Interview with Mrs. Whitley Dec 9, 2011 1. How does the film originate? Books, adaptations.

Screen writer collaborates with the author . Author has to approve on the adaptions and books to the movie. Because not everything in the book can be made. Takes months Ex. Lord of the Rings. Harry Potter. Stephen King books are very often adapted into movies. Disney fairytales, childrens books. Storyboards and scripts have to be written and approved by the author, producers, directors, etc. usally here in lies conflicts.between the author and the director. The director wants to play it one way and that is not the way it was intended to be played or viewed. Every movie has to have a story, a beginning, a middle and an end, whether it was written for the movie or adapted to the movie Even the commercials you see on TV now are mini movies, a beginning, a middle and an end. 2. After adapting it, what happens ? Start hiring people: getting actors, Producers, directors, editors, lighting crew, electricians, camera people, locations, costumers, make-up artists, special effects, stunt coordinators, cars, transportation, catering, props, drivers, assistants to the assistants, script supervisors, location directors, another complete crew of people if shooting out of country (sometimes it is easier and cheaper to hire locally than transport, house and feed hundreds of people and equipment.) Screen Test Time consuming. Sometime you want actor to do a certain part. And sometimes, screen tests surprise producers and directors when actors do a better job in another part that was not originally thought to be their part. Bond Producers and studio wanted Pierce Brosnan for bond movie that eventually went to Timothy Dalton because Pierce was under contract with network for Remington Steele and the network would not let him out of the contract. Scout for location shoots, or studios. Universal studios back lot is full of sets that are used over and over again that most people dont even recognize because of the change in scenery, lighting, furniture. I was watching Ghosts on TV this week and they had the movie notes feature working. Ghost was mostly shot in New York City, except one subway scene that was shot in California on a set that was designed and used only for subway shots. Go figure.

Make sure sets are built or find a working set. Chronicles of Narnia the waterfall freezing, melting and then collapsing was designed, built and shot in a hanger like building somewhere in Switzerland or Finland, I cant remember. It was the only building they could find that was big enough to allow that much water inside. Have animators. There were numerous animation companies hired for the effects on Narnia. Aslan had to be designed, built, motorized and made to look real for action in the movie. That was all robotics and special effects, green screen and digitizing. Any part of a persons body that was to resemble an animals in the movie was clothed in green screen material so the effects personnel could work their magic on the computer. Each computer company that wa hired to do the animations, like for the beavers, fox, dog guards, etc, were done in pieces all over the world and uploaded or fed xd to the designation. It was too big of a project to have one company be responsible for all aspectsso each company had like for example, beavers walking in the snow. Or beavers talking. Or beavers arm movements. Have special effect technicians, electricians, robotics, designers, engineers, construction workers, painters, (my sister worked on a movie and I think it was Summer Heat, shot in eastern NC and once they found the farm they wanted to use, she went in and painted all the buildings, house, walls, signs, everything to resembled early 1940s paint and weather and design. It took weeks to turn that modern farm into an old timey farm. There are safety measures to consider as with children, tutors and chaperones if under 18.

3. What are few of the major positions? Executive Producers put up the money for the show to be produced, then producers are responsible for getting it done within or under budget. Executive producers recub their money through box office ticket sells and after that, rentals, merchandising, etc. then comes directors, several are needed, one for actors, one for stunts, one lighting, sound, etc and then the workers underneath each of those directors 4. What kind of cameras do they use? I do not know how to answer that question because it is primarily based on the budget and the effect they are looking for. It used to be all film cameras, which meat the dailies (footage that is shot that day) could not be seen until it was developed with chemicals just like a 35 mm camera is. You have to wait to see the shots. Now with digital, it is instant and directors can know immediately if the shot was good or if it needed another take for whatever reason, Now, I believe they have a film camera that will allow them to view or playback the dailies just the moment they are recordedlike a DVR. But I dont know they name or type, or maker or anything like that. Most any camera these days can be used as a film camera with the right effects, lighting etc added

5. What kind of equipments do they use while shooting the film? Whatever is needed. If it has not been invented yet, they will invent it or adapt it or create it just for the movies. 6. After shooting the film, what software they use to edit it? Here again it depends on what is preferred. The industry standard as I know it is Mac Final Cut Pro. Some prefer Avid, some prefer Sony Vegas, or Adobe Premierethose are the top editing systems 7. How do they make sound effects? As you are recording footage it is wise to get what is called A/B footage. A being the primary footage that tells the story, B footage that supports the story. With the B footage, comes ambient sounds, which support the footage. For example, a farmer using his tractor in the field. What are the sounds you are most likely to hear in that shot. The tractor would be your primary sound. Supporting sounds are birds, dogs barking, cows mooing. So you have this peaceful shot of a farmer going about his business plowing his field and how can you make that scene change to danger just by changing one sound? Pot down (turn down) the volume on the tractor and Pot up the volume on the dogs. The dogs are giving a warning and by changing that one sound you go from peaceful to suspense. The next sound you could hear would be car driving on gravel as the farmer comes forward on the tractor, shuts the engine off and walks toward the car. The dogs are still barking and perhaps the birds have been scattered somewhere in the shot. So sound effects are recorded first as ambient sounds and then added to the shot for effect. Pretty much like a car crashif you have ever heard a car crash in real life, you know it is not like the movies. They add ambient sounds to intensify the event. Tires squealing, glass breaking, metal crunching, screams, explosions, etc. same with a gun shot, restaurants, subways, playgrounds, anythingduring live radio shows they would do the sound effects livecoconut shells sounded like a horse galloping, beating the chest sounding like helicopters, sheet of tin, sounded like thunder, balling up cellophane was rain.google foley artitsts for full description.also gaffers are electricians, google that one too. 8. After everything is put together, what do they use to convert it into the film projector or digital projector? They used to develop the reel of film much like 35 mm, 8mm, 16mm film is developed..in a darkroom with chemicals to expose the images. Then they would ship the reels to movie houses. But I honstely dont know now. I think it is pretty much put on DVD but it could depend on the movie house and how up to date they are. Honestly, the technology is here now for the distribution companies to upload to satellite and the movie houses tune in to show the movie, much like Netflix. Good questionone worth researching futher. I googled distributing movies after they are finished and got several good

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