bookmark_bordermidsummer nights rearranged dream

Words taken from the start of Helena’s final speech in Scene II, rearranged:

Helena:

So I am, Love’s folding mind,

wing’d Cupid looks not with the mind, but with the eyes;

Through Athens I thought Things base and vile.

But what of that? no quantity

as Demetrius thinks Love so;

He will not know:

Because in choice he is so oft beguiled

And therefore is painted blind:

And therefore is said to be a child, Love,

And as he errs, Love.

Nor hath Hermia’s eyes any judgement of taste;

doting on as she

can transpose to some o’er form and other dignity :

what all but he do know admiring of his qualities:

How happy

some can be,

not fair!

 

To the above, no words or punctuation was added or left out. Enjoy my Copy-Paste madness.

Consider this a late birthday present to Will Shakespeare, and a warning to raise awareness on the nonsense of copy-paste.

Word bubble Romeo and Juliet 

To further this, we’ve added a word-travesty of the Nurse’s speech in act I, scene 3 of Romeo and Juliet. The more used a word is, the bigger it comes up on the bubble. 

The word that jumps out to me is “Lammas.”  Juliet was weaned by the nurse 11 years before, on Lammas eve.  Lammas was a harvest festival, in a way like the forerunner of Thanksgiving.  “Pretty”, “fall”, “wormwood”, “fourteen”, and “dug”, all make reference to Juliet’s young age, but may also reference her current relationship with Romeo.  “Dug” by the way, has a meaning completely different from the modern one.

Yet, without their proper order, the meaning is lost.

 (original word bubble missing)

As you can see by the illustration, knowing how often a word appears is quite useless.  But it can be fun to see that words like “wilt” and “dovehouse” were once pretty useful.

By the way, the sentence “Wilt thou dovehouse, pretty Llamas wormwood?” doesn’t really make sense.

bookmark_borderThe difference between Development and Pre-Production

Acquiring the seed and a spot to plant it in, that is development.  Planting the seed, that is pre-production.  When it finally bears fruit, then you have a film. – Ptara

Once again, techies have been spreading misinformation on how a film is made. Just because you helped design a cool piece of software doesn’t mean you know everything, and one thing they especially seem to get wrong is the difference between development and pre-production.

The main problem is that most of them don’t seem to think that there is a difference, or they think that development is part of pre-production.  (Hint: I highly recommend Micheal Wohl\’s course on how to use Final Cut Pro X, although I take issue with some of his workflow advice, and also recommend his course on Apple Motion.  However, steer clear of his course on Production, it\’s very badly researched and poorly prepared.) Continue reading “The difference between Development and Pre-Production”

bookmark_borderAfter the movie is shot, we can begin to assemble it

“Even if I improve a film 1 percent, that’s important to me,” Sam Pollard

We’ve written the script, storyboarded the film, planned it, budgeted it, raised money (though not as much as we’d hoped), and now we shot the picture for Dara Says.

Recently, someone congratulated us for finishing the film.   “Congratulations on finishing the film.” Only, it hasn’t been finished yet.  It’s now time to assemble it.  We can still make the film better, with an excellent editor like Sam Pollard on board.  (No, we don’t have him, but we can dream, can’t we?)

Rosie and Beccy looking at a computer
Rosie de Sousa, producer, and Beccy O’Regan, Script Supervisor, consider a shot for Dara Says.

Continue reading “After the movie is shot, we can begin to assemble it”

bookmark_borderThe creativity of writing a budget

A yellow flower, common in gardens in Aberystwyth, processed in photography so the colors stand out.
Simple solutions come when you look at things differently.

Creative accounting is wrong, but it’s not wrong to be creative when accounting.

We were putting together some numbers for a project, and the budget started looking, well, bloated.  We hoped to keep total costs down below a certain threshold.  But, the budget for our project was starting to balloon to one and a half times the maximum I hoped it would be, and I hadn’t even finished costing the marketing yet. Continue reading “The creativity of writing a budget”

bookmark_borderThe re-election of James Madison

WB Strickland's image of the USS United States capturing the HMS Macedonian
Did the October 25 capture of the HMS Macedonian by the USS United States help Madison win re-election in November 1812?

At times, it looked as if the election of 1812 would be a close one.  At any rate, its outcome was more important than remembered. Even as late as July 3 1813, the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser in Australian was speculating on who the winner was. Their information, which came from across the sea on the 12th January of that year, supposed that they could have been wrong about a DeWitt Clinton victory, but “The electors of Vermont are said to be in favor of Mr. Clinton.” Continue reading “The re-election of James Madison”

bookmark_borderTopsy Turvy (1999) Review

Poster with the words "The Mikado on top, and a full length portrait of the character kaisha, in traditional dress and holding a sword, surrounded by flowers.
The Mikado, promotional poster from the Gilbert and Sullivan theatrical production, by Johnathan B. Jeffrey, ca. 1885

I purposely avoided Moliere, Shakespeare in Love, and almost every other movie about a playwright.  I do this because I respect writers like Shakespeare, and I find their period fascinating.  I likewise avoid most movies about Thomas Jefferson.  I prefer the Jefferson that I read in his letters, or from his contemporaries, to the cartoon lecher that Hollywood spoon feeds us with.

It ain’t just reverence and respect for the past, I don’t like the glossy misinterpretations.  Those movies about great people are often like sampling Mozart into some kind of techno elevator music. Continue reading “Topsy Turvy (1999) Review”

bookmark_borderLaura (1944) review

A mystery, filled with red herrings, deceptions and hilarious false leads, but at the end, when it’s all solved, it seems so obvious. The entire plot falls into place. How can anyone claim to forget who the murderer is? Roger Ebert claimed in his review that “I’ve seen the movie seven times, and the murderer still doesn’t immediately spring to mind.” Continue reading “Laura (1944) review”

bookmark_borderAn experiment based on Kuleshov’s work with political icons

Karl MarxMost film students will know of the Kuleshov experiment by their second year in film school.  And most historians will know who Karl Marx, Margaret Thatcher, Richard Nixon and Napoleon Bonaparte are.

Well, why not mix the simplest film experiment in history with four of history’s most debated icons? Meanwhile, we can test someone’s historical knowledge.

Try showing the following video to your friends, students or peers.  (Kids, try this with your parents.) Ask them how the other images in the sequence makes the famous people feel. Continue reading “An experiment based on Kuleshov’s work with political icons”

bookmark_borderWhen the athlete was anonymous and there were no sports pages

two congressmen fighting with sticks, one kicking the other in the knee.  Meanwhile others look on, including one man in a comfortable seat and another who looks to be cheering.  An old sketch
“Congressional Pugilists” 1798

While Prince William, and most of the media, followed the European cup, Kate Middleton went to the theatre instead.  Sports are big news today, and almost every top athlete is a household name.  Things weren’t always that way.

In June of 1812, a man from the county of Somerset came up with a challenge.  He bet 500 guineaus that he could walk 1000 miles in as many hours. Continue reading “When the athlete was anonymous and there were no sports pages”

bookmark_borderWill history be kind to Bush (Jr)?

George Washington Bush shouting at a bald manOn CNN, Timothy Stanely compared Bush Junior to Harry Truman. Both Presidents left office with low approval ratings, both supposedly fought what seemed like unpopular wars (Truman in Korea, Bush in Iraq), yet both had “a gentle, honest personality that voters looked back on with fondness.”

Really?  Gentle and honest? Really? Continue reading “Will history be kind to Bush (Jr)?”