Tag: Filmmaking

Producing Various and Sundry

How The Mandalorian’s sets go beyond Green Screen and Old-School Rear Projection

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

As some readers know, despite focusing more on audio fiction these days, I still am keenly interested in how films are put together, especially when it comes to speculative fiction stories… as they almost always employ some tricks to show the fantastical with as much thrift as craft. Last year, I learned more about how the latest version of Dune departed from traditional blue and green screens. I’ve heard a lot about the “virtual sets”…

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Producing Raves

Masterful Filmmaker (from the Far Side of the World) Peter Weir receives Lifetime Achievement Oscar

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

This past Monday, I shared an article about the allure of the film Master and Commander: But Wait, There’s More Title, directed by Peter Weir. This Sunday during the main Oscar ceremony, I learned that said director, now 78, received a special lifetime achievement award last November. And it got to me thinking that, apart from one or two of his films I haven’t seen, all of his films are always in my sort. Peter…

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Producing Various and Sundry

The Hollywood War Machine

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Top Gun: Maverick performed some “best of the best” box office maneuvers when it opened Memorial Day weekend and continues to do well. The original film proved to be as much a recruitment commercial as popcorn movie… and this sequel’s premiere aboard an aircraft carrier, Midway (now a museum ship), hints that this newest film will perform similarly. As a cinemaniac who’s seen more than a few military-themed movies over the decades, Hollywood’s connection to…

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Producing Various and Sundry

Why the Spice Flowed the Way it Flowed in Dune

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

While it seems that not everyone liked the latest screen version of Frank Herbert’s seminal sci-fi novel Dune, it’s the first film in a long time that I finished watching and wanted to immediately watch again. I’m up to seeing it five times now, so it’s safe to say I’m a fan (I find much to love in the other two screen versions as well, but that’s for another post). One of the most striking…

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Writing

Screenwriting through the David Lynch Lens

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Last week, I posted a few videos about David Lynch and how to hook yourself an idea or two. Well, as you might expect, I plowed through a number of Lynch videos at the same time, in part because the two I shared last week are just about the nature of getting ideas. But, in fact, the first video I watched was a piece asking Lynch about his screenwriting process… and since it’s just over…

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Writing

Where do Ideas come from? David Lynch Edition

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

The post from the other week about how hard hobbies are to schedule time for made me think of something I recently saw regarding how to generate ideas… and from a man generally known for having some out-of-the-box type ideas: David Lynch. As many of you might know, I love using Workflowy, including for capturing ideas. I mean, I love the habit of always carrying around an old-school notebook to jot things down in –and…

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Producing

The New Paradigm of Film Distributors Really Not Caring About Their Films

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

If you read last Wednesday’s post about standardization of suck that is the McDonald’s ice cream machine, you hopefully felt a little irritation — assuming you believe in truth, justice, and lovely intangibles. Well, alas, I have more fuel for the ire fire, which I have a special interest due to my connection to filmmaking and knowing many a fellow indie producer who is either in this position or about to be. Now, if you’re…

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Producing

Bringing the Real and the Imagined Alive: Remembering Michael Apted

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

When you talk with your filmmaking peers, it comes as no surprise they have always have a few filmmakers they follow closely, perhaps someone who isn’t necessarily a household name… or even necessarily an art house movie theater name. Michael Apted was one of those filmmakers for me. He died at the age of 79, earlier in January (I’m just getting to writing this post now). You can read obituaries and remembrances from the BBC,…

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Producing

Warner Bros. Decides to Upend Theatrical Releases

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Just shy of two weeks ago, Warner Brothers decided to drop a bombshell by saying that all their 2021 films would simultaneously go onto their streaming service, HBO Max, along with theaters, as reported in industry publications, Variety and Hollywood Reporter. This announcement broke a certain segment of the Internet the Thursday it dropped because –shockingly– Warner Bros. evidently didn’t let any of their producing partners know. And that’s a big deal, not simply from…

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Producing

More on Getting Back to Set

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

Earlier this week, Cirque Du Soleil announced it was filing for bankruptcy and Broadway said it was going to be shuttered until January 2021. It’s grim for folks in the entertainment industry. Still people are trying to figure out how to get some productions back in gear, especially film and TV. Last week, I shared some guidance the film industry has been working on. This week, catching up on Scriptnotes, I heard their late May…

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