"On The Lot" tonight

This is what bothers me, but this is the difference between most of us here and the general viewing audience.

What would be really interesting is to see these guys in the process. How are they making decisions about composition, edits, story telling, etc. We aren't getting any of that. That's what would be truly interesting though. Let's look at the creative process more. Granted that's hard when this is pretty much an extended speed filmmaking contest, but having participated in several such contests myself I can say there is still a lot of interesting creative decision making that takes place.

But alas, as so many have pointed out, its first and foremost a reality TV show. On Fox, the network I work for, I can say that we're not always the most artistically minded. It's a shame though, because I do think that people are interested in how a creative personality makes artistic decisions. But all we're getting is the bickering and screw ups, because the general consensus in the media seems to be that people would rather watch a train wreck than something truly engaging on a more cerebral level. Just my 2 cents. Maybe things will change as the season progresses, but I don't have high hopes based on what I saw last night.
 
Well, back when it was announced, I didn't think a lot of people on DVXUser.com/DVInfo.net/Reduser.net/ect. would get on the show anyway. My brother said it best while watching the premiere last night, "They want characters, not talent."

Still, I personally found it to be a fun thing to watch, perhaps because I'm a student and I've seen some of these mistakes rather recently. :) If anything, the first episode showed me that I could do this competition easily had I entered and got through the pitching session. The story lines they gave are rather simple and easy to build on. Unfortunately, being a student, college comes first and it looks like they started filming this a little while back so I couldn't have gone on the show even if I had wanted to.

I'm with a lot of you when it comes to the cringing that goes on while watching this show. That first pitch and the three directors arguing at the story tables were the worst for me. Yeesh! One good point I noticed was the girl being careful with her story and worrying about the other girl stealing the idea from her, that was a pretty cool moment. It just emphasized that you've got to be careful in this business no matter how much you want to share your story.

I didn't understand the directors out on the 24-hour shoot. First of all, they all freaked out about making a film in 24 hours.......:huh: ....... are these people for real? Who here hasn't entered a 24-hour film contest, if not that, then a 48-hour film contest before? There's certainly enough of those contests out there, heck even some of my college film assignments have been like that. Secondly, nobody sat down and tried to figure out each other's strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if I had been paired with two other directors and I knew that we were getting DVX cameras, the first thing I would ask would be "Who's good with a DVX?", shortly followed by, "Who's good at framing shots?", and once I've figured that out, then we've got a DP and a camera operator (assuming that it isn't just one person that is). After that, we all brainstorm and come up with the story and then one of us directs it (I didn't quite understand what they were going to be doing, did they each have to direct one scene or do they all work together on one scene?). After that, the next question would be "Who's good at editing?" and that person would primarily edit and have the other two directors help. Simple.

But then that's just from an outsider's point of view, I'm sure things would be different if I were on the show and egos were flying all over the place. But that's how I would do it, at least as far as we've seen of the show. I wonder what they'll have to do next?

Oh, did anyone notice the comment about not needing to go to film school? I think it was said by the guy who was obsessed with getting good shots while the girls were holding the heavy junk chair. He seemed like such a snob when he said that too. Granted I'm still on the fence about film school in many ways but if I can get in to one of the schools I want to go to I'll definitely go and take the opportunity.

Of course, what I'm waiting for in the next episode is whether someone behind the camera messes up and mixes 24P with 24PA!:evil:

EDIT: By the way guys, next episode is this Thursday after "So You Think You Can Dance"
 
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The show is pure cookie cutter reality TV, completely predictable in editing and content. It's just mildly interesting because of the subject matter.

What annoys me the most is the ad nauseum shots of people saying that this is their "only" chance to make it and if they don't then it's the end of the line blah blah. If they really believed that they cannot succeed unless they succeed now then they're not cut out for filmmaking anyway.
 
the panel of three judges are absolutely hilarious to me. you have brett ratner -- a man who embodies the concept of failing upwards, carrie fisher -- the bruce valanche of the movie industry, and gerry marshall -- the most respected of the three, who is a former sitcom producer with no discernable signature as a director.

the guy that everyone is calling a bully is the victim of some reality tv slight of hand. I don't think he directed that attitude toward anyone other than the passive-aggressive, scatterbrained little weasel he teamed up with.

this first episode wasn't very compelling, but I'll keep watching the search for America's Next Top Product Integration Whore (oops, I mean "director")...
 
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Zak Forsman said:
the panel of three judges are absolutely hilarious to me. you have brett ratner -- a man who embodies the concept of failing upwards, carrie fisher -- the bruce valanche of the movie industry, and gerry marshall -- the most respected of the three, who is a former sitcom producer with no discernable signature as a director.
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I thought that exact same thing.
 
Might not be around for very long.......



From Zap2It.com: The premiere of FOX's new series "On the Lot" bled a lot of its "American Idol" lead-in Tuesday, allowing ABC to take the overall ratings title for the night. ABC took the lead at 9 p.m. with the "Dancing" finale, 14.6/22. CBS moved up one spot with its movie "Jesse Stone: Sea Change," 8.5/13. The premiere of the filmmaking competition "On the Lot" posted a 5.4/8 for FOX, squandering well over half its lead-in and also falling significantly in its second half-hour. Ouch for Fox & Burnett...
 
it would be hysterical if this show got cancelled mid-season; a reminder that film students are really the only people who give a **** about catching a glimpse of the mechanics behind making a movie.
 
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bballplaya283 said:
Hahaha. :)

Some of those pitches were not good to say the best.

I did however enjoy the one with the twist bad-guy-get-hit-with-a-random-ninja-star ending.
:sarcastic smiley face:
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LOL! That was funny. You'll be seeing that guy making the B-movie rounds with myself soon enough.

-Nate
 
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Mark Harris and i were both contemplating entering for about 3 seconds, then we went "Nah..........."
 
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