Sanyo Xacti HD1000 - Don't Buy Until You Read This!
Straight out of a movie, "2001 - A Space Odyssey." We're on the moon for an important briefing. Powerful people are waiting, they've traveled 250,000 space miles.
Photographer wears a weird 2001 too-slim checkered suit, and holds a little camera that looks like a photographer's spot meter. He looks through it, and takes his shot. Silent, no "click." He's done shooting. He's off. That's a dream camera.
Sanyo Xacti HD1000 is a "True HD" camera. Its pictures are 1090 x 1920 dots, at 60 fps (i)nterlace or (p)rogressive. Easy to make 24p in editing.
(Magic Bullet or Cineform convert 60i to 24p. In Cinema Tools, DUPLICATE YOUR CLIPS, and then batch process your 60p to 24p. (Cinema Tools works only on QuickTime format files). Then, in Final Cut Pro, drag those clips to your Timeline, and set their frame rate to "250%," to make them 24fps. )
Xacti styling is great, reminds me of my Eumig Super 8mm, only it makes movies you can play on any HDTV in the world, and it costs LESS than my old S8mm camera cost me!
10:1 optical zoom, which replaces a full set of lenses. It's got the Sanyo "blue spot" lens flare under overhead light, so shade it or flag it, or learn to love the flare.
I love my Flip, but it only shoots 720 dots, and the Xacti has a REAL LENS. When I need the HD real deal, I put my Xacti in my pocket, and I'm ready to roll. You can't buy this camera unless you appreciate it's really cool, and it looks great, and it's fun to use. Please tell me how you use your Xacti.
"Kodak" was trademarked in 1888, and the Eastman Kodak company was formed in 1892. With its popular advertising slogan "You press the button, we do the rest," Kodak simplified complex photography, and made amateur snapshots easy.
"Utopia Limited" is a brilliant show, lampooning corporate shenanigans, war, riots, takeovers, and bailouts. To make it current to the imploding 2009 economy, fewer than a dozen words needed changing.
In "Utopia Limited," my favorite character is Qualex, er, Calynx, Vice Chamberlain of the Topsy-Turvy island paradise of Utopia.
One of my favorite movies is "The Magic Christian." Peter Sellers is Sir Guy Grand, the Richest Man In The World. Ringo Starr is his adopted son, Youngman.
Together, Peter and Ringo wreak havoc on British society, with briefcases full of cash and a rich sense of justice. They bribe others into outrageous, insane, and bizarre behavior. Just because.
Insanely great supporting cast. Lawrence Harvey, Richard Attenborough, Christopher Lee, Raquel Welch, various Monty Python players, various Beatles, various Goons, oh it's a rich dish, in every spoonful.
Even a great movie needs to be promoted, these things don't sell themselves, you know. Here's Ringo, guesting on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," from NBC in Beautiful Downtown Burbank.
Nowhere near the same league, but somewhat the same idea, this is "The Magic Christian Continued," sort of. Improv troupe stages a bizarre mirror incident on a NYC train. Reactions and reflections are great! Enjoy.
John Halvorson, a Hollywood screenwriter, started a Star Trek movies fan club in Seattle in 1979. That club died when John moved to Michigan.
In 1989, John formed another club, The Klingon Assault Group (KAG), based on the "bad guys" of the Star Trek movies franchise, the Klingon Empire. That club is still going strong, 20 years later.
The Klingon Assault Group (KAG) officially celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year at MARCON (The Midwest's Premiere Fantasy & Science Fiction Convention) May 22nd - 24th 2009 (Memorial Day Weekend) The MARCON convention will be held at Hyatt Regency Hotel, 350 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio USA.
Between 200 and 300 fans, dressed as Klingons will seize the Hyatt Regency Hotel. That makes Marcon the largest gathering of Klingons ever.
KAG is headed these days by the fearsome "Thought Admiral Kerla," who is actually Carol Nye, an Earth woman from Hamilton, Ohio.
Now, in Hollywood, John dresses up after-hours as a Klingon, named "Thought Admiral Kris," (pictured) complete with uniform, headpiece and wig, for Star Trek movies and science-fiction conventions. "It's fun," John says.
In various Star Trek movies and tv shows, Klingons are a pretty serious-minded bunch. It is official policy that Klingons don't have fun - ever. However, John Halvorson disagrees.
What do Klingons generally do for fun? "Feasting, drinking, head-butting, and fighting."
Klingons have changed over the years, and John prefers the early era Klingons, before there was peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. John says, "Playing the Antagonist is so much more fun."
Halvorson, is quite an active Klingon, too. He's not only the club's Founder, but his alter-ego is a Klingon Translator, Thought Admiral Kris, Commanding a Klingon star ship, the "IKV Dark Sun."
John will be on hand at the MARCON event, dressed as his Klingon alter ego, and Sam Longoria, a Hollywood Movie Producer, will take time off to put on his own Klingon headpiece and makeup to play Khaytel, The Klingon Promoter.
The Mission has meetings in Hollywood, and is working to get Michael Dorn, the Actor who played "Worf," on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Michael Dorn played the Klingon "Worf," who grew up in Federation Space, through a number of STAR TREK movies and tv. Mr. Dorn's portrayal sparked much new interest in Klingons.
