Tag Archive: 'directing'
This went out as a newsletter recently, and I thought the subject matter was worth saving for posterity… Did you see the new YouTube video I put up at the beginning of the month? I’m really fond of the format. I’ll confess: this is modeled on a format on music producer YouTube, created (perfected?) by […]
We did another episode of the wizard talk show. Then we got cancelled. Channel 101 is cruel. The episode turned out very silly and the production value is a huge jump from part one. I imagine a Wizard’s Corner show that is essentially Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, just a ton of bizarre characters and creatures in this […]
It’s been a long time coming, but somehow, I’ve started directing again in earnest. It’s a good feeling. I’ve known for about a year now that I wanted to shoot something, but I took my time to be smart and deliberate about projects. Channel 101 is great fun but ultimately a chance to practice…a distraction. […]
It’s time again for another list of hot storytelling techniques gleaned from Evangelion, which remains a slick and complex TV show. And now we can all watch it on Netflix. Use Inversions! As in, when something good happens, something bad happens. And vice versa. Traditional writing education, especially screenwriting, says your midpoint of your story […]
This post is based on a YouTube video I did a couple weeks back. UPDATE: Got a second part to this. Do you want MORE Learning from Evangelion? Eva is about to make its debut on Netflix, and I opted to re-watch the series for the first time in years. I’m an early NGE convert; […]
So, I finally saw Frozen, and I loved it. Disney has had a good run of late. There is a favorite line of mine in Frozen for its ability to explain away magic rules that do not matter in the context of a story. It’s a marvelous line that ripples and flares with life the […]
I think Catching Fire is really, really good. A marked improvement on the so-so technical execution of movie one. I think it’s better than the book on which it is based, even. No, Katniss does not really do anything in this story either, but it’s still an entertaining yarn. And this time around she actually […]
First off, I did a quick post on Tumblr about how much I love the Soma teasers. If you like sci-fi, and you like horror…you should go check those videos out. Also, I’ve revamped the ol’ mailing list – if you want exclusive short stories and other goodies from me, stuff not unlike that Soma […]
UPDATE: Since this post continues to receive traffic years later, and since I still consider it a valuable way to think about theme as a writer, I made a video version on my YouTube channel. It’s even still about Dead Space! In one article already I’ve mentioned what I call Thematic Integrity. You might have […]
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Return to Elysium and its Big Plot Hole
I’ve been getting a lot of comments (for me anyway!) In the Elysium post, I pointed out that in Elysium, rich, smart business people have access to a magical healing technology, and no one is using it on Earth to make money. Or more importantly, that no one sealed this plot hole with a simple […]
Posted by Westin Lee on Thursday, October 24th, 2013 at 9:35 am in Directing, Writing