Filmmaking lessons on a disk.

With the new Scott Pilgrim Blu-Ray disk containing 22 hours of extras with storyboards, making of effects, commentaries and more, I am reminded of how much I have learned about film making on these DVD and Blu-Ray extras.

When a big movie comes out, I like to buy the disk rather than just watch it on Netflix because I want those extras.  I think I have watched the extras more often then movies themselves.  This certainly was the case with The Lord Of The Rings trilogy.  Cloverfield was a good one as well.  

Fight club had interesting extras.  They showed how they had to overcome many problems in making the movie.

The recent Star Wars movies have lots of great extras.  The "Episode 1" extras start with George Lucas sitting at his desk writing "A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away..."  (I wonder if he realized what his writing of that sentence again really meant for so many people.)  The extras ended with people running into the theater with tickets.
Lord of the rings showed much about the actors throughout the whole movie making proccess.  You can see the hows and whys of each character cast. Then, see how the actors attempted to portray each character. On the third movie, watch what happens when they wrapped.  It was all there.

I play these extras when I need inspiration to write or edit.  If you are interested in film making, go through your movie collection or need that occasional bit of inspiration, lay those extras for insight, and inspiration. 

Scott Pilgrim Vs The World.

I predict the movie Scott Pilgrim vs The World will be a inspiration for many young filmmakers very soon.  Not only does it nail pop references and memes, the graphics don't look that complex. 

I you havent seen it, Buy Scott Pilgrimfrom Amazon cheaper than in stores.

The style the graphics use is so hard to ignore that you end up noticing them quite often.

Now, the graphics might have been difficult to create, but they
don't look impossible to duplicate like Lord of the rings does.  Scott Pilgrim's graphics looks achievable for the average filmmaker.   I attempted something like it here....



I think I did ok.  

But, don't let me convince you that the movie is all about graphics.  It has a good story as well.  The story and crazy effects are tied together well, making really obsurd elements hillarious.  My favorite example of this is the ex-bf with psi powers...  becouse he is vegan.  
So, check out the movie, and expect to see many more like it in the future, especially with younger filmmakers.

The rules.

So, my latest video was disqualified for an online short movie contest. Watch it here and comment about how epic it is:




So, what filmmaking/business lessons are to be learned here? Mostly, keep an eye on the rules during the whole run of the contest! They could and DO change.

It isn't that I misunderstood the rules. The rules were changed during the last couple of days stating that no music is allowed.

This is their prerogative and the rules state that they can change without notice. Now, I could complain about this or could elaborate a conspiracy theory about why I think this happened (I do have one, btw). Doing these things would not help me progress toward any of my goals.

The rules to this particular contest were very murky. Not all of the rules were easy to understand. Oddly worded rules like, "only 3 people can be in the short, including you.". Did that mean just on cam or cast and crew? Rules like this should have made me realize that a rules change or clarification was upcoming.



Music licensing his has always been a nightmare to manage in movie and short movies. It is expensive, and the rules for something that is royalty free might only be so in certain circumstances.



Now, I have a great guy I call to for great music when I need it (Epic shout out.  ), but not everyone is so lucky.


And, finally, have a backup plan. This isn't the first time I was burned somehow and was not able to get a short entered in a video contest for some reason. Last time there was myriad hardware problems, this time it was an external rules problem. Both times could have been helped by maybe keeping more people in the team informed about what is happening. Maybe brainstorming about a solution, and enacting some kind of follow up short, or even just reworking the one we had. This time, I entered the contest so late, I didn't have this option, but next time, I will give myself more time to learn about changes and issues.


So, how did I vote in this contest I was DQd in? I voted for Epic Slide. I like that it didn't use any music, but instead used a wind sound that not only helped keep interest, but helped sell the effect of how high he was supposed to be. And, though I knew how it was going to end, it still made me laugh seeing it. I laughed halfway through it as well.



So, vote for Epic Slide, the no music, two laugh in 30 seconds (not bad), and creative use of sound Epic short.