Rogue One and Editing Part 1 – Showing and Telling

I cringe every time I hear someone say, "Show, don't tell," as if it's an unbreakable rule. As with any of the rules of writing, it just depends on what's best for the flow and pacing of the story. When is it best to show? When is it best to tell? Well, I decided to…

Talking About Music Now

I had an idea to make a quick video about the music that we hear while watching movies. Sometimes, I feel like the music fits so extremely well, like Bill Conti's score in the Karate Kid films (especially Karate Kid III), Basil Poledouris' music in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian, or any John Williams music to…

My First Novel’s Final Revision Is Finally Complete

It’s been more than eight and a half years since I started writing my first novel, but rather than at an end, I feel that I’m only at the beginning. Way back on May 21, 2013, I began jotting down some notes for an idea I had to poke fun at sci-fi clichés, and only…

Power Rangers (2017) and the Power of Editing

This post contains SPOILERS for the 2017 film Power Rangers. If you haven’t seen it, please go, go watch it before reading the rest of what’s written here. Thank you! Recently, I watched the 2017 attempt to turn Power Rangers into a film franchise. Unfortunately, the attempt didn’t pan out from a financial perspective as…

I Think This Is About As Positive As I’ll Get With Modern-Era Star Wars

After watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace a few times to get an idea of why some people have said the film is boring, I decided to go back and watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, just out of curiosity as to how it compares to The Phantom Menace, seeing as how I hear some…

The Importance of Good Pacing: The Phantom Menace and Editing

So, I’m watching Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace yet again. I’m doing this after hearing someone say the movie is “boring.” I want to understand why. What makes the film so uncompelling? I pause after the opening scene to reflect on it. Yes, it drags in places, with interruptions to the flow of…

How Too Much Dialogue Can Get In The Way

In my previous post, I discussed the infamous, “Why did you say that name?!” line in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and how removing it changed the interpretation of the scene and brought sense to it. Now, we’re going through more dialogue to see how too much dialogue can actually bog things down a…

How Removing One Line Of Dialogue Can Totally Change A Scene

I have a firm love/hate relationship with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While I love Batman, and Superman is a favorite character of mine, I’ve always felt that the story in the film is so completely flawed that it needs a complete re-imagining. No, that’s not what this particular blog post is about (although…