February 2008 Archives
Recently Brian and I did a fairly comprehensive tour of Glasgow's west end looking for locations for I Love Luci. Although this hasn't had a direct impact on the writing there were always a couple of locations that have been present in the script right from the beginning.I remember David quoting Wong Kar-wai as saying that he likes to find a location and then a story. David followed somewhat similar principals on Hallam Foe. I have to admit I am not entirely following their lead but I am trying to apply my story to some locations that I have always wanted use, so my approach is not totally dissimilar.
Before being a filmmaker I studied painting, at that time my environs always had a big impact on the work I made. It seems this is still the case with my current projects.
We are pretty much crewed up for the music video for We Are The Physics.
We are also quite well sorted on the locations front. Although I will be doing a good long walk in the rain tomorrow taking pictures and trying to get everything nailed down.
We have a fantastic team on board so fingers crossed everything turns out good.
It's a kind of Glaswegian take on the Attack of the 50ft Woman - proper B-movie fare.
We are also quite well sorted on the locations front. Although I will be doing a good long walk in the rain tomorrow taking pictures and trying to get everything nailed down.
We have a fantastic team on board so fingers crossed everything turns out good.
It's a kind of Glaswegian take on the Attack of the 50ft Woman - proper B-movie fare.
We would like to wish everyone working on Rounding Up Donkeys all the very best of luck today as they start their first day of principal photography.
ALL THE BEST X
Essentials for your first day on set:
Hat
Very warm coat
Pens
Paper
Scarf
Good boots
Camera
More pens
No hangover
Immodium
Callsheet
ALL THE BEST X
Essentials for your first day on set:
Hat
Very warm coat
Pens
Paper
Scarf
Good boots
Camera
More pens
No hangover
Immodium
Callsheet
Another draft of the script (I Love Luci) is complete. This is the 8th draft.
The process is becoming more satisfying with every pass* these days. The developments are more subtle as I encounter nuances within the piece that escaped me while I was getting the bigger picture in shape. The result is these smaller more delicate changes make far more of an impact and greatly improve the story.
The script is now more malleable than ever. As it becomes stronger it becomes more enjoyable to work on. There is a point you reach when during any creative endeavour where this happens. All the elements are in place, to all intents and purposes you have a finished piece, so now the real work can begin. I'm not saying anything new here but it is at this point that the difference between something that simply works and something that is truly poignant can occur and the act of tinkering with the thing is ultimately very satisfying because you can't really do anything wrong. It feels a bit like decorating a house, everything's in place but it's now time to make it your own and you can go on refining and altering until you are exhausted, or bored out your brains or more preferably once you have something that exceeds expectation.
I'm finished for now, but I'll no doubt start again tomorrow, my previous experience tells me this time doesn't last for long so I will capitalise on it.
The next question is whether or not to publish my script here. A good friend of mine is an ardent advocate of publishing things on your blog that you might otherwise keep private. I understand his point of view but remain sceptical on my own behalf. David Mackenzie took the brave step of putting the Hallam Foe script on the web and while it is generally regarded as not having been a terribly successful experiment it was the start of something for the film. Certainly it's presence online has gone from strength to strength from that day on and the action itself was a true indictment of the will and imaginative force driving the film.
What is really up for grabs here?
Hallam Foe was put online to get reactions and suggestions to the script. But, as David has said in many interviews / Q&A's, the act of reading a script is very distant from a literary experience so he was being asked fairly ridiculous questions in response, like 'what's the music going to be?' The mechanical nature of a script prevented any helpful intuitive response from readers unused to this experience.
All in all, having the script online wasn't useful to David directly. That wouldn't necessarily be repeated here however. For starters I'm not nearly such an experienced filmmaker as David. But more importantly, the audience for this blog is no doubt considerably more film-savvy than the readers of Gapingvoid, which mainly concentrates on marketing theory, so there may be more chance of getting helpful crit.
Of course I'd be a liar if I wasn't concerned about my rights too. In essence I'm not too worried about the response I might get to the script, that seems like a risk worth taking. But I don't have the same safety net as there was on Hallam where the material came from a book that had already been published and was backed up by a substantial and very competent legal team.
I have put things on here in the past and rediscovered them elsewhere on the net passed off as the work of somebody else. Ultimately I didn't really care about those little snippets of video, but this is entirely different. I have spent months creating this and the last thing I want to do is jeopardise it's life by exposing it to those more ruthless in the world.
If anyone has some genuinely good ideas about how I might protect myself I'd love to hear them. For now I'm going to hold back on publishing my work.
I should say that if anyone is interested in reading the script with regards to co-production then email me and we can discuss.
