If you’re new to Directorama, you ought to start here at the beginning.

So, this is it. The very last episode of Directorama, the filmstrip. The website will live on as my personal blog where I’ll occasionally publish random thoughts and film-related cartoons whenever inspiration strikes me. I hope you all enjoyed this series as much as I loved putting it together. Watch this space for news about a Directorama Complete book collection and my upcoming short film Out of Sync (the Facebook page can be found right here).

An enormous Thank You should go out to Keith Uhlich, my patient editor at The House Next Door, for spotting all those embarrassing spelling errors and putting up with endless “minor revisions” (even long after the publishing date). You were the best partner in crime I could hope for, my friend!

I told you it’d get ugly…

Next week’s epilogue will be the very, very last strip. To make up for it, it’s a double episode. Be sure to bring a box of tissues.

NEXT WEEK: If you think this means the future of cinema is secured, think again!

Out of Sync update: Last Saturday we shot preliminary footage for my upcoming short film. The first three shots are in the can (figuratively speaking, considering we’re shooting this on the RED). The weather was absolutely wonderful–let’s hope the light will match with what we’re going to shoot next. Principal photography is on July 7 and 8!

To be kept in the loop and see pictures of the cast, visit Out of Sync’s Facebook page and become a fan.

Responsible adults… As if! Looks like the complete meltdown of moviedom is just around the corner.

NEXT WEEK: Death Unleashed! No more delays. Within seven days from now, Smithee’s MacGuffin will be revealed.

It’s pretty clear by now that everyone at Heavenly Muse Inc. is thoroughly fed up with Smithee’s abusive behavior. Something’s gotta give. Just four more episodes to go… I’ve already finished sketching and I can’t wait for all of you to see how it ends!

Next week, Smithee will be taking extreme measures to prove his point!

For those who don’t know: I’ve started a Facebook fanpage around my upcoming short film Out of Synch. Everyone who joins in will receive special updates and assures himself of the earliest viewing possible! Here’s the link:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Out-of-Synch/102874433759

If you watch the film with Bergman’s premise in mind, The Happening is pretty underrated indeed. The death of cinema may be closer than we think.

NEXT WEEK: It was inevitable. Alan Smithee rears his ugly head again…

Happy New Year, everybody!

Fortunately, Hitch is kidding about Uwe Boll’s remake of Armageddon, but with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes rebooting anything from Halloween to The Birds, I certainly wouldn’t rule the possibility out. (Alas, the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks is already a fact–and it’s not called Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.)

Now that all the elements of the new season are in place, expect Directorama to return to its more usual, episodic structure. NEXT WEEK: Luis Bunuel and David Lynch!

I warned you! Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Michael Cimino is, of course, the “Last Auteur” whose expansive and overbearing directorial style resulted in the devastating box office and critical bomb Heaven’s Gate (1980), a financial disaster of monumental proportions that brought about the demise of an entire studio.

NEXT WEEK: Let the guessing game begin!

I’m usually not that happy with my own drawings – certainly not right after I’ve finished them – but the facial expressions in this episode turned out pretty nice, I think. After doing quite a bunch of these now, I’ve finally settled on a process I feel confident with. Basically, it goes something like this:

First, I type the text in a Photoshop document with the usual two-strip framework. After fiddling around with the different blocks of text, I get a sense of where I want the characters to be in the frame and how the page should look like. Then, whenever I feel like it (this is oddly enough at once the most delicate and the quickest part of the process), I grab a ballpoint and make little sketches in my Moleskine pocket notebook. These doodles are kinda rough and vary in size and detail, but they nail down the basic emotions and have the playfulness of a first draft. I scan these notebook pages in and, back in Photoshop, use them to compose the artwork. I’ll resize quite a bit, combine different parts of different sketches, or mirror a face. When that’s done, I’ll attach a Cintiq drawing tablet to my MacBook and digitally ink the panels. Finally, I’ll splash color in between the lines on a seperate layer and add film grain.

Strange process, I know… but it works for me.

Merry Christmas everybody! I’m leaving for Denmark tomorrow, but will be back before the next installment.

NEXT WEEK: Smithee will reveal what’s inside his suitcase (sort of), closing the year with a bang.

Oh my, Truffaut’s really pissed, isn’t he? It’s probably for the best. If our beloved New Wave auteur flies away fast and far enough, he’ll be spared the humiliation that’s bound to follow.

NEXT WEEK: Ever wondered what’s in Alan Smithee’s suitcase?