What I Wish I’d Been Told in Film School (re-post from yegfilm.ca)

Posted on by adambentley

What I Wish I’d Been Told in Film School

Our first guest blogger—Local film-maker and Assistant Director Adam Bentley—shares his thoughts on some lessons he wishes he learned in film school.

UPDATE #1: Adam also wants to let potential ADs know about this resource: http://assistantdirector.tumblr.com/

What I Wish I’d Been Told in Film School

Or 12 lessons I learned the hard way on how to make great short films

By Adam Bentley

12. Treat your cast and crew well and they will do the same to you

• Always have a variety of healthy food on set and have crew take breaks together

• Always give your cast and crew 12 hours between shooting days

• Always make shoots short enough that payment by working on their films seems like reasonable compensation

 

11. Treat your film like a small business (just in case you make a profit!)

• Always ensure all release forms, permits, and contracts have been signed before production begins

• Always use the cheapest option to achieve the best results

• Never let one person assume all the risk

• Always ensure financial and creative decisions are made by different people

 

10. The shortest, simplest scripts make the best short films

• Always make your script as short as possible

• Always keep your locations to as few as possible

• Always keep your film’s focus on as few characters and themes as possible

 

9. Become friends with actors and production crew

• Always know that every social interaction is a potential networking opportunity

• Always keep in touch with actors and crew between productions

• Always begin your cast, crew, and equipment search with your closest friends and colleagues

 

8. Not everyone who wants to work on your film should work on your film

• Always interview people rigourously before hiring them as cast or crew

• Always hire people you already trust

• It’s always easier to fire people in pre-production than to cheat their mistakes in post-production

 

7. Produce your film backwards

• Always decide on your final presentation method before deciding anything else

• Always hire your editor, composer, colourist, audio mixer, and promotional artist during pre-production

• Never begin production before every related aspect has been organized, funded, and decided

 

6. If you hear “it’ll be tight, but it’ll work”, run!

• Always keep a large contingency fund

• Always plan ahead to avoid costly mistakes

• Always allow for plenty of time to film each scene (and then more time!)

 

5. The film you want to make and the film you can make are the same film

• Always embrace the idea that working with less leads to better ideas

• Never get married to an idea, but also never give up too easily

• Never lose sight of the essential theme of your film

 

4. Not everyone wants to see your film; but there’s always someone –and they will love it

• Always target your films to specific audiences (and know them ahead of time)

• Always seek support from existing fans before looking for new fans

• Your parents are the only people who will always want to see your films

 

3. Your first, second, or even third film will never be your best film

• Always understand that filmmaking is a difficult, complex, and costly process that requires a great deal of stamina and experience

• Always understand that your film can only be as good as the experience you have and the only way to make better films is to get more experience

• Never believe that THIS film will be THE film that will make you a famous director/producer/actor

 

2. You are a professional artist; start acting like one

• Never spend your own money on a film, unless you believe you will make a profit

• Always find new ways to earn an income from your artistic talents

• If someone asks you what you do for a living, always tell them you are a professional artist

 

1. Learn to love all aspects of making films (or don’t make films at all)

• Always make production as least stressful as possible

• Always work with people who agree with the above statement

• Never believe that making films is more important than your friends and family

Buttoning up with Ottawa’s Transit Map of the Future (re-post from Spacing Ottawa)

Posted on by adambentley

Buttoning up with Ottawa’s Transit Map of the Future

By Spacing Ottawa

P8268222
If you were at the launch of Spacing’s first ever national issue at the NAC this summer you’ll know that Spacing contributor Adam Bentley has created buttons based on his iconic Ottawa Transit Map of the Future — they were selling like hotcakes at the door and suddenly were appearing on shirts and lapels all over the venue.

But if you missed the launch, that’s OK – Adam has made them available via Paypal for the low price of only $2.85 each – including tax and shipping.

The 1.5 inch buttons come in two versions – Glebe (as seen above) and Lincoln Fields.