John Halvorson has two grown-up kids. What do they think of Dad's Klingon getup? "They're okay with it -- usually." laughs John.
This breaks the all-time low that was established last December 2008.
This year, there are 3 productions scheduled to shoot in LA. Last year, there were 165. The year before, there were 430.
C'mon people! This is Hollywood CA USA. The Entertainment Capital of the world. It's sunny, we have all the talent, and there are girls in bikinis.
Who's our only real competition? Various Europeans, and a bunch of frostbitten Englishmen in some former colonies. Oh, and a billion Indians, and about as many Chinese. Never mind.
There are a lot of them, and they are really, really smart. But we have nowhere else to go, and we are really, really cool.
Sunglasses on! Baggy shorts! Caps on backwards! Dude.
I appreciate the honor, and will continue in the fine tradition the list describes as "slightly bizarre." I will work unceasingly, until this filmmaking blog is completely bizarre.
New generation of younger and more multi-cultural independent film, more of a global slant. Fewer goateed twenty-somethings moaning about their family, and how bad life is.
Film Production - Do You Need Film School To Make An Independent Film?
Anthony Watkins is an accomplished filmmaker from Mount Vernon, Washington, who attended film school in Vancouver, BC. That required Anthony, a U.S. citizen, to commute for hours every day, over the US/Canada border. The distance didn't bother him, for Anthony knew he'd only be doing it a short while.
"It was a good film school, but I only went there long enough to learn how to operate a movie camera, and light a movie set. As soon as I learned that, I was done with film school. After I quit, I started raising money, and then I started shooting my own feature movie."
How has it worked out for him? Anthony has completed two feature films, "Counseling Day" and "Mall Robbers." Both movies are feature-length, shot on film, and they premiered in Anthony's hometown movie theatre, complete with tuxedoes and limousines.
Anthony is putting finishing touches on the script for his next film, the third in what he calls his "Seattle Trilogy." That film is titled "Diary of a Jerk," and will be in production in 2009, to be completed in 2010.
What became of his first two features? Anthony says they are selling briskly on DVD. Anthony distributes them on eBay, and through his direct-response website. http://mallrobbers.com
That's unusual in the world of independent film, which yearns hopelessly for nationwide distribution. "Going Hollywood" usually means getting a studio job, and that means having a college filmmaking degree.
"College's expected there," Anthony says. "Film studio workers in Los Angeles must have a degree, because their competition has one." Anthony did attend college, but not to get a filmmaking degree.
How did he do it?
"I just got started," he shrugs. "Practically anything you need to know is in a book somewhere, or a class, or a filmmaking seminar. Then all you do is put what you've read to use. That's the secret, taking action."
Anthony has a strong do-it-yourself attitude, and tries to help other filmmakers, by including a "making of" documentary DVD in each of his DVD movies. "I do it to give back what I've learned. I'm grateful for the help I got, when I was starting out."
Would he do it the same way today, were he starting over?
"Absolutely," Anthony says, "Only I would quit film school sooner. If I'd stayed there any longer, I might have missed being a real filmmaker." Then turns back to his work, designing another shot for his next movie.
For further information, contact Anthony Watkins at http://dominionpictures.com
Film Production - Reindeer Singing White Christmas
I've spent too many years wrestling with cel animation, and animation cels, not to really appreciate this 2D cartoon, and the way it was made. A little gem.
From gifted Animator Joshua Held in 2002, over (of course) The Drifters, Santa and his Reindeer Singing White Christmas.
Song written by Irving Berlin for the Movie "Holiday Inn," sung by Bing Crosby in 1942. (It won the Oscar).
Bing re-recorded it in 1947, (most popular version), and then Clyde McPhatter and The Drifters did this one in 1953. Charted #2 in 1954. Delightful!
My friends Paige and Joshua Sternin sent me a really good and darkly funny web video series they shot in their house.
It's "Overkill: A Love Story," four YouTube episodes. There are some famous people with roles in their show. Yes, that's Tom Arnold - see who else you can spot.
My friend Bob Kushell does a great web video show from a garage in Van Nuys. It's called "Anytime," and it's got a band and comedy and a dog, which is deeply and meaningfully in love with Bob's leg. You know, something for everybody. New episodes each Thursday.
Way back, we were all kids, doing improv in Hollywood. I hope you enjoy my friends' cool home-made 5-minute shows.
Filmmaking - Vintage Movie Camera For Film Production?
Patents from 1926 adorn the side of a classic Mitchell studio camera, legally protecting the design of its internal gears and sprockets.
1926 was a long time ago, and that camera is an antique. Could it still be used, in today's modern film production?
Yes, and in fact, many are. No modern movie camera is more precise than those classic pin-registered film movements. They really knew how to build them in 1926, and the cameras still work, millions of feet of film later.
To get a particularly difficult shot, it's not uncommon for visual effects cameramen to dust off a trusty 35mm Mitchell GC, NC, or BNC film camera. To alter time, fast or slow, just add a stop-motion or high-speed motor.
