Blog Salad Friday on the 28 of September, 2007

Who Does What on a Film Set
FreshDV has posted a great comprehensive list of who's who on a movie set entitled "Production Jobs and Responsibilites". If you have ever wondered what the heck a Best Boy (or any other position) does, now you can find out. I doubt that any of us will ever use a crew this big, but it is a good resource to nail down what needs to be done by what person, and what you should call them in the credits. Broken down by department.

Building a Simple Green Screen
WesScog over at the Indy Mogul Forums (Mogulville), has put up a good, simple tutorial about creating your own chromakey with cheap and available parts-slash-paint. The Scogger built his for about $14, but he scavenged the wood for the frame. If you try it with new wood it looks like it will cost you a whopping $20-25. Well worth it if you do a lot of keying. Not my favorite effect, but it has its place.

Vehicle Boneyards: Several Creepy Places
Here's a fascinating post from deputydog, that has nothing to do with filmmaking, but the mere image will conjure up all kinds of story ideas. Take the Bay of Nouadhibou, Mauritania. At one time, if you greased the palm of the harbor authority enough, you could dump your old ship there, without the fees of having to do it legally. Now there are over 300 derelict ships parked there, waiting for a scary story to be born. Can you imagine how many dead bodies are hiding in those ships? Would you spend the night in one?

Rouge's Fear Factor
Speaking of spooky, Julie Gray over at The Rouge Wave gives some good tips about what makes a good frightening screenplay. She critisizes lame writers who don't really try, but depend on the director to flesh out their vision. She adds, "make sure to have fun with it, get gross, get scary, really deliver the horror of the experience with your words." It sounds like you should make the very experience of reading the experience, and not a hope that it will someday be scary when put to screen. Good idea if you want to get others excited about your project.

Podcast Roundup
"This Conference is Being Recorded" - Lance Weiler interviews Sarah Jo Marks of At Risk Films. She is a consultant, producer's rep, film festival programmer and more. While her forte is documentaries, she hits on one very important truth that we can all benefit from: "Anyone can distribute their own movie." She also hits on some good ways to use the press in your favor, how Netflix can get people to see your work, and don't forget the internet...

Good luck on your shoot this weekend...