Cecil B. Demille’s thoughts on directing…
Posted by Jeremiah on May 8th, 2008 @ 08:10 PM | Comments (1)

I had to pass this along. One of the blogs I subscribe to posted a link to a speech that the great filmmaker Cecil B. Demille gave in 1927 at Harvard University. (He directed The Ten Commandments among other things.) He said something very interesting -

Take a scene where a man comes in, sits down, and picks up the telephone. The first-class director has the man come in, sit down, and pick up the telephone. Your highest class director says, “How on earth can I make that interesting, so it will hold an audience for just a second, so that it is not just a man. coming in, sitting down and picking up a telephone? What twist can I give that to make a little smile come to the audience? If merely the cord of the telephone catches in the drawer that little incident means a lot because the audience thought they were going to be bored and then they say, Oh! That little exclamation, Oh! has a great psychological effect.” That is the way every scene should be worked out in the mind of the director.

That’s what I want to strive for in every scene we direct: That little exclamation. Oh!

You can read the rest of this speech here. It’s really good. And still relevant.

You can find out more about Mr. Demille here.

The blog that posted this is called Film Directing Tips and Resources. It is the personal blog of a working Directing and Assistant Director, Peter D. Marshall. I have found his blog extremely useful. It’s nice to read the insights of a man who has been doing what I want to be doing. Check it out.

Stephen King says it’s okay!
Posted by Jeremiah on May 8th, 2008 @ 03:38 PM | Comments (0)

Josh and I watch a LOT of movies.

We’ve been keeping a tally going on how many movies we’ve both watched since the beginning of the year and I think we’ve both cracked the 100 mark. These can be either movies we’ve never seen before or movies that we have seen.

And yes, that does mean we’ve watched on average one movie a day since January 1st. (Though some days we watch none and some we watch 3. I guess that’s what the word “average” means.)

We used to feel guilty about this but then we heard a quote from Stephen King. He said something like, “Writers are constantly reading.” So we feel that filmmakers should constantly be watching movies. So take that, guilt. Stephen King says its OK!

Since the beginning of May, I have watched 9 movies. I’ll list them and then give you reasons why I watched them and my take.

1- The Golden Compass – I watched this movie because I have never seen it and I wanted to see what all the controversy was all about. I have to say it does seem to be a bit anti-Catholic church but aside from that, I don’t think it was a very good movie. Josh has some really good notes on the film explaining why he didn’t like it. Maybe he’ll post those.

2 - The Machinist – I had never seen this movie but I’m a huge fan of Christian Bale. Sadly, he lost all that weight for nothing. Completely dull and unoriginal. And NOT at all family friendly. Lots of pointless nudity. Skip it.

3 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – I just finished reading the 5th book so I wanted to re-watch the film. When I first saw the movie, I enjoyed it but all the die-hard fans didn’t. Now I know why. The book is PHENOMENAL. The movie just didn’t get it. (Though to be fair, the book was 870 pages.) The film should have been longer. But I still enjoy the movie.

4 - Iron Man – HOLY CRAP!!!!! This is the best Superhero movie ever made. Go see it. I can’t wait to see it again. I can’t wait for the DVD. I can’t wait for Iron Man 2!!!

5 - The Buddy Holly Story – This is the film that really made Gary Busey a well-known actor. He did all right. But the film is slow and unlike Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, Buddy Holly didn’t really battle personal demons. (Which is what we like to see in this type of movie, right?) Skip it unless you are bored and don’t mind being bored for a little while longer.

6 - Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Obviously I have seen this movie – A LOT. I started re-watching the SAGA about 3 months ago, slowly working my way from Episode One through Six. I have to say I don’t mind the Ewoks. I actually like them. But I was only 3 when this movie came out so that probably explains it. You can’t beat the last scene with Darth Vader – “Tell your sister, you were right about me.” And then when Luke burns his body… wow.

7 - Dick Tracy – I’ve loved this movie ever since it came out in theaters in the 80s and they had the cross promotion at McDonalds. I got so many free burgers and fries. If you haven’t seen it, you really should. So stylized and the music is great. Danny Elfman. Check it out. You won’t regret it. And so many huge stars playing quirky and somewhat bit parts.

8 - Singin’ in the Rain – Love this movie. I’ve seen it many times. It is a classic but I must say aside from the acting and musical numbers, the movie isn’t perfect. The story completely falls apart in the last 30 minutes… but the musical numbers are so great, I don’t care. I decided to watch this movie because I’m heading to Disney World in September with the family and it always gets me in the mood for The Great Movie Ride.

9 - G Men – I had never seen this particular James Cagney movie. It was made in 1935 and Cagney played a good guy. It has great action and lots of violence. And some really great performances. It’s not as good as Angels with Dirty Faces or Public Enemy but still a really good movie. I recommend it. This is one time those recommendations on Netflix.com really paid off.

There you have it. Please leave a comment and recommend some movies of your own.

