Cinemagic #17 (1982)

Aigilt: John Jardine plays an Amencan soldier In Vlel Nam In Brandon Reynolds' film Quitting Time. Reynolds wrote. directed and produced Ihe 2tJ minute Super~ him. 8elow; Brandon Reynolds plays a Vlel Cong soldier In Oulrtlflg Time, which is one of the many Independent trims announced In thiSIssue's Producers' Bulletin Boa rd sectron See page 16

Below: Film dips from The Deadly Spawn show actress Eillua Nerl"s head berng savagely anacked and eaten by an air en creature The film clip on the e~lreme left shows the actress With a latex appliance gash on her cheek. Hie other two clips are insens of a mechanrcal head created by Arnold Garguilo. See page Z8

CONTENTS Editor's Bench 4

Super-8 Spoofers

Issue #1 7

_ 17

Scriptwriting, Part 3

Producers' Bulletin Board _ _ _ _ 26 -,

'.

_ _ -...J Chris Callaghan and Bob Griffith talk about their many Super-S spoof films that they show at science fiction conventions. By John Clayton.

Davkl Houston tells you how to turn a film treatment into a shooting script in the final installment in his series on scriptwriting.

Electronic Special Effects

How Low Can You Go?

,

Secrets of Graphic Gore

_ __ _ 28

Build your own light "chaser" circuit to simulate computer banks, miniature runways and more with this flashing LED circuit By Chris Stevens.

The fine art of production managing for low budget films. By Larry Contino.

CINEMAGIC/ 8VAContest Rules

Filmmakers' Forum _ _ _ How to tear off a woman's face and leave

nothing behind but a battered, smashed bloody pulp clinging to skeletal remains. By John Dods.

A regular department devoted to readers' comments ' and correspondence about fantasy filmmaking.

Get an early jump on your competition by knowing what's expected of this year's entries in the CINEMAGIC/SVA Short Film Search- I 982.

Cinemagic Marketplace

34

Oassllied advertising and announcements.

ONEMAGJC #17 3

Editor's

BENCH Issue /I. 17

SNIPS & TRIMS

Publlahedby O'QUINN STUDIOS, INC. 475 Park Ave. South New York. NY 100 16

PubUmen Norman Jacobs/Kerry O'Quinn

....aod.te PubUsher Rita Eisenstein Clrcul.tlon DIrector Richard Browne Editor David Hutchison

Art Director Steven J. Plunkett Managing Editor John Clayton Senior De8lgner Neil Holmes

E4Itorial Contributors Chris Callaghan Larry Confino John Dods Bob Griffith David Houston Chris E. Stevens De.lgoers Diane Cook Shelly Marks Leah Rachlis

Production .....launta Joan Baetz. Eileen Dempsey Norma Garcia Cindy Levine Sue Oster

Founder of CIKEMAGlC Don Dohler

t seems one column every year is devoted to odd comments and remarks that I've been saving up like scene trims stored on a spare reel. So now I can unwind a biL After much intraoffice discussion we have decided to add an experimental video category to this year's film contest Obviously video is not the ideal format for the fantasy filmm1,lker who requires a lot of frame by frame animation--a situation I discussed at some length last month. But effects do not make a fantasy film ... the HOI)' does. So if you have a fantasy script (or SF or horror) thatdoesn't require effects and you get over the editing hurdle (lml if you are working in video, you may enter the contesL I think we will all be very curious to see what, if anything, is submitted. I've mentioned before that the most asked question that comes across my desk is: "Should I go to film school, or should I just get a job in the industry and work my way up?" Well. now d new wrinkle has been added: "Should I learn on video or film?" At a recent film seminar at N.Y.U"lee Dicter (re-re cording engineer, OI'lIlhl/'{/p. Hol/m't'r. FOllr Frjl'mll) suggests sticking to film. He believes that people who come up through filmmaking afe more disciplined and know much more about the art of image mak· ing than their video cousins. In place of the usual Careers piece in this m onth's issue, there is an article from Larry Confino ("How low Can You Go"'). whose experiences as a first·time-out pro, duction manager on a low·budget film will give you some idea of what the business is like when you are just starting out David Houston concludes his 3'part series, "Everything There Is To Know About SI. P.O. Box 142, ~,...". II. 61 ~ F'ootmlstcr. ~ lam )~79to ONEr'lACIC. P.O. eo. 1-42. /'It. - . R. 61504 PrInIeeJlt ---..::::;

