Would using a star filter for cinematography be too weird?

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. It's just difficult to write a short that is so short though, and have a full beginning, middle and end story. Write now I have a script for one that is 14 pages. I can try that perhaps, and maybe I can cut it down some in editing.

I was told by other filmmakers I worked with though in the past, to get better actors and a better DP, and if I pay more for those, even if it means bringing them in from different cities, it will really pay off talent wise, if they are right?

[Josh Bass]

Here's the thing...you're not trying to be a WRITER, right? so who cares if it's a beginning/middle/end traditional three-act structure?

Do a simple 3 minute scene.... the idea is to practice working with actors, blocking, pacing, putting shots that work well together and flow, etc. DIRECTOR skills.

It can be a vignette/slice of life/isolated scene.

You wanna work on action/horror? Create a single horror/action scene. Who cares about how they got there or where they're going after?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks, I actually tried that, just write one scene with two scenes. But people said they didn't wan to make it. I was told by a couple that it was just because it's only a scene and not story. So I was not able to generate interest that way. Funny thing is, that after that I wrote an 11 page script, the time travel one I posted the finished product on here before, and that one generated quite a bit more interest in comparison. Could it be that a whole story has a better chance?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

You keep asking us these questions but it doesn’t matter what we think. Either you have the ability or you don’t. This is a sink or swim industry based on results. Making a feature film is complex and difficult process that needs a lot of things to go right to be successful. While it might make for interesting topics of conversations on a message board, it all comes back to whether you have the ability.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. Well I think what I need to work on is schmoozing. Like getting location owners to say yes, being able to get a much better DP to say yes, or better actors, like I was told to get, etc.

Or I could just hire someone who is good at schmoozing to do a lot of for me. But I think that is what I have to do first and foremost, for things to go better, and turn out a better product.

Another thing is, I feel whenever I think outside the box on how to fix a problem, I am then told do not do that, so that makes things more difficult for me. It's like when I said maybe I should co-direct the feature, to make things easier but then was told it's a bad idea, or how I asked what if I produce it only and let someone else direct for a first feature, but was told producing a feature without having directed one first is a bad idea. So I feel that whatever ways I try to come up with to make it better for myself, I am told will just make it worse and to direct the entire thing therefore.

[Brian Drysdale]

I'm not sure how you're coming up with these things. No one said producing isn't a good idea if you've never directed, there are plenty of successful producers who have never directed anything. Producing is a different job, which shouldn't be regarded as practice as a director, although some producers can't let go because of the amount of time and effort involved to get a film into production , but that;s another matter.

Co directing isn't thinking outside of the box, people were pointing out that it mightn't be what you think it is.

Multi screen should be used with care, there some 1960s films that use it, but it tends to be used as part of the style of the whole film. It can be distracting and draw attention to itself, without having any emotional impact on the audience. Works best if you've got Steve McQueen cool,

[Ryan Elder]

Oh I was told that by a filmmaker before do not produce a feature if you haven't directed one yet... But if it's not true, it's not true.

There is also another technique I want to try for a possible next project, if I can get it off the ground. In the plot a cop is waiting for back up and is trying to get the go ahead to search the villains residence, and inside the villains are trying to clean up all the evidence, and then escape.

I thought I could show this using a split screen effect, the cop waits for back up and a warrant, while the villains clean up and try to escape before back up arrives, on a split a screen. However, when it comes to timing the two, does anyone have any advice, on how to get the timing correct, so one is not more short than the other if they are being shown simultaneously, as oppose to cutting back and forth between the two? I thought it would be a good experiment to try.

When it comes to shooting the split screen, I will still frame the shots as if it is 1.85:1, because that way in the editing, if a split screen is not the way to go, then I still have the shots framed in 1.85:1, along with the rest of the movie, just in case.

[Brian Drysdale]

You can experiment, just be aware that how an audience views something mat be different to how you view it,

Best training for a producer is a law degree,

[Ryan Elder]

That's true. How does a director know how an audience would view something compared to themselves? I always feel that I best tell it how I feel the audience would want to see it, but is that not a good way to go, since it seemed I was wrong before?

[Brian Drysdale]

You can't tell how an audience will react until they watch it. That's why they make films that fail at the box office, they don't plan for it and that's despite of some of them not being bad films.

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah true, I guess I can just do the best I can and hope for the best. I was told before on here that I tend to over-analyze things. Does that sound true though?

[Paul R Johnson]

Ryan as making ‘normal’ films is such a problem and don’t yet have that ability your split screen idea seems foolish in the extreme and already instead of planning the story telling you’re thinking picture ratios and pixels. Story first! The only ones I remember being good to watch involved a plot where time and how multiple scenes played out coming towards a common aim. A disaster counting down so seeing multiple time lines heading for it added pace! I’d avoid this till you can handle basics like your martial arts project. If you cannot sort this simple product there’s little hope for complex ones!

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay well I thought I would try something new, but isn't split screening part of planning the story though? But why is it that your mind went from split screening not being part of the story to being about pixels and ratios? What can I do to make people think it's part of the story therefore?

[Brian Drysdale]

Get inside the head of your characters and use the camera, action and art direction to reveal them. So far you're just giving cinematic mechanics, you need the audience to emote with your characters. Sometimes not showing things and letting the imagination run works better than showing everything.

Story is nothing to do with split screening, at the most it's just a way of doing the plot

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Good lord! We’re now on to split screens and he wants to be a producer. I imagine him reaching into a hat each day and randomly picking a new job title and cinematic effect.