Strip Appeal Jury Winner is a Timely Lesson from Debt-Ridden America (re-Post from Display Magazine)

Posted on by adambentley

Strip Appeal Jury Winner is a Timely Lesson from Debt-Ridden America

March 13th, 2012

The University of Alberta’s City-Region Studies Centre recently held a competition known as “Strip Appeal” to challenge urban designers, planners, and developers to redesign the spaces currently occupied by vacant strip malls to be useful for the next generation of society.  The CRSC received dozens of entries from around the world and awarded its Jury Prize to Buffalo, New York’s Davidson-Rafailidis Team for its submission known as “Free Zoning”, a policy framework to permit any individual to develop any portion of a vacant strip mall for almost any purpose. The framework’s only rules were that the development used only the existing materials found on site, functioned with the existing municipal utilities, and was located on the defunct mall’s existing foundation. The concept’s purpose would be to encourage people to test innovative new methods of material production and consumption in a highly land and resource efficient environment. In the weeks since Free Zoning was selected, the submission has been praised in the New York Times, Globe and Mail, and The Atlantic magazine.

Facing years of economic turmoil and shrinking collective prosperity in America, designers, planners, and developers in the USA have been forced to embrace Free Zoning’s lessons of,

1.    Not waiting until there is a crisis to change your habits,
2.    Using only what resources you have on hand, and
3.    Embracing new ideas –no matter how radical they seem.

Sadly, for the past century, many Canadian urban designers, planners, and developers have functioned within paradigms completely opposite to that of Free Zoning. Those paradigms are that Canada is blessed with never-ending good economic fortune and prosperity, Canada has unlimited land and natural resources, and Canadians are averse to changing something that appears to be working (whether it actually works is another matter). Each paradigm is counter-productive to maintaining our long-term prosperity.

The lessons of Free Zoning should be applied to Canadian strip malls and other urban lands before designers are forced to apply them without sufficient understanding of the consequences. We must not set aside land for high-risk resource-inefficient uses such as surface parking lots. These lots depend on private automotive use, a mode of transport losing popularity with most young people approaching the age they typically start to drive. Former parking lots should be subdivided into small parcels, path networks, and public plazas. To reduce long-term costs, we must maximize our use of existing non-renewable resources by recycling all building materials on a redevelopment site. Finally, we should embrace new ideas while we can still afford to do proper research by creating small, affordable spaces where people can develop innovative new ideas at low cost to themselves and society.

Canadian urban designers, planners, and developers have carelessly created spaces without realizing their long-term unsustainability. The Strip Appeal competition forced those individuals to return to those failed spaces to transform them into flexible, efficient, and accessible spaces that can meet society’s long-term material needs. America’s debt crisis (and our own coming debt and resource crises) should serve as a wake-up call to everyone that we can maintain our long-term prosperity with our existing lands, buildings, and infrastructure.  Let’s hope Canadians heed these lessons before it’s too late.

By Adam Bentley
Images of Free Zoning – Strip Appeal’s winning submission by Stephanie Davidson and Georg Rafailidis

Central Park Plaza is a derelict strip mall in Buffalo, New York. Having been vacant for years, it is now infamous as a site for crime. Built in 1957 on the site of a former rock quarry, the strip mall thrived for the typical time span of around 15 years before it predictably lost its retail capability. The strip mall is located on the East side of Buffalo near Main Street in a primarily residential area with pockets of failed commercial property.

1. Corrugated steel decking, two panel sizes: 110×150 cm and 320 x 480 cm
2. Open-web steel joists, 640 cm, 750 cm, 1000 cm and 1400 cm
3. Steel I-beams, 550 cm and 800 cm
4. Steel columns, 460 cm
5. Concrete block with brick cladding
6. Concrete block with brick cladding
7. Aluminium frame doors and windows, various sizes
8. Concrete slab foundations with footing.

