We’ve got a tasty treat for you on this week’s edition of #BTLRadioShow – especially for the filmmakers out there – thanks to our special guests, STEVE BALDERSON, and DAVE NEWBERG and MOLLY DWORSKY.
First up is filmmaker/author/lecturer STEVE BALDERSON. An accomplished filmmaker of many years and in the many disciplines required for the making of a film, Steve has taken some of that hard-earned, practical, on the job knowledge, and written FILMMAKING CONFIDENTIAL. This is one of the handiest books of filmmaking tips to come around in a while. It’s not about what’s the right lens or camera or sound equipment. In this book, Steve breaks down the filmmaking process based on his years of experience and gives great suggestions in an entertaining and fun prosaic style on topics like approaching budgeting, distribution, writing, storyboarding, intent versus practicality, shooting for the “stars” or not, the importance of sound, to fest or not to fest, editing, making a film shoot a fun and rewarding experience, and so much more. Take a listen as we dig deeper into the genesis of the book, his writing process, and most important, more insight into his personal experiences with discussion on specific chapters with tips and hints.
Then we turn out attention to onion rings and three-ring filmmaking circuses with THE RINGMASTER; more specifically, a documentary that started as the story of Larry Lang and his beloved onion rings but that morphed into a documentary on a filmmaker with the best intentions but who ran afoul with his own obsessiveness and addictiveness, inserting himself into everything and attempting to “manufacture” or “orchestrate” a story, thus necessitating co-directors DAVE NEWBERG and MOLLY DWORSKY to come onboard to take the reins and refocus and redesign the film to cook up a film worth seeing. Were it not for their fresh eyes and editorial and storytelling skills, this would have been an unfinished pile of footage destined to be sitting on a shelf for decades. What Dave and Molly have done is nothing short of a filmmaking miracle, coming up with a recipe that serves up a film that is “Mmm, mmm good”! Listen as they talk about the fine line they had to walk, stepping gingerly into this cinematic kitchen, the 300+ hours of existing footage they had to cull through, reshaping the story, and more. Filmmakers will find our conversation particularly enlightening to hear how Dave and Molly not only salvaged this project, but turned it into a tasty and interesting documentary.
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