What are you working on? What inspired it?
>Useful Resources
learnaboutfilm.com
nofilmschool.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
youtube.com
filmmakingessays.tumblr.com
imsdb.com
screenwriting.info
>Free Screenwriting Software
fountain.io
story.adobe.com
storywriter.amazon.com
trelby.org
writerduet.com
celtx.com
>Active Contests
screencraft.org
tblaunchpad.com
Other urls found in this thread:
atom.io
atom.io
sundanceignite2016.com
docs.google.com
archive.org
media.giphy.com
youtube.com
vimeo.com
youtube.com
twitter.com
What screenwriting software do you use?
>copy and pasting my failed thread
I appreciate it
Thank god this thread popped up. Bless you, OP.
So I pitched my idea for a horror movie set in the woods to one of my buddies, who works for a small local production company. He loved it and offered to help out with it.
Now, this is the first time I've ever done anything film related. Never wrote, never directed, acting, nothing. Right now my main hurdle is writing. I've got bulletpoints for the entire story and some dialogue that I want to throw in, but it seems a little too fast-paced.
What filler can I include between scares that don't drag on, but help keep the film from being an endless barrage of spooks that you get used to?
Currently working on a TV script about a garage rock band in the mid 90s that dreams of making it big
Current title for it is "No Code"
>Thank god this thread popped up. Bless you, OP.
Where were you when I made a thread 3 hours ago? Just curious. We should figure out an appropriate time to make these.
Watching Catfish the Series. It was probably just bad timing because I was only off Sup Forums for one episode
At least you were honest.
I'm almost done with an alien abduction short based off a dream I had when I was young. I shot the whole thing with still photography and long exposure because that's how my dream looked kinda in the vein of Le Jetee.
I wrote and will be co-directing a 20 minute short about a boy connecting with nature, the universe and finding a friend. Terrence Malick shit pretty much.
I'm currently writing a coming of age generational longer short about a boy, his father and dead grandfather.
How the hell do you write comedy
The appropriate time is all the time.
What makes you laugh?
The Eric Andre Show
The Looney Tunes Show
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Arsenic & Old Lace was great
First 2 Seasons of PowerPuff Girls is consistently funny
The Amazing World of Gumball
American Dad
But I'm not sure what makes all those things funny, analyzing comedy is difficult for me.
All I've got so far is that humor comes from exaggeration and what you don't expect, and humor can be derived from tone of voice and facial expression too.
Hey Sup Forums in your experience. How did you guys improvised a set of lights?
Or how do you use lighting in your films?
2 questions;
When you first introduce a character, are you supposed to describe them physically?
(BANE, 30, big guy with a shaven head, starts his car)
If yes, do you need to describe every character or just the notable ones?
>When you first introduce a character, are you supposed to describe them physically?
You can do whatever you want
If you're not directing, only if the details are relevant to the story. Otherwise, pretty much anything goes.
I'd like to direct, once I know how, but yeah I'll probably just leave the details out now since they're not important. Thanks guys.
As user says you can do whatever you want, but stick to what's necessary. E.g. If blonde hair is key to the plot then mention that.
Gonna make something really quick for Sundance's Ignite thing.
I finally know the goal here (He's gotta settle an argument on the internet to pass to the afterlife) but I don't know if a punchline like that is gonna work given I'm gonna make the rest of the film a lot of angst and pretty shots. Do you think they'd appreciate a bait-and-switch like that?
>Sundance's Ignite thing.
what thing
I use CeltX personally. I used to use something called Script8 if I'm not mistaken but switched over to CeltX.
Currently working on a detective web series and a sci fi television series.
Film competition, have to respond to the question "What's Next" in any way you like.
Gotta be age 18-24.
Have conversations with yourself out loud that's how I do comedy. I tend to do things that make me laugh because usually others find it funny too. Sometimes it can be low brow and irony is pretty much always funny in the right hands.
>Film competition, have to respond to the question "What's Next" in any way you like.
what the fuck
how do you even come up with an answer to that
*supernatural detective show. Fuck.
This is just /swg/.
These threads are just /swg/ rebranded.
/fmg/ content is minimal at best and half of it is only posted when OP is provoked into doing so.
This is /swg/
Throwing something and missing the target could make me laugh for 5 minutes depending on my mood/state of mind.
