The Look Machine: Moviemaking Archives

January 31, 2008

Flashbacks

My outline pitch on the historical movie went very well. Michael had major changes and notes for everyone but me, and said my story was in very good shape. However, one thing he encouraged me to do was cut down on the flashbacks I was planning on writing.

I've since talked to him and told him I'm just not ready to give up these flashbacks yet, and I'd like to still give them a chance to work when I actually write the pages. He told me that's fine, and to go ahead and do that, that's what first drafts are for.

Anyway, I was wondering... how do you feel about flashbacks? I personally like them, and even though they are somewhat discouraged by those "in the know," I think they really work well in a lot of movies. And, of course, LOST (which starts again tomorrow).

So my question is: Do you like flashbacks? How do you think they can be used well, and how do you think they are used badly?

Posted by jason on 02:24 AM | Comments (10)

January 30, 2008

Film Literacy

I'm embarrassed to say that I took a film literacy assessment the other day in my 434 workshop... and came up lacking. There are a ton of foundational films which I've never seen. Anyway, I have the list now and I need to add them to my Netflix queue and try to make amends. I'll post the list after the link if you want to watch them too.

Update: If you want to see what my queue looks like now, so you can know what order I'm watching them in, click here. There are also films in there which are recommended by Howard Suber, who is teaching a "film structure" class based on patterns he's detected in 80 of the most memorable films. Also, I was prescribed a certain order for the films below, a first tier that I needed to see first.

I'm bolding the ones I've already watched.

Part One: English Language Films

A Clockwork Orange
All About Eve
Annie Hall
Badlands
Ball of Fire
Blazing Saddles
Blow Up
Bonnie & Clyde
Boyz ‘N the Hood
Breaking Away
Broadcast News
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Carnal Knowledge
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
City Lights
The Conversation
Die Hard
Diner
Double Indemnity
Dr. Strangelove
Easy Rider
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
The Exorcist
Fargo
Frankenstein (1931)
The French Connection
The General (Buster Keaton)
The Godfather, parts 1 and 2
Gone With the Wind
The Graduate
The Grapes of Wrath
A Hard Day’s Night
High Noon
His Girl Friday
The Hustler
In the Company of Men
It Happened One Night

The Lady Eve
The Last Picture Show
Little Cesar
Local Hero
Lolita
Mad Max
M*A*S*H
McCabe and Mrs Miller
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

The Maltese Falcon
Manhattan
Mean Streets
My Darling Clementine
Nashville
Network
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Ninotchka
Ordinary People
The Postman Always Rings Twice
The Producers (1968)
Psycho
Pulp Fiction
Raging Bull
Reversal of Fortune
Goodfellas
Red River
Rosemary’s Baby
The Searchers
Sense and Sensibility
Sex, Lies and Videotape
The Silence of the Lambs
Singin’ in the Rain
Sleeper
Some Like it Hot
Spartacus
Stagecoach
Stranger Than Paradise
Sullivan’s Travels
Sunset Boulevard
Terms of Endearment
The Third Man
Three Days of the Condor
Titanic
Tom Jones
Tootsie
Touch of Evil
2001: A Space Odyssey
Unforgiven
Vertigo
The War of the Roses
When Harry Met Sally
White Heat
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wollf?
The Wild Bunch
Witness
Working Girl
Wuthering Heights (1939)

Part 2: Foreign Language Films
The Battle of Algiers
Beauty and the Beast (Cocteau)
Breathless
The Conformist
The Damned
Grand Illusion

8 ½
The 400 Blows
Jean de Florette/Manon of the Springs
L’Avventura
La Dolce Vita
La Femme Nikita
La Strada
La Terra Trema
Open City
Ossessione
Persona
Ran
Rashomon
Repulsion
Rififi
Scenes from a Marriage
Seven Beauties
The Seven Samurai
The Seventh Seal
Shoot the Piano Player
Swept Away (1975)
Throne of Blood
Topkapi
The Wages of Fear
Wings of Desire
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Posted by jason on 12:14 AM | Comments (24)

January 22, 2008

Habituation

It's a fact of nature that people eventually get "used" to things, and something that may seem shocking and amazing at first will seem more mundane. As with drug doses, people will have to increase their dosage to get the same affect. This same dynamic works in movies... Take a look at the following numbers through the Rambo movies to see how they have to increase the violence each time in an attempt to break through the clutter.

