Directing is not easy

So, coming into this class, my main goal was to make something that I would find funny. Throughout my time here at Ithaca, and being a screenwriting concentration, I've written a lot of stupid short scripts. But I've never had the opportunity to make the stupidity come to life. That's why I decided to take thesis. I wanted to make something - 100% of the way - directing, filming, editing, maybe acting - instead of just writing the story and being done with it.

But, as I started to shoot, I soon realized that I totally underestimated the of challenges of actually making a film. And considering I haven't taken any production classes prior to thesis, it was either sink or swim.

Writing the script has always been easy for me (well, relatively speaking...). But actually taking the finished script to the locations, with a camera, and audio equipment, and actors, and unforeseen problems, and then filming it - well, that's fucking hard.

The biggest thing I worry about is making everything look good. So, I decided to re-watch some of my favorite shows and look at how they're directed and what makes them look so good. First, I watched Louie - probably my favorite show ever in the entire world of television. Since I want my film to have a very Louie-esque feel to it, I took close note to the camera work, the shot angles, what is in focus and what is out of focus, etc. Louie has a lot of hand held camera work. It gives a very "real" feel which is something I want to accomplish in my film. Another element that gives it the "real" feel is the use of natural lighting - street lights, lamps, sunlight, etc. There are also a lot of close ups on characters when they say or do something important, with the background out of focus.

A lot of what I'm saying is pretty self explanatory and obvious, but when it comes to actually implementing these elements in your own film, it becomes challenging. Not only did I watch Louie, but I watched specific scenes from other movies and television shows. For example, I have a scene where my main character gets mugged. So I researched all of the best mugging scenes in cinema to see how they did it. And the more I watched, the more I was able to take and use these techniques.

If I learned anything, it's that you have to steal. You have to steal from the best and make it your own. That's the only way you can make something of quality.

The Difficulty of a Pilot Episode

As of late I have started writing the pilot episode for a web series that I created. The show is nothing special. Just two friends from high school who go to college together. But as this is my first time writing a legit show where there is development and characters and a full on story, there were some really interesting things I learned about writing a pilot episode that usually makes it the weakest of any of the episodes in a series. If I think back to some of my favorite shows, Psych, How I met your Mother, Family Guy, I find that the pilot episode is usually one of the least memorable episodes. Now that I am writing my own show I think I have figured out why it is so difficult, especially when writing a comedy.

1. Developing the Characters
In the pilot episode the author has a very limited time to portray a character and who he/she might be. You need to develop them in a way that lets the audience know who they are right out of the gate. There can't be any dillydally, you have to get right to the point. It needs to be established early on the type of person each character is.

2. The Plot
The plot is the key in any pilot episode, it has to run really smoothly, mostly because without a good plot people lose interest in your story really fast. (Apparently bad stories don't make good television).

3. It has to be funny
The biggest difficulty in writing a comedy pilot is the fact that along with having to introduce the characters, you have to make the story funny at the same time. Now that I have finished the pilot episode I cannot tell you how much easier it was to write the second episode. In the pilot the audience needs to have the characters mapped out for them. In the second episode, people already know who is who and know what each character is going to be like. This allows for a lot less build up and you can go right into the story.

4. Not everyone is going to think it is funny.
It is a very humbling experience to read your script to a room full of your friends and have some laugh their heads off, and others sit there without once smiling. This was something I had to deal with early on as I realized that in the world we live in you can never write or shoot something that is for everyone. By trying to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. The best chance you have is to hope you are really as funny as you think you are.

Well... there you go, here is a little bit of a reflection on my experience in writing a pilot episode. It was a really difficult but great learning experience because it differed so much from writing a sketch, where you can just take one funny idea and run with it.

A Simple Story

Craig, Mike and myself are working together as the team "The Purple Cobras" for this assignment to develop a short film around a story about a teen who was struck with kindness of strangers when a man offered him a well paying job.  This man had heard about the teen's struggles to support his brothers and sisters after their mother passed away and how the teen had trouble getting a job.  This sounds like a good ol' heart warming story that can be turned into a film?  But can it really?  Does it have a 3 act arch and does it have character development?  We had to find some ways to creatively tell our story and still make it appealing as a film.

We have decided that the story it's self will remain the same, but will be the middle chuck of our film.  We still need a solid beginning and end.  Without these our project might as well be useless.  Without the beginning we wouldn't be able to get into the characters situation and learn about his life and the hardships he goes through.  We need a reason to root for this character and learn a little back story about him and his family before we can develop the plot.  On the opposite spectrum we also need to wrap up the ending with closure.  We can't just leave the audience wondering what happened because we ended our film in the middle of the story.  We have to show the effect and reactions to what happens in the plot and how everything turns out.

