Friday, October 21, 2005
Washington and Relaxation, Here I Come!
In approximately 4 hours I will be getting on a train to Washington D.C. to visit Souwa for our one year anniversary. Oh. Yeah. I've been working my butt off all week trying to get all the work I'd normally do over the weekend done by now. It's been crazy. Monday wasn't too bad, but I spent all my free time Tuesday working on my script, and all day Wednesday and Thursday doing everything else (job work, Spanish, English, studying for a Sociology test I took early this morning, doing around 5 hours of Calculus work, etc.) It's been hectic, but so worth it. Now I can take 3 days off and not think about anything related to school.
Speaking of work: the final draft of my script for the NP2K 2nd Online Studio Film Festival has been turned in, and approved this time. I am officially done with the formal writing of the thing. Wow. I've been working and thinking about this thing constantly for the past month. It feels like there's a part of me missing now.
For the most part, all the major problems the Studio Head were fixed, and I'm happy to say I think the movie turned out better because of it. The only main thing that might ended up being changed is the ending, since although both Deej and I feel it's good, there just seems to be a little oomph missing somehow. Don't know hwo that will turn out. Anyways, Deej and I ended up changing a lot of stuff, mainly in terms of structure. We basically took this script and changed it from a character study into more of a mystery/drama. A mysterama, so to speak. I can't believe I managed to cram so much stuff into 15 pages. This is the kind of movie that will live or die by the acting and the editing. It is either going to be extremely awesome or just godawful. Such is the risk when doing serious drama. In comedy, even nearly everything sucks, if the jokes work you're off the hook. Not so with drama. One little mistake can have disasterous consequences on the whole film. I'm glad I have someone like Deej on the job who has experience and seems to know what he's doing.
Now that I've finished it, I might as well reveal a little plot info. It's called The Act, and follows a man over the course of a few days when an event from his past comes back to haunt him in the form of blackmail. If I hadn't so radically changed the structure, I could have said more, but I can't now without giving away plot twists. Suffice to say thematically it focuses on various themes such as responsibility, forgiveness, vengeance, destiny vs. free will, etc. In many ways I think it will definitely be the most "Christian" of the films in the festival, simply because the main character is a youth minister and there are at least a few Biblical references sprinkled around. There's plenty of subtle symbolism in order to satisfy any IB viewers, not to mention a few homages to some of my favorite movies thrown in for good measure that film buffs should recognize. I think it's quite possibly the best script I've ever written. It's gone through so many changes, it's unbelievable. Ninety percent of what was in the original outline is gone, and replaced with hopefully better things. All I can do is hope and pray that once January rolls around and I see the final product I won't think to myself, "Oh God, I can't believe I didn't see what crap this idea is."
I'm excited. The project has been officially turned over to Deej now and production is due to be finished around November 28, whereupon the DV tapes will be mailed to Editor Andrew in Toronto for post-production. Deej already has access to the main locations, and it's possible there might even be a surprise one thrown in that wasn't mentioned in the script. Let's just say it will depend on whether or not he can pull a Robert Rodriguez and get in, shoot the scene, and get out in around 10-15 minutes before being apprehended and asked to get a filming permit. Ah, guerrilla filmmaking. Always thrilling.
So yeah, that's about it in terms of script-related info. Once shooting begins I'll see if I can get Deej to send me a few stills so I can get an idea of what he's doing, and there's a chance I'll post those. I'll try to keep you guys updated on the status of the film.
Oh, and Office Space is a great movie. Perfect for people who don't like their jobs, particular those which involve sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer all day.
I'm off to bed (maybe) and then Washington. Later.
Quote of Da Moment:
"Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements."
--Office Space
Speaking of work: the final draft of my script for the NP2K 2nd Online Studio Film Festival has been turned in, and approved this time. I am officially done with the formal writing of the thing. Wow. I've been working and thinking about this thing constantly for the past month. It feels like there's a part of me missing now.
For the most part, all the major problems the Studio Head were fixed, and I'm happy to say I think the movie turned out better because of it. The only main thing that might ended up being changed is the ending, since although both Deej and I feel it's good, there just seems to be a little oomph missing somehow. Don't know hwo that will turn out. Anyways, Deej and I ended up changing a lot of stuff, mainly in terms of structure. We basically took this script and changed it from a character study into more of a mystery/drama. A mysterama, so to speak. I can't believe I managed to cram so much stuff into 15 pages. This is the kind of movie that will live or die by the acting and the editing. It is either going to be extremely awesome or just godawful. Such is the risk when doing serious drama. In comedy, even nearly everything sucks, if the jokes work you're off the hook. Not so with drama. One little mistake can have disasterous consequences on the whole film. I'm glad I have someone like Deej on the job who has experience and seems to know what he's doing.
Now that I've finished it, I might as well reveal a little plot info. It's called The Act, and follows a man over the course of a few days when an event from his past comes back to haunt him in the form of blackmail. If I hadn't so radically changed the structure, I could have said more, but I can't now without giving away plot twists. Suffice to say thematically it focuses on various themes such as responsibility, forgiveness, vengeance, destiny vs. free will, etc. In many ways I think it will definitely be the most "Christian" of the films in the festival, simply because the main character is a youth minister and there are at least a few Biblical references sprinkled around. There's plenty of subtle symbolism in order to satisfy any IB viewers, not to mention a few homages to some of my favorite movies thrown in for good measure that film buffs should recognize. I think it's quite possibly the best script I've ever written. It's gone through so many changes, it's unbelievable. Ninety percent of what was in the original outline is gone, and replaced with hopefully better things. All I can do is hope and pray that once January rolls around and I see the final product I won't think to myself, "Oh God, I can't believe I didn't see what crap this idea is."
I'm excited. The project has been officially turned over to Deej now and production is due to be finished around November 28, whereupon the DV tapes will be mailed to Editor Andrew in Toronto for post-production. Deej already has access to the main locations, and it's possible there might even be a surprise one thrown in that wasn't mentioned in the script. Let's just say it will depend on whether or not he can pull a Robert Rodriguez and get in, shoot the scene, and get out in around 10-15 minutes before being apprehended and asked to get a filming permit. Ah, guerrilla filmmaking. Always thrilling.
So yeah, that's about it in terms of script-related info. Once shooting begins I'll see if I can get Deej to send me a few stills so I can get an idea of what he's doing, and there's a chance I'll post those. I'll try to keep you guys updated on the status of the film.
Oh, and Office Space is a great movie. Perfect for people who don't like their jobs, particular those which involve sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer all day.
I'm off to bed (maybe) and then Washington. Later.
Quote of Da Moment:
"Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements."
--Office Space
# posted by Andrew Johnson : 10/21/2005 04:55:00 AM 
