Problems With Idea 1

After discussing my idea for the simulated client project, I feel a lot clearer about the idea. However, there are a few small problems, the main one being whether or not the fact that the second guy has copyed the first guy's CD is clear enough. I'll have to find a way to show this that fits neatly into the story, and doesn't disrupt it's flow. I'll also have to think some more about the aesthetics of the film, and exactly how I'm going to make the two stalls. They need to look home made and amatuerish, but not look like I've just kinda rushed them off.
Also, I need to emphasise the point that something wrong is taking place here. At the moment, I'm thinking the first guy should maybe burst into tears eventually or something, or perhaps, going with the idea of 'damage' to recording artists, that the crowd of people rushing to the free download stall damage or destroy the first guy's stall, or trample and damage the environment around it. These are just ideas at the moment, I need to solidify them a little bit.

I had another idea too, based around the idea of intimacy, for instance, when you download a CD, and miss out on the artwork, physical object, even the excitement of something like finding a rare album in a record store, you're losing out on the intimacy between you and the product. For this idea, I was thinking you could have two guys at a fairground, one with his arm round a CD, and clearly having a great time, and the second guy with his arm round a harddrive, who looks really miserable and keeps glancing jealously over at the other guy. I don't think I'll use this idea, but thought it'd be a good idea to have it in writing!

EDIT : I've had an idea for this, if we show the first man’s CD as clearly being a well produced CD, with artwork and packaging etc., when the second man buys it, and after we see the first man glance across at him, the second man puts the CD down on his stall, and points next to it and another identical copy appears in it’s place. He points again and two appear, then four, and so on. Then everyone rushes in and gets them. Still just a possibility at this stage, I'll try and think of some more ideas.

A Slight Setback...

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that the deadline is actually the 22nd May, so the room that was booked from the 25th to the 27th is now no use to me. However, I've adapted the script, and personally think it is now a lot better than the last incarnation. The film is now a spoof documentary that focuses on Dr. Tipler's attempts to build a time machine, hosted by a Louis Theroux style reporter. The film starts off with the presenter stood outside a university, explaining that he's about to interview esteemed scientist Dr. Edward Tipler. However, Tipler doesn't really know what he's doing... The presenter knocks on his office door, finding him asleep at his desk. Then we get a bit of backstory on Tipler, framed through a talking heads style interview with him, interspersed with old footage of him and photos of him as a kid, etc. After this, Tipler shows us round his workshop, shows us some old, failed attempts at time machines, get's heckled by a group of students, and then finally shows the reporter his latest time machine, which is a chair like object you get strapped into. The reporter nervously straps in, and then the machine is turned on, causing a powercut. The lights go out, the screen goes dark, and we hear a large thud and the presenter in pain. Tipler manages to turn the lights on, and finds out that the time machine has disappeared into the past, however the reporter has not and has fallen onto the floor. The final shot is the reporter, back outside the uni, wearing a neck brace and summing up his experience with Tipler.
This will be pretty easy to film, and I think it has a lot of potential comic opportunities, the only problem now is whether or not the actors can make it at such short notice. If not, I don't really have time to find any more so will have to use people I know...!

Going Through Changes

After the feedback I received from the presentations at the end of last term, I've made some fairly big changes to the script. The story is fairly different now, but is definitely more suited to the 6 minute length, the original script was in danger of turning into a feature film!
In this version of the script, Dr Tipler is running a business to send people back in time to eliminate past regrets, for a small fee! Roger goes to visit him, we join them mid conversation as they’re discussing Roger’s regret, so we’re not entirely sure of what it is. Roger discusses it ambiguously but with enough detail for us to piece together a vague idea of what it was he’s done. Then, just as the Professor is about to pull the trigger to send Roger back in time, another Roger runs through the door, all battered and beaten up, a little worse for wear, and screams at Roger “Don’t do it! You’re making a big mistake!”, just as the trigger has been pulled and Roger disappears.
I'm in the process of scripting this out now, I have a first draft, the bare bones of the scene, so just need to flesh it out a bit. As the original time travel scene took around 4 minutes, I think this will fit nicely into 6.

The Problem Of Time (In A Film About Time Travel...)

