Plays are different from movies, Part 2

So, you remember back in December I was talking about how plays are different from movies? Well, I just saw August: Osage County. It was apparently a successful play (though I'd never heard of it, but I wouldn't, so don't use me as a gauge) so someone paid the playwright to make a screenplay out of it. What we got was a play on film with a bunch of actors you recognize.

Figuring out the skeleton

I'm going to gush for a moment because I doubt Debbie will ever see this. And if she does ever happen to stumble upon it I'll stand by what I say.

Enid research photos

Has anyone got time to proof read for me in the next 48 hours? Send me an email.

Don't know why I feel good

Last night and this morning I was completely freaking out. Tired, stressed, overwhelmed. And right now I feel great. And it's not like I was terribly productive today. 

Interesting and somewhat random things I've read

I'm reading a lot today. I have my exam for Line Producing on Tuesday so I'm trying to catch up on all the handouts for that class. At least I've got all the textbook stuff read. I also have a pile of reading for Adaptations: two sets of stories for workshops, plus a film that Debbie is going to talk about. Some interesting stuff is floating to the surface though, so here are a few quotes and ideas.

Glorious Failures

"You will learn more from a glorious failure than you ever will from something you never finished."
- Neil Gaiman
As found here.

What wonderful advice that is.

Slow and steady wins the race

This is remarkably relevant to my last post, come to think of it.

For my Adaptations class someone is doing The Tortoise and the Hare. We're workshopping it on Tuesday so we have to read the original, read the treatment, and in theory read the pages of the script she's got done (in this case, because she is going first and has less time than later people, she doesn't have to have script pages done yet). Then we write up a 1/2 to 1 page feedback for her. I really like what she's doing with it, but that's not my point at the moment.

Before you click the link above and remind yourself of the story, what do you remember?

It's only the first

How is it only the first and yet I look at November and think I'm in trouble?

What makes a good book?

The answer to this question is different for everyone of course. I like that I'm doing a lot of reading this term. And I don't even mind that I like some books better than others; that's inevitable. Right now I'm reading A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. Once I get it done I'll watch the movie. I'm hoping I like the movie better than the book, but I'm frankly not holding out a lot of hope. In fact if someone plopped this book down on my desk and said, "We'll hire you to adapt it." I would have no idea where to begin. I'm just over half way through and I have to make myself keep reading.

Not a new thought, but well said

I should be moved on to A Single Man by now for my Adaptations class, but I'm still lingering on Shawshank Redemption because a) I like that movie a lot, and b) there is so much good bonus material. I'm listening to the director's commentary and he's talking about a scene in the mess hall about half way through the film. There are a lot of people talking, but he didn't have a lot of time to shoot it. So rather than shoot each individual who speaks they did a long drifting take that slowly moves in to just the two main characters.

"I thought that was such an elegant solution. And not just a great concession to the amount of time I had to shoot it, but also just a more positive creative solution. Sometimes when you have to make those decisions under duress you wind up doing more elegant things than you would have otherwise if you had all the time in the world to shoot it. And I have Roger Deakins [the DP] to thank for that lesson. It was a wonderful learning experience working with him." -- Frank Darabont (writer/director)

When casually watching you won't even notice that shot. If anything you'll notice that it starts with a lot of people talking, but when it gets to the heart of the matter and it's really just the two of them you will only see the two of them and you see them up close to really get into their eyes and their hearts. But probably most of you won't even notice that, you'll just be caught up in the story. Even I didn't notice it until it was pointed out. But once he said it I thought, oh, that was beautiful.

When you're shooting a film you have to sit down and make decisions for every image that people are going to see. To be so elegant that nobody sees the effort you put into it is really the goal.

A good week in spite of the tooth

I mean really, when I spent Sunday reading the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and then last night reading the screenplay for Shawshank Redemption you can't call homework a hardship. Lately I've been full of ideas for Adaptations. Part of that is Debbie being good at asking the right questions to get me excited about the ideas I have. I was talking to her about Dupin vs Holmes and she thought I'd have fun adapting a detective story. She also didn't discount Holmes just because it's been done a lot lately. Though she also liked the hook that makes me interested in The Mystery of Marie Roget. Then I told her about the Cape story I'm considering. She said, "That sounds perfect for you, but you should write it as a short so that you can actually shoot it." Except I'd been thinking I should write it as a feature and it could be the first feature I shoot. Too many ideas, not enough time. No, that's not true, all the time in the world. I won't stop shooting movies when I graduate. 

Art imitating life

I am really looking forward to my adaptations class in the fall. One of the shortcomings I tend to have is thinking up story ideas in the first place. If this class can help me to find existing ideas and make them film-worthy that seems like a good thing for me.