16 November 2012
TV Tropes on Chase Scenes
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ChaseScene
This website is SUPER entertaining if you're bored, but also had a good compilation of commonly used tropes and examples of their use. This is their main page on cliches within Chase Scenes. VERY thorough!
Action Hero Montage
http://blog.moviefone.com/2010/06/08/watch-an-awesome-compilation-of-action-movie-cliches/
Montage of textbook action hero sequences, organized by type. Fantastic!
Chase Scene Cliches
http://guycodeblog.mtv.com/2012/10/25/car-chase-cliches-video/
We looked up action sequence and chase scene cliches in order to get some ideas for writing out our detective/assassin chase scene through the city. We knew where he started and that he ended up at warehouses then a pier, but needed some help filling in the rest.
08 November 2012
Clarification...
Hey folks, I'm just a little confused as to what stage we are supposed to be at with our project. Is there a class tomorrow? Are we to have scripts prepared? If someone could let me know what was going on that would be great!
Graeme
Graeme
25 October 2012
Patrick - Outline
Hi folks!
I'm liking Graeme's idea of the protagonist's fantasy version of the truth. It covers quite a lot of the recommended ideas from last weeks class like 'empathizing with the character', 'something unexpected happening', 'leaving the audience with an impression' and so on. It also gives us the opportunity to give discreet clues throughout (i think).
So here's a brief outline which mixes things up a bit, really just for for the purpose of the homework/class exercise, I'm not sure these ideas are any good :/
Boy finds father dead. (What can we do to trigger the fantasy? how can he begin to think his father's death was a result of something more dramatic?) Flash forward to young man. He is an FBI/CSI type guy at the peak of his career. Hiis dad was victim of a serial killer who is still on the loose. The serial killer taunts him. We find him very confident and courageous whilst he pursues his nemesis. He finally catches the killer but we then realize he actually works a very mundane office job, the serial killer is actually a bullying work colleague who he stands up to?
I'm liking Graeme's idea of the protagonist's fantasy version of the truth. It covers quite a lot of the recommended ideas from last weeks class like 'empathizing with the character', 'something unexpected happening', 'leaving the audience with an impression' and so on. It also gives us the opportunity to give discreet clues throughout (i think).
So here's a brief outline which mixes things up a bit, really just for for the purpose of the homework/class exercise, I'm not sure these ideas are any good :/
Boy finds father dead. (What can we do to trigger the fantasy? how can he begin to think his father's death was a result of something more dramatic?) Flash forward to young man. He is an FBI/CSI type guy at the peak of his career. Hiis dad was victim of a serial killer who is still on the loose. The serial killer taunts him. We find him very confident and courageous whilst he pursues his nemesis. He finally catches the killer but we then realize he actually works a very mundane office job, the serial killer is actually a bullying work colleague who he stands up to?
Possible twist on the original idea?
Hi everyone,
I'm aware that I'm the "new guy" so I'm not wanting to mess with the ideas that the group already had too much.
I had been thinking the story over all week, though, and an idea came to me which I quite like. If you think it sucks don't worry about hurting my feelings!
Basically, I feel if the story starts, as discussed, with a young boy discovering his father dead, we are then brought forward in time, somehow, to the point where the boy is now a young man, and a detective, tracking his father's killer.
WHAT IF!....the whole "detective story" is revealed to be a fantasy that the the young boy is having. In reality, his Dad died of natural causes, but it's easier for the boy to imagine an assasin than come to terms with the death?
We could still have a large detective story going on, but a lot of the trouble we were having resolving that could be taken away if the boy is just "shocked" out of the fantasy somehow.
I had a go at writing a quick treatment, but it doesn't go into any detail on the exposition of the plot, I need to work on that:
I'm aware that I'm the "new guy" so I'm not wanting to mess with the ideas that the group already had too much.
I had been thinking the story over all week, though, and an idea came to me which I quite like. If you think it sucks don't worry about hurting my feelings!
Basically, I feel if the story starts, as discussed, with a young boy discovering his father dead, we are then brought forward in time, somehow, to the point where the boy is now a young man, and a detective, tracking his father's killer.
