Wednesday, March 5, 2014

WebTV by Wikipedia!

Web television (abbreviated web TV) is original television content produced for broadcast via the World Wide Web.
Web television content includes web series such as Husbands (2011–present); original miniseries such as Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008); animated shorts such as those of Homestar Runner; and exclusive video that supplements conventional television broadcasts.
Some major distributors of web television are YouTube, Myspace, Newgrounds, Blip.tv, and Crackle.
Some examples of web television production companies are: Next New Networks, Vuguru, Revision3, and Generate LA-NY.
In 2008, the International Academy of Web Television (an organisation headquartered in Los Angeles) formed with the mission to organize and support web television authors, actors, producers, and executives. The organization administers the selection of winners for the Streamy Awards.
In 2013, Netflix made history for earning the first Primetime Emmy Award nominations for web television web series House of Cards, Arrested Development, and Hemlock Grove at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards.

History


1994 to 2000: Pioneers

In 1995, New York advertising creative Scott Zakarin convinced his employers Fattal and Collins to finance an online television drama along the lines of the contemporary television drama Melrose Place. The Spot became the first episodic fiction website, the first web soap opera. Fattal and Collins asked their Vice President, Sheri Herman, to obtain venture capital to finance it, because it was draining the resources of this boutique agency. Herman raised 7 million in a round led by Intel. She brought in advertisers including Visa and Apple to sponsor both The Spot and additional pieces through via banner ads and product placement. This was the first time advertising sponsored novel fictional content on the web. The Spot featured beautiful actors in a Santa Monica, California beach house called “The Spot”. The characters authored what would be later termed blogs, with movie clips and photos of their current activities. Viewers could post to the site and email the cast to offer advice and became part of the storyline. Audience opinion was used by the writers to shift the plot-lines around.
According to Zakarin, at its height the site received over 100,000 hits a day. The site earned one of the original Webby Awards. However, the business was unable to generate sufficient revenue The site had competitors such as The East Village. Zakarin sold his interest in 1996 to investors who formed American Cybercast and was later fired. Zakarin produced another comic soap, Grape Jam, before returning to television and film (notably producing the Shatner-Nimoy dialogue Mind Meld before returning to the Internet with Soup of the Day and Roommates. The Spot continued alongside other American Cybercast web series, notably the first sci-fi series Eon-4 and The Pyramid, until the company fell into bankruptcy in 1997.
In January 1999, Showtime licensed the animated sci-fi web series WhirlGirl, making it the first independently produced web series licensed by a national television network. A month later, the series, created by David B. Williams and produced by his Visionary Media studio, premiered on Showtime in a first-ever simultaneous web/telecast. The WhirlGirl character went on to appear occasionally on Showtime, hosting a “Lethal Ladies” programming block, for example, but spent most of her time online, appearing in 100 webisodes.
In 1999, Santa Monica based Television Internet premiered the eight-minute weekly series Muscle Beach. It was a sitcom, news and fitness program in one, viewable for free with the just introduced Windows Media Player. The series lasted three seasons.
In 2000, The Raven started Daytona Beach Live. The station showed video about life, events, and attractions in the Daytona Beach area for up to 17,000 viewers.
Other early web television pioneers included Harold O'Bryant Jr., who was inspired by a CNN interview with Ted Turner that sparked the creation of webcentraltv.com in 2002, as well as icebox.com, Digital Entertainment Network, Shockwave, pop.com, and cyberserial.com.

2000 to 2005: Streaming

As broadband bandwidth began to increase in speed and availability, delivering high quality video over the Internet became a reality. Web Central TV, YouTube, Vimeo and DailyMotion launched their services to deliver original video. Shows such as Rocketboom appeared and post-dot-com-bust video networks such as ManiaTV!, iSTATION TV and the Ripe Digital Entertainment networks launched. In 2003, The Spot executive producer and head writer Stewart St. John revived the brand for online audiences with a new cast, and created a separate mobile series to air on Sprint PCS Vision-enabled phones. St. John and partner Todd Fisher produced over 2,500 daily videos of the first American mobile phone soap, driving story lines across platforms to the web counterpart, The Spot (2.0). By 2005, St. John-Fisher created and launchd the first online half-hour scripted drama, California Heaven.

2006: Independents

In mid-2006, several independent Web series began to achieve popularity, most notably lonelygirl15 (created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders and Greg Goodfried),Soup of the Day (Zakarin and Rob Cesternino), California Heaven (St. John and Todd Fisher) and SamHas7Friends (Big Fantastic). These series were distributed independently, often using online video portals YouTube and Revver. All series acquired audiences in the millions, led by lonelygirl15s over 100 million views during its 26-month run. The series was so successful that it secured a sponsorship deal with Neutrogena. Soup of the Day was later re-crafted and edited as a feature length film, making it the first web series distributed on disc by distribution company Echo Bridge Entertainment. SamHas7Friends was nominated for an Emmy and temporarily removed from the Internet when it was acquired by Michael Eisner. March 2006 also saw the debut of Goodnight Burbank (created and (Hayden Black) as a "webisodic" series. The original series was named one of iTunes best podcasts of 2006. Also hitting the scene during the summer towards the end of the year was Feed Me Bubbe which ended up showcasing that even a Grandmother and Grandson can achieve internet celebrity status.

2007: Expansion, interactivity and social networking

In 2007, Beckett and Goodfried followed up their lonelygirl15 success with KateModern, a series which debuted on social network Bebo, and took place in the same fictional universe as lonelygirl15. Big Fantastic created and produced Prom Queen, which was financed and distributed by Michael Eisner's nascent online studio Vuguru, and debuted on MySpace. These web serials highlighted interactivity with the audience in addition to the narrative on relatively low budgets.
In contrast, the web series Sanctuary, starring actor/producer Amanda Tapping, cost $4.3 Million to produce. Both Sanctuary and Prom Queen were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Award-winning producer/director Marshall Herskovitz created Quarterlife, which debuted on MySpace and was later distributed on NBC. Meanwhile, IronSink produced Roommates, the second original series hosted by MySpace. Roommates ran for two seasons, was sponsored by companies such as Ford, and was known for its sophisticated product placement. Felicia Day created and starred in the independent comedy web series The Guild, which won the 2007 YouTube Video Award for Best Series.

2008: Hollywood

The Internet continued to grow as a marketing tool and outlet for independent creators to display their work. Web television continued to improve in quality, rivaling network television. Online viewing was becoming less foreign to viewers and creativity flourished. Independent producers gained popularity, demonstrating that web television was a legitimate medium, and that web series would be more than a passing fad. The major networks and studios took notice of the trend, and began to debut their own original series. ABC started the year with the comedy web series "Squeegies," created by Handsome Donkey and produced by digital studio Stage 9. NBC debuted Gemini Division, a science fiction series starring Rosario Dawson, produced and created by Electric Farm Entertainment (the creators of the cult web series Afterworld). Warner Bros. relaunched The WB as an online network beginning with their first original web series, "Sorority Forever", created and produced by Big Fantastic and executive produced by McG. With the rise of studio based web series, MTV announced a new original series created by Craig Brewer that brought together the indie music world and new media expansion.
Established creators also started producing high profile original web series in 2008. Joss Whedon created, produced and self-financed Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog starring Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day. Big Fantastic wrote and produced Foreign Body, a mystery web series that served as a prequel to Robin Cook's novel of the same name. Beckett and Goodfried founded a new Internet studio, EQAL, and produced a spin-off from "lonelygirl15" entitled "LG15: The Resistance". Dedicated media coverage of the web television space debuted with organizations such as GigaOm's NewTeeVee and Tubefilter News. Mainstream press also began converate. In the UK, KateModern ended its run on Bebo. That site also hosted a six-month-long reality/travel show, The Gap Year, produced by Endemol UK, who also made Kirill, a drama for MSN.
Australia emerged separate market for online series. Most notable was the made-for-MySpace series the MySpace Road Tour produced by FremantleMedia Australia. The first series, which ran from July to October 2008 drew the MySpace audience and the show received positive press. During MipCom in October 2008 MySpace announced plans for a second series and indicated that it was in talks with cable network Foxtel to distribute series 1 on network television. Additionally MySpace spoke of their plans to produce versions of the MySpace Road Tour in other countries.

2009: Network interest


The International Academy of Web Television formed in 2009, followed by the first awards program for the web television industry, called the Streamy Awards.
The emerging potential for success in web video caught the attention of top entertainment executives in America, including former Disney executive and current head of the Tornante Company, Michael Eisner. Torante's Vuguru subdivision partnered with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Media on October 26, securing plans to produce upwards of 30 new web shows a year. Rogers Media agreed to help fund and distribute Vuguru's upcoming productions, thereby solidifying a connection between old and new media.

2010-2011 Cross-channel distribution

In the last eighteen months web shows have been picked up by networks, including Childrens Hospital, Sanctuary, Web Therapy, and Goodnight Burbank.

2012-present: Taking steps into the mainstream

With the advent of shows such as House of Cards and the revival of Arrested Development on Netflix, the number of sitcom and children's show introduced Amazon.com, and brief revivals of the long running soap operas All My Children and One Life To Live on Hulu and iTunes before the shows were cancelled again a short time later. Despite these momentary setbacks, the future of web based television series otherwise looks brighter and brighter. Time will only tell if free online services such as Amazon.com, Hulu, or iTunes will sooner or later produce or distribute an original dramatic series of network primetime or basic cable quality with 250,000 viewers and 100 episodes or more to become profitable and have web based series finally break out into the mainstream. One answer might be more cross-platform storytelling involving a cable series.

