Has the AFI's Top 100 Improved Your Storytelling? (Cutting Room Floor #021)

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Has the AFI's Top 100 Improved Your Storytelling? (Cutting Room Floor #021)

FromFilm School

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Length:

19 minutes

Released:

Aug 22, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Description

Josh asks Ira if watching the AFI's Top 100 movies has improved his storytelling yet, and Ira asks him the same question right back. In a nutshell: yes. For both of them. But how?

Released:

Aug 22, 2019

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

A filmmaker and a writer tackle the AFI's Top 100 Films and beyond to educate themselves about movies and storytelling. Welcome to Film School!

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Toy Story (AFI Top 100 Films #99): To Infinity, and beyond! Join Josh on his own personal journey to figure out if he's ever actually SEEN this movie, and Ira's dive into the Dark Night of the Soul. It's Toy Story time! by Film School
92 min listen
Yankee Doodle Dandy (AFI Top 100 Films #98): Music is in the air! Vaudeville! Romance! Franklin Delano Roosevelt! It's the 1942 classic Yankee Doodle Dandy this time around, a movie neither Josh nor Ira had ever even HEARD of...so what put this movie on the map? Why is it on the list.... by Film School
74 min listen
Ben-Hur (AFI Top 100 Films #100): Chariots, Revenge and Jesus, oh my! Josh and Ira kick off Film School with the first movie on AFI's Top 100 Films of all time with the sword and sandal epic Ben-Hur. Let's get this journey through cinema history started! by Film School
93 min listen
Will Time Travel Ever Exist? (Cutting Room Floor #004): If time travel is to ever be invented, at least the time travel we imagine in our stories...would we know about it? Ira shares an epiphany he had on the subject, and Josh talks about how he's always had Deja Vu, ever since he was a kid. We're... by Film School
22 min listen
What "Write Every Day" Really Means (Cutting Room Floor #002): “Write every day!” We’ve all heard the advice. How many of us have tried it and failed? How many of us are feeling shame RIGHT NOW because we have (or are currently) neglected the project we're working on? Ira and Josh have. But, dear... by Film School
22 min listen
Depression, Anxiety, and David Lynch (Cutting Room Floor #001): Our first Cutting Room Floor episode! This one from the recording of Toy Story covers the trials of moving (we always have 50% more sh*t than we thought we did), the pains and inspirations of a love affair that falls apart, and the effects of... by Film School
44 min listen
What is an Action Story? (Cutting Room Floor #009): Josh and Ira take a deep dive into the Action Story Genre. What makes an Action Story? And how similar is it to the Hero's Journey...or perhaps even the SAME THING? We go deep, this week on the Cutting Room Floor! by Film School
59 min listen
The Sixth Sense (AFI Top 100 Films #89): He sees dead people. ALL THE TIME! This week, the AFI Top 100 list brings us our first entry that could be classified as an out-and-out horror. It's M. Knight Shyamalan's classic "The Sixth Sense" starring Bruce Will and a mind-bendingly-good... by Film School
87 min listen
The Last Picture Show (AFI Top 100 Films #95): The boys talk growing up as a small-town country bumpkin versus a city slicker, Sam the Lion, and about that empty feeling deep in the center of all of us. Why do we love it so much? And why is it that adults really actually have *nothing* figured... by Film School
85 min listen
The French Connection (AFI Top 100 Films #93): New York Detective "Popeye" Doyle (Gene Hackman) and his partner (Roy Scheider) chase a French heroin smuggler. And believe us, it's *a lot* of chasing! Can the Hack-man and the Roy-boy get the baddies? DOES this movie have a badass car chase scene?... by Film School
70 min listen
Blade Runner (AFI Top 100 Films #97): He's seen things us people wouldn't believe! Josh and Ira dive into one of the most influential SciFi films of all time and, amazingly enough, the first movie both of the boys have seen before. We've got opinions, oohhhh we've got opinions. Join us! by Film School
76 min listen
Bringing Up Baby (AFI Top 100 Films #88): Leopards, and loons, and lunatics, oh my! Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant star in this truly, breathlessly fast "screwball" comedy. It's all pratfalls, bits, and vaudeville; an era and a style of comedy that we just don't have anymore, all in... by Film School
66 min listen
Do The Right Thing (AFI Top 100 Films #96): Fight the Power! Film School smokes its first Spike Lee Joint, and it's jazzy, wacky, funny, and edgy AF. A very young Mr. Lee makes a statement with his masterpiece both behind the camera, and in front...and in the process, is cooler than we could... by Film School
93 min listen
A Night At The Opera (AFI Top 100 Films #85): You can't'a fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause! The Marx Brothers kick off their tenure of pictures at MGM with this zany musical comedy that features such classic scenes as the Stateroom Cabin, and the Contract Scene between Groucho and Chico. One... by Film School
