How cool is this! Celtx is an end-to-end pre-production software package that is OPEN SOURCE. I know, I know – I’m *just a composer* and not supposed to care about this – but I’ve got a script in mind and have been looking around at the solutions out there. I thought about using an MS Word template – and Julie uses Screenwriter which I considered, so we could send files back and forth and review each other’s work. But this seems like a much more robust (and extensible) solution. And it’s FREE!
There’s also a lot of options for collaboration and secure backups online – it seems they’ve really thought through the ways to leverage current technologies to make this approach really work. The creative and the geek in me are summarily impressed. I wish that I would have made this discovery *before* I started the industrial video project in my studio. This beats the HELL out of doing everything with an Excel spreadsheet.
I’ve got to give props to my friend Luis Sinibaldi for recommending this on his blog. Thanks, Luis!

She’s a replicant, isn’t she?
Again, HDNet comes through with a classic film. This time it’s Blade Runner, Director’s Cut. I watched the original cut a few times on VHS – and might have watched the director’s cut on a standard DVD once upon a time – but this is the first time I’ve seen the Director’s Cut in HD. Vangelis’ score sounded great – and I was blown away by the richness of the sound design.
And of course visually it’s an amazing film. Since the film was set in the year 2019, which is the not-too-distant future these days – it’s a definite challenge to create a recognizable-yet-foreign atmosphere. But you have to admire the layer-upon-layered-ness of that world. Philip K. Dick got to see 20 minutes of test footage before he passed away (he didn’t live to see the full release) and told Ridley Scott that the imagery was exactly as he imagined it. It is the kind of artistic achievement that can restore your belief in the artistic power of true film making. In today’s world of traipsing in front of a green screen, Blade Runner has a palpable 3D quality to it.
If Lawrence of Arabia doesn’t have a word wasted – for Blade Runner it’s the complete and utter lack of unused visual space in each frame. LoA was expansive – Blade Runner showed us a dark and convoluted interior of human experience in a way that was much more personal than Ridley Scott’s “Alien” from a few years before. And getting to see and hear all of that richness in high definition on a large screen is a real treat for the eyes and ears. I might just have to go out and buy the Blu-Ray box set… Blade Runner is certainly worthy of the additional viewings.
Houston Haynes