In the last two weeks I’ve written two and a half short scripts, read one short script, and read a rough draft of a feature length script. Scripts have been on my brain recently.

Normally for me the writing process is a slow one. I spend a lot of time chewing on ideas. Rarely do I start writing with a complete story in my mind, but I always have to have a solid scene.

What do I mean by that? » Continue Reading

Testing remote blogging.

Sorry for the lack of a new article for the last few weeks. Easy Water Films has been getting a few things together to bring some exciting announcements to you shortly. Things are as active as ever around here and rest assured that any silences are for a good reason.

One of the new technology additions is the ability to add posts and information to this blog from practically anywhere in the world. Technology … Amazing stuff.

Stay tuned!

Christopher Johnson, Director, Easy Water Films, L.L.C.

The world is buzzing with Wall-E chatter.  Wall-E is one of the best reviewed film in recent memory.  Everyone seems to unanimously agree that this film is terrific and something special.  So I hesitated to add to the noise by writing about Pixar’s new film, but I simply couldn’t help myself.  Perhaps these thoughts on Wall-E and Pixar in general will strike a chord that the others are not striking.

Pixar has never had a bad film (in my opinion).  Even some Pixar titles that I didn’t care for as much are still really good movies with a deserved following.  So in a climate in Hollywood where people perceive that quality is at a low point and people are begging for quality entertainment at the box office, how can this single studio constantly deliver every time they come up to bat?  I believe that I know the answer, and it is shockingly simple. » Continue Reading

Easy Water Films, L.L.C. was started with two goals.  1.  To offer outstanding video services to our clients.  2.  To produce dramatic films.  In this blog, we have seemingly explored topics related to goal #2, however to my mind there is no distinction.  Let me explain. 

We swim in a world of advertisement.  According to The New York Times, January 2007 the average person living in a city sees 5,000 ads per day, up from 2,000 ads per day 30 years ago (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/business/media/15everywhere.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin).  That’s an amazing amount of companies, products, and services vying for a piece of our attention.  To be completely honest, it’s way past the saturation point.  People are exposed to that much advertising per day, but people do not absorb that much advertising per day.  We’re desensitized to it.  Our brains don’t register billboards as we drive down the road.  Our ears tune out the new jingle on the radio.  Our Tivos filter out the commercials during our favorite shows.  So in a world where advertising has take on the characteristics of white noise, how do companies actually reach their target market?  » Continue Reading

I’d like to add that, for me, audio post production (where the Sound Design begins to be married to the picture) is really one of my favorite parts of filmmaking.  That’s hard for me to distinguish because I love so many facets of the filmmaking process.  I love writing, or revising scripts.  I love being on set and shooting for twelve hours a day.  I love watching the picture change form in the edit.  So saying that audio post is one of my favorite parts, well, they’re all my favorite parts (except for rotoscoping … that may become a blog entry all to itself at a later date).

The magic in Sound Design is that it’s the point where the film comes alive for me.  During the script phase I’ve got the vision of the film in my head and I think to myself “Maybe this time I won’t have to make any compromises and what I imagine will end up on the scene.”  That never happens, thankfully, but that’s where I am during the script phase.  During filming I’m relishing in the moment.  Each take is a joy to see unfold, and even shooting in less than perfect conditions calling action and watching the actors unfold the story is remarkable.  During editing I’m usually thinking “How could I screw the script up so badly?”  I’ll cut and recut until that morphs into “Well, it’s pretty close to what I wanted.”  When we get to audio and start layering in foley and sound effects and ambience it’s no longer just images on the screen.  It becomes living and breathing and starts to feel like a movie.  Add a score in there and I’m just being wowed at every turn.  For the first time in the entire process, I can see the finish line

 Christopher Johnson, Director, Easy Water Films, L.L.C.

Today my thoughts and musings lead me to sound design and the role it plays in film production.   

The release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and the imminent release of Pixar’s Wall-E has brought the genius of Ben Burtt back to movie theaters.  A quick look down the filmography of Burtt reads with some of the most influential films of the past 30 plus years.  Burtt was the sound designer for Star Wars (for which he won an Academy Special Achievement Award), creating sounds that are a part of the consciousness of the world.  Sounds like R2-D2, Darth Vader’s breathing, and the familiar hum of a lightsaber are Burtt creation, drawn as much from nature as technology and combined together to create something wholly original.  Burtt went on to be the sound designer for the rest of the original Star Wars trilogy, and then twenty-two years later was the sound designer for the prequel Star Wars trilogy (say what you will about the prequels, but they had remarkable sound).  In the meantime, he was the sound designer for the Indiana Jones Trilogy, created the voice for E.T. the Extraterrestrial, was the sound designer for films like The Dark Crystal and Willow, and even worked on the often forgotten, but terribly moving Spielberg film Always.  Most recently for Spielberg, Burtt was the sound designer for Munich and the previously mentioned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. » Continue Reading

The films of Francis Ford Coppola encapsulate what I love the most about cinema: That a large group of people who come from different backgrounds and have different sensibilities can come together and create something coherent. I find this a marvel in the world. The fact that writers, producers, director, DPs, ADs, costuming, make up, lighting, etc. can and do turn out films that can have such a singular, pointed vision is nothing short of miraculous. Coppola, possibly more than any other director, really appreciates this process and lets it shine. He is interested in his films having the fingerprints of everyone who works on them. Studying the history of his films, reading interviews, listening to commentary tracks, will all bring you to a knowledge that Coppola is really interested in the opinion of everyone around him. I admire that greatly.  

Coppola’s films also encapsulate what I love about cinema because almost all of them have been made in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. This is perhaps most commonly associated with the production of Apocalypse Now, but the making of The Godfather was equally as treacherous if in different ways. » Continue Reading

Welcome to the Easy Water Blog.  My intention here is to bring added value to www.easywaterfilms.com.  Not only can the website serve as a communication point between Easy Water Films and our clients, but it can also serve as a resource for people interested in film and film production.  This blog will be home to musings on film, film theory, filmmaking practices, among others.   

Also, it will be a home to continuing communications about the work that Easy Water Films, L.L.C. is engaged in.  Updates about projects, behind the scenes information, and anything else that I think might be of interest. Thanks for stopping by.  As articles continue to get published on the Easy Water Blog, I hope you find something of value here, and check back often.  

Christopher Johnson.  Director, Easy Water Films, L.L.C.