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Category: Fun

Jan292018

Are You A Filmie? What Do You See…

 

You’re a Film Buff if you see a movie light and a coffee.

You’re a Film Buff Who’s Particular if you see a studio light and a Starbucks coffee.

However…

You’re a True Filmie if you see two Blondes.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

——————–

Deborah (Deb) Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She once dressed as a Blonde (studio light) for a Halloween party, but unfortunately lost the photographic proof.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Sat.Feb.17 – Author Participant – Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver, BC
Mar.26-28 – Instructor – Write! Shoot! Edit! Screenwriting Workshop for Teens – VPL
Aug/2018 – UFVA Conference – New Mexico

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, direct from the publisher, and plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.
*NEW* AWESOME SALE IN FEB/2018: At the Digital Media Youth Expo, Deb will be selling her book Write! Shoot! Edit! for a special event price of $10… that’s more than 50% off the cover price. Come on by, meet Deb, enter the raffle, make some homemade foley sounds, enjoy the expo!

Nov262017

The Three Heads of Write! Shoot! Edit!

I.

Wild Inventor Brain

Shy in a world lopsided

Teach me creativity

 

II.

Doctor Structure Editor

Vocal critic analyzes too soon

My creative problem-solver

 

III.

Nit-picky Copy Editor

Reveres logic, form and detail

Polish work creatively

 

Poetry about the creative process? Am I serious?

Yes, I am.

Well, serious in just-have-fun-with-it sort of way.

I found a poetic form that’s really fun to play with: The Lune. There are two forms of lunes, actually. Both are three-lines long (which I totally love, because I see the creative process as being three stages). The original lune goes: 5 syllables, 3 syllables, 5 syllables and when done on the page it looks a bit like a crescent moon in shape. The lune variant is a little different: 3 words, 5 words, 3 words – which I find a bit more flexible for play, and I suppose looks like a gibbous moon.

So, using the variant, I created lunes for the Three Heads of Creativity from my book Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide for Teen Filmmakers. Really? Yes. Because each stage of the creative process is just that… creative! Why not write a poem for each of them? It is a creative process.

Try it out yourself. Use either lune structure and write your own version of one or all three of the creative heads. Which head is easiest for you? Which one do you gravitate toward?

If you don’t really understand what I’m talking about regarding the Three Heads, there’s more info on the 3-step creative process along with lots more info on how to craft your own stories and movies using that creative process in my book; here’s a link to the book’s webpage (and preview inside the book): www.debpatz.com/book/write-shoot-edit.

When you’ve created your lune(s): use them as a memory aid; or share them online; or share with me! I’d love to read them. But whatever you do, enjoy flexing your creative muscle… three ways.

Cheers & happy creativity to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She loves to watch the crescent, gibbous or full moon on a clear night… especially from the bow of a boat at anchor.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Sat.Feb.17 – Author Participant – Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver, BC
Mar.26-28 – Instructor – Write! Shoot! Edit! Screenwriting Workshop for Teens – VPL

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, direct from the publisher, and plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Write Shoot Edit and Playmobil
Nov132017

Playing With Toys When Making A Movie

Write Shoot Edit and PlaymobilIf you know me, you know I love Playmobil. Having had two kids over a long span of years, I’ve had the excuse to collect and play with Playmobil long after the recommended age on the packaging.

Yesterday, however, I found a particularly fabulous piece: a teen with a cell phone and what at first thought was a plain, white book (it turned out to be a computer folded closed, but that’s just an e-book, isn’t it?). Well, I bought the figure, took it home and modified the ‘blank’ book cover with a mini-version of my book Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide for Teen Filmmakers.

Okay, so I’ve made the gal an obvious filmmaker by the modification. So what?

Here’s what…

I’ve worked on professional sets where the art department built models of their sets to the scale of Playmobil toys so they could place in the figures and let the director and DOP previsualize camera  angles and shots before committing to building full-scale sets or modifying locations. Sure a lot of previz happens on computer now, but why not use scale cardboard sets and Playmobil figures if that’s what you have access to on a low budget production?

Alternatively, if you don’t plan to (or can’t) build full-scale sets, but still love crafting models and playing with toys, design and construct model sets for toy figures and test out shots or sequences you want to film some day in the future. Still photos of each angle build an instant storyboard and visual shot list. Once assembled you can see your story coming closer into being. The point is: use what you have right now to experiment, create and learn (about the activity and about you)… right now!

