Film Project: Day #4; 1950's Films

1. Work on your film project with your group.

• Producers: get with your director and discuss time and schedule for the film project. The film project is due at the end of the month. Set up a schedule that works within this boundary. Realize that editing takes time. Producers! It is your job to see that the project is completed by the deadline.
• Directors: work with your actors, editor, technicians, cinematographer, etc. Find out people's schedules. When can you shoot the scenes you need to? Make a schedule and hand this to your crew. You may use class time to plan, shoot, edit, or trouble-shoot with your crew.
• Actors: get a copy of the script you are working on and read it. Prepare your scenes by reading and reading and reading the script. Memorize, if possible. Work with your director on scheduling scenes you are in, run lines with other actors, ask questions of the director for anything unclear in the script or with your character. Help out the crew or the director where needed.
• Writers: You are the first step in the process, but you may not need to be completed before you hand your script to your director or producer. If you haven't completed your short script (remember a short script is like a short story--start close to the climax of the "film"!) After writing, be available to the director to change anything needing changing in the script. Yes, you may want your site locations to blow-up at the end of the film, but is this possible? (the answer is no, by the way.) As the writer, help out your editor and director by preparing a cast and crew list. You may also easily double as an actor, cinematographer, producer, director, crew, or editor. Complete jobs where needed.
• Cinematographer: Your job is to plan HOW the script is shot. Will you use a long shot or close up? Will you use high-key lighting or low-key? Will you shoot a scene with an oblique angle or a high angle or low angle? Go through the script and make some decisions. Create storyboards to help you visualize a scene. Take into account the writer's wishes, but feel free to change anything that will make your film project more visually interesting.
• Editor: Start working on the credits. You will need both opening and closing credits. You can do this even if you haven't started shooting your film yet. Use iMovie to create opening and closing credits. You can also help out by finding sound cues or stock footage. Prepare all sound cues as needed. If an actor has a VO (voice over) sequence, use class time to record the voice over (even if you haven't finished shooting the scene it is attached to). Once you have film shot, you may begin editing. I suggest the editor is NOT the director, although this may be unavoidable.
• Crew: Help out. If something needs to be completed, help your team get the film done on time. Like actors, be available to fill in and help where needed at any time. If the editor needs help, help. If the writer needs help, help. If the director needs help, help. You get the idea.

DO NOT WASTE CLASS TIME!

Check here for some advice about making a film. Locate your job and learn a little more advice about doing it well!:

Director: How to Direct
Director/Producer: How to Schedule a Film
Director/Producer: How to Plan a Movie (pre-production)
Director/Cinematographer: How to Shoot a Short Film
Cinematographer: Shooting Tips
Cinematographer: Tips for Cinematography
Cinematographer: Tips for Angles & Locations
Editors & Cinematographer: Continuity Editing
Writers: Story Telling Tips
Actors: Acting in Film with Michael Caine

1950's Film Trends

After World War II, America saw a post-war boom. The generation of "baby boomers" (probably your grandparents) were born!

The 50's saw a lot of new things that we take for granted today: leisure time activities, middle class values, the rise of modern jazz, fast food restaurants, the grip of television, drive-in movie theaters sprang up all over the place, and Hollywood began targeting movies to the large teen population. This is the decade of the 1950's: the ever present threat of a cold war, the malaise of conformity, new technology making life more "convenient" and "easy", the growth and rise of minority voices, the Civil Rights Movement, and the strict expectation of gender roles. Men were men, women were ladies, teenagers were rebels, and Blacks began to stand up and fight for freedoms long overdue. Welcome to the 1950's!

Please take a look at some of the following clips/trailers for 1950's films:

• Harvey (1950) James Stewart
• Blackboard Jungle (1955) Sidney Poitier and another clip here. Blackboard Jungle.
• The Bad Seed (1956)
• The Wild One (1953) Marlon Brando
• On the Waterfront (1954) Eva Marie Saint, Marlon Brando
• Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire (Marlon Brando, 1951), Suddenly Last Summer (Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, 1959), Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1955) (Elizabeth Taylor & Paul Newman), Elia Kazan directing
• James Dean: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
• East of Eden (1955) (James Dean)
• Giant (1956) with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor
• Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley (1957)
• The Robe (1953) Richard Burton
• Ben Hur (1959) Charlton Heston
• From Here to Eternity (1953) Montgomery Clift, Burt Lancaster, Deborah Kerr

Marilyn Monroe:

• All About Eve (1950) Bette Davis
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) with Jane Russell
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• Some Like it Hot (1959) Jack Lemon, Tony Curtis