Jacob Marshal asked:

What do we expect from movies? No doubt, entertainment is the first thing that we would expect from movies. What else? After long hectic schedules of daily work, we would often prefer to go for an amazing movie that can give us lot of excitement and good fun, than those tragic ones. Sport movies are the kind of movies which can give people utmost joy and pleasure.

The sport movies are built upon sports settings like football field or baseball stadium, arena, or the Olympics etc. Often you would find a competitive event or various athletic events being the central point upon which the whole story of the movie is built. Mostly the protagonist of the story is a boxer, footballer or a racer or any other sports person according to the demands of the story. Sports movies does not necessarily be fictional, they can be non-fictional also or a combination of both. However, they would surely belong to one or the other subcategories like biopics, dramas, comedies, documentaries, fantasies, film noir and melodramas.

Whatever may be their category, sport films are widely popular among the masses. The sound tracks of the sport movies are often exciting. The narrative and commentaries in the sport movies are also marvelous. Excellent sound track, good choreography and real like settings make the sport movies unique. Many sport movies have won the hearts of the audience and remained evergreen till today. Some of the most popular sport movies include Olympia (1938), Bull Durham (1988), Raging Bull (1980) , Hoop Dreams (1994), Hoosiers (1986) , Remember the Titans (2000) , Million Dollar Legs (1932) , Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson (2005) and Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993) etc.

Many sport movies are also based on real stories. Some of the renowned sports movies which are based on real life stories include The Great White Hope, Gentleman Jim , The Cinderella Man etc. The Pride of the Yankees (1942) is also a famous sport movie based on Lou Gehrig the reputed baseball player of the New York Yankees. Another film Ali starred by Will Smith is based on the life of boxing champion Muhammad Ali. Somebody Up There Likes Me released in 1956 is also an excellent film highlighting the life of middleweight champion Rocky Graziano.

Sport movies are always acclaimed. Till now, movies on various sports, including football, cheer leading, wrestling, chess, boxing etc have been made. But, the most popular sport themes in the Hollywood seem to be baseball, basketball, American football, soccer and boxing. However other sport themes like horse racing, golf and wrestling are also greatly appreciated by the audience.

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Isaiah G. Henry asked:

Movie soundtrack has always been something that makes the movie a lot more memorable. Take for example the movie Jaws, the haunting background music when the shark lurks the waters is something that no one can ever forget.

Although we have many websites that allow download free movie soundtracks it is difficult to find one website that will allow you to download all our favorite movie soundtracks. It will of course be nice if you can find websites that offer wide range of movie soundtracks free downloads. Finding these websites that offer download free movie soundtracks is quite a task and can turn out to be just a bit difficult at times. It took me some time but I managed to find a few websites that can be used in combination to download free movie soundtracks.

Steps to download free movie soundtracks. To find the websites to download free movie soundtracks, you need to get online and to your favorite search engine. Use keywords like, free download, free music download, free movie soundtrack download, download free movie soundtracks, movie soundtracks for free download, etc.

Although there are a few websites for free movie soundtracks downloads that may offer you free Anti-Spyware and Adware as well along with a software that supports the file format they offer for download, it is advised that you be safe than sorry. Because with more and more websites offering movie soundtracks free download there are good possibilities that your computer may get infected by some harmful viruses.

Free websites make it easy for you by offering a variety of movie soundtracks for free download. The websites that charge should first be tested by downloading song clips before registering and paying the fee. If the website does not offer samples, move on and look for another website that does. There is a huge list of websites which offer every kind of movie soundtrack for free download.

However, at the same time it is these websites that offer download movie soundtracks free that have made sound movie tracks more accessible for music lovers and in some way are the reason for movies success. In other words, websites that allow free download of movie soundtracks are a boon.

So, if you have a computer and high-speed internet at home what are you waiting for? Go on search for websites that offer download movie soundtracks free and get your movie soundtrack collection made.

