Robert Meyer Burnett

Free Enterprise (film)

Free Enterprise is a 1999 romantic comedy film starring Eric McCormack and Rafer Weigel, and featuring William Shatner, directed by Robert Meyer Burnett and written by Mark A. Altman and Burnett.

Career
Burnett directed Free Enterprise and the short film, The Sacred Fire. He has also edited over 10 feature films, and worked as a Star Trek consultant for Viacom Interactive and Paramount Parks' Star Trek: The Experience located at the Las Vegas Hilton. Working for NBC, Burnett wrote, edited, produced, or directed over 100 promotional clips for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, and the 2000/2001 NBC lineup.

DVDs
After joining Kurtti-Pellerin, Burnett produced extras for special edition DVDs including Disney's The Fantasia Anthology and Snow White, and New Line's Extended Editions of Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. Burnett's own production company, Ludovico Technique LLC has worked on the DVD Special Editions for Oscar-winning The Usual Suspects, Valley Girl, Superman Returns, Spider-Man, X-MEN 1.5, X2, and The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Burnett has twice been a guest of honor at the science, science fiction, and fantasy convention, CONvergence. Most recently, he edited, wrote and produced all the special features for Blu-ray release of STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION Seasons One through Seven, released between July 24, 2012 and the end of 2014. He also contributed to the Blu-ray of all four Seasons of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE, with Season Four being released on April 1, 2014.

Features
As a motion picture producer, he co-produced MGM's Agent Cody Banks and its sequel, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London, and developed and produced the 2009 Warner Premiere and Dark Castle's The Hills Run Red. Beginning in 2010, Burnett has directed and edited five episodes of the Cinemax series Femme Fatales.

Robert Meyer Burnett

Robert Meyer Burnett (director, co-writer, editor): In many ways, Free Enterprise was a film before its time. The idea of high functioning, semi-professional geeks, with careers and love lives, yet still obsessing over the ins and outs of starship propulsion systems and the relative merits of the heroes of the Marvel and DC universes, was pretty new back in 1999. Kevin Smith’s work had already touched upon this... the Death Star laborer discussion from Clerks, for instance... but we put the L.A./entertainment industry geek front and center.

SCREENPLAYS PAST DUE

Were you able to turn your screenplay in on time? How did it come out? 

 What are three things you could improve in your story? 

 What prevented you from turning your screenplay in? 

  Were you able to finish it over the week break?

The screenplay I am working on is not yet finished. I have no confidence in following through with this project. I have attempted to just write out a new story over and over again. I actually have came to the conclusion that I am to worried about what is to come of my story. Experiencing the Hero's Journey Layout is very tough. I am sure that I will be able to get it in before class is over. I just need some time doing this over again and again. To fully fill confident in my choice of story plots. 

STORYBOARDING

BLOOP ANIMATION

STORYBOARD APPS

http://www.powerproduction.com/iphone-ipad-android-storyboard-apps.html

ANIMATIC PRODUCTION

Storyboards

Storyboards are a series of frames with drawings and words from a script. Visually, they resemble a comic book. The art in a storyboard is usually rough pencils, but it can be full-color art, 3-D figures (like HyperReal®), photography, or a combination of two or more of these.

After the script is written for a given commercial, film, or TV show, storyboards are the next step.

Storyboards are most often used in film and television as the first step to illustrate a visually complex scene and attempt to conceptualize its workings.

After the storyboard, the next step is producing an animatic. The artwork from the storyboard is rarely used to produce the final animatic, as it is usually either too rough or not prepared for easy animation.

Check out a sample storyboard, courtesy of BrainForest Digital, by clicking on the magnifying glass.

Animatic Production

Animatics are produced in a variety of ways.

Animatic production started in a very low-tech manner - they were produced by filming or taping storyboards, then an editor would edit the footage to an audio track. These animatics would seem crude by today's standards, but people were able to do some remarkable work with just paper. Some companies still hang on to these same old techniques, unwilling (or unable) to move to the next generation of production.

Some animatic clients choose to test their commercials or film using photographs or video that may or may not have originally been shot for something else. An animatic based around photographs is called a Photomatic. An animatic based around repurposed video is called a Videomatic or a Rip-o-matic.

Today, some animatic companies have also developed their own computer-generated 2D and 3D art to use in their animatics. Some 3D figures look so realistic that the expense of photographing models for testing purposes has become a thing of the past.

For 3D art, animatic companies use a variety of 3D programs to generate life-like figures. Some have even gone so far as to develop proprietary techniques, such as HyperReal®.


