On Wednesday I have to have a log line for Take Out for class. A log line is 1 to 2 sentences that describe the film in a teasing sort of way that doesn't give away the ending. It's most often used for programs and website at screenings. So if there are several blocks of shorts and you want to pick which one to see but you've never heard of any of them, you look at the titles and the photos and read the log lines to see what sounds good to you.
My log line for Killer is: Sometimes waiting for the bus can be the most dangerous part of your day.
Anybody have any good ideas? The comment section is open for brainstorming.
Monday, 29 April 2013
An award winning film
So I had a good weekend. I didn't network nearly as much as I should. It was the closing night party before I really started talking to people. That seems about typical for me: 4 days to break the ice. But in the meantime I saw a lot of good films, many of them under 5 minutes which is the qualification for being a short short. On Saturday though, I left after the afternoon screenings because I was having dinner with Mom and Dad. Dad asked me what I was missing by having dinner with them and I said the Jury Awards and then 2 more screenings. He asked why I didn't want to stay for the awards and I said I wasn't in competition so whatever. (Passing was in competition for a Jury prize at Woods Hole and they had asked me to send extra DVDs to give to the jury judges.) Then the next morning I was checking Facebook and the festival had listed the award winners so I looked.
Killer won for best short short.
Killer won for best short short.
Wednesday, 24 April 2013
One week left
I only have 2 big things left to do in the next week.
1) I have to finish Take Out. Sam thinks it needs a better title. I know I will never come up with a better title, but if anyone has a sudden inspiration feel free to share it. He said what about even Take Away, but I said that sounds too British. He thought it was a bit too generic and didn't say enough about what kind of film it was. Apart from potentially changing the title though, I think it's coming along very well. I'm at picture lock. John has a copy and is working on the score. I'm starting the rest of the sound design. And then I'll do color correction. Though in fact we get finals week to work on it as well. My last class is Wednesday the 1st, but we have until the 6th to turn in the copy for screening on the 8th.
2) I have to write an 8 page paper for Thesis Prep. That's not a lot of writing since she wants it double spaced, but it will take a lot of thought. We had one on one meetings with Mary Jane instead of a regular class today. We could ask her about the paper. I got one point clarified. Apparently the boys haven't even read the directions yet. Mostly we talked about my latest version of Grandpa's Getaways. She started out with "How much do you really want to pitch this for your thesis?" And I said I'd rather pitch the one I wrote for Debbie's class. She was relieved by that.
1) I have to finish Take Out. Sam thinks it needs a better title. I know I will never come up with a better title, but if anyone has a sudden inspiration feel free to share it. He said what about even Take Away, but I said that sounds too British. He thought it was a bit too generic and didn't say enough about what kind of film it was. Apart from potentially changing the title though, I think it's coming along very well. I'm at picture lock. John has a copy and is working on the score. I'm starting the rest of the sound design. And then I'll do color correction. Though in fact we get finals week to work on it as well. My last class is Wednesday the 1st, but we have until the 6th to turn in the copy for screening on the 8th.
2) I have to write an 8 page paper for Thesis Prep. That's not a lot of writing since she wants it double spaced, but it will take a lot of thought. We had one on one meetings with Mary Jane instead of a regular class today. We could ask her about the paper. I got one point clarified. Apparently the boys haven't even read the directions yet. Mostly we talked about my latest version of Grandpa's Getaways. She started out with "How much do you really want to pitch this for your thesis?" And I said I'd rather pitch the one I wrote for Debbie's class. She was relieved by that.
Friday, 19 April 2013
Monday, 15 April 2013
I'm OK
I live in an information free zone really. Sitting at home all day, writing my script, prepping for a presentation I have to give on Wednesday. On my to do list for the day was to go to campus to practice with some gear that I have to use for a class project on Wednesday evening. I was putting it off because this morning I looked at the map of the Boston Marathon and realized that it was going right between me and campus.
Around 3 I figured it would be just straggler runners so I should be able to find a way across.
There was also a daytime baseball game today (are they called matinees in baseball?) so between the two events my neighborhood was packed with people. I was expecting that, but I hate crowds so even being prepared for it didn't help my state of mind while wadding through all those people who were mostly just standing around trying to figure out where to go.