WHAT IF!....the whole "detective story" is revealed to be a fantasy that the the young boy is having. In reality, his Dad died of natural causes, but it's easier for the boy to imagine an assasin than come to terms with the death?
We could still have a large detective story going on, but a lot of the trouble we were having resolving that could be taken away if the boy is just "shocked" out of the fantasy somehow.
I had a go at writing a quick treatment, but it doesn't go into any detail on the exposition of the plot, I need to work on that:
Brief Outline
A young boy finds his Father dead, we flash forward to the
boy now a young man and working as a detective tracking his father's killer, a
shadowy assassin. It is revealed that the the whole detective storyline is a
fantasy created by the boy, whose father in reality died of natural causes. The
detective fantasy is the boy's childlike way of trying to comprehend and
understand death.
Brief Character Outline
Boy (as boy) – naïve, idealistic, prone to childish
fantasy
Boy (as young man) - Tough, street smart, bitter, strong (exaggerated strength
as this is a boy's fantasy)
Assassin – One dimensional, pure evil, silent, ninja
like, dressed in black/darkness. (His name is C (cancer) or HD (heart
disease) or NC (natural causes).
Father – Warm, loving, playful
Female Doctor – Authorative, kind, maternal.
Genre – Melodramatic Thriller?!
Like I said, if you guys think it sucks or is cheesy or whatever, that's cool, just wanted to pitch in with an idea.
22 October 2012
Story
Hello everyone...
I am thinking if we edit Alexandra's story like...
starting with a man sitting on the desk, planning with the files ..and picture of a man on the wall whom he's going to kill...
and next day there is a big event and a man he is going to kill is giving speech...he shot him from the crowded people while the man is giving speech...and throwing something(a badge or handkerchief with a pic or name on it) to the floor after he shot that man..then showing that something and fade to black then go back to past....(maybe showing 15 years earlier)
a boy and father walking in the park...after walking a while, they sit on the bench and a man came to talk with father...during that time...a boy notices that something(a badge on man's cloth or handkerchief while that man wiping his face)..
and same like previous story, boy and father went back home..and father got killed....but boy got a killer's badge or handkerchief which's in his dead father's hand...boy...The end..
what do you think?
i think it's short..could be hard for 5mins?
I am thinking if we edit Alexandra's story like...
starting with a man sitting on the desk, planning with the files ..and picture of a man on the wall whom he's going to kill...
and next day there is a big event and a man he is going to kill is giving speech...he shot him from the crowded people while the man is giving speech...and throwing something(a badge or handkerchief with a pic or name on it) to the floor after he shot that man..then showing that something and fade to black then go back to past....(maybe showing 15 years earlier)
a boy and father walking in the park...after walking a while, they sit on the bench and a man came to talk with father...during that time...a boy notices that something(a badge on man's cloth or handkerchief while that man wiping his face)..
and same like previous story, boy and father went back home..and father got killed....but boy got a killer's badge or handkerchief which's in his dead father's hand...boy...The end..
what do you think?
i think it's short..could be hard for 5mins?
17 October 2012
scripting
Well, I opened up the script this afternoon. Before I go too far into specifics, though, I'll put a rough outline up here so we can move stuff around and add ideas for more scenes.
- Intro: Flashback. We meet a young boy and his father. They spend some time in a park before it starts to rain and they return home. Father sits in chair by fireplace and boy sits on floor playing with a rubber ball. It rolls away from him and father rises to get it for him. He bounces it toward the boy but the boy misses it and it bounces through a doorway to another room. Boy follows it. As camera follows boy, a 'bang' is heard from offscreen. Boy reenters room to find father dead. Looks through window and sees shadowy figure on rooftop. Dark figure disappears. Boy resolves to find assassin.
- Present: Boy has grown up and is standing at crime scene, white outline on ground, yellow tape, etc. It's raining, again. He converses with police. They leave. He lingers for a while before leaving, too.
- Establish conflict: He enters an office and takes off hat/coat before sitting at desk. From the state of things we see he is a detective. The room and walls are cluttered with files and newspaper clippings all referring to an assassin ((headlines call assassin some catchy name, any ideas?)). It is apparent that the detective has been tracking him for a very long time.
