After recently watching the film Interview, Directed by Steve Buscemi and becoming enraptured with its simple structure and enthralling character study I wanted to find out more about its origins. It’s origins being a Dutch film made a few years earlier by Theo van Gogh. I haven’t seen the film as yet so will be eagerly tracking down a copy.
Rather than warble on and get the facts wrong surrounding the life and death of Theo van Gogh I’ve set up a Feature section in the Links for those who wish it, to go on a little journey into van Gogh’s life.
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Diary of a Would-be Filmmaker Part 2
PC-Bangs are glorious places when the smell of smoke isn’t getting to you and the noise from the million little clicks on keyboards aren’t pounding in to your hangover or even the constant pow-pow, bang-bang from what ever computer game is currently fashionable is quickly driving you insane. None the less, PC-Bangs are glorious places when you want to get out of your tiny apartment and there’s no place better to go.
So here is it I find myself on a dwindling Sunday afternoon, feeling sufficiently rested and a tad restless. I have that slightly chuffed feeling. I’m chuffed with myself because I finally finished the first draft of my short film. Now, in the book is when they tell you to step back from it, let it marinate then return to it in a few months and see what you really think. Stuff that, I can’t wait that long.
At the moment my script stands at 18 pages. You might not think that sounds like much, especially when you look at it and see the well spaced dialogue that chews up the pages. When you are sitting on the other side of it however, looking at the task ahead, it seems like Everest.
When I started I was going great guns. I worked through all the development stages and reined myself back from attacking the guts of the script before I had a better understanding of what I wanted to say. When I figured I was ready, I started working through it scene by scene and before I knew it there were twelve pages I was pretty happy with. That was when I hit a wall. There was one scene I was afraid of doing, one scene that seemed too hard to shape. The notebook remained closed and the fear of not finishing grew.
Days past and little progress was made. I’d pick up the pen and read through what I’d written, make a change here or there but still not have it in me to attempt the climatic scene. I’d almost resigned my idea to the large scrap heap of ideas littering other notebooks and cobwebbed corners.
On Monday of this week I changed tack. I told myself I didn’t need to do it all in one hit, I could hack away at it a little at a time. I started typing in into the computer, cleaning it up as I went, trimming scenes and dialogue until I got to that final scene. On Tuesday I wrote a few lines, on Wednesday I wrote a few more. On Thursday I scribbled out a few and trimmed the fat. On Friday I panicked and left it alone. On Saturday I worked on it during the course of the day, my excitement grew and the final line came closer. Then there it was, 18 pages of a short film. From a simple idea I worked it through until I had produced my first draft. On Sunday I gloated.
So here is it I find myself on a dwindling Sunday afternoon, feeling sufficiently rested and a tad restless. I have that slightly chuffed feeling. I’m chuffed with myself because I finally finished the first draft of my short film. Now, in the book is when they tell you to step back from it, let it marinate then return to it in a few months and see what you really think. Stuff that, I can’t wait that long.
At the moment my script stands at 18 pages. You might not think that sounds like much, especially when you look at it and see the well spaced dialogue that chews up the pages. When you are sitting on the other side of it however, looking at the task ahead, it seems like Everest.
When I started I was going great guns. I worked through all the development stages and reined myself back from attacking the guts of the script before I had a better understanding of what I wanted to say. When I figured I was ready, I started working through it scene by scene and before I knew it there were twelve pages I was pretty happy with. That was when I hit a wall. There was one scene I was afraid of doing, one scene that seemed too hard to shape. The notebook remained closed and the fear of not finishing grew.
Days past and little progress was made. I’d pick up the pen and read through what I’d written, make a change here or there but still not have it in me to attempt the climatic scene. I’d almost resigned my idea to the large scrap heap of ideas littering other notebooks and cobwebbed corners.
On Monday of this week I changed tack. I told myself I didn’t need to do it all in one hit, I could hack away at it a little at a time. I started typing in into the computer, cleaning it up as I went, trimming scenes and dialogue until I got to that final scene. On Tuesday I wrote a few lines, on Wednesday I wrote a few more. On Thursday I scribbled out a few and trimmed the fat. On Friday I panicked and left it alone. On Saturday I worked on it during the course of the day, my excitement grew and the final line came closer. Then there it was, 18 pages of a short film. From a simple idea I worked it through until I had produced my first draft. On Sunday I gloated.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Diary of a Would-be Filmmaker Part 1
As I sit here eating Dok-pukki from a street-side vendor and doodling away in one of my many notebooks, I thought I'd share with you the journey I have recently undertaken. Not the one where I moved countries and came to live in South Korea and teach English but the one where I hope to find that long sort after dream, to become a filmmaker.
