Quotable Thursday | What's on the Screen

"What you see on the set does not matter.
All that matters is what you see on the screen."
F. W. Murnau [German Film Director]
(1888-1931)


[Photo attribution: Min Master]

Bicyles, War Rooms, and Breakfast at Tiffany's

Sometimes, movies can make things seem so REAL.

There are people who, on a trip to NYC, expect to find that breakfast is served at Tiffany's.

There are people who ask to see the basement at Alamo. Hoping to find Pee Wee's red bike there, perchance? There are actually signs posted to remind that the Alamo is site where a lot of people died. (In other words, don't ask about the bike!)

And then there is the story (or, urban legend?) of the newly-elected President Ronald Reagan... who, during a tour of the White House, asked to see the War Room; only to be disappointed when he was informed that such a room does NOT exist. (Maybe Reagan could have had Stanley Kubrick design a War Room while he was in office, and get Peter Sellars to play the part of Dr. Strangelove.)

Yes, Hollywood can be pretty persuasive.

However, who was it that said that you can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time?...

[Photo courtesy of cpmanda]

Quotable Thursday | State of Confusion

"I pretty much try to stay in a constant state of confusion
just because of the expression it leaves on my face."
Johnny Depp

The Ticking Bomb

Storytelling needs to be compelling. It needs something that makes you want to find out what comes next.

And that something is a little thing called suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock was known as the Master of Suspense, and for good reason. But suspense can be a tricky thing. For example, here's what it's not: when a bomb go off in a movie, but takes the audience by complete surprise... this is actually not suspense.

To add suspense, Hitchcock would say you need to let the audience in on a bit of information (i.e. that there's a bomb ticking away, about to explode). And that's what causes tension for the viewer... What is the hero of the story going to do? Will they figure it out in time?

Of course, the suspense doesn't have to be a physical bomb. (Wouldn't all movies be lacking something if a bomb-threat were involved in every plot line?) But, think of the "ticking bomb" here as a metaphor.

So, let's go to another example from one of Hitchcock's movies... one without an actual bomb: Vertigo (1958). (Warning: there are SPOILERS in this example for those of you who haven't seen this movie.)

The "ticking bomb" in this case is the end revelation that Judy and Madeleine are the same girl. The movie actually gives this away much earlier than it does in the original book (although Jimmy Stewart's character is left in the dark until the very end). Hitchcock reveals his reasoning for this: "I put myself into the place of the little child, sitting on its mother's knee, being told a story. When Mother pauses in telling the child the story, the child always says, 'Mummy, what comes next?'" (from an interview with Truffaut)

Hitchcock goes on to explain that even though everyone was shocked that he wanted to ruin the surprise ending of the book -- that Judy is Madeleine -- he thought it more to his purpose to let the audience in on the secret. Going back to the little child analogy: The kid, knowing this secret, would then ask his mother, "And Stewart doesn't know it, does he? What will he do when he finds out about it?"

Every story needs some sort of what-comes-next-mummy. Otherwise, it's bound to lose its audience. No, not that all movies should be suspense thrillers like the ones Hitchcock put out.

And yet, it's something to keep in mind. Screenwriters: Find a "ticking bomb" for your story.

[Photo courtesy of VSmithUK]

Quotable Thursday | Life Without Courage

"What would life be if we
had no courage to attempt anything?"
Vincent van Gogh

(Well, hopefully we would not be missing an ear.)

The Art of Danger

Who would deny that stunt work in movies can be dangerous? Which is why few actors do their own stunts. Or, rather, why the insurance companies won't let certain actors do their own stunts.

Here a short list of a few unfortunate events involving stunt work:

• The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) was burned in the scene where she vanishes from Munchkinland in a cloud of smoke in The Wizard of Oz (1939). And it was the actress who did her own "stunt". (Note: In the finished movie, they did not use this take. Instead, they used was an earlier take where you can see the smoke is released a tad early -- which is why they had asked for another take in the first place.)
• In the Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003), actor Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn) was known for doing his own stunts. Director Peter Jackson dubbed him one of the "Walking Wounded" since he sustained some fairly serious injuries during filming.
• Unfortunately, there are also stuntman who have died on set. For example, the stunt pilot who crashed his plane in The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). (The movie is dedicated to his memory.)
• And who of recent years can forget hearing about the tragedy that befell Brandon Lee, killed in a stunt involving a gun during the filming of The Crow (1994).

And yet audiences crave stunts.

Okay, so while we don't have any big car chases or people jumping off mountains -- including stunt disasters -- in our upcoming feature film Under Jakob's Ladder. But the movie did require a few of its own "stunts".

A while ago, we posted an interview with our stunt coordinator, Matthew R. Staley... In that interview, we decided to save some of the interview questions for a later blog post. Well, this is a blog post. And this is later...

We asked him about how he goes about preparing for a stunt.

Matthew's answer:

"Though science is frequently involved, preparing a stunt is still very much an art. Every script is different and presents its own unique challenges. It is all-too-easy to write a line in a script without having to give thought to the difficulty involved of actually visually achieving it onscreen (i.e. "The hero leaps to safety just in time as the helicopter explodes above him"). It is up to the Stunt Coordinator to devise a way to safely and believably achieve a physical action that a writer has written and that a director wants to shoot a certain way."

Of course, that is just our problem... as script writers. It is easy to write in a stunt. It's much harder to get that stunt safely performed.

And yet there are people who thrive on the potential danger. Mind you, these stunts are well thought out. Matthew was very safety-conscious on set. The key of a stunt is to make it look dangerous, not actually be dangerous.

When asked if there was any stunt he hasn't yet done, but would love to do... this was his answer:

"I have been very fortunate to have performed a variety of different stunts over the years. But if a script called for me to perform a high fall while on fire or roll a car, I certain wouldn't turn the opportunity down!"

Maybe that's something to consider for our next movie!

Quotable Thursday | Thankful for Laughter

"I am thankful for laughter,
except when milk comes out of my nose."
Woody Allen

[Photo courtesy of NickPiggott]

New Paul Maier DVD from CubeCity

Here's one of our latest DVD projects, an eight-part seminar, by Dr. Paul Maier, that we filmed in May and edited over the spring/summer. It's called Christianity and the Competition and is comparison of the various world religions.

We've posted a trailer to youtube, which you can watch below:




» Click here to find out more about the DVD.

» Click here to order the DVD.

Or go to http://www.tobiascom.com

*Note: if you're having trouble viewing the trailer, please follow this link...