In very quick succession I got 2 texts. One from my nephew Frank and one from my classmate Aaron both saying exactly the same thing "You ok?" I answered Frank, "My neighborhood is a zoo and I'm annoyed, why do you ask?" And I answered Aaron, "Why wouldn't I be? You're the second person to ask me that." And so simultaneously they were the ones to tell me about the explosions at the marathon.
Awful stuff. I've got the Post up now which is saying 22 injured and 2 dead. But to be clear, when I got to the nearest point of the route to my house it happened to be the 40km mark. Which Google tells me is 24.8 miles. So near the end relatively, but not near enough for me to even be aware the explosions had happened. Didn't hear anything. Didn't see anything. Didn't feel anything. Thinking about it, there was an increase in sirens, but I had chalked that up to the race generally.
I asked a cop where's the nearest place to cross because I still have homework to do, but he said nowhere, we're asking everyone to move away from the course. So I came home. The cell towers are overloaded so I can't call anyone. I thought this might be a good way to reassure everyone at once. If anyone thinks to look.
Around 3 I figured it would be just straggler runners so I should be able to find a way across.
There was also a daytime baseball game today (are they called matinees in baseball?) so between the two events my neighborhood was packed with people. I was expecting that, but I hate crowds so even being prepared for it didn't help my state of mind while wadding through all those people who were mostly just standing around trying to figure out where to go.
In very quick succession I got 2 texts. One from my nephew Frank and one from my classmate Aaron both saying exactly the same thing "You ok?" I answered Frank, "My neighborhood is a zoo and I'm annoyed, why do you ask?" And I answered Aaron, "Why wouldn't I be? You're the second person to ask me that." And so simultaneously they were the ones to tell me about the explosions at the marathon.
Awful stuff. I've got the Post up now which is saying 22 injured and 2 dead. But to be clear, when I got to the nearest point of the route to my house it happened to be the 40km mark. Which Google tells me is 24.8 miles. So near the end relatively, but not near enough for me to even be aware the explosions had happened. Didn't hear anything. Didn't see anything. Didn't feel anything. Thinking about it, there was an increase in sirens, but I had chalked that up to the race generally.
I asked a cop where's the nearest place to cross because I still have homework to do, but he said nowhere, we're asking everyone to move away from the course. So I came home. The cell towers are overloaded so I can't call anyone. I thought this might be a good way to reassure everyone at once. If anyone thinks to look.
Incremental improvements
One of the things that Mary Jane said when we workshopped Grandpa's Getaways was that I needed to decide what the tone of the piece should be. It was skating the line between serious and funny and so not quite succeeding at either. She also gave me homework to watch spy movies not just to help me decide, but to help me know what that decision would look like.
Saturday, 13 April 2013
Let me tell you a story
We've been doing these exercises in getting down to the heart of a story using film language. What can you see? What are they doing? Even though I have a draft of Grandpa's Getaways already, and in fact it's draft number 7 or 8, I want to back up and try to tell the story using Jan's technique before I do revisions to the script and turn it in again for Mary Jane.
It is actually turning out to be very hard to do and is taking me quite a while. I haven't read the script in a month or so and I'm not letting myself open it up now. The current script doesn't matter. What matters is what story am I trying to tell? It's not good to just say I'm trying to practice making a spy story. Scenes with no meaning are boring even if they're cloaked in espionage and chases and stuff.
I can't seem to take all the language out. But then people talk to each other. It's part of what they do. But I keep aiming for if this were in a foreign language would you still know what's going on? I used to watch Spanish language soap operas at the laundromat in Takoma Park and even though I don't speak a word of Spanish I usually knew pretty much what was going on. Not by what people said, but by how they said it.
It is actually turning out to be very hard to do and is taking me quite a while. I haven't read the script in a month or so and I'm not letting myself open it up now. The current script doesn't matter. What matters is what story am I trying to tell? It's not good to just say I'm trying to practice making a spy story. Scenes with no meaning are boring even if they're cloaked in espionage and chases and stuff.
I can't seem to take all the language out. But then people talk to each other. It's part of what they do. But I keep aiming for if this were in a foreign language would you still know what's going on? I used to watch Spanish language soap operas at the laundromat in Takoma Park and even though I don't speak a word of Spanish I usually knew pretty much what was going on. Not by what people said, but by how they said it.
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