I had an idea and as ideas go this one seemed to to have more legs than others. They come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes it is so hard to tell which ones I should latch on to. The fact that I'm still currently a would-be filmmaker and not an actualized filmmaker should tell me pretty clearly I’ve been latching on to the wrong ideas or going about developing the idea in the wrong way.
So anyway, I had this idea and jumped ahead and wrote five or so pages of dialogue. I called it dialogue back then, (several days ago) back when I thought a screenplay centered around the stuff. Now I'm of a different mind. You see, for the past few years my creative endeavors have revolved around theatre where dialogue sings and is the stuff you hang everything on. Not so in film. After learning this fact from a handy dandy little book, you'd think film school might have gotten the idea across, I took a few steps back and started to flesh out my idea.
I wrote a step outline, I got in touch with my main characters, identifying the protagonist is not as easy as it sounds, nor is formulating an antagonist. In the past I've told myself that I don't need to comply to age old structure, that is as readable as dirt, you play in dirt you get dirty, but there is something to be said for using that structure to take an idea, a faint half notion of a glimmer of an image, and turn it into something more.
Right now I have a much clearer idea of what I want to say, of how I'm going to say it and who is going to do the talking for me. The character interviews have been conducted, the step outline has been followed by a scene outline and several pages of new dialogue have been written, not in order, but because I have a clear structure I can now work my way through the scenes as I see fit. First draft, here I come!
I had an idea and as ideas go this one seemed to to have more legs than others. They come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes it is so hard to tell which ones I should latch on to. The fact that I'm still currently a would-be filmmaker and not an actualized filmmaker should tell me pretty clearly I’ve been latching on to the wrong ideas or going about developing the idea in the wrong way.
So anyway, I had this idea and jumped ahead and wrote five or so pages of dialogue. I called it dialogue back then, (several days ago) back when I thought a screenplay centered around the stuff. Now I'm of a different mind. You see, for the past few years my creative endeavors have revolved around theatre where dialogue sings and is the stuff you hang everything on. Not so in film. After learning this fact from a handy dandy little book, you'd think film school might have gotten the idea across, I took a few steps back and started to flesh out my idea.
I wrote a step outline, I got in touch with my main characters, identifying the protagonist is not as easy as it sounds, nor is formulating an antagonist. In the past I've told myself that I don't need to comply to age old structure, that is as readable as dirt, you play in dirt you get dirty, but there is something to be said for using that structure to take an idea, a faint half notion of a glimmer of an image, and turn it into something more.
Right now I have a much clearer idea of what I want to say, of how I'm going to say it and who is going to do the talking for me. The character interviews have been conducted, the step outline has been followed by a scene outline and several pages of new dialogue have been written, not in order, but because I have a clear structure I can now work my way through the scenes as I see fit. First draft, here I come!
Monday, May 07, 2007
Post 104: 070507 An Audition
On Saturday morning i made my way south of the River Han to the Express Bus Terminal Station and left via Exit 5 to walk along a busy street to find my eventual destination. The third story office off of MK Pictures. The reason for my trip, an audition for an up-coming picture.
My audition was scheduled for midday, the first of around twenty people they would be seeing. I arrived a little before 11.30am just as one of the crew was arriving to open up. The office itself is a high-ceilinged maze of smaller offices that had long since seen better days. Stacks of cannisters were piled against walls beside boxes of unknown contents. Wires ran this way and that along the floors, over stains and gound in dirt. There was little to adorn the walls save a poster in a back office proclaiming a past success. I was shown into a small space and left to learn the dialogue i had been given the day before.
I knew little about the production apart from it being a sports movie. After about 20 minutes i was ushered into a larger room where a young bloke who spoke english with a distinctive American accent greeted me.There was a single chair sitting in the center of the room and along the far wall ran a desk, behind which sat said speaker followed by the Korean who showed me in. He took up the camera and i was asked to proceed.