From the Los Angeles Times
Dead and deader

When the newest "Rambo" movie opens later this week, there's going to be a lot of death and dying. So I got myself an early copy, watched it several times through, stopping and starting along the way,
By John Mueller

I: "First Blood" (1982)

II: "Rambo:

First Blood Part II"

(1985)

III: "Rambo III"

(1988)

IV: "Rambo"

(2008)

Number of bad guys killed by Rambo with his shirt on

Number of bad guys killed by Rambo with his shirt off

Number of bad guys killed by Rambo no matter how attired

Number of bad guys killed by accomplices of Rambo acting on their own

Number of good guys

killed by bad guys

113

Total number of people killed

132

236

Number of people killed per minute

0.01

0.72

1.30

2.59

Time at which the first person is killed (mins:secs)

29:31

33:34

41:9

3:22

Number of people killed per minute from that point until the end of the film (not including the ending credits)

0.02

1.18

2.39

3.04

Sequences in which Rambo is shot at without significant result

Number of sequences in which good guys are tortured by bad guys

Number of sex scenes

Posted by jason on 03:44 PM | Comments (1)

December 03, 2007

Mudmation

Jason and I are rivals. Pure and simple. Anything I do, he has to do better (like growing a beard) anything he does, I have to do better (like graphic design).

So, jason posted his animation on here, and I felt inferior. I tried and tried, and finally I felt as though I had something I could offer as competition.

Enjoy!

Posted by ian on 08:34 PM | Comments (5)

December 01, 2007

Another pitch

I have to start working on the script I'm going to write next quarter. Here's the pitch I have so far. Thoughts?

True Love Waits is a comedy about a young couple, JOSHUA and NIKKI (22), who are heavily invested in the Abstinence Only movement. They "do things the right way" and wait until marriage to have sex - only to find their "happily ever after" turn into a (metaphorical) "dark and stormy night." Joshua soon realizes that they aren't able to consummate their relationship until he "gets his heart's lust under control" to Nikki's satisfaction, but in the end what they both need to find is the true love they both desire.

Posted by jason on 01:13 PM | Comments (5)

November 30, 2007

My Pitch

so... tell me what you think. I have 2 minutes. It's supposed to pique your interest enough to make you want to ask questions. Does it do this?

Remember back for a moment, back to elementary school. Think back to the kid who wasn’t cool. Maybe it was you. Maybe it was the kid you ignored. But he was there. He was the one that peed his pants during music class, cried during recess, couldn’t catch the football during the big game.
Now imagine he goes home, and things don’t get any better.

A Well-Adjusted Boy is a drama about intellectually precocious 12 year old Laurent Winters, the son and primary test subject of a prominent child rearing expert, his mother Dr Jean Winters.

On one hand, he exists in a structured, emotionally barren world at home (His mother will only hug him for 5 seconds at the most, it’s timed on an egg timer, and only as a reward for good behavior.) And on the other hand, he barely survives in this chaotic lord of the flies 6th grade existence at school (Where he is, by his own admission, “not high on the social hierarchy.”)

This delicate balance is overwhelmed when he’s traumatically shamed at school, and finds no comfort from his mother at home, at this time when he really needs it. Laurent loses his carefully groomed, well-behaved disposition and makes a decision he knows his mother wouldn’t approve of. .. Because he needs to change.

With the help of his new – and only – friend, a free-spirited 12 year old girl named Talayah, he sets out on a quest to find the Right Reverend Cornelius, the famous Texas Televangelist... the only one who can turn his cold, distant mother into

the loving parent he’s always needed. Of course, as with any journey, they find much more.

Posted by jason on 07:04 PM | Comments (7)

November 28, 2007

Pitching next week

Our screenwriting instructor Paul Castro is arranging a "pitch session" where we have 2-3 minutes to pitch our script to "a mysterious guest." I have no idea who it could be, but he does have connections. I have to put my pitch together in the next couple of days, then know it well enough that I can deliver it while the rest of the class throws balled up pieces of paper at me...

Fun times.

Posted by elanyarts on 03:25 AM | Comments (4)

Enchanted

Go and see this movie. It's really very clever, well made, funny, and sweet. Perfectly cast... loved it. Hopefully it'll usher in more hand drawn animation. I love the Pixar stuff, but there is something about a great big 2D animated film that seems more epic and timeless. I still can't believe Disney discontinued the art form...

