The word "rejection" was first used in 1415. The original meaning was "to throw" or "to throw back". [Courtesy: Wikipedia ] On that note here is an interesting link about Rejection and also on ways to building resilience to rejection.
The work on REJECTED is progressing at a good pace for the past 2 weeks. Serena and me had a bit of a hiatus on the script through April as it was a busy time for both of us but the work has started back in earnest and now we are half way through the script. It has been an interesting process so far as we don't really know where the story is going - maybe a vague idea but no storylines set in concrete. And the way the script is shaping up has been a pleasent surprise as it is flowing well and at this point I can't see any flab in the story and both of us are making a conscious effort not to put in any filler material into the script. I have set the initial deadline of end of July to have the script ready and I am hoping that we will hit the deadline. Will keep you posted on it as work progresses.
The trailer for 'THE DARK KNIGHT' is fantastic. And after you have seen that check out the Jokerized version of the trailer here. This is going to be the movie for the american summer season (besides 'Tropic Thunder'). I saw 'Lars and the Real Girl' couple of nights back and it was a sweet little movie - it was probably a bit too long- maybe by 20 minutes odd - mainly because you kind of figure out what is going to happen. But it is still worth watching just to see Ryan Gosling's terrific performance as Lars.
It feels like ages since the last time I updated on here. There hasn't been anything significant happening at this end. I spent the day at home as I wasn't feeling well at all but I am definitely feeling better now.
The work on REJECTED is happening slowly but surely and it is turning out to be a fun process , writing in collaboration and having fun with the characters. Talking of collaboration - I dropped out of the short film that I was writing as it didn't make sense to divert my energies to writing something in an art form that I am not focussed on in the long term. As far as the music video is concerned - I have a concept but now I am racking my head about implementation and achieve what I want to see on screen. The self-imposed deadline for the music video release is end of May, so hopefully I will be able to achieve that.
Besides all of this - I am helping the inscrutable Mr. Mamea finish his short film and I am involved in the post production side of things as a consultant/supervising editor/post production dictator. Just had a meeting this evening and things are looking good with the workflow and I set some deadlines which will surely make life interesting for Mr. Mamea as he slaves away wondering about the meaning of the word 'freedom' and then we will re-assess the situation. Muhahahaaaa {evil laugh}.
Movies filmed as mocumentary don't work for most attempts because of the nature of what they are but it somehow works brilliantly for 'Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon' and the movie works well as a good slasher film as well. The lead actor is a compelling watch and really sells the idea that he is going to become the next horror legend. It is definitely a good watch if you are into horror flicks and have been disillusioned by the predictability of most horror flicks. This flick is innovative and will definitely keep you entertained.
Whats happening in terms of projects at my end? Well 'Ghost Scream' is still in script development and the next draft looks like it will take some time to take shape. I am still waiting to see the first draft of 'Trollied' - which will come in sometime within the next 2 months. And in the meantime I have started work on 'Rejected' - a script I am developing with Serena, one of my acting classmates. And I am also developing a short film script with another acting classmate but that's not something that I will be directing or taking part in production - mainly because it is a short film. I might be helping out with post production on a short film but can only confirm it when I know for sure. So a quiet but busy time - if that makes any sense.
Here is the first scene from REJECTED - please don't read if you are easily offended by foul language.
I/E. HOUSE - EVENING There is a knock at the door and it opens to reveal a girl ANNE (24) standing there.
FRANK What do you want? I thought you didn’t want to talk to me anymore
ANNE I can’t find my keys. I must’ve left them here
FRANK I didn’t see them
ANNE I am sure I left them here
Anne walks into the house.
INT. BEDROOM - EVENING
FRANK Anne - we can get out the dvd as you wanted to and then -
ANNE I don’t want to talk about it Frank
FRANK Come on Anne, what are you so pissed off about? What do you want?
Frank drops the keys from his hand and pushes them under the bed.
ANNE Love
FRANK What?
ANNE I said I want love
FRANK What ‘bout me?
ANNE What about you?
FRANK I love you
ANNE Shut up frank
FRANK Don’t you love me?
ANNE Not anymore
FRANK Not anymore? What’s that supposed to mean? (pause) Since when?
ANNE Since the day after we met
FRANK Since the day after we met?
ANNE Frank you aren’t deaf. So stop behaving like a fucking retard and stop repeating everything I say
FRANK Did you ever?
ANNE I don’t know. (finds the keys) Goodbye frank
FRANK I am not a retard
ANNE It was a figure of speech Frank
FRANK So you think because you are doing your PhD and all, you are all smart and shit. Let me tell you something - you don’t know what love means. You don’t know me and you’ll never know -
ANNE Of course I don’t know you -we’ve been seeing each other for four days for fuck sake. Just because you think you are good in bed and all doesn’t -
FRANK I am?
