Get creative

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving break.

I urge you all to start thinking of some ideas for a screenplay. Start jotting down ideas or pieces of ideas for plot, character, scenes, anything that comes to mind. Some ideas will lead to other ideas, and some will connect, and soon enough, you will have a full-fledged great idea for a feature. The writing class is going to have to start up pretty fast, so I wanted to give you all advanced warning. The more you come in prepared and with ideas, the less you'll be scrambling to come up with something fast.

I'm excited to start classes again, and I hope you all are too!

Cuckoo

My all time favorite character drama next to 12 Angry Men is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson, and directed by Milos Forman. This is my favorite picture of Jack in the film.

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If I were to choose a favorite production design it would have to be in Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The design was done by Alex McDowell, who I just found out is working on one of my highly anticipated films, Watchmen. I love the way that Mr. McDowell brings to life Roald Dahl's classic story, and reinvent's it at the same time. The color's are vibrant and stunning, and the sets are so eye-catching, it's hard to believe it's only a set. I look forward to seeing more of his work in movies because it gives it a very special quality.

Moulin Rouge!

If I had to choose a favorite movie Moulin Rouge! definitely would be at the top of my list. It is the only movie I know that actually has and exclamation mark in the title. Visually, everything about this movie is amazing. Art Director/ Set Decoration was done by Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie. Moulin Rouge! won an Academy Award for these. The Director of Photography was Donald M. McAlpine. I recommend this movie to anyone. It is extremely stylistic. Plus, the music is wonderful.

P.S. My email address is now kelsey.vala@gmail.com.

Chicago-the movie

I picked Chicago because it is my favorit movie of all time. The acting, singing, and the set were simply amazing. The costumes fit the time period and so did the acents. The hair, makeup and costumes matched very well with the film and gave you the feel for that time period.

Production started on December 10th, 2001 in Toronto, and wrapped in early May, 2002. The budget was about $30 million. That was huge! Can you imagin what our class could do with all that money?

The People Behind the Movie:

Director: Rob Marshall
Screenplay By: Bill Condon
Producer: Martin Richards
Executive Producers: Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Sam Crothers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Meryl Poster, Julie Goldstein and Jennifer Berman
Director of Photography: Dion Beebe
Production Designer: John Myhre
Music By: John Kander
Costume Designer: Colleen Atwood
Film Editor: Martin Walsh
Choreographed By: Rob Marshall
Choreographic Supervisor: John DeLuca
Music Supervisor: Maureen Crowe

Bob Ringwood

I picked Bob Ringwood becuase he's the dude who did the Batman returns costume.

I also figured out that he did costume designs for empire of the sun, alien 3, troy, batman 1989, and other cool movies.

Date of Birth: 1946, London, England, UK more
Trivia:Worked in the theater for fourteen years prior to embarking on a film career. more
Awards: Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 11 nominations.


I loved he designed the costume, more heavier looking, more muscular, and more awesome looking. The suit weighs around thirty-pounds, so the suit was a real time spender but it was worth it.


Career Highs: Empire of the Sun (87), and The Batman series (89-95) -Though the Batman Forever designs were when the series started getting way gaudy, Ringwood is also responsible for the absolutely classic Catwoman costume in Batman Returns (with co-designer Mary Voght) about which he said "When you have to somebody as Michelle...who has endless legs, you wish to show all her wonderful pieces".

Production Designer of LOTR's

I picked LOTR's "The Fellowship of the Ring" because it is one of my favorite films ever. I love being taken away to the land of Middle Earth. None of the visuals, costumes, or sets would be what they are in this film without Grant Major. He was the production designer for this film. Before these films, Tolkien’s Middle-earth has existed only in the imaginations of readers and in the wondrously detailed yet limited illustrations for the novels. But in The Fellowship of The Ring, the hobbit holes of Hobbiton, the sylvan glades of the elf refuge Rivendell, the smoky innards of the Prancing Pony Inn and the networks of underground caverns in the Mines of Moria come physically to life.
Only because of so many people working behind the scenes on this film could all this be mastered. Working along side Grant Major was Richard Taylor and Director Peter Jackson. Detail was everything the trilogy of Lord of the Rings. There was a crew of 120 people working soley on the film's production and design. Without their hard work Tolkien's land would never have come alive in these breathtaking films...

Free Film Music

Moby is offering free music for film students on his site. Here's a link. Might be a good resource for music where you wouldn't have to pay a license fee. There's a variety of material on there.

From Moby, the musician/artist:

hi,
i'll keep this brief.
this portion of moby.com, 'film music', is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.
to use the site you log in(or on?) and are then given a password.
you can then listen to the available music and download whatever you want to use in your film or video or short.
the music is free as long as it's being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.
if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that's generated being given to the humane society.
i hope that you find what you're looking for,
moby

Alex McDowell

Alex McDowell is not quite the household name, but has worked on large motion picture films ranging from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to Fight Club. He works Tim Burton quite a bit and has been the production designer on a lot his films. His career started when he created a company in 1978 called "Rocking Russian Design" where he created album covers for popular punk bands. His most recent film was "Bee Movie" which was released this year.

Grayson

This is a fan made trailer about Dick Grayson, the First Boy Wonder. But the film sets in when the Dark Knight is dead and heroes become lost, but not dick grayson.

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