Film School Journal.com

My “Campus MovieFest” experience

Hector — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:22:42 +0000

For those who don’t know, Campus MovieFest is a yearly competition where you are provided with the equipment necessary to create a 5 minute short film in one week. Naturally, being a film student, I decided I wanted to participate. So, me and two friends from class got together for three long days to create the movie below, titled “Life Goes On.”

I wrote and directed it, while my friend Adam was the D.P. and my other friend, Jonathon, served as our actor. Pre-production went smoothly with no problems at all. I wrote the script in about an hour. We shot the entire movie on Friday the 17th, edited the video on Saturday, and did audio and color with some tweaks here and there on Sunday.

In the end the hard work was worth it. We’re all extremely proud of our accomplishment. Luckily, Campus MovieFest also liked our movie. So much so that we were awarded the Wild Card Award and will be moving on to the Regional Finals, taking place November 15-16th.

For those of you in college who are thinking of participating next year, please do. It’s a great experience that you won’t regret. Well… you might. One word of advice to you, choose your teammates carefully.

Anyways, enjoy my team’s video below. I hope you like it. If so, please spread the word. Lets get those hits up!

FreshDV Film School: Director’s Course

Hector — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 23:02:15 +0000

Tips for Working With Non-Professionals on Set

Hector — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:33:18 +0000

Kendall Miller over at FreshDV has written a wonderful article in regards to dealing with non-professionals on set. One of my favorite tips is below:

Know Your Role and Be Aware
No director or department head enjoys constantly giving orders, reminding someone of what their job is. A true professional learns how to hear what is going on, and realizes what his or her job in the big picture is. For example a DP may mention to the camera op that the next shot is moving to a dolly. A good dolly grip would hear that and immediately begin moving the dolly into position. Meanwhile the AC overhearing the same comment would begin to move the camera off the sticks. A career AC once told me you can tell a seasoned crew by watching them on short breaks; they always face into the set so they can still see what’s going and be immediately ready to move quickly.

Read the entire article over at FreshDV.

Film Festivals for October, 2008

Hector — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:44:45 +0000

October 1-12
Raindance Film Festival (London, England)

October 1-15

Italian Film Festival (Los Angeles, California)

October 2-12

Mill Valley Film Festival (Mill Valley, California, USA)

October 3-11

New York Turkish Film Festival (New York, New York, USA)

October 8-10

S2F2 - Sefton Short Film Festival (Southport, UK)

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Introducing Scrippets

Hector — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 00:39:51 +0000

Screenwriter John August came up with “Scrippets,” a Wordpress plugin which allows for properly formatted script excerpts to appear in a Wordpress post. Check out how it looks below, using a scene from John August’s GO.

INT. RUNDOWN SUPERMARKET - DAY

A cash drawer slides shut.

On the far side of the checkout stand, a STRINGY HAIRED WOMAN counts food stamps. Her eyes are sunken, black. She’s got a screaming BABY on her arm and two rambunctious BOYS in the cart. They’re wearing pajamas and raincoats.

It’s five a.m. and the store is almost empty.

Containers of frozen orange juice spin endlessly on the conveyor belt. Ronna Martin -- the girl in the ditch -- is bagging groceries.

RONNA

Paper or plastic?

She wears a green apron with a red “Yule Save More” button.

RONNA

Paper or plastic?

She’s been working for fourteen hours, and it shows. Her intonation doesn’t change at all.

RONNA

Paper or plastic?

STRINGY HAIRED WOMAN

Both.

Finally satisfied she has all her stamps, the Woman starts looking through the receipt. In the cart, the boys knock gum from the stand.

STRINGY HAIRED WOMAN

You didn’t double my coupons.

RONNA

They’re at the bottom. In red. Where it says, double coupons.

She finishes one bag and starts another. The Woman is watching her carefully.

STRINGY HAIRED WOMAN

You can’t do that. You can’t put Windex in the same bag as food. It’s poison.

Ronna fishes out the Windex and makes a big show of wrapping it in a plastic bag.

STRINGY HAIRED WOMAN

Don’t think you’re something you’re not. I used to have your job.

Ronna puts the bag in the cart. Looks her dead in the eye.

RONNA

Look how far it got you.

Pretty cool, right? I will be using Scrippets to highlight popular scenes from movies so you can see how they were written before they were filmed.

My orientation day at UCLA

Hector — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 21:01:52 +0000

The day starts with the annoying buzz of my alarm clock awaking me from my deep slumber. Clumsily, I search for the off button and let out a groan of disapproval. The red numbers glow brightly: 6:00AM. The time teases me. As I contemplate getting up, a minute passes: 6:01AM.

I sit up in my bed and internally say “It’s far too early to be awake.” But I get up and welcome in the new day. Today is unlike any other day. Today is orientation day at UCLA!

The time is now 7:30AM and I’m on my way to the campus. The drive is about 15 miles on the 405. If you’ve been on the 405 you’ll know that there is traffic on that freeway. I hope today is a special day with no traffic. Sadly, my wish doesn’t come true and I slow down to a crawl. Thankfully the traffic jam doesn’t last long and I arrive at UCLA around 8:00AM.

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What do YOU want to know? Ask me!

Hector — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 05:41:41 +0000

Is there a film making question you have? Is there a subject you just aren’t sure about and would like a clearer explanation for? Now’s your chance to ask me directly. I’m a film student, so I obviously don’t know everything there is to know but I do know where to look and who to ask to find the answer.

So if you have a film making question, send it to filmschooljournal at live.com — Ask as many questions as you want. No question is too big or too small.

Film Festivals for July, 2008

Hector — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:45:28 +0000

July 1
Midwest Independent Film Festival (Chicago, Illinois, USA)

July 1-6
Super Shorts International Film Festival (London, England)

July 4-16
Film Sharing International Low and No Budget Video Film Festival (Stuttgart, Germany)

July 7-12
Animator-Poznan Festival (Poznan, Poland)

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The role of Assistant Directors

Hector — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:32:04 +0000

The main person on a set is the director. He/she is responsible for all the creative aspects of a shoot. But the director can’t do everything on his own. For all the other work, there are Assistant Directors.

1st Assistant Director
The 1st AD pretty much runs the set. Duties include setting the shooting schedule, tracking progress against the production schedule, preparing daily call sheets, checking on cast and crew, rehearsing cast, and directing extras.

2nd Assistant Director
The 2nd AD deals with actors, putting the cast through make-up and wardrobe. They’ll usually take over the call sheet duties, among other duties, from the 1st AD.

Second 2nd Assistant Director
The Second 2nd AD deals with helping the 2nd AD and making his/her job easier by helping with the workload. Not all productions have a Second 2nd AD. Usually the large productions will have one.

Building a Prosumer Camera Rig

Hector — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:28:04 +0000

Part 1 of 3

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