Yulelog III - The Director's Commentary

"As a filmmaker I've always been fascinated by how music influences a fertile imagination...."



I love this kinda stuff. Happy Holidays everyone.


H/T Myron Hyrak

Listless

I am not big on 'Best Of...' (year, decade, century) lists, but was encouraged to jot down my top TV shows of the 2000's (00's?). It's not a best of list as much as a recognition of certain programs/series I watched consistently. Some were even "appointment television", though in this day and age of DVD box sets and the internets, appointment TV is a term that will soon be parked in the What's that? section, beside the 'rotary dial phone' and 'VHS tape'.

So...on with the shows.


Arrested Development - the Bluth's
30 Rock - I like to go to there
Curb Your Enthusiasm - What? What?!
The Office UK - mock doc rock
South Park - ample parking day or night
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Whedon
Veronica Mars - Thomas
House - Laurie
Six Feet Under - death entertaining
Breaking Bad - meth entertaining
Lost - flashbacks and flash forwards
The Sopranos - The Chosen One
Law & Order or Law & Order: Criminal Intent - anytime comfort food


Jekyll and Life On Mars...brilliant but limited. Dexter burned bright but faded too fast for me. Firefly was great but didn't last long enough to count in my opinion. Really enjoy Mad Men, but not blinded by the love. I haven't yet got through all of Deadwood, The Shield, Battlestar Galactica, Friday Night Lights, or The Wire - all are excellent but I can't in good faith include though they certainly deserve mention. And if live NFL football, Leafs hockey, and PGA golf can be considered shows or programs...well, I watched a lot of that too. I'd also add The Daily Show and The Colbert Report but this didn't turn out to be that kind of list.

Doh! I said it: List!

Like Screwing Up Mashed Potatoes

I watched this last week and found it immensely entertaining. But then I watched it again today and decided it really is worth sharing. A review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - a loonnnnng review...but stick with it. It's very funny and kinda surreal yet perceptive and educational even - it should be required viewing for every Film School student.

Part One is here:




Parts 2 - 7 can be found in the related videos to the above clip. Enjoy.


H/T Trevor Cunningham

Not, The *Naughty* List

Even though it looks bad...the beard, the packages, flying without a passport...this is one suspect Jack Bauer can't break with his 'interrogation' techniques.





H/T Jill Sampson

I'm Not Kidding About How Good I've Been

Still my favourite Xmas TV special of all time (though last years A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All now runs a close second), Pee Wee Herman's list for Santa is some holiday season Friday Fun.



Because it makes me smile.

Quintuple Lavender

"We'll fix it in post." -- the five most expensive words EVER!

This Hitler clip has been used a zillion times, but you gotta love it being used as the setting for the final production meeting of the TV series Cra$h & Burn's first season.




And if you play in the Canadian TV series sandbox, there's the added bonus of recognizing some of the names involved with the show. Big tip of hat to writers J. May and J. Beasley and editors G. Tucker and T. Seaborn...bang on good.

Also should mention clip was found on a new Facebook Group 'Overheard On Set'. Check it out. Funny!

Viral. Anti-Viral.

Nice compilation of ads or videos HERE that took the internets by storm this past year. Most accomplished what they set out to do, like Volkswagon's 'Fun Theory' piano stairs...




...but some were of the epic fail variety.




I'm glad this campaign wasn't 'my idea'. Lucky for Microsoft they're already popular.

So Go And Hug A Tree

Cartman sings Pa-pa-pa-Pokerface...Friday Fun perfection.



(full length version HERE)


Because it makes me smile.

More Elves, Please?

Another semester done. Another room full of screenwriting students out the door with a half hour draft under their arm and their spirit not broken too badly I hope. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or so I've been told. And as Neil Gaiman says more eloquently than I ever could with this advice for aspiring writers...it's just putting one word after another.



You're welcome.


H/T Trevor Cunningham

One Gift To Rule Us All

It's -34. Times are tough. Work is slow. The current CRTC hearing is just another series of repetitive presentations seemingly making no forward progress. Depressing much?! Take all that into consideration and even a Michael Bay ad can be a pick-me-up. Michael Bay + Victoria's Secret + explosions, that is.



A thousand short films could've been made with the budget of this 90 second spot...how's that for a fantasy!

Let's Make Apple Juice And Fax It To Each Other

Beyond trippy. Seriously. And a wee bit NSFW. But fun. Friday Fun.





Because it makes me smile.

Big Electric Kitty Music

I actually wanted to post Big Electric Cat (which I used as the soundtrack for my first student film way back when - seriously, listen to it...wicked), but embedding was disabled by request...so I'm Down, as also performed by Adrian Belew.

See belew.



Crazy busy week continues...but into home stretch.

Everybody Gots To Go...Sometime

Okay, it's not from Ya Ya's, but it still rocks.



Busy week. Back shortly.

Really? Oh. I See.

I always thought this song was called "Cloudbursting".



Still like it though. The video too. And what's in a title, anyway.

This Is Not A Challenge, This Is An Opportunity

When you make your living as a creative freelancer, you're constantly getting asked to work on spec, as in: "Could you do this for us and if we get any traction there will be some work/money in it for you down the road." The future employment, that's always the carrot dangled in front of your nose.

And when you're starting out, you do need to take on some of those freebies. Because you need to get noticed. Because you need to show what you've got. Because you need to start building professional relationships. But the problem so many of us face is that even after doing it successfully for years, decades even, you'll still get the "We've got no money, but could you whip something up?" calls.