Any good website will be able to give you free downloads of movie soundtracks with excellent audio quality. Knowing how easy it is, get ready to be a part of the internet savvy world and begin downloading free movie soundtracks of your choice and be envied by your friends to be the first to get your hands on the latest and most popular movie soundtracks.

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Sid Kali asked:

Please take a moment put away any initial thoughts of the way you think a real movie director should sound and act doing their job. It’s tough not to want to emulate directors you respect both in style and attitude.

I learned that during the independent film shoots for Consignment and In With Thieves that were produced under the flag of Slice Of Americana Films.

Drug Dealing, Money, & Power. Consignment deals with the drug trade that thrives at the street level. This fast-paced urban movie erupts into 14 on screen murders. In this business you don’t go legit. You just go.

The soundtrack highlights tracks from up and coming East Coast & West Coast artists that include Custom Made Recordings, Ayreon The Don, Malice & Da Commission and Street Squad Entertainment. Consignment is being released November 13, 2007 by Maverick Entertainment Group, Inc. one of the premiere distributors of independent cinema. Consignment will be distributed under their urban label.

In With Thieves is the intense story of a Cuban cartel that practices their own version of Santeria, an African based crime group that deals in blood diamonds, ruthless Albanian gangsters, and a tough American burglary crew. This film was completed July 2007 and is represented by Mark Bosko of The Bosko Group.

We are currently in pre-production for our third film. Stash Spot is a furious urban action film. Rival criminals fight to find a fortune in cash ripped-off during a drug deal gone bad. When the stick-up artists responsible turn up dead, a bloodbath erupts as each vicious criminal makes their ruthless play to locate the money.

Urban movies are on the rise in popularity with viewers. This can be seen in the exploding direct to video market where urban movies have carved out a very respectable following.

Who can forget how hardcore of a director Robert Rodriguez looked on the cover of ‘Rebel without A Crew’. Rodriguez’s story inspired guerrilla filmmakers everywhere that they could shoot an ultra-low budget action movie like ‘El Mariachi’ that was entertaining, while giving the finger to the traditional way of getting a movie done.

Quentin Tarantino is a cool as they come. His style is often ‘borrowed’ from because he knows how to tell a good story using pictures. Tarantino has creative influences like all directors who grew up watching movies. The difference is Tarantino turned those influences into his own unique style.

There are many more directors who make great movies and look cool doing it I didn’t mention for the sake of brevity. There’s even more directors who’s personalities and colorful nature keep them in the publics even if they haven’t had a hit movie in years. The cult of personality is a real factor in the world of movies. It can keep some directors working or at least in the media eye until they can turn out a good movie. In Hollywood that may work, but on the true independent side of filmmaking your image won’t get you anywhere unless you can make entertaining movies.

Instead of wasting your energy to create a colorful image and developing your own cult following like a rock star. Focus on learning what a director does and has to deal with during a movie shoot. You don’t want to be all style and no substance. Craig Brewer, Charles Dutton, Damon Dash, Sid Kali, Hype Williams, John Singleton, The Hughes Brothers, Mario Van Peebles, and Kasi Lemmons had to prove themselves by making sharp urban films before anyone knew who they were or cared.

It takes more than deciding where the camera goes to be a director, especially when you’re directing an indie film where you won’t have the luxury of sitting in video village cut off from all the other production gyrations going on. I’ve wrangled cable, broke down equipment, dressed sets, and a dozen other jobs as ‘director’ on indie film shoots. It’s not glamorous, but it gets the job done.

General rules of thumb that will help you become a stronger director.

A strong grasp of the entire process it takes to make a film is important. There’s different departments that work together to bring a film together. The camera department, sound department, make-up/wardrobe department etc. You need to know what they do and how to maximize their efforts to help achieve your creative goal as a movie director. On big budget film shoots the departments are very distinct and well supported. Knowing how to best utilize your team comes from understanding how these departments work. On indie shoots more often than not the departments blur together out of necessity. During the shooting of the urban movie Consignment we had one person with an assistant doing key hair and make-up while also heading the wardrobe department. These two departments were put together because I knew how they worked and how to bring them together to keep the production moving.

