Kung Fury

Kung Fury is by far my favorite piece of cinematic work that I have seen since Interstellar. It is nothing like Interstellar, in fact it is quite the opposite. The creator David Sandberg wrote, directed and stared in this epic clusterfuck of a short film.
Kung Fury is set in 1985 on the streets of Miami. A bunch of ridiculous evens start happening, such as arcade game machines coming to life and killing people as well as Hitler coming to continental  America. All in all Kung Fury it is just a crazy film shot to be a satire on 1980s films with a bunch of ridiculous jokes. That being said, I have never laughed so hard in my life.

The entire film is filled with jokes. There is literally never a serious moment in the film from start to finish and while this may seem like a bad thing, it is truly beautiful.


While being totally unbelievable in both plot line and in appearance, I would've believed that I would hate it, however It truly amused me. It is not a deep piece, or very an expensive piece but I can say with all honesty that If you are looking to watch something you have never seen anything like before, and laugh while watching that you should watch tis movie.

My Rode Reel: A Competition of Shorts

    Making a film for a festival is intimidating. For me, I didn't know where to start. And unfortunately, this meant that I ended up trapping myself into a corner. What I did was go backwards. I started with the question: what would a film festival want? And while it's not a bad thing to ask yourself, it shouldn't be the reason you decide to write anything. Because then your writing isn't yours, it's what you think other people want it to be.
    And then there was the issue of "ten minutes." Ten minutes was the hypothetical limit. To me, that was not nearly enough time to express a whole story. But I suppose that's why it makes the perfect challenge. Ten minutes. Ten minutes to tell an entire story. To the unexperienced, that seems impossible. To the foolish, that seems too easy. But to the truly skilled, that was just enough.

   My Rode Reel was a competition set up in partnership with the Rode microphone company. The rules dictated a short film, that had to use one of their branded mics, and a behind the scenes video. They had nine winners, all who received an insanely decked out cinema package. The categories stood as: Judges' choice, People's choice, Behind the Scenes, Cinematography, Soundtrack, Documentary,  Sound Design, Non-English, and Location. The film above is the Judge's pick.
   But the reason I point any of this out is because of the content that came out from this challenge. Hundreds of entries popped up from all around the world: all of which told a story in under ten minutes. Just when you thought you saw something you were positive would win, another video pushed its way to the front.
    And that why you should check out these films from the website. Because these are people who can tell a story. It doesn't take a lot to add things, but it takes a lot to know what needs to scrapped. The above movie, The Tale of Benjamin Sawyer is a perfect example of this practice. While it's not perfect, and relies heavily on exposition to get its story through the backstory (something arguably needed), it shows that even five minutes can begin and end and entire story. The behind the scenes themselves show just the process that its director, Ronnie Bingaman, had to go through to do this. And his is not the only film that should be looked at. All of the winner's have a remarkable twist on storytelling that begs to ask the question: if they can do it, can you? And hopefully that answer is yes.

   Te minutes used to seem like too little. But regardless of whether our stories go beyond or below, it's a limit that shouldn't be looked at lightly. Ten minutes is more than enough to tell a story. If anything, it's an art.

How to Get Arturo's Stamp of Approval: Short Film Edition

Since we'll all be spending the next few days thinking up the project that will control our lives for the next 2+ months, I thought it'd be nice to do a "Short Films for Dummies"-esque post on how to make a great short that we'll want in our portfolio.

As I'm sure you all expect me to say, a great short is nothing without a great story. Choose a story that you have a personal connection with. When the writer or director has a connection to the material, it demonstrates a powerful point of view--something that's much harder to find when you tackle big topics like space travel, the meaning of life, or an entire relationship. Then take your personal connection and tell a story of one character's or couple's journey, but no more than that. In a short film, there is little room for subplots and secondary characters and montages. Just a single dilemma that will be resolved by the end in some way. Short films are not about events, but the people those events happen to. While plot and twists are important, your film will be forgotten without memorable characters that your audience can empathize with. So you want a main character with a strong personality, including quirks, desires, and goals.

All great stories have three things in common: a beginning, a middle, and an end. Even if it feels like the story could go on or become part of a larger story, every short needs some sort of closure or resolution. Sometimes the hardest part is deciding where to start your story. You have a very short window of time to create a world that grabs the audience in. Mapping out your characters' journey is a good way to figure out where to start. You need to find the most visual and quickest way for the audience to get to know your character. Whether it be an image or action or line that makes the audience get where the characters are starting from, let that be your opening shot and scene. In a short, there's no luxury of 10 pages to set them up and tell us about their hopes, dreams, backstories, and all that little stuff you'd find in a feature. You've really only got your first page to make them interesting to your audience. In that first page, you want your audience to understand, connect with, and root for your character.

The last thing you want is predictable story. Audiences like when you set up their expectations, then subvert them. There should be twists in the first and last minute of your film. It's easy and tempting to use your film to say something cynical about human nature or relationships or society, but if you find a way to leave your audience with even the slightest positive impression, there's a much greater chance of it leaving a lasting impression on them and remembering your work. So if at all possible, end with a positive spin.

