Ukfc out to lunch
Hugely biased but interesting little film by way of an attempt to balance the argument.
Courtesy of Phil.
Top 10 Influences …
today at least, and in no particular order …
1. Time Bandits
4. Star Wars
7. Bagpuss
8. Deadsy
9. Andrew Wyeth
10. Gregory’s Girl
11. American Werewolf In London
12. Blade Runner
… ditch two of the above to make ten.
Oh and while I’m here, a recent discovery for me, thoroughly recommended:
Getting there …
Completed the first cut of the last scene last night. Apologies i can’t post it here, I would be quite happy to post work in progress which’d make this blog far more worthwhile, but it’d likely impact on my ability to get it into festivals further down the line (they often demand exclusivity in some cases, at least in regards to web screening) so rough cuts and ‘makings of’ will most likely be posted to the blog after the finished films aired somewhere. Plus of course it’d be a big ol’spoiler.
The scene actually works great, very pleasantly surprised to say the least … it’s a pivotal scene, but its also quite subtle, but it actually has the tension and gravitas that I was very worried it lacked right up until last night. It’s amazing what cutting can add – it’s a hugely underrated element of filmmaking.
Anyhows, I need to go back to the start now and run over everything again, the middle has had very little attention spent on it, so still some way to go but very chuffed for once. Yup yup!
Top 5 best ever Screenplays
1. In Bruges
2. In Bruges
3. In Bruges
4. In Bruges
5. Chinatown
… not suggesting In Bruges is the greatest movie or story ever written, but simply in terms of structure it is a bloomin amazing construction, and its a good laugh. Not an ounce of fat, it feels totally random and pretty farcical at times, yet every single element has a brilliant and significant pay off down the line, and its violent and moving and funny and everything.
I’ve heard Martin McDonagh interviewed and he seems well full of himself, but he’s got every right to be having written this, can’t wait to see what he does next. Check out his short ‘Six Shooter’ HERE too, which is equally mental and super clever in the way it all wraps up, ”he knows what dressage is.”
Free reading …
http://www.moviescopemag.com/2010/08/free-screenplays-day-1/
http://www.moviescopemag.com/2010/08/free-screenplays-day-2/
http://www.moviescopemag.com/2010/08/free-screenplays-day-3/
http://www.moviescopemag.com/2010/08/free-screenplays-day-4/
courtesy of
Making conversation
Editing dialogue is super hard, but really, really rewarding (if and when it works).
Shooting with one camera as we did, and with a script that was open to a degree of improvisation means I’m now assembling one conversation from maybe ten variations on that dialogue. Phrases are given different emphasis, read in differing orders, overlap the other characters dialogue, or are missed out entirely from some takes – and while piecing this together to make a coherent chat is a lovely thing to do when it works, it’s an exhausting process to get right once you factor in continuity and the fact that maybe the best reading of one line is shot from the back of the head, or the best close up was paired with a flat reading.
Watching Shutter Island the other day there’s a scene where DiCaprio is talking to a guy through prison bars, from his side we see the inmate against the bars, head cocked, arm trailing over his own head with his fingers dangling down by his ear … the reverse shows him head straight clinging to the bars … it could be argued that thats not the film to chose to pick apart as theres a ton of intentional editorial glitches and tricks that are intrinsic to the plot reveal, but it didn’t seem so for that scene and its details like that that wind me right up and pull me out of a film. I understand why it happens, even more so given what i’m currently doing – I see that sometimes there’s simply no option and the plot has to override something as tiny as continuity of actions or positions (whoever decided to make a two hour primetime programme chronicling these errors as if some hilarious blooper reel wants flensing - ‘in this apparently Oscar winning classic scene you can see Bogart is reading page 12 of the book but in the next scene he’s on page 11!! AHAHAHAH!’ … ‘ here Orson Wells is clutching his fedora with clenched fists, wheras just two seconds later… he has relaxed his left hand a little!! TEE HEE HEE! Orson, you are a knob! HO HO HO!’ )
Anyways, essentially its a case of hacking out whats cack and hoping the rest sits together, and I have no idea whether what I’m working on today is particularly good – but I’m at last genuinely enjoying the process, so fuck it – I’m good with that for now!
Sketchbook
These are sketches from the pad used to plan out the film. Nothing massively exciting, but they’re some early ideas and boards drawn up before the script was written, so they give a little insight into the stages the story went through. I’ve not posted up too much as there are overlaps with the current story, and some of it served as spoilers so I’ll avoid showing too much, but theres some early ‘idea’ scribbles, and a page or two of rough storyboards that ended up informing some of what we shot pretty specifically: like this and this.
It’s nice to see some of the early ideas in a physical format you can leaf back and forth through. I rarely manage to get past the first couple of pages of a sketchbook before I lose it or get bored and start another, so its been good that since I’ve been trying to write more, I’ve actually filled up a couple cover to cover, though it’s mainly words now rather than sketches.
As I say its just a really nice little document of the progression or ideas and how they change, which this one did pretty drastically. The first couple of pages show it was a far more eclectic mix of styles initially, a mish-mash of animation, finger puppets, animated eggs and live action. It was a far odder story too, more fantastical, very derivative of the kind of Strewwelpeter folk tales. I can’t say precisely why it changed so much, it was a slow process, but I guess the main thing is it just naturally gravitated more towards encompassing all my ambitions rather than one part, so rather than an art-house folio piece of animation that’d lurk in a corner of my showreel, it’s now a more restrained and subtle approach that probably sits more central in my reel, encompassing live action, storytelling but still a little bit of the fantasy stuff.
Having said that a bit of me looks at this stuff and thinks fuuuuuuck that would have been bloody great. I’m happy with where it ended up, which feels a lot more mature, less contrived, but the earlier stuff (which I may well stick up at later date when spoilers don’t matter) still feels like there’s a creepy, dark little short that could be eeked out as a companion piece at some point. Maybe best left for when I’m planning my major retrospective at the Guggenheim or something eh?
Titles and whatnot …
Recently got a pdf through with the layouts for the opening titles – cheers Bill.
Also thought of a nice image for a poster/cover/graphic devicey thing while i was away. Going to go for a pylon/tree hybrid with a nest on top – works as a striking, bold image, but also a non spoiler as it gives away bog all about the story, but might hopefully gain some extra nuance once you’ve seen the film. Essentially I’m thinking a pylon outline with tree detailing within it replacing the struts. Would be even better if it was called ‘A Gift’ where the pylon could stand in for the ‘A’ letterform, but I prefer ‘The‘ I think, ’A Gift’ sounds a bit shit – plus using a graphic of a pylon to replace an ‘A’ may well be a ropey typographic crime I’m oblivious to in my dim little mind. We’ll see.
Essentially like a mix of this and this …
but not this …
Given that I’m tinkering with bloody marketing graphics and title sequences you’d be forgiven for thinking the film was done! As if! The edit is also pootling along nicely though. Still slow, and still a way to go, but I’m resigned to that now, its clearly the way I work and there’s not much I can do about it given I didn’t manage to get an editor on board. I did manage to grab a really worthwhile chat with Phil before I went away though – its always great to get insightful help or feedback, and while I was overly fretting about a dialogue shot I had bugger all coverage on, and just wasn’t working for me and I couldn’t see a fix, Phil simply suggested ‘Then maybe just lose it?’.
Obvious, as all the best advice is in hindsight, and also bang on the nose correct.
and yes thank you, I had a nice holiday, ta for asking.
On holiday …
… forra week. Bye for now.