"On The Lot" tonight

the only thing the host has going for her IS her dress.

It looks a bit like maternity clothes to me. Makes her looks somewhat fat I think.

Also, is it just me or does she sound out of breath every time she speaks?

I'm actually pleasantly surprised this week though because it seems like they are starting to show more of the filmmaking process. The incident where the stuntman wreck the mustang was a nice touch.
 
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Bad Reviews.......................

Bad Reviews.......................

This was on entertainment news.......

The ratings-challenged Fox reality series, executive produced by Mark Burnett of "Survivor" fame along with Steven Spielberg, has barely registered as a blip on the summer entertainment scene. During the week of June 18-24, "Lot" lured just 2.5 million viewers, while its direct competition, NBC's "Gong Show"-derived "America's Got Talent," somehow attracted 12.5 million.

not too good.

The judges don't help. They have begun to loosen up as the competition has progressed, but they shy away from Simon Cowell-esque cruelty. Occasionally, they almost seem to be at a loss for words.

i'm pretty sure they mean Carrie Fisher with her bumbling replies and comments.

Nevertheless, a few sparks of talent are emerging. Zach Lipovsky, a 23-year-old special effects editor from Vancouver, has emerged as an FX whiz. But he also displays a visual flair that has served him well whether he's telling a little fable about a girl who captures the sun in her hands -- it played like an outtake from Spielberg's "Amazing Stories" -- or his latest effort, "Die Hardly Working," in which some "Office"-like drones engage in escalating mock warfare.

i knew it was a matter of time before somebody compared him to spielberg. *Read the entire article here*
 
It takes me 18 minutes to watch each show. I just watched the shorts and rewound my DVR once to see how damn short that 'dress' was. I liked Zach's short. He should have this competition locked up, barring some ridiculous turn of events or reality show manipulation.
 
I think the best director was Marty, yes he did more commercial style stuff but is that so bad? I think he's one of the only ones you could give a script to and be assured of an actual 'movie' in return. Too bad he's gone.

Also, the girl who did the lady at the airport one was pretty good (although I think she's very hit and miss).

I think Gary Marshall's awesome.
 
tmnt said:
I think the best director was Marty, yes he did more commercial style stuff but is that so bad? I think he's one of the only ones you could give a script to and be assured of an actual 'movie' in return. Too bad he's gone...
I couldn't disagree more.

Marty had the most style and technical ability and the most polish ... and the least understanding of how to apply it to a story that anyone will actually care about.

I'd let him cut a trailer. But I wouldn't give him a buck fifty to make a movie.
 
He definately went about it the wrong way, basically making two trailers so it makes sense he was axed.

I think he'd be a guy that probably sees short films only as gimmicks and thus was trying to convey what he 'could' do.
 
Well the first time he just didn't follow directions and made a trailer.

But the second one was a short film that he never let breathe enough for you to see any of the characters as anything other than props.

All short films are gimmicks and it is often said that the best structure is a punchline structure - set up an expectation and defy it - because you do not have time to really feel for or get to know the characters.

But this is and isn't true. More accurately, you may not have time for extensive character development. But you can feel something for the characters and that has to do among other things with just holding on their eyes a bit - basically letting us see how they think or feel about something - anything.

Even in a short it is possible to connect with the characters a least on some level.

And it should be such a fundamental impulse of a story teller that when someone actually puts walls up that make it harder to connect with the characters, then it should give one pause to think they could handle a feature.

Matter of fact, you did a great job of this in In The Machine. You held on the characters, we could see their wheels turning, and you had about the same time that Marty did. You are a waaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy bettter story teller than Marty because you get that CHARACTER IS STORY. Because character 1 feels X way about Y event they do Z action. Because Z action occurs it makes character 2 feel A way about Z action and take C action. And so on and so on. If we don't see the events land on the characters - have an effect on them - and them taking action because of it we don't care.

We have to get lost in their wheels turning to get lost in the piece. We start going - yeah I would do that, or I bet he's thinking such and such, or that must be hard for him to hear/see/experience. We don't conciously think that but that's the process of getting lost in a piece.

All Marty's work was smoke and mirrors. You can learn all that stuff. I don't think he can learn what you already have as core instincts if for no other reason he does not understand the value of wanting to connect the audience thought processes and emotions with that of the characters, not to mention the fact he didn't want to listen to that feedback when the panel gave it to him.
 
Marty's short with the green tint was pretty much 75% trailer 25% short film.

I'm not sure if he can write but I think he probably could direct a script.

I absolutely agree with you in that he never gave us an opportunity to see if he could develope characters/story so I guess I'm more or less going on a hunch and giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Perhaps he should swap toward DP'ing then (for Michael Bay)?
 
Haha no. YOU can direct. He cannot :)

Yeah maybe he should swap to DPing. But even then I want someone who is really interested in story and what's going on psychologically with the actors.

I don't know if I would trust him as an editor though since that is mostly where he shoots himself in the foot.

Maybe he could direct if he did not edit his own stuff.

EDIT: just reread your post. maybe I should clarify. When I say "storyteller" I am talking about a filmmaker, i.e., a director, not a writer per se. If you took his script for the green one and directed it, it would have had more psychological depth than his the film he made, the director is the guy who stands up in front of the fire and actually recounts the tale for the tribe like C3PO did for the Ewoks - as such, the director decides what's emphasized at all levels of production to influence your experience, including which characters, if any, you care about and how much.
 
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