On escalations and “Flowers for Daniel”

Last summer I took a class in screenwriting taught by Corey Mandell, who makes his living teaching folks how to write movies.  As I’ve written, I had mixed feelings about the class, but one of the things I liked about it was Mandell’s approach to story...

The Shutter Speed test

Starting with “Saving Private Ryan” and “The Bourne Identity,” having jumpy action scenes has been one way to make action stand out. This can be effective when going for a hyper-realistic effect, as in those movies. It can also have a real...

The Alex ad

About a month ago, Alex Bond, the son of a good friend, asked for some help making a video.  He was applying to a scholarship competition run by Dr Pepper and one of the requirements was to make a short video showing what he would do with the scholarship money.  The...