Film Academy Live: Post #3
There’s going to be quite a bit of material today, so I’m going to go ahead and break it into two posts.
Symposium of Stunts
Jimmy Broyden and Geoffrey Botkin
Mr. Broyden started off by sharing a bit about his early career Vancouver, Canada. He’s had the opportunity to work with famous filmmakers like Jackie Chan. Broyden had wanted to be a stuntman since he was six.
Jimmy and his friend performed a fight stunt scene with cameras rolling. Fight scenes entire entirely on tricks in camera angles, so they performed it three times to record different camera angles. Then an editor took the material and edited it together into a final fight scene. It’s a very complicated process that I can’t really explain with writing. If you want to really understand how it works, you may want to buy the session from Vision Forum. He did mention an important back pad called an “Armadillo” to protect falls on your back (see picture below).
Mr. Botkin took to the stage and pointed out to get the scene right, you must shoot several angles to make it looks realistic. He explained appropriate violence when he stated that violence to defend your rights is biblically appropriate and may be depicted in film. But when we as filmmakers depict violence we must first:
1. Reject the Hollywood theology.
2. Approach every scene with responsible theology.
3. We need to protect viewers from any defiling violence that’s not the execution of justice.
4. Protect your viewers from blurred lines between good and evil.
5. Protect your viewers from the execution of justice being humorous.
6. Degrading sports violence.
7. Protect your viewers from brutalizing violence.
8. Brutal and horrific killing for the thrill of it is absolutely wrong.
Geoffrey Botkin closed by saying, “Violence depicting justice is not only permissible in films, it’s required and it should be firm and forceful.”
Afterwards they displayed a car stunt Jimmy Broyden did where he drove a car through the air at 60mph, car spiraling 20 feet in the air, through a RV, hitting the ground and flipping twice. Absolutely incredible.
The Future of Film and Digital Acquisition
James Finn
The session was by James Finn, a Panavision professional who was teaching the basics of use of the Panasonic Genesys.
Mr. Finn talked about the future of film and digital recording. He believes that film will always be viable because film is still film. “If people want to shoot a movie that looks like film, use film,” He said.
He explained some of the technical side of it, and then opened for Q&A time, answering questions ranging from rental prices, to latitude, and formatting. If any of you are interested in learning everything technical, visit media.panavision.com
(Photo Credit Josh Eddy)
January 6th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I always thought it would be cool to do stunts. It sounds like your having a lot of fun and learning a lot.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:57 am
So interesting!! I especially like those 8 points he has on violence in movies. I will definitely have to keep those in mind when I’m working on my movie. Those stunts are absolutely amazing =D
The more you tell us about this, the more I’d love to go to something like this. It sounds amazing!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
This looks like so much fun! Obviously, you are learning alot of great stuff.
I agree with Emily, in the future I want to visit the Film Makers Academy.
Great job on posting Isaac, and thank you!
January 6th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Wow that looks like so much Fun!! =)
Your doing a really Good Job on Posting!
I would Probably Give up and tell the lot of us to go see it ourselfs (ha ha)
January 6th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I’m particularly interested in the role of censorship in Christian films and how to deal with violence in a way that is both realistic and honest. I’m not a filmmaker, but I am a fiction writer, so my concerns apply to my own art as well.
My main question is in response to point number 3. First, I don’t disagree with it. I believe and understand that such protection is important. However, to what point should the viewers be protected? Should violence that isn’t in the name of justice be totally eliminated from the screen, or is it permissable as long as it is depicted in a reasonable and/or clean way? Or, to ask it in a different way, how does a Christian filmmaker (or author, painter, etc.) reconcile his desire to depict real situations realistically and honesty and his need to be Christlike while doing so?
For example, I’m thinking of the movie Fireproof. There’s this one scene in which Caleb and Catherine get into a heated argument, and the climax of it is Caleb’s urge to physically harm Catherine. The viewer can see the tension, the pain, and that urge quite clearly, and I’m sure that half of us actually believed he would hit her. That, I would say, is violence, and definitely not in the name of justice. Now, from a filmmaker’s perspective, that scene is brilliant: it shows the extent of their marital unhappiness and each character’s displeasure, and the threat of physical harm only pushes that point home. From a Christian’s perspective, that scene was brilliant because it did the aforementioned things, while also not having any full-fledged violence onscreen. I, personally, would classify it as “clean,” though the material is intense; it wasn’t totally wiped out. The film /needed/ it.
