A Process Never Ending

I remember going to the Orlando 48-Hour Film Project premiere last year and after they showed the movies the filmmakers were asked to come to the front of the theater for a Q/A session. I think Ken was out of town, so I had to go down and represent. I made sure to bring down Mike Santi and Lisa Savage, the two leads for "Let Sleeping Squirrels Lie", as back-up. Anyway, one of the questions asked was, "What do you recommend up-and-coming filmmakers do to improve our films?" My brain's initial reaction was, "Uh...I'm an up-and-coming filmmaker too dude." But, the words that came out of my mouth were something like...

"Do your homework. Watch a LOT of movies, TV, commercials, whatever. Just watch them and if you find a shot or something you like, learn how to do it. Oh, and read Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez."

Nowadays, I think I do less watching of movies, TV, etc and more analyzing. It doesn't matter what it is, I'll watch it and then, in my mind, I work out what I need to achieve that particular shot/look. If I don't know how to achieve it, I'll ping Ken and we'll try to figure it out. I think I'll continually apply this practice for the rest of my life. It helps me to become a better filmmaker, and with it being such a competitive market, I've got to get whatever edge I can.

It is always a nice experience when my eyes fall upon something that really tingles my filmmaking intellect and some of that tingling may overflow to my loins. Stuff like this:



Currently, I'm doing an infinite number of renders. Each one seems to last an eternity. It's okay though, because what I'm working on is really cool stuff. Thanks to Creative Cow, I learned how to do layers in a Final Cut sequence (kind of like a Photoshop project). Wow, talk about opening up another dimension in editing! Stay tuned!