You should learn basic camera shots, angles, and moves. Know what a medium shot is. Know what a reverse-angle shot is. Know what a dolly shot is. Know what a two and three shot are. Pick up ‘Film directing Shot By Shot’ by Steven D. Katz’. It can provide the technical foundation you will need as a director to help your creative vision come to life. Keep in mind their is only so much you can learn from books. When you get on set you’ll hear terms for shots, like ‘cowboy guns’ and ‘cowboy no guns’ not covered in a book. It’s a medium shot from the waist up no guns to thigh up guns. People will yell ‘Wolf!’ which means stop. “Flying in (insert film gear here) means bringing in. No shame in asking what a term means when you do not know. Ignorance is not bliss on a urban film set.

I was a grunt production assistant (PA) acting as a human stop signing controlling traffic with another PA. I got called on the walkie we were rolling and to not let any cars through. I gave the hand signal to the other PA, production had limited walkies, that we were rolling. He nodded knowingly for two takes. During the middle of the third take he let a motorcycle roar through killing the take and getting us both chewed out. I later asked if he missed the signal, he told me he had no idea that signal meant rolling. He never worked on a film before. Asking what the signal meant would have saved us being chewed out.

That story ties into how crucial communication is when your making an urban action movie. You have to be clear to with everyone involved in your film about what you’re going to do, what you need, and what you’re looking for them to do. People look for this, they expect this from a director. Don’t leave cast and crew guessing about what you want. There’s never enough time or money to play that game during production. Communication runs two ways. Make sure people can ask you questions if they’re not clear on something you said. What might make total sense to you can be lost in the translation as it goes out to the troops.

Accept you’re not always going to make the right call on every shot. You’re never going to be totally happy with the way some scenes turned out. You’ll always want to go back and re-shoot certain scenes again. Fight through it. It might not seem like it during crazy times of filming, but if you have paid attention to the details you will have shot yourself a movie at the end of production. Trust your instincts. I was a nervous wreck after CONSIGNMENT was in the can. I could barely sit down with the editor Tim Beachum to watch the raw footage because my neck and back were seized up with stress.

Sure enough a couple of the camera moves I chose for a few scenes did not turn out like I had envisioned. A few of the calls I made as a director just didn’t work. I was a mess, editor Tim Beachum was surprisingly relaxed
about it all and talked me down from the proverbial ledge. I was positive the urban movie Consignment was doomed. What saved the day?

A tip I got from an old school Director of Photography (DP) I listened to before shooting. No matter what kind of amazing camera move you want to experiment with to shoot a scene grab at least one take of a master or a standard three shot for coverage in case your wonder shot goes to hell. Turns out the coverage I thought was never going to use because surely my awesome camera moves would work. Some didn’t. The extra coverage I grabbed did end up covering my ass in post.

The editor had enough coverage from those few takes to cut the film together without losing continuity. I had spent three or four takes on what I thought were the coolest shots only to end up using the basic takes that worked. The other side of the coin of that is some of the shots I had taken chances on worked beautifully. Nothing like hearing an editor say, ‘that was a real pretty shot’ or ‘loved the way you shot that scene’. So if it all goes to hell with your experimental shots have at least a little standard coverage to get you through. If it comes down to time. Plan ahead to give yourself a take or two with the shot you really want and a take going by the book for coverage

Having a solid sense of how to tell stories using moving pictures and thinking about how a scene will cut together before you yell ‘Action!’ is a smart. It gives you much more flexibility as a director to be creative, take chances, and experiment with a scene. Knowing the basics how to cover a scene allows you to bend the rules.

Avoid being a paranoid and insecure director. Yes, you have to keep firm control of the shoot because a film directed by committee doesn’t work, but there is a fine line between control and paranoia fueled by insecurity. It can quickly turn into on of those possessive relationships where it all goes bad quickly if you go along with it.