Build the camera on its rig, set the focus, aperture, shutter, and tachometer. Now you can shoot a cartoon, stop- or slow-motion movie sequence. Just like movie cameramen have been doing for a century.
There is much recent talk about new digital movie cameras. Filmmakers line up at seminars and shows, just to see one. Nevertheless, digital cameras still only provide 6% of the footage for feature movies. 94% of movies still are on film.
Digital standards are still evolving, and reliability and ruggedness are still hit-or-miss for digital cameras. Film cameras are tested and reliable, at 10k of resolution, compared to digital's 2-4k.
Arriflex, Bell & Howell Eyemo, Cameraflex / Cineflex, DeVry, Mitchell BNC, GC, HS, and S35R vintage movie cameras and projectors are among those represented.
Film Production - Mini DV OR HD Camcorder? Make Your Independent Movie!
Filmmaker Anthony Watkins shot his two feature movies (2003's "Counseling Day," and 2008's "Mall Robbers") on Super 16mm film, but admits other people's movies might get done faster if they'd use readily-available digital movie gear, in Mini DV or HD camcorder formats .
Anthony has bought and/or built camera dollies and film equipment, to support and move his film cameras through their shots and sequences. So he appreciates the new digital formats can be lighter and less unwieldy for transport and use.
Anthony loves the look of film, and Super 16mm is cheaper and easier than industry-standard 35mm film, so that's what he shoots.
Once shot, Anthony's film is digitally scanned into computer files, which he edits on his Apple G5 workstation, with his Final Cut Pro HD editing software.
Anthony's veteran comments and information are included on his "Making Of" DVD, included in his new feature film "Mall Robbers."
You can learn film production and where to rent movie gear and film equipment, and how to make your own indie film.
Discover secrets of film financing, as you secure your own film funding for your independent movie.
"Mall Robbers" was shot in 35 nights, in a suburban mall in Washington State. A wild slapstick comedy, about three groups of witless robbers, who break into the same mall on the same night. Matching wits (or lack) with them is the alert, uniformed Mall Security Force.
Laugh your head off, and discover how Super 16mm or 35mm film, or Mini DV or HD camcorder digital formats, can help you make your own independent movie.
I got my start in the movie business waaay back, making computer-controlled "robot cameras," when "motion control" was all the rage in filmmaking. (1970s.)
Now it's "MoCo," and it's still around, and it still makes impossible shots happen. Very cool.
One of the great MoCo players is Bill Tondreau. If you're in visual effects, you know who I'm talkin' about.
I met Bill on "Ghostbusters," as he made his motion controller jog the Boss Film 65mm Oxberry around, after I'd rebuilt and motorized it.
Bill's software made steppers make musical tones, on their travels. I got so I could play tunes on it. (Challenge was to play the tune without driving the camera into the wall, or the light box.)
About Bill, I can only say, what an interesting guy.
One of my favorite movie stars, the great Charlton Heston has died, at 83.
His birth name was John Charles Carter, and he was from Evanston, Illinois.
I won't dwell on his illness, other than say it's a dirty trick when our powers are taken, and one of the quick and strong is laid low. Which happens to us all.
And I won't discuss his politics, except to say any Hollywood movie star, of whatever political bent, who stands up for personal liberty, in this dark age, gets my vote.
I interviewed Charlton Heston for tv, at a 1997 Palm Springs Tennis Tournament. I've met lots of movie stars, but he was in a class by himself, perhaps the starry-est.
I learned something extremely valuable from him. I asked him some silly question, one he just didn't want to answer, and you know what he did? He just smiled. That's all he had to do.
A wide, white movie star smile, beaming out to everybody, like the spotlights on the 20th Century Fox emblem.
He waited, smiling, until the question dissolved like smoke. I was caught in the high beam, recovered from being transfixed, and said to myself, "So that's how it's done."
Rest in Peace, Mr. Heston. What a career you had! Moses, Michaelanglo, El Cid, Ben Hur. Any one of those... But, he did them all.
I've heard some belittle Mr. Heston's acting. Those persons always reveal, in that, how remarkably little they know about anything.
There are many Actors. There are only a few who are fascinating to watch. He was one of those. A Movie Star. People plunk down money to watch him, do...anything.
If you can do that, then you can criticize.
Oh, and Oscars for Best Actor don't just fall down from the trees. Mr. Heston earned his in 1959's "Ben Hur."
Bigger than life, bigger than other movie stars. He worked in a lot of Big Pictures, and he made them bigger.
He made the silly Planet of the Apes movies something remarkable. He made them entertaining.
When you're shooting real film, and you need the magnetic sound film to match up to the picture film time-wise, sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. You need...the machine.
Although you'll probably be cutting the sound on a digital workstation, you might see a venerable "film synchronizer" or "sync block," on a shelf somewhere in your editing facility, because they're still useful for measuring print length, and comparing exact length or duration of any two pieces of picture or sound film.
A film synchronizer is a blocky aluminum casting, usually painted green or silver, some are black. A common shaft on bearings supports 1 to 8 sprocket wheels, called "gangs," each a foot in circumference, with keeper rollers that clamp down, and keep the film on the sprocket teeth. The gangs can be coupled or decoupled from the shaft, and so can rotate independently of one another.
