Friend's Pics

Contributed by Kevin Smith, Kevin Smith Photography

Film Crew Slang

"Break the Bubble": Tilting the camera off of it's axis. Tripods have a level bubble that is usually set to balance the camera so that it is straight and upright. Breaking the bubble makes it uneven. Also called a Dutch Angle or Canted Angle.

In honor of 2012 Olympics

The "Black Adder" comedic television series ran on the BBC from 1983-89. Supremely weird Rowan Atkinson plays the protagonist "Black Adder" in four different historical time frames of English history from 1485 to 1917.  Each Black Adder is the  doppelganger of his ancestors. He is sly, greedy and always conspiring to advance himself in life. Hugh Laurie, the now famous "House" star plays a variety of characters ranging from Black Adder's lord and ruler, to his servant and eventually a World War I subordinate soldier.

Black Adder: (Punches William Shakespeare)--That is for every schoolboy and schoolgirl for the next 400 years.  Have you any idea how much suffering you're going to cause? Hours spent at school desks trying to find ONE joke in "A Midsummer's Night Dream", wearing stupid tights in school plays and saying things like, "What ho, my Lord," and, "Oh, look, here comes Othello talking total crap as usual."

FIlm Crew Slang

"WestVirginiA"- A way of memorizing how to calculate the conversion of Watts to Volts. The formula is Watts=Volts x Amps (W=VA).  Conversely A=W/V (Amps=Watts/Volts). If you want to learn to light a movie set with the big boys you have to learn electricity. Get rid of the math fear and just do it! Always respect electricity on and off set. Its a matter of life and death.

Dialogue Greatness

"The Jerk" (1979)- Comedian Steve Martin as Navin "The Jerk" in a film directed by the brilliant Carl Reiner.

 Navin (Martin) works at a gas station. A crazed man is hiding on a hill across from
 the gas station. He starts "secretly" sniping at Navin with a hunting rifle. The shots hit oilcans that are stacked in a pyramid between the gas pumps. The bullets smack into the cans with a popping sound and oil is squirting out of the holes. After multiple cans are hit Navin innocently says:
"Hey, I think these cans of oil are defective."

Film Crew Slang

"Hot Set"- A hot set is a film set that must remain exactly the same as the last time we shot on it. Anything that is "hot" will be seen on camera again and must remain untouched.

Quotes

Some guy hit my fender and I said "be fruitful and multiply", but not in those words.
--Woody Allen

Film Crew Slang

Parallels or Parallel Set- Temporary scaffolding (like the kind on a construction site), used as a platform for cameras, lighting or for some other rigging.

Friend's Pics-Vroooom! Vroom!

Chris Nolan and stunt coordinator Tom Struthers blocking out a chase scene with chalk and hot wheels... this makes me smile :P--contributed by Full Sail University Grad Robert Ryan DeWeese

Friend's Pics--Kenny and a 1/2 a buck

Special Effects Coordinator Kenny Gorrell and 50 Cent on set

Friend's Pics- Snootchie Bootchies!

"Last day filling in as gaffer for Kevin Smiths web show"Spoilers". Great show, if you havent seen it check it out on hulu!!!!" ------Full Sail University grad Wes Alley

Frend's Pics--Airboat ready to shoot

"Check out my airboat rig, with Sony F900"
- shared by James Neihouse (@70mmdp)
Director of Photography and Full Sail instructor

Dialogue greatness

Madagascar (2005)- This is a G film, but throughout the history of movies writers have found ways to amuse us with clever dialogue.
Marty the Zebra (Chris Rock) is running down the beach towards the Alex the Lion (Ben Stiller). They are both shouting each other's name in a classic slow-motion Hollywood reunion. As they get closer, Zebra notices that the expression and voice of the Lion is not happy but very angry. Zebra puts on the brakes and runs away screaming "Ohhhh, Sugar, Honey, Iced, Tea!".
Work it out yourself....

Film Crew Slang

Tentpole- A film designed to be a top grossing blockbuster (usually in the summer) to make up for a studio's financial flops. The Tentpole is usually part of a franchise series of films. Holy Tentpole Batman!

Actual english subtitles from a variety of foreign martial arts films:
1. Same old rules: no eyes, no groin.
2. Gun wounds again?
3. Fatty, you with your thick face have hurt my instep.
4. A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries.
5. The bullets inside are very hot. Why do I feel so cold?
6. Take my advice, or I'll spank you without pants.
7. Who gave you the nerve to get killed here?
8. I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out!
9. You always use violence. I should've ordered glutinous rice chicken.
10.Beat him out of recognizable shape!
11. I got knife scars more than the number of your leg's hair!
12. Beware! Your bones are going to be disconnected.
13. How can you use my intestines as a gift?

Quotes

"But having a really good understanding of history, literature, psychology, sciences - is very, very important to actually being able to make movies. "
George Lucas

Film Crew Slang

Reality shows are usually placed in one of 2 categories:
Low Concept- Shows that are straight up without a twist. Think "American Pickers".
High Concept- Shows that have a twist, a hybrid element that has never been done before. Imagine taking the "Bachelorette" Tools and putting them in a gladiator ring to fight it out "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" style. " Hmmm...I like it. "2 men enter, 1 man leaves...with a rose."

The term "High Concept" does not indicate superiority or more intellectual content. In fact, high concept are often the really dumb ones. (That I watch anyhow!)

This video from artist McLean Fahnestock is really impressive. In honor of the end of the Space Shuttle program he created a piece that shows all 135 launches at once. It's ending is poignant.
Courtesy of Jalopnik.com
http://jalopnik.com/5924110/watch-all-135-space-shuttle-launches-at-once

Hays Code Breaker

-->

In 1931, a set of standardized guidelines of what was and was not considered acceptable in movies was introduced---this was commonly known as the Hays Code. There were no penalties for disobeying it, thus it was mostly ignored. Soon, however, religious groups pressured producers to conform their films to the Hays Code. In 1934, the Production Code Administration Office was established. Every script now had to be approved by the Hays office before it could be produced. From then on, producers took the Production Code seriously. The code lasted until 1968 when it was replaced by the MPAA rating system.

The head of photography at Columbia, A.L. Shafer, created the above photo that intentionally incorporated all of the items banned by the Hays Code into one image!

1. Law defeated

2. Inside of thigh exposed

3. Lace lingerie showing

4. Dead Man

5. Narcotics

6. Drinking

7. Exposed bosom

8. Gambling

9. Pointing a gun

10. Tommy Gun

Attributed: http://coilhouse.net/2010/02/one-vintage-photo-that-broke-ten-mpaa-rules/

Quotes

"If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?"

Steven Wright

Film Crew Slang

Advance Schedule: Next week's or the next couple of weeks (or even next month's) planned work is on a film's advance schedule. It's a list that each department (camera, lighting, sound etc.) can look at in order to plan ahead, usually for big ticket rentals like cranes, helicopters, cars and extras.