Tag: Filmmaking

How does a screenplay work?

Let's cover the subject of screenwriting by Aristotle's Poetics and by Syd Field’s Screenplay. According to Aristotle, tragedy is something that has a beginning, middle and end. In his book, Syd Field divides the film into three acts, the beginning, the confrontation and the resolution. The acts are separated by turning points. Although Syd Field did not originally develop the idea of three acts, the popularity of his book has made that structure the most frequently used. Playwrights and screenwriters before Aristotle's Poetics and Syd Field's Screenplay have managed to work successfully without these doctrines. Their methods have been more about the realization of their…

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How to introduce a character

A character in a film is not a human being, it is a work of art. We want the audience relate to the characters as they were real, so they need to be clear and understandable by design. As Robert McKee writes on his book Story, character design combines two primary aspects, Characterisation and True Character. Characterisation is all the observable qualities: physical appearance, age, sexuality, personality, attitudes, style of speech, etc. True Character is what is behind the surface: Who is this person? Loyal or disloyal? Honest or a liar? Generous or selfish?  In this post I am focusing on characterisation and how to…

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My experience with (short) film festivals

I have been working in advertising for over ten years but my goal has always been to direct narrative work. I haven’t got the opportunity to do so until in 2020 when I wrote a short script that I wanted to make. Since that being my first film, I didn’t have a producer or a production company with me. I decided to produce the film by myself.   I decided my budget for the festival round and started submitting for the festivals.  After shooting and finishing post production of the film, I was excited about the opportunity to be able to submit the film to…

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Directors gut

I recently listened to an old interview with film director Derek Cianfrance. The interview is from 2013 and at the time his film The Place Beyond The Pines was just released. It is really great film, you should watch it. But why I am telling you about the nearly ten years old interview? Because there was one thing he said that got me thinking.  Focus Features Cianfrance told how he was casting the the film. According to him, getting Ryan Gosling to play one of the lead roles was destiny. They were discussing about Blue Valentine, a film Cianfrance and Gosling made before The Place…

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