Filmmaking – Page 3 – Bjorn Munson

Coppola Channels Daffy Duck, Finds MCU “Despicable”

By Bjorn Munson | October 21, 2019October 21, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Francis Ford Coppola has joined his colleague Martin Scorsese in dismissing superhero films in general and Marvel in particular, calling them “despicable.” Rosy Cordero covers it in Entertainment Weekly and David Crow has a nice contextual take over at Den of Geek. Sigh. Much like Bugs Bunny, superhero films might not be considered “high art,” but they’re not going away anytime soon. Besides which, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar already covered this: he’s not wrong, but he’s not…

Various and Sundry

“Comic Book Movies” and “High Art”

By Bjorn Munson | October 17, 2019October 21, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Just last month I was musing about how, even in the face of “nerddom’s” ascension in all aspects of pop culture, people still feel the need to belittle or otherwise distance themselves and their work from science fiction as if the genre itself was wildly radioactive. Now, in the face of a more meditative and gritty look at the origins of Joker –with more than a few homages to Martin Scorsese’s films– Scorsese himself felt…

Master of Suspense Masterclass

By Bjorn Munson | August 21, 2019August 21, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Well, technically, it’s a 96-minute press conference moderated by film historian, author, and critic Richard Schickel. However, it really is a bit of a masterclass as Alfred Hitchcock, quite confident in what he does and doesn’t do, gives pronouncements about how he goes about things. Note that you may want to watch Family Plot, his last film, before watching this as that’s the reason for the press conference. You may also find that he’s rather…

Various and Sundry

The Music of DOOM! er, the Doomsday Machine

By Bjorn Munson | March 22, 2019March 25, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

One of my favorite episodes of the original Star Trek and, I would argue, one of their best overall episodes, was the action-packed season two entry, “The Doomsday Machine.” A significant factor on why I believe it should be ranked so highly is because of the episode-specific music composed by Sol Kaplan. Viewers may recall the original series re-used a lot of music cues as a cost-cutting technique. The fact that they don’t do so…

Producing

Where Have All the Film Rights Gone?

By Bjorn Munson | March 13, 2019March 11, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

Continuing on the topic of producing films from Monday’s post on film budgets, what do you do when you –miracle of miracles– finish the film? Well, you want to get it distributed, of course! And, just as I want more than theoretical notions and generalizations for distribution, I want to know who likes to acquire what — and as much of their terms and conditions can be shared. So over at the site Dear Producer,…

Producing

Film Budgets… Through a Film Lifecycle

By Bjorn Munson | March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by Bjorn Munson

One wonky thing I’m endlessly fascinated by is film budgets. When you realize that an hour of modern “prestige” TV can top $10 million, yet the average Hollywood blockbuster is over $100 million, you know certain choices are being made and risks accepted. And yes, I know traditional theatrical distribution and traditional network and cable distribution have business models that can inform and support these widely disparate budgets. However, I lap up little tidbits from…

Producing Writing

Where I’ll Be: Swimming with the Sharks this Saturday

By Bjorn Munson | August 21, 2018August 21, 2018 by Bjorn Munson

I will leave it to you to determine whether I am one of the sharks or am merely swimming with sharks, but I will be at a “Shark Tank for Filmmakers” event this Saturday out in the wilds of Northern Virginia, where the passenger jets roam. The event is organized by fellow filmmaker Ron Newcomb, who has been tirelessly working on building the narrative film community in the DC region pretty much since I’ve known…

Producing

Film Festivals, Rejection, and Letting Films Escape

By Bjorn Munson | August 17, 2018August 17, 2018 by Bjorn Munson

Ah, film festivals. Getting into one is always gives a good sense of validation to a filmmaker — and the best are a delight to attend as both filmmaker and audience member. But what if your film doesn’t make it in? I’ve known Jon Gann for most of this century and I know all the work he’s done in creating, improving, and advising film festivals. So when I saw he wrote a pair of articles about why films don’t get…

Various and Sundry

The Mind of Méliès

By Bjorn Munson | May 14, 2018May 14, 2018 by Bjorn Munson

If you didn’t check out the incredibly cool 360-degree video Google Doodle earlier this month, get a smartphone or tablet and check it out. It’s a wonderful tribute to a storyteller who I think would very much embrace virtual reality, augmented reality, and the various emerging techniques storytellers are trying.

Producing Writing

You Can Get There From Here… After a Long Journey

By Bjorn Munson | February 14, 2018February 13, 2018 by Bjorn Munson

Working on a long, long term project due to launch later this year has me thinking about various film projects stuck in development hell that have finally seen the light of day -er- distribution. The new hotness that is Altered Carbon (on Netflix as of February 2nd) was adapted from a 2002 book. Several friends have already mentioned about the differences from the book (some bigger than others), but I only recently learned more about how…

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Tag: Filmmaking

Coppola Channels Daffy Duck, Finds MCU “Despicable”

“Comic Book Movies” and “High Art”

Master of Suspense Masterclass

The Music of DOOM! er, the Doomsday Machine

Where Have All the Film Rights Gone?

Film Budgets… Through a Film Lifecycle

Where I’ll Be: Swimming with the Sharks this Saturday

Film Festivals, Rejection, and Letting Films Escape

The Mind of Méliès

You Can Get There From Here… After a Long Journey