Producing an Animatic - Start to Finish

Since computer production is the method most used in the industry today, let's do a quick overview on how a typical animatic is produced using a computer.

To illustrate the process, we'll use this scene of a man painting a boat. We start by producing rough artwork to illustrate the composition of the scene and figure out what elements will be needed.

Then, the artwork must be re-drawn from the storyboard or rough images, so that it can be animated. This means every piece that will move independently must be separated.

Next, the artwork must be digitized, or put into a format that a computer can understand. Some artists create their artwork digitally using drawing tablets, while others prefer to work on paper and scan their drawings in.

Once the artwork is digitized, the tasks of coloring and cleaning begin. Cleaning means getting rid of the "dirt" that comes with a scanned image and completing unconnected lines. When it comes to coloring, a computer does it much better and faster.

Finally, with the artwork drawn, digitized, cleaned and colored, we're ready to animate. It's interesting to note that 3D animatic processes, such as HyperReal®, eliminate these first steps, because everything is already created digitally within the computer at the storyboard stage.

The computer is able to animate using a concept called tweening. Basically, the animator specifies an object's spatial starting point and ending point (and any other points in the middle), and the computer automatically fills in the frames in-between with gradual motion. This technique is essentially the same technique used to create finished animation.

While the animation is being produced, a rough soundtrack is usually added to establish timing for dialogue and make sure everything fits within the alloted time. The final soundtrack, including all of the voice-overs and music, is usually added last, and some final tweaks are made to the animation so that everything is properly synchronized.

The final animatic is then posted to the Internet, or shipped to the destination where it will be screened for a focus group.

THUMBNAIL SKETCHES

SCREENPLAY ISSUES

PROPER SLUG LINES:

EX-INT.
EX-INT.

DON'T BE TOO VAGUE OR OVERLY COMPLICATED

DON'T BURY SCENES IN ACTION SECTION. DON'T PUT MULTIPLY SCENES IN PARAGRAPH OF ACTION. BREAK THEM OUT AND MAKE THEM SEPARATE SCENES WITH SEPARATE SLUG LINES.
GRAMMAR  SPELLING
FUTURE/ PAST TENSE MIXUPS. ONLG IN THE PRESENT TENSE.
 GOES LIKES GARBAGE WRITING
SHOW NOT TELL
WE CANT SEE WHAT  CHARACTERS

TODAY'S REVIEW 2/3/15

NON-LINEAR STORYTELLING

STORYTELLING BEYOND..

-OBJECTIVES-

YOU WILL LEARN WHAT MAKE UP A NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE.

YOU WILL LEARN THE DIFFERENT BASIC TYPES OF NON-LINEAR STORYTELLING AND HOW IT ENHANCES THE PLOT.

YOU WILL WRITE AND CREATE A NON-LINEAR FILM.

-NON-LINEAR- 

NOT DENOTING, INVOLVING, OR ARRANGED IN A STRAIGHT LINE.

OF OR DENOTING DIGITAL EDITING WHEREBY A SEQUENCE OF EDITS IS STORED ON COMPUTER AS OPPOSED TO VIDEOTAPE, THUS FACILITATING FURTHER EDITING.

-CLASS DISCUSSION-

WHAT IS A NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE?

NOT IN ORDER
FLASHBACK
DO THEY HAVE LESS OF A STORY
CAN YOU WRITE

NON-LINEAR?

LINEAR NARRATIVE- A STORY WHERE THE EVENTS ARE PRESENTED CHRONOLOGICALLY, OR VIA CAUSE AND EFFECT.

NON-LINEAR NARRATIVE-A FILM WHERE THE EVENTS ARE PRESENTED OUT OF CHRONOLOGICAL (TIME) ORDER.

HISTORY 

D.W. GRIFFITH USED MULTIPLE NARRATIVES IN HIS FAMOUS FILM INTOLERANCE.

MULTIPLE NARRATIVES AT THE SAME TIME

WAS CONFUSING TO THE EARLY AUDIENCE

THE BROKEN CHAIN 

IS CAUSALITY IN KEY IN A TRADITIONAL (LINEAR) NARRATIVE, THE CHAIN IS BROKEN IN A NON-LINEAR ONE.

A NOTION OF TIME

WE PERCEIVE THE WORLD IN A STRAIT LINE.

OUR MEMORIES CAN BE FRACTURED AND PERCEIVE THINGS OUT OF ORDER.

THE HOW

NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES ARE MOST CONCERNED WITH HOW.