Production and distribution

The rise in the popularity of the Internet and improvements in streaming video technology mean that producing and distributing a web series is relatively cheap by traditional standards and allows producers to reach a potentially global audience who can access the shows 24 hours a day.

Methods used for distributing online television


Technologies


Tuesday, February 25, 2014

The Elysium Movie of Hollywood!

In 2154, a minute number of people reside on a luxurious space habitat called Elysium and the vast majority on an overpopulated and devastated Earth. While those on Earth are policed by ruthless robots, Elysium's citizens live in absolute comfort and regularly use medical devices called Med-Bays to cure any disease and injury.
Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a former car thief and parolee, lives in the ruins of Los Angeles and works at an assembly line for Armadyne Corp, a company which supplies Elysian weaponry as well as the robots which police Earth. After being accidentally lethally poisoned by radiation, Max has only five days to live. Meanwhile, when a caravan of illegal immigrants from Earth attempts to reach Elysium and its Med-Bays, Elysian Secretary of Defense Delacourt (Jodie Foster) orders a sleeper agent, Kruger (Sharlto Copley), to shoot down the shuttles. Elysian President Patel (Faran Tahir) reprimands her and dismisses Kruger from service. Delacourt, vowing to protect Elysium and her own power, bargains with Armadyne CEO John Carlyle (William Fichtner) to create a program that can override Elysium's computer core to give her the Presidency. Carlyle neurally stores the program for transport to Elysium and encrypts it with a lethal denial system.
Max knows his only chance for survival is a Med-Bay and seeks help from a smuggler named Spider (Wagner Moura) and his friend Julio (Diego Luna). Spider agrees to get Max to Elysium if he steals financial information from Carlyle. To assist him, Spider's doctors link a powered exoskeleton to Max. Max, Julio and a team of Spider's men intercept Carlyle's ship, and Max downloads the program to his suit's neural implant, but realises that the encryption makes it unusable. Delacourt secretly deploys Kruger to rescue Carlyle and recover the program. In the ensuing firefight, Carlyle and most of Max's allies are killed, while Max himself is wounded. He heads to the house of his childhood friend Frey (Alice Braga), whose daughter Matilda has leukemia. Frey begs Max to take Matilda to Elysium so that she can be cured, but Max refuses. While Kruger hunts for Max, Delacourt orders an airspace lockdown over Los Angeles to buy enough time to recover Carlyle's program.
When Max returns to Spider, they realize that the program can be used to make all Earth residents Elysian citizens, but they can't leave the surface of Earth due to the lockdown. Instead, Max bargains with Kruger to be taken to Elysium, not knowing Kruger has Frey and Matilda held hostage. During the journey, a fight ensues and Kruger is horribly injured by a grenade blast. After Kruger's ship crashes on Elysium, Max, Frey and Matilda are arrested and taken to Delacourt, who orders the download of the program despite the fact that it will kill Max.
Having been healed by a Med-Bay, Kruger kills Delacourt after being chastised for his recklessness and plans to steal the program for himself to rule Elysium, and his men kill most of Elysium's leaders. Meanwhile, having escaped his confinement, Max realises that Med-Bays only work for Elysian citizens and resolves to use Carlyle's program to give everyone citizenship. He heads for Elysium's core but is ambushed by Kruger, now donning an exoskeleton superior to Max's. In the ensuing fight, Max manages to disable Kruger's suit but Kruger tethers himself to Max's suit and arms a grenade with the intent of killing both of them. Max rips off the tether and hurls Kruger over a ledge to his death.
Spider and Max reach Elysium's computer core where Spider realizes that the program's activation will kill Max. Max personally activates the program, having spoken a last time with Frey via radio. As Max dies, Elysium's computer core reboots and registers every Earth resident as an Elysian citizen. President Patel arrives with security but the robots refuse to arrest Spider whom they recognise as an Elysian. Matilda is cured by a Med-Bay, and Elysium's computer dispatches a fleet of medical ships to Earth to begin medical treatment of the new Elysian citizens.
(Source Wikipedia)

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Νυχτερινές Επισκέψεις, Εσωθέατρο

 
 
 
 
Με τα μάτια του σκηνοθέτη

Αυτός ο Γερμανοελβετός συγγραφέας, γνήσιο τέκνο του Γερμανικού εξπρεσιονισμού καταφέρνει με αυτό το συγκλονιστικό μονόπρακτο να μας μεταφέρει σε ένα σκοτεινό κόσμο γεμάτο βία, απειλή, ειρωνεία και απέχθεια βάζοντας να συγκρούονται με μοναδικά ευρηματικό τρόπο το πνεύμα με το σκότος, η ανθρωπιά με την απέχθεια, το δράμα με την κωμωδία. Οι δύο ήρωες του Ντύρενματ αντιπροσωπεύουν τις δύο πλευρές του Ανθρώπου, του Καλού και του Κακού. Το σύστημα που πάντα καταδυναστεύει ανάλογα με τις συγκυρίες τον ανυπεράσπιστο πολίτη και τον οδηγεί με μαθηματική ακρίβεια στο θάνατο. Έτσι, η σύγκρουση των δύο ηρώων είναι μια σύγκρουση που παίρνει τη μορφή αλληγορίας υποδηλώνοντας ότι όταν το σύστημα, το κατεστημένο λειτουργεί ανεξέλεγκτα στήνει πάντα αγχόνες, μαχαίρια, κρεμάλες και κάθε λογής φονικά εργαλεία. Το πνεύμα πάντα, όσο κι αν αγωνίζεται, δεν μπορεί μόνο του να βγει νικητής μπροστά στη βία και στον τρόμο. Ο συγγραφέας κρούει τον κώδωνα και μας λέει έμμεσα ότι η μόνη σωτηρία του ανθρώπου είναι η έγκαιρη γνώση και αντίσταση κατά της βίας και του τρόμου.

Περιέργως και το μονόπρακτο του Γκούντμαν «Η σκόνη του δρόμου» κινείται στα ίδια μήκη κύματος. Μόνο που εδώ οι ήρωες του έργου, το ζευγάρι που έχει καταχραστεί τα χρήματα, έχουν εντελώς αλλοτριωθεί και προσπαθούν με κάθε ψεύτικη δικαιολογία να αρνηθούν την πράξη τους. Την στρεβλωμένη συνείδησή τους θα την μεταστρέψει με δεξιοτεχνία ένας νυχτερινός επισκέπτης που με καθαρό πειστικό τρόπο και λόγο θα τους αναγκάσει να βγάλουν από τα βάθη της ψυχής τους τον καλό τους εαυτό και να δεχτούν στο τέλος το «έγκλημα» τους. Τα χρήματα που έχουν καταχραστεί θα τα επιστρέψουν στον δικαιούχο και μάλιστα με τόκο. Η εξιλέωσή τους θα τους επαναφέρει στον κόσμο της χαράς και της συμπόνιας.

Δύο μονόπρακτα λοιπόν, με πολύ χιούμορ, συγκίνηση αλλά και καλό θέατρο. Το ΕσωΘέατρο ξεκινάει με καλή πυξίδα και προοπτική.

Γιάννης Μόρτζος

Η παράσταση

Το ΕσωΘέατρο ανέβασε από τον Δεκέμβριο του 2005 μέχρι και τον Μάρτιο του 2006, την παράσταση «Νυχτερινές Επισκέψεις», παρουσιάζοντας τα μονόπρακτα:

    «Η σκόνη του δρόμου» του Kenneth Goodman και
    την τραγική κωμωδία «Νυχτερινή συνομιλία με ένα απεχθές πρόσωπο» του Friedrich Durrenmatt.

Ο Γιάννης Μόρτζος υπέγραψε την σκηνοθεσία και έστησε μία ιδιαίτερα ατμοσφαιρική παράσταση, επιμελούμενος προσωπικά και τους φωτισμούς.

    Τους ρόλους ενσάρκωσαν οι Τάσος Προύσαλης, Στέργιος Ιωάννου και Ανδριανή Δαμιανού.
    Τα σκηνικά και τα κοστούμια σχεδίασε ο Κοσμάς Πανωρίδης,
    ενώ η μετάφραση των έργων ήταν της Ναταλίας Τζήμα.
    Τη μουσική επιμελήθηκε η Χρύσα Διαμαντάκη, η οποία εκτέλεσε και χρέη βοηθού σκηνοθέτη.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Σκέψεις για την Μορφή, το Περιεχόμενο και την Εκφορά του Λόγου στο Αρχαίο Δράμα

Από το βιβλίο του Τ. Προύσαλη «Το αρχαίο δράμα για φυγόπονους σπουδαστές υποκριτικής»

Τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες παρατηρείται στην υποκριτική τέχνη μία στροφή σε μια ακραία λιτή, πιο καθημερινή, όπως λέγεται, εκφορά του λόγου. Το κύριο χαρακτηριστικό αυτής της εκφοράς, που αποτελεί και το πρόβλημα, είναι η παντελής της αδυναμία να νοηματοδοτήσει σωστά ένα κείμενο, ώστε να γίνει πλήρως κατανοητό το περιεχόμενο των σκηνικών του δράσεων. Εάν η τέχνη αντανακλά την εποχή της, δικαιολογούνται να συμβαίνουνε τούτα διότι η εποχή που ζούμε είναι αλήθεια εντελώς πεζή, στείρα και αβαθής, με επόμενο και ο σύγχρονος δραματικός λόγος, ενταγμένος σε ένα τέτοιο περιβάλλον να έχει ανάλογο ύφος, ποιότητα και ήθος.