* "pass": once you have a screenplay each return to the script where you go through the whole thing is informally referred to as 'doing a pass'
The process is becoming more satisfying with every pass* these days. The developments are more subtle as I encounter nuances within the piece that escaped me while I was getting the bigger picture in shape. The result is these smaller more delicate changes make far more of an impact and greatly improve the story.
The script is now more malleable than ever. As it becomes stronger it becomes more enjoyable to work on. There is a point you reach when during any creative endeavour where this happens. All the elements are in place, to all intents and purposes you have a finished piece, so now the real work can begin. I'm not saying anything new here but it is at this point that the difference between something that simply works and something that is truly poignant can occur and the act of tinkering with the thing is ultimately very satisfying because you can't really do anything wrong. It feels a bit like decorating a house, everything's in place but it's now time to make it your own and you can go on refining and altering until you are exhausted, or bored out your brains or more preferably once you have something that exceeds expectation.
I'm finished for now, but I'll no doubt start again tomorrow, my previous experience tells me this time doesn't last for long so I will capitalise on it.
The next question is whether or not to publish my script here. A good friend of mine is an ardent advocate of publishing things on your blog that you might otherwise keep private. I understand his point of view but remain sceptical on my own behalf. David Mackenzie took the brave step of putting the Hallam Foe script on the web and while it is generally regarded as not having been a terribly successful experiment it was the start of something for the film. Certainly it's presence online has gone from strength to strength from that day on and the action itself was a true indictment of the will and imaginative force driving the film.
What is really up for grabs here?
Hallam Foe was put online to get reactions and suggestions to the script. But, as David has said in many interviews / Q&A's, the act of reading a script is very distant from a literary experience so he was being asked fairly ridiculous questions in response, like 'what's the music going to be?' The mechanical nature of a script prevented any helpful intuitive response from readers unused to this experience.
All in all, having the script online wasn't useful to David directly. That wouldn't necessarily be repeated here however. For starters I'm not nearly such an experienced filmmaker as David. But more importantly, the audience for this blog is no doubt considerably more film-savvy than the readers of Gapingvoid, which mainly concentrates on marketing theory, so there may be more chance of getting helpful crit.
Of course I'd be a liar if I wasn't concerned about my rights too. In essence I'm not too worried about the response I might get to the script, that seems like a risk worth taking. But I don't have the same safety net as there was on Hallam where the material came from a book that had already been published and was backed up by a substantial and very competent legal team.
I have put things on here in the past and rediscovered them elsewhere on the net passed off as the work of somebody else. Ultimately I didn't really care about those little snippets of video, but this is entirely different. I have spent months creating this and the last thing I want to do is jeopardise it's life by exposing it to those more ruthless in the world.
If anyone has some genuinely good ideas about how I might protect myself I'd love to hear them. For now I'm going to hold back on publishing my work.
I should say that if anyone is interested in reading the script with regards to co-production then email me and we can discuss.
* "pass": once you have a screenplay each return to the script where you go through the whole thing is informally referred to as 'doing a pass'
One of the realities of making a short film is that there isn't much money involved - i.e. you don't get paid for your work, certainly not initially. It is a labour of love, or a compulsion at least. The knock-on effect of that is things have to slide a little when the offer of paid work comes along.
To this end Brian (producer on I Love Luci) and myself are making a music video. Again, not a particularly lucrative profession but any little contribution to the coffers is always welcome so this will help while we're getting the script in shape.
We are working with a fantastic young Scottish band from Glasgow - We Are The Physics - on their next single release You Can Do Athletics.
If you like fast punky pop then these guys are for you.
Of course, this has involved a good bit of writing and research to get to the point of commission and I am now about to write a detailed script. Once the script is in order the next steps will be scheduling, budgeting and crewing up for a shoot in the very near future. Exciting stuff and very good fun, if a little on the stressful side as with all film making.
The production company is Sigma Films and the record label is Fake DIY Records. I'd also like to put a little nod towards Gill Mills and iCast for making the introductions.
To this end Brian (producer on I Love Luci) and myself are making a music video. Again, not a particularly lucrative profession but any little contribution to the coffers is always welcome so this will help while we're getting the script in shape.We are working with a fantastic young Scottish band from Glasgow - We Are The Physics - on their next single release You Can Do Athletics.
If you like fast punky pop then these guys are for you.
Of course, this has involved a good bit of writing and research to get to the point of commission and I am now about to write a detailed script. Once the script is in order the next steps will be scheduling, budgeting and crewing up for a shoot in the very near future. Exciting stuff and very good fun, if a little on the stressful side as with all film making.
The production company is Sigma Films and the record label is Fake DIY Records. I'd also like to put a little nod towards Gill Mills and iCast for making the introductions.
Check out this great band...
...but that is only one of the things we need to get in place before we can go into production.
