I’ve been following the success of microbudget filmmakers for some time now and I have to say it’s exciting. This week Nofilmschool creator Ryan Koo raised $125,000 for his first feature film man-child (almost enough money to pay for 3 years at UCLA). He joins an impressive group of film[...]
Archive for the ‘Filmmaking’ Category
September 17th, 2011 - 10:53 am § in Film School, Filmmaking
Great First Features for 250K and Under
About a year ago I wrote a piece called the thesis film in the era of the microbudget. In brief the post talked about the evolution of the microbudget feature and its effect on the role the thesis film plays in launching careers. You can read the post by clicking here. It seems I underestimated the[...]
September 12th, 2011 - 6:38 pm § in Film School, Filmmaking
Good Enough
One of the great unspoken tragedies of film school is that many students never finish their films. The reasons for this are manifold; disappointment with the work, the potentially high costs of postproduction, and the desire to shoot pickups come to mind. If I look back on how long it took me to fin[...]
July 12th, 2011 - 6:11 pm § in Filmmaking
20% Fiction – Dylan Murray – Berkeley, CA
20% fiction is an exercise my wonderful teacher Barry Primus has us do in our advanced directing class. Each person is called up to the front of the class to tell a personal story from their lives that can contain up to 20% fiction. When I told mine it was a life-changing experience. I thought [...][...]
June 21st, 2011 - 1:34 pm § in Filmmaking
Why Every Director Should See Buck
“All your horses are a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you might not like what you see there.” -Buck On Friday night I saw the premiere of Buck, the 2011 Sundance Documentary Audience Award winner at the Landmark. This has been a good year for movies, but none has stood out so signifi[...]
May 27th, 2011 - 11:44 am § in Filmmaking
Time Transitions
It’s postproduction season here at UCLA film school and right now I’m wrapping up the picture edit on two short films. During the spring we graduate film students sit in editing classes refining our cuts and figuring out what stories we can tell with the footage we have. Good short films[...]
March 6th, 2011 - 10:30 am § in Contemporary Short Films, Filmmaking
UCLA @ SXSW
This year we have two very talented filmmakers from UCLA showing their shorts at SXSW. One is a drama, the other a comedy, one is 10 minutes long, the other is 48 seconds long. It’s a great reminder of the diversity of films that some festivals show. I conducted an interview with the two filmm[...]
Short Film Festival Strategy
I recently attended a seminar held at UCLA on festival strategy and thought I would elaborate on my own. At this point in my career I’m near completion on two short films, gearing up for shooting another, and am searching for financing for my first feature, which I’m developing with a wr[...]
Mamet’s Three Questions
When I write, I have these three questions above my computer, which I initially found in David Mamet’s “Bambi Versus Godzilla.” He also kindly repeated these notes to his writing staff in his famous rant: QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME TH[...]