Call it whatever you want to, my dude.
Honestly I think to make it more balanced the OP has to have film channel resources like DSLR Guide, Rocket Jump, and Film Riot.
Also editing software's and visual effect software's are needed.
Also /p/ has a camera general for filmmakers from cheap to expensive including lenses
docs.google.com
So that should be posted in the OP also.
Yeah I understand that why I love shows like Always Sunny. The episodes thrive on situational irony and if a writers has a basic understand of that he can work wonders.
Also I believe we should have links to contests for both filmmaking and screenwriting.
I may or may not be your dude, but I think it's in the best interests of the evolution of this thread to honestly analyze the contents of every iteration. I've done so using 4plebs and, back of napkin, it's 5% /fmg/ content at best, less if provocateured responses are discarded.
This wasn't like the merging of Office Depot and OfficeMax, this hostile takeover was more like Google buying Waze. (For some reason, Google didn't rename itself Google + Waze)
>Honestly I think to make it more balanced the OP has to have film channel resources like DSLR Guide, Rocket Jump, and Film Riot.
>Also editing software's and visual effect software's are needed.
That's a good idea in theory but does it matter when the posters in these threads only talk about scriptcraft? Almost exclusively? Every single thread?
There hasn't been one /swgfmg/ dominated by /fmg/ discussion or one that even came close. Prove me wrong.
This may be a dumb question but so far everyone here seems pretty civilized.
Can anyone point me in the direction of good Cyberpunk film? For research purposes. I've already seen Blade Runner, even though I wouldn't really call it Cyberpunk, but something along those lines.
The more important the charachter, the more time you spend describing them.
The trick is getting the needed details into a two-or-three word description.
>Bald Russian Bear
>the fifth Beatle
>skinny blonde clutz
>Butler from Poirot
try to be less ambiguous that these even.
Brightest Lights you can find.
Diffusion.
Diffusion.
DIFFUSION.
More light is always better.
Softer light is always better.
Too bright? Stop down the camera. Diffuse the lights more.
I actually am really into multiple colour gels.
Pic related
I just assume it's because writing is easier than picking up a camera and "getting into film". Honestly I just believe the resources should be available eventually we might see some change honestly it wouldn't hurt to have those things.
>That's a good idea in theory but does it matter when the posters in these threads only talk about scriptcraft? Almost exclusively? Every single thread?
>There hasn't been one /swgfmg/ dominated by /fmg/ discussion
This may come as a shock to you, but most of the filmmakers here are writing their own shit, in addition to directing it. Even if you want to only direct, most beginners need to write for themselves out of necessity.
No argument from me. Also, the YouTube links should be removed from the Useful Resources header.
>everyframeapainting
>useful resource
>Can anyone point me in the direction of good Cyberpunk film?
There are no good Cyberpunk films. Unless Akira and Total Recall count.
Auteur theory is shit per Pudovkin (not a useful enough resource to be linked even though Film Technique is available for free on archive.org) but it doesn't really matter because the fact remains that all anyone ever talks about in these threads is writing-related.
It's /swg/. Filmmakers were allowed to participate in /swg/ before, you know.
>Auteur theory is shit
Why do you think that?
Have you read Film Technique? I agree with most of it.
I can accept that as an answer.
>It's /swg/. Filmmakers were allowed to participate in /swg/ before, you know.
I never paid that much attention, it's not like I created /fmg/ though. Both always just existed.
>Have you read Film Technique?
Not at all.
I'm down with this.
This is true.
It's annoying because, even though I've written maybe 12 films or more over the last 5 years... I want to talk about making them.
Depends how "beginner" this thread should cater for.
I expect that if you're coming to this thread it's because you at least know how to format a script, the Syd field paradigm, or know the basics of "film grammar" and coverage.
I'd like it if the links were more intermediate.
Articles about writing the perfect description. Maybe a link to a list of "action verbs".
more advanced stuff about moving the camera, which lens to chose for which emotional impact, lighting techniques.
A COLOUR GUIDE.
A SOUND DESIGN GUIDE.
>SHOUT OUT TO ALL YOUR SCREENWRITERS: NEVER NEGLECT THE POWER OF SOUND AND COLOUR. YOU'LL PUT A SMILE ON THE PRODUCTION DESIGNER'S FACE IF YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT COLOUR SCHEMES AND COSTUMES.
