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Life's A Story, We Just Put It On Film

5/30/2014

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So about half way through the 10 Day Film Challenge Screening yesterday, I realized something I have been preaching since day one of class.  Tools, tricks, equipment, heck even actors, are all second to one extremely important aspect of storytelling,   and that is the story itself.  

Summer Montage from Thomas Leonard on Vimeo.

I heard today that some people were looking to do some independent film work over the summer.  That is awesome.  I used a large chunk of last summer working on a script to a feature I am someday looking to put into production.  And after seeing 30 films yesterday with varying degrees of success, I would say the weakest link in all of them was story.  

My advice?  Take two or three times longer working on a story.  Develop your characters.  Read "Screenplay for Dummies."  Anything you can do to become a better writer will only help you.  Then, once your story is complete, plan plan plan. Plan some more.  And then plan again.  Schedule.  Make phone calls.  Have back ups.  Have back ups for your back ups.  Then when you have it all figured out, everything will go wrong.

It's inevitable.  Even the best laid plans go foul right?  It happens.  It's almost part of the Hollywood process.  But get through, and finish.  Once it's in the can, you go back to your schedule.  Your pace.  Your speed.  Take some time off before you start your edit.  But take your time with it.  If something is going to bother you now it's going to bother you every time you watch it.  Re-shoot if you need to, and if you can't, well then hope that all your planning lends itself to a solution that allows you to fix it with what you have on hand.  

Promoting is it's own entity and I won't touch upon that here.  But show it to as many people as you can.  Put it on vimeo.  Not youtube, vimeo.  Share it with facebook.  Tweet the link 1,000 times.  Then when you absorb all the positive feedback, analyze the negative feedback.  Your parents are going to love it.  Your best friend who talked you off the ledge during shooting will love it.  Filmbuff95 online will say terrible things.  Decide if they're being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk, or if they really have criticism.  If they do, learn from it.  And when you go to start your next project, you will be astonished at how much you have learned on your own, just by doing.

I started making films in middle school, with an old clunkly VHS camcorder I found in my parents basement used only to capture terrible footage of my brothers and I as babies.  I looked at this device, this machine....this tool.  I looked at it and wondered why this has only been used to capture a moment in time.  Then I thought, "why can't I use this to tell a story?"  A story.  The heart of all films.  So I told stories and in retrospect, terrible ones.  But they got better.  And better.  And better.  Once you learn how, you need to learn why.  And you will see, every new project you take on, will end up being the best thing you make.  

Filmmaking is an art, but a learned art.  You can learn it, and you can apply it.  Only by doing so as often as possible will you get better.  The path of a filmmaker is not easy.  It requires a lot of hard work both on the creative side, and the business side.  The payoff is only worth it if you enjoy the journey.  The artist who makes it big, or has a hit film won't return to the craft if hates the process.  

My goal as a teacher is to share this process, and hope that some of you take to it, and love it in your own way.  And for those who haven't, no hard feelings.  For those who have, awesome!  I hope you feel you've been taught well.   And what's wonderful, as I heard some of  my students say this about 10-Day, is that it was the best video they have made all year...

All I could do was smile, and say, "yeah....until your next one."


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Shell of a Good Time

5/21/2014

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Last night Global Communications Club hosted a video game fundraiser to contribute towards Relay for Life.  Initially the idea was to focus on the game Rock Band, where teams could sign up to take part in a virtual battle of the bands.  Good in concept, maybe not so much so in execution.  So it changed, and became a Just Dance tournament.  Were teams could get together and shake it to out dance other teams.  Again, good on paper, but hard to execute.  So we looked at Mario Kart.  An easily accessible game that almost everybody from their three year old nephew to grandmother knows how to play.  Would be perfect, but it was missing the one element that the other two ideas shared.  Teams. Togetherness.  Co-operative.  Community.
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Just dancin'
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Smash Bros. brawlin'
Players in the tournament were selected through a ticket system, ensuring randomness throughout.  Even the course selection was done through a card system to make sure there were no ringers selecting their favorite tracks.  Initially feared as a way to make the game more restricted, it was received with open arms, and the friendly competitive spirt emerged.  It was intense, stressful, exciting, honest pure fun.  Win or lose, there wasn't a smile-less face in the crowd.  

Phones were out, but only to take pictures of somebody making a fool of themselves dancing.  Or capturing video of their friend getting hit with a blue shell, then a red shell, then a pow block, and finally a lightning bolt to drop from first place all the way to tenth.  People were engrossed in the evening and putting worries aside for a few hours.  And really, isn't that what entertainment is supposed to do anyway?  Video games can bring people together, and thats exactly what happened.
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Errbody
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The final four...
That was the essence we were trying to capture.  Video games by nature are community driven.  Whether it's playing together in a room, sharing tips and secrets, working together to unlock characters, or just telling your friends how you beat the level wayyyy different from everybody else.  Games are communal, and thus the idea of the Video Game Cafe was born.  

Mario Kart tournament would be the tent pole, but we would also have several other games on hand just so people can come, hang out, play games together, snack on some treats, and have a good time.  The games were selected and off we went.  

