Triangle

I found a rather interesting opportunity for aspiring writers, producers and directors in the north of England. On the Bradford city of Film website was a section on Triangle, a six month mentoring course. Sadly I've missed my opportunity this year, however it could be promising for next.


http://www.bradford-city-of-film.com/clients/cityfilm/MODULES/NEWS/NEWSMOD_newsitem.asp?type=&itemid=705

How not to write a screenplay; presenting to the executives.

Here are some basic do's and don'ts when presenting your script to an executive according to How not to Write a Screenplay by Denny Martin Flinn.

* Don't burn your bridges by not being stubborn and by acting accommodating.

* Don't argue, discuss, especially in the ego-driven movie business. If you tell someone they are wrong, they won't judge your argument, they'll judge you.

* Do nod your head and smile whilst you calmly pursue their point though to the end.

* Don't rationalize your writing, art stands for itself and what the reader gets from the pages.

* Do use the executive's vocabulary; when in Rome, speak Italian.

* Don't discuss casting, often a good role is-in their eyes-not a lucrative one.

* Don't dress better than the executive. You are the artist not another suit, they are executives because they want to rub shoulders with you.

* Do see it as their movie because that's how they see it. Possession is nine tenths of the law.

* Always say yes if they offer a drink as they feel appreciated.

Working in Canada: work permits.

To work in Canada permanently I would need a work permit (film crews are allowed to work temporarily there).

What I should know:

1. My employer helps to determine if I'm eligible.

2. To work in Canada I must meet the "general requirements" for entering the country and to stay I would need a temporary resident Visa.

3. A work permit is by no means an immigration document and doesn't allow me to live in Canada permanently.

How to apply for a work permit

1. Check the application processing times: there are a number of factors in the application process that can affect the processing time.

2. Obtain an application package: before filling it in I will need a written job offer from my employer, proof that I meet the requirements, the positive labour market opinion on my job offer from Human Resources and Social Development Canada, proof of identity.

3. Determine where you will submit your application: I must submit my application to the visa office that is responsible for the country where I live.

4. Determine if you need a passport and a temporary resident Visa: a temporary resident visa is an official document that is placed in your passport. If my permit is approved then the resident visa will be issued at the same time as the documentation I need to enter Canada as a worker.

5. Pay the correct processing fee: the fee can be paid in local currency but it can't be refunded, even if my application isn't accepted.

6. Submit the application form: once I'm sure the form is completed it must be signed and dated. I must also make sure that I have the right receipt for the fees. My application will be returned to me if it isn't properly completed.

Working in America

There is one place other than England that I am seriously considering working in. America, and specifically, San Francisco. Now whilst I've been been to America a few times, I have in fact never been to anywhere on the West Coast. Still from what I have so far gathered about San Francisco it seems like paradise. So the first port of call is to go there, which I plan on doing as soon as I've left Art College. In the meantime I think it would be wise to research their immigration laws so that I know what I'm up against.

The majority of American work Visas are Non-Immigrant Visas and they only allow foreign workers temporary residency so they can live and work in America. There are still a variety of Visas all with variations of length of stay and many have room for holders to extend their stay providing they meet the requirements.

Here are a list of possible Visas that I may be needing, which one will depend of course on my exact job and circumstances.

Specialty Workers (H1B Visa):

Applies to foreigners entering America to perform services in a speciality occupation.

Temporary Skilled or Unskilled Workers (H2B Visa):

This facilitates the entry of foreign workers who wish to enter America to engage in non-agricultural employment which is seasonal, intermittent, a peak load need, or a one-time occurrence.

Intracompany Transferess (L1 Visa):

The L1 category applies to foreigners who work for a company with a parent, subsidy, branch, or affiliate in America. Applicants must be employed in America in a managerial or executive capacity (L1A Visa) or as a person with a specialized knowledge (L1B Visa).

Employment-based Preference Visas:

The employment based visa preference system allows American employers to petition the USCIS for permanent residency on behalf of certain employees who may qualify.