The following are two Friday Fun examples of what you wish you could say instead of "Sure thing. I'll get right on it." They're from the worlds of advertising and graphic design, but they absolutely apply to screenwriting or making TV.

The first is a hilarious e-mail exchange between David Thorne and a prospective client. It's from Thorne's website 27b/6 .

An excerpt:

From: Simon Edhouse
Date: Tuesday 17 November 2009 4.10pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Logo Design

Anyone else would be able to see the opportunity I am presenting but not you. You have to be a f*cking smart arse about it. All I was asking for was a logo and a few pie charts which would have taken you a few f*cking hours.


From: David Thorne
Date: Tuesday 17 November 2009 4.25pm
To: Simon Edhouse
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Logo Design

Dear Simon

Actually, you were asking me to design a logotype which would have taken me a few hours and fifteen years experience. For free. With pie charts. Usually when people don't ask me to design them a logo, pie charts or website, I, in return, do not ask them to paint my apartment, drive me to the airport, represent me in court or whatever it is they do for a living. Unfortunately though, as your business model consists entirely of "Facebook is cool, I am going to make a website just like that", this non exchange of free services has no foundation as you offer nothing of which I wont ask for.

Regards, David.


Go read the rest of the transcript HERE, with pie charts and everything. Simply brilliant.



The other example is in the same vein and pretty self explanatory. And pretty funny.




Because they make me smile.


H/T Matt MacLennan H/T Jay Robertson

There Are Two Things I Know Are Going To Sell. The Sexy, And The Awful

Seriously seriously NSFW, but Louis CK thinks about the future...funniest thing I've seen in ages.



"I kinda don't think my career is going to keep going up. I think it's going to start declining."


H/T Rob Sheridan

NEMESIS!

Still jammed up, but here's some short film awesomesauce from Norway.



Good visual storytelling trumps any language barriers. And like Bonnie Tyler, we all need a hero.

Keep An Eye Out For Ya, Stingray!

I'm jammed up with writing and story editing and teaching, so only have time to put up a clip that should give hope to emerging filmmakers everywhere. As in, if this got made, maybe your 'avenging your sisters death at hands of crazed martial arts rapist' movie will get made someday too.



Undefeatable!

We Need To Make The Logo Bigger, But Feel Smaller

Friday Fun has to be this hilarious look at an advertising agency pitch session starring: The Account Exec; The Clients; and The Creatives.




Because it makes me smile.

H/T Sean Embury

Film Director Gets Schooled In TV

The CRTC hearings are melting my brain, so it was a nice diversion to read this entry from director Justin Lin, mostly known for directing features (The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious), relating his first foray into directing television on the comedy series Community.

Going in, I had some preconceptions of shooting in television. I had heard that TV moves much faster than feature productions. And since I came from the indie world, I thought I’d be used to it. But the reality is that TV is like shooting an indie film on steroids but with a studio and network right there with you. Forget Jenny Craig, if you want to really lose weight go shoot a TV show. Not only is time money, you better go in knowing what you want because things will shift and if you don’t know the core of what you’re trying to achieve, you’re in trouble because you’ll have no time to figure it out.

Before we go on I want to make sure I don’t overstate the position of the episodic director. In feature land the director is like Magic Johnson (and for you kids Lebron James). But in TV land the episodic director is like Michael Cooper (or Anderson Varejao). The creator and the writers are what drive the engine. The director of the pilot establishes a visual style and tone for the show. The actors are responsible for crafting and honing their characters as they grow from episode to episode. The job of the episodic director is to come in, learn as fast as possible the essence of various aspects of the show and deliver them within the confines of the specific episode without hopefully missing a beat.

Lin then goes onto say something very interesting.

The other thing I learned is that television is the one lone standing medium where one has to earn their way. This might sound obvious but we do live in an era now where anyone can pick up a camera and proclaim themselves a “filmmaker”. They can’t do that in TV.

In feature world as long as one can get their hands on funding or equipment they can set out to tell a story. There’s no way a person can come in and be a writer or create a show without some body of work to back them up. A feature film production can average two to three pages (about two to three screen minutes) a day but in TV it’s doubled most of the time. In feature world filmmakers spend usually at least a year to complete two hours of film but in TV they have to produce eleven hours of quality content for a half hour show in about 25 weeks. There is independent cinema but there’s no such thing as independent television.

In Canadian TV try triple the page count a day!

Speaking from experience, I couldn't agree more. It was a serious 'holy crap' slap in the face moment moving from independent movie/one-off production to the careening almost out of control train that is series TV...first as a director then as a writer/producer. The 'reality' vs. the preconception was almost overwhelming. Note I say 'almost' - you either embrace it or avoid it. I embraced it.

But when I teach film and TV production or screenwriting, I always feel like the students leave class never really grasping much less appreciating how massive an undertaking it is to write, produce, shoot, edit, and get to air a season of a TV series. The crew and cast may be the same size, but the fact that production goes on and on for the better part of a year while delivering the equivalent of ten or twenty quality feature films, it's near impossible to execute and deliver without an experienced leader and qualified team who have battled through the gauntlet time and time again. Not to negate the work involved in producing a feature film, but Lin speaks the truth...getting a feature made doesn't ever really prepare you for the making of a TV series.

Though there's many in the feature world that would like you to believe otherwise.

Read the rest of Lin's post HERE.