stuff you are going to steal

[Ernie]

Alright, I am one of those people that isn't really against "stealing" from other filmmakers because well, it's been done by so many...even the greatest filmmakers do it. I mean, there's a point when it's ridiculous but I think you know where I'm coming from.

So, I'm always thinking about stuff I'm going to put in my films and being influenced by different things and sometimes I'll see something that I want to steal or something I want to change a little or a lot and put in my movies. There are all kinds of things....

-countless camera movements (push-ins, whip pans, tilts, tracking, shaky handheld, etc.)
-montages
-long takes
-POV's
-slow/fast motion
-in camera speed changes (see the end of all of wes anderson's films)
-no opening credits, movies start with a bang, really fast
-iris ins (old fashioned movie thing, pta does it sometimes)
-cut ins (like a push in without the pushing, like cutting in close)
-jump cuts
-time lapse photography
-focus changes
-lighting changes (in Something Wild...right before Ray Liotta is introduced, the light dims suddenly)
-realistic dialogue (pta, david gordon green...how real people talk)
-silent dialogue (at the end of magnolia when jim kurring is talking to claudia but we can't hear him)
-fun motifs throughout films (82's in Magnolia)
-intense tension build ups (the firecracker scene in Boogie Nights, lots of parts in Do the Right Thing)
-cover ups to revelations...like in E.T. when Elliot's mom closes the refrigerator, revealing Elliot standing there
-this one is really really hard to explain so just bear with me. This hasn't been done in too many other films so I'm going to use the example of Magnolia since most everybody has probably seen it on this board....ok, watch the end of the prologue when at the point when Sydney Barringer's parents are being taken away and the mother is crying and Sydney's friend is being interviewed and everything is just going crazy....it's loud, the camera is moving all over the place, everybody is talking, the narrator is babbling about strange things, the music is building up, the camera pushes in FAST on Sydney Barringer's friend's face, and all of a sudden ......it CUTS hard to black and "one" starts immediately. I want to do that in every single one of my films. Going from complete chaos and cutting right to the next thing without a pause. I love that so much. It's fucking genius. Do you guys know what I'm talking about? I don't know how well I explained that. Maybe you guys could give a better example.

music....

-At the end of "happy together" by The Turtles...at the end of the song when it starts going faster and faster and louder and louder up until it ends, I want to put that into the scores of some of my films. Having a song start out relatively mellow and then getting more intense and more intense up until the end.
-In the song "waikiki" by Ladies K from PDL...about midway through the song, the tone suddenly and completely shifts much lower, listen to the part right after they sing "across the sea..." about 1:45 into the song, that is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. I'm going to have my composer put that  a lot of my scores
-Back when the PDL site was up, they had these little sound excerpts from the score or something...there was one called "ray"...I want to have a variation of that in one my scores, that is beautiful
-watch the All the Real Girls trailer and listen to the music, I'll defintiely do a variation of a lot of that stuff
-at the end of George Washington, their is a drum hit right before the credits role, I want to do that

Ok, there is probably a lot more stuff that I want to steal, that is definitely not all the stuff I have in my mind but it's all that I feel like typing. So, list the stuff you want to steal...whether it's really specific or really general...I'd be interested in reading it. I know you guys probably can describe it. If you can't, just try your best.

[Rudie Obias]

it's not called stealing...  it's called an homage.  

[sphinx]

-focus changes

oh fuck; they'll really nail you for that one

[bonanzataz]

it's not called stealing...  it's called an homage.  

I prefer calling it borrowing.

[Ghostboy]

A lot of these things are so ingrained in cinema that you can use them without even considering it stealing. It's just style.

[MacGuffin]

A lot of these things are so ingrained in cinema that you can use them without even considering it stealing. It's just style.

And/or cliche.

[Ernie]

-focus changes

oh fuck; they'll really nail you for that one

I don't really need to use that one. It does look cool though.

[Ernie]

A lot of these things are so ingrained in cinema that you can use them without even considering it stealing. It's just style.

Yes, that's very true. It's not a bad thing either, it's cool to be able to use all of that stuff without feeling bad.

Oh yeah, you know what else seems like a really fun thing to do that I really want to do?......long takes. Those look like a lot of fun to do because the actors can do a lot of improv and stuff like that and you can just sit back and enjoy watching them. Also, long steadicam shots...like the ones Scorsese did and the ones that PTA does now. Those look like fun, I want to do a lot of them.

[Pubrick]

can we NOT assume that everyone's seen 25th hour?

thanksafuckingbunch.

[Ernie]

can we NOT assume that everyone's seen 25th hour?

thanksafuckingbunch.

Oh, jesus...sorry, well at least I didn't completely give it away. Maybe it's not what you think. I edited it with a better one, sorry.

[Xixax]

This board actually has a modification you can install to Hide Spoilers. Some other system was a movie board and they wrote it just for that purpose.

Maybe I'll look into it again and see if it's worth anything.

I personally prefer the font color white technique.

[Ernie]

This board actually has a modification you can install to Hide Spoilers. Some other system was a movie board and they wrote it just for that purpose.

Maybe I'll look into it again and see if it's worth anything.

I personally prefer the font color white technique.

That's cool. Is that where you highlight it and it shows up black?

I feel really bad now, that's the first time I've ever done that, seriously. I'm usually a lot more careful.

[ReelHotGames]

What about the 2 shot, or the over the shoulder shot, or so on... Just because you use a "device" shot or something else it isn;t stealing, what are you supposed to do, shoot in a master shot... No wait that's been done...

Using stuff like the bullet time effect and so on I can see as being old very fast after the matrix, but hand held or shooting from a distance but zooming in (Ala Altman) is only "stealing" in the sense that you use what you have to to tell the story in the best way possible, if you use it as a gimmick,then it's not really worth it anyway.

besides if you must steal at least steal big and from the best

[Bud_Clay]

I think there's a fine line between "stealing" & inspiration. For instance Ted Demme's "Blow" would be considered stealing from Scorsese as well as PT Anderson...just as Vanilla Ice stole from David Bowie.

In all honestly with Ted Demme, did anyone listen to the commentary on the Blow dvd? He tries to sound EXACTLY like pt anderson...it's embarrassing. That's going a little far I think.

[Cecil]

He tries to sound EXACTLY like pt anderson...it's embarrassing.

what do you mean? examples, please.