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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

#111

Post by stinkytaco »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #97
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…

For DOS specifically, there is a market. So much of one that I can buy PCs with FreeDOS preinstalled. DOS, specifically, is used in many embedded applications that do not require multitasking (digital display boards, point of sale systems, etc.). That's not exactly addressing the question, but one of the things that makes a successful business is finding a niche and exploiting it and though there may not be a mass market consumer market, there are definitely companies making money with "old tech".

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

#112

Post by simonh »

dylan604 wrote: post #45
jordanab wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fantastic. Go see it in Imax if you can. Going to the theaters will help to get part 2 made.

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…

There's a period of several years between where the first film left the story, and the final conclusion. They may be quite happy for Tim and Zendy to put on a couple of years between making instalments.

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

#113

Post by jordanab »

flatiron wrote: post #38
jordanab wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's fantastic. Go see it in Imax if you can. Going to the theaters will help to get part 2 made.

they really did a number with this. they are getting regular old joes to ask other people to go to the theaters on HBOs behalf. i really gotta figure out how they did that, its pretty remarkable.

I'll rather do it on Denis Villeneuve's behalf, who I regard as one of the best filmmakers of the current era. I couldn't care less about Warner/HBO.

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

#114

Post by handrous »

kgwxd wrote: post #25
folli wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was considering to watch it this weekend. So you advise against it?

I think if you've read the book, it's a good watch. But the movie does very little character building, or maybe it tries to do too much of it too fast. Without the preset idea of what the characters are about, I could see how the movie might be a bit flat.

There are lots of little bits of subtle characterization and character-arc work in it to pick up on, though some of them require some connecting-the-dots and lateral thinking. Which, in a way, lets you, the viewer, play the role of a Dune character, picking out little hints and signs and extracting meaning.

This isn't to defend the movie if people find that this doesn't work for them (it may, indeed, be a failed effort—I don't know, I can't view it as a version of me who hasn't read the book and seen the two previous screen adaptations) but it does have a lot of character-building, much of it's just blink-and-you'll-miss-it or requires the viewer to take an extra step or two in their head to put it together.

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

#116

Post by daveslash »

ataru wrote: post #33
stuff4ben wrote: post #5

On the one hand, as a technologist, this pisses me off because we've advanced so far in the field of word processing. Autocorrect, holding more than 40 pages in memory, cut/paste, etc. Why does this Luddite persist in the old ways?!?!?! But as a writer who knows the pains of distraction... maybe he's on to something?

Maybe he doesn't want to have to create an account. Maybe he doesn't want to figure out how to disable cloud saves. Maybe he doesn't want to pay a subscription fee. Maybe he doesn't want emojis, mentions, hash tags and recommendations about what his friends are reading. Maybe he doesn't want a analytics report in his mail describing about how he used the software this week. Maybe he doesn't want "undoubtedly absolute…

"Maybe he doesn't want to have to create an account." - oooff, this this home hard. I tried to print something the other day here at home and I couldn't because I had to log into my printer's software. I couldn't remember my password, or even the email address I used to set it up. What should have been a very simply file -> print turned into a long process of registering a new account, password doesn't meet complexity rules, verify your account, sign back in, etc... to print a one page thing while I was in a hurry.

Edit: If anybody from printers (specifically HP) is reading this. Stop. Just stop.

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

#117

Post by dragonwriter »

zeteo wrote: post #54
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.

In terms of sheer productivity for an uninterrupted, expert user it's hard to beat the pre-Windows office suites. Yes it would take you weeks if not months to master WordStar or Lotus 1-2-3 and it was quite expensive and not everyone in the company could have it on their machines. But those who did would leave today's Google Docs users in the dust for any data entry task longer than 15 minutes.

> In terms of sheer productivity for an uninterrupted, expert user it's hard to beat the pre-Windows office suites.

There basically aren't pre-Windows office suites.

There are pre-Windows standalone productivity software products, but agglomeration of this into office suites is mostly a post-Windows phenomenon.

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

#118

Post by simonh »

fsloth wrote: post #26
whydid wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you enjoy explosions, spaceships, and verbal exposition?

There was far less verbal exposition than could have been. For example the mentats and their importance due to the Butlerian Jihad is never explicitly mentioned but only hinted at in subtle ways (which is nice).

The same team are working on a Sisterhood prequel TV series, to the background info is coming.

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

#119

Post by slowmovintarget »

omarhaneef wrote: post #107
slowmovintarget wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I completely agree, but the inability to edit doesn't explain the advantage (if any) of the wordstar/ms-dos editor crowd.

Right. You identified the prime characteristic for the CUI crowd: no context switching. Though Wordstar purportedly was superior for text manipulation.

Robert J. Sawyer wrote an article [1] on why he still uses it. Made me want to learn it, but I realize that if I'm going to put effort into learning a tool, I'd likely want it to be Emacs instead. (I currently use Scrivener.)

[1] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/03/words...

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

#120

Post by simonh »

MikusR wrote: post #106
slibhb wrote: post #8

The screenplay was the worst part of the new Dune movie

The cinematography is amazing. I didn't know gray, brown and bland had so many shades

It' you're a huge fan of light brown, this is the movie for you.
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