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Friday, June 01, 2012

Quick Links

6 Filmmaking Tips From The Coen Brothers | Cole Abaius | Film School Rejects
Tips from the Coen's:
Don’t Be Afraid to Offend
“‘Taste,’ says Joel, ‘has never been something we’ve worried about.’
‘We’re not big on taste,’ agrees Ethan, his grin broadening even further. ‘And actually, if you don’t pander to undue sensitivities then it ends up usually not being much of a problem. In The Big Lebowski, we dumped the crippled guy out of the wheelchair, and no one seemed to mind that. Everyone was saying, You’re going to get a huge amount of mail from disabled people about this.


Selectively De-Animating Video | Jiamin Bai et.al. | Berkley.edu
Interesting paper (and demo) about technology for greatly simplifying action in a sequence:
via Jack Nack:
We present a semi-automated technique for selectively de-animating video to remove the large-scale motions of one or more objects so that other motions are easier to see. The user draws strokes to indicate the regions of the video that should be immobilized, and our algorithm warps the video to remove the large-scale motion of these regions while leaving finer-scale, relative motions intact


8 Rules Filmmakers Can Learn From Kurt Vonnegut | Stéphanie Joalland
| Raindance Canada
Good storytelling rules:
Rule #2 – “Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.”
Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it? Then how come so many of the scripts I read don’t have a clear protagonist? Far too often, screenplays lay emphasis on a character in the first act, shift gear half-way through, drop the lead like a stone, take another one for a ride, until a newcomer saves the day in Act 3.


A Few SIMPLE TIPS For Becoming a BETTER EDITOR! - Friday 101 | Indymogul
| YouTube
For the beginning (and intermediate) editor, some good tips on basic rules of editing, including examples:
This week, Russell does his first "Chopping Block" segment, dissecting two movies submitted by viewers to illustrate a few simple tips that can help you improve as an editor: Dialogue Overlap, Cutting the Fat, and "Killing Your Babies" (Not literally, it's a film term. I swear!)


How to Build an Audience for Your Film Using YouTube (the Right Way)
| Ryan Gielen | No Film School
Social media rules:
There are three basic ways to drive eyeballs to your videos.
1. Share them across social networks, and give others a reason(s) to do the same.
2. Get postings and links from websites that already have large audiences.
3. Advertise your videos online and on mobile devices.


HOW WE FINANCED “WHEN HARRY TRIES TO MARRY” THROUGH STAGED READINGS | Nayan Padrai | Filmmaker Magazine
Raising money with staged readings; something they were told not to do. Interestingly, they turned the readings into much more than a simple reading:
We added an audio/visual element to the reading. Bhushan and I started editing a video montage with the images of the “look book.” We added music/sound effect cues to the montage. So when the actors read scenes, a plasma TV would display relevant images to add a “visual element,” such as reference pictures of locations, wardrobe, etc. To add some comedy, we even created some funny visual gags like what you see on The Colbert Report.


Working with Layered Photoshop Files in FCPX | Danny Greer | Premiumbeat
Two tutorials on working with Photoshop files in FCPX:
The guys from MacBreak Studio present an informative, and entertaining, primer on working with Photoshop PSD files in FCPX. Discover how to bring Photoshop files in as layered graphics…and add new layers to those graphics in FCPX (once new layers are added they become compound clips). You can easily identify what elements are on each layer by taking advantage of the FCPX clip skimming feature.


microRemote Remote Focus System FAQ | Facebook
A Facebook page for Red Rock Micro's new microRemote:
What is the microRemote?
The microRemote is a powerful, professional-level system for controlling focus on virtually any rig, and in any shooting situation. You can use up to 4 different controllers for maximum flexibility and reliability.


Creating an After Effects Sunrise | Rob Mize | Creative COW
A 25 minute long tutorial for After Effects:
Rob Mize shows how to create the effect of a sunrise using only After Effects and a background graphic. This project employs techniques using masks, solids, shapes and effects that can be useful for a variety of projects. Whether creating this effect or some other, After Effects is a great way to start the day.


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