Ωστόσο, ο θεατρικός λόγος οφείλει να λαμβάνει υπ’ όψιν του, όχι μόνο το σήμερα, μα πιότερο την χωροχρονική συνθήκη που επιβάλλει η τέχνη γενικότερα αλλά και το ίδιο το έργο ειδικότερα. Και εξηγούμεθα. Στο θέατρο συμβαίνει μια μετακίνηση μέσα και πέρα από τον χρόνο και το ζητούμενο είναι, αυτή η μετακίνηση να συνεπάρει τους θεατές, να τους συν+κινήσει, ώστε να ταξιδέψουν από το σύγχρονο στο διαχρονικό και από το διαχρονικό στο άχρονο. Αυτό το ταξίδεμα μπορεί να συμβεί, όταν ο λόγος δονείται, πάλλεται όπως επιβάλλει η ιδιοσυχνότητα, ο εσωτερικός ρυθμός του κάθε θεατρικού είδους. Στην περίπτωση τώρα του αρχαίου δράματος, ο λόγος, ο αναγκαία μεταφρασμένος στην νεοελληνική, καλείται να εκφράσει μια εποχή που είναι εδώ, που πρέπει να είναι εδώ• μια εποχή ηρωική, μεγάλη, οπότε πρέπει να λάβει τέτοιες διαστάσεις και χαρακτηριστικά. Γίνεται επομένως αντιληπτό πως η μετάβαση από το ένα θεατρικό είδος στο άλλο, πέραν της χρήσης της γλώσσας και του ορθά δοσμένου περιεχομένου της, επιβάλλει την χρήση διαφορετικού φάσματος υποκριτικών μέσων. Και είναι σημαντικό για τον σπουδαστή της υποκριτικής τέχνης, όχι μόνο να ασκηθεί στην ανάπτυξη ποικίλων και πολλαπλών εκφραστικών μέσων, αλλά και να εντρυφήσει στην διάκριση και επιλογή των κατάλληλων και ταιριαστών -ανά περίσταση- τρόπων.

Στο Αρχαίο Δράμα και ειδικότερα στην τραγωδία, ο ηθοποιός οφείλει να «ενδυθεί τα γιορτινά του» εκφραστικά μέσα. Κι αυτό, γιατί πρόκειται για κείμενα διαχρονικά, με λόγο συμβολικό και κορυφώσεις που αγγίζουν το αρχετυπικό. Αν ο  υποκριτικός λόγος εκφέρεται «πρόχειρα», καθημερινά,  και δεν είναι αντάξιος μιας (μίμησης) πράξεως σπουδαίας και τελείας -κατά τον Αριστοτελικό ορισμό της τραγωδίας-, το τραγικό δεν αποδίδεται• και η Μήδεια για παράδειγμα, από τραγικό σύμβολο υποβιβάζεται σε ζηλότυπη απατημένη σύζυγο, από τραγική ηρωίδα, καταντά χαρακτήρας που χρήζει ψυχαναλυτικής προσέγγισης και ερμηνείας. Άρα, όταν ο λόγος μέσα στη σκηνική δράση δεν είναι μεστός, διαυγής και πλήρης όγκου, όταν στερείται κι απογυμνώνεται απ’ ό,τι σπουδαίο, μεγαλειώδες και ηρωικό, τότε η έννοια της τραγωδίας παύει να υφίσταται.

Δυστυχώς, στις μέρες μας, ερχόμαστε συχνά αντιμέτωποι με μια απολυταρχική ιδεολογία στο θέατρο, η οποία προσπαθεί να επιβάλλει τον απέριττο, καθημερινό, «κινηματογραφικό» λόγο, όχι μόνον στα σύγχρονα θεατρικά έργα, αλλά ακόμα και στο αρχαίο δράμα. Όμως, αυτού του είδους ο εκφερόμενος λόγος, είναι εντελώς ακατάλληλος για την ερμηνεία αρχαίων δραματικών ρόλων. Γιατί αλήθεια, πώς είναι δυνατόν, ένας λόγος π ε ζ ό ς  να υπηρετήσει  και να ανταποκριθεί στις απαιτήσεις της δραματικής π ο ί η σ η ς; Πώς το «λιτό» μπορεί να αποδώσει το μεγαλειώδες; Η προαναφερόμενη ιδεολογία απ’ όπου κι αν προέρχεται, συντηρεί και συντηρείται, από ένα καθεστώς «θεατρικής ορθότητας», που βαφτίζει έναν ηθοποιό με πενία υποκριτικών μέσων,  που άλλοτε θα χαρακτηριζόταν «αχαμνός», ως άμεσο και λιτό, μετατρέποντας έτσι το έλλειμμα σε προσόν. Την ίδια στιγμή, αν ένας καλά εκπαιδευμένος στην τέχνη του ηθοποιός, χρησιμοποιώντας τα πλούσια εκφραστικά του προσόντα αποδώσει τον πρέποντα όγκο στον λόγο και στο παίξιμο του εν γένει, τότε είναι πιθανό να χαρακτηριστεί «βέκιος», υπερβολικός. Είναι γεγονός βέβαια ότι ένα υπερπαίξιμο σε ένα σύγχρονο έργο φαντάζει φτιασιδωμένο. Όμως, γιατί δεν στηλιτεύεται εξίσου η χρήση στην αρχαία τραγωδία ενός λόγου τόσο απλουστευμένα καθημερινού, που καταλήγει να είναι εύκολος, αβασάνιστος, άχαρος, επίπεδος έως και χυδαίος;

Στην πραγματικότητα, η μειονεξία είναι αμάρτημα (με την αρχαιοελληνική σημασία του όρου) εξίσου με την υπερβολή. Σε κάθε περίπτωση, ζητούμενο είναι το μέτρο. Και το μέτρο στην εξωτερίκευση της υποκριτικής δύναμης είναι άλλο στον κινηματογράφο και άλλο στο θέατρο, διαφορετικό σε ένα μεταμοντέρνο δράμα με αποδομητικό λόγο, αλλιώτικο στο αστικό δράμα, και τελείως διάφορο στην αρχαία τραγωδία, που χαρακτηρίζεται από ιεροπρέπεια και συνιστά  τελετουργική μυσταγωγία. Σ’ αυτήν την μυσταγωγία, ο θεατής πρέπει να οδηγηθεί σε μια ψυχοπνευματική διέγερση και τελικά στην κάθαρση και λύτρωσή του. Για να συμβεί αυτό, πρέπει να επιτευχθεί ο συντονισμός• η μέθεξις. Ο συντονισμός ηθοποιού-κειμένου, θεατή-ηθοποιού και δρώμενου.

Όλα τα εκφραστικά εργαλεία του ηθοποιού, η φωνή, το πρόσωπο, ολόκληρο το σώμα, πρέπει να λειτουργούν αποτελεσματικά.  Ανάμεσα σ’ αυτά τα «εργαλεία», ο ρόλος του λόγου κρίνεται καθοριστικός. Κάθε δραματικό είδος αξιώνει μια ξεχωριστή αριστοτεχνική ποικιλία και ευελιξία ρυθμού, έντασης, όγκου, ύφους και  χροιάς του λόγου, γιατί ο από σκηνής αποδιδόμενος λόγος είναι και μουσική. Κι έτσι, θα πρέπει να απαγγέλλεται και να αποδίδεται με όλα εκείνα τα στοιχεία, τους όρους, που θα συναντούσαμε σε μια μουσική παρτιτούρα π.χ. presto ή andante για την ταχύτητα, piano, forte και άλλοτε crescendo για την ένταση, ή επισημάνσεις του τύπου allegro ή allegro ma non troppo σχετικές με το ύφος και τον ρυθμό.

Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι στο θέατρο οι εναλλαγές αυτές επιβάλλονται, όχι μόνο από το είδος, αλλά και από τον χώρο που εκτυλίσσεται το δρώμενο. Έτσι, για παράδειγμα, όταν ένα έργο παίζεται π.χ. στην Επίδαυρο, είναι αναγκαίο ο λόγος να μεγεθυνθεί για να ακουστεί και να φτάσει, μέχρι και τον τελευταίο θεατή του τελευταίου διαζώματος, ενώ αντίθετα, σε ένα μικρό κλειστό θέατρο, ο ηθοποιός αρκεί και μόνο να αρθρώσει τον λόγο σχεδόν στις πραγματικές του διαστάσεις. Η χρήση μικροφώνων  που παρατηρείται τελευταία σε παραστάσεις αρχαίου δράματος, ακόμα και στο θέατρο της Επιδαύρου, με την γνωστή εκπληκτική ακουστική -με το σκεπτικό ότι ο ηθοποιός, απαλλασσόμενος από την προσπάθεια να διατηρήσει σε δεδομένη ένταση την φωνή του, θα καταφέρει να γίνει πιο εκφραστικός- δεν συμβάλλει διόλου στην επίτευξη της μέθεξης. Απεναντίας, η προσπάθεια τεχνητής κατάργησης της απόστασης ηθοποιού-θεατή, επιφέρει τελικά αποτέλεσμα αντίθετο από το επιδιωκόμενο. Τα μικροφωνικά ηχοχρώματα δεν είναι κατάλληλα για να ενεργοποιηθούν οι θεατές και να γίνουν συμμέτοχοι, ούτε είναι ικανά να θραύσουν τον «τέταρτο στανισλαβσκικό τοίχο».