65mm film has 12.8 frames per foot, 35mm has 16 frames per foot, 16mm has 40 frames per foot, Super 8mm has 72 frames per foot, Regular 8mm has 80 frames per foot, so each turn of the synchronizer's shaft moves the film one foot, and is geared to a mechanical counter, which displays how many rotations (feet) have gone by.
Yes, they're still made, and new they're thousands of dollars. You can find shiny brand-new ones at good old Christy's Editorial, or EEP (Editorial Equipment Parts.)
I can remember how much of my early filmmaking training was geared (pardon) toward learning how to use, borrowing, renting, or finally buying, a film synchronizer.
It was a lot, and they were soooo expensive, hundreds of dollars then, and now I see used film synchronizers cheap on eBay, and like much film equipment, I've bought at least one of each film gauge.
Film gear still works fine, and this current topsy-turvy situation, where heavy metal quality is cheaper than junky ephemeral digital gear, somehow feels rich.
Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser returns from Sundance 2008,to a media frenzy with Sam Longoria and BJ Shea,on Seattle's #1 Morning Radio show,KISW - FM's the BJ Shea Experience.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Paul Fraser and Sam Longoria are interviewed by BJ Shea at Seattle's KISW radio station.
Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, who has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hey Sam,
The Toxic Avenger roams the streets again! As you know, TA's the mascot of Troma films, a distributor promoting its own film festival. Of course, it's "Troma Dance."
Went to "Traces Of The Trade," a moving film I saw at Holiday Village Cinema, all shot on video, chronicling the tragedies of several families in the Katrina disaster in Florida.
A first-hand personal account, it's directed by the ironically-named Katrina Browne. She did a great job.
Afterwards, took a flight back around eleven, and got back here in Seattle around Midnight. Man, am I tired, but it was all very well worth it.
Today was especially good, I networked like crazy and got my film out to a lot of people, and met with all those I'd scheduled.
Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, who has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Sam,
Today, woke up to at least a foot of snow in Salt Lake. Got in my car and braved it, driving the icy roads up to Park City. Hotel manager told me not to try, but I did it anyway!
Caught a little of the talk at the Filmmaker Lounge, "The Producing Cap." Panel discussed obtaining financing to get projects off the ground.
So many of us crowded into the Lodge, some had to watch it televised, in the room next door.
Handed out promo materials for my film, "The Battles Of Tim Eyman" to press and producers along Main Street. Also entered my film into an Avid pitch contest, at the New Frontier.
Our Sundance correspondent, Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Hey Sam,
Supporters for a film called "Len Bias" throng Main Street, handing out DVDs of their trailer, can't miss them. They've been on Main Street every time I've been out, since I got here on the 17th.
I've done my share of film promotion, too, as I shop my film, "The Battles Of Tim Eyman." I give out DVDs and posters, to press and distribution people.
Word up - lots of other filmmakers leave promotional materials in the lobby - and Big Brother Sundance throws them into the garbage, if they're not in the festival. Can't blame them - this is business, after all.
Next stop, the Sundance Filmmaker's Lodge, where I listened to Martin McDonagh, a playwright-turned- film-director, notorious for his dark comedy writing.
I asked Martin if a film like "Bug," adapted from Tracy Letts's play of the same name, would have an easier transition to the screen, since it was a play to begin with? He disagreed, saying, in his work, he prefers to keep a play a play, and not try to "turn a dog into a cat."
Really crowded at this event. I had to wait in the hallway, to get into this old rustic-looking building.
Later, over at the New Frontier, on Main Street...
I sat in on an event called "Avid Presentation: From Production to Post to Distribution."
Editor Kevin Trent ("Sideways," "The Golden Compass," "Blow") discussed challenges faced by today's digital Editors, and their computer systems, such as Avid.
Kevin described how the editing process has been streamlined, from thirty-odd people working on the editing (on the film "Reds"), to a single Editor and two Assistants, a total of three.
After I took this picture at the Eccles Theatre, it started snowing like mad, and I caught the midnight show of "Just Another Love Story" at the Holiday Village Cinema.
Another dark love story actually, along the lines of "Strangers," and Michael Keaton's "The Merry Gentleman."
So dark, the Danish Director (Ole Bornedal) warned us in advance. It was really an involving and original film.
Three-quarters through, the young woman sitting next to me lost her nerve, and left, because of its energy and realism.
Who knew the Danes were so dark and moody? Oh, wait, there's Hamlet.
Made it back to my room, through the snow, in one piece, without driving off the road.
Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, who has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Hey Sam,
Today at Sundance, more people than ever crowding the frozen downtown streets of Park City. Sidewalks literally so overpopulated you must walk in the street!
People communicate and schedule by bulletin boards and flyers, and notices, and pictures. Like a riot, a war, or a natural disaster, I can't decide which.
More interviews, it's all chaos. I was interviewed by tv news, and discovered the HP Broadcast Studio, where I spoke a bit more about my filmmaking, and my film, "The Battles Of Tim Eyman."
