Brad Grimmett

You are correct. The Abby is the second to last shot. My post was meant to be a joke, although it seems like no one got it. I meant that the "Martini" is overused, as in, it's used prematurely......i.e........Abby Singer. Since the whole reason there is an "Abby Singer" is that Abby Singer was a real 1st AD that always prematurely called the martini, so his martini always ended up being the second to last shot. Because of him the "Abby Singer" ended up being the second to last shot. Well, stupid joke I guess. A lot of people here may not be familiar with the Abby Singer anyway........ Just messin' around.

I prefer the "Abby Singer". The martini is so overused....

Did it occur to you that they might be good? Sure, some people get hooked up through connections, but other people are just hardworking and good at what they do.

This forum is meant for people to exchange ideas and help each other. Maybe if you started doing this instead of just posting a lot of opinions about things you know nothing about, things would be different for you here. Oh, also, if you would actually go out and do what you say you're going to do, instead of just talking about it, people might respect you more.

That's just silly. I doubt anyone's ever seen someone load a mag while laying track for a dolly at the same time. Maybe David Copperfield could pull that off.... And sometimes a dolly grip may have to push the dolly for a rehearsal while camera is waiting on a mag to be loaded. There are very good reason's why there are so many positions on a set. Sure, sometimes someone could do two jobs, but like Mitch said, they may be doing both jobs, but not doing either very well.

I believe Clint Eastwood is one of the few people that doesn't use video assist....at least not in the traditional way. I think at most he used a modulus with a little hand-held monitor. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

It seems like you're getting the idea now. That's good. And not to be overly critical, but being aggressive when you don't get your way is something you should certainly try to stop doing. There are many compromises you will have to make on a daily basis when making a film, even if you have complete control of the film financially and artistically. It's just the nature of filmmaking. So being able to compromise and understand that things aren't always going to be "your way" is very important. Good luck.

I would think one of the most important things for you to do would be to contact the producers of the show as soon as possible so that you have plenty of time to deal with whatever they need from you. Beyond that I can't be of much help since this isn't really my area of expertise.

Having just used them, I would suggest you check out the swing and tilt lenses from Clairmont (or any other swing and tilt's I guess). You can get cool distortion as well as popping in and out of focus in wierd and interesting ways. Being able to focus on different planes could be interesting as well. Good luck.

Very sad news. At least he was doing what he loved when he died.

I shot some Kodak T-Max 3200 about a year ago and I loved the results. Of course, it's got healthy grain, but I liked it. It's actually an 800ASA film, but it's designed to be pushed two stops (at least that's what I remember). I remember it being very contrasty (which I liked) but that could at least be partially attributed to the fact that I was shooting in a theater with black walls and hard spotty light. You can find more info about it here: T-Max I'm sure the other T-Max films would work for you as well. They also have 400ASA T-Max. Have fun.

Now THAT was a happy accident!

Landon, If you'd just accept that you have a lot to learn you'd be in much better shape. No one here is saying that you can't do things the way you want, but they're trying to help you (through their experience) understand that there may be certain things that you should do a certain way in order to get the outcome you desire. What you don't seem to understand is that the people on this forum are trying to help you. But it seems like anything anyone says you take as an attack on your "aritistic integrity". I know you never said, "I know it all", but you've sure acted like it in your posts. Again, all anyone here is trying to do is help you, but if you don't like anyone giving you advice then why are you posting and asking questions? I don't get it. You just seem overly argumentative about every little thing. You can go make a movie any way you want, but if you're not being truthful with youself about what it takes to make a film in REALITY then you'll probably fail. No one here wishes that on you, and you can help yourself avoid that by getting some on set experience and from learning from other people. Robert Rodriguez's path is not one I would suggest you follow. It's pretty much a miracle that he's able to continue making films with other peoples money. I wish you luck and would be happy to offer more help and advice, but when you come to this forum you should be aware of what you say and how you come across to other people. A big part of this business is dealing with people and establishing and maintaining relationships with people you work with. If you can't do that you'll end up having to find a new profession. I think many of the professionals here would agree.

That's an interesting parallel,but I don't think it's the same thing.When I saw Village,I wasn't looking for a carbon copy of The Sixth Sense,I was looking for something as intriguing and suspenseful maybe.Movies by the same director don't have to copy one another,but they can contain the director's signature.Rear Window was nothing like The Birds,but both films were successful and carried the same impact. Well, I wasn't intending to say that all of his films should be just like his first hit. I'm just saying that there's a possibility that his films have suffered because he's been churning them out faster. Obviously, one film can be completely different from another and be just as good or better. And really, it's just a theory, it's not based on any facts. I was just thinking out loud.