Αυτές οι πεποιθήσεις, απηχούν την διδασκαλία που λάβαμε ως παρακαταθήκη από τους δασκάλους μας στο θέατρο και ειδικότερα στο αρχαίο δράμα• και θα είμαστε πάντα ευγνώμονες, γιατί στην πράξη αποδεικνύεται ολοένα και σωστότερη. Στον δρόμο τους πορευόμαστε, πιστοί στις ιδέες αυτές, προκειμένου να μεταφέρουμε αυτούσια την γνώση εκείνων, στους δικούς μας μαθητές.
________________________________________

[1]: Γι’ αυτό  «ο μεταφραστής πρέπει να είναι όχι μόνο ποιητής, όχι μόνο γνώστης βαθύς και της αρχαίας και της νέας γλώσσας αλλά και φωτισμένο πνεύμα που αντιλαμβάνεται ποιο είναι το πέρα από τις εποχές στοιχείο του αμήχανου κάλους…  …Ο ποιητής σαν μεταφραστής πρέπει ν’ ανήκει μονάχα στην σχολή της αδιαίρετης ομορφιάς. Και δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι μια ευλογημένη γνώση του στοιχείου αυτού αθανάτισε την αρχαία Ελληνική Τέχνη.» Από τα «Θεατρολογικά» του Τάσου Λιγνάδη, σελ 173.

[2]: Πρόκειται για τον ιδεατό τοίχο , που χωρίζει την σκηνή από την πλατεία και αναφέρεται σ’ αυτόν ο Στανισλάβσκι, όταν μιλάει για την ποθούμενη επικοινωνία του ηθοποιού με το κοινό.

Από το website του Εσωθεάτρου!

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Do you really want to be a Screenwriter? ISA

By Michael Hauge

Almost every writer and every serious film fan at one time or another has at least considered writing a screenplay. Lured by the power of the big (or small) screen, and by stories of all the fame, success, awards and big, big money that other screenwriters have achieved, they get seduced by the fantasy of Hollywood.
Now no doubt some of you reading these words have already achieved a career in the industry. But my guess is that most of you are still at the 'breaking in' stage and are wondering if writing for movies or television is a silly pipe dream -- or is truly worth considering. I'd like to help you answer that question by discussing some of the realities of the movie and television business and offering both the right and the wrong motives for pursuing Hollywood.

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Screenwriter?

I've been teaching screenwriting classes and seminars for more than fifteen years, and I've worked with thousands of movie and television writers at various stages of their careers. But, whenever I'm with a group of would-be filmmakers hoping to launch their careers, I encounter two different myths about the Hollywood obstacle course that both lead to disappointment.
The first misconception is that Hollywood is an easy path to fame and fortune. Perhaps a writer watches some brainless TV show and concludes that anybody with the I.Q. of corn could write drivel like that. Then she reads about how Joe Esterhasz sold a spec script for slightly more than the gross national product of Portugal, while she's wondering how long she can get by on her $25 check from 'Big Rig Monthly' for her article on mud flaps. And then some polite, but chicken-hearted, publisher tries to let her down easy by saying that her 873-page manuscript about the Millard Fillmore White House years would be much better as a movie. So before you know it, she's typing 'FADE IN.'
She has fallen victim to the erroneous belief that writing a movie is no harder than watching one. She thinks that everybody who sells a script will be a millionaire and that because movies and TV shows are plentiful, relatively short and frequently mediocre, there really are no rules, standards or professional skills to worry about. In other words, that screenwriting is easy.

Not True.

The other, more destructive, myth about screenwriting is just the opposite: a writer hears about the thousands of unproduced, unsold, unoptioned, unread and unopened screenplays floating around Hollywood and decides that his dream is absurd. Friends, loved ones and failed screenwriters will be happy to reinforce this belief with loads of anecdotes and statistics: everybody in Los Angeles is working on a script; it's not what you know, it's who you know; every writer in Hollywood gets ripped off; you have to live in Southern California; you have to be a young white male; and even if you could break in, writing movies is obviously a ridiculous, pointless, demeaning and hopeless pursuit for any serious writer to consider. In other words, screenwriting is impossible.

Not True Either.

The first myth described above ignores the years of pain, struggle and failure that precedes (and sometimes precludes) success for most working screenwriters. But, the second myth ignores the fact that about a hundred and fifty feature films, plus more than fifty TV movies and seventy weekly series are produced each year by the major studios and networks. And, for every film produced, an average of at least five scripts are developed and paid for. And these figures don't include non-primetime and cable television or the numerous markets for independent, educational, industrial, religious and adult movies and TV. Somebody must be writing all those stories.
Screenwriting, like any other form of professional writing, is a specific, learnable craft that requires study, talent, training, practice and an immense level of commitment. It is at various times frustrating, exciting, fulfilling, exhausting, lucrative, unfair, depressing, ego- gratifying and fun. And, it has a clearly defined set of standards, rules, parameters and methods for achieving both artistic and commercial success.
So, to decide if you want to commit your life to this particular path, ignore both the fantasies of wealth and fame and the prophets of doom and, instead, ask yourself exactly why you want to write movies or television.

The Wrong Reasons to Want to Be a Screenwriter

Screenwriting is not a wise career path if you're choosing it for any of these reasons:

1. The Money

Pursuing screenwriting because an occasional spec script sells for a million dollars is like studying hotel/motel management because Donald Trump has a big yacht. Starving screenwriters are no happier than starving poets, and if the big bucks are your only goal, by the time (if ever) you get there, the trip won't have been worth it.

2. You Want to Weave Magic With Words

If your love of writing is based on the beauty, texture, breadth and majesty of the English language, you'll be much happier as a poet, novelist or essayist. Screenwriting 'style' is much closer to that of ad copy, comic books and the sports pages than it is to great literature.

3. You Want the Respect that Comes with Being an Acclaimed Artist

Dream on. Once you sell your screenplay, it probably will be re-written by someone else (often several others) until it's unrecognizable. You're usually persona non grata while the movie is being shot, and neither the status nor the financial reward given the average screenwriter is anywhere close to proportionate to his or her contribution to the film. If you want real respect in Hollywood, become a maitre d'.

4. You Have a Strong Visual Sense

I'm not even sure what this means, but I hear it all the time, and, if anything, I think it's detrimental to successful screenwriting. Sure you want to picture what is going on on the screen, but the important talent is the ability to turn action into words. If you think only in pictures and are very right-brained, pursuing a career in production design, cinematography or directing might make more sense.

5. You Want to Adapt Your Own Novel (or Play or Life Story)

This is hard to accept, I know, but trust me: if your novel or play wasn't published or produced in its original form, it's extremely unlikely it's going to work as a movie. And, by now, you're much too emotionally attached to your original story. You will never be objective enough about it to make the numerous changes necessary for it to become a commercial script.
The same holds true for your own life experiences (or those of your grandparents). Yes, your life has been thrilling, painful, passionate, moving and glorious for you. But, I'm afraid the mass audience really isn't interested.
(It's fine to draw on your own experiences, but only to provide an arena for a fictional story. And if you want to be both a novelist and screenwriter, choose separate stories that are best suited to each medium. Just don't mix the two until someone offers you money to adapt your work into script form.)

6. You Want to Improve the Quality of Movies

If you don't like the stuff that's coming out of Hollywood nowadays, and you find yourself gravitating to foreign films and Fred Astaire festivals at the local Cineplex, or if you don't see at least one current American movie a month, then screenwriting probably isn't for you.
I don't think you'll ever be very happy pursuing a career in an industry you don't like. And you won't be able to change Hollywood. The most you can hope for is to write the best screenplays you can within the parameters of the system. Or else blaze your own trail outside the mainstream arena with low budget, independent films. But success there, which is even tougher to achieve, still requires a basic love for the movies.

The Right Reasons to Want to Be a Screenwriter

1. The Money

Yes, I know I just said that untold wealth is the wrong reason for pursuing screenwriting. But if money isn't your only motive, and you know you want to write, then you can probably make more as a steadily working screenwriter than with any other form of writing. Just remember that it's a package deal, and all of the other rules and obstacles are included.

2. You Get to Tell Stories

If creating unique, captivating characters and taking them over seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve visible, bigger-than-life goals is the kind of writing that thrills you, then you should consider movie writing.

3. You Love the Movies (and/or Television)

You not only love seeing them, you relish the challenge of staying within a rigid formula and creating a visual story that is original, thoughtful and emotionally captivating.

4. You'll Reach a Huge Audience

More people saw last week's episode of 'The West Wing' than have read 'Gone With the Wind'. Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

5. You Love to Write

Screenwriting may not employ all the big words in the dictionary, but you still get to spend your day lost in the power of language.