Up the street, at the Sundance Filmmakers Lodge, a wine-tasting event called "Wine Escape." Industry Producers, Actors, and Directors mingled there.
Later, at the Egyptian Theater, I viewed a great Israeli film called "Strangers." The Director, Erez Tadmor, was there, and spoke of the film's production. Very moving and gritty romance, shot on HDV and converted to 35mm.
Story was completely improvised, and written, by the Actors. The war that tore the protagonists apart was a real situation, and framed the story. Shot in under a month, for under $100K.
That film is the second I've watched here originated on HDV, then upconverted to 35mm. New trend? I wonder.
Tomorrow will be a busy one, I can feel the buzz of filmmaking rising in pitch. Gotta go. Talk soon!
Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, who has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Sam,
Thousands pack the streets of Park City, Utah, for the Sundance Film Festival. One of them this year is me, and I'm happy to be here. It's every independent filmmaker's dream come true.
I don't know what will happen, but nobody does. There are lots of great movies, and crazy colorful characters. It's really the filmmaking business in a teaspoon.
Just meeting people here is a positive step. I'm astonished how few people have business cards. They just meet and bounce away, only colliding occasionally in the chaos.
My strategy? I'm finding out where people go, and going there. Hardest part is parking my car. I drive from Salt Lake City, and park miles away and ride the shuttle bus.
I expected lots of parking for my car because of the name, Park City, but no.
What I wasn't expecting - I've been interviewed a couple of times today, about my filmmaking, and my film, "The Battles of Tim Eyman."
It's a documentary about a Mukilteo, WA watch-salesman / citizen-activist, and his battles to get his tax-cutting agenda onto Washington state ballots, using the initiative process.
It has Tim Eyman, and Washington State Senator Ken Jacobsen, and radio talk-show hosts Michael Medved, B.J. Shea, and Dori Munson. It was a fun film to make.
I'm surprised I was interviewed. I didn't expect much interest in Washington state politics. Nobody's ever heard of any of the people in my film, but they pointed video cameras at me, so I told them about it.
Documentaries are very big right now, and I hope to see what others are doing with their filmmaking. Gotta go, it's freezing, and lots to see. Write more tomorrow.
Our Sundance correspondent is Seattle filmmaker Paul Fraser, who's shopping his documentary film, "The Battles of Tim Eyman," about a Washington state citizen activist.
Paul has just enough time in the numbing Sundance cold, and mind-numbing Sundance blur, to snap a few pics and pen some notes from the festival.
Friday, January 18, 2008
Sam,
Very chilly down here at Sundance. Main Street is crowded with Producers and Press, at the various filmmaking events.
I attended the "Filmmaker Lodge" opening reception. I met Joe Kleber from Red Acquistion Warehouse, and he demonstrated his Red digital motion picture camera to me.
Also attended a seminar, at The New Frontier on Main Street, "Creating A Low-Budget Film". They discussed production workflow, and editing techniques. It gave me new insight.
Speakers were the Producer and Editor from the film "Jack In The Box," who talked about productive collaboration.
The Editor, a USC professor, described filmmaking techniques to keep the audience interested, and on the edge of their seats, while telling the story.
I always get a lot from these seminars, and there was also free food there, too! Can't lose.
9:30pm tonight, at the Eccles Theater, I attended the film premiere of "The Merry Gentleman." The Director is Michael Keaton, who recounted the making of this film. It is his first feature as a Director.
Keaton seemed apprehensive about "Merry Gentleman's" running time, but the film was warmly received by the audience.
Pictures are on the way, took only a few on Main Street. I'll shoot off a roll tomorrow, and I'll send some along to you. Hope all is well with you!
What's kept me going, and sane, and alive this year, is watching Fred Astaire dance, over and over, in this particular picture, 1955's fantastic "Daddy Long Legs."
I have rented it so many times, I could have bought a dozen copies of it on DVD by now. It's onscreen in my editing room, where I'm hard at work on my book and editing a little feature I shot.
This is the FOURTH film version of the "Daddy Long Legs" novel. It's a musical.
I love musicals. MGM musicals were the best. ("Singin' In The Rain," "The Bandwagon," are my two favorites.)
I love MGM musicals, and this is one of the absolutely best MGM musicals ever made, right up there with "Singin' In The Rain," and "The Bandwagon," except for two things:
1) It was not shot in 1:33 three-strip Technicolor, but in really good 1:2.4 Cinemascope De Luxe color.
2) It was made at Fox, not MGM.
Fox made good musicals, too, like "Hello Dolly," and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," and many others, but Fox musicals were different from MGM musicals.
Fox musicals were a little more...adult than the MGM product, but the MGM dancers were better dancers, the MGM cameramen were better cameramen...they wore their art on their sleeve at the Freed unit. Trust me, MGM was the best studio in town.
Other Fox musicals were really good, but "Daddy Long Legs"...swings! Man, it's great, and the reason is the incomparable Fred Astaire.
Astaire beyond compare.
To call Fred Astaire merely a dancer is to label Einstein a failed patent clerk. Yes, Fred danced, in many ways he was the dancer, but he did so much more, including think up new ways to dance, new music to dance to, new props to dance with, new styles to dance in, and new ways to be photographed while dancing.