I was working on a shoot film in Los Angeles with a director that was wired pretty tight. He asked me once if any of the cast or crew said things about him behind his back. Of course they did. That’s what people do. Of course I lied like people do in that situation and said no. He was completely convinced that one of the actors were forgetting their lines on purpose to undermine him and the DP was just waiting to hijack his movie all together. He was wrong. They were talking about what an absolutely paranoid hard on he was.

It all came to ahead when a camera shot wasn’t working after numerous takes and the director went off into one of the most colorful profanity laced fits I had ever seen. I mean for a fit it was a beauty to watch. Arms flailing, a prop glass being thrown against the wall like a child, and everything else you expect from a person who lost control. “Why isn’t this working?” was the last thing he yelled. The 1st A.D. smartly told everyone to take five while things cooled on set.

The director got himself back together and we took another take that didn’t work. We were losing daylight and had a lot of other scenes to shoot to make the day, so the DP suggested a way the shot could work, by using a different camera position and move to get the action the director wanted. Right on cue, the paranoid director completely over reacted. He told the DP to piss off he. He was the director and wasn’t going to let him hijack his movie. The DP cooly said, “stop being so insecure. I’m here to make your movie, not mine.” The director blew off the suggestion without a second thought. He never got the shot he wanted to work and scraped the scene from the final cut. Who knows if the DP’s suggestion would have worked? It would have made sense to try it considering the other shot wasn’t working.

It was a different story on another shoot all together. A friend of mine was directing his first feature. He didn’t have a lot of money, but he brought on a DP with a resume an arm long and for the lead this hot B list actress that had some slasher movie credits. He invited me out to visit the set. My friend was a director with energy and drive to spare. He knew exactly what he wanted from everybody on the set. He gave the DP detailed notes, his shot sheet, and they had already gone over in detail the story-boards my friend drew up himself before shooting began. My friend was in total control.

I was looking over his shoulder into the monitor during the crucial shooting of the final scene of the film. He had the actress in this amazing bikini being chased by a knife wielding killer. After the first take there was a problem. The actress ran slower than the actor playing the killer. On the next take he told the actress to speed it up and the actor to slow it down. Still didn’t work. My friend watched the playback with the DP. Then asked the DP what he thought would work to get the shot. The DP got the shot to work by changing the blocking and moving the camera. My friend got the shot and the ending he wanted because he was secure enough as a director to utilize his DP, not neutralize him.

Those two experiences really gave me some perspective on getting through directing a movie. During CONSIGNMENT I ran into a major problem that threatened to cost us shooting a crucial murder scene. We had been working all night and instead of chasing daylight we were trying to beat it. We had a shooting scene that had to be shot before the sun came up, we had about an hour of night left, and there was no option to push the scene. We were losing that location for good after we wrapped. After a couple less than stellar takes I turned to my DP Royce Dudley. We have to make this work, we can’t lose this scene I said. I took the actors through a last minute rehearsal without rolling on the camera to see if I could cover the scene a different way. Royce stood back like he did sometimes watching. After the walk through rehearsal he said, “I can get your scene” and he did. Thanks Royce!

On the IN WITH THIEVES shoot I brought back an actor from CONSIGNMENT I really enjoyed working with named Jerome Hawkins.

I write and direct my own movies, so I get really involved in not only the action, but that the lines are delivered the way I want them. So here we are shooting a scene, when Jerome tells me he’s really feeling adding something to a line, keep in mind this movie is my baby, but I felt his vibe. I gave him one take to run with it his way. The line he added to close the dialogue was great. We added it to the script and kept it in the movie. Did I feel he was under-minding me? No. I was secure enough as a director to let an actor I respected contribute creatively to the movie.

