My writing partner and I were arguing about a scene in a new screenplay. It’s a time-travel piece, and he wanted to explain all the technical steps that lead a character to have a conversation with someone from his distant past. …(Read the rest)
Recently I picked up a multi-rotor drone to carry my HD camera. I’m having fun flying my drone, but now my videos feel all the same: running along a straight line, go up and take a 360, fly really low almost …(Read the rest)
Talking about “Story” scares people. That’s because screenwriting books are filled with stuff like “three act structure,” “inciting incidents,” “act 2 turns” and “petting the dog.” Let me save you some time: it’s all jargon you don’t need to know. Story …(Read the rest)
There is no better show on television than AMC’s Better Call Saul, from Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, ex of Breaking Bad. All four seasons are spectacular, but if you haven’t watched (or even if you have) it’s worth considering what makes it great. …(Read the rest)
When I was a kid, the Armbrusters had a slide projector. Which meant that after every vacation they took, we’d troop dutifully to their house for endless carousels of badly-shot Kodachrome slides, narrated live. The slide show always seemed longer than …(Read the rest)
This week a post on my Linked-In feed reminded me that all good video must “ask for the order” and contain a clear “call to action.” This concept was, as far as I can tell, invented by someone in an ad …(Read the rest)
Are you a teacher? Do you know a teacher? Have you ever had a teacher? If so, read on: It’s the beginning of a new school year. Which means one more year of school projects shot on video, and hours of …(Read the rest)
I shoot videos and landscapes when I travel overseas. Obviously, I cannot shoot to a script or have much of a plan, since this is an unplanned vacation. How would I construct a story from random scenes in Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna, Budapest, etc? Usually I end …(Read the rest)
People hate going to the movies with me. It’s not because I talk or text during films, because I religiously don’t do either. It’s what happens after the lights come up. “That was good” says my wife. “I enjoyed it” says …(Read the rest)
A hero is who your story is about. A mute woman rescuing a monster she loves, a lawyer facing down the bigotry of his 1930s community to save a man’s life, a woman of color who wants to do math for NASA to …(Read the rest)
Our new digital series for Comedy Central, Gnarnia went up on Youtube last week. It’s about 4 guys in a heavy metal band who live together behind a used record store in Los Angeles, who’ll do just about anything to avoid growing …(Read the rest)
You write a lot about movies, home video, story, etc. It’s all great, and I use it when I shoot stuff. But I need to convince my company to do better marketing videos and I’m not shooting those. Any advice? -Jackson …(Read the rest)
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