Another day, another book burned, another body on the pyre. Are they allowed to do that? How do they get away with it?
Editorial
Navigating the Action Film Industry of the Future
onIn my last post I used Cannes and AFM to take a snapshot of the action industry and predict what the climate will be like in a couple years. Impossible? Maybe, but using some basic principles I think we can be pretty accurate, within fifty percent. So how does it relate to us as indie [...]
Final Thoughts from An Action Filmmaker In Cannes – European Film Financing
onThe journey home from Cannes was long, but it gave me some time to evaluate the whole trip. The most shocking realization was how little we knew about the European film industry simply because we live in the USA. Even attending the American Film Market didn't prepare us for what Cannes was all about. The [...]
An Action Filmmaker in Italy – Part of the Cannes 2012 Trip
onTuesday, May 22 - Our time in Italy was short but sweet, punctuated with our sound designer Matteo and a stunt team called D-Unit. We went into the fashion capital of Milano, where we went to the only coffee place that resembled Starbucks called Arnold Coffee. Italy is the only European country that doesn't have [...]
An Action Filmmaker in Cannes – Day 4
onDay 4 - Saturday May 19 Today was much more relaxed. I slept in until 7:10am for a change and spent the first two hours writing. Rebecca and I ate some of the fine, bagged 2€ madelines from the supermarket and set off to catch all the booths we may have missed. What we found [...]
An Action Filmmaker in Cannes – Day 3
onDay 3 - Friday, May 18. Got to the producer's workshop late. The speakers were two producers, one of whom, Katriel Schory, manages an Israeli film fund that finances 3-5 films per year at about $500,000 each. The discussion was on what kind of producers we are, creative, financial, or personal (often, you're only one [...]
The Hobbit Does New Frame Rate – Yes, The Audience Can Tell
onWhen news broke that The Hobbit would utilize a frame rate double that of standard film in order to ease the 3D effect, I knew audiences were gonna hate it... they just won't know why. Cinemas project film at 24 frames per second, an industry standard (call it 24fps). Soap operas, news programs, and most [...]
Avoid Lecturing Your Audience
onThe recent hit Haywire with Gina Carano is putting the spotlight on actors who do their own fighting and stunts, but there seems to be a viewpoint that audiences are somehow responsible for the diminished quality in our action genre. An article on the subject has this to say: 7. Audiences: Free your mind – [...]
Action film requires the biggest conflicts
onRobin Hanson at Overcoming Bias recently wrote: In my culture, most stories are not about work life, and the few stories that are focus on a narrow set of unusual jobs like soldier, detective, politician, artist, doctor, lawyer, or teacher. Why? One explanation is that work is usually boring. But this seem weak to me. [...]