The Man Speaks

I thought I'd do a little post about the man who I feel right now is the greatest inspiration to me. After writing the script for my negotiated study piece I am now very interested in writing as a possible route to go down on my film industry voyage. People usually ask you who your favorite director is as it is usually regarded that a director "makes" the film: he is the auteur. However if somebody were to ask me who my favorite director was I would rephrase their question and say my favorite writer is Charlie Kaufman. Of the six films he's written, he's only directed one of them yet I feel that they are all "his films". They are so original and "high concept" that their primary entertainment value-at least for me-is the on paper description of what the film is, not how it looks or how it is acted. I thought I'd look through some interviews of his so I could get an idea of the kind of guy he is and how he came to be where he is.

Two Books

Right now I'm in the middle of writing a script for my negotiated study next next term and it seems to be quite going quite well. Still, for a beginner it's a total minefield as unlike being a Cinematographer or Editor there seems to be no obvious way of learning or improving, or is there? I am a strong believer in the idea that with enough practice one can become good at anything so I googled a little and came across a number of well reviewed texts on the subject of scriptwriting.

On Amazon I looked for a top ten list of screenwriting books and "How Not to Write a Screenplay" seemed like the most appropriate. After looking at a few reviews I realised that many other notable texts were colossal tombs that would probably paralyze a beginner such as myself, with the attention span of a gnat with A.D.D. Secondly I wanted a book on comedy writing as at the moment it's the comedy/drama route I'm interested in. For this there appeared to be no contest and "Comedy Writing Secrets" was the way to go. The two books are on their way to my front door, straight from Amazon as we speak.

Six Tips

This is what eHow has to say about how to become a Cinematographer...

1. Research trade schools or vocational institutions which teach Cinematography.

2. Learn about camera types and uses, lighting techniques and lenses

3. Stretch your artistic eye by taking lots of still photographs and filming as much as possible. Learn also to distinguish between good and bad lighting and the emotional effect of camera angle and film development.

4. Always check listings for film and television being produced in your area for jobs as camera or lighting specialists. Also inquire with news stations and movie studios about internships.

5. Shoot as much footage as you can and distribute you work, best done at good networking events.

6. Watch as many great films as you can.

Another Film Company

http://www.anotherfilmcompany.com/

Sooner or later I would very much like, in a similar way to Brown Bread films, to start my own production company. I came across these guys the other day and their showreel is pretty impressive. In say ten years from now it would be lovely to be a Director for one of these companies and in a perfect world I would've started the company myself. Their work is quite varied: adverts, title sequences, music promos e.t.c and quite clever on the visual effects too.

The company was set up in 2001 by Tim Marshall and Steve Reeves. They quickly went on to win the BTAA Best Cinema Commercial for the notorious Agent Provocateur commercial, featuring Kylie Minogue-now the most viewed viral ad in the world. Another then expanded with the signing of director Simon Neal, whose first commercial, for Cancer Research, won Best New Director a the BTA Craft Awards in 2002.

Meth Labs and Supermarkets

I helped out on the music promo for Leeds rapper "Matter". I think this has probably got to be Brown Bread Film's most mental shoot yet. I crewed over three days. Firstly I helped out putting the finishing touches to the set which consisted of much wallpapering, cutting and sticking. This was all part of the creating of an elaborate authentic looking drug den style set.

Day two was more interesting, it was all shot in the evening on a steadycam at a local mini supermarket. I was given the all important job of carrying the music for the performers to lip-sync. The final day was shot in the morning on a path along a dark tunnel, my first job being to create a suitable patchwork of cardboard to act as a blackout at one end of the tunnel, thus making the path that bit darker. Again I was in charge of keeping up with the performers holding the stereo system for them to lip sync. This was also my task at the swimming baths later that day.

What to ask the accountants.

Here is an outline of the sorts of questions one should ask the accountants courtesy of Accounting for Non-Accounting Students.

The companies act of 1985 now requires directors to show copies of the company's annual accounts, the directors' report and the auditors' report on those accounts. So that the accounts don't break the law the following questions are suggested.

