A certain person (who shall remain nameless) were to write, design and publish a book on say...pulp filmmaking then:
1. What would you want to see in said hypothetical book?
- writing info.
- shooting info.
- production and post production work-flow tips.
- marketing and distribution.
2. What supplementary material would you like to see?
- a DVD (ala DV Rebel's Guide) .
- A chat forum exclusively for those who have purchased the book.
- Charts, tables, sample budgets.
- a script.
- Interviews (and with whom?)
3. What isn't being discussed in books that needs to be?
Everyone discuss .
9 comments:
In addition to what you've listed above (a DVD would be particularly cool) - tell war stories. Give me some real life examples of the stuff you talk about. Too many of these books will state some sort of rule of thumb or some suggestion to follow, and nothing to back it up with. I want to hear about your experiences as well as learn about the process.
Make it personal - that's key.
I would like to see more current topics mentioned such as: how to make internet piracy work for you instead of against, methods of uploading a film to the internet to be either viewed as a whole or in serial format, and if done in either way, tips on getting some sort of revenue off from it.
I am sure I have more topics I would like to see discussed. However, my list might be a bit too long. But those are the two main ones I've been wanting to see covered more in a book.
Tim -
SPEAK UP!
It doesn't matter how long the list is....
Everything EXCEPT shooting or editing. The business end is the part I don't see talked about enough - usually two or three chapters crammed into the back of the book, while the rest is full of the author's opinions of how a movie is best shot, which is, as I mentioned, an opinion.
The tips and tricks of how to get a film into the right hands, and what kind of preparation you need to make it attractive to distributors.
Earl -
My only problem with the "no shooting or editing" caveat is the fact that we see too many shows where the director loves his shot and hangs on it...and its a medium shot to begin with!
I think simple "tricks" on how to build momentum, tension or visual interest in a scene is sorely needed. Too many folks are simply setting the camera on sticks and running long, boring takes...and not cutting away. They aren't using the full potential of their nonlinear editing capabilities...and they aren't planning this all out.
Which leads us to a film with no pulp.
This is true, Bill, but consider this...
...do we really need the competition? ;)
I do have a few more that I would like to add:
Are Social Websites, such as Myspace and Facebook, worth the effort and time, and what are the pros and cons.
Techniques on receiving a continual revenue on films after a two to five year mark. For example should a film producer re-release a special edition DVD or whatever tech allows every five years, or is there a more unique way of this.
A chapter on the continuation of the thought of gaining a thousand loyal fans and how to maintain them and keep them happy.
Alternate Reality Games for micro budgeted flicks? Worth the effort?
Viral marketing: how to achieve this without it backfiring and pissing off the intended audience.
Tips on obtaining artist for DVD and poster art or ways of pulling off in a cheap DIY fashion ala using GIMP and already available resources.
Where to obtain stock footage, if needed, that is both cheap and copyright free for commercial released films.
A bit of a rehash of a earlier question, but how can we start becoming our own distro for everything we crank out.
Screenplay examples and breakdowns of certain scenes and how they were pulled off in a cheap manner.
Plus on how a screenplay is written in the language of pulp including certain phrases, keywords, or other tricks.
How to keep DVD printing costs down.
How to realistically obtain a name star to be in our film and how to shoot him or her for a day or two and make it look like they were there for the whole shoot.
I apologize for the long list. But these are some of the many questions that I can never get a straight enough answer to from anyone or any book.
Tim --
No apologies necessary because seriously, these (marketing & distribution & technology )issues are ones that are going to affect all of us.
Thanks for adding to the discussion on what you would like to see.
Send me your email. I thought I had it but see that I don't or it's hiding from me.
I'd like to see as many real-world examples and situations as possible, such as dealing with unions (Eli Roth was shut down by the union during Cabin Fever, and his was a non-union shoot in a right-to-work state) and creative problem-solving. I've read several books on filmmaking, and Lloyd Kaufman's was the only one that mentioned toilets.
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