Filed under: Screenwriting, Uncategorized | Tags: 7d, Brett, Canon, DSLR, Extra, Glidecam, HD, Movie, Trailer, Trousdale, Webfest
As mentioned previously, I have been working on a new concept for developing/emerging filmmakers. MovieExtra Webfest is holding an online competition to pitch a 7 part web series, with a winner picking up a $50,000 budget to produce the series. Now I don’t want to say too much about the project, it’s now with the competition judges to be determined as a finalist or not. What I will say is what is on the trailer information:
Insert Hero Here tells the story of Max, an over imaginative, yet kindhearted guy, who wishes life was more like Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, or Spiderman. Follow Max over just one epic day in his life, as he battles villains, monsters and phobias to win the heart of the woman he loves, Hayley. To do that, Max must stand up to Michael, Hayley’s unfit boyfriend, and retrieve a picture of Michael being unfaithful to her. A picture that has ended up in Michael’s possession. After being bullied for so long in his life, Max knows that this will be the one chance he has to make a difference in the world. To right a wrong. To prove his love. And all this whilst Max is dressed in his Live Action Role Play costume as a wood elf…
The idea itself was borne out of the combination of two things. A personal issue I had been dealing with terribly, as well as the learning of what a Live Action Roleplay Group (LARP) is, and that there are people who dress up and physically act out and play characters from a fictional setting in the real world. A kind of real-life world of warcraft type thing. I absolutely love this idea! To pretend to be someone else, to make-believe you are fighting an epic battle, to forget about the issues effecting you in real life is exactly what filmmaking is all about. It’s about emersion into a fictitious world.
And so I have crafted a story of seven parts, each to be no longer than 3 minutes long, telling the story of Max who escapes his uneventful life in fantasy, wishing he were as brave and as noble as some of the heroes he plays. As is always the way with me, I just had so little time to actually get a trailer together, that I had to settle for just 1 actor being available with the short notice I needed people on. Brett Trousdale played the part of Max for the trailer, which I actually view more as a screen test, as I aim to complete a short film around this story next year. I have worked previously with Brett on a couple of projects, and he is a fairly talented young actor, who listens to your ideas, and gives a bit of input too. That’s important.
I filmed the footage myself, with a Canon 7d, Sigma 18-50mm and Nikon 28mm glass, a tripod and glidecam 2000 pro and rode video mic. That’s it. There wasn’t time for lighting control, which is a shame since I think I could have made a great looking internal scene, but c’est la vie. A bit of Premiere Pro and After Effects work, and voila. An OK looking trailer. What’s next? Well the finalists are being announced over the next few days I believe. Fingers crossed, but as I mentioned, I now have a crackin’ story in my head that should see the light of day sometime in 2011.
View and vote for mine and other entries into the competition here: http://apps.facebook.com/moviewebfest/showentry?entryurl=%2Fcontests%2Fshowentry%2F650736&ref=mf
Nick
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- Firepower!
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- Even wizards can’t do everything
Filed under: Screenwriting
With all the short film scripts I write, there is ultimately something in there that I can relate to, or a part of it (sometimes incredibly small) that I have dealt with in real life and have tried to push to the extreme to really make it entertaining. Never has that been truer, than for a concept I have been quietly developing recently. I believe that this ultimately might make your film OK, pretty good, or excellent. Story is how every film starts. It needs to be written. What will dictate whether that story is OK, or excellent, or maybe shit, is that it needs to be not necessarily ‘believable’ but ‘relatable’. It is so much easier for an audience to connect to a story and characters if they can say “yep, been there” albeit in a less dramatised version in their lives.
It’s OK to think, I’m going to make a zombie horror, or an 80′s action buddy cop film, as long you yourself as a writer can relate to it. It may be as small as one of the character’s has one of your personal traits, or as big as the story being a stroke for stroke account of what has happened in your life (if that’s true when you are writing your zombie survival film, I worry), so long as people who will ultimately see your film can relate to it. That’s how people are affected by films. The Shawshank Redemption for example. One of my favourite films. Written & Directed by Frank Darabont, the film pairs two unlikely friends and the struggle one of those friends has dealing with life incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. Could I relate to the harsh existence of a prisoner, no, could I relate to the feeling of everyone thinking you’re guilty when you are innocent, no, but what I could relate to was the friendship between Andy and Red. It reminded me of the friendship I have with my best mate back in the UK, who I haven’t seen for 4 years, but I know when I do get back over there to visit, our friendship will still be as strong as ever.
And there you have it, something I can relate to. It’s interesting, but I thought I would post this as I am considering it more and more with every word I write. ‘Can people relate to this’. The concept I am working on is being prepared for the Movie Extra Webfest here in Australia, with a $50,000 budget to produce a 7 part web series up for grabs to the entry deemed the best (obviously). More on the story of my entry as it is developed.
Nick
A great movie
