I got a case of "The Reds" - a thread for Feature Writer/Directors

[number6]

agreed, different strokes for different folks. number 6, i suggest shooting lots of natural light. keep your actors to two per scene as much as possible. make the smallest film you can make. you'll naturally focus on the characters and the dialogue more.

Yeah, I just did a run-through in my mind, and I didn't see a single scene that wasn't a daylight shot, even one late evening shot away from civilization will be sufficiently lit, and a few indoor scenes (a cafe) will have good window lighting... and one or two indoor scenes will have ample yellow flourescent lighting for a homey mood. Ratio of maybe 20 percent long shots with the rest split between medium and close. Probably 65 or 70 per cent will be two person shots with dialog or just mobility, while about another 20 percent will be three, occasionally 4 person, dialogue and another 20 percent will be multiple character shots, with minimal dialogue. (Yes, I can add... I just believe in giving 110 percent.) Anyway, appreciate the thought provoking advice. When walking through a minefield it's best to step in fresh tracks... as long as you can see that the tread has not been smoothed over in one of them.

 

[Steven M. Bailey]

As a building architect who builds his own designs, I have to commit to a set of blue prints at the beginning of a project, otherwise I would change my mind everyday. While the later is more fun, it usually costs me an arm and a leg. The creative side of me has to get out. It burns at me every minute. I have to build something, Write something, explore something, learn something or shoot something(guns:gun: or digital, both fun). but not at the cost of chaos.

The thought of shooting without at least a developed scriptment, scares the hell out of me. Who knows what kind of madness would ensue

(The funny thing is that just because you have a script, doesn't mean you have to follow it. I haven't built a house true to prints yet. Even though I have the plans, I let the walls speak to me as I go. I let them tell their own story. live-in-art)

As long as the structure is there, all of the life, character, and soul of a project can be found along the road.

Probably different for everyone, good luck with your own creative time bombs
You know eventually were all gonna blow :nuke: Steven

 

[Mark Thorpe]

OK, so where is the symposium for those with fantastic, super, blockbuster feature ideas?? Been putting something around in my head for the past few years, or was that the last time the missus trusted me with the shopping list??

Oh well, whatever. I have an idea, some underwater, obviously, but a doozee of a plot.

mums the word or did I say NDA?

Cheers,
Mark.

 

[Sean]

Haha, well we will have to agree to disagree on this, as In the Mood and The New World are my favorite films of the last 10 years or so. :biggrin:

You're not alone. I went to In the Mood for Love in the first place because critics were giving it five stars. Just tell me...is the last third of the film worth the wait? I'll try again.

 

[number6]

Scripts...yes!

I dunno... scripts run the risk of becoming scriptures. And then scriptures become religions. And while a movie-making religion would probably have a lot of foreplay in the afterlife, still, I don't think we need another religion.

 

[Keith Alan Morris]

Scripts...yes!

I need a stack of 5 on my desk by tomorrow morning! Maybe I will write one tonight...maybe not.

I see RED People.

I think I will go ahead and reserve one now, I can afford 10%
Bon Voyage everyone on your RED journey. Salud, Proost, Cheers for the Red revolution.

welcome to the club. BROOKLYN IN THE HOUSE!

 

[C.H.Haskell]

Cheers Km9000…ty

Yeah I was not talking religions... I never have any scripts laying around honestly, if I did I would not be here now perhaps. Seems like Malick mainly a screenplay as something to show an investor that they were "good to go". Malick script is just backbone to fall on but goes with the flow when he comes to the set, of course this does not work for many and not even for Malick in the case of "New World"...or did it?

I have CUBA on my RED horizon. My previous Cuba experience was a short that I shot down there with my DVX called Lyra Lezama. http://haskellfilms.com/lyra.php It was scripted but became more of a rough guide for the locals to work from. I used only natural light and the end result felt more organic and rooted then the screenplay. I am still learning and always will be but I am please to be onboard with RED.