Posted by jason on 03:16 AM | Comments (4)

November 15, 2007

kitties by lyric

look what I found on my computer. my 8 year old daughter put it together just for fun. I had no idea she could even use keynote, the presentation program from Apple.

Posted by jason on 11:27 PM | Comments (8)

October 30, 2007

My Movie Poster

Our latest assignment was to create a movie poster for the screenplay we're writing in our class. here's mine.

Posted by jason on 02:33 PM | Comments (14)

June 13, 2007

Retro Band

So I just finished the first draft of my latest full length script, entitled Retro Band. It's a comedy. Definitely rated R.

If you want to read it, let me know.

ps. in case you're wondering, of the 5 full lengths I've completed so far, 3 are definite R's, and two are PGish. Of those Rs, 2 could probably be toned down to get PG-13.

One is a lost cause.

Posted by jason on 02:42 AM | Comments (19)

May 17, 2007

Filming BSF

We haven't had any updates because it's one of those situations where so many things are going on that you don't want to miss anything. But then we get nothing, so I'm just going to post something, anything, to give you an update.

This is going fantastically well, both for filming and personal enjoyment. We're getting excellent footage, really covering the concerts and the crowd and band so well. I can't wait to see the finished product when it's all edited and put together. I'm excited that we're doing this because the way the crowds here in Europe love boy sets fire is something you truly have to see to believe. Yes, I had been told they played to large crowds and everything, but some of these concerts have the most fanatical fans I've ever seen.

We're using a 2 camera setup on stage, and then we have our X Camera which is just for crazy extra footage where we don't mind so much taking a risk with it because it's a cheaper one. Want to carry a camera while you stage dive to see what it'll look like? Use the X Camera. Collin, Brett and I have all done this so far. Ian uses that camera when he's out in the audience alot and get some great shots. I was using it while people were landing on me. Seriously, the footage is just cool to watch.

Our days are so long because we sleep so little. In the last 72 hours, we had slept 6 hours. That included naps and nodding off in the car. Because of that, I think we feel like we've been gone for a month already.

Just some interesting things we've done so far: Slept in caves and started a bonfire in the woods in Nuremburg. (We are quite literally homeless over here). Walked 2 hours in the rain at the 4 in the morning in Zurich to find our hostel. (After walking an hour to and from the bar where everyone went after the show). Checked out the amazing fortress on a hill in Salzburg (and managed to make our driver go completely insane with anger because we took too long there and met him an hour late).

OK, that's it.

One more thing. Watching the way the crowd reacts to the band here makes us Look Machiners glow just a little with regret. Goodness it would be fun to be them.

Posted by jason on 04:57 AM | Comments (2)

April 12, 2007

Getting Admitted to UCLA's Masters Degree Program for Screenwriting

I'm mostly writing this so search engines can find it so prospective screenwriting students will know what the process is. I searched for it all the time while waiting and waiting and couldn't find an explanation of the process at all.

In November of 2005, I applied for the program. I didn't hear about an interview or anything, and in late April, 2006, I got an email that told me I had not been accepted. (April 19th to be exact).

I enrolled in their professional program, which is a feeder program for the MFA program. (Last year, I think 19 of the 24 people who got in had completed the professional program). Somehow, I lost track of the application date for the 2007 session, and didn't realize it until a little more than a week prior to the deadline. I asked my professional program professor for a letter of recommendation, but it was too soon in the program and he said he didn't have a feel for me enough to write one. He told me to wait and apply for the 2008 session. I didn't really want to do that.

Instead, I scrambled, wrote a full screenplay in a week, somehow got some letters written (thanks to Professor John Jebb from University of Delaware, Joe Kempista, owner of Elany Arts, and Heidi Banfer, a VP from Chase Bank, and then since I was already kind of thinking it was a lost cause, decided to do something really noticeable for my "Statement of Purpose," which is the freeform essay you have to submit.