Useful resource: archive.org
What's the relationship between dramatic irony and subtext?
I endorse that book.
Suggested reading from me for Directors
>Film Directing: Michael Rabinger
>Directing Actors: Judith Weston
>In the Blink of an Eye: Walter Murch
>L136 Diary with Ingmar Bergman: Vilgot Sjoman
>Conversations with: Michelangelo Antonioni
If you're a screenwriter, read this too.
Suggested for Screenwriters:
>Crafty Screenwriting: Alex Epstein (can't recommend this enough if you want to write commercial projects)
>A Hero With a Thousand Faces, Joseph Campbell
or if you're of an academic mind, read Claude Levi Strauss and forget Campbell
>Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction, Seymour Chatman
>Stanley Kubrick and the Art of Adaptation, Greg Jenkins
And don't forget to read scripts!!
Your favourite film? Read the script.
I'd just do the sparkntoes of Bob Mckee and Syd Field. Those guys have done more damage than good for screenwriting.
> I'd just do the sparkntoes of Bob Mckee and Syd Field. Those guys have done more damage than good for screenwriting.
Why do you say this? I found McKee's Story to pretty helpful though I don't take it as gospel.
Thanks for the help, familion.
I'm going to use your lighting advices.
>Year 1954
>Pages 436
You can't be serious.
>And don't forget to read scripts!!
For what reason though?
We had a very successful /swg/ last night, thanks for starting a new one OP.
I am working on sort of a modern noir script with a punk rock ethos. It's loosely similar to Out of the Past, though, so I need to work on the plot and mystery quite a bit. Basically, the premise is some criminals witness a young punk get into a bar fight and recruit him for a job because of his capacity for violence (so they say, they actually just need someone they view as reckless and stupid). They send him to an address, he finds a body, the cops show up, he's on the run trying to figure out who framed him. Meanwhile a mysterious femme fatale (actually the main squeeze of the bad guy) is attempting to seduce him. Is it love or is it manipulation? Things go more and more wrong but eventually the criminals realize they fucked up because this guy isn't afraid to die and fights back hard. Violence solves everything, and he kills his way through crooks, cops, and anyone else to get to the bad guy and figure out why he was set up. More of a really violent action noir in some ways. So the ending is supposed to be a reversal of Out of the Past (spoilers for that follow btw): a meeting is arranged, he goes to the penthouse suite to talk to the big bad, but the guy's been killed. The femme fatale shot him and wants to make the punk run away with her. Unlike out of the past, the punk just stomps the bitch to death, swaps clothes with the dead guy, writes a note on his already signed letterhead confessing (from the bad guy's POV) to all the murders and he gets away clean.
cont.
So far the only scene I really have plotted out is the opening, the bar fight. Basically he's at a punk rock/metal show alone and just sitting there drinking. Big combat boots but they are untied, casual. The singer of the shitty band playing sees he's alone and decides to antagonize him and tell him to cheer up, we're all friends here, etc. The whole crowd laughs at him. The protag then calmly ties his boots as the band gets ready to play, and as they count in their first song he gets up, charges the stage, busts the singer in the mouth with the mic and kicks through the bass drum. A huge brawl starts with him kicking the shit out of the band but the crowd overwhelms him and fucks him up hard in a huge mosh pit type pile. Cut to him walking down the street with a bloody nose and fucked up face smoking a cigarette. That's when some suits grab him and pull him into an alley.
Would that be a good intro for you guys? would it hook you into the story?
Later when he's in the middle of a chase/fight with some heavies he crashes through a bar window into a backroom and sees the same band backstage at another gig. They are pissed and confused, he has a hammer on him and just smashes the guitarist's hand and then continues running through the bar to catch/get away from the bad guys.
Everyone is gonna have their own take.
McKee is best when he's breaking down individual films, not into their structure, but looking at the way the drama evokes the theme.
You're welcome.
Gonna head off for a while, but i'll try and hit you up with any other tips I can think of when I come back.
I don't remember it being that long, must be low words-per-page.
I'm hyperactive as fuck, and I read the whole film technique part.
So you don't reinvent the wheel!!