57 min listen
Swing Time (AFI Top 100 Films #90): Old movies feel like Disneyland. This, and many, many epiphanies are brought to you by the black and white classic romance Swing Time with the lanky, debonaire Fred Astaire and the drop dead gorgeous smokeshow Ginger Rogers. It's all about... by Film School
74 min listen
Goodfellas (AFI Top 100 Films #92): We're funny? FUNNY HOW?! Martin Scorsese is in the house, dropping what could arguably be considered the greatest mob/gangster movie ever made. Joe Pesci took home an Oscar for his role as Tommy, while Robert DeNiro, Lorraine Bracco and Ray Liotta... by Film School
72 min listen
Platoon (AFI Top 100 Films #86): Tom Berenger IS reality, folks. At least he is in Oliver Stone's intense, over the top, disturbing take on Vietnam which was released in 1986. The 80s, man; where more was more and the cocaine and steroids were flowing. The cast in this one is rather... by Film School
62 min listen
Easy Rider (AFI Top 100 Films #84): 1960s counterculture gets its definitive film in '69's "Easy Rider." It was a breakout film for Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, and written and directed by Dennis Hopper...at least that's what Hopper would have the world BELIEVE! It's all about dudes,... by Film School
65 min listen
Inspiration: Where does it come from, and how to keep it? (Cutting Room Floor #007): This week, Josh and Ira discuss the tools and techniques they use to find new ideas, and how they keep their inspiration going during the day-to-day grind. Where do you get your best ideas?! by Film School
28 min listen
How Blogging Every Day Changed My Life (Cutting Room Floor #003): Journaling, blogging, a diary; however you want to classify it, both Josh and Ira have found sitting down at the end of every day and taking a few minutes to write down their thoughts and feelings for the day. Is it for you? It might be! The boys... by Film School
44 min listen
Pulp Fiction (AFI Top 100 Films #94): BIG. KAHUNA. BURGER. Pulp Fiction is one of the most iconic, impactful, most-quotable movies ever made. Like few other films in history, it inspired a generation of filmmakers and screenwriters. The boys break down Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece.... by Film School
94 min listen
Sunrise (AFI Top 100 Films #82): Considered by many the greatest film of the Silent Era, Sunrise is a German Expressionist poem of a marriage on the rocks. It brings the visuals, helter-skelter sets, melodramatic performances, a sweeping score, and symbolism galore. It's the first... by Film School
61 min listen
Sophie's Choice (AFI Top 100 Films #91): Meryl Streep is the eponymous Nazi death camp-survivor in Sophie's Choice. It's not a good choice; spoiler alert. It never is when Nazis are involved. If you want voice over, secrets, very young Kevin Kline's, and soaring muscial scores,... by Film School
70 min listen
Numbers, Updates, and Changes? (Cutting Room Floor #022): Ira digs into the numbers behind the ratings we've given the first quarter of AFI's Top 100 films and what they might mean about us, both the boys give updates on what they've been working on for the past month or so, and they consider the question of... by Film School
31 min listen
12 Angry Men (AFI Top 100 Films #87): Jury duty: it's the nightmare for every working man and woman in America. But, what if it's also the pillar of our entire justice system? Henry Fonda offers a gripping story centered around the latter, and stars as the lone man who stands between a... by Film School
75 min listen
Spartacus (AFI Top 100 Films #81): I'm Spartacus! No, I'm Spartacus! No...WE are SpartacALLofus! :) We hit our second sword-and-sandal epic of the late 50s / early 60s. This one is directed by a very young Stanley Kubrick and stars Kirk Douglas and Laurence Olivier. Sweeping vistas.... by Film School
61 min listen
The Worldview Genre: A Hero's Journey (Cutting Room Floor #011): Our deep dive into the story content genres continues with what might be THE MOST important, ubiquitous internal genre in human history: the Worldview story. It's the foundation of the Hero's Journey from the *character's* point of view, and it's the... by Film School
47 min listen
Sometimes it just takes a while to Click (Cutting Room Floor #016): We try new things all the time. New ways of doing stuff. Be better organized. Be more efficient. Work smarter, not harder. Most of the time, though, it doesn't stick. Well, maybe that's okay. Maybe that's NORMAL... Maybe it just takes awhile for... by Film School
25 min listen
How do we apply Genre to our Writing? (Cutting Room Floor #013): Okay, so we've gone through each of the different Genres of story. Great. But how do we actually APPLY that to our own writing? We use Josh's current work in progress as a launching point, discuss his super power hearing for police sirens, and break... by Film School
23 min listen
The Apartment (AFI Top 100 Films #80): "That's the way it crumbles, cookie-wise." Jack Lemmon and Shirley McClain star in this absolute gem from writer/director Billy Wilder. One of the movies that defined the Romantic Comedy genre, it features two leads at their absolute peak, and a... by Film School
68 min listen