- There's a knock at the door. A woman walks in. She seems like she'd normally be conservative but at this moment is a little shaken. She explains that she would like to hire him for a job. She is worried about her husband. He is some sort of city official and has a big speech/presentation/unveiling of something coming up in the next week, however, they have been receiving threatening letters. She worries that they are from the assassin and that there will be an attempt to murder him at the event. The detective agrees to take the case. She goes to leave but just as she is about to close the door behind her she turns back into the room and tells the detective that there is a letter for him just outside. She hands it to him. It has no postage and is unmarked except for the word "DETECTIVE". She leaves him with the envelope. He returns to his desk and carefully opens it. It contains one small folded piece of paper. ((It will read something ominous like "YES." or "SOON." not sure yet what))
Fade to black, then come up on the meaty bit to this thing: the action sequence! I need some help here. Basically, something needs to happen that lets the detective stumble upon the assassin about to or just having committed another crime. This would lead to a chase scene through the city (fun to draw and fun to do sound and music. fun for eeeeveryone!) before the assassin ultimately gets away. Maybe the detective gets a shot off at the assassin and hits him in the arm or something that can be alluded to later at the big reveal. I dunno... I left a week of time in here to put in other scenes, too, if we want to have the detective meet with the city official and his wife again or something, anything else...
Anyway, after a good amount of running around, that sequence ends and it's another day. We move on to the night before the big event. The detective is in his house. It's the same house as the first scene but much messier. He's brought home a lot of papers from his office about the assassin and they are arranged on the floor. He sits among them, head in hands. He looks up at a clock, it's well after midnight. He sighs and stands up, picking a few empty glass bottles and a trashbag on his way to the front door. He opens it and walks outside into the night to put them in his recycling bin. When he walks back, he sees an envelope taped to his front door. Still outside, he opens it. Another small note: "SEE YOU TOMORROW." ((or something else like that)) He looks behind him, quickly, searching for something, anything, but all he sees is black. He sighs again and goes back inside. As he walks through the room, he passes a table and puts the latest envelope on the top of a pile of many similar envelopes. The camera holds on this as he passes, then pans up to reveal row upon row of identical little notes pinned on the wall each reading a different message. He switches off the light.
Come up on: the big event! Establishing shot: We pan over a large audience that has gathered. There are many people from the press, too. Security guards in dark glasses stand in the vicinity every 100 feet or so. Nearby in a room, the city official is getting ready and talking to his assistants/other people he's working with for the event. There are security guards there, too. The detective is leaning against a table, hands in his pockets. The official walks over to him and says "thank you for all this, etc, etc..." The detective smiles weakly but is kind of zoned out, clearly thinking of other things. The official leaves the room to the restroom or something. After a beat, the detective looks casually around the room. He sees the official's speech cards on a table with water, a microphone etc. He picks up the cards and starts flipping through them, bored. Suddenly, he freezes, pale. He moves a card to see a small and very familiar-looking note: "YOU LOSE." He drops everything and runs out the door.
OK, um, there are a few ways to reveal that the wife is the assassin. I'll quickly explain, then we can choose: 1. The assassin comes in costume during the official's speech and tries to kill him. The detective nabs the assassin and, after a struggle, reveals that it was the wife all along.
2. The wife is standing onstage a few steps from the official during the speech. At some point, the official invites her over and invites the detective, as well, so that he can thank them publicly. At this point the husband puts his hand on their shoulders and the detective sees the wife wince: that's where he shot the assassin! He sees the blood on her sleeve and the wife knows she's been found out. They spring into action and fight each other. He wins.
3. The wife is standing onstage a few steps from the official during the speech. At some point the wife either walks over to the official on her own accord or she is invited over to him. The detective is watching from offstage. Suddenly, he sees the official double over and clutch his side. Thinking the official has been hit by a sniper rifle, the detective rushes to his aid to see that he has, in fact, been stabbed. He turns to see the wife holding a small knife. She is the assassin! They fight, and because the detective remembers that he shot the assassin's shoulder, uses that to bring her to the ground and subdue her.
