Because there were a ton of great videos left over from my last Video Smorgasbord post, I figured I get them out to you, Good Reader. Here, without further ado, is V.2. Vamos!
- EVERYTHING IS A REMIX
“Remixing is a folk art but the techniques are the same ones used at any level of creation: copy, transform, and combine. You could even say that everything is a remix.”
Thanks to Kirby Ferguson and his cool site for this video essay on the recyclable nature of creative work. It’s begins as an observation on music sampling covering everything from The Sugar Hill Gang to Led Zeppelin. It then takes the blasphemous stance that George Lucas himself “borrowed” from a dozen previous movies for the Star Wars series. This illustrates Picasso’s words yet again that “good artists copy. Great artists steal.”
- HOW TO BE A SCRIPT READER
I have a natural attraction to anger. I’m Type A, Southern Italian and yes, have a bit of a temper. So, of course, I have an affinity for a website titled The Bitter Script Reader. It’s funny, but whoever is the bitter script reader– he’s actually pretty mellow. Check out this post on how you too can join the legion of judging people’s screenplays and the changing nature of the business. Hearing about the landscape of script reading is incredibly valuable in allowing us to get into the mind of that “dying” profession. Bitter Script Reader, being a pro for a very long time, is the go-to guy here. Whoever came up with the puppet idea is damn genius.
- FOR YOUTUBE CHANNELS FOR FILM
Here is a sampling of four must see YouTube channels that go above and beyond. While the Mystery Science Theater 3000 channel is a ton of laughs and Filmmaker IQ will enlarge your mind, my fav was Every Frame A Painting, which makes Michael Bay look downright lyrical. Many thanks to Tony Zhou, a freelance filmmaker and editor, for these insightful essays. If you like this one, check out the Scorsese video essay called The Art Of Silence.
- ROBERT RODRIGUEZ & THE ART OF THE ANATOMY OF THE SHOOTOUT
Talk about not being to avert your eyes, yes, I’m gonna pass on using the breakdown of the Jessica Alba dance scene for something a bit more useful to you, Good Reader. This is a dissertation in ten-minutes on how to shoot the shootout. Writers take notice for what is included and excluded. Rodriguez’s movies always have relentless movement and this is the reason why.