Also different writers have different styles
Tarantino is very descriptive, his structures are very tangential.
Christopher Nolan is the opposite: his descriptions are minimalist.
So is Sophia Coppola.
Nolan always tries to have a smooth transition from one scene to the next.
You've seen the film, now try to understand how it was written on the page.
It helps, it helps a LOT to read scripts.
Helps you find your style.
Helps you write action in the present tense.
Helps you keep your writing terse and clean.
Helps you with punctuation.
>dp thinks he can edit
Great website to read scripts is IMSDB. I read Alien on there, it was awesome.
better be set in the 80s or mid 90s because punk is dead
That's kind of the point. The DIY scene in my city is full of posers who think having the most studs and patches on their dumbass vests make them raw. I want to make a film about a real, actual punk in the modern day.
>I read the whole film technique part.
What do you mean "part"? Is it not the whole book? I suppose if you can do it, I can too.
There never were any real, actual punks.
>Helps you find your style.
Wouldn't I find my style easier by just writing, and writing it how I feel, rather than miming others?
>Helps you write action in the present tense.
I never even considered that.
I should probably watch Alien first.
I know that. I actually view the whole "counter culture" thing as just another part of the culture. You still have to buy shit and dress a certain way to fit in, it's all the same just on a smaller, different scale. Personally though even as a person who goes to hardcore shows and things like that I do not feel like a part of the scene. I wear all black and combats, but everyone else has to have Hot Topic style flair on their clothes and you can tell they put holes in their shirts and stuff on purpose. This film is more from the mindset of someone who is totally outside even the counter culture, someone so completely other and individualist that the criminals who underestimate him really fuck up because they don't realize exactly what kind of shit he is willing to do to get revenge and clear up the mess.
I feel when it comes to reading scripts you could do it either way. Read the script and see how the version of the movie in your head is to the actual one. Or watch the movie then read the script and see how the director and team interpreted the written words.
good point
I though there was a second part on Acting.
I read it like 8 years ago, so forgive me if my memory is foggy
>Wouldn't I find my style easier by just writing, and writing it how I feel, rather than miming others?
Honestly: Nah.
Unless you're already a boss writer.
I'm talking about the words on the page. How you express yourself.
Screenwriting is a weird beast man, you're meant to verbally represent a motion picture. not only that you need to provide a universal document that the wardrobe people, production designers and art directors, editors, the director, the cast of actors, the sound designer and composer all agree on a more-or-less single interpretation of.
Understanding how to construct screenplay-friendly sentences is the first step to telling your original, idiopathic story.
Learn to write using as many action verbs as possible. And write with haiku-like concision.
I don't wanna say it, but...2edgy4me.
It just screams "this is made by an immature young man", but without any of the irony or fun that you'd find in something like James Bond.
I don't know. I shouldn't be telling you to stop...
--
As to your question in the second post:
It *kinda* hooks me.
I mean, the goal of an opening is 9 out of 10 times to get the audience to relate to the main character in some way. They don't need to be doing some heroic or cute shit; we just have to understand their mindset. An obvious and recent example would be the opening scene of Better Things, where Adlon's character ignores the literal cries of her youngest daughter (while sitting on a bench in a shopping mall next to another older woman who she doesn't know) because the daughter wants to buy earrings that she already owns. So, even though Adlon looks like a bad mom for hardly consoling her daughter, we totally understand and already begin to feel a connection.
Going back your intro -- like I said, it kinda hooks me. There are things that I can't wrap my head around: why would this singer point out this guy to antagonize? Why would anyone at a punk rock/metal show "laugh" at whatever some douchey singer is saying?
I need convincing that this is an actual fight worth having.
Oh, yeah. It's "Film Technique and Film acting". I'll try reading it tomorrow when I'm not dead tired.
>you need to provide a universal document that the wardrobe people, production designers and art directors, editors, the director, the cast of actors, the sound designer and composer all agree on a more-or-less single interpretation of.
>write with haiku-like concision.
What!!!! Man, I'm tired as hell, and I can't comprehend what you're saying. I was watching a video a few weeks ago on iambic pentameter and how it can be used to make speech more memorable, but I don't understand it all.
> agree on a more-or-less single interpretation of.
> what is a director
Also, you're going to waste a lot of energy writing something where you couldn't fill all of those roles if need be.
