I passed an important milestone this week when I passed the 45-minute mark on my transportation planning movie “The Barrier”. In the final version, I expect that will turn out a little shorter, but for now it’s nice to feel like I’m half way to my first feature length movie. Earlier in the week, I… Read Article →
Posts By: James Beattie Morison
I finished two scenes I had started last week, reworked two other scenes I’d done earlier, and added three new scenes. I’m at just over 37 minutes now. In the final cut, that would run a bit shorter. That puts me about 40 per cent of the way through. Characters and Story I need to… Read Article →
I didn’t do much work on news scenes for “The Barrier” this week. Instead, I diverted most of my efforts to adding computer screen images to the film. In several scenes, the characters talk about what is on their computer screen, so I needed to add those images in. How I Created the Computer Screen… Read Article →
I was disappointed to get another rejection of my short story “Pete’s Plan” this week. “The Barrier” is almost one-third done now. My various distractions may delay progress. “Pete’s Plan” I got another rejection for my science fiction short story “Pete’s Plan”. It took them 3 months to respond and, by the time I got… Read Article →
Progress I finished another four scenes and started on a fifth for “The Barrier” this week. They run about seven minutes, which is about what I did the week before. I rejigged several of the earlier scenes. Total run time is about 18 minutes now. There is some overlap between scenes, so it will end… Read Article →
I made more progress on my transportation movie this week. I did four scenes this week and edited them together with the two scenes I did last week. It came in at just under 10 minutes. I finished the scene I gave up on last week. It is the scene where the boss, Brandon, assigns… Read Article →
I started to develop a new video on Xtranormal this week. I would like to end up with a feature length movie, but we’ll see how it develops. I planned to cannibalize my two stories “The Gladstone Barrier” and “The Glencoe Project” for the project. I’ve only taken some of the ideas from the stories… Read Article →
I’ve been stuck on my story “Sweat Box” for several months now. I’ve found that when I pick one top priority, then I tend to neglect everything else. Focus is a good thing, but sometimes it just gets in the way. For the past couple months my top priority has been my wife’s health. While… Read Article →
Much of what I read about filmmaking and writing focuses on how to sell your work. While I see the necessity of this, I don’t think I am good at it, and I certainly don’t enjoy it. I’ve always thought of selling your work in negative terms, which I think of as “self-promotion”. In the… Read Article →
Some parts of my new story “Sweat” are autobiographical. I find those are the hardest parts to write. I’ve tried to understand why. Most, if not all, writers draw from their personal experiences in their work. I often find it difficult to do. I based one scene in “Sweat” on an actual conversation I had…. Read Article →