In the presentation today the problem of my film's running time was brought up again. It seems my initial idea of splitting the film into three segments doesn't really sit too well with the brief, so I may have to do some severe editing.
Here's an extremely shorter version of the first half of the pilot.

I don't think this version is anywhere near as good, and doesn't really get across all the information you need to know. I think to shorten the script I will have to re-write large chunks of it rather than simply cutting some lines.

The Pilot

Here's the pilot for 'Chuck Voyager' -

As one of the actors in the scene was unable to film before this deadline, I had two of my friends stand in for both the actors (it seemed pointless to get the actor playing Dr. Tipler to travel down here just to film a pilot that won’t actually be in the final film), so the cast in the final version will be totally different, as will the location, props, etc. The footage looks a little rough around the edges but I feel it gives a relatively good indication of how this scene will look in the finished edit.
The scene is a LOT longer than I imagined it would be! However, Elliot suggested allowing 6 minutes for the first scene on the film set, 6 minutes for this one and then 6 minutes for in the future, which is probably what I'm going to. This would give me 6 short films that could (kind of) stand alone but also work as a whole.

I just had a talk with Deborah and Danny as well about my third year project. Danny said my idea of doing a music video for a band isn't quite enough, so suggested doing a full audio visual package for a band, which is a cool idea.

More Scripting Fun!

I had another idea for a script that may make a good film, about a guy who feels the music scene in his town is sorely lacking, and goes about putting on a gig to showcase local talent. However, the only venue he is able to secure is an old lecture theatre, which is less than ideal, and all the bands he wants to book are unavailable, leaving him with several poor, but well meaning bands. The gig looks like it's going to be an absolute disaster, with members of the different bands not getting on well, the music sounding generally terrible, deadlines looming and a mountain of logistical nightmares. Eventually however, the gig turns out to be shambolic fun and is enjoyed by all.
This is just the bare bones of the story at the moment, there needs to be several good obstacles in the man's way, and the bands also need to have their own distinct character, and be bad in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way. I was thinking sort of like the battle of the bands scene in Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke mixed with Spinal Tap, but with contemporary sounding bands. At the moment, some of my ideas include an aggressive but woefully out of time straight-edge hardcore band, a drug guzzling drone/doom band that are more than happy to let a single sustained note ring out for about 50 minutes, an pretentious art-rock kinda band, and a kind of gabba or breakcore DJ. These characters would all find conflict with each other, but eventually find a kind of middle ground to all get along...possibly? Still needs a LOT of work, but I'll keep thinking about it!

I've been reading 'Adventures In The Screen Trade' by William Goldman to help me with the scripting, and it's been really useful. There's a chapter where he takes an old short story he's written, and then tries to adapt it into a screenplay. Seeing the thought processes he goes through and the changes he makes the initial story is really interesting, and I'll apply some of the questions he asks about his own work to my scripts. I'd recommend this book and it's sequel ('Which Lie Did I Tell? More Adventures In The Screen Trade') to everyone on the AV course!

Voyaged!

I just finished writing the first script, which ends with Roger finding out the robot is the time machine, and then being sent back to the point in time just before he made the phone call to apply for the time travel experiment. He takes Laura's advice this time and doesn't phone them, and instead asks her out for a drink, which she agrees to!
I'll bring this finished script along to the script workshops and make some improvements to it, but the first draft is now complete.
I also started writing a script for an idea tentatively titled 'Kebab Quest'. This would start off with two students out on the town, who decide to head to a kebab shop after going on a brief bender. Once there, they're disappointed with the menu, saddened by the staff's uncaring manner, and sickened by the grotty mess of a kebab they receive. The pair decide in a drunken stupor to start their own kebab shop, which would be the greatest takeaway of them all in their minds, out of their own window. They set about ordering large ammounts of cheap meat and make a massive sign that says 'Kebab Quest'. They wake up the next day, open for business, and gradually become incredibly popular. The pressure begins to get to them however, and rival kebab shops try to buy them out and sabotage them, before eventually they pack the whole thing in and decide to go get a cheese burger instead.
I kinda like this idea but also think it's pretty stupid at the same time, haha! It'd need a good solid script to actually work, and a good chemistry between the two lead characters. Regardless of whether I actually decide to use this idea or not, it can't hurt to script it out and see how it goes.