In summary, if you're wondering whether to begin (or continue) your pursuit of screenwriting, forget both the defeatist statistics and the dreams of glory and riches. And omit the word 'easy' from your vocabulary entirely; there is NO form of professional writing or filmmaking worth pursuing because it's easy. Instead, ask yourself if your joy will come from within the process of sitting every day at your computer and creating a story for the big or small screen.

If the answer is truly 'yes' and your motives match those listed above, then close the door, fire up your computer and start writing.

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Stand Up Guys by Al Pacino!

Stand Up Guys is a 2012 American crime comedy film directed by Fisher Stevens and starring Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin. The film was released in North America on February 1, 2013.

Plot

Released from prison after serving 28 years, Val (Al Pacino) reunites with his old friend and partner Doc (Christopher Walken). Doc has been ordered by crime boss Claphands (Mark Margolis) to kill Val as soon as he gets out.

One of the first things Val wants is to visit a local brothel, which is run by Wendy (Lucy Punch). After Val is unable to perform, he and Doc break into a drugstore where Val consumes a larger dose of Viagra than what is prescribed. After a return to the brothel, Val tells Doc that he's ready to party. They go to a club, where Val shares an intimate dance with a younger woman.

After snorting some pills, Val passes out, so Doc contemplates killing him then and there. Instead he takes Val to a hospital where the head nurse is Nina (Julianna Margulies), their old friend Hirsch's (Alan Arkin) daughter. After this, they go to a local diner where Val correctly guesses that Doc is to kill him. Doc says he's been given until 10AM to do the job, or else he will be killed as well.

Val breaks into a black Dodge Challenger SRT8, and they go to get Hirsch, who had once been their getaway driver. Hirsch gets behind the wheel and almost immediately into a highway chase with the police. Asked what he wants to do next, Hirsch chooses the brothel, since he hasn't slept with anyone since his wife.

After they leave, the three men hear sounds coming from the Challenger's trunk. In it, they find a naked Sylvia (Vanessa Ferlito), who was kidnapped by men who abused her, then threw her into the trunk. Sylvia tells them where the kidnappers are. Val and Doc go there, then shoot a couple of them. After tying everyone up, Sylvia comes in with a baseball bat, whereupon Doc and Val leave her to her revenge.

Back at the car, Doc and Val find that Hirsch has died. They break the news to Nina, who helps the two bury her father at the cemetery.

Doc and Val return to a diner, where the young waitress (who waits on them several times) is revealed to be Doc's granddaughter Alex (Addison Timlin), who adores Doc but has no clue who he is. Doc makes a phone call to Claphands, begging him to show Val mercy, since he has only a few years left. Claphands reveals that he knows about Alex, and that he will hurt her if Doc doesn't complete the job.

Doc writes a letter to Alex, puts his home keys inside the envelope, then pins it to the wall of the diner. Walking down the street at sunrise, Val spots a church and he goes inside to give a priest his confession. Next, they break into a tailor shop, where they try on suits. Two thugs working for Claphands interrupt them, pestering Doc to get the job done. Doc and Val shoot them both.

Alex goes to Doc's apartment. The phone rings. It's Doc and he asks what she thinks of his paintings of sunrises. When he was painting, Doc says, he was thinking of her. A shoebox in the closet is filled with cash. The rent has been paid in advance for a year. He tells Alex that he loves her and hangs up.

Strolling down to Claphands' warehouse, Doc and Val draw their pistols and open fire. They gun down the doorman. A firefight commences, during which Doc and Val kill all of Claphands' remaining men. The camera pans above the building as Claphands runs out of ammunition. The sky turns into one of Doc's sunrise paintings.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Ο υπέροχος Gatsby σε αριθμούς...;)

Παραγωγή
 

1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μελών συνεργείου: 1,160
         Α.) Συνολικός αριθμός ατόμων συνεργείου κατασκευής σκηνικών: 229
         Β.) Συνολικός αριθμός κομπάρσων: 960
         Γ.) Αν κάθε κομπάρσος εμφανιζόταν μόνο μία φορά on camera, συνολικά, θα απαιτούνταν 7,691 άτομα
         Δ.) Μέγιστος αριθμός κομπάρσων ανά ημέρα: 245
         Ε.) Μέγιστος αριθμός κομμώσεων και μακιγιάζ ανά ημέρα, για τις σκηνές των πάρτυ: 76
2.) Συνολικός αριθμός κρυστάλλων Swarovski, χορηγία του Οίκου: 288,000
3.) Ώρες που χρειάστηκαν για να δεθούν με το χέρι οι κρύσταλλοι στον πολυέλαιο: 250
4.) Χρόνος που χρειάστηκε για να κρεμαστούν οι κρύσταλλοι στους προκατασκευασμένους σκελετούς: πάνω από 100 ώρες
 

Κοστούμια
 

1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μελών  ενδυματολογικής ομάδας: 84
2.)    Συνολικός αριθμός μέτρων υφάσματος από το Solstiss (απλής δαντέλας, κεντητής δαντέλας και υφασμάτων): 1400
      Α.)  Συνολικός αριθμός διαφορετικών τύπων δαντέλας που αγοράστηκαν από το Solstiss: 210

1.)    Συνολικός αριθμός καλσόν/καλτσών/ζαρτιέρων από το Fogal: 1,080
2.)    Συνολικός αριθμός τουαλετών Prada: 40
3.)    Συνολικά επίσημα και καθημερινά κοστούμια για κομπάρσους από τους Brooks Bros: 2,291
      A.) Συνολικός αριθμός φράκων Brooks Brothers: 200
      B.) Συνολικός αριθμός γραβατονιών Brooks Brothers: 260
      C.) Συνολικός αριθμός τιραντών Brooks Brothers: 200
      D.) Συνολικός αριθμός κουμπιών κολάρων Brooks Brothers: 200
      E.) Συνολικός αριθμός μεταξωτών παπιγιόν Brooks Brothers: 200
      F.) Συνολικός αριθμός καθημερινών πουκαμίσων Brooks Brothers: 150
      G.) Συνολικός αριθμός επίσημων πουκαμίσων Brooks Brothers: 200
      H.) Συνολικός αριθμός κοστουμιών με γιλέκο Brooks Brothers: 55
      I.) Συνολικός αριθμός καπέλων boater Brooks Brothers: 100


(από το προσπέκτους του Village Cinemas)

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

What is your Character's Wish-Song? Jacob Krueger!

http://www.writeyourscreenplay.com

I recently saw a trailer for the upcoming film version of Les Miserables—a series of evocative images from the film, underscored by Fantine’s tear-inducing musical theme:  I Dreamed a Dream.

Yeah, I found myself emotionally moved by a promotional trailer.
 
But more importantly, I found myself thinking about the power of a wish-song to provide an emotional structure for your character’s journey, even if you’re not writing a musical.
 
In musicals, it’s easy to connect with a character’s wish-song, because they tend to sing it right at us:
 
In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy sings of escaping to a better place, “Somewhere Over The Rainbow.”
 
In Fiddler on The Roof, Tevya sings his dream of an easier life, “If I Were A Rich Man.”
 
In the prologue of Into The Woods the entire cast sings of the things they wish for “more than life… more than anything”.
 
And in the most twisted wish-song of all, Sweeney Todd and the Judge sing their dark longings for love and revenge in Pretty Women.
 
These wish-songs not only become the musical themes for these characters, they also provide a powerful drive to their journeys, and a way for the writer to attack them at their most vulnerable places.

As writers, we discover the wishes to grant our characters, and the wishes to take away, in order to force them to undergo profound changes.
 
In Dorothy’s case, she gets exactly what she wished for, only to discover that “there’s no place like home.
 
Tevya will not only lose the opportunity for an easier life, but also his daughters, his family’s traditions, and the town he calls home.
 
Each character in Into The Woods will gain and lose their one true wish.
 
And Sweeney Todd’s revenge against the Judge will ultimately cost him both his daughter and the one woman he truly loved.
 
In musicals, characters sing their wish songs in music and lyrics.  But in traditional narrative films, characters have wish songs as well.  They sing them through their actions, their interactions with other characters, the ways they pursue what they so desperately want.


Every character has a wish-song.  They just sing them in different ways.


In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Plainview “sings” his desperate wish for financial success in a silent opening sequence in which he mines first for silver and then for oil against impossible odds.

 
In The Godfather, Vito Corleone “sings” his hopes for a different life for his son Michael:  “I always thought that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the strings. Senator Corleone, Governor Corleone, something.”
 
In Black Swan, the main character “sings” her desire for perfection by destroying her white swan veneer in pursuit of the black swan underneath.
 
Even a ridiculous character like Zoolander gets a powerful wish song:  The Center For Kids Who Can’t Read Good And Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.   
 
When you know your character’s wish song, you know their expectations, their dreams, their hopes, the tangible and intangible things they are pursuing.
 
That means you not only have an opportunity to dramatize their pursuit of these things, but you also have the chance to make it hurt when you take them away.

So take a moment to think about your character’s wish song.


What would they be singing if they could sing it?  And how can they sing it in your movie, through the choices they make in every scene?

Saturday, April 6, 2013

By Dreamworks, "Our Culture"

Intro
At the heart of DreamWorks Animation is the desire to tell great stories and inspire audiences. Our company culture not only encourages employees to create but also to innovate and, ultimately, to have fun!

