What Does a Movie Producer Do?

About 2 weeks ago I wrote an article about movie directors and what their roles are during the making of a film. Today, at the request of a reader (+Levi), I'm going to be answering a similar question: what does a movie producer do?

Basically, the producer oversees production of the entire movie from beginning to end. Specifically, he or she is responsible for managing the creation of a movie from the moment an idea for a film is presented, to the moment it hits theatres (and even afterwards they still have to work on advertising it, distributing it on DVD and Blu-Ray etc). They handle most of the business aspects of movie-making such as pitching ideas to studios (if the idea didn't come from within a studio), making sure the film doesn't exceed budget limitations and organizing salaries of cast and crew.

The producer is the person who hires crew members, a scriptwriter (if necessary) and other producers to work on the film under him or her. He or she also works with the director to pick cast members for the different roles of the movie.

A Good Fantasy Movie to Watch – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

If you've been looking for a good fantasy movie to watch then you've come to the right place. Today, I'll be recommending/reviewing The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey which is probably the best film that I've seen in the past few months.

The Hobbit follows Bilbo Baggins, uncle of Frodo Baggins, who appeared in the Lord of the Rings trilogy played by Sir Ian Holm. In this film, Holm makes an appearance early on in the film as “old Bilbo” but Martin Freeman takes the role of “young Bilbo” for the rest of the movie. Without giving too much away, the story involves Bilbo being whisked away on a quest by Gandalf (played by Sir Ian McKellen) and a band of dwarves which brings him face to face with perils that he has never encountered before.

The actors in the movie performed brilliantly. Freeman did an excellent job as Bilbo and it was good to see Ian McKellen reprising his role as Gandalf the Grey. Another cast member who really caught my eye during the film was Richard Armitage who plays the dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield. He definitely stood out as a powerful character, much like Aragorn did in The Return of the King. Some of the dwarves don't get noticed all that well mostly because they aren't essential to the story. However, Peter Jackson did a really good job of giving all of the dwarves as big of a role as possible so that the audience can develop at least some sort of connection with them. An additional character that I should mention is Radagast the Brown (played by Sylvester McCoy), a wizard who really adds some entertainment to the movie.

Movie Review - Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness hit theatres this week and I went to see it this morning. It was definitely a good movie with many positives, but it had one flaw that I seem to be seeing in a lot of movies these days: a lack of novelty.

Into Darkness brings back all of the cast from the 2009 Star Trek movie and introduces a few new people (notably Benedict Cumberbatch). This movie, like the previous one, was directed by J.J. Abrams who did a great job on this film. I recently wrote an article about movie directors that outlines what the roles of the director are. Abrams fulfilled all of those roles and more with this movie. The acting is top notch, the storyline progresses well and the cinematography is just great overall.

There are many things in the film that a Star Trek fan, such as myself, will love. For instance, humour from the previous movie is present in this film as well. There are even a few things (which I won't spoil) that hearken back to older Star Trek films like the Wrath of Khan. Of course the idea of the Prime Directive comes up during the beginning of the movie in a scene that makes several references to pop culture stuff like Ancient Aliens and Nibiru. All of these things liven up the movie and make it enjoyable for fans of the Star Trek lore.

What Does a Movie Director Do?

Have you ever asked yourself the question "what does a movie director do"? If you have, then this article is for you. I'll explain to you here what exactly it is that this person called "the director" does.

The director is one of the most important people that works on a movie. He or she is involved in the pre-production, production and post-production phases of creating a film. Basically, the director is responsible for making the movie enjoyable for the audience by organizing it's production at almost every stage.

The modern day movie director grew out of the historical play director. In general, directors of plays had (and still have) a lot of the same responsibilities as movie directors do today (e.g. picking actors, overseeing the production etc). Play directors were often the authors of plays, and they also acted in addition to directing. Movie directors today also have some responsibilities that play directors from centuries ago did not as you'll see below.

What is the Longest Movie Ever Made?

Have you ever watched a really long movie? Did you get bored or think to yourself “when will this movie be over”? Or perhaps you were glad that the film was long because it was really well made. You may have also thought of the question: what is the longest movie ever made? It's an interesting question and one which I'll answer for you today. 

Before answering however, it's important to clearly define what type of movie we're talking about. There are different kinds of movies out there and some of them are exceptionally long because they weren't made to be watched on a Friday night by the average person on the street. One example of this is the experimental film 24 Hour Psycho which was released in 1993. This movie is just an editted version of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho which was made to play at 2 frames per second rather than 24 frames per second like the original movie. The result is that the film ends up being 24 hours long.