how long to estimate a job could take, and the relevance of understanding the technology of post.

For a 90 minute low-budget feature where the editing starts after principal photography, the first two weeks are about getting to a first cut. The rest of the time is a debate with the director about how to make each successive cut better. Shot selection won’t change. Most performance selections will happen in the first couple of versions. The rest of the debate is about story strcuture and reordering scenes and reducing running time.

The last re-write! How many editing courses feature screenwriting structure…?

A hulking spelling error

8 June, 2007
Alex, film making
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This morning was about documentary. To inspire us in our task of editing eleven minutes of verité footage down to a sixty second vignette, we were shown a bit of ‘American Dream’ by Barbara Kopple. It is the tale of a meatpacking plant’s attempt to save money by laying off workers and hiring others at reduced rates. It’s workers against the long-term unemployed in a small Minnesota town. It was edited like a feature – with even shorter scenes and bigger elisions between scenes (they ended scenes as soon as possible, starting the following scenes as late as possible in the action). For the first 90 seconds I was trying to work out how things were shot. After that, I started to care about the people involved and their story.

We also saw some clips from ‘Pumping Iron’ – a film that illustrated the world of body-building in the seventies by manufacturing a rivalry between Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The battle was won long ago: my spell checker knows how to spell ‘Schwarzenegger’ but not ‘Ferrigno.’ The clips showed how each man was shot and edited in wildly different ways so as to increase the contrast between them.

We also watched the beginning of Woody Allen’s ‘Husbands and Wives’ – because it used the visual conventions and structure of documentary techniques. The first 10 minutes looked great. I’m looking foward to checking it out.

Panel beating

8 June, 2007
film making, new york
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Miles couldn’t make it (he’s preparing for his premiere next Thursday), but I did. Here are my unedited notes:

Thursday, June 7, 2007 – 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Movie Magic: Filmmaking Techniques to Develop your Game

Leba Haber Rubinoff (Interactive Film Director) (Moderator)
Sabrina Gordon (Editor, Beyond Beats and Rhymes)
Melissa Ulto (Writer, Actress, Editor, DJ, VJ)
Edwin Decena (Director, Transformations)
Trevor Baldwin (onfumes.com)
Choke No Joke (Director/Producer, I Am Choke No Joke)
Matt Smith (Producer, BET’s Rap City)

What do filmmakers need to know to succeed?
Sabrina Gordon
Know how to tell a story. Learning software is easy. Story is hard. Learn from film. Of all kinds. Don’t bring a bag of tapes to your editor. Be open to your footage leading you into a new direction. Find an editor who is like-minded, knows your demographic.
Melissa Ulto
Editing is very important. Directing is more than collecting assets.
Edwin Decena
The art of orchestrating your resources: audio, video, crew.
Trevor Baldwin
Find the purpose of the film. Tell your story from different points of view. Execution is problem solving.
Choke No Joke
Watch your footage, find your story. Then take your script to your editor. To tell the editor what you want, you have to know what you want. Study what you want to know. If you have no money – work for free.
Matt Smith
Persistence and creativity. Don’t give up.

How to learn
Sabrina Gordon
I worked for free at documentary production companies. Still don’t know names of bits of equipment. Once you are on the job, the film school difference isn’t that great. If you didn’t go, you know you know nothing. A filmmaker might set up a company to make a film. Deal with the fact they might not be great at interpersonal relationships and politics. You can make it seem naive, but don’t be naive! Prepare, then you can explore the subject.
Melissa Ulto
A lot of heartbreak. Your heart will break to some extent with every project. Get ready: it’s a bumpy ride. You have to fight your fight. We bring the truth for those people who can’t. It’s like giving birth! Use the internet to monetize your work. Think bigger. Not just a DVD. The same footage in many different formats. Look to where the future is going.
Edwin Decena
To learn how to make films, make film. Learn about all aspects. Pitching, writing, shooting, post-production. Music videos a good launch pad. Had to focus on simple stories in a specific period of time. Effects and performance can hide mistakes while you learn. Once you have your own style…
Trevor Baldwin
Develop a thick skin. Keep knocking on doors. Too many people need to sign off on saying yes. Make spec commercials. Base them on standard taglines. Got job making real ads. Some ideas ripped off.
Choke No Joke
Modeled and appeared in music videos. Took camera to shoots. Did his own versions of Hype videos. Copied Hi8 onto VHS. Edited tape to tape. Shot at The Tunnel. Dre and Snoop at the tunnel. Produced DVDs. Learned by watching others. NEVER go to the head of your company over your boss!
Matt Smith
Went to film school. Worked at a bank. Started as runner in Hollywood. Being reliable. If you do well with something small, you are trusted with something big. Learn how to work with people. Ask if you don’t know. Be humble.

How do you visualise a film based on someone else’s script. Do you make a shot list? Do you create storyboards?
Edwin Decena
Read, read and re-read your source. You might find a different way to tell it. Base your plans on what you can afford to do. Get the spirit of your story. What is the premise? Absorb the story. Retell it the best way.
Trevor Baldwin
Make sure your producer is being cost-effective. Once place you know might act as six locations in your script. Producers are doing their best, but add your own insights. Have a deep understanding of the premise.
Choke No Joke
Your producer will get your team. He’ll find the people to help you visualise your film. Be clear how you imagine your scenes.

How do you protect your ideas?
Melissa Ulto
The internet counts as ‘first publication’
Trevor Baldwin
Have another idea. Chalk up losses to experience.
Choke No Joke
Make sure they sign your confidentiality agreement

The technology has exceeded our abilities. Movies are behind music in terms of expression. Does technology add to expression?
Melissa Ulto
We’re developing a few .tv domains. New forms of distribution. Video is going to be everywhere. Content is king. Less money than traditional money. You’ll be able to make a modest living. It is democratic. Lots of dollars leaving broadcast
Trevor Baldwin
onfumes.com is for upcoming filmmakers and upcoming artists to get together. People vote for the best monthly.
Choke No Joke
Online can be very lucrative. $1500 to license 60 seconds of old footage. If you shoot good stuff.

Social justice is what I want to make films about. How do I not sell out?
Sabrina Gordon
There’s no money in those films, so difficult to sell out. I’ve turned down jobs that don’t fit my ideals. Can you afford to live your life based on these choices? I did graphic design while working for an investment bank while working as a part time documentary maker. In the US, socially conscious subjects are not supported. Find other sources of income
Edwin Decena
“Concerning matters of style, flow like a river, in matters of principle, stand like an ox”

How can I raise money on a non-mainstream idea?
Melissa Ulto
It’s a business. I need to pay the rent. If you can’t deal with business, get a partner who can. The people who last have built a foundation. Then you can last for years and years
Choke No Joke
Make the choice. Either you maintain your integrity or you don’t. If you don’t want the politics, get the money yourself.

How can we pay a little less for our music?
Melissa Ulto
Splicemusic.com – many sites can be a lot cheaper. Look for licensable music on the web. Commission your own music from up and coming artists
Choke No Joke
Find producers who don’t sample.

Footnote for old-old-school hip-hop fans. Roxanne Shanté was sitting behind me. I gave her and her friends some flyers for the bit of the JVC Jazz festival that’s happening at the Langston Hughes House.