Alternative Endings

I've now come up with a few ideas on how to end my current script, and I'm going to try scripting them now and seeing which one works best. The one I'm liking the most at the moment, is that when the robot sent itself and the time machine forward in time, the two merged without the robot realising. The pair find out when the robot inadvertently points at Roger and they're sent back in time by a few seconds. However, once Roger finds this out, there are several possibilities for what could happen. One idea is that he returns to the exact spot where he left the studio, and comes to appreciate his life a lot more, kind of like Scrooge in A Christmas Carol I guess, heh! Another is that he goes back to the original audition for 'Chuck Voyager' and does his best not to land the role...? I'm not sure if that's really a solid, satisfying ending though.
As well as this, I'm also going to try scripting another idea as a back up plan. It's kinda hard to leap into a totally new project after putting so much thought into this one, but I think it'll definitely help having a few good scripts to choose from, just in case one of the ideas is too complex, expensive or ambitious, but also if any of them turn out to be kind of weak as stories.

A Trilogy?

Several good ideas came up in the script workshop today for my script. Even though everyone agreed that my script was going to be much longer than 6 minutes, it was suggested that I could split it into parts. This would give me a lot more space and time to develop the characters too, and the script could be cut into at least two, maybe three parts. However, I'm not sure if the brief will allow this?
I also need to make all the characters a little more solid. The character of Laura at the moment isn't able to extend much further than just acting as a plot device whilst Roger reads the newspaper aloud. I'll try and build more on their relationship, as well as writing up some character outlines to help me get a better idea of who they are too.
Another idea that was brought forward was that instead of a TV crew, the sci-fi series could be being made by an internet based company instead, filming in their basement, as a full film crew will be harder to film, and this will make the show seem even more tragic. I like this idea, but I'm not totally sure I need to make a point of it, as just seeing a smaller crew filming him will achieve the same effect.
It was also mentioned that when Roger goes to the time travel interview, the scientist could recognise him from the show. This could lead to some good dialogue and could potentially strengthen the connection between Roger's 'fake' sci-fi show and the reality of his time travel experience, but it could also make Roger out to be more famous than he actually is. I'm not totally sure whether this would help the story or hinder it yet.

Scripting!

Just came back from the first lecture and seminar of the year, and even though I didn't get feedback for my script as we ran out of time, it was still very useful. However, seeing the length of many of the scripts compared to mine has made me doubt whether I can actually squeeze this story into 6 minutes... I'm not going to totally discard the idea at all, but I'll try working on some other scripts tonight just in case. This will mean tomorrow I can gain feedback on all my ideas, and then choose which one is best to go with. I have a few other ideas for stories knocking about in my head, but at the moment none of them are as solid as the time travel one, which still isn't even totally solid as it is, haha!
I was also thinking of how I would design the robot. Building a plasticine robot, animating using stop-motion and then blue screening it into the film would look awesome, but may not be entirely feasible... I was thinking I could just build it out of cardboard boxes, and the robot explains that as he was created when the science department's budget was at an all-time low, he had to be constructed out of waste materials. It's a bit of a cop-out though. I also thought maybe the robot could have been built so well that he does just resemble a human being, but this is also quite a lame way of doing it.
Here are some sketches for the sci-fi idea -

First Script Idea

I've thought a little bit more about some of the ideas I had, and managed to flesh one of them out somewhat. It's still not entirely strong enough to carry a whole film though, so I'm thinking maybe if I write out a script for it, I'll be able to visualise it a bit better, but I'll still keep trying to think of different ideas in case I can think of a better one, or if this one doesn't work.