After any of those 3 things happen, the police cart the assassin/wife away to jail and the official, seeming like he'll recover fine, goes to the hospital. As the ambulance pulls away and the crown disperses, the detective slowly smiles and walks toward and then through the camera plane. We rejoin him again as he returns home. He takes all of the papers and puts them in trash bags. There is then a pile of bags outside next to his bin. Back inside, the room looks clean again like the beginning of the film. He sits in the same chair his father had and looks up at a picture of the two of them on the wall from that day in the park. He has a box in his lap and opens it. He reaches in and pulls out a small rubber ball and smiles. He throws it against the wall and plays catch with himself. Fade to black, the end!!
((just for fun, i HAD to write this fourth twist option. it's so weird. not really serious... bonus feature)) The speech goes just fine. Afterward, the official talks to the detective offstage to thank him for his hard work but it looks like it was all for naught. They shake hands, but the official doesn't let go. The detective is confused. The official then pulls out a small hidden gun and reveals that HE was the assassin, that he and the detective's father used to be police partners until one night when something terrible happened, etc, etc, and he had to kill him to keep quiet. He tells the detective he is the last thing standing in his way and he can either leave forever or be "dealt with." The detective pauses, then pulls free hand back as if getting ready to quickly punch the official/assassin. There is a loud 'bang' as it cuts to black. The end. ((how happy))
- Intro: Flashback. We meet a young boy and his father. They spend some time in a park before it starts to rain and they return home. Father sits in chair by fireplace and boy sits on floor playing with a rubber ball. It rolls away from him and father rises to get it for him. He bounces it toward the boy but the boy misses it and it bounces through a doorway to another room. Boy follows it. As camera follows boy, a 'bang' is heard from offscreen. Boy reenters room to find father dead. Looks through window and sees shadowy figure on rooftop. Dark figure disappears. Boy resolves to find assassin.
- Present: Boy has grown up and is standing at crime scene, white outline on ground, yellow tape, etc. It's raining, again. He converses with police. They leave. He lingers for a while before leaving, too.
- Establish conflict: He enters an office and takes off hat/coat before sitting at desk. From the state of things we see he is a detective. The room and walls are cluttered with files and newspaper clippings all referring to an assassin ((headlines call assassin some catchy name, any ideas?)). It is apparent that the detective has been tracking him for a very long time.
- There's a knock at the door. A woman walks in. She seems like she'd normally be conservative but at this moment is a little shaken. She explains that she would like to hire him for a job. She is worried about her husband. He is some sort of city official and has a big speech/presentation/unveiling of something coming up in the next week, however, they have been receiving threatening letters. She worries that they are from the assassin and that there will be an attempt to murder him at the event. The detective agrees to take the case. She goes to leave but just as she is about to close the door behind her she turns back into the room and tells the detective that there is a letter for him just outside. She hands it to him. It has no postage and is unmarked except for the word "DETECTIVE". She leaves him with the envelope. He returns to his desk and carefully opens it. It contains one small folded piece of paper. ((It will read something ominous like "YES." or "SOON." not sure yet what))
Fade to black, then come up on the meaty bit to this thing: the action sequence! I need some help here. Basically, something needs to happen that lets the detective stumble upon the assassin about to or just having committed another crime. This would lead to a chase scene through the city (fun to draw and fun to do sound and music. fun for eeeeveryone!) before the assassin ultimately gets away. Maybe the detective gets a shot off at the assassin and hits him in the arm or something that can be alluded to later at the big reveal. I dunno... I left a week of time in here to put in other scenes, too, if we want to have the detective meet with the city official and his wife again or something, anything else...
Anyway, after a good amount of running around, that sequence ends and it's another day. We move on to the night before the big event. The detective is in his house. It's the same house as the first scene but much messier. He's brought home a lot of papers from his office about the assassin and they are arranged on the floor. He sits among them, head in hands. He looks up at a clock, it's well after midnight. He sighs and stands up, picking a few empty glass bottles and a trashbag on his way to the front door. He opens it and walks outside into the night to put them in his recycling bin. When he walks back, he sees an envelope taped to his front door. Still outside, he opens it. Another small note: "SEE YOU TOMORROW." ((or something else like that)) He looks behind him, quickly, searching for something, anything, but all he sees is black. He sighs again and goes back inside. As he walks through the room, he passes a table and puts the latest envelope on the top of a pile of many similar envelopes. The camera holds on this as he passes, then pans up to reveal row upon row of identical little notes pinned on the wall each reading a different message. He switches off the light.