(Fred's contract gave him unprecedented control over how he was to be photographed. He insisted he be shown head-to-toe, in long single takes with minimal cutting and camera movement. Camera technique following Fred is sparse and elegant, and the "cutty" approach of a music video is nowhere to be seen, which is why we can still watch them. The excitement comes from the dance, and is not synthesized from the cutting or camera gymnastics. Fred does the dancing, the camera follows. As he said: "Either the camera dances or I do."
This is bold stuff, when your main competition, making dance pictures, is Busby Berkeley, just down the street.)
Fred's ability to sing and act, and do these incredibly intricate dance routines, and astonishing work with hand props, (while really playing the drums), all while looking as though this wasn't grueling hard work at all, as if it was EASY, and as if he was having more fun than human beings ought to be allowed, lead me to the inescapable conclusion, that without any exaggeration, Fred Astaire is obviously the coolest human being who ever lived, in the history of the world.
Fred here at the age of 56, as good as he ever was, a decade past hisannounced retirement, enjoying the silly "Slue Foot" college dance, with young and lovely and incredibly gifted Oscar-nominated dancer Leslie Caron. (She's still working, and won an Emmy in 2007.)
Who wouldn't enjoy a talented gorgeous 24-year-old partner? C'mon. Force yourself.
Check out Leslie's college swain, who's hopelessly outclassed. Sure, Fred's older, but he's FRED ASTAIRE. Sorry, kid.
Even when Fred dances silly near the end of this number, he's just too cool for words. Notice how they use costume color to draw your eyes to Fred and Leslie, past 200 or so pastel background jitterbuggers? Music by Ray Anthony and his Orchestra.
I've met a few of these cast members, including stunningly gorgeous Terry Moore (Howard Hughes widow), who turned my knees to water, in person in 1985.
Terry plays Fred's niece, Linda, who watches the outclassed kid's reaction closely, a little concerned Uncle Fred is Slue Footing with frosh Leslie, like their age difference is significant or something.
The bittersweet undercurrent to this picture is that Fred had just lost his real-life wife of 21 years, just before "Daddy Long Legs" began production, and they had to delay shooting for Fred to cope with his grief, and work through it. Unbelievable.
This picture was written by Henry and Phoebe Ephron, Nora Ephron's parents. (Nora wrote and directed some favorite pictures, among them "Sleepless In Seattle," "When Harry Met Sally," and "You've Got Mail.")
Breeding will tell. The writing in "Daddy Long Legs" is just wonderful.
Fifteen years earlier, Fred at 41 sparkled with Eleanor Powell, known at MGM, as "The best tap-dancer on the lot." Here is an electrifying terpsichorean courtship display, as Fred & Eleanor "Begin The Beguine," in "Broadway Melody of 1940."
In many ways, this is as good as it gets.
Parting Shot
Because I couldn't resist. Here's Fred at 47, at the peak of his powers, fittingly in a picture at Paramount. 1946's "Blue Skies."
It was billed as "Astaire's last dance" of "Astaire's last picture," the Technicolor send-off of his (first) retirement.
Yes, the cane jumps. Yes, those 9 guys are all Fred. Yes, he makes it look easy, but this number took "five weeks of back-breaking physical work," to shoot.
Not bad, Fred. Not bad at all, for one Frederick Austerlitz of Omaha, Nebraska, whose RKO audition report read, "Can't act. Slightly bald. Also dances."
My thanks to Rodney of Marietta GA, who writes me this letter:
Hey Sam, :)
...Yeah, I'm pretty new and want to start actually, in the writing area first. I like to use my imagination, but still haven't written my first screen play. The formatting gives me fear, and procrastination stalls, but my goal for the next couple of years is to move to L.A.
- Rodney
Dear Rodney,
At least you've identified the problem!
“Procrastination is the thief of time.” – Edward Young (1683-1765)
No excuses. You're smart and young, the problem is thinking you have a lot of time. The fact is, none of us knows how much time we have, only that it's going away every second. Get going!
Screenplay work is the easiest work there is, and among the highest-paying, if you work at it. All you need is a pencil and paper. Let somebody else type it in, or you can, of course.
The good thing is, you work when you want to. The bad thing is, most persons (including writers) don't want to, and they spend a whole lot of time "getting ready."
Moving to LA is nice, but it's even better to have a job ready for you when you get there, or at least something to sell.
That means start writing NOW. You can write from anywhere. When your scripts are done, all it takes to get them to people who buy scripts is some stamps.
Formatting? No problem. Get software. I use Final Draft, but just as good (and FREE) for any computer is celtx.
Download it, install it, and write something. Anything. If you write a word, I guarantee you'll write some more. The only way to learn to write, is to WRITE!
Classes and books are good, (for people selling classes and books), but reading is reading, talking is talking, thinking is thinking, and only "writing" is writing. It's the only thing that makes you a better writer, too.
If you must have a book, spend $10 measley dollars, and buy my friend Viki King's book, "How To Write A Screenplay In 21 Days." It's good, and it really works.
I write from an outline. I jot down scenes and lines I see and hear in my head, and then sort out the order they happen in, later.