P>S) "Im not interested in writing skills here, im interested in tellijng you what you want to hear so you can yell more at me. " First of all, you should be "interested in writing skills here". If you respect the people you're communicating with you'll take the time to do things right so that they can fully understand what you're trying to say. Second, you sound like a baby. "Stop yelling at me mom!! I know more than you do!!!" "If im writing a report, yes, i'll watch my writing skills. But here, Im in to much of a hurry to type this so I can do more productive stuff." Well, if you're in too much of a hurry here than you may as well not bother coming here at all, and then you can spend more time on "more prodcutive stuff". "are you my teacher?!? Why does it matter to you how I spell." Because you're spelling is so terrible that it's often hard to even understand what you're trying to say. And no, I'm not your teacher, but you could obviously use one. "Oh and P.S) I made an A- in Writing for your info, and I made it to the 10th grade." Wait, I think I can piss a little further! I made an A+ in creative writing in my senior year of college! LOL "So, yes I know how to write very fine thank you." Obviously not. By not taking the time to at least spell correctly in your posts, you're basically saying fu** you to everyone that reads what you say. But most of your posts are saying fu** you to everyone's advice anyway, so I guess you don't care. QUOTE I feel guilty about dumping on a 16-year-old "Why? Here goes the age thing again. I dont consider myself 16. I think im much more grown up than that. And I can take being dumped on, I just dont always agree with whats dumped on me." It's becoming VERY obvious to me that age IS a big factor in how you act on this forum. You've got the typical teenager know-it-all syndrome. And I've gotta tell ya, thinking you know it all is a good way to go nowhere fast in this business. But I guess you already know that.

" Ok, #1: Im not looking for Investments." So you're independently wealthy? "#2: I did not post that for you to rate how I make films. do you wanna come work on my film set? and see how I make movies. I think you'll be surprised." I think I would be. "Everyone does it different. Whats right for you maybee be way wronge for others. And it just so happends that this is the way I make a movie, like it or not." I don't "like it" or "not like it". I was trying to help you. "You know what? I may not be "Doing it right". But there is no right way, it works in all ways. and so fare it has worked just fine for me. I think that I have a pretty fast turnaround on my films also." Please list the names of your films so I can rent them or go see them in the theater. "However im doing it, It must be right in some way." Why MUST it be right? "I know a lot more than you think." I don't know what you "know" or don't know. Again, I was trying to help you. "I was not saying. "Just wait till you get there, then figure it out". I was saying that one should not plan EVERYTHING in advance. Not only does it not work, but it makes everyones job boring once on set." Don't you think that if NOT planning was the best way to do things that successful filmmakers would have been making films this way for years? There's a reason everything is so planned out.....because things will change, and if you don't have a solid plan of how you want things to go any changes will be an even bigger problem. "Planning EXACTLY how a shot will look in pre-production is not right. You can plan it just to get a basic idea of what you want, but I dont suggest saying... "Ok, this is where Joe will be, where gonna light over here and there should be enough light we dont need to lug the whole light kit around, lets just take a little to this location." You can NEVER plan EXACTLY how a shot will look in advance. There are too many variables. But having a good idea of what you want is very important. "You know, I think thats the problem with so many movies there days. Everything is so planned that Everyones job on set boring. in pre-production you have already planned were everyone will be, how they will act, how the lighting is, camera angels and such. now on set, what is the director suppose to do? Everything is already planned." So you're worried that you won't have anything to do on set if you plan in advance? Don't worry, you'll have as much to do as you can handle. That's the whole point in planning in pre-production. There is so much to do as a director once you're on set that you don't have time to figure EVERTHING out on the day. "Now his job is just to yell action and cut. That is why so many directors make one film every 7 years, becuase they are so tired of the same old process, just like Robert Rodrequez says." Wow, you couldn't be more wrong. If you'd worked in the business, even for a couple days on one job, you would know that. "And I think he has some wise words that 70% of you should listen to." Yeah, right! "Again though, im not here to prove anything to you guys. Once my film is in theaters you will see how capable I am of making a great movie." We shall see......or not. "#3: Yes, $3 milllion. I must say the process os fun, but lets get one thing straight, Directing is a "Job", and it makes money." You're fooling yourself. "And yes, I think if I had Johnny depp for one day and Antonio Banderas for 2 days and maybee a few other lesser know but equaly great actors for a few days, I think a studio would buy it for $3 million or more." But what do you really think you're going to pay these guys for their work? Certainly not scale. I think $50,000.00 would be a conservative estimate. I'm actually still wondering how you plan on getting the money together without investments. Care to tell? "Johnny depp sells tickets. I can promise you that once a studio see's hes in a movie they would be beating my door down. same with a lot of other actors." Johnny Depp DOES sell tickets to SOME movies. But if you think you're going to be able to hire him for one day of work and then use his image to advertise the film you're wrong. It doesn't work that way. "Can you imagin a Johnny Depp movie not getting a Distrobution deal!?!?!?!?! lol. and a Wide one for that." Yes, I can imagine that. Movies with big stars get shelved all the time, and never see the light of day. If they're lucky they'll go straight to video. "Now, again, like this or not, it is my movie. I will run it how I feel free to. This is how I run it, and I think everyone should just accept my way as just one of the other 5,000 ways someone makes a movie." You can do whatever you want if you're working with your own money. As far as 5,000 ways to make a movie.......well, I'd tend to disagree with that. There are certain ways to do things. You can't just wing it. "Im not here for you to tell me how terrible I am, or how Im crazy or dont know what Im talking about." I've never once seen someone here call you "terrible". Everyone here has gone out of their way to try to help you, and you keep telling them how "wrong" they are, and that you "know what you're doing" and have proven yourself. If you keep up that attitude you certainly WILL prove yourself to be someone that other people may not want to work with. "Maybee I think you process is Crazy? ever thought of that?" That's just silly. And again.....the spelling. My process is a process that's been proven for years on film sets. That's why I keep working and making a living in this business. "Ok. So im not answering anymore if all people can post is how im doing it wronge, there is more productive things in life." A more productive thing in YOUR life right now might be to stop telling everyone how RIGHT you are and start listening to people who know what they're talking about. You can't just KNOW everything.....especially if what you "know" has been learned from listening to Robert Rodriguez commentary tracks and watching Project Greenlight. You have to learn from other people at some point. I'd much prefer to learn from someone else's mistakes than from my own, but you obviously disagree.

