~ ‘Ian’s Film Talk’ ~
Yup! I'm passionate for chocolate too. Hmmm...chocolate vid...where's Willie Wonka? 
In life, as in film, there are an amazing number of things that all must come to bear, together, to create success of any kind. Three of those things inhabit this series. Next up? Passion.
Passion. We’re those crazy, wacky things called humans. And if we just knew what it was that we needed, we could become adept at life, and everything would be peachy. Juuuust peachy.
But wait! We do know. At least, part of us does. What is it for you that drives you bananas – in a good way? That just makes you tingle even thinking about doing it? (Yes, including that. I think that’s, potentially, a completely valid life choice, at whatever level.) Writing? Eating? Playing wit da kitties (or puppies or bunnies or…)? Seeing the smile on a child’s face when s/he figures something out? Feeding others? What is it for you? Read the rest of this entry »
In life, as in film, there are an amazing number of things that all must come to bear, together, to create success of any kind. Three of those things inhabit this series. Next up? Perspective.
If we go to dictionary.com, we get several views on this word. Here’s one that’s particularly appropriate to film: “a visible scene, esp. one extending to a distance; vista.” What is film, but visible scenes, strung together? We’re all fairly familiar now with the idea of individual frames of film, individual pictures shown to the human eye, one after the other, many times per second. Even digital video, which doesn’t truly exist as different frames of film, is presented to the human eye in this fashion. In order to represent movement, we parse it out into thousands of individual, static pictures, each with its own perspective. Read the rest of this entry »
In life, as in film, there are an amazing number of things that all must come to bear, together, to create success of any kind. Three of those things inhabit this series. First up? Persistence.
Yes, it’s possible to get what I want without doing a darned thing. Just sit around, thinking about nothing, doing nothing. A knock on the door, and there’s the guy with just that exact thing I need/want/crave! Possible? Yes. But not bloody likely.
Like this post. I really would, right at this moment, rather be asleep. It was a long and fulfilling week, with a killer weekend right behind it. And now I’m up too early because I have a schedule to keep. And part of that schedule is writing this post. Fortunately, it’s fairly quiet, even here in the big city, and I have a kitty on my lap to keep me warm. There are perks, after all. Read the rest of this entry »
Perhaps the glass wasn't broken enough?
Just got back from seeing the new Alice in Wonderland. Not as bad as I’d heard, just as beautiful as I’d heard. Sometimes the 3D was cool, sometimes it was just annoying. All in all, 6.5 out of 10.
I found the advertisements at the beginning fascinating. They were all aimed at kids from 5-15, and heavy on the girl (buying) power. I had heard this was a dark movie. And there were dark moments to be sure, but no real menace. Some of the character performances were strong, if not great (not sure where the writing / directing was really going). I’m a big fan of Crispin Glover, and except for some digital / irl mash-up problems (his physical head didn’t really move with his digital body), I enjoyed his performance a lot. Read the rest of this entry »
Inspiration. Something that is said to come and go at its own behest, and not at ours. Sometimes true; and in my experience, sometimes not.
Inspiration, for me, is often a matter of getting down to it. It’s my understanding that many writers (for instance) get “writer’s block.” Well, when I’m writing, at least for the past 7 years, I don’t have any problem actually writing. The words come. The trick, for me, is getting to the computer. I get, “sitting down at the computer” block. Read the rest of this entry »
Part 3 of 3 in a vlogging series done around a fabulous day location shooting. The day ended at Baker Beach here in SF, with some amazing shots of the Golden Gate. Read the rest of this entry »
Part 2 of 3 of a fabulous day location shooting. Includes gorgeous shots of the presidio and the bay, along with a review of a tuna melt from the Bean Bag Cafe on Hayes and Divis! Read the rest of this entry »
I’m an independent filmmaker. And that means that lighting is critically important to me. For instance, if I can’t separate my foreground subject from the background that subject is in front of, I’ll have a muddy image that no one will want to look at. Well, it might be an artistic curiosity, but it won’t be a clear image. And most of the time, what I want is a clear image.
This is also true in my life as a whole. Read the rest of this entry »
The first of a 3-part series on an excellent day of location shooting, here in San Francisco. In this post, we visit John McClaren park (a gorgeous, relatively unknown piece of land in SF), and get beautiful, moody shots of the south side of the city, Mt. Davidson, Bernal Heights and more. Read the rest of this entry »
I finally finished my latest short screenplay! It’s called “28/5” at the moment – well, that’s the code name, anyway. The “working title,” or so it’s called. The movie is a meditation on the violent nature of love in the Christian era. And that’s all I’m gonna say about that at this moment! More to come.
I love writing. I always have. There’s a flow to it, for me, that feels so good. Dialogue has emerged as my favorite part of writing. When the characters I’m writing say something amazing, I love it. It lifts me up. Getting it right – having the characters – no, the people – come off the page, alive, because of words that they’ve spoken, through me, is a feeling like no other. Read the rest of this entry »
