by Marei Annis There are so many stories about life in LA that it seems hard to imagine that all of them could be true at the same time. And yet there is so much to see, experience and discover in the “city of stars” that you may find yourself surprised after all to find […]
by Mathew Allen Many people say that the secret to good dialogue is subtext. But many of those same people also struggle to identify exactly how to create these elusive layers of meaning. I’ve attempted here to elucidate and distinguish between what I think are the four kinds of subtext, and identify precisely what makes […]
by Mathew Allen Emotion lies at the heart of the filmic experience, and people always talk about how to make characters relatable or likeable. Below are six techniques each for building empathy and sympathy in your scripts. I believe this to be an exhaustive and refined list—both in that it covers every possible kind of […]
by Mathew Allen One thing I get asked a lot is how one goes about finding the motivation to actually sit down and write (and complete) feature screenplays. I hesitate to teach this element of screenwriting—as there seem to be as many different ways in terms of what writers call their “process” as there are […]
By Mathew Allen There are countless books out there about screenwriting. Each has its good and bad points, but I figured I’d give you a run-down of the best, most useful things I learned from reading many of them. In this case, I’m gonna focus on five (as that’s a catchy number) and try to […]
The acting profession is, at the best of times, an extremely challenging one, faced with a constant search for the next job, rejection, irregular finance and pressures of family, society and self doubt. The rewards, however, can be great for those who wish a life full of new experiences and challenges. So it is no […]
Recently a low-budget, independent Japanese horror comedy film, Kamera wo Tomeru na! (One Cut of the Dead) directed by first-time feature-director, Shinichiro Ueda created quite the buzz in the international film scene and received numerous awards and high praises in various international film festivals around the world, including: Silver Mulberry Award (Second-place Audience Award) at Udine Far […]
I’d like to share with you several film screening events that are taking place this summer, some taking place starting this evening! The first few are all related to Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia 2018. Short Shorts Film Festival (SSFF) is an Academy Awards accredited short film festival that has been held annually for the […]
We are about to enter a transitional phase in the film school’s history as we move into a bigger, better premises, so have taken a moment to reflect on why we think what we do is awesome. You will Learn Stuff This is fairly self-explanatory. Our tutors are all experienced professionals from a range of […]
Last week, I explored the Japanese directors who screened at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, having found the festival catalogue in a Tokyo second-hand bookshop. Of the three, one was already a superstar director, one was at the beginning of a fairly successful career, and one never made a film again. This week, I will […]