Film & TV goesZen

Did you notice the great looking retro-futuristic personal computer terminals in Ben Stiller's 2022 Apple TV drama series "Severance" and asked yourself if they are "made up" designs by some art director or if these are real actual computer models from back in the days? Well, the answer is: These are Data General Nova 2 […]

Knossi nennt ihn offenbar lieber "Piff Paff Puff", aber mit der Neuauflage von "TV total" im Hauptprogramm von Pro7 setzt der Sender aus Unterföhring und Stefan Raabs Raab TV eben doch alle Chips auf Pufpaff und nicht auf Jens Knossalla - den lässigen Newcomer im Fernsehen. Mit Erfolg? So war die erste Folge "TV total" […]

Die Filmemacherin Sung-Hyung Cho hat es irgendwie geschafft, Zugang zu erhalten. Hat die Regierung nach Treffen gefragt und bekam die Erlaubnis, das Land gezielt und begleitet zu bereisen. Ein Portrait der Menschen in diesem so verschlossenen Land.

„Wetten, dass...?“ am gestrigen Samstag Abend pulverisierte die gesamte TV Konkurrenz. Top Quoten. Gottschalk is back. Eine Jubelrede.

Some insight on subject preferences, from Michael Mann: "...directors who grew up in the city. (are particularly keen on shooting urban environments) The directors who grew up in the suburbs make comedies. That's the rule." --Michael Mann, in WIRED 23.01 (Jan 2015)

If you've seen Oblivion, you might have noticed that Vica/Victoria, the character played by Andrea Riseborough, Jack's (Tom Cruise's) partner has permanently wide open pupils, or dilated eyes. Why is that? If you've followed the reddit conversation mentioning this, in my opinion, there's one user getting it right. But for me, the biggest clue was […]

Wer kennt das nicht: den interessanten Bericht, den letzten Tatort oder eine Game-Show verpasst. Au weia! Natürlich war der Digitalreceiver nicht programmiert. Für Fernseh-Jäger-und-Sammler kann lineares Fernsehen grausam sein! Schon seit der Zeit des Videorekorders ist "es vorher zu wissen" oder eben "nicht gewußt zu haben" das Problem. Aber die Zeiten ändern sich! Catch-Up TV […]

Hilfreich: https://github.com/isync/www-derspiegel-videos

Well, because colour-film deteriorates differently. Colours "fade" away or shift. Separating the colours from a good negative onto black and white film eliminates that. B&W film is very stable. Like "good for 80-200 years". And at any given time you want the colour composite back (nee the original print), you scan the separated film strips, […]

I've noticed that within the Iron Man films, particularly in part 1 and 2, our hero Tony Stark is rendered as having capabilities within electro-mechanical as well as software fields. And that's remarkable. Even at the first occasion where we witness Tony Stark's wizardry - remember the scene, in the cave - a bulky laptop […]

Some notes about Oblivion (2013), revealing the strong intertextuality of film in general, and Kosinski's work in particular: (spoiler alert!) Slipstream Plot elements, flying over devastated landscape, the overall mood, etc. Steven Lisberger He directed Slipstream, knows Kosinski since Tron:Legacy, Kosinski probably then saw Slipstream. The Stahl House Clearly the blueprint for the tower/apartment. In […]

An interesting (and beautiful) tool to weave your yarn is Twine and the CLI companion twee. Formatting a Story from Chris Klimas on Vimeo. Chris Klimas came up with it and published a few short interactive stories written with the tool on his eyes pleasing website Gimcrack'd.

