Posts Tagged ‘film students’
Akira Kurosawa: Breaking Down the Master’s Directing Techniques
Akira Kurosawa – The Master of Masters Some of my favorite directors of all time are Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher, and of course Akira Kurosawa. Ever since I watched the Criterion Collection Laserdisc (yes I’m old) of Seven Samurai and Rashomon I was hooked. Even in high school I knew that no one else in the world…
Read MoreRobert Rodriguez Interview: How to Build a Indie Filmmaking Empire
Robert Rodriguez and How to Build a Filmmaking Empire You can’t say indie film without saying Robert Rodriguez. I’ve been a HUGE fan of how Robert Rodriguez makes his films for a long time. His legendary film “El Mariachi” was released when I was in high school and changed my life. Since then he has gone…
Read MoreRobert McKee: Master Class on the Craft of STORY
Robert McKee: Master Class on the Craft of Story If you haven’t heard of Robert McKee then you’re in for treat. Robert McKee is what is considered a “guru of gurus” in the screenwriting and storytelling world. He has lectured on storytelling for three decades, and his book Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting (FREE AUDIO…
Read MorePete Docter: How to Craft a Remarkable Story the Pixar Way
The Pixar Way: How to Craft a Remarkable Story with Pete Docter I’ve been a fan of Pixar Studios films ever since I first saw “Toy Story.” The ability that Pixar has to tell an amazing story in uncanny. After that film I started studying every Pixar movie that came out. It seemed that they had…
Read MoreFREE Screenwriting Master Classes: Top Ten List
Screenwriting Master Classes: Top Ten List What you are about to listen to is probably the equivalent of taking at least five years of screenwriting courses or classes at a top tier film school. BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts) has an amazing collection of FREE screenwriting lectures from some of the…
Read MoreTop Ten Best Screenplays Ever Written
Top Ten Best Screenplays Ever Written If you want to be a screenwriter you have to read screenplays. There’s no better place to start than then reading the masters of the craft. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) published this list of the top ten best screenplays ever written and I would have to agree. My personal…
Read MoreDavid Fincher: The Ultimate Guide to His Films and Directing Style
David Fincher: The Ultimate Guide to His Films and Directing Style 1999 was a watershed year for people in my generation, as it no doubt was for other generations as well. On the eve of the new millennium, we were caught in a place between excitement and apprehension. The 21st century loomed large with promises…
Read MoreScreenwriting Books You Need to Read – Top Ten List
Top Ten Screenwriting Books You Need to Read 1) Screenplay by Syd Field The first book I ever read about screenwriting. Field is the forefather of the how to for screenwriting. He cracked the code of the three act structure and paved the way for all others screenwriting gurus that would follow. As far as…
Read MoreWATCH: Why the First Act of Every Film Is The Same!
Why the First Act of Every Film Is The Same! It is surprising that the first act of most movies are normally the same, the way they set up the character as part of the storyline for the film. Most films show these five things, although maybe not in this exact order. Check out this…
Read MoreLessons Learned from Winning a Screenwriting Competition
Winning Screenwriting Competitions: Lessons Learned Years ago when I received word that my screenplay, Control; Alt; Delete, had won not one but two screenwriting competitions, I believed that all the hard work, years of struggle, self-doubt, and rejection had culminated to a glowing achievement that would forever wash away the specter of failure: I had…
Read MoreMichael Bay: Directing Hack or Genius?
Michael Bay: Directing Hack or Genius? Every indie filmmaker who knows anything about films loves to hate on Michael Bay…or do they? Over-the-top he may be, but is Michael Bay really the worst director alive? I know we are all a bit tired of watching giant robots beat the hell out of each other. With that…
Read MoreHow to Make Robert Rodriguez’s Guacamole Gun
The first time I ever heard of the “Guacamole Gun” was watching Robert Rodriguez’s 10 minute film school on DVD for the third part of his El Mariachi series “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” (he developed it first in his and Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn) Robert talked up the Guacamole Gun something fierce, saying: “The Guacamole Gun…
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