Moore

17 November, 2007
film making
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A trailer and a news story got me thinking. The trailer was for an animated version of The Ten Commandments. The article was on the new trend for desktop supercomputers.

It used to be that it took many minutes for the fastest computers to produce a single frame of computer animation. For The Last Starfighter back in the 80s, the rented Cray XMP took over 40 minutes per frame. The same sort of animation can be rendered in real time on a computer costing hundreds of dollars instead of millions of dollars.

This means that we can rely on Moore’s law to deliver more than enough computer power for all of us to have virtual movie studios on each of our desks.

The bad news is that we will no longer be able to blame the lack of access to toys as a barrier to our imaginations. It’ll come back to storytelling and talent. We’ll be able to make films as obviously bad as The Ten Commandments (without the talents of the slumming voice actors).

Pixar hire those who know story and those who can animate. The software they use is designed to support creative people. It is easier to teach creative people how to use Pixar software than it is to teach computer experts how to create compelling characters and tell a good story.

Therefore all the rest of us need do is learn a lot moore about storytelling.

Trust

16 November, 2007
film making
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A tough question was asked at last week’s Sheffield International Documentary Festival. The top auteurs were asked “would you volunteer to be the subject of an observational documentary on you and your work?”

They all said no. This is seen as a matter of trust. People say that factual TV is in crisis if even the best practicioners would not trust their colleagues, how can the rest of us?

I don’t think this is a matter of trust. The people who make documentaries know that the film and the writer/director’s vision is more important than caring about the people at the core of their story. If were to make a film about a series of people looking for love, it is more important to tell the audience a useful story than to make sure the individuals involved are happy. Documentary makers know this. They will only get involved with a film if they get something out of being featured in it.

If the people you’d like to feature in your fly-on-the-wall documentary don’t want to be involved, you might as well create a fictionalised drama based on your research.

Hurry

15 November, 2007
Apple, avid, final cut pro
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Apple have announced a new version of Final Cut Express. It features the Final Cut open format timeline. You can mix DV, HDV and AVCHD on the same timeline. It’s the application for all those disappointed by the lack of fine control in iMovie ’08.

$199 for a piece of software that most people will see has a majority of the features of Avid Xpress Pro. Looks like Apple is doing all it can to create a critical mass of people who are comfortable with the Final Cut user interface. My definition of critical mass in this case is the point at which people start setting up post-production consultancies that support medium and large productions using Apple software.

I think Avid need to reduce the price of the next version of Xpress Pro to $199 with no extra bits of software. To get upgrade money from current users of Xpress Pro, they need to bundle equivalent applications that match the ones in Final Cut Studio – to make Avid Xpress Studio. They also need to make sure that all the apps have a 21st century user interface that is consistent across the suite.

My one word to Avid right now: Express!

Incremental

15 November, 2007
Apple, User interface
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Instead of waiting for Apple and post production shows, we sometimes get little Final Cut Studio surprise gifts. The incremental improvements of features and user interface.

The new version of Final Cut Pro has some shortcuts I’ve been looking forward to:

Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 includes three commands for playhead-centered zooming and navigation in the Timeline:

  • Zoom In on Playhead in Timeline: Keeps the Timeline playhead centered while zooming in (regardless of the selection in the Timeline).
  • Zoom Out on Playhead in Timeline: Keeps the Timeline playhead centered while zooming out (regardless of the selection in the Timeline).
  • Scroll to Playhead: Horizontally scrolls the Timeline so that the playhead is centered in the window.

These commands can be mapped to keyboard shortcuts using the Keyboard Layout window (choose Tools > Keyboard Layout > Customize).

It seems as if Final Cut, Motion and other parts of Studio are now comfortable with 50 frames per second sequences and content.

All I need to do is to wait for a week or so for other people to install the update to see if it is safe to use…

Quotidian

14 November, 2007
Alex, philosophy
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As I passed a local shop yesterday morning, I saw that it had been gutted. I was away in France last week, so I didn’t notice that the shop had closed down.

A local shop -2007

I have lived on the same block on and off for over thirty years. The launderette had been there all that time. Suddenly it’s gone. When I was living at home with my parents, we never had a washing machine. We had to go to our local launderette. I have many memories of that shop. A neighbour gave me a washing machine a few years ago. Since then I visited the launderette much less often. I’m sad that it has gone. We mourn the things that pass – they remind us of our own impermanence. The alternative is to celebrate change – at all scales of experience.