This Playmobil figure I modified is a 3D representation of exactly that point, exactly what my book is aiming to inspire: whoever you are, start making their your stories with whatever technology is available to you right now!

And when you do, let me know what you’ve done; I love to hear your production, prep, previz and writing adventures.

All the best and great previz to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of Write! Shoot! Edit! for teens and Film Production Management 101 for the industry – both books are published worldwide by MWP. She’s also part of the editorial board for Prism International. She has enough Playmobil to recreate the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie in a fan fiction storyboard format… and has done so!

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Wed.Nov.22 – Graduate Reader – UBC Graduate Reading Event
Sat.Feb.17 – Author Participant – Digital Media Youth Expo, North Vancouver, BC
Mar.26-28 – Instructor – Write! Shoot! Edit! Screenwriting Workshop for Teens – VPL

WHERE TO FIND DEB’S BOOKS?
Paperback or eBook: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chapters/Indigo, direct from the publisher, and plenty of other great bookstores worldwide.

Sep12017

The Mentor Dies… Oh No!

How often do we see it in the movies? The mentor dies and so the protagonist has to take on the (powerful) antagonist alone. Not only that, but training is rarely complete! Well, the mentor usually thinks there’s enough training, but the protagonist sure doesn’t. At any rate, the mentor is right, and the protagonist goes on to save the day.

Well…

In my new book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!”, I position myself a mentor to new filmmakers (teens and young adults). BUT I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!

So here’s the deal: you can read the book, no problem. But when it comes to making your actual movie, I ask that at a strategic moment during the filmmaking process, you put the book down before reading the final chapter and finish making your movie. In that case, I – as mentor – will have left you alone on your shoot day and you can become the filmmaking hero you already know you are.

Save a mentor.

I’ll be every grateful. 🙂

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” (new in 2017) and “Film Production Management 101” both published by MWP Books. She’s seen a lot of mentors die on-screen.

DEB’S LATEST NEWS:
Her new book, “Write! Shoot! Edit!” was reviewed in:
(1) the Vancouver Sun and other papers across Canada, including the Montreal Gazette,  The Province, the Ottawa Citizen, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, the Windsor Star, on Canada.com, and News Locker… and now also: the Edmonton Journal, the Calgary Herald
(2) SF Crowsnest (in the UK);
(3) the Midwest Book Review Library Watch list (on the Theatre/Cinema/TV Shelf)

Apr42017

FILM: The Red Eye Movie

n-flyI love watching inflight movies on planes. Remember when flights played only one movie and you either watched it or you didn’t? I still loved movies on planes then. All of them. It’s a problematic love, however, when you take red-eye flight.

For one particular red-eye flight, I was completely exhausted by the time I was boarding. I collapsed into the plane seat needing sleep. Really badly. Not only that, no one was in the two seats beside me, so if I allowed myself, I could lay down for a good snooze. Tempting… but I’d miss the inflight movie.

With trepidation, I looked up the movie selection of the flight. For which movie would I have to fight to stay awake? I wasn’t sure I could do it this night.

Then I saw the title.

I smiled.

It was the sequel to the only movie I’d ever walked out on at the movie theatre. Yay!

I stuffed the flight magazine back into the seat pocket and lay down.

Cheers & best wishes sleeping on planes to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Film Production Management 101” and the upcoming “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” both published by MWP Books. She tries to avoid red-eye flights so she can watch more movies… because there are so many movie choices!

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Jun.3-7 – Guest instructor – PEI Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, Charlottetown, PEI
Jun. TBA – Book launch for “Write! Shoot! Edit!”
Jul.30-Aug.3 – UFVA Conference, Los Angeles, CA

Mar92017

You Know You’re a Filmie When… Print-Through Moments

You know you’re a filmie when “they” call it déjà vu, but you call it a print-through moment!

nag

For newbie-filmies, print-through is when a recorded sound on a reel-to-reel magnetic stock recorder (like a Nagra) is so loud that an echo of it is heard before and after the sound itself. When the tape wraps around the reel, the loud recorded sound touches and affects the magstock next pressed next to it.

Cheers & a good shoot to you,
Deb

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Deb Patz is the author of “Film Production Management 101” and the upcoming “Write! Shoot! Edit! A Complete Guide to Filmmaking for Teens” both published by MWP Books. She experienced no print-through moments while writing this post.

WHERE IS DEB? (upcoming events and appearances)
Jun.3-7 – Guest instructor – PEI Screenwriter’s Bootcamp, Charlottetown, PEI
Jul.30-Aug.3 – UFVA Conference, Los Angeles, CA