All posts filed under: filmmaking & writing

Film Festivals Are Important Part of The Film Business

Published by Magda Olchawska

When I was in the film school in the early 2000s, I knew nothing about film festivals. My tutors somehow didn’t feel it was relevant to share that kind of knowledge with their students. Or maybe they didn’t really know… I left the film school in 2004 unaware that film festivals, apart from Cannes and Berlin, of which I knew since I was seven years old, existed. Since I was unaware that film festivals were a vital part of the film business, I also didn’t know that any aspiring filmmaker had to learn how the whole festival circuit functioned and what the benefits of screening at and attending film festivals with your films were. It took me quite a few years to understand how film festivals work and what the benefits and rewards of being part of them are. Film Festivals are great for: Meeting other filmmakers, and interesting people in general. Networking. Watching new films before they are released. Learning. Yes, learning: attending workshops, talks and Q&A’s is one of the things I love …

Margaret Atwood Tips For Writers

Published by Magda Olchawska

1. According to Margaret, a novel is a long story that ought to inspire the reader or listener to hear more of what is happening to the characters and how life turns out for them at the end. 2. Don’t be afraid to try out different voices, styles and techniques, and always keep only what works for you. 3. Fear keeps many people from writing. Identifying that fear and dealing with it will open lots of doors for you as a writer. 4. Structure = order of the story. You may decide to tell your story chronologically (from the beginning to end), or from some point in the future and jump back in time. Underneath all these structure choices, a plot (what happens) will always remind the same. 5. Your story will guide you what structure it requires so be open to trying various structures before settling on one; it’s a hands-on process, according to Margaret. She advises to start with the simplest structure and then work your way to more complex ones. 6. While …

Writing Tips From Judy Blume

Published by Magda Olchawska

1. Reading is the key to writing. Read as many books as possible and then start writing. 2. The only way to learn how to write is to practice, and that takes time. No magic tricks or fast rules will allow you to skip the hard work that writing requires.  3. Your individuality is what will make you stand out as a writer. 4. Before you start writing books, you need to be a reader first. Reading will help you figure out how to tell your own stories. 5. Judy is a firm believer in determination, which she feels is as important as having talent. You must be determined enough to stick with writing, when times are hard and reach for the stars when the opportunity comes knocking your way. 6. You never know when the idea for a story will come to you. In reality, the idea doesn’t have to be fully developed to write a whole book right away. Sometimes a small detail is enough to spark your imagination. When that happens, allow …

9 Writing Tips from Neil Gaiman

Published by Magda Olchawska

1.   The world of your story should always feel real to your readers. 2.   Use the following tools to make your characters, setting and scene stronger: – Give specific and concrete sensory details (Are your details specific enough? Can you make your details sensory?) – Use familiar alongside the unfamiliar. – If you are writing about the real world and real technology, avoid technical mistakes at all cost. – If something doesn’t feel right for you in the world you have created, let your character notice that because most likely it won’t be right for them either. 3.   Pay attention to your character’s behaviour and their responses, which need to be in line with their personality. 4.   The purpose of truth in fiction is to convert emotional truths in such way that is entertaining, helps a reader understand challenging times, makes them think differently about the world; and sometimes it can even change their lives. 5.    Persona is the voice that tells the story and can be any narrative point of view. But it’s …

Ron Howard’s Filmmaking Tips

Published by Magda Olchawska

As a filmmaker, you ought to feel emotionally, not intellectually, connected to the story. You should live, breath and dream the story. If you ask your audience to invest their time and money in your film, you need to be certain that the story has something different and exciting to show. Always look for powerful moments in the story.  Once you find them, you can build scenes based on those moments. It’s easy to fall in love with the story, but part of your job as a filmmaker is to step back, evaluate the story objectively, and find its strong and weak points before you commit to that story. Ron advises his fellow filmmakers to learn how their collaborators work. That helps to create an environment, which allows everyone on the team excels at their craft while giving their best. If anyone Ron works with (it means that he respects that person enough to hire them) has an intuitive suggestion regarding the scene, he will test that suggestion. He believes that this rule allows people …