Come up on: the big event! Establishing shot: We pan over a large audience that has gathered. There are many people from the press, too. Security guards in dark glasses stand in the vicinity every 100 feet or so. Nearby in a room, the city official is getting ready and talking to his assistants/other people he's working with for the event. There are security guards there, too. The detective is leaning against a table, hands in his pockets. The official walks over to him and says "thank you for all this, etc, etc..." The detective smiles weakly but is kind of zoned out, clearly thinking of other things. The official leaves the room to the restroom or something. After a beat, the detective looks casually around the room. He sees the official's speech cards on a table with water, a microphone etc. He picks up the cards and starts flipping through them, bored. Suddenly, he freezes, pale. He moves a card to see a small and very familiar-looking note: "YOU LOSE." He drops everything and runs out the door.
OK, um, there are a few ways to reveal that the wife is the assassin. I'll quickly explain, then we can choose: 1. The assassin comes in costume during the official's speech and tries to kill him. The detective nabs the assassin and, after a struggle, reveals that it was the wife all along.
2. The wife is standing onstage a few steps from the official during the speech. At some point, the official invites her over and invites the detective, as well, so that he can thank them publicly. At this point the husband puts his hand on their shoulders and the detective sees the wife wince: that's where he shot the assassin! He sees the blood on her sleeve and the wife knows she's been found out. They spring into action and fight each other. He wins.
3. The wife is standing onstage a few steps from the official during the speech. At some point the wife either walks over to the official on her own accord or she is invited over to him. The detective is watching from offstage. Suddenly, he sees the official double over and clutch his side. Thinking the official has been hit by a sniper rifle, the detective rushes to his aid to see that he has, in fact, been stabbed. He turns to see the wife holding a small knife. She is the assassin! They fight, and because the detective remembers that he shot the assassin's shoulder, uses that to bring her to the ground and subdue her.
After any of those 3 things happen, the police cart the assassin/wife away to jail and the official, seeming like he'll recover fine, goes to the hospital. As the ambulance pulls away and the crown disperses, the detective slowly smiles and walks toward and then through the camera plane. We rejoin him again as he returns home. He takes all of the papers and puts them in trash bags. There is then a pile of bags outside next to his bin. Back inside, the room looks clean again like the beginning of the film. He sits in the same chair his father had and looks up at a picture of the two of them on the wall from that day in the park. He has a box in his lap and opens it. He reaches in and pulls out a small rubber ball and smiles. He throws it against the wall and plays catch with himself. Fade to black, the end!!
((just for fun, i HAD to write this fourth twist option. it's so weird. not really serious... bonus feature)) The speech goes just fine. Afterward, the official talks to the detective offstage to thank him for his hard work but it looks like it was all for naught. They shake hands, but the official doesn't let go. The detective is confused. The official then pulls out a small hidden gun and reveals that HE was the assassin, that he and the detective's father used to be police partners until one night when something terrible happened, etc, etc, and he had to kill him to keep quiet. He tells the detective he is the last thing standing in his way and he can either leave forever or be "dealt with." The detective pauses, then pulls free hand back as if getting ready to quickly punch the official/assassin. There is a loud 'bang' as it cuts to black. The end. ((how happy))
15 October 2012
Ideas etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6ZmMjMdrqs&feature=player_embedded
I'm not really sure what were heading towards yet so i just thought i'd throw up a few shorts that I thought were cool and maybe we can get some ideas from them.
This is a french short but had a huge team working on it. Thought it was nice tho.
I'm not really sure what were heading towards yet so i just thought i'd throw up a few shorts that I thought were cool and maybe we can get some ideas from them.
This is a french short but had a huge team working on it. Thought it was nice tho.
12 October 2012
Hey there!
This is a pre-production blog for a yet-unnamed and unwritten 5-minute movie.
To start off, we can put up reference stuff and research into story ideas and pictures/sound clips/videos that are examples of anything we want to emulate like tone, cinematography, any character design, etc.
So... yeah. Let's do a lot of story brainstorming this weekend. Jot down any ideas here and comment/build off of each others posts. Monday we can meet again in person and start consolidating things and pick one that we really want to explore more and go in that direction.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)