These last couple of stories might seem to go against what I said about not directing by committee, taking chances that don’t always work, and keeping control of your movie. I still feel that a movie can’t get done right when you have a weak director who listens to everyone on what their movie should end up looking like. I still feel you can’t be afraid to take chances on shots that don’t end up working. I still feel you have to keep control of your movie. It’s one thing to be overly paranoid about someone hijacking your movie, but it’s equally destructive to you as a director to cave in when someone is trying to tell you how to do your job as a director.

You also don’t want to become so completely narrow minded that you can’t brainstorm with your key production personal to problem solve, work creatively with your DP to see your vision materialize, allow your talent to spread their wings from time to time in a scene, or see when you need to be open minded enough to change the way you’re shooting a scene so that it can work. You surrounded yourself with a good team let them help you make your movie. They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well it takes a production team to make a movie.

it will always be your overall vision behind the way a movie will turn out, but being open to collaboration with your cast an
d crew creates a more positive set. You don’t want mindless robots going through the motions. You want fired up people eager to lend you all their talents to make your movie rock. Don’t let your ego get in the way of you seeing the big picture.

Some myths I do not buy into about being a director.

You’re not a real director if you don’t shoot on film. Once you’ve completed a shoot on any format you’re a real director.

A director needs to know how to light scenes. The more you know about any aspect of film production the better, but if you don’t know about lighting a scene you can still direct. What I do is make notes on the look, feel, and mood I see in my head for each scene. I pass that along to the DP so we can discuss how to make it happen. I also like to suggest to the DP DVD’s to rent with scenes I feel lighting wise are close to what I’m going after. Your DP is the master of light. He’ll deliver the lighting set ups you need.

The director needs to know how to run the camera. Not true. It’s very possible you will never touch the camera once during a shoot. I myself for the most part watch through a monitor. I do look through the camera after the DP has set the frame for the shot, but I rarely run it.

It’s easier to direct a low budget indie movie than a mainstream Hollywood movie. Wrong. Directing a low budget indie or a Hollywood blockbuster both have their own challenges for a director to numerous to list. In the end you still have to be able to tell a good story using pictures. It’s never easy.

A director sits in video village all day while everyone else works. I wish that was true. A director has to be on top of everything going on during shooting. They deal with the actors, check with camera and sound to make sure there were no problems with the take, and put out a dozen other fires that pop up.

Some ideas I do buy into as a director.

Never let anyone give your actors direction or notes, unless they are coming directly from you. You’re the director It’s your role and your role alone to work with actors to get the performances you want. No one else should ever be allowed to work with the actors. One time I was on a roof looking at a scene. I didn’t like the way the blocking was playing out, so I walkied the 1st A.D. some directions to pass along to the actors. That’s as far as I felt comfortable having people work with talent.

It’s your set and you should be the only one to yell CUT! I had an actor once in the middle of the take turn to the camera and say cut because they flubbed a line. It wasn’t their call, it’s not anyones call but the director. They were warned and when it happened again they were released from the movie.

The director is the driving force behind a movie. Nobody is going to care as much about your movie as you do. You have to keep everyone pumped up and on track to finish a movie. You want your passion for what you’re shooting as a director to be contagious on the set.

A director needs to be able to be secure enough to listen and collaborate with cast and crew. This is not directing by committee but having the leadership ability to fully maximize everyone’s talents. Your movie can only turn out better because of it.

You have to be a cheerleader and a salesmen. When things are not going well on set you need to be able to keep morale up. After a rough day of shooting I let everyone know what a great job they were doing and how excited I was by the dailies I looked at each night. I had to keep them excited about the movie now, not when they would get paid a week later. The next toughest thing is keeping people going after you’ve hit 12 hours. You have to sell them on your ability as a director to not only finish the movie, but turn out a good one that people will want their names attached to in the credits. You would be surprised how many people worked on a movie for credit only and the movie never got done or turned out terrible. Let them know you’re not that director. If they stick with you and dig a little deeper you will put out a good film.

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Dominique Halet asked:

Apart of Christmas tree, decorations, parties and gifts, there is something that adds a special atmosphere to the holiday season: Christmas movies.

