"Pulling Off Your Shorts" is the second part of the book title. Heehee.
The authors first explain why a beginning film-maker would want to create a short film, one lasting 5 minutes. Then the process is described step by step. Whoa! I love it! It's got everything from how to write a screenplay to where to get equipment, how to use the aforementioned equipment, and how to find your cast and crew. And then how to get your work seen. It's short and to the point. One thing in particular that I liked was the description of various crew positions and where to find people with the appropriate traits and skills. For example, the camera operator has to have good physical stamina, be artistic and understand composition, and his/her best classes at school are probably art and computer science. The assistant director prefers history or social studies, is a leader without being bossy, and is calm under fire.
I think it would be daunting for someone who's never produced a film before to work with the kinds of deadlines the authors suggest on such a large scale (12 crew members, and who knows how many in the cast). It doesn't matter how old you are in that respect; the project will eat up gobs of time.
Having produced videos myself, on a tiny scale, I was able to more fully enjoy the book and fantasize about a larger production. It would be a documentary, methinks, but it'll remaein a fantasy for a while yet, because I'm too much of a control freak at this point, and the thought of coming up with a good idea and a vision for bringing it to life, let alone having to beg and bribe 20 people to do what I want for 3 days, makes me queasy!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Mark Ferrari
Whoa! I love, love, love this guy's work!
The Book of Joby is his first, 628-page novel and I tore right through it, staying up way too late at night to do so. It's about a wager between God and the Devil with some Arthurian legends mixed in. I've seen it compared to Christian novels, but I didn't perceive it that way at all. It got my adrenalin pumping (Yikers! What will happen to Joby next!), it gave me an intellectual fix (I got to appreciate the author's skill, intelligence, and creativity), and it gave me a few things to think about (since I am after all a deeply spiritual person).
Nevermind that: Mr. Ferrari was an artist before he was an author. My favorite drawing of his is of a teenager complete with jeans, skateboard, and baseball cap. But he's got these amazing butterfly wings. And the title of the drawing is " Trying to Fit In." How do you fit in if you've got amazing wings? We've all felt like the odd one out at some point, when all you want to do is belong. Is it worth suppressing the equivalent of your wings for? You might have an easy answer, but living it in practice can be a challenge. Click here to see the drawing, and tell me what you think.
The Book of Joby is his first, 628-page novel and I tore right through it, staying up way too late at night to do so. It's about a wager between God and the Devil with some Arthurian legends mixed in. I've seen it compared to Christian novels, but I didn't perceive it that way at all. It got my adrenalin pumping (Yikers! What will happen to Joby next!), it gave me an intellectual fix (I got to appreciate the author's skill, intelligence, and creativity), and it gave me a few things to think about (since I am after all a deeply spiritual person).
Nevermind that: Mr. Ferrari was an artist before he was an author. My favorite drawing of his is of a teenager complete with jeans, skateboard, and baseball cap. But he's got these amazing butterfly wings. And the title of the drawing is " Trying to Fit In." How do you fit in if you've got amazing wings? We've all felt like the odd one out at some point, when all you want to do is belong. Is it worth suppressing the equivalent of your wings for? You might have an easy answer, but living it in practice can be a challenge. Click here to see the drawing, and tell me what you think.
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