...

“You must learn day by day, year by year to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens.”

– Ethel Barrymore

Filming Under Way

I just finished a film shoot tonight for part of the first narrative short film I've made since freshman year. In a way, it was really exciting to get "back in the game," so to speak. It was also quite nerve-racking. I wanted to have everything together and to look like I knew exactly what I was doing. But of course, as these things always seem to go, I ended up needing a lot of help and getting a lot of advice from my film friend who came to help out with the lighting (which we didn't end up needing).

Then I got to that moment where it was imperative to swallow my pride and let myself be instructed on how to do something in front of a whole group of actors (that I'll willingly admit that I wanted to impress). It wasn't easy to do. In fact, it was much more difficult than I expected it to be. But in the end, I listened and the project is much better for it now.

And I did learn a lot. Of course, I wont fool myself by any stretch into thinking I now know everything and that I'll have nothing to learn during our next film shoot. I shall simply be more prepared to take the advice graciously during the next go-round.

Productive Procrastination

Rather than study for my Marketing exam this afternoon, I instead spent thirty minutes making phone calls to obtain permission for filming at various locations around campus. I also sent out a ton of emails to student actors in an attempt to recruit them to be in my films. I feel really good about everything I accomplished, as it was a really productive half-hour.

Too bad I needed to be spending that time on more pressing things... like studying for this exam. Woops. Wish me luck, I guess.

"There Will Be Blood" in a Nutshell

The Best of (500)

This is why I think (500) Days of Summer deserved to at least be nominated for Best Original Screenplay...

Author's Note: The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.

Partygoer: So Tom, what is it that you do?
Tom: I uh, I write greeting cards.
Summer: Tom could be a really great architect if he wanted to be.
Partygoer: That's unusual, I mean, what made you go from one to the other?
Tom: I guess I just figured, why make something disposable like a building when you can make something that last forever, like a greeting card.

Rachel Hansen: Better that you find this out now before you come home and find her in bed with Lars from Norway.
Tom: Who's Lars from Norway?
Rachel Hansen: He's some guy she met at the gym with Brad Pitt's face and Jesus' abs.

Tom: Darling...
[Summer looks up at him]
Tom: I don't know how to tell you this, but... there's a Chinese family in our bathroom.

Tom: Look, we don't have to put a label on it. That's fine. I get it. But, you know, I just... I need some consistency.
Summer: I know.
Tom: I need to know that you're not gonna wake up in the morning and feel differently.
Summer: And I can't give you that. Nobody can.

McKenzie: Hey, maybe you should write a book.
Tom: What?
McKenzie: Well, you know, Henry Miller said the best way to get over a woman is to turn her into literature.

. . .

"We are in the transportation business. We transport audiences from one place to another."

—Bruckheimer on the film industry's obligation to its audience.

How to NOT Take Things Personally

While on Facebook earlier today, I came across a quote on a friend's page that I really liked. Wanting to know who the quote came from, I plugged the first sentence into Google.

I found her name-- Christine Kane. But the best part is that I also came upon her incredibly insightful blog. I've never heard of her before, but from the looks of her website, she writes inspirational books and has put out numerous CDs as a singer.

The awesome quote that I loved (below) came from one of her blogs, titled "How to NOT Take Things Personally: A Personal Guide."

"The biggest benefits of not taking things personally are self-awareness and clarity. Being centered and grounded while knowing that only you can dictate whether or not you’re on track or whether or not you’re successful is a reward in and of itself." --Christine Kane

After reading the "Not Taking Things Personally" blog, I clicked on another blog of hers, titled "Why Little Victories Matter in a Big Way." I might like that one even more. It is about training yourself to always acknowledge and appreciate the small victories that come on the way to your larger successes, and she states five very good reasons why small victories matter. Super inspirational.

...

"If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies."

Kathryn Bigelow

Director - The Hurt Locker

Notes on the Noms

I'm not really going to go into a huge long schpeal about the 2010 Oscar nominations. Lots of other bloggers and journalists have already got that area covered. But I do have a few thoughts...

1. I'm a little bummed that (500) Days of Summer wasn't nominated for Best Original Screenplay. I thought the story was brilliant.

2. I really need to get cracking if I'm going to watch all the films nominated for Best Picture between now and March 7th. So far I still need to see:

The Blind Side

An Education

A Serious Man

The Hurt Locker

3. In order to make more educated guesses as to who is going to win, I should see these movies too:

Crazy Heart

Julie and Julia

Invictus

Nine

Coco Before Chanel

The Young Victoria

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

The problem is, where am I going to find the time?!

Oscar Nominations are here!

Here's the full list of Oscar Nominations for 2010.

Best Picture

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

Best Actor
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor
Matt Damon, Invictus
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Penélope Cruz, Nine
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’Nique, Precious

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
James Cameron, Avatar
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Original Screenplay
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man
Pete Docter, Bob Peterson & Tom McCarthy, Up
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche, In the Loop
Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Nick Hornby, An Education
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Best Animated Film
Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Up

Best Foreign Language Film
El Secreto do Sus Ojos (Argentina)
Un Prophete (France)
The White Ribbon (Germany)
Ajami (Israel)
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

The rest of the categories are after the jump.

Best Art Direction
Avatar
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
Sherlock Holmes
The Young Victoria

Best Cinematography
Avatar
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
The White Ribbon

Best Costume Design
Bright Star
Coco Before Chanel
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Nine
The Young Victoria

Best Documentary
Burma VJ
The Cove
Food, Inc.
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Which Way Home

Best Editing
Avatar
District 9
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious

Best Makeup
Il Divo
Star Trek
The Young Victoria

Best Score
Avatar
Fantastic Mr. Fox
The Hurt Locker
Sherlock Holmes
Up

Best Song
“Almost There,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Down in New Orleans,” The Princess and the Frog, Randy Newman
“Loin de Paname,” Paris 36, Reinhardt Wagner & Frank Thomas
“Take It All,” Nine, Maury Weston
“The Weary Kind,” Crazy Heart, T-Bone Burnett & Ryan Bingham

Best Sound Editing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Up

Best Sound Mixing
Avatar
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Best Visual Effects
Avatar
District 9
Star Trek

Best Documentary Short
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province
The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner
The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Music by Prudence
Rabbit à la Berlin

Best Animated Short
French Roast
Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty
The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)
Logorama
A Matter of Loaf and Death

Best Live-Action Short
The Door
Instead of Abracadabra
Kavi
Miracle Fish
The New Tenants