Although our script is by no means in a position to start shooting we are already considering the things that need to fall into place in order for this to go ahead the way we want.
As with all stories there are certain things that are peculiar to ours that we need to make sure are realised properly on screen. We have some false teeth to cope with so we are dealing with a company from London who are specialists in making teeth for films. This means that the actor won't be in too much discomfort while we're shooting and my hope is that we won't have to do any work in post to enhance the realism of the teeth. I'm not a huge fan of CGI so I want to minimise the likelihood of having to do this kind of work. It's hugely expensive and we will never have enough money to make it just right.
The company we are working with are called Fangs FX and have done some great work.
The other thing about the teeth is that it has a knock-on effect on our casting. We are ideally looking for someone who has small teeth so that the FX gang's work is made easier.
I'll post the script soon so that you can have a better idea of the context we are working in. I am still working on it though and don't want to make it public just yet.
Although our script is by no means in a position to start shooting we are already considering the things that need to fall into place in order for this to go ahead the way we want.
As with all stories there are certain things that are peculiar to ours that we need to make sure are realised properly on screen. We have some false teeth to cope with so we are dealing with a company from London who are specialists in making teeth for films. This means that the actor won't be in too much discomfort while we're shooting and my hope is that we won't have to do any work in post to enhance the realism of the teeth. I'm not a huge fan of CGI so I want to minimise the likelihood of having to do this kind of work. It's hugely expensive and we will never have enough money to make it just right.The company we are working with are called Fangs FX and have done some great work.
The other thing about the teeth is that it has a knock-on effect on our casting. We are ideally looking for someone who has small teeth so that the FX gang's work is made easier.
I'll post the script soon so that you can have a better idea of the context we are working in. I am still working on it though and don't want to make it public just yet.
Brian and I are back from our totally inspiring trip to Clermont-Ferrand. A big thanks goes out to those that made it possible for us to go there and get the lie of the land.
As I mentioned previously it will probably take a while for the things we learned in Clermont-Ferrand to register here on the blog and in our script. But already there are a few things that seem interesting and CF's resonance is beginning to be felt.
For instance, I have a far clearer idea of how I would like to position the look of my film. I feel that this is at once important and unimportant. There is no point in having a film that looks great if the story isn't there. This is blatantly obvious stuff as a broad filmmaking rule is concerned, but, all too often you find examples of work that suffer because of the image. This is by no means limited short filmmaking either.
I recently watched a feature that potentially had a great story with fantastic drama but the image was pitched in such a way that any emotional content of the film became secondary, the production values were just too high for the story which would have been immeasurably improved had there been a stronger sense of reality to the images. Too beautiful isn't the problem here either, the problem was of something being inappropriate. This message was firmly put home for me in Clermont-Ferrand more through discussion with other filmmakers more than with anything in particular that I saw. Those that had a strong focus on the image of their films seemed to be missing a vital ingredient. The upshot of this for me was that I have some way to go with my script before I'm ready to really consider the camera. I knew this anyway but there is nothing better to focus the mind than having the consequences of actions laid bare for all to see.
Of course, balance is everything. I still want to shoot on film and know that some of the strictures that come with that process could be damaging to my ability to catch certain things, but I need to learn to cope better with the medium and create an environment that allows for those issues. I believe that the discussions I've had and things I have watched recently have been very helpful towards getting the best out of my script, and of course getting my script to be the best it can be too, and that must come first. I will continue to plan to shoot on film for now but it is the script that will get the focus of my attentions and in the background I will be thinking about how best to achieve the results I want.
Back to the drawing board for me, to be forewarned is to be forearmed (or something?).
As I mentioned previously it will probably take a while for the things we learned in Clermont-Ferrand to register here on the blog and in our script. But already there are a few things that seem interesting and CF's resonance is beginning to be felt.
For instance, I have a far clearer idea of how I would like to position the look of my film. I feel that this is at once important and unimportant. There is no point in having a film that looks great if the story isn't there. This is blatantly obvious stuff as a broad filmmaking rule is concerned, but, all too often you find examples of work that suffer because of the image. This is by no means limited short filmmaking either.
I recently watched a feature that potentially had a great story with fantastic drama but the image was pitched in such a way that any emotional content of the film became secondary, the production values were just too high for the story which would have been immeasurably improved had there been a stronger sense of reality to the images. Too beautiful isn't the problem here either, the problem was of something being inappropriate. This message was firmly put home for me in Clermont-Ferrand more through discussion with other filmmakers more than with anything in particular that I saw. Those that had a strong focus on the image of their films seemed to be missing a vital ingredient. The upshot of this for me was that I have some way to go with my script before I'm ready to really consider the camera. I knew this anyway but there is nothing better to focus the mind than having the consequences of actions laid bare for all to see.