We began with me introducing myself, acting background as well as sports background. We then ran though a couple of short segments until it was discovered not all the dialogue was sent to the prospective actors to learn. I then moved onto a larger monologue taken from a Kurt Russell movie. I finished with monologue from The Tempest that has been sitting in my head for a couple of years. My hand was shaken, i was asked if i could be available for a weeks shooting at the beginning of July and bid farewell. Audition over. I now hungrily await their call.
My audition was scheduled for midday, the first of around twenty people they would be seeing. I arrived a little before 11.30am just as one of the crew was arriving to open up. The office itself is a high-ceilinged maze of smaller offices that had long since seen better days. Stacks of cannisters were piled against walls beside boxes of unknown contents. Wires ran this way and that along the floors, over stains and gound in dirt. There was little to adorn the walls save a poster in a back office proclaiming a past success. I was shown into a small space and left to learn the dialogue i had been given the day before.
I knew little about the production apart from it being a sports movie. After about 20 minutes i was ushered into a larger room where a young bloke who spoke english with a distinctive American accent greeted me.There was a single chair sitting in the center of the room and along the far wall ran a desk, behind which sat said speaker followed by the Korean who showed me in. He took up the camera and i was asked to proceed.
We began with me introducing myself, acting background as well as sports background. We then ran though a couple of short segments until it was discovered not all the dialogue was sent to the prospective actors to learn. I then moved onto a larger monologue taken from a Kurt Russell movie. I finished with monologue from The Tempest that has been sitting in my head for a couple of years. My hand was shaken, i was asked if i could be available for a weeks shooting at the beginning of July and bid farewell. Audition over. I now hungrily await their call.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Post 103: 020507 Dialogue Snippit
Violet: I do this to keep away from my husband.
Thomas: (Sniggering) I do this cause I'm just out of surgery.
Violet: Just kidding.
Jane: I've had 20 operations, I can relate.
Thomas: I can't relate.
Violet: Damn!
Jane: I've two bad accidents this season.
Thomas: I had a mole removed.
Jane: I take a lickin' but I keep on tickin'.
Thomas: (Sniggering) I do this cause I'm just out of surgery.
Violet: Just kidding.
Jane: I've had 20 operations, I can relate.
Thomas: I can't relate.
Violet: Damn!
Jane: I've two bad accidents this season.
Thomas: I had a mole removed.
Jane: I take a lickin' but I keep on tickin'.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Post 16: 070506 Movie Review
BAREFOOT KI-BONG - "Maenbal-ui Gibong-i"
April 2006 Cinema Release
Ki-bong is the name of the lead character in this touching drama based on true events. It tells the story of a man injured in youth and destined to retain a child-like mind. Shin Hyun-june takes the lead in a most remarkable performance which delicately treads the line between over the top lampoonery and an accurate portrayal of a man afflicted.
Ki-bong is tied by love to his aging mother’s apron and has ingratiated himself on a series of locals who require menial tasks performed for which he receives either a token payment of cash or food. While hoping to take a few swipes in a batting cage one day he inquires about the lady within booth and her detachable teeth. Due to his unwavering desire to help his mother in anyway, the possibility of a new set of teeth becomes a goal which ultimately leads to training for and competing in a half marathon.
Low budget Korean cinema has something that many cinema from around the world lack, the confidence to give screen time to the seemly banal. This movie has a budget but thankfully this tendency shines through from the director’s less affluent beginnings. It contains moments that sing the praises of small town Korea and a landscape that goes predominately ignored.
Couple that with an ability to swing wildly from moments of slapstick humor to gut wrenching, tissue grabbing explorations of the human capacity to love and you have the making of a most entertaining film. The locally recognizable face of Kim Su-mi, seen in commercials, Sit-coms, TV dramas and cinema, is seen here as an almost house bound, toothless old woman giving unquestionable love to her forty year old son. Despite his affliction she has come to rely on his abilities to find their next meal but in her own way, it is understood, she too would do anything for him.
The film brims with subplots from a group of well turned characters, something Korean film has waved triumphantly in the face of more name driven, movie making machines. As each story finds its conclusion we discover the climax for which we’ve hoped but at times seemed lost. On the whole, a well told and well presented story.
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