Friday, October 7, 2011

My film has finally settled itself

Whoa. I’ve had a head melting couple of weeks. I've re-hashed my film about 6 or 7 times to try and make it feel right. I think I might have just gotten it right.
A weird thing happened.
I'd have an idea that would be just about right and someone would say to me "But what about this?..." and go on to point out something about the setting or the character that I had not considered before. So, I'd change the film to make that element fit. The same would happen with someone else's advice or my own edits and tweaks. It got to the point where I had a particular 'bit' of the film that was relevant three iterations ago, but didn't make sense anymore. Or the setting would change. Or the sound design now didn't make sense.
All of this was happening as I was considering visual design and film language too so that added to the jumble of elements I was thinking about and affected the story. This kept going until I settled on an idea I liked. Something that felt right. A story I thought I could relate to and knew I would enjoy working on. But there was one particular thing that I would have to fix that I didn’t want to have to deal with. I went so far as to change the story again. And only after a slap-myself-in-the-face-moment I reverted to the story I liked. This isn’t the film I first wanted to make, it’s not the story I wanted to tell, but I think it’s the right film to make. It feels far more organic and different than I thought it would be. But this change in approach could help me get over the intellectual side of the film making process.
Anyway, the following is the first rough draft of the film I will be making...you know, with a tweak here and there.


Anchor
The protagonist, an actor, is on stage waiting for the audience to stop cheering. They interrupt him almost like static. Colours, noise and patterns of movement form them. He tries to perform but they don’t seem to listen at all. Applauding just as he is about to act or deliver a punch line. The camera reveals an applause box that the audience are watching, not the actor. He begins to get agitated and nervous. He mops his brow, shaking, dropping things. He even seems to give up and tries to walk off stage. But someone in the crowd catches his attention. A muted character, in sound and colour. They lock eyes with him and look around the audience. Sitting back they wait for the actor to perform. She asks with body language for the actor to perform. He gestures to them all as being impossible to control and fed up she rises to leave. He quickly steps forward and accidentally blurts out “Wait!”. The audience suddenly stop and stare at him. She sits and waits for him to perform. He begins to perform and as he impresses her the audience become quieter and lose colour which makes them more focused on him, and more like real people, breaking out of their trances. While they become quieter the actor gains in confidence and fully bares himself to the girl who now is the only person in the crowd who is somewhat brighter than the others. She will stand and applaud as the actor realises he has finally received what he has wanted. A connection with someone in the audience and a realised performance.

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