Actually, if a movie looks like poop the D.P. will be blamed just as much as the director, if not more. It's a D.P.'s job to make the movie look the way the director wants it. If it doesn't look right, then the blame falls on the D.P. It's very simple.

Landon, I think what a lot of people are trying to tell you with their criticism is that you should slow down a little with some of the "absolutes" you're using in some of your statements. I think pretty much everyone here would happily support you in making a film. But before they did that they would have to see that you don't THINK you know everything about making a film. Whether it's intentional or not, you've come across as someone who seems to think he knows everything about making a film and doesn't want to hear that he's wrong, even if it's from someone who's shot 20 features in the past and is a highly respected member of the film community. I think you're doing a lot of the right things....reading books about filmmaking and watching films is a good start. But there are many variables that go into making a film, and there are probably many more things that you should learn about before you try to make a film of your own that will help you immensly when you are on set. Being around the business and working within it is probably something you could benefit from. Some of the most important things I ever learned about filmmaking I learned as a P.A. I was able to observe, and learn, from other people's mistakes and accomplishments without any risk to myself. That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, but I can refer to some of the things I've learned to try to save myself from making some of the same mistakes I've seen happen to other people. This kind of experience could be very beneficial to you. I'm not trying to discourage you from going out and making a film, but I think you should try to make every attempt possible to be as knowledgeable as you can before you take that risk. You owe it to yourself, and you owe it to your investors. This is meant in goodwill and hopefully to help you. One criticism I do have that I think is very important is this: your spelling. It's atrocious. I'm not saying that to be mean, but sometimes it's hard to figure out what you're trying to say because your spelling is so bad. This could be a significant problem for you when you try to fund a film. If you give a script to a potential investor with spelling errors like you make on this site, then you are basically shooting yourself in the foot. I'm not saying that your spelling has to be perfect, but it should certainly be better than what I see on this site. Just some helpful criticism. I think everyone here will happily wish you good luck and offer you any help you need if you show some humility and willingness to learn as much as you can.

My responses to your post are in bold within your post.

Well, this is basically a favorites poll anyway, since each person will pick the film that they think is best. I kind of like the idea of seeing which of these films people prefer cinematography wise.

All this talk of M. Knight Shyamalan's movies not being as good as the first remind me of a conversation I had with a record exec I was chatting with recently. We were talking about some band or the other and how their second and third records weren't as good as their first. His explanation made a lot of sense to me. He said, "These guys spend their whole lives writing their first record, and then when it's a hit they are pushed to write another one very quickly to capatilize on their popularity, and they end up writing a whole album in 6 months or a year. They just haven't had the time to write as good a record as they did the first time." It strikes me that this could be what has happened with Shyamalan. I know The Sixth Sense wasn't his first movie....but it was his first hit. Sorry if this is a bit off the subject, but it struck me as an interesting parallel.

Another different, and very annoying way of shutting people up, is the constant shooshing A.D. and P.A.'s. Shhhh, shhhh, shhhhh.....drives me nuts. They make more noise shooshing than everyone talking. And while I'm on the subject, another annoying "shout" is when a P.A. on set (standing 10 feet away from the 1st AD) repeats everything the A.D. says, but yells it. A.D. Picture's up. P.A. PICTURE'S UP!!!! A.D. Roll sound. P.A. ROLLING!!!!! This is especially bad when you're doing a quiet scene in which the actors have to be very emotional. I can't concentrate with all that yelling, and I'm just operating the camera. I don't know how the actors manage to deal with it.

Sorry, I can't advise you on this at all. It's a friend of mine that does it, and truthfully I'm not sure whether it's even legal or not. I just know that it's a way for him to be able to get a paycheck from a U.S. company. I would certainly advise you to find out more before you do anything like that, and make sure you do everything legally. Beyond that I can't really help you.

It's a remake? I thought it was an original script. Everything I've heard from Tarantino about it makes it sound like it's an original.

I have a friend who always pronouces Aaton "Ah-TON". He pronouces it correctly but he emphasizes the last half of the word. I've always wanted to correct him, but figured he actually might be right, since I've never been given a definitive answer about it.