Sunday Picture Post 33 / What is Scary?
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: WHAT IS SCARY?
There are a few things that I find most scary in movies.
1) Mystery and the unknown: wondering what is happening, hearing mysterious noises, seeing bizarre signs, not knowing where is the bad guy or what he is doing.
2) True horror stories.
3) Suspense: knowing something is going to happen, but not knowing when or how. This makes me sick to my stomach.
4) Horrific acts that I never could have imagined.
What are the best scare tactics you have experienced?
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday, I post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
Sunday Picture Post 32
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
Each Sunday, I post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
Movies to See Before You Vote for President
by Jaden
Before you vote for President, three movies to enlighten you to the types of things that go on behind the closed doors of politics are W. (2008), The Manchurian Candidate (1962), and Revenge of the Nerds (1984).
In theaters now, written by Stanley Weiser, W. is about current USA President, George W. Bush. Josh Brolin has made an incredible transformation into Bush.
Richard Condon wrote the earth-shaking novel The Manchurian Candidate on which the film of same title is based. George Axelrod adapted the novel to screen. Exceptional John Frankenheimer directed. The explosive cast stars Frank Sinatra, Angela Lansbury, Janet Leigh, Leslie Parrish, and Laurence Harvey.
Slow and methodical, psychologically complex, Manchurian is full of surprises as it takes its viewer through the war hero machine and politics.
Revenge of the Nerds is a funny comedy: two nerds (intelligent and awkward) go to college and have to deal with the constant unfairness and belittling by the jocks (football players) who control campus politics. [Back in the 80s and 90s, the whole nerd thing was not considered cool like it is now.] Lamda Lamda Lamda, an all Black fraternity, are the only ones who give the nerds a chance.
Some other great political films based on true stories are Spinning Boris (2003) about American consultants who are hired to help get Russian President Boris Yeltsin re-elected, which is a funny and informative flick; Milk (out Nov. 2008) about a murdered gay politician; and The Reagans (2003) in which Josh Brolin’s father James Brolin also plays a President.
What are your favorite movies with a political slant?
140 Films, 17 Countries: San Diego Asian Film Festival 2008 October
by Jaden
Looking for something to do this weekend? Come to sunny San Diego for the 9th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival presented by Toyota Matrix, which runs now October 9-16 in San Diego and October 21-23 in Riverside.
140 films roll out from 17 countries with a spectacular line-up. There are so many great films, it is hard to choose which ones to watch: film shorts, animation, romance, comedy, drama, documentary, and action.
If you are thinking to yourself, “What do I care about Asian films?” Let me refresh you. Here are some favorite Asian influenced films from our recent past: Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Ang Lee who won an Oscar for Best Director; thrillers Dark Water and The Ring are remakes based on novels by Kôji Suzuki; The Matrix is strongly influenced by decades of Asian films; and anything Bruce Lee are just some of the many films we love.
With the Asian Film Festival, you have the rare opportunity to see original work instead of American remakes.
The one I watched yesterday was Hollywood Chinese, a brilliant documentary that highlights Chinese in American cinema and the hurdles that they have had as actors, creators, and Americans. With unearthed forgotten footage and interviews with famous actors, directors, and writers, Hollywood Chinese is one not to miss. My favorite highlights were interviews with the entertaining James Hong (Big Trouble in Little China), gorgeous Nancy Kwan (Flower Drum Song), and watching the 1916 footage of The Curse of Quon Gwon (the dangerously explosive now illegal nitrate reels of which were buried in a Hefty garbage bag and passed down through the Wong family). Director Arthur Dong tells me that PBS plans to air Hollywood Chinese on television in 2009 and the DVD shall eventually be released. You may also catch a screening on October 21 in Riverside at 6:15pm where Mr. Dong will be in attendance.
Hollywood Chinese is just one of the many great films playing at the Asian Film Festival. Others in the spotlight are Accuracy of Death about a grim reaper who decides whether a person shall have a second chance, 200 Pounds Beauty based on a best-selling Japanese comic book, and the Animation shorts.
It is going on now; don’t miss out!
**Please note: Sunday Picture Posts will no longer appear weekly, but rather randomly.**
Robert Pattinson Plays Dali in Little Ashes
by Jaden
Back in March, there was a big stir amongst screenwriters and fans on the Internet about Johnny Depp ‘auditioning’ scripts in search of a screenplay about Salvador Dali.
The minor detail that you don’t audition scripts, you submit them, set off my rinky-dink internal alarm that this was a bogus news piece that was running rampant on every online news source without a single fact checker amongst them.
Needless to say, seven months later, there is still no officially announced commitment by Johnny Depp to play Dali or “audition” scripts.
Fret not.
An independent film about Salvador Dalí and his buddies filmmaker Luis Buñuel and poet Federico García Lorca is set to come out in the United Kingdom in 2009. Little Ashes: Love, Art, Betrayal, is written by Philippa Goslett and directed by Paul Morrison. A screening rolled this week at the Raindance Film Festival.
Due to its low budget and current lack of distribution in the USA, a fan website dedicated itself to tell you all about it; it’s called the Little Ashes Promotional Blitz Project.
If you want to see this film in your country, they would love for you to join their publicity fun wagon.
As Dali and his pals were independent thinkers, what better type of filmmakers and publicity people to represent them than independents?
Subscribe
-
-
Content RSS