This sudden change in my environment reminds me that I should treasure the everyday. The nearby shops. The street where I live. I know the most valuable pictures and videos I have taken over the years have been the ones that capture elements of my day to day life. It is not difficult to remember the special events, the occasions and world travels. The slow evolution of the rest of our lives deserves to be captured.

I suggest you do something soon to capture the quotidian.

Horror genre notes

13 November, 2007
screenwriting
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For those working on horror screenplays here is my adaptation of the notes I took at yesterday’s meeting of the Soho Screenwriters writers’ group:

There are three kinds of horror film:

1. Man battles outside monster – [Jaws/Alien/Beowulf]
2. Man creates monster – [Frankenstein/The Fly (a romance)]
3. Man is the monster – [Silence of the Lambs/The Shining  (the dark side of man)] Torture (zeitgeist)

Differences in three act structure

By the end of act one it is clear who the monster is – the full extent of the horror. [Scream: a man with a mask stabs people / Alien: a big monster kills without remorse  / Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A person with a chainsaw kills people for no reason]. We may learn more about what is going on later [Poltergeist], but the nature of the threat doesn’t change. In a thriller the big event at the end of act one sets up that there is a mystery: “What is going on?”

Big event onwards – things get worse and worse (Usually first part of Act two allows for some success for protagonist before midpoint)

The third act is usually much shorter. The denouement is usually a false ending.

Detailed stages

Start with a hook – suspense from the start. [Scream: Someone on the phone with a killer]

Show hero and their flaw – make them human (thematic transformation only slight in horror)
A hero with a fear. Claustrophobia, vertigo etc. The fear they must overcome to win.

An isolated location: a trap [spaceship/house/caves] – An authentic setting that people can understand quickly. A beach, a spaceship, a house.

The hero, or a majority of the people in the hero’s group commits a transgression. The earliest horror stories are about immature heroes unintentionally trespassing in forbidden lands.

Tease audiences with ‘foreplay’ – cheap scares – cats jumping from cupboards. Is it always a real scare? Which is it this time? For unbalancing the audience. Make mental things physical. Things change shape and size. Antagonist appears in multiple unexpected places.

Act 2: Evil attacks – make sure there are at least two attacks – show how evil monster can be.

The primary aim is survival (not discovering the truth, getting the boy etc.)

The hero investigates: Find the truth behind the horror (heroes don’t run away).

Midpoint: The bravest/the leader of the group gets killed “we’re in real trouble now!”

Final confrontation: the protagonist wins over their fear and the monster. Using their brain – not their brawn.

Aftermath: everything has gone back to normal. Except the hero has changed.

Hint of a return…?

Scenes

Stephen King says that there are three levels of horror. Use at least one if not all in all of your scenes.

The first and most powerful is Terror – A character is being directly attacked. Horror happening immediately. [Psycho: the shower scene]
The next most powerful is Fear – Horror might happen at any moment. [Psycho: wandering around in cellar]
The least effective of the three is Revulsion – Horror that has already happened. Reacting to gore. [Psycho: Norman’s mother’s skeleton]

Terror is best, then try Fear, otherwise you need Revulsion. In every scene. Exhaust the audience with as many elements like this as possible.

The Protagonist

Not the most important character. There is a huge gap in power between protagonist and antagonist.

We can more easily empathise with an ordinary person, not too much depth (therefore no character arc).

The person who isn’t too funny/sexual/brave/rich/brave/intelligence… survives. The best balance of character traits wins out in the end.

The stages the protagonist goes through:
Apprehension –
Investigation –
Experimentation –
Rationalisation –
Rules of competence –
Intuition –
Rules of performance –
Absorb the evil – (may take on aspects of the monster to win out).

The Antagonist

Most important character: Create the monster first – films named after the most important character. [Jaws, Alien]

One-dimensional – one riveting contradiction
A spirit of evil – a pleasure in bad acts (you can’t reason with the monster)
Don’t explain the monster
Completely superior to protagonist (if not individually {zombies} make monster vastly superior in numbers)
Superior strength
Superior reflexes
Iconic tool (weapon)
Metaphysical powers (changing shape, locations)

These days mortal monsters more popular than supernatural forces.