Right about McKee and Field, wrong in my view about Campbell. Campbell's stuff is to anthropology what Amway is to business. Avoid him unless you want to produce xerox-of-a-xerox dreck.
McKee is great. Fuck you.
Read it man. It's a good foundation.
A director is a very busy, time poor person.
If you've ever been on a film set, you'd understand that.
ALSO as a writer do you really want a script so vague that the version on screen bares no resemblance to what you envisioned, not because of "creative license" but because there was no suggestion of how it should be?
You're probably right. Hence why I offered the Levi-Strauss option.
I think Joseph Campbell is useful as a "baby's first archetypal narrative" guide. I don't claim to know much about anthropology though.
Nah.
Thanks. The singer making fun of the guy actually is something that happened to me, though obviously I didn't start a brawl. I need to work on justifying this scenario, probably by showing it as a bar where everyone knows each other but the protag is a loner that doesn't talk to anyone, so he's easy to make fun of in a scene where he doesn't really belong.
Also I get that it sounds edgy, but I'm trying to capture the actual spirit of punk, a raw energy of hatred that cannot be stopped. So in a way the violence in the film is kind of acceleration, a way to show that the protagonist has no fear of death and seizes life while he has it. It definitely needs to be fleshed out and de-edged a bit though
What do you have against McKee?
Comedy isn't about saying the funny lines. Comedy is about watching someone watch someone say "funny" lines.
He's not as bad as Field. But he falls into that, "when you have a Hammer everything is a nail" approach to the world.
Not only that but their ideas have been simplified and bastardized by others.
McKee does have some good analysis of films and how they are structured thematically: I remember in his book he said:
>Kubrick understood that given enough ammunition, humanity would shoot one another.
Those kinds of insights are good, but most people will just take the "hurr durr three act structure" thesis as the important part -- and that's responsible for a lot of boring as fuck screenplays and films around today.
That's helpful.
So you hate him for his fanbase
Legit just scroll through Film Freeway and pick out the ones that are halfway notable.
I never said I hate him.
I advised against spending much time reading him.
I think there are better sources of information on storytelling for the screen.
I'm usually the odd one in these threads, since almost no one here does CG.
I'm working on a short that will be mostly crazy action anime style, but with a cell shaded look.
Currently working on the animatic.
Here's a test shot for the look :
media.giphy.com
Sometimes i feel Celtx only busts balls in the ipad app. on the pc it is bearable.
That said
Is there another screen writing program that works on pc, android and ios. Maybe cloud based?
I usually write on multiple locations because inspiration strikes when i am outside.
Thanks
where can i find good screenwriting examples without paying?
Thanks
That's the thing you gotta be creative about that
For me I'm doing "What happens after death" (imo the ultimate "What's Next") but others have done stuff about moving on, interpretive dance, suicide (HOW ORIGINAL) and a bunch of other stuffs.
I'm digging it mang.
You're not wrong. I did a lot of the early /fmg/ threads because I was working on a piece of shit that fell through for a class. Back then people were actually interested in discussing shit about film production, but a lot of it ended up devolving into /p/ gearfaggotry.
google kaptain kristain adult swim. he does a good breakdown of 'cringe humour'
youtube.com
my first short. It's a bit too long and the sub are probably shit (english is not my first language). Zero budget and three days of shooting
Honestly, I just grabbed a cracked version of Final Draft. The new version is ugly as hell - reminds me of Office 2003, so I toggled the 'classic' mode and it's great. Looks like old Wordpad.
I'll have no qualms about buying it if I sell some specs, but as a frugal student wannabe writer, I'll certainly
>What filler can I include between scares that don't drag on, but help keep the film from being an endless barrage of spooks that you get used to?
That's usually called the story. You have to do that yourself.
most recent short
two men live on a beach. eat only sand. worship a sand god. one married into money and murdered his wife. one is the son of a crab fisherman who has a fear of water.
SAND BOYS
vimeo.com
very slow paced
bit too edgy for my liking
questionable cuts
finished rendering yesterday, still fresh
fuck off autismo Jesus Christ get a life, better yet create a thread of your own and go circlejerk there with yourself
script o rama dot com
Where did you film this?
uk.
No shit. Location?