Why you should be twittering
Posted by Josh on May 4th, 2008 @ 09:49 PM | Comments (1)

Michael Hyatt, President & CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing, has a great post over at his blog on why you should be twittering. Check it out. I completely agree with what he has to say.

Follow Michael on twitter at twitter.com/michaelhyatt. Follow me and jeremiah at twitter.com/joshdaws and twitter.com/jeremiahdaws respectively. Head over to twitter.com to sign up.

New Project I’m Working On
Posted by Josh on April 28th, 2008 @ 02:50 PM | Comments (6)

I’m really excited about this new project I’m working on with my wife. Well, she’s actually doing most of the work, but I’m gonna take part of the credit. This project is so incredible. It is divinely inspired, and it’s going to change our lives forever. It’s going to bring us unspeakable joy and probably our fair share of tears. It’s going to require more hard work than we’ve ever put into a single project, but it’s also got the potential to impact the world more than any project we’ve ever worked on before.

What is this project? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Baby Bear…

At least, that’s what we’re calling him/her until we find out the sex. Yup. That’s right. I’m going to be a Dad! Skip ahead to 1:51 or so. That’s when it gets really good. As a director, I have to say, Baby Bear is really good in front of a camera.

New Video Page
Posted by Josh on April 25th, 2008 @ 11:56 AM | Comments (1)

Check out our new video page. It’s loaded with all your old favorites plus some never before seen work. Features support for Apple’s iPhone!

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think. What’s your favorite Daws Brothers film and why? Also be sure to check out our younger brother and sister’s films in the Other Stuff section.

Ben Stein’s documentary - Expelled
Posted by Jeremiah on April 24th, 2008 @ 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

On Sunday of this week, I went to see the Ben Stein documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.”

According to Entertainment weekly, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a controversial 2008 film which claims that American educators and scientists are being persecuted for their belief that there might be evidence of intelligent design in nature. Hosted by Ben Stein, the film claims that what it calls “Big Science” suppresses dissent from the scientific theory of evolution, and portrays the theory as having contributed to the rise of the Nazi Holocaust, communism, atheism and Planned Parenthood. The film was released on April 18, 2008.”

I was curious about the film for two reasons. 1) I was wondering if the Republicans now had their own Michael Moore. 2) I believe in Intelligent Design and wanted to see what arguments the film made.

I can say that Ben Stein is not Michael Moore. I disagree politically with Michael Moore BUT I have to say, he makes really good documentaries. I enjoy them for their entertainment value. To be honest, Expelled was very slow. And hearing the “Bueller” voice for an hour and a half could really put you to sleep. (Though to be fair, Ben Stein did not direct the film, only co-wrote it and starred in it.)

The Discovery Institute defines intelligent design as the assertion that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection”.

The film revealed some extremely shocking facts about scientists and their regard for the Intelligent Design theory. Mr. Stein interviewed several scientists and professors who were fired or reprimanded for merely mentioning the Intelligent Design theory in classes or papers. The first scientist interviewed was at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. He was fired from the Smithsonian for simply printing a paper written by an Intelligent Design theorist.

Whatever your views on the issue, I think everyone can agree that there should be freedom to discuss theories without interference from “Big Science.” The documentary makes some interesting comparisons to Germany during the Nazi regime and the Cold War. Pretty scary stuff.

I could say more on this subject but this is a filmmaking blog. I urge you all to take a look at this documentary. I feel like it gives a pretty fair look at the issue. It does take a side but has a good and generally well thought out argument. Check it out when it comes out on DVD.

***We won’t be approving comments on this post. Sorry folks.

More Dance of the Dead
Posted by Josh on April 12th, 2008 @ 12:11 PM | Comments (0)

Whoops.  Forgot to mention that one of the stars of Dangerous Calling, Stephen Caudill, plays the school principal in Dance of the Dead.  He was also one of the producers.  Kudos to him and all of the people of Rome, GA (many of whom also helped out greatly on our film.)  Great job to all involved!

Dance of the Dead
Posted by Josh on April 12th, 2008 @ 12:02 PM | Comments (0)

Last night Jeremiah and I went to the Atlanta premier of Dance of the Dead and boy did we have fun. DotD is the second film from Atlanta native, Gregg Bishop. Gregg has been really helpful to us during post production of Dangerous Calling. He’s a great guy and his new film is a ton of fun.

Here’s the story: zombies show up and ruin the prom. How cool is that? We were one of the lucky few to see an early rough cut of the film and were blown away by how much better it was than the version we saw. It’s a fast paced zombie comedy with some terrific action scenes and lots of laughs. Find out more on the official website: http://www.danceofthedeadmovie.com

If you missed last night’s screening, there are two more next Saturday, April 19 at 2:45pm and 5:00pm. Click here to get tickets. If you are a fan of zombie movies, I highly encourage you to try and make one of those screenings. You’ll be glad you did.