Or, in another example, Ledger’s Joker in last summer’s The Dark Knight. To summarize for those who did not see the movie, the Joker was a horrific character who did horrific things, and did it with a smile on his face, pun not intended. Anybody who watched it could see that the man was brilliantly mad, and though everybody was mesmerized, everybody also saw that the guy was pure evil. Now, in order for the Joker’s doings to be properly emotionally and mentally digested, I believe that his doings had to be portrayed on screen, even if nobody actually saw the blood and gore, minus Harvey Dent/Two Face and (in a non-Joker related incidient) Batman/Bruce Wayne’s bruises and gash. Would such things be considered inappropriate for a filmmaker to depict, and if so, how else would/could a filmmaker honestly portray violence without it?
Hope you’re having a great time!
With love in Christ,
Samaria
January 6th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Wow, stunts are a lot more work that I thought. I wish I understood all the techy stuff about filmmaking. . . great job Isaac!
January 6th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Wow, these are absolutely fascinating! Thankyou for the incredible posts, Isaac! It’s amazing to learn a little bit about how much it really takes to make quality films. Keep up the good work!
~Meg
January 6th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Great job on the posts, Issac! Yeah, fight scenes are hard to do.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Thanks for the update Issac! =D The points on violence are so helpful and great to be looking out for even when you’re watching a movie.
In Walt Disney World (MGM Studios), they have a show there called ‘Lights, Motors, Action’ where they act as though they are taping a film. There’s a huge set and they have a whole live car stunt show. They have other stuntmen throughout the show who aren’t in cars, and it’s pretty crazy.
It’s really amazing what stunt-people do!
January 6th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
This is something new that I’ve learned!!! Thanks for the post Isaac. The points on violence are very useful and can use to evaluate movies.
January 6th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Neat!!
January 6th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Hello Isaac!
Thank-you for keeping those of us at home updated on the festival. My son Joshua and his Dad are there so it’s really fun to see what they are learning! I am wondering about people, like my son, who are interested in getting into filmaking and the possibility of working, to get experience, on a film that is in the making. What are the chances of that happening, to get needed experience, and how would he go about finding this out? Who should he talk to? I know you may not know the answer, but I would GREATLY appreciate you asking this question, if you have time… I know you are very busy yourself taking notes and learning yourself! Thank-you for all you are doing either way!! Keep up the great work!
Sincerely,
Lydia Hoppman
January 7th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Lydia: That’s a question that is challenging most of the aspiring filmmakers here. Honestly, there is no place that you can go to “get connected” on a project. It really depends on who you meet. So, the best way is just for him to meet as many people as he can. Network. Especially try to meet the semi-finalists in the film festival as they’re the ones most likely to start a new project. Hope that helps. God Bless,
January 7th, 2009 at 8:28 am
GREAT guidelines there! LOL! It looks like a lot of fun. Especially from the pics.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Hi Isaac,
Thank-you!! That is very helpful! Our family has seen “Come What May” and the bonus feature spoke about the fact that George Escobar had used people that were learning. That is such an encouragement. Thank-you again for taking the time to answer my question! If they call home I’ll let them know what you told me. Take care and God-Bless You. I appreciate your blogging!
January 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Lydia,
I have a suggestion for you on this too. I have had no previous experience in filmmaking until I started making my own movie. I have learned tons from my experience with it. And more than just filmmaking wise. God has helped my character grow as well as I learn to work with others, lead, and patience…to name a few.
But, what I would say is that if he makes a movie on his own or with a group of friend and learns from his mistakes, it will open a lot of doors for him. I know that I’ve gotten emails from professionals offering to help advertise. Basically, a lot of people are ‘impressed’ that a teen would do something like this(low expectations, I know) and through other people being interested in his project, it could help open doors for him to shadow, or even work with professionals.
Also, you’d be surprised how many independent film makers there are in possibly your area. There is always a chance that he would be able to go on set and just be able to observe with that. Of course, not every movie will be necessarily appropriate or clean…but there are some out there. Do some ‘google’ searches and see that you can find
Lastly, Issac is right. Talk to those finalists you never know what connections they might have. It would also never hurt to send an email to the director of a movie and get some advice….a lot of people would probably be glad to talk to him.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Interesting…especially the stunt session…makes me wish I was able to make it this year…
You say I’d be able to “buy a session” off of vision forums site….Would it be video or audio?
January 8th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
The Jimmy Broyden flip-car-smash-through-RV stunt…did he say how he did it without getting killed?
Great posting.