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other story. Only Rule Nine (in Lesson One) insures the integrity of your work, determines that every tiny piece of it belongs in that story and no other, There are probably hundreds of books on scriptwriting. The best I've found is Film Scriplwriting by Dwight V, Swain, published by Hastings House in 1976. Industry practices have changed a trifle since then, here and there. but the book is awesomely complete. The best book on dramatic structure I've ever read is Lajos Egrfs The Art. o( Dramatic Writing, Simon and Schuster. origi. nally published in 1946. but the information is timeless, (The stories developed in this series are not copyrighted. Help yourself. In fact, ClNEJ.\.A.GIC would love to see any films using ideas from them. For that matter, let us know if you find a better title for Romeo and Juliet in Space.) Enough said_ Why fritter away your valuable time reading magazines? Get to work on that screenplay! This concludes ClNEJ.\.A.GIC's three part series on scriptwriting for short films, Lesson One appeared in issue # 15 and Lesson Two appeared in issue # 16. If you do not have these issues we strongly urge you to refer to the back issue order form elsewhere in this issue. (Jf

(t'..11'!ays be

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within the shot are listed with the description. N---A new paragraph for acto(s direc-

tions. O--Character name (45), in all caps. P-Parenthetical business (40 to 55). If this is more extensive than two or three words, it should be set in paragraph form as directions, as was done with line N. Q-Dialog (30 to 60). It keeps this narrow 30-character line even if the speech

goes on for pages. R-These words should have been capitalized. S-Transition to the shot that begins the next page. IF a shot is continued on the next page. this is where the word CONTINUED appears. On the next page, the shot number is repeated. followed by the word CONTINUED.) What follows now are extraneous tidbits

and tips that have not I1t into the natural flow of things as this series of articles developed.

8

ONEMAG/C # 17

David Houston was STARLOG magazines first editor-in-chief. and later a frequent conlributor. He is author 0( numerous nouels including Alien Perspective, Gods in a Vortex and the six Tales of Tomorrow books (rom Leisure Publications. He has turned novels intTo screenplays and screenplays Inlo novels, and was story COI1Suluml (or seueral recent (Ums. He wrote and directed the TV special They Went to the Stars, aboul liue science fiction on early television. His screenplay Invaders at Ground Zero Is in preproducUon for filming in 1982. His firsl "exhibited" movie was an Bmm RULE TWELVE: Always be prepared super-extrauaganza made eons ago in to kill your children. Giving birth to ideas high school. is rather like giving birth to babies: once fully formed, you lend to love them no matter how rotten they are, Be critical! If. at any stage. you find yourself trying to wedge a square brainstorm into a round hole in the story-don't! Dump it no matter how much it hurts if you can' t justify its contribution to your scripL This rule is nowhere more applicable than at the editing stage. when you'll be tempted to include every inch of film that isn't damaged by fire or flood---:iust because you made it Be selective! Better to kill several hundred feet of redundant footage than to kill your audience's involvement in the film, When selecting typography for your credits, choosing music, deSigning sets, or anything else. and you feel stumped-try anything. but never lose sight of Rule Nine: see what's suggested by what you've already got: don't go shopping in some

HOW LOW CAN YOU GO? Production Managing a Low Budget Non-Union Feature Film For Fun and Profit . "Look, / can't stand it anymore. rue been working for 36 hours straight; without a break./ really can't keep going like this. I'm going to drop .. . " By LARRY CON FINO

fter a long period of hard physical labor without sleep. I found myself appealing to the human side of a hard-nosed unit production man· ager. I felt abused and overworked. but the production manager was faced with a deadline to complete a horror picture thai was already problem ridden, over time and over budgel Naturally. his dilemma took

A

precedence over my petty lack of stamina. ReludanUy.1 went back to work. As I left his office. the production manager stopped me and protested compassionately. "Hey!

What do you want, this is low budget!"

Although I was angered by this answer. I basic categories--L Wt!"'~ s .... ill1 Ihe rl'arful filmmakers, relrospccti'l:S on lhe classic fright IiIms 31K! the latCSI fM.·ws flom the world of mon.'ileTS. aliens and bilarre Cfe:uurcs! Fora limirl-dlimeOfJI). "~3remakillianoffer IlO living or dead persoo can r!.'Sist. Orand new subscribers and Ihose rene.... ing lheir subders embossed '" gold w~h the CINE MAGIC \oeD. These handsome t;ilsesenable)'OU to sliP )'OUr copes 01 CINE MAGtC '"-