Monthly Archives: June 2011

Inspiration for Filmmakers: Spielberg Almost Quit “Jaws”

Steven Spielberg is a household name today, but 30 plus years ago he was a complete newbie on a film set. After “The Sugarland Express” his next movie project was a horror action movie called “Jaws”. Spielberg was only 26 years old and the movie shoot was a bona fide five star disaster. They started with half a script, mechanical ...

Read More »

JJ Abrams nor Spielberg Ever Went to Film School

So often in the film school “debate” the same names get brought up over and over again. Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, etc. But I recently went to check out “Super 8”. This was, by the way, a really fun movie. And it was exactly what you’d expect from a Spielberg/Abrams collaboration. You had the childlike wonder of “ET” mixed with ...

Read More »

MacGyver Filmmaking: An Exercise to Stimulate Your Imagination

It seems like every day a new technical innovation impacts the world of filmmaking. The cameras keep getting better, the software keeps getting faster, the CGI keeps getting more realistic. New toys are great, but sometimes they can make you lose sight of the essence of telling a visual story. To that end, there’s a fun filmmaking exercise I came up with ...

Read More »

Beware of Any New York Film School

Here’s a formula for making a lot of quick cash: open a New York Film School. All you need to do is give your school a name with the word “New York” in it, such as ***Academy or New York University. Buy a couple of crappy digital cameras, some boom poles, and then start advertising to young people who don’t ...

Read More »