Side note: The composer for DotD, Kristopher Carter, is the same guy who is composing the music for Dangerous Calling. He’s brilliant. The music last night was fantastic. The DC composing process kicks into high gear starting tomorrow. We’ll blog about that as we have more to report.

Have you ever killed a movie?
Posted by Jeremiah on April 11th, 2008 @ 02:25 PM | Comments (0)

It takes a long time to resurrect them.

In 1995, the Mel Gibson film Braveheart was released. I don’t remember if my family went to see it in theaters. Possibly. But I know that we rented it and eventually bought it. At the time, we watched Braveheart several times and over the next few years, we’d watch it once a month. The Daws Family LOVED Braveheart.

And we killed it. I’ve probably seen Braveheart once since 1997. There are some movies that you enjoy so much that you want it to be played round the clock. And then one day, you wake up and someone suggests watching it and your reaction is, “Ick. I’ve seen it too much.” That’s what we did at the time - we’d watch films so much that we’d suck the very life out of them. It was the only way we knew how to view films. Over and over. (It really is the best way to appreciate a film and learn from it.)

Strangely enough, Dumb and Dumber was the other one we were killing around the same time. So whenever I think of Braveheart, I can’t help but think of Dumb and Dumber. Weird.

This week, Braveheart has been raised from the dead for me. I’ve been wanting to see it for a few months now and decided to borrow it from Josh. (I’m telling you, it was dead - I didn’t even buy it when it was released on DVD.)

I watched the film today and it was new again. What a fantastic film. It has so many great quotes. “I’m going to pick a fight.” “You may take our lands but you will never take our freedom.” And this time, I’m watching it as a serious filmmaker rather than a 15-year-old kid who likes to make stop motion films with his Star Wars action figures. And you know what? As soon as it finished, I wanted to start it again. Hurray!!!

So the cycle of life goes on even in the world of my DVD collection. I have killed and seen brought back to life such movies as The Abyss, Field of Dreams, The Truman Show, and many more.

You can see this phenomenon most when it comes to Christmas movies. My family and I have about 20 Christmas movies we watch during the months of November and December. By December 25th, I hate those movies. But by the following November, we can’t wait to pull them out again.

There are a few movies that I am killing or have killed recently. A few of them are:

The Aviator
Mission Impossible 3
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (its not dead but its dying)
The Last Samurai
Pirates of the Carribean
Walk the Line

So Braveheart gives me hope that even though I kill a film, its not really dead. It will come back and I’ll watch it again. And when the film does come back to life for me, I’ll appreciate it in a whole new light.

I just bought There Will Be Blood on DVD. That’ll be the next one I kill.

A Smattering Of Reviews
Posted by Josh on April 9th, 2008 @ 02:54 PM | Comments (0)

Here are several short reviews of movies/shows I’ve recently been watching:

There Will Be Blood - Best movie I’ve seen in years.  I saw this in the theaters just before the Oscars.  I can’t believe it didn’t win.  Years to come, film scholars will look back on this film as a classic.  If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and add it to your Netflix queue… or better yet your DVD collection.  One complaint: The single disc dvd case is just a cheap cardboard sleeve.  What’s up with that?

No Country For Old Men - What started as an engrossing crime drama turned into a “look at me.  I’m important” Oscar grab from the Coen Brothers.  Kudos to them.  It worked.  Just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The Red Shoes (1948) - A ballet movie based on a Hans Christian Anderson story.  I saw a preview for this on TCM and thought it looked interesting.  It was.  One of the most visually interesting movies I’ve ever seen.  Especially for the time.  It was a major inspiration for An American In Paris, but I thought it was much better.  Compelling story with stunning visuals.  I highly recommend.

Battlestar Gallactica - I’m late to the game on this one.  I just recently got into it.  I’m starting the third season.  Great show.  Second season dragged in the middle, but that last couple of episodes really shook things up.  I initially watched the mini-series when it first came on, but wasn’t impressed.  All the critical acclaim convinced me to give it another chance.  I’m glad I did.

30 Rock - What a wonderful show.  With the writer’s strike leaving prime time television a barren wasteland, I decided to go back and check out some shows that I had never gotten into.  30 Rock is the best of the bunch.  Tina Fey’s self deprecating humor works wonderfully with Alec Baldwin’s ego.  Throw in crazy Tracy Morgan and it’s a recipe for laughs.  If you don’t like this one, then you need to go see Dr. Spaceman.

Sweeney Todd - Oh my gosh.  How have I lived this long without knowing this musical.  It took Tim Burton and Johnny Depp to pull me into the Stephen Sondheim masterpiece.  I love musicals, but Sondheim has always been a bit of a mystery to me.  Someone once told me he was an acquired taste.  I think I’ve acquired it.  Thank you, Mr. Burton.  As for the film, it was Burton’s best in years.

I Am Legend - Great first half, but the last half ruined it.  So disappointing.  I love Will Smith though.