THE WRITER MUST BE CONCERNED WITH HOW THE CHARACTER GOT TO THAT POINT.

IN ORDER TO COMMUNICATED THIS TO THE AUDIENCE, THE WRITER CAN TELL THE STORY OUT OF ORDER.

NON-LINEAR TYPES

END BEFORE THE BEGINNING

JUMP INTO THE MIDDLE - THEN GO BACK

MULTIPLE NARRATIVES

TIME TRAVEL STORIES

MULTIPLE POINTS OF VIEW

RECOUNTING

END BEFORE THE BEGINNING

WE START WITH THE ENDING.

THEN THE FILMMAKER GOES BACK TO THE BEGINNING TO EXPAIN HOW WE GOT THERE.

EX-USUAL SUSPECTS

JUMP INTO THE MIDDLE...

THIS STYLE DUMPS THE AUDIENCE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FILM.

AUDIENCE IS DISORIENTED, BUT THE FILMMAKER LAYS OUT THE REST OF THE SCENES IN A WAY TO CATCH US UP TO THE STORY.

EX-MOMENTO

MULTIPLE NARRATIVES

MULTIPLE STORIES FROM DIFFEENT CHARACTERS.

A COMMON TREAD AMONG ALL STORIES.

CHARACTERS MEET UP AT A COMMON EVENT?

EX-PULP FICTION

TIME TRAVEL

TYPICALLY SCIENCE  FICTION

DEALS WITH CAUSALITY. A

A TIME TRAVELER CHANGES EVENTS.

WE GET TO SEE THE RESULTS OF TAMPERING WITH THE TIMELINE.

EX - PRIMER

MULTIPLE POINTS OF VIEW

WE TYPICALLY SEE AN EVENT FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES.

MULTIPLE CHARACTERS TELL THERE VERSION OF THE SAME EVENT.

THE MYSTER OF WHO'S CORRECT?

EX- RASHOMON

RECOUNTING

WE HEAR THE CHAIN OF EVENTS FROM THE STORYTELLING.

STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS.

EVENTS TOLD AS THEY RECALL THEM.

EX-ANNIE HALL

CHALLENGES 

NON-LINEAR STORIES ARE DIFFICULT TO WRITE & PULL OFF.

YOU MUST CREATE A TIMELINE OF EVENTS & LIST OF CHARACTERS

THE BEST TYPE OF STORYTELLING TO USE THE "INDEX CARD OUTLINE."

"

FILM SCREENING: ANNIE HALL (1977)

1. What techniques does Annie Hall use to blend fantasy and the film’s “reality”?
2. What is Annie Hall’s plot arc?
3. How do these explorations of fantasy impact the film’s tone and your viewing experience?
4. How would you describe the plot of Annie Hall and how are its scenes organized? What is this a film about?
5. What storytelling methods did you notice in Annie Hall and why do you think Allen chooses to convey the story this way?
6. How does Annie Hall handle factors like stereotypes and gender relations?
7. Do you notice that any of the characters in this film fit character “types”, perhaps like those in other romantic comedies?
8. How does Annie Hall create contrasting senses of space with its depictions of New York and Los Angeles?
9. What is the intended theme of “Annie Hall”?

The techniques used to blend fantasy and the film's reality I think are the confessional style he speaks directly to the audience and explains his childhood experience flashbacks.

The car ride to annie's house is the plot arc.

The explorations of fantasy impact on my viewing experience was confusing kind of questioning where the writing was heading with this story. 

The storytelling methods I noticed were the first person narrative and the sequences of the shots were odd to keep jumping back and forth was a little awkward. 

I really was sure it was about jewish that  the stereotype fit but had to look up other one. 

Example:

The film also uses stereotypes to define Alvy’s ex-wives quickly and cleverly and to reinforce the idea that L.A. is full of superficiality, as all Californian characters live up to the stereotype. Interestingly, Annie is the only character in the film who actively resists being stereotyped, defending her Midwestern upbringing and attraction to L.A. when Alvy uses them to attack her character.

The intended theme of Annie Hall is romance and comedy.

ANNIE HALL

What were three things that you were surprised or enjoyed about the way Woody Allen made the film?  What are two things that you were confused about?  What was one technique he used where you would like to know more about?

I am surprised that he won an award for this film. I guess this is for the fact that the audience could relate to his relationship issues. I enjoyed the part where he used the animation part with snow white. The technique he used to time the double screen was difficult for me to understand how to use this effect. I would like to learn how this technique could be filmed. I really like the way Allen breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the viewer.