“...We have transformed over the years from hand-drawn animation to computer-generated films to being a leader in 3D entertainment. Our strategy has remained the same: to produce great stories that are creatively driven and technologically state-of-the-art. In pursuit of this goal I’m proud to say that what defines DreamWorks Animation more than anything else is the dedication and the expertise of our people.”
– Jeffrey Katzenberg


Classes
DreamWorks Animation continues to push the boundaries both creatively and technologically. To do this, we’ve created educational programs that help DreamWorkers develop existing skills and learn new ones. Classes and workshops include figure drawing, cinematography, storytelling, sculpture and more  

Dreamtalks
As we continue to strive to be at the forefront of the animation and film industry, we invite top entertainment leaders to share their experiences and thoughts. DreamTalks, a Q&A series hosted by CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, has featured guests such as Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, George Lucas, and Pete Docter from Pixar. 

Moonshine
DreamWorks Animation celebrates the remarkable talent of our artists. We’ve recently released our first personal art publication, Moonshine. Conceived as an opportunity to highlight the breath of artistic talent at the studio, this one-of-a-kind publication showcases personal artwork from 50 visual development artists.

Campus
To match our creative culture, the DreamWorks Animation campus provides a comfortable and inspirational working environment. Water fountains, flowing streams and fishponds filled with koi decorate the studio. DreamWorkers can play pool in the game room, have a ping pong match outside, and visit the campus doctor or nutritionist located on-site. 

Perks
To strengthen company morale, our studio finds new ways to celebrate and acknowledge our employees. Every day DreamWorkers enjoy a free breakfast and lunch at the campus commissaries. We also provide weekly movie screenings, daily fitness classes on campus, guest lectures, art galleries and more.   

Annual Events
Every year, DreamWorkers look forward to participating in special events such as the Annual Poker Tournament, Ping Pong Tournament, our home-grown Art Festival, DreamCon, Halloween Costume Contest and Holiday Bazaar. In addition, Departmental Milestone parties, special food trucks, and mid-day ice cream breaks call special attention to our hard-working employees.  

Film Days
To celebrate our films and company milestones, DreamWorks Animation screens of each of our films for all employees and their families. CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg commemorates each film’s release with a toast, and employees enjoy themed lunches, prizes and activities for the whole day. 

Groups
At its core, DreamWorks Animation celebrates the unique personalities of our employees. We support a diverse group of employee interests on campus including the DreamWorks Triathlon Team, sports teams, volunteer groups, film club and more. 

The fairy said to us, MoonAngel is he, who collects the lost loves and keeps them to the full moon so that they come back to the lonely hearts when they look at it. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could transform our creative patterns, therefore our financial booming with state of the art, one on one pick ups and put the boot, once and for all, deep into the art and technology of filmmaking worlwide? Stay tuned for our discovery!

By Dreamworks, The Production Process!

http://www.dreamworksanimation.com

Meet Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon.
He, and his world, were created by a team of artists using a delicate marriage between creativity and technology. Every detail, every leaf, tree, blade of grass, rock and cloud; every shadow and shaft of light; every thread of clothing and lock of hair (or fur), was imagined and brought to life by our creative teams over the four years or so that it takes to complete an animated film. So, how did we do it?


Script
Great films begin with great concepts. Some of our ideas are completely original, while some are inspired by a wide variety of sources, including children's books and comic strips. Once we've settled on an idea, the first step is to write a script. The page you see here is from an iconic scene in Kung Fu Panda 2. 

Storyboards
 Once a script page is ready, we give it to our storyboard artists. Imagining how the words will translate into actions and pictures, they make a series of sketches, a kind of comic book, to tell the story and bring it to life. Once the directors and producer approve, the drawings are digitally photographed and strung together to create what we call a story reel (imagine a flip book that lets you see how the drawings flow together). We combine that with temporary music, sound effects and dialogue, and work with the movie in this form for about 18 months.

Visual Development
 Once the story reel is underway, our visual development department begins to plan the look of the film, developing the style, tone, color and overall artistic approach to each and every sequence. Everything has to be designed, from the major characters to the smallest of props. Thousands of drawings, paintings, blueprints, sculptures and models later, our development artists have designed a fantasy world and characters to tell the story.

Stereo 3D 1
Starting with the release of Monsters versus Aliens in 2009, all feature films at DWA are produced in stereoscopic 3D. The groundbreaking experience this new visual format provides has been compared to the advent of color and then sound in cinema history. With these advanced technologies came the possibility to elevate our movie-making journey into the future and beyond. 

Stereo 3D 2
The stereoscopic filmmaking process requires changes to the traditional methods of CGI film-making, introducing exiting new technical and creative opportunities. Integrated into all aspects of the DWA pipeline from the development of story and visual style to layout to the final render, the stereoscopic process translates the creative vision of the director into an immersive visual environment. The stereoscopic process at DWA enables artists to tell stories in creative new ways through the interaction of the camera with our characters and the space around them, further engaging the audience. The studio continues to push the boundaries of stereoscopic filmmaking through the development of new technologies and techniques. 

Casting
Our storyboards are drawn, our characters and sets are designed, so now we need to find voices for our characters and start recording their lines. Casting in animation is unlike casting for live action movies. Since we create the physical characters on the computer first, we're much more concerned with what an actor sounds like than how he or she looks. In other words, we cast with our ears, not our eyes. We record the actors before we start animating. We usually videotape the actors performing their roles to help provide reference for the next phases of production. 

Modeling & Rigging
Using production designs culled down from hundreds of drawings, modelers will construct a digital model, sort of a clay model inside the computer. The modelers start with this wire frame sculpture that we call an armature, that breaks down our design into workable geometry and allows us to rig the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move our 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation we want. Once we've set up the armature, we can begin to add basic surfaces. It is this simplified "puppet in a box" or digital marionette that we use in our next step. 

Modeling
Modelers create the "physical" objects in the virtual world of our movies. Modeling artists digitally sculpt the characters and environments in our films by collaborating with the Art department to realize design concepts as tangible 3D forms. The modelers start with this wire frame sculpture that we call an armature, that breaks down our design into workable geometry and allows us to rig the figure, which will give the animator the ability to move our 3-D figure in whatever way is necessary to get the articulation we want. 

Rigging
After modeling and before animation comes the rigging process. Character TDs, also known as "riggers", evaluate the CG "statue" coming from the modeling department and determine how this character must move, where the bones, muscle and fat would be under their skin and how realistic or "cartoony" their actions must be in the film. Joints and various mathematical operations are then employed throughout the body, face, hair and clothing of the character to make it bend and deform like a living creature. Finally, rigging works with animation to design and build an extensive set of controls for the character so animation can pose every part of this digital puppet and bring it to life. 

Layout
Layout has two distinct parts: Rough Layout and Final Layout. In Rough Layout, artists interpret and recreate the hand drawn 2D storyboard panels in a 3D CG environment. In doing so, these artists determine the initial 3D camera placement and motion along with the first pass of character blocking and staging. Working with rough versions of the characters lighting, effects, and environments, Rough Layout creates the cinematography for the film. Once the Rough Layout has been approved by the Director, the Final Layout artists take the shots and replace the rough characters and environments with the final approved assets and provide the set dressing. This allows the Character Animators to add final performances to the shots and all remaining production processes to start. Once the shots have been animated, Final Layout applies any additional camera polishing and tweaks to account for the new performances added by the Character Animators. 

Character Animation
Once the sequence is working well in layout, the animators start bringing the characters to life in the computer. They articulate the thousands of controls that were created during the character-rigging phase to bring each character to life and to synchronize them to the voice performances. Now the characters really look like themselves, but not quite. Remember, this is just the animation; the scene isn't quite finished yet. 

Surfacing
 Coming out of modeling, characters, props and environments are flat and grey. The surfacing artists add the colors and textures to these elements, making surfaces look smooth and shiny like glass, bumpy and gritty like dirt, fuzzy and soft like wool, etc. Sometimes characters need to be customized for a specific shot, such as being made to look dripping wet or covered in mud. The surfacing department may also be called to groom hairstyles into place, grow fields of grass, or paint footprints into a snowbank. After each environment is setdressed, surfacing artists work closely with lighting to develop the final look of assets in the film.

Effects
After the camera moves have been set and the characters have been animated, the next step is effects. In a live-action film, it's easy to photograph things like leaves blowing in the wind, waves at the beach or even footprints in the sand. In computer animation, these simple things are all designed and animated by the effects artists. In other words, if it's not acting, but it moves, it's an effect. 

Lighting
Lighting artists utilize the computer to "paint" with light, bringing the final color, look, and illumination to the film. Lighting is the first time we get to see animation, surfaces, grass, trees, water, crowds and effects all working together. Lighting does this by creating illumination for the scene. It creates the mood and atmosphere to support the story. Lighting leads the viewers' eye to the critical elements of the frame so that the audience is looking exactly when and where the storyteller wants them to look. 

Sound FX 1
SOUND DESIGN
Sound designers create and record sound effects, ambience and foley to create the textures and layers of sound that enrich the story. Foley artists create sound effects that are specific to each movie, such as footsteps, clothes rustling, doors opening/closing, glass breaking, etc. 


Sound FX 2
MUSIC SCORING
The composer writes the music that heightens and enhances the story beats of the movie. The music helps the audience follow the action and emotional moments within the story.


Final Mix
ECHO
The dialogue, music and sound effects are assembled on the sound mixing stage. Audio levels, equalization, perspective and treatments (echo, TV or radio sound, public access delay) are added as tracks and mixed into the final version of the movie.  


