The VR Filmmaker – Virtual Reality Filmmaking

VRfilmmakerIconFor the past six months I have been reading and researching live action virtual reality filmmaking. Because the topic is so exciting and expansive, I’ve started a website called the VR Filmmaker, where I’ll be sharing with you what I learn and discover as I venture into this new world of modern storytelling.

The focus of the site will be to explore issues that are relevant to traditional narrative filmmakers and storytellers thinking about entering the world of virtual reality filmmaking. There are a lot of sites and conversation about VR games, coding and technology, but very little about live-action storytelling in VR.

So I decided to fill that gap.  How do you tell a story when there is no such thing as a frame-line or when the rules for traditional editing don’t apply? What about depth-of-field or take 3?How will actors work in VR and give their best performances?  Where does the crew go when you can see in all 360-degrees?

To me there are so many profound possibilities with VR. We are inventing the language of a new art form and it’s only limited by what we can imagine. At the VR Filmmaker I will be discussing these concepts as well as journaling about my experiences working in this format this coming year.  It’s like the beginning of silent cinema all over again, or 1950s television.

So please, check out the VR filmmaker today!

I’ve got some informative posts planned for December and you can sign up to receive my thoughts and ideas about VR filmmaking directly to your email on the site itself, or by clicking here for sign up form.

Don’t worry!  I’ll continue to occasionally blog about traditional filmmaking and theater here at The Bob Blog – after all, it’s almost time for my annual “no one was snubbed at the Oscars” piece, and it wouldn’t be Academy season without that!

I’d love to hear what you think about virtual reality filmmaking.  Leave a comment!

 

 

What are you saying with your art?

Pleasantville Joan AllenThat’s really the question, isn’t it? If you work in the performing arts you are always involved in collaboration with other artists. Frequently, you are not the main person responsible for the vision. There may be a playwright, screenwriter and director whose work you are bringing to life or interpreting.   But the question remains, you as an artist, what are you saying with your work? How do you say it?

The answer may be different than what you think.

Many years ago when I was producing the movie Pleasantville, there was a day the entire movie changed. I’ll always remember it. It was a striking moment. We had been shooting for a few weeks and then actress Joan Allen showed up for her first day of filming. The excellence with which Joan approached her work that day, transformed the entire set. Everyone felt it. And everyone’s game rose to meet her’s. Not just the other actors, but the crew as well.  The movie became a better movie because of her.

Literally, Joan’s presence in the room changed the course and direction of that film – simply by how she showed up. I think it’s one of the most important things to learn in the collaborative arts and the key to what you are really saying with your creative work.

NOBODY was SNUBBED at the #Oscars. Ever! So STOP saying it!

Oscar Statue

Every year I have to write this post.  Nobody and I mean nobody was snubbed by this year’s Oscar nominations.  Overlooked?  Yes.  Missed?  Yes.  Left out?  Yes.  Forgotten?  Yes.  Robbed?  Sure.

.But no one was SNUBBED!

Merriam-Webster (they make dictionaries) defines “snub” as ignoring someone in a deliberate and in an insulting way.

In my more than two decades as an Oscar voter I have never once heard a fellow voting member deliberately try and insult a fellow filmmaker by purposely not voting for them.  It just doesn’t happen.

People vote for the films they like.  Sometimes  I don’t agree with how they vote.  It happens.  Look no further Martin Scorsese not winning for Raging Bull!

But no one sits around and deliberately excludes filmmakers for the purpose of insulting them.

Do the Oscars get it wrong sometimes?  In my opinion again, yes.

But neither Amy Adams, whose performance in Big Eyes I loved or Ava DuVernay’s fantastic job directing Selma (made even more remarkable by the short time she had to shoot and edit the film) were snubbed.  Nor was anybody else on your snub list.

Overlooked?  Certainly.

But they were not deliberately excluded for the purpose of insulting them.

Finally, since you are all listening to me…  Do we need more female directors and screenwriters?   Absolutely.  No question.  Do we need more African-American, Asian-American and Latino-American filmmakers?  Again, absolutely.  I’ll leave out the discussion of the need for more and stronger leading roles for female actresses for a later blog.  

Is this the whitest Oscars award season since 1998?   Apparently so.

Is there a lot of work to do for gender and racial equity?  Yes!

BUT!   No one was snubbed.  Got it?

Don’t make me write this blog again next year.

Congratulations to all the nominees and to those who were snubbed this year (you know who you are!) you still made great and inspiring films and performances!

 

 

 

 

The Audience Is Listening! #tonycanyouhearme ?

The Audience is ListentingNo, I am not talking about THX, but rather that the Tony Awards Committee recently decided to eliminate the awards for best sound design.

Explanations as to why the categories were eliminated – namely that Tony voters don’t have the expertise to decide what is excellent sound work – doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.    

Are those same voters more qualified to vote on lighting design or set design or for that matter orchestration?

If that really is the reason, then educate the voters rather than eliminate the award.  Sound design is a critical part of the collaborative art of theatre.

There is an online petition to sign here to encourage the Tony Awards Committee to reinstate the sound design award.  Please click on the link sign it.

The Hollywood Film Coach – Upcoming Seminar

As some of you know, I occasionally lead a double life.  My alter-ego is a guy called The Hollywood Film Coach.

Olympic athletes all work with trainers and award-winning singers, actors, and performers all work with the best coaches they can find.

So why shouldn’t filmmakers? 