I spend the most time getting the story to work, before I write any scenes or dialogue, I put that part off as long as possible.
When I finally start writing what people do and say, it bursts forth in a flood, and I write as fast as I can, until it's done. I don't write any better slowly.
Don't ever re-write until you're done with the whole thing, or you'll never finish. Re-writing is a trap to avoid. So is "getting ready."
Good luck! Write any time, I'm your friend in Hollywood.
Here are two articles (Relax - a quick read) that are the most encouraging things I've read about the state of commercial animation, in quite a long while.
If your heartbeat still accelerates at the thought of really good animation, you should read this. (Both parts!)
In Response to many emails, "What is your SECOND favorite movie ending, I'd have to say it's this, the last sequence from Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, "Paths Of Glory."
After an uncompromising feature-length look at the First World War, both from the trenches and the palaces of power, this last reel is redemptive, hopeful, and somehow manages to speak of human compassion.
As Steven Spielberg said, anybody who thinks Stanley Kubrick was a cold, misanthropic, unemotional filmmaker, might do well to watch this immediately, and perhaps form a differing opinion.
Again, I think it's mandatory for filmmakers. Just see what Stanley was able to do, with practically nothing - only a roomful of good actors, his beautiful wife singing, and a camera that lingered on faces.
Please let me know what your favorite movie ending is.
From out of the blue of the western sky, from Missoula, Montana and Alain Burrese's great blog, come these great tips from Sylvester Stallone. Things aren't happening? Make things happen!
People ask if I'm related to Eva Longoria. According to Esme, her nice and devoted sister, who has researched such things, the answer is "yes." Eva is my distant relative. (Well, she's in Pasadena.)
I had a small role on "The Young And The Restless" a decade before Eva was on it, (so I doubt nepotism was involved, in either direction), and I'm glad the public loves her. She's very talented, I think she's great.
Since Eva's gotten famous, I don't have to spell my last name for people nearly as much.
I've decided the best use of my time this year is to work on my own projects, rather than watching or attending the Oscars. I will be working on my book, and my movies.
So I will not be there, watching, or even thinking about, the Academy Awards in 2007.
My best wishes go out to my friends Mark Stetson and Bill Neil, who did Special Visual Effects on "Superman Returns," which is nominated, and Richard Edlund, who was awarded a John Bonner medal by the Motion Picture Academy this year. We all worked together on "Ghostbusters," 24 years ago.
Those who enjoyed my Oscar reports of previous years can still read some of them here.
Camera equipment? Lighting equipment? Editing software? Let's imagine that $5k has just fallen in your lap. What to do with it? Shoot your short, film your feature? As far as you can go, until the money runs out? What should you buy?
If I were you, I'd spend the $5k to pay my rent and bills for a couple months, and quit my job, or take some vacation time, or a leave of absence.
I'd sit in a room and turn off the phone and tv, and eat spaghetti and raw vegetables 2 times a day, and exercise in the morning and skip dinner and take a walk in the evening, so I didn't get fat.
I'd get up early, and go to bed late, and not even look at, listen to, or answer my voicemail and email and filmmaking sites, until the evening.
THEN...I'd turn on my computer, and WRITE.
And write and write and write and write and write and write. Then I'd write and write and write and write and write and write and write. Then I'd edit, and write and re-write.
Until I had a really great movie script. That's what you should do with the money. Write.
That effort would give you an asset in the world of filmmaking that most filmmakers simply don't have.
Ever wonder why you're not getting anywhere? The answer to becoming a great filmmaker is not "camera equipment." The answer is "writing."
The way you get good at writing is not college or reading books or hanging out with friends. The way you get good at writing is by "writing."
You can sell a great script, or get hired to write another one, or talk somebody into lending you money to make your great script into a movie, but you need it written first.
Great scripts don't write themselves. They take time and effort, more than anything. If your scripts aren't very good, chances are you haven't put a lot of actual time and effort into them.
By the same token, if you have a script you wrote it in your spare time, from dribs and drabs and scraps of time, in between working all day at your job and family and school and church and bills and relationships and pets and all the crap that gets in the way, chances are it isn't very good.
So, take the time. Invest the money - $5k is real money - and buy yourself something nobody can give you. Buy some time alone, and write your script. It is the best possible use of that money.
That's what I'd do if I had an unspoken-for $5k. Just my opinion, because I want you to succeed.
Peeved filmmakers ask, "How can I afford to shoot 'Real Film?'"
I shoot mostly 35mm four-perf, flat or scope, but I have shot VistaVision (8-perf 35mm going sideways) and 5, 8, and 15-perf 65mm. (Todd-AO, Dynavision, Imax). I have a 65mm camera I built that will pull those formats. I shoot 4x5 and 8x10 stills in negative and transparencies. So I know a little about it.
I love film, it's the real deal, just needs more guys on the crew to carry everything. Oh, and a truck.
I've shot a lot of Super 8mm and 16mm, but only for the grainy effect. I blow those up on my optical printer. I don't shoot small-formats or video to make a movie on. My movies are 35mm, as God and Tom Edison intended, so I can show them in any theatre anywhere in the world.