Since I had written a statement of purpose the year previous and liked it - yet knew I didn't get in that year, I didn't quite know what to do. My purpose hadn't really changed much in the year. I still liked it and believed in it. So I thought... why not do something completely different? I sent them a roughed up message in a bottle. Bought a wine bottle, aged it, filled it with sand and grit, wrapped it in old vines. In it I put this crinkled old looking letter, written on a map that I created. I hand wrote the letter, a message from me trapped on the east coast, looking for a way to get to this mythical community I had heard of in UCLA, begging for assistance and rescue. I then also wrote out my previous statement and purpose and included it. I should have taken pictures of it. It actually looked pretty cool. I was happy with it, but at the same time knew it could be really risky, kind of ridiculous if it wasn't what they were looking for.

So I sent it by November 1st, and waited. And waited. In February I received a postcard from the UCLA MFA program. It had boxes on it that someone was supposed to check off to tell me if they'd received everything properly, or if they were still waiting on anything. NO boxes on the postcard were checked! It was COMPLETELY BLANK. There were no phone numbers to call. Every phone number I tried to call dumped me to an answering machine. I emailed addresses I found, and never got a response. The mystery of the blank postcard persists to this day. It made me very nervous, but I guess it was ok.

March arrived. I knew that decisions were communicated in April. I didn't know the timeline of the interview, but honestly I thought that they'd want to set up interviews at least a month before since I thought I'd have to go out to California and I thought they'd want to give me time to get out there, then they would need time to make the decisions too. March 17th arrived, and my wife and I decided that another year of failure was upon us. We were at peace with this, and thought, ok another year until we move to CA.

The next morning, at 4.19 AM I received this letter:

Dear Jason,

The UCLA Screenwriting Committee has reviewed your application and you are among a small group of candidates invited to a personal interview. From your application, I understand you live in Maryland. Is that correct? If so, we will be holding interviews in New York City on March 24th and would like to have the opportunity to meet with you in person.

Upon our receipt of your intention to attend, we will send you a specific meeting time and location.

David Whelan
Graduate Assistant to the Chairs

My mind was blown. I really thought it was too late for me, and here I was being set up for an interview just 6 days later. Wow. So I have my interview in New York. I didn't know what to wear. For a job interview, it's a suit. But I'm supposed to be the creative Hollywood writer here. I struggle with this, along with wondering how long the interview will run and whether I should have anything prepared to show them. Finally, I decide to just ask the guy who set up the interview. He answers:

Jason, Not a stupid question at all. Expect the interview to run 20-30 minutes; you do not have to have anything prepared. With regards to attire, as I understand it, it's not too formal. A suit and tie would be fine, maybe even a little too formal. It's safe to say that ripped jeans would probably be underdressed.

It lasts 20 minutes, and it's with Richard Walter and Hal Ackerman, two extremely nice men. It's a very comfortable talk. Prior to our interview, I get to talk to other prospectives as we wait in the hotel lobby. Every is very friendly, but I'm surprised to find out that the interviews had been communicated to us at wildly different times. One girl, from Maine, had found out about it 3 weeks previously. Another girl had 2 weeks notice. I had 6 days. One guy, another person from Maryland, had found out about it just 2 days before. Go figure.

In my interview, which I thought went extremely well, I was told I'd hear something from them in the "next couple of weeks." I interpreted that to mean... 2 weeks. So I waited and waited and waited for the next 2 weeks. Nothing.

An impending sense of doom settled on me slowly as the 2 weeks were up. My thinking was as follows, "They will surely tell the people who make it first. Since they are taking so long to tell me, I'm out." Finally, on April 10th, I just can't stand it anymore so I write to the person who set up the interview, telling him I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed a message. (Yes, that's pathetic, I know).

I received this message:

Hi Jason,

I do not know a confirmed date of when the decisions will be communicated, but I believe it will be soon. Wish I could be of more help!

As always, let me know if you have any further questions.

This comforts me to some extent, because I think... Well maybe they haven't told anyone yet.

The very next day, April 11, I get this message in email:

April 11, 2007

Dear Mr. Latshaw:

Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that I wish to inform you that you have been recommended by the admissions committee for graduate study at UCLA.

Official action and notification regarding admission to UCLA is handled by Graduate Admissions. You should expect to receive notification from Graduate Admissions within a few weeks.

Please advise me by May 4, 2007 if it is your intention at this time to do your graduate work
at UCLA. Your notification informally will assist us in completing the process of students who will be attending.

Whew, sweet relief. And disbelief. I'm still in shock.

So there you have it, the dates and the process. Hope it helps. I would have loved to know it when I was going through it.

