Contains footage of a lake, water droplets, seagulls, and cute ducklings. Watch in HD and enjoy!

1. Pick a spot and stay there long enough to count.

   Editors hate it when you give them a brilliant shot that’s not long enough. Once you get into position, hang out there for at least ten or fifteen seconds. Longer would be better. This all depends on the nature of the interview, of course.

2. Keep your paws off the zoom controls.

   No, seriously. I know, you see zooming all the time on TV and in theatrical documentaries. But zooming in is a poor alternative to actually walking closer if you can. If you must zoom, don’t do it like a rocket taking off. You’re trying to tell a story, not disorient your audience.

3. Don’t you dare even think about tilting the camera!

   All you’ll do by tilting the camera is simulate a storm at sea… Which comes packaged with free seasickness for your landlubber audience.

4. Get some coverage on both sides of the tripod-locked A-camera.

   If you keep the 180-degree rule in mind while doing this, it’s almost like having an extra camera!

5. Walk behind the A-camera, not in front of it.

   Yeah, it’s a no-brainer. Yeah, people still do it. Don’t you make that mistake.

Do you have any other handheld B-roll tips to share?

Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into … and Out of (Paperback)
by Blake Snyder
ISBN: 0984157603

Price: USD 13.46
8 used & new available from USD 13.46

Summary

The cat comes back for a sequel with more tips and tricks for screenwriters, expanding on the original Blake Snyder Beat Sheet to help you write your screenplay.

The Good

Lots of good stuff in here. If you liked the original Save the Cat!, you’ll find much to appreciate here.

We get several new tools, like the five-point Finale beat and the excellent chapter on straightening your story’s spine. The chapter on rewriting is also good, giving tips on what to do when the critique you get tells you that your darling scene needs to go. And how to interpret vague critique notes, too.

The Bad

As with the original, Save the Cat! Strikes Back has a smattering of bad language. The author also pretty much assumes you’ve seen all the movies he references.

The eighth chapter is very much a self-help chapter and didn’t do much for me.

Overall

Save the Cat! Strikes Back is very helpful to those who have already read Save the Cat! and are having screenwriting trouble. This might be the cure. I’ve been having trouble with my latest screenplay and now, with this book, Blake Snyder has me raring to go again.

To start with, Ruth and I have, as previously noted, finished the Books & Things Seminar DVD set for Simply Charlotte Mason. When I posted about that before, the official page had not yet gone live, but it is up now.

Also for Simply Charlotte Mason, we finished a couple of demo videos. One is about spelling using prepared dictation and the other is about their Laying Down the Rails book and workshop.

And then for Incredibooks, we created a little promo video for their Summer Read-a-Thon. We did one of these last year as well. This year’s video was especially exciting because it was our first project in HD.

So there’s a look at all the projects we’ve finished in the last few weeks. Funny how everything had to come to a head then.

Okay, bad news first. We’ve pretty much decided that reshooting our DragonSpell trailer and Rebekah’s neat idea are going to be put on hold for a future time. We’re not abandoning them by any means. We just needed to focus on other projects.

But wait! There’s good news! Ruth and I have finished the Books & Things seminar for Simply Charlotte Mason. We’re excited and very relieved.

Speaking of Simply Charlotte Mason, we’re mostly planning to shoot another video for them in the coming week.

And the Incredibooks Read-a-Thon video is still on the list of things to do. We just need to sit down and figure it all out.

Best news (in my opinion): Rebekah is hard at work on a script we’ve been working on since November. She stunned me yesterday with a page (filled in small handwriting) of backstory research. I’ve been told that there’s more to come.

I’m getting pretty excited about this one. Once we have a better working title, I might do a post with a little more info. For now, I’ll leave you wondering.

Wait a second! I do have some things to tell you!

In my last post, I mentioned that we were planning on entering a film contest. We’ve pulled back, looked at our schedules, and figured out that we won’t be able to do it. Maybe next time.

However, Ruth and I are practically done with the seminar for Simply Charlotte Mason. We have only DVD menus left and we’re saving those for next week when we can work on them in the same room.

As a little bit of a teaser for anybody who also reads our posts on Incredibooks… We’re planning on shooting a video for the annual summer Read-a-Thon sometime in the next couple of weeks. All I’m saying is that this one is more epic than last year’s.

We’re also planning on shooting a little something that Rebekah came up with. This is a pretty exciting idea that we’re hoping will be something we can sell. More on that later if it becomes a reality, I suppose.

And we’d also like to reshoot our long-neglected DragonSpell teaser. Some of the video didn’t turn out the way we liked, and we’ll have more time to plan. So we’re pinning that as a definite possibility. (In fact as I’m typing this post, Rebekah is getting distracted looking at wigs…)

Lots going on with us! Hopefully we’ll be able to post some photos of the behind-the-scenes of shooting some of these projects. Stay tuned!

We are all quite busy with various projects:

• Ruth and I are still editing a seminar for Simply Charlotte Mason, which is getting near completion.
• Rebekah is being the one who gets the most fun. She’s writing our next script!
• And we’re planning on participating in a film contest this April.

So that’s why you haven’t heard from us much lately.

We recorded this over the Internet between two states, so please excuse any garbled audio or quiet points. Turn down the lights, crank up the sound, grab some popcorn, and enjoy the commentary!

And now that you’ve finished watching it, what’d you think? Leave a comment and tell us!

We’ve been discussing the idea and have decided that it would be a great chance to share some of the fun stories from production. We have also learned a lot since making iSundae II, and we think this will be a way to share some insights into what we would do differently now.

So keep an eye out for the iSundae II commentary. It’s coming soon!

The first two videos in the series will launch in March, with more in the works. Until then, get a sneak peek at the show on their videos page.