Of course, balance is everything. I still want to shoot on film and know that some of the strictures that come with that process could be damaging to my ability to catch certain things, but I need to learn to cope better with the medium and create an environment that allows for those issues. I believe that the discussions I've had and things I have watched recently have been very helpful towards getting the best out of my script, and of course getting my script to be the best it can be too, and that must come first. I will continue to plan to shoot on film for now but it is the script that will get the focus of my attentions and in the background I will be thinking about how best to achieve the results I want.
Back to the drawing board for me, to be forewarned is to be forearmed (or something?).
It will come as no surprise to hear that last night was another late night. As usual it was spent in very interesting and highly amusing company (a big thank you goes to Scottish Screen for organising the dinner and having us along).
I sat next to veteran short film distributor Derry O'Brien from Network Ireland TV and EM Media's John Tobin who was involved in the fantastic Control by Anton Corbijn. Needless to say they were highly illuminating and gave much food for thought.
In amongst the wonderful Auvergne feast, and a curious Irish take on Chinese food from the French (rice and potatoes was the only vegetarian option), was lots of talk of all things film. I won't write too much introverted stuff just yet I don't think - suffice to say the experience of being at this amazing festival is one I will always remember and I hope that some of the wonderful films we've seen and people we've been lucky enough to meet and talk to rubs off on our work. I will likely make reference to the sage words I've listened to here a lot over the coming months as our script is honed we edge towards production but for now I'm just going to let it all sink in.
It's our last day in Clermont-Ferrand so I'm going to go and make the most of it...
I sat next to veteran short film distributor Derry O'Brien from Network Ireland TV and EM Media's John Tobin who was involved in the fantastic Control by Anton Corbijn. Needless to say they were highly illuminating and gave much food for thought.
In amongst the wonderful Auvergne feast, and a curious Irish take on Chinese food from the French (rice and potatoes was the only vegetarian option), was lots of talk of all things film. I won't write too much introverted stuff just yet I don't think - suffice to say the experience of being at this amazing festival is one I will always remember and I hope that some of the wonderful films we've seen and people we've been lucky enough to meet and talk to rubs off on our work. I will likely make reference to the sage words I've listened to here a lot over the coming months as our script is honed we edge towards production but for now I'm just going to let it all sink in.
It's our last day in Clermont-Ferrand so I'm going to go and make the most of it...
My head hurts.
Yesterday we had a very intense day getting the lie of the land and firmly ensconcing ourselves in the Salle de Jean Cocteau to watch short films. This is the life. It's hard to believe that there is such a passionate audience for the film short film discipline.
Twelve films in and we're starting to get a handle on the way the festival works and how to pick what we want to see. We met some great people last night who are here for a pitching session that takes place today.
I'm going to stop writing now because I'm so hungover this barely makes sense. Have a look at the photos on Flickr.
Yesterday we had a very intense day getting the lie of the land and firmly ensconcing ourselves in the Salle de Jean Cocteau to watch short films. This is the life. It's hard to believe that there is such a passionate audience for the film short film discipline.Twelve films in and we're starting to get a handle on the way the festival works and how to pick what we want to see. We met some great people last night who are here for a pitching session that takes place today.
I'm going to stop writing now because I'm so hungover this barely makes sense. Have a look at the photos on Flickr.
No sooner had we arrived in Paris than we were accosted by the ubiquitous accordion toting tube surfers.
Bienvenue chez cliché!
Brian and I are very excited about our trip. We hope to meet lots of interesting people and really get a feel for what's happening in the short film world.
We'll keep you posted with our progress. I'm now going to spend the 3½ hour train journey to Clermont-Ferrand watching short films and updating my directors notes.
ADDENDUM:
For those who are unaware of directors notes they are exactly as they sound, a statement of intent from the director as to how they intend to treat the script so everything from design and performance to music and edit. The more successful you get the less you have to make things clear beforehand, so far as I'm aware. I'm afraid I won't be publishing my notes as these things are wont to change and I don't want to nail my colours to the mast too soon.
This is just something other people might find useful. I have been looking to buy a new viewfinder (chewy I believe is the slang term) The last one I got my hands on got dropped, OUCH!, not by me I might add, and doesn't work so well now, plus, it's not mine and I should have one of my own by now.
Anyway, I found an interesting site that talks about the history of them and how incredibly expensive they are. When I get one I'll certainly never drop it - I may well lose it though, that's my major shortfall, I'm fantastically disorganised - not great when you're trying to make a film.
Anyway, I found an interesting site that talks about the history of them and how incredibly expensive they are. When I get one I'll certainly never drop it - I may well lose it though, that's my major shortfall, I'm fantastically disorganised - not great when you're trying to make a film.