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Advice For An Aspiring Writer (Cutting Room Floor #206): What advice would you give to someone who was interested in a life as a storyteller? by Film School
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Shadow of a Doubt (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #28): The cities are full of women... Alfred transports us to small-town America this time, a land of unlocked doors, everyone knows everyone, and the world is full of innocence. But then Uncle Charlie comes home, and all that idealism starts to unravel.... by Film School
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A Good Kick In The Ass (Cutting Room Floor #205): An ass-kicking never feels good! It hurts every time. And yet, especially in the creative sense, we all need to be told when we're doing something wrong; we all need to be humbled. So...how can getting your ass kicked be a good thing? If the pain is... by Film School
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Saboteur (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #28): Must I remind you that *you* are the fugitive from justice and not I? It's The 39 Steps: Part 2! Hitchcock returns to what is clearly a favorite premise: an innocent man on the run from a criminal conspiracy with the fate of the country at stake.... by Film School
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Remembering Greatness, Forgetting the Rest (Cutting Room Floor #204): 400 episodes! Wild. This week, we're tackling the question of bad vs good vs great from the angle of seeking out new books, TV, and Film. It can be a hard road! Most stuff out there isn't great...so, how does one keep going, keep up the enthusiasm? We... by Film School
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Suspicion (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #27) by Film School
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Commanding Intelligence (Cutting Room Floor #203): Can you fall in love, deeply in love love, with somebody you know isn't as smart as you are? We're not talking about pets, or kids, inanimate objects, or even sexual attraction. We're talking about grown-up, head over heels, enduring, inspiring LOVE.... by Film School
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Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #26): If you had it all to do over again, would you have married me? Hitch takes on married life in its screwball form! These comedies were very popular at the time (see: Grant and Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby), so it's not surprising that our British... by Film School
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The Wrong Direction (Cutting Room Floor #202): How do you know when you've gone in the wrong direction? What are the signs? And when you realize that you have, what do you do? Josh and Ira share their own personal insights on this question, covering the spectrum of a chronic over-planner to... by Film School
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Foreign Correspondent (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #25): There's a crime hatching on that bedeviled continent... World War II is in full swing when this movie releases. Or, at least it is in Europe. London is being bombed, and Hitchcock can't help but feel, well, helpless. And guilty for not being there.... by Film School
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The Elements of a Great Film (Cutting Room Floor #201): What makes a good movie? What are the things that stand out? We all have our own personal versions of the answer to this question. Josh and Ira each answer for themselves without getting into the weeds as much as possible. Also, Josh recommends... by Film School
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Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #24): Do you think the dead come back and watch the living? Mr. Hitchcock is in Hollywood! Alfred makes his first film in the States, and holy crap does he have some fun with his budget. Everything tinsel town had to offer in 1940 is on display: star power,... by Film School
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Hitchcock's British Period Takeaways (Cutting Room Floor #200): Hitchcock is moving to Hollywood! As the master of suspense makes his way west, we're taking a pause here to look back on his period in Britain. 13 years. 24 films (one of which has been lost since). An era that saw him struggle to fit in, thrive as... by Film School
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Jamaica Inn (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #23): CHAAADWIIIICK??!! Hitch teams up with dynamo actor Charles Laughton for a tale of piracy, lies, and corruption. The stage actor is riveting, even if the film has its flaws, and apparently he and Alfred had a hard time working together. There's a lot... by Film School
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White Lies (Cutting Room Floor #199): A small lie. A sentence I didn't actually write, or a shot I didn't really shoot that I pass off as my own. Or I didn't actually do something the way I said I did. How big of a deal are these kinds of lies or omissions? Do they really matter? How... by Film School
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The Lady Vanishes (Alfred Hitchcock Deep Dive #22): Nuns don't wear high heels... A woman has disappeared into thin air, on a train no less. But when Iris Henderson reports it, nobody believes her. In fact, nobody on the train even knows who she's talking about. So, what gives? Is Iris crazy? Or is... by Film School
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Good vs. Great (Cutting Room Floor #198): What's the difference between good...and great? Think about how each of those words makes you feel. The contrast is pretty dramatic, isn't it? Like, MILES different, not inches. So, if the difference between good and great is massive, how do we... by Film School
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How To Create Great Side Characters (Cutting Room Floor #196): Frodo had Sam. Luke had Artoo. Harry had Ron and Hermione. Side characters are just as important to a well-told story as the main characters are. So, how do you make a great one? And what's the trap, sometimes, of a side character who's more... by Film School
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Has the AFI's Top 100 Improved Your Storytelling? (Cutting Room Floor #021)

Has the AFI's Top 100 Improved Your Storytelling? (Cutting Room Floor #021)

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Film School