As you can imagine, there are plenty of creative elements absorbed in their website, even though narration foreshadows lots of surprises for our stuff. Enjoy!

Monday, February 18, 2013

Is The Audience Listening to your Dialogue?

THE SOCIAL NETWORK: Is The Audience Listening To Your Dialogue?
By, Jacob Krueger
 


Remember the first scene of The Social Network? Aaron Sorkin’s spitfire banter ricocheting at high velocity between Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica.

The scene is so brilliantly written, you probably barely noticed that you didn’t understand half of what these characters were saying to each other!

With characters talking faster than the ear can hear or the mind can process, there’s no way an audience can keep up with Sorkin’s dialogue. Heck, even Erica keeps losing the thread of Mark’s obsessively tortuous conversation, and she’s a smart cookie.

Like Erika, you probably found yourself breathlessly “dating a stairmaster” as you tried to keep up with even half of Mark’s relentless onslaught of words.

But here’s what you probably remember:
•    Mark is mind numbingly obsessed with getting into a final club.
•    Erica desperately wants to talk about ANYTHING else.
•    These characters are both REALLY smart, but even Erika can’t keep up with Mark’s overactive mind.
•    Mark pushes things too far and Erica breaks up with him.
•    Erica furiously puts Mark in his place with this zinger: “You’re going to go through life thinking girls don’t like you because you’re a tech geek. And I want you to know…that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole”

As writers, we all love words. And nobody loves words more than Aaron Sorkin. But for all the subtle nuances of his language, Sorkin knows a secret that most young writers forget.

The Audience Isn’t Listening To Your Dialogue
 

It’s nice to think of your enraptured audience, hanging on your every word, lingering on your thematic motifs, and preparing treatises on the finer points of your arguments.

But the truth of the matter is that movie dialogue, just like real life conversation, usually happens way too quickly for that.

Audiences hear dialogue… but they pay attention to action. And that doesn’t just mean car chases and exploding buildings.

It means the things characters are doing with their dialogue: the powerful needs and dramatic conflicts between them that force them to say what they say in the way that only they could say it.

Get these underlying desires right, and you can get away with just about anything in your dialogue.

Why The Social Network Works
 

Let’s face it, if you heard a someone was planning to start a movie with an eight page conversation full of information about Harvard University final clubs, SAT scores and IQ percentages in China, you probably expected the most boring script in history.

Yet, despite the fact that the rather unlikeable main character spends the whole scene talking about stuff that most people (including his girlfriend) don’t have a shred of interest in, Sorkin’s scene is unmistakably compelling.

It’s Mark’s desperate desire to be appreciated and accepted for his superior intellect that fuels every word he utters. And ironically, it’s that same need that drives Erica away over the course of the scene. That is the drama that we are watching over these eight pages. Not the dialogue itself, but the pressure that dialogue creates between two characters who can’t get what they need from each other.

This allows the audience to connect to the story of the scene, and while we may lose some of the specific words within Sorkin’s complex verbal gymnastics, no one can escape the power of the scene, or the meaning that those words contain.

We learn that meaning not through the words themselves. But through the way those words are spoken, and the powerful needs that drive the characters to say them.

What The Heck is Dialogue Anyway?
 

Many young writers are terrified of dialogue, thinking of the character’s words as something they add to a script after they’ve figured out the story, and worrying about “getting it right” and making it sound “realistic”.

Others think of dialogue as a way of explaining things to the audience, and spend their time trying to “sneak in” exposition, without ever thinking about what their character wants, or why they are saying it in the first place.

Still, others love writing dialogue, but nevertheless find their scripts filled with “talking heads” scenes of characters sitting in a room, exchanging brilliant ideas without ever getting their stories started.

That’s why it’s so important to understand what dialogue actually is and what it does within a screenplay.

Just Another Way of Getting What You Want
 

If you want to write great dialogue, the first step is letting go of the conception that dialogue is something characters SAY to one another.

Instead, I want to encourage you to think of dialogue as something characters DO to one another.

Whether your characters are talking about a glass of milk (Quentin Tarantino’s first scene of Inglorious Basterds), or the very nature of dreams and reality (Christopher Nolan’s Inception), whether your dialogue is naturalistic as David Mamet’s (American Buffalo) or as heightened as David Milch’s (Deadwood), if the motivations underneath your dialogue are powerful enough, your audience will connect to them, and to the story of your scene.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Αρχαίο Ελληνικό Μυστηριακό Θέατρο, Εσωθέατρο

Ο συμβατικός χώρος που αποκαλείται αρχαίο ελληνικό θέατρο και η ορχήστρα του, δεν είναι τόπος προσποίησης μιας πραγματικότητας, μιας παραποιημένης αντιγραφής ζωής, αλλά ο τόπος όπου η ίδια η ζωή βρίσκει πρόσφορο έδαφος και ενσαρκώνει την «εσωτερική» αλήθεια της, θεατρική αδεία, πέρα από περιορισμούς χώρου και χρόνου. Το θέατρο μπορεί να είναι δημιουργία ανθρώπινη που πραγματεύεται πρόσωπα και τη συμβατική τους δράση στο χωρογίγνεσθαι, όμως το πνεύμα του είναι απόλυτα μεταφυσικό γιατί ξεφεύγει από τα ανθρώπινα στενά μέτρα, θεάται τους ανώτερους κόσμους και επιστρέφει πίσω στη ζωή για να δώσει με εμπιστευτικό τρόπο, τις ιδέες του Δικαίου, του Ωραίου και του Αληθινού. Αυτή είναι η φύση του θεάτρου, εκείνου που αποκαλούμε μυστηριακό, του θεάτρου εκείνου που αναδύεται από τα μυστήρια που ετελούντο στην ιερή πόλη της Ελευσίνας.
Ακολουθώντας τη φυσική διάρθρωση του Σύμπαντος, που είναι ταυτόχρονα ένα και τριπλό, το αρχαίο δράμα χωρίστηκε σε τραγωδία, σατυρικό δράμα και κωμωδία.
Στη τραγωδία, οι Θεοί και η μοίρα κατευθύνουν τους ανθρώπους και με τη σειρά τους πάλι αυτοί, καθυποτάσσονται στη Δίκη, κάτω απ’ το νόμο της οποίας κάθε δράση προκαλεί αντίδραση, σύμφωνα με τους αναπόφευκτους συμπαντικούς νόμους. Η ανεξέλεγκτη χρήση της ελευθερίας και η άλογη δράση οδηγούν στην αμαρτία της υπερβολής, στην ύβρη. Μόλις συμβεί η ύβρις, ακολουθεί η Νέμεσις. Έτσι, από τη πλοκή –που εμπλέκει όχι μόνο τους ήρωες αλλά και τους γύρω τους, ακόμα και ολόκληρη την πόλη- οδηγούμαστε στην κορύφωση, στην οριακή δηλαδή εκείνη κατάσταση όπου τα τραγικά γεγονότα έρχονται μοιραία, όμως μετά επέρχεται η λύση, η κάθαρση, η τελική λύτρωση.
Κατά τον Αριστοτέλη το τραγικό αποδίδεται σ’ αυτό το στοιχείο, που μέσα από το φόβο και το έλεος, εξαγνίζει τις ψυχές των παθόντων. Ο τραγικός φόβος, δεν είναι το αίσθημα που νιώθουμε μπροστά στη παρουσία ενός συνήθους κινδύνου αλλά η υποψία πως τα ανθρώπινα πάθη ενδέχεται να διαταράξουν την κοσμική τάξη και να διασαλέψουν την Αρμονία, με ότι αυτό συνεπάγεται.
 Η κωμωδία απ’ την άλλη, ως αντίθετος πόλος της τραγικής κατάστασης, παρουσιάζει την εξωτερική όψη της ζωής, η οποία βρίσκεται πέρα απ’ τα βάσανα που προκαλεί η ενασχόληση με την αυτογνωσία και την πνευματική άσκηση. Οι ήρωές της, ζουν στη φύση, ζυμώνονται με το χώμα της γης κι αυτή τους ανταμείβει με λογής λογής καλούδια, όπως σκόρδα,  ψωμί, κρασί και λάδι. Έτσι, ευγνώμονες γεμάτοι ευτυχία γλεντούν, μεθούν και χορεύουν ενώ οι Θεοί πάντα παρόντες, παρακολουθούν με συγκατάβαση και ανάλαφρη διάθεση.
Το μυστηριακό θέατρο μέσα απ’ τις μορφές του, προβάλλει την θέα όχι μόνο του χονδροειδούς φυσικού κόσμου αλλά και των πιο λεπτοφυών και ως εκ τούτου, έχει παιδαγωγικό χαρακτήρα. Ειδικά, η τραγωδία έχει σκοπό να παρασύρει τον θεατή μέσα στη δράση, ενσωματώνοντας τον στο έργο, σα να είναι ένας ακόμα ηθοποιός ή τουλάχιστον κάποιος που συμμετέχει ενεργά, παρακινούμενος απ’ τα ίδια τα γεγονότα. Το ιδανικό αυτού του είδους θεάτρου είναι να βγει ο θεατής διαφορετικός απ’ ότι μπήκε. Πρόκειται κατά κάποιο τρόπο για «αλχημικό» θέατρο, αφού κατ’ ουσίαν αυτό που επιχειρείται είναι μια  μετάλλαξη, μετουσίωση των θεατών.
Η τραγωδία που το όνομά της προέρχεται από τις λέξεις τράγος και ωδή, το άσμα του τράγου, δηλαδή του Πανός, πηγάζει με άμεσο τρόπο από αφηγήσεις που σχετίζονται με τον Διόνυσο-Βάκχο. Το τραγικό έργο λοιπόν είναι βαθύτατα θρησκευτικό. Άλλωστε η τραγωδία δεν εμφανίζεται ξαφνικά αλλά ως εξέλιξη τελετουργικών δρώμενων, που ήδη υπήρχαν από παλιά, ίσως και προ τεσσάρων χιλιετών, σε όλο τον Ελλαδικό χώρο.
Βέβαια καθώς η σωζόμενη αρχαία ελληνική γραμματεία δεν αποτελεί παρά μικρό μέρος, σπάραγμα του συνόλου, αγνοούμε πολλά πράγματα σχετικά με την απαρχή της τραγωδίας και τη σχέση της με τα μυστήρια. Έτσι, δεν γνωρίζουμε ούτε πότε ούτε πως κάποια τελετουργικά μυστικής προέλευσης έγιναν προσιτά με τη μορφή παράστασης σε μη μυημένους.  Φαίνεται πάντως ότι το αρχικό σκηνικό ήταν τα δάση, τα βουνά, τα σπήλαια και οι βράχοι που προσέφεραν φυσικές πέτρινες κερκίδες στους θεατές-κοινωνούς των ιεροτελεστιών. Αυτοί οι φυσικοί χώροι αξιοποιήθηκαν για να ενισχύσουν το πνευματικό αποτέλεσμα του λόγου, του χορού και του τραγουδιού, των υποκριτών-σατύρων.
Ο Θέσπις είναι αυτός που εισάγει τη δράση στα μέχρι τότε δρώμενα, καθιερώνοντας ένα διάλογο μεταξύ ενός υποκριτή και του χορού, ο οποίος χορεύοντας τελετουργικά, τραγουδούσε μπροστά στο βωμό, μπροστά στο ξόανο του Θεού. Στη συνέχεια, η δράση έγινε πιο σύνθετη. Αυξήθηκε ο αριθμός των υποκριτών και υιοθετήθηκαν προσωπεία μέσα από τα οποία αποκτούσε αλλόκοσμη χροιά και δυνάμωνε ο ήχος της ανθρώπινης φωνής. Αργότερα χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ειδικά κοστούμια, διάφορα μηχανικά σκηνικά, κόθορνοι και ξυλοπόδαρα που έδιναν στο σύνολο την εικόνα μιας μεγαλειώδους παράστασης, ικανής να ενθουσιάσει και να διδάξει το κοινό που παρακολουθούσε.
Το αρχαίο λοιπόν ελληνικό θέατρο, με προεξάρχουσα την τραγωδία, αγγίζει τον πυρήνα της ύπαρξης μας και έχει όχι μόνο φόρμα τελετουργική και ύφος και δομή μυστηριακή αλλά τόσο αφετηρία όσο και σκοπό μυστηριακό και εσωτερικό.