ANNE The point, Frank, is that I don’t think it will work out between us. I am sorry. Oh and please don’t bother calling me. I won’t pick up the call.
FRANK Not even if I ask Kenneth to ring you?
Anne leaves the house and closes the door behind her.
FRANK Bitch! (pause) I am good in bed. Yeah! I am good
I finished Season 3 of Entourage yesterday and it was gold. I can't wait for Season 4 DVD to come out. On the book front I am reading 'The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao' and it is hilarious and touching at the same time.
On film making front - I was in final negotiations with an international sales distribution company for them to pick up FIVE to sell it to international territories excluding NZ/Australia but that has fallen through for various reasons. I still have another sales representation offer from a French company but that is on the backburner for the next 6 months when both the parties will look at the offer again.
Auckland is celebrating Diwali festival and it was the first time I went to the celebrations since I have been here in New Zealand. It was heaps of fun and the best bit was the Indian food stalls. Since Indian vegetarian food is so yummy - the whole weekend shaped out to be a vegetarian weekend.
Started off Saturday by watching 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby' and it turned out to be way more funnier than I thought it would be. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are really funny but the one person who really makes the movies even more crazier is Sacha Baron Cohen as the French challenger, Jean Girrard. It was a fun movie.
Then I caught up with Barbara, Julia and Andrea to go to the Diwali festival and it turned out to be heaps more fun. The crowds, the food, the ambiance - everything added up. There was so much good food and delicacies on offer that I couldn't resist myself. Later, we went and saw 'Little Miss Sunshine' (yes I watched it a second time) and it was still great fun. Stood up really well even after the second viewing - still as funny. We came back to the festival for some more Indian food and then watched the last few performances - including a fantastic bhangra performance before retiring for the day. It was a long but relaxing saturday.
Here is Saturday in photographs -
A man playing flute to indifferent pedestrians
The crowd starting to build up at the fair
Julia and Barbara shopping
Indian textiles and handicrafts on sale
A bollywood dance performance
An outsider's perspective
Barbara with an Indian thali while Julia is ordering some Paav Bhaji
Andrea excited about trying some Kulfi
A punjabi skill performance by a kid
A bhangra dance performance
Crowd enjoying themselves to the music
The mixed and varied crowd joining in the excitement
More food stalls
The festival of lights
As far as Sunday is concerned - I have been slowly chipping away at the script revision for 'Five'. Slept for a fair bit and later in the evening - went to the Diwali festival again - this time with Benji, to watch the fireworks. The fireworks display was underwhelming and a disappointing end to what was otherwise a great festival celebration.
Another week starting up tomorrow and things are just adding up. It is a period of creative nervous excitement for me.
Time passes, scars don't. They try and heal but the hurt opens up the wounds all the time. Pain is another form of pleasure but pleasure doesn't heal either. It is so momentary that the pain becomes all the more real. A paradox that is hard to break.
Out of the Blue
I just returned from watching a new NZ movie titled 'Out of the Blue' and it was a haunting look at the 1990 Aramoana massacre - which shook up entire NZ because of it's brutality and pointlessness. The movie explores the event with faithfullness and you feel the horror of the event unfold and frighteningly so because of the unpredictability. There is no gratituous violence - when it happens, it is quick and brutal (even the off-screen deaths). The cinematography is painfully beautiful and the edit is nicely timed. The movie is definitely a good one, made all the better by spot on acting by everyone.
It has been a crazy week - script, workshops, trying to get avid media composer running on my laptop, rebuilding my laptop, meetings and viewings at school, pre-production work for 'five'. I can't run Media Composer on my laptop as it is having problems with my graphics card which in turn is causing a video lag, which can't be fixed. So I am returning back to Avid Express Pro HD - it is still a great editing tool but doesn't have as many facilities and finishing tools as a Media Composer.
Sunday shaped up to be a dreary day - it was pouring down the whole day and I caught a cold (possibly from yesterday's running around in rain doing lighting tweaks) and was sneezing the whole day. I did get most of the stuff cleaned up in my room as well as in the drawing room - I am currently testing and keeping/discarding the innumberable CDs/DVDs that I seem to have accumulated.
I did find an Indian takeaway place which has some really nice indian dishes. On Sunday, I tried Chicken Saagwala - which is Chicken cooked with spinach and onions and it was really yummy...and yesterday evening I tried Butter Chicken, which turned out to be one of the better butter chicken i have eaten in NZ. So I was thinking of trying a few more dishes over this week to authenticate that it truly is a good indian eating joint.(:-)
I thought it would be a good idea to share some of the points from the workshop I attended, incase it helps anyone in their moviemaking endeavors. I misplaced the notes I made on that day and I am basically writing this off my memory - so please feel free to ignore bits and pieces that don't seem right to you and yeah it also means I am putting in my interpretation of the workshop, so don't start taking it as a word of law.