Let's move on from story to other aspects of making a short film. It doesn't take a great amount of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. So how do you guarantee great production value? You start by choosing great locations. You want locations that add a visual element to your story and allow for great shot choices. When choosing locations, think about the tone and mood that each place creates and make sure it fits the tone and mood you have intended. In shorts, it's not just what story you tell, but how you tell it. The writer and director should always be trying to get their voice and style across. That includes having visuals and moments that show off voice, style, POV, technical awareness, knowledge of shot composition, depth, etc. You absolutely, positively must be prepared before you get on set. You should know exactly what you need to get from every scene, including what emotion, what action, what shots, what tone, etc.

Back to budget. As I said earlier, short films do not require much money. To keep your production at a low cost and on schedule, start by writing a project with only a few locations and a few characters. The fewer locations, the better. As for characters, try not to have scenes that call for a dozen extras. The more actors you have to manage on set, the more difficult your life will be. Quick side note. I'm only going to say one thing about the casting process. When casting, don't cast your friend cause they bought you beer or your professor's son out of convenience. Hold auditions like the young professional that you are. That is all. Another tip for saving time on set (and budget, if you're feeding your cast and crew as you should be) is to try to keep the times of days in your scenes as consistent as possible. Having all day scenes or all night scenes will condense the number of shoots you can film your short in. And the last thing you want to do is have a scene focused around a specific hour, like sunrise or sunset. You're practically guaranteed to not get everything you need in time and may lose a whole day of production.

If you want this next short to be one that you submit to contests, then it should not be longer than around 12 minutes. Festivals need to fit numerous shorts into 90-minute slots, so they can't program a short that takes up one-third of their time. The average length is about 4-8 minutes, plus end credits, which could add a minute or so to your short.

In conclusion, keep your short, short.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

It doesn’t take a great deal of money to make a great short, but it does take great production value. - See more at: http://www.scriptmag.com/features/notes-margins-elements-great-short-films#sthash.8wTX71zo.dpuf

Voice Over (2011)

Recently I watched a short film titled Voice Over, directed by Martin Rosete and written by Luiso Berdejo. The main reason why I was so interested in this film is because it contains so many different settings all within 10 minutes, and balances between them perfectly. The film contains no dialogue, only voice over from what appears to be the "voice of God." In each setting (a man who crash landed on a distant planet, an amputee in combat in a war, and a sailor trapped underwater) the individual has three minutes to save themselves, whether it be getting oxygen, blowing up a bridge, or untying a knot which drags them down.

Since our videos have to be around 10 minutes, this video gave me a lot of inspiration for the amount of scope you can include in a movie that is rather short. I was blown away at how tense the film made me feel simply from a voice over reminding the viewer how much time they have left until they die. One thing I noticed is that for each individual, the stakes got higher toward the end of the film, seriously drawing me to the edge of my seat, only to be taken aback by the twist at the end, which I won't reveal. It's funny how you can watch a full length movie which has hours to build up character development, and it still will not captivate you as much as a short length film such as Voice Over.

Coffee and Cigarettes

In class this week we watched "Cigarettes and Coffee." After class I decided to look up the film, however I searched "Coffee and Cigarettes" by mistake. This brought me to the films of Jim Jarmusch, a director whom I have never watched but I have alway been interested in looking into.  I finally decided to watch this movie based on the cast, which includes Steven Wright, Roberto Benigni, Steve Buscemi, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, Meg White, Jack White, Alfred Molina, Steve Coogan, Bill Murray, RZA, and GZA.

The movie is actually 11 short stories about people talking, drinking coffee, and smoking cigarettes.  Each of the films are unrelated and involve characters just participating in conversations. They are almost always playing themselves. The discussions do connect a little bit in theme; people talk about enjoying coffee and cigarettes, or why those things do not constitute a meal, Tesla Coils, familial relation, the music business, and celebrity life style. I also noticed that an Iggy Pop song plays during the Jack/Meg White short.

I thought some of the stories worked and some of them didn't just because the discussions were not too interesting. My favorites were Steve Buscemi as a waiter bothering two twins, Iggy Pop and Tom Waits (who apparently is a doctor) meeting, Bill Murray  (as himself) waiting on RZA and GZA, and Cate Blanchett meeting with her non-famous cousin Shelly (played by Cate Blanchett too).

Each short was in black and white and features many above-shots of the coffee being stirred on tables. I thought the shots were well composed and the shorts were well directed. Some of the subjects were boring, but I will definitely remember the ones I mentioned above. Although I wouldn't say that this is a must see, I do recommend checking out a few of the films.

Below is a link to "Delirium," starring RZA, GZA, and Bill Murray. Sorry that I couldn't get the video into the page, but it's not on youtube.

http://www.veoh.com/watch/v426774KxRb5qFG?h1=Delirium+-+Gza%2C+Rza+%26+Bill+Murray