Expensive? Not really, your customers pay for it. It's only money. 35mm can be sold, so expense is deductible, the cost of doing business. I shoot video too, good luck selling it for a decent price.
Perception of value for film is very high, so you can ask a high price. Mention your production is digital to a distributor, you might as well say you are giving it away.
He's read all the stupid articles, how it don't cost nothin' to make digital, so that's what he figures you spent, and that's what he offers you. (Never tell anybody your real budget, for the same reason.)
35mm stock is about half a buck per foot, retail. Processing is about .20/ft. You can buy short ends and recans for about half that, or make deals for lower prices. You can even buy chemicals and a processor and bypass the lab, there's a whole used market.
I build cameras, so I buy cameras and hotrod them, but that's just me. I'm restoring a reflexed early Mitchell BNC right now, and it's delightful. All the high-tech stuff is on the film emulsion. Put new film in it, and you're on a par with anybody, you just upgraded your 1938 camera to 2007. 10X resolution of HD.
I stay well-connected to raw stock people, and never pay retail. I pay about .09/foot. 50,000' for a feature's worth costs me about $4500. You can find a raw stock source like that on IndyCine.
Lab costs can be cheaper than 16mm because they do so much more in 35mm than 16mm, and the lab treats you much better when you're a 35mm customer.
That's getting worse, too. Last couple of 16mm projects run through a lab (Hollywood and Seattle, both used to be good, how the mighty are fallen. Best are now DuArt, NY and Fotokem, Burbank.) had all kinds of dirt on them, and the lab "just couldn't figure it out." I can - use clean chemicals!
I make a print and a window dub. I rough-cut on my mac FCP, then conform my print and do screenings, in theatres and my editing room. (My Cinemonta 8-plate flatbed table can project a big, bright image onto my white wall.)
Based on audience reaction, I do the fine-cut on film, and conform the negative. Video is tweaked, matched to my print.
One of my favorite modern filmmakers, the great Director Robert Altman has died, at 81.
Altman made mostly tv from 1951, with two features in 1957, "The James Dean Story," and "The Delinquents," and in 1969 "That Cold Day In The Park," shot in Vancouver, BC.
Although he'd directed them, and many of my favorite tv shows, (like "Combat!," "Route 66," "Bonanza," "The Roaring 20's," "Surfside 6," "Lawman," "Maverick," "Sugarfoot," "U.S. Marshal," "The Millionaire," "Hawaiian Eye," "Whirlybirds," "Peter Gunn," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and a 1977 segment of "Saturday Night Live"), for me, his movie career begins with "M*A*S*H."
I got caught up in "M*A*S*H" in 1970, and watched it many, many times. Hundreds of times, actually, just to see how deliciously seamless was this anarchic collection of war anecdotes. In many ways, it's still Altman's best film. It was his biggest box office hit.
Hollywood said "M*A*S*H" couldn't be done. Altman was the fifteenth Director offered the project.
It said "Korea" at the top of "M*A*S*H," (at the insistence of Fox, the studio), but it was obviously an anti-war movie about all wars, most notably (then-current) Vietnam. And funny! In my opinion, nobody in that film has done better work, before or since.
I don't just watch movies. I devour them. I study them.
I was studying "M*A*S*H" again recently. DVDs sure make it easier now. Back and forth, forth and back, frame by frame.
In 1970, it wasn't quite so easy. I was a self-proclaimed movie reviewer, 14 years old, a junior in high school. I'd recently seen my first theatrical movie, and was ruined for regular work.
My technique was to show up at movie theatres (standard or drive-in) and show a little card I'd made on a Xerox machine.
They'd let me in, and I'd see the movie over and over, until I'd absorbed it, and I'd go home and type my review, and mail it to local newspapers.
A surprising number of them got printed. Getting printed got much easier once I was in college. They let me write for their newspaper, and I got access to a better Xerox machine.
Seeing movies got to be much easier when I got jobs as projectionist and theatre manager, and easiest of all when I bought my own theatre.
I first met Robert Altman in 1976. He'd made a movie called "Nashville" the year before. I'd watched it more than 150 times.
Mr. Altman came to speak at my college, the University of Washington, in an enormous concrete bunker called Kane Hall.
The hall seated several hundred comfortably, and was packed far beyond capacity. Altman had come to speak, bringing with him beautiful Sally Kellerman and his very talented protégé Alan Rudolph, the director of the film they were there to plug, "Welcome To L.A." It was a fun film, a real indy feel, music by Richard Baskin.
Altman talked about his career, and "Welcome To L.A." and answered movie questions from the audience.
I asked one about "Nashville," wanting to know whether the motorcade that starts the assassination sequence was an intentional allusion to the 8mm Kennedy/Zapruder footage.
Altman smiled slyly and said yes, they'd set it up that way. He said nobody had asked that yet. I mentioned I'd watched it 150 times.
You would have thought I'd slapped him. He blinked, and his eyes rolled, and he stepped back. I was startled for a moment.
Then he grinned, and said "150 times two bucks..." (then-current movie admission price), pantomimed working a cash register, and the audience roared with laughter.
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