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Hi all,
I've posted in the past about my interest in short film-making. I'm temporarily postponing one production ("Far Above the Clouds") in favour of another, in the hope that I will be able to raise £10,000+ to shoot it on film and with a proper crew next summer when I finish university.
In the meantime I'm looking around for simpler ideas, so as to come up with a project that can be made easily and cheaply (but nevertheless well). The emphasis is sound rather than picture (like a radio play, but more immersive); I am, for instance, considering using real locations, but shooting 35mm stills, and producing a soundtrack afterwards in post-production.
I am toying with the idea of a gay story; I have never written one in the past (I did write a full-length treatment that might qualify as one about a year ago, but it's not really a "gay" story), as most of my characters have been based on life, and I don't know many gay people (aside from myself, and I'm very peculiar). It can't be a teen story because it's not easy to find younger actors (except university students, 18+). And it needs to have a fairly ordinary setting (any of rural/urban Somerset/Surrey/London institutional/domestic/city, but definitely UK -- unless I can mock up sets for a different location easily).
Anyway, if there's anyone here who'd be interested in allowing me to bounce some ideas off them, or contributing, or has a suggestion for a story that I should read or look into because they think it might work well on film or as a radio play, please let me know. Thanks!
I ought to add that I can and do write stuff on my own, but sometimes it helps me to discuss things with other people, especially if there's a detail missing from a plot and I can't quite work out what it is.
David
[Updated on: Thu, 14 December 2006 15:54] |
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Deeej, do feel free to bounce ideas off me if you like - although, as my background is in the rather different discipline of live theatre, I may be of only limited help.
NW
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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Thank you, NW. If I remember correctly, I mentioned the prototype story I have (which is not a "gay" story) last time we met, but it's continuing to be somewhat problematic as it is difficult not to base it on life (making it painful to contemplate). Unless I can lighten it somehow I may have to leave it for the moment.
There is another story which I have discounted in the past because it would need very high production values to make "properly" (big sets, experienced crew, busy locations, large cast). It might work rather better primarily in sound and stills, because I would not need nearly so many people (only, maybe, a couple of cast members, a sound recordist and some lighting equipment). That one does have a gay protagonist, come to think of it. (Sorry, just thinking out loud.)
Has anyone here seen Chris Marker's short film La Jetée? It's a proper film shot almost entirely in stills. (Terry Gilliam made a Hollywoodised sort-of-remake: Twelve Monkeys.) IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0056119/ That might be the sort of effect I would like to create; though I must see it again, as it's a couple of years since I last saw it.
David
[Updated on: Thu, 14 December 2006 16:38] |
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Let me see....
You are wanting to do a film, possibly leaning toward some aspect of gay life.....
NW has extensive theatrical experience..... Thus a good working knowledge of the theater scene.
How about something along these lines.....
Young gay tries to break into the theater, juggling the usual social angst, home life, school (theatrical workshops of a sort), possible relationship and friendship while auditioning for some "important" production.....
I am sure that with your film experience and NW's theater experience as well as the possibility of an inroad to locations you could work up something nice....
Or then.... what do I know.......
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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An interesting idea.
The maximum length of 10 minutes means that one couldn't show everything you mention, but I see no reason one couldn't show a few aspects of such a person's life. Maybe just one five-minute incident while he is waiting to audition for a production, if it is representative, and the dialogue is witty.
A great deal of research would be required, however -- I don't know anything about theatre. It depends, NW, if you'd be up for acting as technical advisor!
(A secondary problem is actually finding access to a theatre, though if most of the action could take place in a rehearsal room instead, or the television studio here, there would be no problem.)
It also brings to mind the idea of a film set in a television or sound studio (the latter especially if I intend to re-record much of the sound in that same studio), or an edit suite, but that might be getting a bit too postmodern and gimmicky. There's a clever sketch by Ronnie Barker, written as an audition piece (I'm not sure if it's ever been recorded), in which the actors slip in and out of character (from characters within a story, to characters waiting to audition for a play, to themselves).
David
[Updated on: Thu, 14 December 2006 19:49] |
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Interesting and powerful movie - I enjoyed watching it. On a technical level, it didn't quite work for me: the editing, and the use of fades in specific places of transfer-of-state, (as opposed to cuts within states) was good, but I felt that the juxtaposition of some of the stills was too wearing. There was an awful lot of two people, one person, two people, main interest off to one side then the other ... very wearing on the eyes, and I didn't follow any logic in it (though that could just be me) - perhaps that works better on a big screen.
Thanks for posting the link.
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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Happy to help in any way that I can: one of the benefits of being forced to take early retirement is that I have a certain amount of spare time!
NW
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. ... Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night devoid of stars." Martin Luther King
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