* Can you assure that the accounts are prepared in accordance with the companies act of 1985?

* Has every applicable accounting standard been followed?

* What (if any) are the relevant stock exchange requirement that we need to follow?

* Are there requirements that could cause difficulty for our company?

* Do we have to follow any accounting standards on such issues?

* What sort of effect could it have on the result if we followed them?

* Is it possible to invoke the true and fair view override rule?

* Do you know what the auditors think?

* If the requirements are ignored are the likely to be investigated by the FRRP?

The Five Phases of Growth

Here are the five phases of growth as outlined by The Successful Entrepreneur's Guidebook.

1. Growth Through Creativity

The initial start up of the business is fueled by the founder's initial idea. If the idea has sufficient demand, i.e there is a large enough gap in the market or it beats its competitors then the business will grow. Of course as it grows, the organizational structure becomes more complex and thus requires leadership.

2. Growth Through Direction

Once the business is established then it requires a strong leader to make tough decisions about the company's priorities. A leader must be found in order to carry out phase three.

3. Growth Through Delegation

Once there is a strong leader and the company is moving in a steady and strong direction, there will come a point where to ensure efficient work, responsibility will have to be delegated to more people in the company. For the business that has trouble moving forward the issues usually lie with the leader's lack of trust and confidence in his employes which result in less delegation and the leader being ineffective at handling work that would be performed better by a larger group.

4. Growth Through Coordination

With the roles of the business delegated the business puts in place strategic planning to ensure accountability throughout the hierarchy. Various systems and policies are developed to regulate the actions of managers at all levels and communication all throughout the business is vital.

5. Growth Through Collaboration

Finally if possible where there are production lines, create teams. This results in a groups of people being responsible for the whole major portion of a task as opposed to having individuals responsible for small and seemingly meaningless stages of the process. People are now naturally encouraged to generate solutions rather than passing problems down the line.

Costings

Here is a list of the various costs of producing the video we have planned

Equipment Hire Costs according to the company Decode.

4 lights, 800w redheads & stands; £32 for the day.

1 middle range camera (Sony HVR Z1E) with standard lens; £100 for the day.

1 tripod, slider moy unit; £125

1 microphone, sennheiser 416P kit, gun mic, basket suspension system, boom pole, fluffy and XLR leads; £15

I haven't included the greenscreen in the cost as I have heard from many places that it's best to simply buy some good green fabric.

The grand total for equipment hire would be £272 for one day. Seeing as we now plan on filming on a tuesday and then the following thursday, at the very least our production would cost £816. The other costs to be taken into account are if you like "the variables" which are all props and their cost will of course vary on whether or not any of the cast and crew or acquaintances of them have said items.

Basic Accounting

As I plan on working freelance, eventually running my own film production company I will need to have some knowledge of accounting or more likely some knowledge of how to deal with the accountants I've hired.

According to "Accounting for Non-Accounting Students" here are the best questions to ask once you've hired an/some accountant(s).

1. Are you (or how many of you) are 'qualified' and what are your respective professional accountancy bodies?

2. How is the accounting function organized?

3. What can the accountants do to help me do my job more effectively and efficiently?

4. What information do the accountants want me to give to them, when is it wanted and in what form?

5. What is the information to be used for?

6. What information are they going to give back to me?

7. What am I supposed to do with it?

8. How can the rest of the team work best with the accountants?

Me and my crystal ball

For our creative industries module we have been asked to write a report on how we plan on advancing our enterprise. This will consist of outlining basically three elements;

Where I am at the moment,

Where I want to be in ten or so years,

How I propose to get there.

Right now I have a basic understanding of Maya, After Effects, Photoshop and Final Cut and feel that I am currently most capable of making music videos. This probably has something to do with my interest in music and my habit or ability to blend my senses when experiencing audio or visual stimuli, i.e music and video are to me inseparable. All my favorite films have good soundtracks and all my favorite songs conjure up the nicest most vivid images.

In ten years or so I would love to be directing music videos professionally. I am well aware that there is not initially a lot of money in them, however from the information i've gathered so far from those in the industry I feel I have an idea as to how to go about it.