I’m proud to share with you that The Hollywood Film Coach is offering a two-night tele-seminar aimed at giving film composers new perspectives on how to get hired and once hired, how to thrive in the job.  I’ll be dialoging with the gifted, award-winning composer Brian Ralston and offering my uncensored opinions on what you need to know.  Best of all you don’t need to be in Hollywood or New York City to join us.

You can read about it and sign up to join us here.  Don’t make me blow my whistle!  SIgn up today!

The Tony Awards – Marketing Event or Honoring Excellence?

bridgesofMadisonCounty-BroadwayAt this past Sunday’s Tony Awards, The Bridges Of Madison County won for best score.  But the show and its music were not represented by a production number in the telecast.   The reason for this was simple.  According to the New York Times, each “Broadway show’s producers have to pay five-and-six figure sums for these numbers to be included in the telecast; those [producers] for “Bridges” lost millions when the musical closed.”   And since the show had already closed at a loss there was no money to be on the telecast.

And this got me to thinking, are the Tonys honoring excellence or really simply a major marketing event for Broadway.  And the answer, as the less naive of you know, like The Academy Awards, is… envelope please..  it’s both.  This means that the big production numbers are actually national advertisements for the individual shows – so why shouldn’t the shows’ producers pay for that exposure.  Seems fair.

But on the other side, the Tonys are also about excellence and the Tony telecast does something else.  The telecast serves as a historical record of the shows and performers from that season.   The Oscar nominated movies from a given year live on, on film or Bluray, but a given year’s Tony nominated performances only live on when they are included in the show.   Sure there’s the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library – but to most of America – Broadway is represented by the Tony telecast.

So it’s sad to me when a musical as beautiful as Bridges of Madison County does not appear on the telecast.  I understand why and it makes commercial and business sense.  But it is sad for the art.  Sure there’s the cast album… but somehow it not quite the same as seeing it.

And maybe there’s the answer.

To see it live on Broadway and have it live in your memory.  That’s theatre.

 

 

 

 

Master Screenwriters Discussing Writing!

The Writer’s Guild Foundation has posted a fantastic series of interviews  with legendary screenwriters discussing screenwriting.

We are talking people like Billy Wilder, William Goldman, Robert Towne, Buck Henry… I can go on and on.

It’s an entire Master Class just waiting at your fingertips – for free.  So save the film school tuition and check out YouTube by searching for “The Writer Speaks” or The Writer’s Guild Foundation.

Great stuff!

 

Coffee vs Art – Think About It…

People are willing to pay $5.00 for a cup of coffee that costs pennies to make, and yet, millions of people won’t pay $1.00 for a song that costs thousands to record.  And it’s not just about music, but books, photography, theatre, movies, sheet music, journalism and so on.

Why is this so?    Thoughts?

What’s Your Passion For Producing Theater?

This weekend I attended the three-day theatre producing intensive organized by the Commercial Theatre Institute, whose motto is “Producing producers for more than 30 years”.

As the seminar’s title promised, it truly was intensive.   For three days we listened to more than 30 speakers share their open and honest experiences creating shows on Broadway.  The specifics of exactly what each of the speakers at the conference said is confidential and I need to honor that agreement.

But I can share with you one or two things that I heard over and over, from individual after individual, and that is producing theatre is about passion.   You must have unending passion about the project you are giving birth to.

Secondly, you must believe that an audience will ALSO share that same passion for your project.

And this is key, as film producer Sam Goldwyn famously said, “If the audience doesn’t want to come, you can’t stop them.”

I understood these two concepts this way; that theatre producing (and for that matter directing and acting) is like hosting a party where you are the host and you are also the help. In this model, the audience is the guest.  Everything you do is to help make their experience truly special.

This is essential for your show to be a success and altruistically, so the audience continues to want to see theatre in the future.

This CTI seminar was an exceptional experience and I urge anyone serious about producing theatre to take it when they offer it again next year.

 

Ten Takeaways from the Contracting for Off-Broadway Seminar

This weekend I attended a great seminar on contractual issues for producers to consider when working off-Broadway.    It was hosted by the Off-Broadway Alliance and featured Adam Hess, David Elliott, Peter Breger, and Hugh Hysell who shared their insights.

Here are my top ten take-aways.

1. The number and complexity of the contracts your show needs is often directly related to the size of the venue.  The larger the venue the more you will need.

2. The process of negotiating contracts is useful to build relationships down the road.  Compromise is an important part of the discussion.

3. Think through what your goal is going to be – often people only think about the present and do not consider the longer term “what if’s”.  For instance only getting the rights to put on a reading or showcase and then not having the ability to take it further.

4. It is important to have experienced people on your team as you may not know whether something is a big thing or a little thing.   Having relationships with people in the community can help.

5. Don’t be afraid of Actor’s Equity.  They want their members to work.  Have a discussion with them.  They may say “No.” But if they can work with you they will.

6. Sometimes things an author insists on will (and should) kill the deal – like the author granting only a very short time period, or a very high option payment, or not being open to notes, or approvals over too many things.   The goal should be getting the play produced.

7. A new writer cannot get the same deal as say David Mamet can.  And a new writer should be aware that the Producer is taking a chance on him or her and is as important a long term relationship as the director on subsequent projects..

8. Bring an experienced General Manager and Attorney on early in the project before deals are set.   This is because their input will help you to shape better deals for the show.

9. What and who is right for one project may not be correct for another.

10.  Paying the actors slightly more money to be on an Off-Broadway contract versus a lower Mini or Showcase contract, helps the publicist get press interested in reviewing your show.

And this, which was said repeatedly, “Join the community.”  The Off-Broadway Alliance  has a number of great resources at their website for producers to reference.

This seminar is/will be posted as a podcast on their site.