Dr. Manhattan

Inventor of the gravy covered sandwich.*





*Surely someone else came up with this before me.

Small Story

I saw District 9.

Fabulous movie, I really liked it. And the fact that it was made on a relatively modest budget ($30 million) and not from Hollywood just makes it that much more amazing.

It works so well because they understood to tell the SMALL STORY. Get us involved with a character that we get to know and care about. We humans are selfish little bastards. No matter what’s going on in the world, we’re mostly interested in ME AND MINE.

*********** MINOR SPOILER ALERT ***********

In District 9, a gigantic alien ship hovers precariously over Johannesburg. A million dangerous, nasty aliens are forced to live in squaller. A secret government agency is conducting unethical experiments to monopolize an alien weapon technology for profit.

But the movie’s story focuses on one frightened little man caught up in the middle of it all. He doesn’t care about saving the aliens, or the earth, or stopping the government agency. He just wants to save his marriage and go back to his pleasant life.

It’s something that we can all identify with. Let’s be honest, there might be deadly hurricanes, plane crashes and terrorist bombings all in one day. But unless it hits us directly, we’re more upset about that dude that stole our parking spot and then flipped us off than anything else. That’s just the way we are. We’re ungenerous with our concern unless we’re immediately involved. We’re not evil, we’re just a little self centered.

But District 9 works this to the film’s advantage. It gets us involved with just one guy, Wikus, the protag. And HIS story unfolds against this great backdrop of aliens, secret agencies and mass destruction. He’d avoid all of the big stories altogether if he could. But he can’t and becomes the center of the storm. But we, the audience, never stray very far from Wickus’ small story. He wants to get back his wife and his life.

District 9 isn’t the first movie to do this. Saving Private Ryan comes to mind. I’m sure there are plenty of others. But we’re taught, as screen writers to RAISE THE STAKES. So we do. But that’s often were we go wrong. We’ll put the whole town or the whole world in jeopardy. That raises the stakes for more people but NOT for the protag. Endangering a baby daughter or some other loved one raises the stakes for a protag much more than a bunch of faceless townsfolk.

IMHO staying away from Hollywood NOTES saved this film from becoming the usual soulless CGI extravaganza. Those notes would have been full of instructions to beef up the apartheid angle or the sinister government agency or the possibility of alien invasion (and a reason to make District 10).

Focusing on just one man and his small story worked so much better.

CGI

All of the big blockbusters this summer were bristling with CGI.

Won’t someone think of the spear carriers?

TOOLS

Behind the rock is a tool, my cell phone. By current standards it’s old technology but it still works just fine.

In front of my cell phone is another bit of old technology that also still works just fine.

That worked piece of stone.

A friend from Israel brought it to me. He was surveying a site soon to be bulldozed that’s known to have artifacts. Apparently these types of sites are so common there that unless it’s some kind of major find, it’s OK just to plow the stuff under.

So the friend picks up a few of these obviously worked stones figuring that he’s got something pretty damn old. Probably pre-Egyptian, so maybe 7000 years old? Curious, he takes them to a local archeologist (they’re more common than liquor stores in Israel) for some answers.

The archeologist points out that these stones are only worked on one side (I looked, they are.) so they’re classified as Oldowan Style. That puts them not at a mere 7,000 years old but closer to 70,000 years old, give or take a few months.

That’s incredibility old!

So old , the archeologist continues, that they were probably made by something not of our species. Something older. Pre-Homo Sapiens.

I did a quick check with Wikipedia (How could you question anything there?) and found that Homo Erectus is the likely candidate for our tool maker.

Can you imagine? Some kind of little Monkey-Man* did the work on this. A tiny, half brained, maybe furry, pre-human ancestor of ours. That’s just amazing.

More amazing than the phone. You can’t cut up a gazelle with a phone.



* I do have a basic understanding of evolution and realize that man did NOT evolve from monkeys but shared a common ancestor. But isn’t it fun to say Monkey-Man? Someone should write a song...

Too late.

Overture for Uma

For some time I’ve been working on a short film. Not that I’m crazy about short films. But since it’s almost impossible to get anyone to read a spec script I thought maybe I’d produce a short movie, get a little buzz and perhaps someone of importance would to stoop to the level of reading an unknown’s spec. Stranger things have happened.

I’m still piddling with the script, about 16 pages right now, but it’s coming along. I’d like to get it under 10 minutes but that’s going to be tough.

Anyway, I’ve mashed together some music bits that I’d like to use in the film. A sort of overture I guess. All quite legal, thank you. Obviously you’d stretch some parts out and delete others but these are the snippets of music to match the mood that I’d like to convey. Doesn’t Robert Rodriguez write his music first too?

I also have permission to use a Moby (Yes, that Moby) piece but it can only be used in the film, not for use in a frivolous blog. So, I’m pretty well fixed for music.

The photo is a location shot. Nice place to shoot a film. Enjoy the music, Overture for Uma.

Hmmmmm, Blogger doesn't want to accept my mp3 for posting. Video yes, audio no. Must be some way to do it. No biggie. Skippy and I don't get many visitors anyway. Anyone wishing a copy please contact management and one will be forthcoming.

TOTEM POLE

Lately the screenwriting blogs seem to be obsessed with pleasing the script readers. Those all powerful gatekeepers who manipulate our destinies with a single utterance of the word PASS.

Make no mistake, we do have to please the readers. But keep in mind that they’re at the very bottom of the film maker totem pole. Getting by them is only the first step. We’re going to have to, at some point, impress actual movie makers not some frustrated wanntabe writer.

Nothing against the readers. They’re doing the job (for little pay) that they’re hired to do. But someone higher up the food chain, with a little more experience making movies, may not be so impressed by our narrative voice or extensive vocabulary. They’re looking for something that they can film. Something that shows up on the screen.

So, yes we certainly have to please the readers. You can’t get a home run without stepping on first base. But we have to do more. We need to make our scripts a cinematic as possible and make actors, directors, producers, etc., fall in love with our scripts too.

Rare Star Wars Photos

Here.

http://www.uniquescoop.com/2009/07/rare-star-wars-photos.html

Bees to the rescue

Damn, writing’s a lot of work. I’ve been struggling with a tough scene for weeks. There’s a lot going on in this one. But that’s good. I like scenes that have more than one purpose. The setting is a poker game but the real action is:
1. A betrayal.
2. Showing the sexual tension between the hero and his adversary/love interest..
3. Two villains join forces.
4. Demonstrating once again that if the townspeople don’t work together the whole town is headed for disaster.

I think a montage and lots of bees will help pull this scene off.

We’ll see.