Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Serenity Now!
Universal has released the first 9 minutes of Serenity online for free. Seriously. Check out out here. I honestly had no desire to see this movie, but the first 9 minutes has made me consider going to see it. That and the fact that many reviewers are comparing it to Star Wars, and in a good way.
In other news: Yesterday I finished and submitted the second draft of my script for the NP2K film festival to the "Writing Studio Head." Should receive his comments some time tomorrow. I'm starting to get really excited about this movie. Deej and I have been in constant communication for the past 3 weeks about the story and the script, and I think our collaboration is going to result in an awesome short film. This is definitely the hardest I've ever worked on a script (then again, I haven't finished a lot of scripts). It's been a challenge to tell a dramatic story in only 15 pages. Most of the time when people submit dramas for this kind of festival, they're only a single, well-developed scene that lasts about 8-10 minutes. Whenever people do try to make short dramas with more than one scene, the characters and plot usually aren't developed to their full potential.
That's why this has been hard. I've had to revise like crazy and find a way of telling the most developed story possible in such a short length of time. I've had to find a way to develop characters and a ton of relationships. Deej and I have brainstormed tons of ideas on where to take the story, some of which were really great and amazing. I think the basic concept of this short film could potentially be a great idea for a feature-length movie. Unfortunately, we're not doing that this time around, and as a result we've had to get rid of a lot of sub-plots and even whole characters that showed up in my original outline. When you compare the original plot outline to the most recent draft, there are huge differences. We're talking humongous. A lot of the character motivation has been completely switched around. I can only hope that it's for the better, and the final product will be a drama with fully fleshed-out characters and events that's jam-packed with emotion. In just a little over 2 weeks, Deej is going to be taking over in California and actually shooting this thing, and then the tapes are off to Canada to be directed by my buddy Andrew Cranford, who was supposed to edit my movie last time.
There are around a dozen scenes in this move recent draft. 12 scenes. 15 pages. This movie is either going to be insanely good or just so bad it's unwatchable. Honestly, I'm scared. It won't matter if my script is the best thing ever. If Deej or Andrew screws up, it could ruin the movie. The only thing that really worries me with Deej is that he'll be able to get some incredible performances out of his actors. If the acting isn't believable, the emotion of the movie isn't there, and without that this movie will fall apart. I'm more worried about the editing, simply because the editing has so much influence over the mood of the film. The length of certain shots, the transitions, the sound editing...it's a lot to deal with. A great editing job can turn the worst dialogue into poetry and a bad editing job can turn the best dialogue into a total bore-fest. Then again, that's how it works in Hollywood most of the time, and that's what the whole point of this kind of film festival is: learning to collaborate with total strangers and trusting they'll do their job well.
I won't be able to see what happens to my script until January. How will I survive until then?! I'm so pumped about this script I feel like flying out to California and helping Deej direct it. Of all the times to be in college...
Oh, before I forget, I have discovered that Family Guy is one of the best shows on television. All the guys on my end of the hall are crazy about it. I've seen a few episodes, and the recently released DVD movie, and it's great. You'll probably be offended at least once, but that's fine, because it offends everyone sooner or later. You've just go to learn to step back and laugh at everything every once in a while.
Quote of Da Moment:
Lois Griffin: Your third somersault was a little sloppy but what do I know, huh? It's been so long since I qualified for the Olympics.
Chris Griffin: You were in the Olympics?
Lois Griffin: No, I got pregnant with Meg and couldn't go. Now I'm Pro Choice.
--Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
In other news: Yesterday I finished and submitted the second draft of my script for the NP2K film festival to the "Writing Studio Head." Should receive his comments some time tomorrow. I'm starting to get really excited about this movie. Deej and I have been in constant communication for the past 3 weeks about the story and the script, and I think our collaboration is going to result in an awesome short film. This is definitely the hardest I've ever worked on a script (then again, I haven't finished a lot of scripts). It's been a challenge to tell a dramatic story in only 15 pages. Most of the time when people submit dramas for this kind of festival, they're only a single, well-developed scene that lasts about 8-10 minutes. Whenever people do try to make short dramas with more than one scene, the characters and plot usually aren't developed to their full potential.
That's why this has been hard. I've had to revise like crazy and find a way of telling the most developed story possible in such a short length of time. I've had to find a way to develop characters and a ton of relationships. Deej and I have brainstormed tons of ideas on where to take the story, some of which were really great and amazing. I think the basic concept of this short film could potentially be a great idea for a feature-length movie. Unfortunately, we're not doing that this time around, and as a result we've had to get rid of a lot of sub-plots and even whole characters that showed up in my original outline. When you compare the original plot outline to the most recent draft, there are huge differences. We're talking humongous. A lot of the character motivation has been completely switched around. I can only hope that it's for the better, and the final product will be a drama with fully fleshed-out characters and events that's jam-packed with emotion. In just a little over 2 weeks, Deej is going to be taking over in California and actually shooting this thing, and then the tapes are off to Canada to be directed by my buddy Andrew Cranford, who was supposed to edit my movie last time.
There are around a dozen scenes in this move recent draft. 12 scenes. 15 pages. This movie is either going to be insanely good or just so bad it's unwatchable. Honestly, I'm scared. It won't matter if my script is the best thing ever. If Deej or Andrew screws up, it could ruin the movie. The only thing that really worries me with Deej is that he'll be able to get some incredible performances out of his actors. If the acting isn't believable, the emotion of the movie isn't there, and without that this movie will fall apart. I'm more worried about the editing, simply because the editing has so much influence over the mood of the film. The length of certain shots, the transitions, the sound editing...it's a lot to deal with. A great editing job can turn the worst dialogue into poetry and a bad editing job can turn the best dialogue into a total bore-fest. Then again, that's how it works in Hollywood most of the time, and that's what the whole point of this kind of film festival is: learning to collaborate with total strangers and trusting they'll do their job well.
I won't be able to see what happens to my script until January. How will I survive until then?! I'm so pumped about this script I feel like flying out to California and helping Deej direct it. Of all the times to be in college...
Oh, before I forget, I have discovered that Family Guy is one of the best shows on television. All the guys on my end of the hall are crazy about it. I've seen a few episodes, and the recently released DVD movie, and it's great. You'll probably be offended at least once, but that's fine, because it offends everyone sooner or later. You've just go to learn to step back and laugh at everything every once in a while.
Quote of Da Moment:
Lois Griffin: Your third somersault was a little sloppy but what do I know, huh? It's been so long since I qualified for the Olympics.
Chris Griffin: You were in the Olympics?
Lois Griffin: No, I got pregnant with Meg and couldn't go. Now I'm Pro Choice.
--Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 10/11/2005 09:44:00 PM 