Friday, January 27, 2012

The Da Vinci Code

In Paris, Jacques Sauniere is pursued through the Louvre's Grand Gallery by albino monk Silas (Paul Bettany), demanding the Priory's clef de voute or "keystone." Sauniere confesses the keystone is kept in the sacristy of Church of Saint-Sulpice "beneath the Rose" before Silas shoots him. At the American University of Paris, Robert Langdon, a symbologist who is a guest lecturer on symbols and the sacred feminine, is summoned to the Louvre to view the crime scene. He discovers the dying Sauniere has created an intricate display using black light ink and his own body and blood. Captain Bezu Fache (Jean Reno) asks him for his interpretation of the puzzling scene.
Silas calls a mysterious man known as "The Teacher", revealing that he has killed all four protectors of the keystone and that all confirmed the same location. He dons a metal cilice on his thigh and proceeds to flagellate himself with a whip for the sins of murder. Facilitated by Bishop Manuel Aringarosa, Silas then travels to Saint-Sulpice and is admitted by an elderly nun; left alone, he excavates beneath the floor of the church to find a stone saying only JOB 38:11. He confronts the nun, who quotes the passage: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Realizing that he has been deceived, Silas is enraged and kills the nun.
Sophie Neveu, a cryptologist with the French police, enters the Louvre as well and slips Langdon a message which leads him to the bathroom. There, Sophie meets him and tells him that he is being tracked, a GPS tracking dot has been (unknown by him) slipped into his jacket and that he is a primary suspect in the murder case because of a line of text found by the corpse ("P.S. find Robert Langdon"). Sophie however, believes that Sauniere, who is revealed to be her grandfather, wanted to pass a hidden message on to her (Princesse Sophie, P.S., was the nickname he used for her), and that he had wanted to bring Langdon into the equation so that he could help her crack the code.
Buying some time by throwing the tracking device into the back of a truck, the pair begin exploring the Louvre, finding more anagram messages that Sauniere had left behind. Many of these relate to Leonardo da Vinci's art, and the pair find a key with a Fleur-de-lis behind Madonna of the Rocks. Langdon deduces from this that Sauniere was a member of the Priory of Sion, a secret society associated with the Knights Templar.
Pursued by the French police and cut off from the United States Embassy, the pair escape to the Bois de Boulogne where Langdon closely inspects the key. He notices an inscription on the side - an address. The address directs them to the Depository Bank of Zurich where the key is used for a safety deposit box.
In the bank, they find Sauniere's deposit box and open it using the 10 digit Fibonacci numbers in order (1123581321). Inside the box, they find a rosewood container, which contains a cryptex: a cylindrical container with five alphabetical dials which must be arranged in the correct sequence to spell out a 5-letter code word, in order to open and access the papyrus message inside. Using force to open the cryptex would break a vial of vinegar inside, which would dissolve the papyrus and destroy the message.
Unfortunately, the police are called by a security guard and they are forced to leave. The bank manager, Andre Vernet, assists them in escaping by taking them as passengers in an armoured van to escape the routine checks of the police. In the back of the truck Langdon and Neveu have a lengthy discussion about the cryptex and Neveu says that her grandfather often played games with her involving cryptexes. Langdon says that the cryptex might hold valuable information or another clue about what they are trying to discover. Eventually, they come to a sudden stop and Vernet forces them at gunpoint to give him the cryptex. Langdon tricks Vernet and disarms him and he and Sophie escape with the cryptex in their hands.
Langdon suggests that they visit his friend, Leigh Teabing (Ian McKellen), for assistance to opening the cryptex. Leigh Teabing turns out to be an enthusiastic seeker of the Holy Grail, which he believes is not actually a cup but instead Mary Magdalene. Mary was pregnant at the time of Christ's crucifixion, and Teabing tells Sophie that the Priory of Sion was formed to protect the descendants of Jesus. Jacques Sauniere was believed to be a part of this society and Teabing suspects that he was training Sophie to join it also. Silas, meanwhile, breaks into Teabing's mansion and attempts to steal the cryptex. Teabing uses his cane to knock Silas out and they escape again, taking the butler, Remy Jean, and Silas with them. The group escapes in Teabing's plane, following the next clue to London. Fache learns of their destination, and alerts the London Metropolitan Police to apprehend them at the airport. But Teabing manages to slip the party past the police with a trick of misdirection.
The small pyramid beneath the Inverse Glass Pyramid removed from underneath, revealing that there is no chamber as shown in the film's closing scene.
Teabing leads Langdon and Neveu to the Temple Church in London, which is shown to be a red herring. Silas is freed by Remy Jean, who is revealed to be a follower of The Teacher as well. The two take Teabing hostage, and Silas, believing Remy to be The Teacher, holes up in an Opus Dei safehouse. Remy is killed by the mysterious man after deceiving Silas. Silas accidentally shoots Aringaros and commits suicide. Aringarosa is taken to the hospital and apprehended by Fache.
Langdon is betrayed by Teabing, who is revealed to be the true Teacher. He escapes with the Cryptex, and attempts to find the next clue at Isaac Newton's tomb in Westminster Abbey, as Newton was another member of the Priory. Langdon and Neveau catch up with him, and chase him into the nearby chapter house. Teabing explained that he wanted to find Mary Magdalene's remains to prove he was correct about the Holy Grail and threatens to shoot Sophie if Langdon does not open the cryptex. Langdon throws the cryptex into the air, and Teabing fumbles and destroys it.
Distraught at not receiving the code, Teabing is arrested, but Langdon had cracked the code ('Apple', a reference to Newton) and removed the clue from the cryptex before destroying it. Using the clue, they travel to Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland where Magdalene's remains had previously been hidden. The remains had since been moved, but they meet other members of the secret organization that protected her. Sophie is actually Magdalene's descendant and therefore is the current living descendant of Jesus Christ. They vow to keep her safe before going their separate ways. In Paris, Langdon accidentally cuts himself while shaving and the line of blood on the sink reminds him of the Rose Line. He follows the Rose Line and finds the location of the Holy Grail, buried under the pyramid in the Louvre. Langdon then kneels above Mary Magdalene's tomb as the Knights Templar did before him.
(from Wikipedia)