The Future of Independent Movie Production
Here’s a link to an excellent article on distributing your indie film!
Everybody’s trying to figure out how that’s going to work monetarily. It’s not sustainable the way it is right now, frankly, because Netflix is giving away so much content effectively for free to their subscribers.
How to make big-time Hollywood shots
HOT MOVES: THE SCIENCE OF AWESOME
What makes shots look expensive and sexy, and above all trailer-worthy? That’s the question posed by “Hot Moves: The Science of Awesome,” a new instructional DVD from Hollywood Camera Work. Continue reading
Screenwriting Pitchfest Tips
Luck, it’s been said, is what you do when life serves up an opportunity. What better opportunity for an aspiring screenwriter than to sit one-on-one with a Hollywood producer? How about meeting a dozen producers? It’s that kind of opportunity that can lead to your “lucky” break. Continue reading
New England Writers Meet Hollywood Execs At Pitchfests
They sport names like InkTip Pitch Summit, Great American Pitchfest, FadeIn, Screenwriting Expo, Virtual Pitchfest, StoryLink, The Golden Pitchfest and more, and each year thousands of aspiring screenwriters without Hollywood connections attend these pitchfests for the opportunity to gain brief access to production executives, talent managers and literary agents in hopes of fulfilling their movie-writing dreams. Continue reading
Magic Bullet Looks, Mojo, Colorista II reviewed
The Magic Bullet for Creating A Blockbuster Look To Your Film
by Peter Bohush
Magic Bullet Suite version 10 from Red Giant Software is a bundle of software products for post production color grading and correction, enhancement of standard definition files to HD, noise reduction and format conversion. On the “cool scale” nothing comes close to the ease with which you can make your drab video look like a Hollywood blockbuster movie. Continue reading
Syncing Up Audio with Pluraleyes
Syncing separate audio and picture files used to be a tedious and expensive lab or post production process. With today’s computer editing systems and products such as PluralEyes, it’s easier than ever to do it yourself. Continue reading
DVDs: A Master Class in Movie Making?
With special features like directors’ commentary, deleted scenes, and “The Making of…,” DVDs provide both an exciting and educational movie-watching experience.
By Peter Bohush
"The Perfect Storm" DVD takes you behind-the-scenes on some amazing special effects.
Watching a 90-minute movie has become a four-hour experience for me now that I have a DVD player. First I watch the movie. Then I turn on the director’s commentary track and watch the whole thing again. And finally I pour through every special feature on the disk: the documentary, deleted scenes, storyboards, production notes. No wonder I never get to sleep before 2 am. Continue reading
How To Write High Structure, High Concept Movies: book review
Rob Tobin’s excellent book provides a step-by-step guide to writing high concept, structurally foolproof screenplays!
By Peter Bohush
I used to maintain that a book about writing made as much sense as a car about driving. With Rob Tobin’s book How To Write High Structure, High Concept Movies, I will make an exception. Because this is an exceptional book.
The book is exactly what the title states: a step-by-step manual on how to write structurally sound, high-concept, “formulaic” screenplays.
Rob Tobin has read more than 5,000 scripts as a script reader, development exec and script doctor for some big names in Hollywood: Freddie Fields (Glory), Stephen Cannell (The A-Team), Joe Singer (Dr. Doolittle), and Bill Carraro (Frequency). He is also former writing coach and VP of development for The Writers’ Boot Camp.
As his basic premise, Tobin contends that “bad films aren’t formulaic – and that’s the problem!” If more screenplays adhered to the basics covered in this book, they would spot the problems and be able to correct them before turning the script into an awful film. Continue reading
Location Shooting in Massachusetts
So ya wanna make a movie in Massachusetts?
Note: Since this article was first written in 1999, Massachusetts closed its film office and basically closed its doors to movie makers. Then later, a somewhat different reincarnation of a state film office was set up, the state granted generous tax incentives to Hollywood productions, and the movies came back to shoot in the Bay State. How long until the pendulum swings back is anyone’s guess. Chime in with your comments and any updates to the situation in Massachusetts.
By Peter Bohush
(1999) Great news: the state has created a wonderful program to help you find fee-free locations. But don’t think that means there’s no red tape, or that every location in the state will be free. And don’t assume that free means easy. But a little effort can yield some wonderful location opportunities in the Bay State.
As an agency under the state Department of Economic Development, the Massachusetts Film Office clearly had in mind bringing Hollywood productions (and their cash) to the state when it launched its fee-free location program. But local and independent filmmakers benefitted from it, too (even if the only financial benefit we bring the location town is buying donuts and coffee.)
When I decided to write, direct and produce my short digital movie “Geezers” this year, the Producer Me made the mistake of not asking the Director Me if he was sure he could shoot the locations that the Writer Me had written. Silly Me. Continue reading
DSLRs: Viva la Revolución!
Shooting video on a still camera? This is no longer as ridiculous as it sounds – and it can revolutionize the way you make your film.
Written by Peter Bohush
The Canon 5D Mark II
In 1998 a major revolution in independent filmmaking occurred with the concurrent introduction of miniDV tape digital camcorders and computer-based editing software. For the first time, filmmakers with low or no budgets could shoot and edit movies in “near-broadcast” quality, right from their home computers.
Some even made it to the big screen, such as The Cruise (Bennet Miller), The Last Broadcast (Lance Weiler), Full Frontal (Steven Soderbergh), Chuck and Buck (Miguel Arteta), and Bamboozled (Spike Lee). The Blair Witch Project was shot on even older technology, Hi-8 analog video.
I jumped on this bandwagon myself, using a small Sony TRV-900 miniDV camcorder to shoot my movie Geezers on the streets of Boston and Worcester and the Mass Pike in between.
And since the data was recorded digitally, even today I can transfer that footage to my computer without any loss of image quality. The Final Cut Pro software I used to edit Geezers is still in use today, although with significantly more power and features.
But wait! There’s more! Continue reading