Smash Bros. had 4 players in constant rotation all night.  Wii Sports and a small group of competitive people that were really into it.  Just dance sat all alone until 3 brave girls gave it go.  By the end of the night it had the largest gathering of people around it.  Anybody that came with a Nintendo 3DS had migrated to the center of the cafe to street pass and play one another.  Community.
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Streetpass central
The final four were set, and they drew a large crowd.  People screamed.  They laughed.  They cheered. It was an epic conclusion to an awesome evening.  People, hung out, had some homemade baked goods, and spent their time having fun with friends and their favorite hobby.  Community.
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That's Billion...with a B

5/19/2014

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So rumor is circulating that Youtube (owned by Google) is looking to purchase video game video streaming service Twitch.  For those who don't know, Twitch is a service that streams live video feeds of people playing popular video games.  Why Twitch does this?  I actually haven't found a good reason, but these streams are very popular, with 45 million viewers each month.  What does it say about Google wanting this service?  Well a lot about the entertainment industry actually.

Video games are popular.  Very popular.  They pull in more money each year than Hollywood.  Major League Gaming, is an ACTUAL thing.  People get paid (albeit very little, and I'm sure most of it comes in the form of sponsorships) to play video games competitively.  The "sport"* is growing, very quickly, and Google wants in now before it gets any bigger.

Think of how big Youtube is.  Kind of a silly question now.  It's a given, an internet staple.  It's hard to think of one without the other.  Back when google purchased Youtube it was a bold move that many people thought was crazy.  Why spend the money (and lots of it) on a service that draws in very little to no revenue?  Well they were clearly looking at the bigger picture.  The landscape of what the internet will be used for.  

Clearly this is a landscape move.  Imagine a youtube strictly for video games, with live streaming content.  Premiering new content.  Hosting huge industry related content (Twitch TV + E3 would = big deal, with lots $$$ coming in) to the masses.  It pulls video games even more into the mainstream, and makes the force to be reckoned with, a little more intense.

Do you watch twitch?  I'm curious to see why, and what for.  Fire off in the comments below.

*for the record, I am an avid gamer and I follow the industry closely.  I however also fail to see how video gaming could be considered a sport, but thats just me.  Sports involve the body, not just thumbs.  
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Tape Crazy

5/6/2014

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Funny to think of all the means we have to back up data.  How many flash drives, hard drives, cloud folders, CD's, DVD, or heck, just old computers you may have lying around just because there is"important" information on them.  I'm guessing the answer is a lot.  As technology moves forward so do the tools we use to store our data, and the money spent to invent technologies is huge.  So why would a company like Sony, advance an old form of technology like video tape.

Yup, tape.

Believe it or not, physical copies of things are still the preferred way to save old data.  When I worked at WHYY television studio, every show or segment was backed up on Beta (essentially a higher quality version of a VHS tape).  Why you ask?  Well tape, when handled correctly will essentially last forever.  Think of how many libraries have 16mm, 35mm, or microfiche in a storage or archival room somewhere.  It's because they will never go away (unless they catch fire) and can always be used as a reference.  
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So Sony comes along and releases an updated version of its magnetic tape data cartridge, that holds....are you ready for this....keep in mind this is a physical piece of magnetic tape....185 Terabytes!!!  More specifically 148GB per square inch.  That's insane.  

Tape works by coating plastic film with magnetic coating, where bytes of data are stored in the coating.  There were limitations with how many bytes could be stored, which is why you'll typically hear the term 8 or 16 bit recording, most commonly associated with audio files, or music.  Now, Sony has engineers a super high density crystal polymer that can be layered within the same amount of physical space, to store bytes in.  Basically, instead of one row of 8, you have multiple rows of millions.  Pretty cool stuff
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May the 4th Be with you...

5/4/2014

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...and also with you.

I guess it was towards the end of high school when I first came about this video.  Youtube was in its infancy if you can believe, and so was the content on it.  Then this.  I saw this...thing.  With real effects, and music that was clearly stolen from a movie, in a setting that looks like some sort of automobile factory, where is that place, who are these kids, HOW DID THEY DO THIS?!?!  It was awesome.  It was 5 minutes of whoa.  I saw this and decided that there was a place for my skills.  

Naturally I tried to make something similar.  I remember using a cracked version of premier to "export as a filmstrip" to hand draw the saber blades frame by frame.  I don't think the task has gotten any easier, but certainly more accessible.  I saw this and said "why can't I do this." 

That is why, I say, seek out as many films as you can.  Study them.  Be inspired by them.  Take notes on them.  Learn from them.  Become motivated by them.  Most of all, enjoy them.


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Coming Soon

5/3/2014

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Hi everybody.  I was looking to update some things on the website (hope you like the new look) and I wanted to add this section to add some new elements.  A lot of what we do is rooted in our daily culture and since I love researching or finding out about new tools, trades, tips, films, technology, the "industry" and more, I thought I would use this space to share with you fine folks my findings.  Right now this is in experiment mode, so lets see if I can keep up with it.  I'll do my best to update as often as I can which is a challenge for those that know my schedule.  Please feel free to add to the discussion if you're so inclined.  The goal is to share with you film/video related content.  Diehards only?  Time will tell.
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    It's Mr. Leonard.  Teacher, Videomaker, Professional Goofball

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