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The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

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Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#91

Post by slowmovintarget »

omarhaneef wrote: post #84

There are lots of stories about writers who are very productive using an old method: --This dune story, --Game of thrones (asoif) written on wordstar --And of course dozens of writers who still use pen and paper This is what these environments have in common: no or minimal internet to distract you

There are some other characteristics as well. With pen and paper, you can only move forward. That is, your only real option is to complete the draft. You can revise or rewrite when you're typing it in. Neil Gaiman writes this way; fountain pen and notebook for first draft. Cutting material is much less painful. You simply don't type it in.

The temptation to go back and tweak what you've written is fairly strong with modern tools. An author can waste hours, an entire writing session, on rereading what they wrote and making adjustments. That's an activity best left to after you have a completed draft in hand.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#92

Post by dylan604 »

ceejayoz wrote: post #64
dylan604 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was so disappointed after spending like 12 hours watching this film to it ending without telling the complete story. Never mind the Part 1 title card at the beginning. I just assumed they were going to expand upon the story not cut it into pieces. Then to find out that they didn't already green light the rest of the story being made. WTF? Who does this in today's movie universe? We get the full story approved to ma…

I fully expect it's greenlit, but not publicly so. They'll openly greenlight it when theater attendance drops off, after a couple of weeks, and ride the extra publicity.

Great, so a minimum of 2 years before we get the rest of the story. At least it's not GRRMartin time spans.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#93

Post by simonh »

anyfactor wrote: post #62

I often wonder this about old tech. What attracts some people to keep using it? Is it the comfort or familiarity or is it minimalism? I sometimes want to feel the experience of my Pentium 1 PC with that rubberdome keyboard and ball mouse. But I know it was a frustrating experience. The mouse didn't work exactly, we had to alt+ctrl+delete every 20-30 minutes. They keyboard felt like jello. The CRT monitor gave us head…

In this case if doesn't seem to be anything to do with the tech itself. It's just that this guy is used to using this particular software, there's no more recent software better at this task for him, and it happens to run on MS-DOS.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#94

Post by contingencies »

tfandango wrote: post #51
causi wrote: post #4

There's something to be said for the focused nature of older technology. If you were to set me the task of writing something long-form, and told me the faster and better I did it the more I would be rewarded, I'd be doomed with a modern laptop or a smartphone. My favorite writing tool is, frankly, an IBM TransNote from 2001.

This is why I like my Kindle so much (and other e-readers are the same presumably). It does one thing very well, and not much else. I could read the same book on my phone but it's always popping up alerts and buzzing and so forth, breaking my attention.

Linux console gives me the same feeling. It's partly the font, partly the focus (no interruptions), partly the lack of latency. OSX + iTerm2 is so damn laggy vs. Linux even on worse hardware. It just sux when you have to, you know, input Chinese or open a PDF.

Gotta say though, Dune was a disappointment to me, having grown up with Dune 2 on MSDOS. The old Dune had, you know, deeper characters. There's nothing like eating boys and bathing in blood to set off a character. The new Harkonnen are positively placid. We are in a new "PC" age...

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#95

Post by Narishma »

nsenifty wrote: post #35

I used Wordstar to type up my school reports and newsletters (well into mid 90s) in an actual IBM PC with 640k RAM and no hard drive. I wasn't aware of the 40-page limit. Although it is entirely possible that I never had to encountere it.

He doesn't use Wordstar.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#96

Post by ch_123 »

flatiron wrote: post #40
timw4mail wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Unicomp Model M continuations are still good, as well.

im typing on one right now. i have to figure out how to clean the keys, some have some coffee stains :)

The plastic is pretty durable (PBT) - you can scrub with them with dish soap. Isopropyl Alcohol should be fine too if you want something stronger.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#97

Post by TheRealPomax »

happy_path wrote: post #37

Are we going to see old refurbished devices be sold as distraction-free machines? Does a new market for somewhat-luddite computers exist? I'd like to buy something like the freewrite [1] but cheaper, any suggestions? [1] https://getfreewrite.com/

You mean as a new type of mass marketed device rather than someone's hobby business that could fail and they wouldn't be economically impacted?

Based on the fact that this is not new in the slightest, and the last 20 years is full of people mocking DOS because it's from an era long gone by but then discovering very specific niche industries or suddenly-well-known individuals still using DOS applications... No. No we are not. There is no market here, there are only individuals who made a choice and stuck with it.

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#98

Post by warrenmca »

nsenifty wrote: post #35

I used Wordstar to type up my school reports and newsletters (well into mid 90s) in an actual IBM PC with 640k RAM and no hard drive. I wasn't aware of the 40-page limit. Although it is entirely possible that I never had to encountere it.

WordStar had no such limit, think he's referring to Movie Master

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#99

Post by weird-eye-issue »

falcolas wrote: post #80
tfandango wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I like my Kindle so much (and other e-readers are the same presumably). It does one thing very well, and not much else. I could read the same book on my phone but it's always popping up alerts and buzzing and so forth, breaking my attention.

To be fair, even if I'm reading on my Kindle, my phone is still doing all that. I can DND my phone, but then it would have the same effect if I'm reading on the phone.

On Android, DND still pops up notifications and stuff. Anyone know if there is any easy way to turn that off? I get so distracted and that certainly doesn't help

Re: The ‘Dune’ Screenplay Was Written in Movie Master on MS-DOS

#100

Post by simonh »

tokai wrote: post #16
slibhb wrote: post #8

The screenplay was the worst part of the new Dune movie

Nah Zimmers atrocious score was at least a tad worse.

I've watched it twice now, and while the first time I thought the score was a bit jarring (possibly the theatre had the sound level too high as well), the second time I barely even consciously noticed it.
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