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Archive for the ‘Filmmaking’ Category

On Directing: The Wrestler

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

I thought i´d start the new year with an really interesting movie: The Wrestler. Aside from my high expectations i won´t really talk about the movie itself, to be more concrete, i won´t really talk very much at all – others have done it already.

Peter from /Film had several interviewing sessions with Darren Aronofsky where he talks about the creation of The Wrestler, from beginning to end.

It´s not only interesting if you like the movie or wait for it´s cinema release, especially for aspiring directors it´s really nice to hear how Darren pulled of that movie.

But before i´ll post the links to the interviews i think the trailer would be a nice gimmick:

And here are all the five parts of the interview with Darren Aronofsky:
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V

And finally, because i wouldn´t know where to put it else, here are some videos of a round table The Hollywood Reporter held with six of this year’s Best Director hopefuls: Ron Howard (Frost/Nixon), Gus Van Sant (Milk), Ed Zwick (Definace), Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino).
Too bad Christopher Nolan is missing, but two of my absolute favourite directors (Eastwood and Aronofsky) took part:
A Discussion with The Best Directors of 2008

Well, that´s it with my “Happy new year” post…

Music Video: Aqil – R

Friday, September 19th, 2008

This week a friend of mine, Umut Dag directed a music video for Aqil from Sua Kaan.

We shot in the studio of the film academy in Vienna and besides my part as 1st A.D. i took my chance to take some great photos – a shooting always provide nice opportunities to take pictures since the light is perfectly arranged.

Here are some of the photos, you can see all of them on my Flickr page.

Monthly wrap up August

Monday, September 1st, 2008


Here the most interesting posts from August:

Screenwriting Structure Part 17: The Midpoint by Unk

Unk continues his series, this time he talks about the midpoint.

What not to pitch by Julie Gray

Julie spent two days on a pitch fest – she knows what to pitch and what rather not.

Stop blaming your cast by Clive

If your movie sucks you should probably blame the story and not the cast.

Elegant Universe: Patterns in writers by Julie Gray

A really funny post about habits different writers develop.

A Diamond in The Rough by Unk

No matter how little budget you have, no matter if your equipment is not up to date – all that matters is the story.

Screenwriting Structure Part 18: Complications and Higher Stakes by Unk

Next part deals, as the title says, with complications and higher stakes.

The Assistant Files by Julie Gray

Julie started a series where different assistants blog about their work.

3 Common Film Script Errors by Clive

Clive points out three major flaws of screenplays – avoid them in the beginning and your script will be a lot better.

The Doctor is In by Julie Gray

Wow, Julie is really busy – another series where a psychologist answers reader questions – great. This post is about grief.

How to Make it Big in Hollywood Baby! by Independent Filmmaker

What can you do to earn some credibility and get yourself known? This post gives some hints.

The “T” Word by Julie Gray

A great post about the little word “talent”.

Post Buzz Blues by John August

John answers a readers question: He made a movie and a producer got interested, but now the buzz seems to fade and no one is calling – what to do?

Great Character Profiles by Unk

Unk posts some links to youtube videos where character development is explained.

Should You Write a Short Script by Julie Gray

Would a writer benefit from writing a short film screenplay? In my opinion – yes, but read the post…

Are You Ready for Success? by Julie Gray

While asking yourself why everyone in business is so unfair you probably should ask yourself if you´re ready to be successful.

How to Write a Spec(tacular) Pilot – Step Four by Jane

In this post it´s all about the story – the series plot and the episode plot.

A Look at “The Dark Knight” Script by Mystery Man

This time i´ll end the wrap up with another Dark Knight topic – Mystery Man talks about the overwhelming screenplay about that movie.

Character Development Sheet

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

It is pretty much common sense in writing that a story needs unique and compelling characters to succeed. It shouldn´t be just talking heads, they should have depth, backstory and at the same time you don´t want to punch the audience in the face with the depth (“Look at that person and his great and compelling backstory”).

While there may exist some genius writers who don´t have to outline or structure their notes for the characters, most writers certainly do. And the common practice for a structured plot is good outlining and character development sheets.

(more…)

Software and tools for movie makers

Saturday, August 25th, 2007

I just stumbled upon a real good blog post named Filmmaker’s Tool Kit: Creating a Movie with Web 2.0. Despite the title the post does not solely deal with web tools but also stand alone software.

The article targets indie filmmakers and therefore is a great resource for beginners and semi-professional filmmakers, it´s needless to say that if you are working on a feature movie you won´t do location scouting with Google Maps, your storyboards will be drawn by professionals, not to talk about editing the movie online. Nevertheless the post contains some real good resources for filmmakers.

The only thing i missed was software you need before you really write your script, meaning story-development software like Storylines or SuperNoteCard for Scriptwriting (for a small overview how i use that tools see this article: From idea to script – Part II).