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What I Learned Watching Stanley Kubrick

DISCLAIMER: I am only counting the films that he directed. Any that he only produced/wrote will not count toward this analysis.   Here I the things I learned from each of Stanley Kubrick’s films: Fear and Desire (1953): sometimes if the feelings of anxiety you are trying to create work, it will overcome any technical flaws your movie may have (look at the budget and look at the movie; you’ll know what I mean).  Killer’s Kiss (1956): sometimes one great scene can make or break a movie (seriously; the mannequin fight at the end of the movie is so good in my opinion). The Killing (1956): if you have mastered basic filmmaking principles, you can elevate a similarly good script (especially if you subvert it, like a heist movie where no one wins except the law...) Paths of Glory (1957): similar to Killer’s Kiss, the final scene often has a profound effect on how the audience’s view the movie (my God, the scene of the captive woman singing practically breaks me).  Spart...

Production Journal for 'Roomies' Production (January-July 2023)

Introduction My name is Logan Tyler Smith. Sometime in 2019, when I was getting really into filmmaking (specifically the works of Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino, as most film buffs get into), I came up with a title: Roomies. I hadn't really had a full idea at this point, but I knew it would be a good title for a 90s-early 2000 style indie film.  That is, I didn't have a full idea until August 2022.  I fleshed out the idea into a well-formed outline and knew that if I wanted to finally make a feature-length film, this outline would be the way to do it.  At this point in my career, I had only made short films, but I decided it was time to finally make my feature length directorial debut. And after putting together a well-done script, I got to working on preproduction.  Obviously, as you're going to see in the following production journal, the idea evolved and went through some evolution over the course of filming it. Preproduction was mostly where I chose my actors,...