Hollywood producers talk about “high concept.” A high concept refers to the central idea that drives a story. Often, it can be expressed in a single sentence, such as: “An alien, who is left behind, befriends an Earth kid.” And “An unheralded heavyweight boxer unexpectedly gets a chance to prove himself by battling the champ.” A strong concept doesn’t…
read more →Moving a camera during a shot can add drama and visual sophistication. The challenge is to do so smoothly, so that viewers pay attention to the subject and not to the camera. A classic way of accomplishing smooth motion shots is to place the camera on a slider, a device with rails. The camera can then…
read more →Prakash Gandhi Natarajan is a Texas-based smartphone filmmaker who is the founder of Dhara Visual, an independent production company. In the following interview, Gandhi talks about combining smartphone and drone footage in the making of “Diwali & Pongal,” a mini-doc about India’s festival of lights (Diwali) and harvest festival (Pongal). The mini-doc was the co-winner of MobileMovieMaking’s…
read more →You can find thick books devoted to the art of film dialogue. Much of the advice can be summed up this way: “Less is more.” There are many ways to achieve that goal, such as omitting small talk (“How are you doing?” and making sure that your characters don’t say what the viewers can see. Peter Olsen brings that wisdom to…
read more →Is poetry dying? In the U.S., at least, over the last few decades, readership has declined 10%. But that still leaves 16 million people who say they read at least one poem a year. While less than the number who bowl (70 million), it’s way more than scuba divers (3.5 million). And with the advent of…
read more →Mackenzie Sheppard’s “Donny The Drone” has won the top prize in the narrative category at the 2018 New York City Drone Film Festival. With allusions to Ted Talks and (spoiler alert) totalitarianism, the 11-minute movie tells the story of Donny, a talking drone who has an epiphany that changes his life and perhaps that of…
read more →
Copyright © 2024 Mobile Moviemaking.
Designed by 