Posted by jason on 11:19 PM | Comments (4)

November 16, 2006

Vote for our Insomniac Movie

Hey all, please please please vote for our film here. Thanks, that is all.

Posted by jason on 06:10 PM | Comments (7)

November 11, 2006

Our submission

So we just submitted with 10 minutes to spare. This was actually harder then we expected, but we had a blast. I think our project could have been better, but considering the time it's pretty good.

We did a scary little movie. Based on a true story as told by none of then Josh Latshaw, that happened to him and his friends in the White Clay Creek Preserve.

Watch it here.

Posted by jason on 04:49 PM | Comments (8)

November 10, 2006

Insomniacs in action

Our New friend Justin (a.k.a. Jagang)

B.S. Webber

Shaner

Jonah Rocking Out

The Real Creative Brains (and incredibly good looks)

The Dictator

Ps. This is ian posting this. That's why I'm in so many pictures.

Posted by jason on 11:05 PM | Comments (6)

November 02, 2006

The Insomnia Film Festival

Hey everyone. I had mentioned that Drew and I were kicking around the idea to participate in the Insomnia Film Festival, run by Apple, and it got some quick interest from a number of you.

So I think we're going to try to do it. On 11/10, Apple will send us 3 elements we must use to create a 3 minute short film. We then have 24 hours to write, film, edit, track, export, and upload that film. People vote on their favorites and the winners get Final Cut and Shake software (which I already have!) and 80 GB iPods. Each team can have 5 official members (the ones that actually win that stuff).

Now here's the problem, you have to be in college and at least 18 to be an official team member (ie, able to win the loot). I could sign up because I'm in that program with UCLA.

So here's the deal, if you are in college and older then 18 (Ian, I'm looking in your generally handicapped direction), go online and register under the team "Visual Mechanics."and then email me so I know you're part of the team. You need an Apple ID to register, so either sign up for one or use it if you already have it.

You'll also need to know:
Team Captain: Jason Latshaw
Team Captain Email: jason AT thelookmachine.com

If you aren't both of those things, you can still participate, you just can't be official. Just email me (jason at thelookmachine.com ) and we can start our planning.

(Note: I couldn't get the sign up to work on a PC, I had to use a Mac running Safari.)

Posted by jason on 12:07 PM | Comments (10)

October 13, 2006

pretty cool.

view this video on metacafe.

Posted by shane on 08:56 PM | Comments (2)

August 14, 2006

The Wilhelm Scream

Hey all, who knows about the Wilhelm Scream? Not the band, but rather the sound affect from the 50s that's been in countless movies since. That's right, a "scream" made by a character named Wilhelm in a movie from the 50s has been used in the Star Wars Trilogy, Indiana Jones movies, and many many others. Peter Jackson is a fan of the scream (which was labelled in the film archives at first as "man being eaten alive by an alligator"), and used it in King Kong and his LOTR movies.

Once you know to listen for it, it makes watching action films rather fun because it's very recognizable. And even though it sounds like an urban legend, it's true.

Posted by jason on 12:50 AM | Comments (5)

June 04, 2006

The Horrible Cook

Here is one of my finest home videos.

(here is the direct link)

So, how do you like it? Critics, now is your time to shine.

Posted by shane on 12:19 AM | Comments (4)

December 06, 2005

Another video Update

Hello everyone.

Here is another video. It is quite funny, I think. (Ian is the wonder filmographer, filmer... camera man. whatever. he is the one responsible for capturing this timeless jewel on tape, or gigabytes or something...)

There may be another version with audio sometime soon on here.

Does anyone know any good free video uploading sites?

well, without further adieu, here be a picture link for this fantabulous video:

Posted by shane on 12:42 AM | Comments (7)

November 30, 2005

Ian... Give Thanks

Okay, so here is a video of Ian.
It's not filmed so well...
The audio got deleted when I uploaded it. I'll try to find a diffreent uploading site on a Google search or something. I want you all to be able to hear the audio...

(Click!)

Posted by shane on 02:23 PM | Comments (13)

September 20, 2005

Screenplay

Well, the 3rd draft of my screenplay has been completed. I've sent it off to LA, and hopefully fame and fortune follows.

Realistically, thanks to all for the comments so far, I think Screenplay 3.0 is much better for it, and maybe it'll do something good for me.

If anybody would like to read it, email me at info@thelookmachine.com

Posted by jason on 11:15 PM | Comments (23)