Thursday, January 28, 2016

Cool Doc. Style Part 2

Hey guys here is another one! I am getting really pumped about this style of storytelling and if the last one was cool from a style standpoint this one is cool because it answers a lot of questions we have been talking about. I think it is style agnostic or at least looks topical. They also use video in it in a really cool and interactive way. Finally it is a totally inspirational story and really gets you thinking.

Looking forward to trying this in something
The Fiction of the Science: Robert Wong (Future of StoryTelling 2013) from Mixtape Club on Vimeo.

Anyone Can Quantum

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

We all love short story telling. Dragon

As the 50 hour comes closer and we talk about keeping it simple vs. going all out I thought this short has a lot to it. It is short without leaving you wanting more, it has a nice setup and punchline, and you don't have to see the dragon to get the message. I think these are all elements we should think about when writing our story.



Dragon from Gulliver Moore on Vimeo.

Monday, January 25, 2016

Art-List.io & Musicbed Vintage

Over the past few years, we've patronized a few different royalty free music services. Just to add fuel to the fire, here are two new developments in the world of music for film...

Art-List.io is offering unlimited royalty-free tracks for an annual subscription of $199. I don't know about you but I feel like I've definitely spent two hundred bones on music just in the past few months.

Art-list - Inspiring Music For Your Films from Art-list.io on Vimeo.

And more good news from the Musicbed. They've successfully collaborated with Sun Records and you can now license music from artists like Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and Jerry Lee Lewis starting at $49.

Making Music More Accessible from Musicbed on Vimeo.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Why Props Matter

On the topic of the upcoming 50-Hour Challenge and the importance of props; not just including them but really making them a part of the story...

Why Props Matter from Rishi Kaneria on Vimeo.

"Raiders" Story Conference Script

I heard by by way of a podcast that there is a transcribed PDF of a 1978 taped conversation between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Lawrence Kasdan about the story, plot, characters in Raiders of the lost Ark. Admittedly, I haven't made it through the whole thing - it's about 90 pages long. But, so far, it's really interesting to hear the three filmmakers create a character out of thin air, talk about the beats that are necessary for an action film like Raiders, and just how they collaborate in general.

And just because it's The Stew, here's the theatrical trailer from '81.

Killing Kennedy

I recently had an opportunity to help consult on a music video for a buddy of mine. He's a photographer by trade and he was describing the setup they had for a scene that takes place at night in the woods - they had everything from four generators, a handful of 2K fresnel lights, a 12'x 12' silk, and a bunch of other really fun gear to make it happen.

The whole thing got me thinking about how relatively "light" we roll sometimes. That's not meant to be self-deprecating - I know we do what we do for very specific reasons. It also brought to mind this promo piece created for the History Channel by Variable, Killing Kennedy. It kind of blew me away to see just how much work went into this little 00:47 promo. For example, the attention to detail (they shot all the "home movie" scenes using actual film that should have expired in the 60's), the otherwise spartan set (basically a backdrop and a motorcade), and just the way everything was cut together in reverse from Lee Harvey Oswald's point of view really captured my attention.

Killing Kennedy from Variable on Vimeo.

Killing Kennedy - Behind the Scenes from Variable on Vimeo.

AWAY

The other day Wegman and I were talking about the use of VFX in Dead Dixie California, the film he's been working on for the past year or so. Specifically, the almost unreal amount of planning that's required to pull off even the most basic effects. Ultimately, the conversation reminded me of this piece from Convolv, AWAY.

Aside from the really great FX, there's a really good story behind the production. Basically, the two filmmakers were going into the project completely blind and with very little experience. You can read the full story here.

AWAY Official Trailer from Convolv on Vimeo.

AWAY VFX Breakdown from Convolv on Vimeo.