Central Park Plaza, Buffalo New York: Front and Side

Lifting all zoning restrictions on the Central Park Plaza property and giving it over to City dwellers to create their own houses and/or places of work would, without a doubt, result in a profusion of building types. Using materials at hand, salvaged and sorted after a careful and deliberate demolition of the strip mall, people settling the plot would be free to define how they want to live. The build-up of urban fabric would be a collective effort not unlike the settling of the American frontier. 

1. This house is a little case study looking at what kind of dwelling could be constructed using a strict material palette of strip mall salvage.
2. Corrugated steel decking: *24 long sheets, 320 x480 cm. *15 short sheets, 110 x 150 cm
3. Steel I-beams: *21, 320 cm long
4. Open-web steel joists: *4, 1400 cm long. *2, 1000 cm long. *2, 750 cm long
5. Corrugated steel decking: *5 long sheets, 320 x 480 cm. Acoustical ceiling panels: *3 large, 60 x 150 cm.
6. 550 Concrete blocks
7. Existing foundation. Slab-on-grade, with footing below frost line.
8. Aluminium frames: *6 windows. *2 doors.

Edmonton: It Does Not Suck! (re-post from The Charrette)

Posted on by adambentley

Edmonton: It Does Not Suck!

17 January 2012

I remember one of the first things I noticed when I moved to Edmonton this past fall was a local interpretation written on a bench of the Van Morrison quote that said “Edmonton. Don’t like it? Get the fuck out”. That comment encapsulated the initial conversations I had with Edmontonians of various political and cultural stripes about urban planning in the city.  Edmonton is what it is. Edmonton is not meant to look good or sound exciting. Its purpose is to provide the basic necessities for the individual to prosper—at least financially. However as I learned more about my new home city, I realized Edmonton is a breeding ground for progressive ideas about ecologically sustainable living. As a new resident and urban planner, I would like to share with you my initial observations and suggestions about Edmonton’s land use patterns, built form, and transportation infrastructure. These observations are not based on much background research. I apologize in advance if I pass judgment without knowing the context.

As much as I’m impressed that Edmonton is a world leader in waste management, sadly, this efficient use of resources does not extend to land. Even though the City is about to proceed with its seemingly-radical redevelopment of the City Centre airport, relative to other Canadian cities I’ve visited, most of Edmonton’s lots are BIG and WIDE and very SPREAD OUT! The front and back yards are HUGE! City politicians approve new subdivisions light years away from downtown! I hope that as progressive planning practices become more common here, Edmonton’s lots will become narrower and shallower, and front-yard setbacks will be all but eliminated. The reductions in private green space would be replaced with high quality public parks and gathering spaces. I also hope that legislation similar to Ontario’s Places to Grow Act is implemented in Alberta to stop Edmonton’s sprawl no further than Anthony Henday Drive (though expensive gasoline may do to urban sprawl what a government might not be able to do).

While Edmonton’s built form seems to be generally limited to stucco bungalows and low-rise apartments, I see potential for new infill projects along back lanes. These humble corridors form a complete, alternative street network right in the city and will be the new frontier of residential and commercial intensification. I can imagine hundreds of thousands of people living in laneway housing and apartments as demand increases for small-scale living in urban areas and former streetcar suburbs. Other types of housing I’d like to see more of in Edmonton are row and semi-detached housing in both urban and suburban areas. As much as Edmonton’s roads are incredibly wide (lots of space to add bike and bus lanes), I also like the fact that all your streets are lined with a row of trees and a sidewalk on both sides forming a shaded canopy in the summer and letting through what little light exists in winter.

I am not impressed with Edmontonians’ insane addiction to their cars but am very impressed with the City’s commitment to correct this problem. I noticed the contra-flow bike lanes and plans for creating an accessible LRT network with low-floor boarding and frequent stops. I hope to see a bike-sharing network, a car-sharing network, and separated urban bike routes within a few years from now because active transportation (public transit, by bike, on foot, in a wheelchair) is an essential, efficient, and affordable transport philosophy for the 21st Century. I also hope to see the vast parking lots of the nightmare that is South Edmonton Common replaced with pedestrian-oriented, dense residential development. Finally, why is there a massive interchange in the middle of the fantastic river valley (next to the Muttart Conservatory)? That thing should go too!