Im Zuge der Astra Digital TV Umstellung gab es kürzlich Probleme mit einem TechnoTrend Görler tt-micro S835 HD+ PVR: ohne eingesteckte HD+ Karte, also wenn er nur in der Lage war free-to-air HD Sender aus dem Buquet der öffentlich-rechtlichen und SD Sender zu zeigen, dann fand ein Sendersuchlauf keine SD Varianten der privaten Sender (!), […]

While reading David Bordwell's blog, I came across a post (about Obama's campaign being a narration) that relit my interest in a topic that I am from time to time investigating into: transmedia storytelling. As it appears, transmedia storytelling (ts) is the latest hype in the industry, as it caters to the business aspects of […]

If you are not so much into reading (yeah, as if...), then be sure to check out these video tutorials: Screenplay How To: Bob Fritchey gives step by step insight into the process of developing a screenplay in short video clips His website: http://www.screenplayhowto.com/ The Script Code: Rick Barretto goes into elaborate detail on some […]

I am convinced that it is equally important to create believable environments as it is to model 3-dimensional characters. While watching a rerun of Crimson Tide (imdb), I noticed the piece's accuracy in terms of military hierarchy, speak, the submarine's equipment and especially the realistic use of the 1MC, a ship's intercom system. A bit […]

I think format is secondary - it's the content! But presenting things nicely is also a form of politeness, I think, and a form of respect when it means playing by the rules of a trade or group. In terms of screenwriting you can easily go insane when you try to track down the right […]

As a personal reminder and sort of a motto, I bookmark Mur's blog/podcast "I Should Be Writing" (latest post) today. I should really be working... In order to further network with the online screenwriting community, I'd also like to hint at Paul's "Process Diary" podcast/blog, who's latest post on using the rules is a good […]

In a past post I thought about my workflow, especially about how I could refine it by adding a tool of some sort to handle the versioning of my documents and texts. In computer programming, this problem is a daily task. That's why a look into this domain is very enlightening. Over decades, numerous people […]

After browsing through Ronald B. Tobias' 20 Master Plots: And How to Build Them  I am tempted to finally give Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces a chance. As it seems, Tobias has written a helpful guide, complete with checklists (!), about the major themes of literature. An enlightening read. It's like putting […]

Many of you might already own a copy of MS Word, write in LaTeX or Emacs. For writers looking for a free alternative, here's a short list: celtx which also includes capabilities for storyboarding, scheduling and such The OpenOffice Suite in combination with the Script style template Lyx (Linux) with the "Hollywood" template SLang braintorming […]

A few days ago, I had the chance to watch Tony Gilroys's Michael Clayton (Steven Soderbergh being Executive Producer). Actually the plot is interesting, but nothing that makes you cling to your armrest. But, the impressive quality of the film is that you actually enjoy watching Michael Clayton go through all this ups and downs, […]

If you need to stay in touch with German media,  here is my top 3 of online magazines focusing on Television, Producers and TV stations: kress report, etablished in 1966 one of the oldest and most respected media magazines, publishes a print and online version. DWDL , this online-only service is number 2 in Germany […]

I am the write-annotate-research-annotate more-edit type of writer. I write zillions of short notes and scatter them all over the place and within my texts. For as long as I am forging words, I am looking for the perfect writing tool. I had my stint with Word, then reverted to pen & paper, where I […]

Just a quick note: if you need a fresh spark of inspiration, direct your browser to Random plot points. On every visit (or each time your refresh the page) it will spit out a new unexpected twist. Give it a try! This one goes without detour onto the Blogroll.

If you happened to visit Ruairi Robinson's website in the past, then you know what an all around great guy Ruairi is (and know about his high quality work). So I am pleased to join in on the good news (via AW and AICN) that Ruairi is going to direct the live action version of […]

I have written a few complete scripts in the past and have even more incomplete ones on the shelf. Actually at the moment I plan to start a new project soon. Regarding this "next one", I'd like to publish little tidbits of what I've learned in the process of writing it here on the blog. […]

I you haven't figured it out from the name of this blog yet, this blog is going to by my notepad, scratchpad and comment bullhorn for all things related to the art of screenwriting. I hope I can establish it as a place of vivid and enlighting discussion, with insight for everyone reading. So stay […]