How’s Your Pacing: Rushing Or Dragging?

Pacing is critical. Rush through the story, and viewers struggle to understand what is going on. Slow down too much, and they get bored. How do you manage the pacing and rhythm of a story? Can you fix it in post?

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Bad Hombres, Good Homages And Effective Character Intros

In this video, we look at a few film homages, and what may qualify as a good one.

In FRANCES HA, Noah Baumbach paid homage to director Leos Carax, from his film MAUVAIS SANG.

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Shaun Of The Dead [So, What’s The Plan?]

I totally love Shaun Of The Dead (2004). It’s not just a great horror spoof; it’s a bloody great movie. And its clarity has much to do with it. Zombies have long formed their own, important sub-genre in movies. The genre started with White Zombie back in 1932, and it keeps going strong. Today, it seems that the undead … Read more

Chariots Of Fire Revisited [Running With Synthesizers]

In Writing Screenplays that Sell, Michael Hauge singles out Chariots Of Fire (1981) as a cinematic outlier. It was an unlikely movie to generate big box office. Why? It is a biographical period piece, lacks high concept, and is set outside the US. Chariots of Fire was hugely successful, though. It ended up making nearly $60 … Read more