Almost all adults have sweet memories related to a Christmas movie; a movie that remains favorite and have – sometimes just for a second – a special flavour: the taste of childhood.

We are now adults and know that movies related to Christmas create a fun atmosphere and also teach moral lessons to our children.

When I was a child, the most watched Christmas movies in Belgium were 1950′s American movies (Hollywood style obviously) or French films.

For twenty-five years, our society evolved and the quality of Christmas TV broadcasts in

French-speaking Europe has decreased. Movies of Christmas Eve have generally been replaced by musical broadcasts whose quality was not the best. Lots of TV companies also tend to offer hundred times viewed movies: for instance, TVI will display Harry Potter 1 and 2 on December 24th while we were expecting watching Harry Potter 3 or 4…

However, thanks to the Internet and DVD stores, I have the opportunity to watch the movies I love instead of those proposed by TV companies.

Here are some examples of beautiful and/or humorous Christmas movies I love:

“Bishop’s Wife”

A nice movie in the Hollywood tradition!

While working on plans to build a cathedral financed by a rich widow, Henry Broghaman, an Episcopal bishop neglects his family and prays for divine guidance.

His prayers are heard and Dudley, an angel, is sent to help him. The mission of the angel is not to assist with the building, but in his relations with his family that he is neglecting.

But Dudley falls in love with the bishop’s wife and Broghaman is jealous…

French title of this movie is “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (Old English: shame upon him who thinks evil of it).

“The sound of music”

This movie tells the story of Maria, a young Austrian who was studying to become a nun. She was hired by Captain Von Trapp, a widower to be the governess to his seven children.

The children were initially hostile to her but finally became her friends when she thaught them the joy of singing.

Captain Von Trapp and Maria fell in love and get married. When the Nazis took power in Austria, Captain Von Trapp and his whole family fled the country and found refuge in Switzerland.

This romantic musical comedy is one of French-speaking European favorite movies.

“3615 Code Pere Noel”

Thomas is a child who has everything: a mother who loves him, a cheeky grandfather, thousands of different and expensive toys.

Thomas is a clever child and on Christmas Eve, while planning of catching, he communicates with him through the Minitel (the French ancestor of the instant messenger).

Unfortunately, the alleged Santa Claus is a psychopath employee that his mother just laid off. A few hours later, the false Santa penetrates Thomas castle and the nightmare begins.

The English title of this thriller is “Dial Code Santa Claus”

“Le Pere Noel est une Ordure” (Santa Claus is a junk)

“SOS Distress and Friendship” is a charity association run by Mrs Musquin. While she decided to celebrate Christmas Eve with her family, Pierre and Therese, will spend their evening the phone and try to give some hope to desperate people.

They do not know that this Christmas Eve will get them into silly accidents as well as unannounced visits of desperate, and sometimes, dangerous people. The evening will turn into a humorous nightmare.

The American remake of this movie is “Mixed Nuts”.

“Scrooged”

This is a modern adaptation of the Dickens tale. Francis Cross, who is the program director of a TV station, is a disagreeable person.

During the Christmas Eve, three ghosts will take care of them and teach him how to become a pleasant person by showing him the good side of life.

This movie is also a nice message that teaches to the world the real meaning of Christmas.

“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”

The return of Griswold Family!

25000 bulbs on the front of the house blinding the neighbors, unbearable related family, a burning Christmas tree, a charred Christmas turkey, hostile neighbors, a removed Christmas bonus and a lot of unexpected accidents, this is the Christmas of the Griswold family.

I watched this movie for the first time in the late 80′s and never have enough of it! I even bought the DVD in order to have the opportunity to create a hysteric Christmas atmosphere any other day of the year!

“Surviving Christmas”

Tired of the customs associated with Christmas and New Year? What about being paid $250,000 to to celebrate a traditional Christmas Eve with an unknown person?

Enjoy watching these movies and have a very Merry Christmas!

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