RED is a an amazing tool but since it wont problem solve my story, I am going to keep taking notes and writing as much as I can. Best of luck all!

 

[Bruce Allen]

Bruce, all good points. Let me address them, not necessarily in the order you posed them. First off, directing/acting experience=0. That is why I will be acting and directing my first film. Reason is, since I have no directing experience, I would be unlikely to direct a lot of inexperienced people to give me what I envision in their character, so the cast will be small.

Small cast is good! The Greeks did it with 2 plus a chorus, nothing wrong with that model.

Just a thought: have you considered doing some theatre work to give yourself some practice actually acting / working with actors before you shoot? It's not expensive and you quickly learn a lot.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

 

[Sean]

The thought of shooting without at least a developed scriptment, scares the hell out of me. Who knows what kind of madness would ensue.

I know what kind of madness would ensue. Unwatchable madness. 99.9% of the time anyhow.

But maybe we're talking about two different things: (A) a solid script that must be adhered to on pain of death, or (B) something that is not a script (i.e., no dialogue) but is still a carefully crafted story complete with dramatic beats and structure. I agree that if you have great actors and they're amazing improvisers you can get a great movie with (B). Waiting For Guffman was conceived this way, I believe. But those performers specialize in improvisation. They're sort of geniuses at it. Now, if you're trying to make a feature length dramatic movie without either A or B, I really doubt you could pay people to watch the results.

And even if you're considering the "treatment" route rather than a script, I'm still a believer that "religiously" adhering to a great script might be exactly what the movie needs. Fincher and writer
Andrew Walker fought the studio tooth and nail to keep Se7en's ending with the head in the box. That's a SCRIPT. It's the ending of the movie, and it was planned and everything before it is designed to culminate in this ending. To randomly deviate from that ending while on set might feel like you're a brilliant, spontaneous director, but would have decimated one of the most memorable movie endings of all time.

 

[Tom Lowe]

You're not alone. I went to In the Mood for Love in the first place because critics were giving it five stars. Just tell me...is the last third of the film worth the wait? I'll try again.

Oh hell yes. It's such a great movie. Even just in terms of the camera work, it boasts the best use of overcranking I have probably ever seen, or at least that I can remember. The framing is legendary.

Storywise, it's very reserved, poignant, artistic, and beautiful. It also packs an emotional punch if you invest your time.

But then again, it is really is a piece of art, so some will love it while others may yawn.

 

[Tom Lowe]

For 99% of filmmakers, they should stick to the script. But it's that 1% like Wong or Malick who impress me the most.

 

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Hey Tom,

Why do you say that Malick doesn't stick to the scripts he writes? I never heard this detail about him before i read this thread.

Speaking from a director's perspective (although my last short film was over 6 years ago...) i believe that it's healthy to leave some room for the unexpected and the spontaneous when you shoot. Sometimes something might happen that is really better than what's written on the paper. More or less we all do this and so does Malick.

The way it is presented here is as if he writes one script and then he goes and shoots another!

 

[Steven M. Bailey]

But maybe we're talking about two different things: (A) a solid script that must be adhered to on pain of death, or (B) something that is not a script (i.e., no dialogue) but is still a carefully crafted story complete with dramatic beats and structure. I agree that if you have great actors and they're amazing improvisers you can get a great movie with (B). Waiting For Guffman was conceived this way, I believe. But those performers specialize in improvisation. They're sort of geniuses at it. Now, if you're trying to make a feature length dramatic movie without either A or B, I really doubt you could pay people to watch the results.

I agree for the most part, but I don't think that the whole answer lies completely in A or B, but in a well concieved and controlled ratio of A and B.

Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, (writers of Pirate's of the Caribbean, Aladin, Small Soldiers..on and on), write some of the most seen and best executed screenplay's around. But even they realize that often times the actors will find a better line or even totally replace a line with a simple facial expression.

(of course if you work with Robin Williams or Johnny Depp you may not have a chioce in this.)

This does't negate the script, but brings life to its presentation.