Mythos more scary than monster itself (don’t show all of monster) – cheaper too. The mythos is all the tales told of the monster – its unlimited power, its unearthly nature. Praise the monster (compliments) – we get more scared of it – we feel protags have less chance [Ash praises the Alien, Quint is impressed by sharks].

Show monster’s effects in detail – don’t show monster. Once the monster is revealed in full it can finally be destroyed.

UK ID cards – why you might want one

7 November, 2007
Alex, film making, Ideas, User interface
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As part of the review of every decision made by the Labour Government under Tony Blair, it seems as if Gordon Brown is trying to find a way of forgetting all about introducing mandatory ID cards for UK citizens.

As well as the privacy issues, the main stumbling block is the cost per card. The estimates start at £80 per card and higher. That’s the cost of the card with the technical and administration overhead. The card would replace the driving licence and passport, but people forget how much they cost. They might see the fee as another tax.

A solution – if you want one… – is to get the media companies to pay for it. They want the public to have a way of proving who they are so that their media will only play for those who have paid for a license. If the BBC’s content only plays for those with UK ID cards, people will be able to distribute the files as much as they want.

For an ID card to be acceptable in the UK, there has got to be a big benefit for citizens. I would say that having access to all the media you have the rights to see and hear at any time in any place would be a big benefit. For example if I had bought the right to watch any moment from Friends without seeing any advertising on screens up to 42″ in size, I could be with friends anywhere and simply prove who I am. The media should then be streamed to the nearest flat surface for our entertainment.

Maybe an ID is worth that convenience, so much so that people from other countries might want to buy in to the UK…

Tube map visitors – a huge version

6 November, 2007
Alex, Ideas, london, User interface
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For those of you visiting from the BBC iPM blog, here is a very large version of my suggested design for the London tube map. This is a version that illustrates the system as it could be in 2012. That means a more extensive London Overground network, some DLR changes and the completion of the station changes around Shepherds Bush.

London’s underground and overground network
Click to enlarge (a lot)

For more on the design, see my page on the design of London’s tube map.

Access to tools isn’t enough

5 November, 2007
film making
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At the screenwriters group last week people were asking why the availability of digital tools hasn’t brought about a renaissance in film making. The usual reason given at the moment is access to distribution. There are many films made in the UK every year. Few get distributed.

Maybe there are two other problems to take care of. People don’t know how to write films that audiences are interested in, and people don’t know how to be producers who can recognise the right ideas and raise the money to make the films.

Undistributable films are made by bad producers who don’t recognise that they have made a film based on a script written by a writer who doesn’t understand audiences and re-written by a director who cannot write.

The alternative view might be that the writer and director do know how to write, but the director doesn’t have the skills to bring the story to life on screen. That means the producer is at fault.

Alternatively, you might have a great writer, a director who can rewrite and direct – but the film doesn’t find an audience. There are two possibilities at this point: either the distributor didn’t handle the release well, or the producer couldn’t get anyone to distribute the film.

…what these possibilities come down to is the fact that film making is a producers medium, despite the need for the industry to sell the idea of the ‘omnipotent director.’

So if writers and directors now have access to all the tools they need to make a film for much less money, the reason there isn’t a new wave of film making is a lack of good enough producers.

So, if you are in the UK, please join the New Producers Alliance. There is a industry crying out for you to get the producing skills the British film industry needs.

Let buses share the branding

4 November, 2007
Alex, Ideas, london, User interface
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…to end my short diversion into the world of public transport, one more idea.

People who use public transport rarely usually choose a train before a bus. Train maps and services are simpler to understand. They get into much deeper trouble when a line is disrupted. What are the alternative routes?

How about setting up a bus route to follow each tube line and inner suburban train line. They would have stops at major stations, and if the gap between stations is large, they’d have a stop mid-way. These routes have already been defined by the train companies: they have planned them for the case where they need to provide a replacement bus service when the line needs to be closed.

This means you can have a 24 hour service on all train lines – using buses. It is a lot easier to translate your understanding from a tube map to a set of buses that follow the same routes.

…now back to the movies…