So, basically, there's a man who plays the starring role in an extremely cheap and cheesy sci-fi TV programme. The film begins with the crudely animated opening to the series, and then continues on with the episode. At some point our protagonist messes up his lines, at which point we hear the director yelling "CUT!", and the camera pulls back to reveal the set and film crew around them.
We then see the man talking to one of his co-stars about feeling like he's wasting his time working on this terrible show, and that he wants to actually do something with his life. He then sees an advert in the paper for a group of scientists looking for someone to test out a prototype time machine they've made. Our man thinks this is a golden opportunity to do something with his life, and to become the first man to travel through time.
He goes along to the interview, where he's told he will be sent several years forward in time, then when he's there will be sent back to the current time. He agrees, and is sent forward thousands of years into the future. Once there, he finds himself in a field with no traces of mankind or civilization anywhere to be seen. After a brief period wondering where he is and what's happened, a small robot appears on the horizon, running towards him. The robot tells him the scientists who sent him forward are unable to meet him, as the human race has been totally destroyed. The robot tells him (maybe through use of flashbacks?) that the governments of the world began losing more and more money and becoming more hostile towards one another, and withdrew all the money they'd put into scientific research and used it to build up their military, launching into a full scale global war which kills thousands upon thousands of people. The robot was one of the last models made, but due to the lack of funds has been built quite poorly. It's equipped with a device that allows it to see into (or predict) the future, but this doesn't work quite as well as it should, and is always missing a few key facts. The robot, sensing the inevitable destruction of mankind, sent himself forward to meet our protagonist and try and help him head back to his own time, but mistimed his arrival slightly, hence why he was a few minutes late. The robot tells him there is one surviving time machine somewhere on the planet, but he isn't exactly sure where. The man and his new found robot pal must try and find it to send him back, and try and stop the eradication of the human race!

I'm gonna try and have a rough script for this idea ready for the workshop on Monday, but I'm still not totally sure if I will use this idea. I have some thoughts on how to achieve many of the effects I've mentioned here, but I'm not sure whether the plot is solid enough to carry itself, or indeed whether it can do this comfortably within 6 minutes....but I'll give it a go!

Film Ideas

I've been thinking of some ideas for the second term project, and so far have come up with a few vague starting points. I've been trying to think of ways to achieve the fantastical and outlandish on a student budget, rather than just thinking of a basic story. This may prove to be too ambitious and more of a hindrance, but here are a few ideas (more for my own benefit than anything else) anyway :

- A zombie film! More an urge to fulfill a childhood dream than a fully fledged idea, really. A few props and a little imagination could go a long way here, although there's a always the danger it could just look way too crude and rubbish, haha!

- A sci-fi spoof? Still not entirely sure on this one, but I had an idea that basically involves some guy that plays a role in a TV series like Star Trek or something, with really terrible looking sets and effects, then goes home after getting off the set one day and is abducted by aliens, who then steal his body and go to his place of work and then, erm....do something. With hilarious results. Needs a lot of work if it's gonna be a worthwhile idea, but it'd be fun to film a really poor looking sci-fi show (along the lines of 'Garth Marenghi's Darkplace' or something similar), and then contrast this with more understated, mundane looking 'real-life' aliens. I dunno, I'll give it some thought.

- The use of basic props to convey different time zones or eras, for example 'Planet Of The Apes', a replica of the statue of liberty gives the impression of the absolute desecration and destruction of planet earth. I'm not entirely sure yet how this could be used to my advantage, but it's a good thing to start thinking about. Maybe a film about cavemen would be good fun, or a primitive race in the future finding remnants of our civilization. In fact, how about a film where someone is chryogenically frozen, wakes up in the future, and finds the earth totally devoid of mankind's influence apart from a few select artifacts? I dunno, that's an idea that just popped into my head whilst typing this, haha!

- A film that drifts between someone's conscious and unconscious thoughts, like reality and dreams. To create a dream-like atmosphere wouldn't be too hard to achieve on a small budget. 'The Science Of Sleep' achieves it through the use of stop-motion animation and some fairly elaborate props, but Chris Morris' 'Jam' manages to get a dreamy, delirious feeling simply through editing, relatively simple effects in post-production to manipulate the footage and audio, an ambient soundtrack and the sheer surrealism of the sketches.

I'll keep thinking through ideas, it would be silly to build the plot around an idea for a special effect, but I'm really drawn to the idea and challenge of making something bizaare on a budget. I have a few ideas for simple stories too, but I'm not really too happy with any of these at the moment, so they'll need a bit more thought. I'll post them up on here within the next few days if I can think them into anything relatively solid.