The basic things which were covered during the day (besides the one on one workshops with the scripts) were - Working with story/treatments: how long and short documents can help analyse your story and how to use treatments as part of a structured approach to building or rebuilding a script.
Development Strategy: How producers work best with writers and script editors during the development process? When to listen and when to demand. The producer's rights and the writer's responsibilities. A structural approach to writing useful and constructive script notes.
One of the things that usually happens is that the writers and producers are so much on different planets that it is virtually impossible to make a movie. A producer is looking for a product, which they can market and sell to make money while the writer is only looking to create a story which seems true to them. In such a scenario making a movie without understanding each other's point of views is hard. Different markets have different working relationship between writers and producers. America has a more hardlined and tested approach(remeber there are always exception to the rules) where the writer is writing for the producers and makes whatever changes are asked for by the producer with only a limited say in those decision making processes. There is already an industry in place where there is money to make movies and they can afford to spend money on spec scripts and develop one of those into a movie which they think would get audiences into the theatre and make them money.
While smaller film markets like NZ, UK - where there are limited number of movies being made because of the limited finances available - go through a different process where the script is originated mostly at the writer level and evolves over a period of time with the producers working closely with the writer to find a movie which could be marketable. In such a reality it becomes essential to make sure that the writer is given creative freedom to explore ideas and also as a producer not to start dictating what the script should be from the point of view of marketing.
With each draft and revision - the temptation is always to give a huge set of notes to the writer and expect them to make the changes. Instead of doing that it is good to discuss things with the writer and then follow it up with suggesting 3-4 key story points you both have agreed needs changing. Then let the writer work out how they are going to make those key changes and not interfere in the actual creative processes.
As a writer - don't spend too much time setting things up and engage the audience by keeping them guessing the story. It is good to make a 90 minute movie - as it is more commercial and for that the script would be in the vicinity of 80-90 pages depending on what kind of story it is. While constructing a story the idea is to first have the story structure sorted and write the dialogue afterwards - as story structure is more important than dialogue when you are trying to create a good script. Identify your target market early on and write with them at the back of your mind - there is no point in writing a script which makes sense only to you and can not be realized onto the big screen. Drama is a genre which is the hardest to sell or make, so a script just can't be drama - it would need to have other elements in place - which play an equally important role in the story. Also when you start writing a story the internal logic within the script needs to be rock solid and the environment has to have some kind of an impact on the story. Anyway I think that is quite enough because my sense of that day has just got mixed up and even if you find atleast 1 good thing in all the stuff I have written about the workshop - the effort gone into this post is worth it.
I will take leave for now...btw - do check out the trailer for BORAT - which is absolutely hilarious.
The past few days have been extremely hectic and one big blur. The internet is finally working and dealing with Telecom has been a breeze- right from getting a phone line to signing up for the internet connection - all of which took less than 15-20 minutes. Now we have a new landline number which is (+64) 9 4191158 [replace '+64' with '0' if calling from within NZ] but we don't have a phone yet - so can't recieve any calls but the broadband is up and running and it is fast.
Mesmerizing lights
Benji and me took a walk over to the Birkenhead ferry terminal on Wednesday night as it was a pleasent night and decided that there might be some good pics there. The lights reflecting on the water was mesmerizing and we did end up taking heaps of photos.
The Skytower & the harbour bridge
Last ferry drop off at night
Benji and me at the empty ferry terminal
On friday - I went to a producer's workshop conducted by NZFC (substituting for the script writer - Jordan, who is in Utah) along with Richard and it was a great experience. 5 feature film projects had been invited to spend 3 days time with Tom Strudwick - who is a script consultant in the UK (and he has worked with United Artists in their acquisition department and also worked with directors like Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch, Mike Leigh, Jim Jarmusch and Michael Winterbottom). The purpose was to analyse and develop each of the scripts further with the marketplace in mind. It was a good learning experience and the thing that was even better was to see other producers and writers who were at different stages with their scripts go through the same pains to keep the marketplace in mind while developing their movie further. I learnt heaps during that one day - not just about 'Nowhere' but about making movies with the aim of selling it to the audience. There were a few things which I didn't agree with completely but it was still an invaluable learning opportunity and it is always great to have an experienced player like Tom look at the script and share his feelings and thoughts about it and gentle give suggestions as to how we could possibly make it better.
Saturday - was again an action packed day. I was doing lighting on Angelique's short film and it was a fun experience. The first five minutes of the day were scary because the reality kicked in that I was actually doing lighting. But Drew is a fantastic DP, who instantly helped ease me into the role and Angelique's small personal pep talk while I was doing the first setup definitely helped a lot. I learnt heaps and it was a satisfying experience at the end of the day. Here is a photo of the action in progress
Today I think I will finally get around to cleaning up the house and man it is going to be a long day. Anyway I will leave things here for now.
