Ah, the international flavour of film festivals – from the movies themselves to the filmmakers and fans! When producing an international copro, communication and courtesy are essential to working successfully with business partners. A small (but appreciated) detail is to use the correct accents in those communications – especially when those accents are on someone’s name.

Typing accents on an English keyboard with Windows is a challenge. Pin a reference chart near your computer screen of keyboard short cuts for many of the accents you may use. For event faster reference, highlight the ones you’ll use the most.

Laura K. Lawless at About.com has a great list of ALT keyboard short cuts for accents that I refer to all the time. Here’s a modified chart of some of the ones I use the most.

While holding down “Alt,” type the number next to it (using the number keypad), and then release.

á ALT 0225 Á ALT 0193
à ALT 133 À ALT 0192
â ALT 131 À ALT 0194
ä ALT 0228 Ä ALT 0196
       
é ALT 130 É ALT 144
è ALT 138 È ALT 0200 
ê ALT 136 Ê ALT 0202 
       
í ALT 0237 Í ALT 0205
î ALT 140 Î ALT 0206
       
ó ALT 0243 Ó ALT 0211 
ô ALT 147 Ô ALT 0212
ö ALT 0246 Ö ALT 0214
       
ú ALT 0250 Ú ALT 0218
û ALT 150 Û ALT 0219
ü ALT 0252 Ü ALT 0220
       
ç ALT 135 Ç ALT 128
ñ ALT 0241 Ñ ALT 0209 
     ß ALT 0223
       
« ALT 174  » ALT 175 
 ¿ ALT 0191 ¡ ALT 0161

 For even faster typing, some programs allow you to add accents using CTRL with the logically similar punctuation mark (like an apostrophe for an accent grave), but not all programs acknowledge these CTRL commands. ALT commands take a little longer to type, but tend to work in all programs (on a PC).

For accents not included in the reference lists above, look for the “insert a symbol” or “insert a special character” menu to find a complete list of international symbols available to you on the software of your computer.

Cheers & a great international shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

“Film Production Management 101:
Management & Coordination in a Digital Age”
** SECOND EDITION IN BOOKSTORES NOW **

UPCOMING EVENTS: (more details at www.debpatz.com ):
* Booksigning/USA launch at the Writers Store in Burbank – 11am Sat.Oct.23