Not that I’m pointing fingers, mind you…
In your genre script, you don’t have to worry about explaining each and every little detail.
(more…)Category: Development
Child of tip – Development
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #165
And it’s Worth Every Penny!
It’s easy to think you don’t need a script, or that a script is a pain to deal with, or that writing is easy. None of that is true.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #161
“Peek-a-boo!” gets boring after you pass 18 months of age.
If you think an invisible monster is dumb, or not scary at all, watch The Fiend Without a Face or Forbidden Planet. You can chuckle at the reveals, but never underestimate the power of imagination, when spiced with good sound, good music, good acting, and maybe a little on-set trick or two.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #141
Nobody likes a Chatty-Cathy
Storytelling and dialogue are not the same thing. If no one gets the story, it’s not because there isn’t enough dialogue — it’s because the story doesn’t make sense. In fact, if you think you might need more dialogue, you probably need less.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #135
Unless you’re in the middle of the Giggle Loop™.
It’s not necessary that you weep at your sad scenes and laugh at your comic scenes, but if you don’t with some consistency, maybe you might want to think about rewriting them.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #131
Your mom always loves your work.
It’s okay to run a script by a buddy or two, but don’t go overboard.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #127
No one likes feeling dumb.
Never underestimate the audience — they are smarter than you think, and they will get the joke.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #109
And who really needs a highly trained cat with what CGI can do these days…?
Seagulls will act for breadcrumbs. So will pigeons and doves (even in slow motion!).
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #103
“…This one’s eating my popcorn!”
Punchlines work best at the end of the joke. This goes for a verbal punchline, a visual punchline, a story punchline, whatever. Set it up with the audience, let them build up a little interest in the Anticipation Bank, and then deliver the punchline.
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Low-Budget Filmmaking Tip #98
Or buy a typewriter, ya pansy!
You don’t need fancy software to write a script — any word processor will do. The thing to remember is that no matter how much you spend on software and learning curve time, you’re basically producing a document that’s supposed to look like it came out of a 1920’s typewriter.
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