I love writing but this should be an exciting challenge for me as I write the script.  My writing excels in scriptwriting for television.  I love how the characters have room to grow and develop over a broader sense of time and how intimate you can make certain situations that would be cut from a film.  I'm very lucky to have such hard working and brilliant team members to help me develop the story and change/add things to the script.  I look forward to writing it this weekend.  But it will not come as easy to me as if I were writing an episode of TV.  We have to tell an entire story in a very short amount of time and still develop strong connections to the characters and produce a heartwarming story.  It will be a good challenge for me and I hope I can do this story justice.

Two Plots Are Better Than One : Dexter and Series Television

I've noticed there are two types of shows on television, the first is shows that have concrete main characters but a new, unrelated plot every time .  These types of shows can be watched out of order with no actually progression of an overall plot.  This type of television show can usually be seen in children's programs for example "Spongebob" or "The Rugrats."  However as I have gotten older I have noticed another type of television programing as I started to become more interested in series television.
    The first television series that has gotten my attention enough to buy the first season DVD and start from the beginning, in order of the series, is "Dexter".  As I came to the completion of the first season I have started to notice a pattern in how the show is formatted.  For every episode there is an individual sub-plot (in this case a bad person Dexter must kill) and also an overarching plot pulling on pervious episodes and the episodes of the future (for example  Dexter's love life and the mystery of Ice Truck Serial Killer).  Once I noticed this pattern I began to think of other popular television shows (everything from Nickelodeon's Avatar to Glee to Spartacus)  and they all seem to follow this same format to one extent or another.

      I had to then ask myself why?  Well as a scriptwriter I looked at this from a storyline standpoint the sub-plot keeps every episode interesting and engaging for an audience that may not be familiar with the show but also heightens the engagement of dedicated followers.  The overarching plot however is what creates the "show followers" and drive to wait and watch the next episodes.  I believe this equates to the marketing of the show in a way.  The fact that a television show can be enjoyed by someone new to it is equally as important as to entertain someone who has watched it from the start.  Seeing a random episode of Dexter is what got me to start over from the beginning in order to understand what exactly was going on.  The usage of two story-lines to in a way to attract new watchers while furthering the entertainment of followers of the series seems to be extremely effective.

     Another interesting point I would like to add is about the story structure of each episode.  The basic outline of a conventional story is supposed to have an introduction, rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, and a conclusion…however as I have looked further into series television (or at least in the case of Dexter) this does not seem to be the case.  I feel as though every sub-plot follows this basic outline curve however the overarching plot provides it's most heightened sense of emotion at the end of every singular episode.  This climax at the conclusion if you will is what keeps audiences coming back and insights feeling of personal investment and connection within a series television program, turning first-timers into followers.
     It would seem from my experience and my research into series television programs this story-line format is at the core for creating a successful televisions series.  I have found that although some shows such as certain sitcoms and children's shows work on a per-episode basis, the shows that acquire the most "hype" and engage the audience most fully are those that utilize this idea that two plots are better than one.  After taking time to verbalize all of my thoughts and as someone who is interested in series television and the television business I have found that taking time to evaluate my own personal reactions as an audience may help to understand how audiences I may one day market to work as well.

 

Writing from Experience: True Fiction

This past year I have been working on many scripts and screenplays and I have begun to notice that by far my best works have been those based off of true events or personal experiences.  When I look at my life as a whole I think to myself, what a bland and average story I have.  I have never been shipwrecked, I've never had any superpowers, I've never even been in a gun fight or in a Jackie Chan style brawl.  However, in my opinion, I have found that you can tell the best stories from the details only you have.  My life has had ups-and-downs, as everyone has had, but the ups-and-downs I've had are unique to me.  My experience is my own and no one else's…that is unless I share it with them.

I recently become a finalist for a film award after submitting a script about a man struggling with addiction.  The story of a man coping with a drug addiction and the effects it has on his family is not a "new" story or ground-breaking idea, however it is the first hand detail through my own perspective and my own re-telling that gives the story its strength.

I feel if I gave the outline of one of my films to anyone they would see nothing special about the idea, but if you give them a script and they see a real conversation that was had, they hear your character's voice, accent, and inflection as you heard it.  They can see the details of a room you stood in.  They can share your experience.  To write a "fiction film" is not always necessarily about making a work of fiction; through my experience to write the best "fiction" films is to take a nonfiction story (or the guise of nonfiction) and present it to the audience so they may share in a personal story they could have never experienced over wise.

Screenwriting

I know I may be a little late for this now that our Golden Doorknobs are finished, but I believe that if you want to make movies, you should always be writing and thinking of ideas. A friend of mine showed me a list (the link is in the title) of screenwriting tips that I thought were really helpful. Read it, love it, marry it, cheat on it, divorce it, shake your fist in apoplectic rage at it, me da igual, but they're some things to think about the next time you sit down to write a script.