Cubs Fan

2nd Apr 2009

General questions

Chosen answer: In the same way as you direct a normal film. The director is responsible for taking the script and turning into a visual depiction of the story being told - they determine the artistic and dramatic elements of the piece, giving the world depicted in the script a visual and audible form. In a live action film, they'll be working with lighting people, cameramen and so forth to ensure that the look of the scene matches their vision. With an animated film, they're doing the same thing, but are working with the animators instead. The basic principle is no different.

Tailkinker

14th Aug 2008

General questions

Is there a specific reason Tuesday was chosen as the release day for new DVD/Blu-Ray releases?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: A lot of reasons went into this decision. Most prominently: Sales figures are released on Mondays. Releasing a DVD on Tuesday maximizes the number of days in which to make sales that will count toward that figure. Next, if a video is selling particularly well, the retailer has plenty of time to order more copies for the weekend shoppers. Finally, releasing on Tuesday, as opposed to Monday, gives the retailer more time to stock their shelves. Not a big issue with super-huge chain stores, but rental establishments especially need time to reorganize everything on their shelves to fit the new releases in. Doing this over the weekend, when the store is most likely to be full of customers, for a Monday release isn't practical from a business perspective. Tuesday releases allow retailers to use the typically slow business day of Monday to get everything ready.

Phixius

11th Aug 2008

General questions

I've been watching "Melrose Place" on DVD, and I'm curious: since the show was aired on FOX, why are the DVDs released by CBS?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: CBS bought the rights to the show. You can also view them at cbs.com.

Carl Missouri

26th Apr 2008

General questions

On their Wikipedia page, it says that Irish folk band The Chieftains have won an Academy Award. What did they win for, in terms of film and category?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The 1975 film "Barry Lyndon" by Stanley Kubrick. The Chieftains contributed one song ("Women of Ireland") to the musical score, which won the Award for Best Original Song Score And Adaptation.

Twotall

9th Mar 2008

General questions

I've noticed that occasionally, some of the no. 1 films at the box office are also some of the worst reviewed by critics. Why is this?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The films are reviewed by critics, but attended by the regular movie-going public. Critics see every movie, so they have a tendency to get (a) jaded or (b) overly critical. They tire of plot devices and story lines that they have seen all too many times and often wish for more intelligent writing and witty dialogue. However the movie-going public is, admittedly, less demanding. They easily flock to movies that simply appeal to the masses.

Garlonuss

9th Feb 2008

General questions

I noticed on the list of 2008 Razzie nominations, Lindsay Lohan was nominated for Worst Screen Couple for her roles in I Know Who Killed Me. Are there any other actors/actresses who have shared that nomination with themselves?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Eddie Murphy is also nominated for Worst Screen Couple this year (so would have been on the same list) for his multiple roles in Norbit. Murphy was also nominated in the 2002 awards for his appearances with several different people, including his own clone in The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Ahnult Schwarzenegger received the nomination at the 2000 awards for his double role in The Sixth Day, with Leonardo di Caprio achieving the honour the previous year for The Man in the Iron Mask. There have also been several occasions where an actor or actress has been nominated along with an item of clothing or other prop, which could arguably count as a solo nomination, and three occasions on which an actress has had her breasts nominated, which would also seem to qualify.

Tailkinker

31st Jan 2008

General questions

How is it possible that Gary Fitzgerald was nominated for both Leading and Supporting Actor Oscars for Going My Way?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The initial nominations process involves each member of the Academy nominating those within their own field for the various awards appropriate to what they do. From these, the shortlists are drawn up for the second round of voting. In the case of Barry Fitzgerald, opinion was apparently divided as to whether his role qualifies as a lead role or a supporting role. Ultimately, he received a sufficiently high number of nominations from his fellow actors and actresses that he ended up on the shortlist for both categories. Since then, the rules have been changed to prevent it from happening again.

Tailkinker

18th Mar 2007

General questions

In screenwriting credits with more than one name, what is the difference between "and" and "&"?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: An ambersand (&) denotes that the people named wrote the script together, whereas the word AND denotes that the person named rewrote or added to the script. So "Screenplay by Tom & Dick and Harry" means that Tom and Dick wrote the screenplay and then Harry rewrote it.

Madstunts

12th Dec 2005

General questions

I know that at the Oscars, Best Picture and Best Director usually go hand-in-hand. What was the first film to win one without winning the other?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: At the very first Academy Awards (1927/28) "Wings" won Outstanding Picture and the Directing awards went to "Two Arabian Nights" and "7th Heaven" (one for "best direction" one for "best comedy direction"). In fact it wasn't until the 3rd year that "All Quiet on the Western Front" won both. So far the awards have gone to different pictures 19 times.

Myridon

17th Nov 2005

General questions

Is there a difference between a "featuring" credit and an "introducing" credit? If so, what is it?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: "Introducing" means that this is the actor's first role, or sometimes their first credited major role, i.e. not "3rd Dancing Guy". "Featuring" can mean several things. For example, an actor may have negotiated this into their contract so that their name stands out more in the credits or to point out a major player in a less than major part.

Myridon

15th Aug 2005

General questions

How are movies transferred from 35mm film to VHS/DVD?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: The film is projected from a regular projector into a mirror prism that reflects it into a special camera whose shutters are synched to the speed of the projector's. The signal is then sent to a video tape. Then the signal from the camera is sent to a computer where it is cleaned up and enhanced and then sent to the digital or recorded format.

Boobra

3rd Aug 2005

General questions

Chosen answer: Paul Newman in The Hustler/The Color of Money, Al Pacino in The Godfather/The Godfather II and Bing Crosby in Going My Way/The Bells of St. Mary's.

Ariane Schultheis

6th Jul 2005

General questions

How long do feature films usually run in theaters before they are released on DVD/VHS?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: They typically vary from film to film. It used to be a period of at least 6-7 months before they released them for rental or sale. These days however many are being released quite soon after their release, in some cases even as quick as 2-3 months (The Ray Charles film "Ray" was a recent one). The time it takes all depends on how the studio wants to distribute the film.

Lummie

1st Mar 2005

General questions

Chosen answer: Denis Lawson is the younger brother of Ewan McGregor's mum.

Baz94

4th Feb 2005

General questions

What is involved in the process of principal photography?

Cubs Fan

Chosen answer: Principal photography is simply the shooting of a film, whether on location on city streets, on an island somewhere or on set at a studio, etc., during a specific number of months - for instance beginning in the summer of 2005 carrying into the spring of 2006. Many times the production can be halted or pushed ahead because of actors' and crew's schedules or even strikes. Once principal photography is wrapped the actors go on to their next project and post-production attends to things like CG work, numerous sound effects - like foley and special effects, and if necessary (usually it is) actors come to the studio for looping/ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) or pickup shots - usually close-ups for a particular scene, which means that the actor's 'look' in the film has to be duplicated.

Super Grover

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