Firstly I know full well that to succeed in many industries it is all about who you know. So one hard and fast rule I plan on sticking by is to simply get out of the house. I'm not a gamer and don't plan to be and thus have very little reason to stay inside when not working or socializing. The concept of work hard play hard is very wise, one should just make sure that a balance is struck. In order to network better I think the best job I could get would be running on film sets. This is a great way to meet lots of people and it gets you used to the industry environment. I already have a few friends who work in the industry so I'm sure they would be happy to lend some advice. I also plan on purchasing a decent and affordable camera just so I can do any bit of freelance work that pops up. Even now my friends are asking me to little filming and editing jobs for them.

Here is someone who I feel serves as a good model to aim for. Spike Jonze is one of the world's biggest music video directors. He started out making cheap skate videos though! Something I'd love to do myself.

How to make a return

In order to for a business to succeed it needs to make a satisfactory return on any money initially invested in it, be it by those running it or other investors.

The Successful Entrepreneur's Guidbook by Colin Barrow, Robert Brown and Liz Clarke outlines

four objectives to this.

1. The company should make enough profit to let the company grow. For a business to expand its sales it must acquire more and more working capital and eventually more space. This expansion is best achieved through internally generated profits known as reserves.

2. The return should be substantial enough to attract new investors or lenders.

3. The return should provide enough reserves to keep the real capital intact. In order to make a large enough sum of money to maintain the capital one must make sure that inflation is taken into account. If a business retains enough profits each year to meet a 3% growth when inflation is 4% then it is in fact contracting by 1% every year.

4. If your business has shareholders you must make sure they are getting a good return. If the business is speculative and the profits are less than bank interest rates, then your shareholders won't be pleased.

The Organisation

I just thought I'd blog about a few organizational bits.

Firstly we've divided ourselves up for this project as follows.

Me: Director/Producer & D.P

Because I like writing, storyboarding and working with cameras.

Steve: Production Designer & Editor

Because he's always good with drawing and I have previously worked well with him as my editor.

Chris: VFX & 1st A.D

Because he's exceptionally good at Maya and After Effects.

We've got a pretty simple schedule. The filming will be divided into two parts.

Firstly the green screen footage with our news anchor actor can be shot in a few hours, provisionally on monday 15th March between 4 and 6.

Secondly the city centre footage can be shot in an afternoon from 12.30 when the light starts deteriorating at around 5. We should be able to shoot provisionally on Thursday 10th March.

Props & costume needed:

Jacket shirt and tie for news anchor: potentially supplied by actor.

Jacket shirt and tie for reporter: potentially supplied by classmate.

Retro shell suit or suitable blue substitute: no sources yet, blue morphsuit as substitute.

Blue facepaint and hair-dye: obtainable from Argos.

Microphone: borrow from A.V department.

Three pairs of glasses, preferably thick rimmed: I have one pair, need other two.

Sonic FX Test 2

Did another FX test, this time with more frantic animation and a little more detail in the blue image.

Sonic FX Test

Here are my first thoughts on our blue streak done with a little After Effects.

Brown Bread Music Video 2

Day two was less intense. We thankfully started an hour later and had much milder weather. Firstly we filmed on an abandoned railway track which was lovely and picturesque and then we moved into the woods where there were some very useful old shelters that must have been used in the war. I had a lot less to do that so most of the time I was just able to observe the action. They used quite a fair few lenses, five in total and a couple of filters when needed.

Brown Bread Music Video 1

I offered to do a little more crewing for Brown Bread the other day when I heard they were shooting a music video-what I'm most interested in going into at the moment. We had a very early start at around 6.30 and then an intense shoot up until about three but all in all it was a very satisfying day.
I was general handyman, moving sandbags and digging holes for poles with barbed wire. As the pictures suggest it was a WW1 themed video so the band and actors needed a suitable hostile environment. The cold weather and perfect fog were a good start but for added realism the crew and I were all told to make a medley of "trench screams" whilst lobbing dirt down upon the cast to simulate various explosions.