JMS on FX and Story

[Joseph DeMartino]

JMS has made statements in the past about always wanting to "raise the bar" technically on each new project. Someone on Compuserve asked what he meant by this, and if he was ever pressured by the studio to use special effects for their own sake, which seems to be so much the trend in big screen SF. Here's his reply:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>For me, raising the bar has to be a comprehensive sort of thing, specifically using the fx to further the story, and in service to the story. If it's fx for fx's sake, then that aint raising the bar, it's lowering it.

The remake of The Haunting of Hill House was a great example of a triumph of fx over common sense... it didn't raise the bar for anything because it torpedoed the story.

There are at least two segments in the new Rangers movie that contain visuals nobody's ever tried before... and they're real stunners, but they remain in service to the story.

jms<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Is it January yet?

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[StarStuff]

Can't wait. Can't wait. Can't wait!!!

(I know what FX refers to but what exactly does it mean?)

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God be between you and harm in all the empty places you must walk.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>(I know what FX refers to but what exactly does it mean?)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just Hollywood shorthand for "effects." "Eff" "Ex" sounds about the same as "effects" when said aloud, so abbreviating sound effects to "sfx" on a script page or note saves time. There's a lot of that sort of thing in script lingo. Some of it a little more obscure.

The note "M.O.S." means that a sequence is to be shot without any live sound recorded. Either the dialogue will be "looped" in later or only music and sound effects will be used. (Sometimes there is not point in even trying to record live dialogue, if a scene calls for heavy winds, or really has to be shot somewhere like an airport with planes passing overhead. The production saves money by not bringing the sound crew to the location.)

So what does "M.O.S." actually stand for? "Mit-out Sound" It was a caricature of the accent of German refugee directors who came to Hollywood between the wars, as sound was replacing silent films. Joseph Von Sternberg and others were often spoofed behind their backs by American-born crews, and the abbreviation was soon used and understood all over Hollywood - to the extent that it is still in use today, a couple of generations after the Von Sternbergs have all gone to their celluloid reward.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net