Author Archives: Shawn

More on Heroes and Protagonists

I’ve begun to notice how to read people’s eyes. For example, the eyes of Heath Ledger and Robin Williams have a bipolar wear-your-emotions-on-your sleeve feel. They also have the look of someone who’s always thinking, more specifically, looking the abyss … Continue reading

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Wonder Woman

From Facebook Post (June 4): I don’t know what to say about Wonder Woman that hasn’t already been said but I’ll try: It made me cry. Wonder Woman gives you the feels the way many modern Pixar films try to … Continue reading

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10 Filmmaking Lessons from Armageddon

If one were to define the word “crowdpleaser” it would undoubtedly be a link to Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Armageddon. It is the pinnacle of collaboration. With nearly a dozen writers (screenplay by, story by, and ghost writers/polishers), a huge ensemble of … Continue reading

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Star Wars Complete Saga in One Day (Analysis)

I did it! I watched the entire Star Wars Saga in one sitting. Six movies back-to-back starting with Episode I and ending with Episode VI. That’s over 12 hours of footage in glorious Blu-Ray on a 50″ plasma TV with surround … Continue reading

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Yojimbo vs A Fistful of Dollars

This past weekend, I rented Yojimbo (1961, dir./co-writer Akira Kurosawa) and A Fistful of Dollars (1964, dir. Sergio Leone, starring Clint Eastwood). They were recommended by my student advisor at RRFC (a mentorship program) to help develop a story I want to write. … Continue reading

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Save the Cat – Loglines

I read this book a while ago and it got me on a logline writing frenzy. Most of the good ones I came up with ended up being joke loglines like this one I made for a potential Bananagrams movie: … Continue reading

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On Directing Film by David Mamet

On Directing Film by David Mamet A review by Shawn Duenas “Always do things in the least interesting way, and you make a better movie.” pg 20 A hand grabs a book off of the shelf. It’s opened wide. A young … Continue reading

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Action movies

http://www.avclub.com/article/how-make-good-action-film-11-lessons-modern-movies-222083 This article got me thinking about what action movies I like. I seem to like and respect all of the action scenes and fight choreography shown here, but the lack of characters having fun was noticeable. Lock out was … Continue reading

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Lessons from Liar Liar

The first time I saw this movie was in theaters back in 1997, so I was 9 1/2 years old. I remember liking it but forgetting about it until we got it on VHS. From that point on it was … Continue reading

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“Inside Out” Review Part 1 of 2

My review of Inside Out is a 1/5. It’s a very personal 1/5 but I also had problems with the story, characters, clarity of the world, and Inception-style explanations of story solutions. The one point came solely from the message they were trying to put on screen. Continue reading

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