From my initial observations, Edmonton has made some very bad planning mistakes but also some good decisions too. The city seems to be in the early stages of embracing the ecologically sustainable, resource-efficient lifestyle becoming popular worldwide that helps residents prosper with limited personal resources. Based on Toronto’s experience, this trend will accelerate as the suburbs are vacated by both young and old people fleeing the high cost of driving and home maintenance costs in favour of the city centre. I think that bench should read “Edmonton: Good things are coming. Stay the fuck here!”

 

Adam Bentley is an urban planner who recently moved to Edmonton to work for the provincial government. He will be contributing regular guest columns on planning public and private space in the Alberta Capital Region. You can find more of his work at adambentley.com.

http://thecharrette.ca/2012/01/17/edmonton-it-does-not-suck/

The Urban Gondola: perfect fit for a capital horizon (re-post from Spacing Ottawa)

Posted on by adambentley

The Urban Gondola: perfect fit for a capital horizon

By Adam Bentley
Could it be the best way…
…to connect these dots?

The Ottawa River is an urban feature that has united and yet also divided local inhabitants. For centuries, people have exploited both the space between and within its shores for politics, commerce, and leisure. The National Capital Commission has launched nationwide public consultations this autumn for Horizon 2067, its plan to guide development in the National Capital Region up to Canada’s 200th anniversary. Residents of Ottawa must take an active role in the planning process for their city by, amongst other things, developing proposals to bridge the space between the Ottawa River’s shores with a long-term planning solution that uses low-impact, human-focused technologies. One such proposal is a gondola crossing the Ottawa River. The gondola would be a striking addition to our skyline akin to the London Eye, permanently linking Ottawa and Gatineau for pedestrians and cyclists, and providing tourists and residents alike with new views of Parliament Hill, the urban region, the Gatineau Hills, and the Ottawa River.

An urban gondola is a great way to transport people across physically difficult landforms while, unlike bridges, having a minimal impact on the land between each end. If Ottawa opened an urban gondola, it would join a growing number of cities using this and similar modes such as aerial tramways and funifors to allow people to travel to different urban communities without an automobile. Cities with such modes include Portland, Oregon; Medellin, Colombia; Caracas, Venezuela; and New York City. The Cities of London and Vancouver are planning to build such gondolas in the near future. Gondolas and aerial tramway systems in Portland, Medellin, and New York City transport tens of thousands of people each day and are integrated into the local public transit networks.

Our capital region gondola would cross the Ottawa River to allow people to travel easily by foot or bike between Ottawa and Gatineau’s respective downtowns and experience great views of the urban and surrounding landscapes along the way. The south terminal would be located at the National Capital Commission’s long-proposed lookout directly north of Bank and Wellington Streets, also known as the Bank Street Axis. The north terminal would be located at the future Canada Science and Technology Museum on the current Kruger Products site on Gatineau’s rue Laurier, where it could be associated with the museum’s technology-focused subject matter. Each terminal’s close proximity to recreational pathways and major mass transit corridors would make it easy for the gondola’s passengers to access regional walking, cycling, and public transit networks.

If Ottawa is to improve its residents’ quality of life, it must develop plans that are resilient against coming planetary changes such as climate change and the post-oil economy by adapting to a low-consumption, human-oriented, and holistic way of thinking about urban planning and design. This gondola is a good example of such planning that offers an affordable mode of transportation between Ottawa and Gatineau and should be discussed during the National Capital Commission’s national public consultations for Horizon 2067. It is imperative that residents of Ottawa continue to collectively design and build new spaces and landmarks that improve our ability to engage with our country and one another.