Actual story structure and the release of audiance information is absolutly critical and must be respected at all costs. I won't say that anything is impossible, but I don't know how you could do this on the fly. We have to keep people captivated, Interested, intellectually and emotionally involved, otherwise all were doing is making expensive sleep aids.

 

[Miltos Pilalitos]

...otherwise all were doing is making expensive sleep aids.

I second that!

 

[number6]

And even if you're considering the "treatment" route rather than a script, I'm still a believer that "religiously" adhering to a great script might be exactly what the movie needs. Fincher and writer
Andrew Walker fought the studio tooth and nail to keep Se7en's ending with the head in the box. That's a SCRIPT. It's the ending of the movie, and it was planned and everything before it is designed to culminate in this ending. To randomly deviate from that ending while on set might feel like you're a brilliant, spontaneous director, but would have decimated one of the most memorable movie endings of all time.

Rhetorical: What if that ending hadn't been in the script, and it just came to the director in a flash of brilliance? And how many movies have been panned that could have been saved by simply taking a chance?

 

[number6]

Small cast is good! The Greeks did it with 2 plus a chorus, nothing wrong with that model.

Just a thought: have you considered doing some theatre work to give yourself some practice actually acting / working with actors before you shoot? It's not expensive and you quickly learn a lot.

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

Bruce, my story is such that acting might ruin it......(pregnant pause).......... (ouch) ...o.k., the baby is out. Plus, I do not plan on acting after I get this first one, maybe the second one done, and don't want to spend my time practicing for just one or two acting attempts when I can better utilize it training with the needed software updates for editing. By then I should be a little further along on the learning curve and can simply stay in the director's chair. Besides, there are currently outside demands on my time. And, believe it or not, I relish the challenge of going in cold. And it is not "life-changing" important that this film work. If it doesn't... maybe the next one or the next one will.

If I got a paid-for RED, and some Rye Crispbread, I'll keep shootin' and shootin' and shootin'

 

[Tom Lowe]

Hey Tom,

Why do you say that Malick doesn't stick to the scripts he writes? I never heard this detail about him before i read this thread.

Speaking from a director's perspective (although my last short film was over 6 years ago...) i believe that it's healthy to leave some room for the unexpected and the spontaneous when you shoot. Sometimes something might happen that is really better than what's written on the paper. More or less we all do this and so does Malick.

The way it is presented here is as if he writes one script and then he goes and shoots another!

Heh. Well I'm the biggest Malick disciple you're likely to come across in everyday life. I worship Terry and I think his cinema is visual poetry.

Here's a quote from Q'Orianka Kilcher that might demonstrate something about his style of directing:

"Even though there'd be a plan of what we were supposed to do that day, we never knew what to expect. Terry would get so inspired. For example, he'd see a fennel field blowing in the wind and he'd tell me, 'Oh, Q'orianka, could you take your shoes off and run through that field? Be the wind, be the wind! Oh good, oh good!' It was such a wonderful working environment because I loved going on my impulses, even at the risk of looking extremely silly or wrong. He was that kind of director."

Even so, Kilcher had to adapt to Malick's habit of asking his performers to disregard long sections of dialogue they'd already memorized, thereby radically reshaping a script that he'd spent 25 years writing.

 

[Miltos Pilalitos]

Ouch!

 

[Keith Alan Morris]

"Matte Box woes" has more views than us. Gaah!

 

[Steven M. Bailey]

Heh. Well I'm the biggest Malick disciple you're likely to come across in everyday life. I worship Terry and I think his cinema is visual poet:

I had to rack my brain to remember what movie I had recently seen that was directed by Terry Malick. Then I was reminded by my writing partner. "A New World"
To start out positively:
The film was beautifully shot, It had some Stunning footage, brilliant lighting, incredible sets, the Costumes were authentic, it had a very real feeling.

too real

So real in fact that by the end of the movie I was fast asleep. As beautiful and artistic as it was, it was also mind numbingly boring, lacking even the basic story structure

beautifully, expensive, sleep aids