Film stuff part 3

So far we've have two days of shooting in the course of a week. not bad, but each time there is shots we keep saying we'll pick up later. We have quite a big shoot scheduled for Tuesday but now it looks like we might lose one of the actors for it. It's a shame because the part was pretty much written for them to do and it just wouldn't be right with someone else doing it. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the reasons behind it. He's been offered a really challenging role in a play, the kind of role that doesn't come around often so when they do you grab them with both hands and get stuck in! We might be able to work around it and see if we can keep him in the part. I don't know, need to sleep on it I think.
The shots for the film so far are looking great! the new camera we're using is HD and it really makes a difference in the shot quality. Course it also makes it harder to capture and edit but, once again, we'll get there. Don't suppose anyone has a spare macbook I could use? :/
Today's shoot was a long tough one. It was still fun but there were some real stressful moments in there today. so much things going on off camera that really impact on the on camera stuff. I feel like sometimes saying to people to leave all that kind of thing until after the shoot but that seems mercenary like. I really care about the cast and crew in this film, each one of them is giving up their spare time to help us shoot. What i don't like is people putting pressure on my cast particularly the other half of Homedy and Corror. She has so much going on in her life just now and it can't be easy for her. I worry that it all might get too much for her and effect her really badly and the last thing she needs is more people piling pressure onto her. I know what she'd say though. "I'm big enough and ugly enough to look after myself" or more than likely a simple "I'm fine". So I've got to take her at her word. Still, maybe I should keep a close eye on her anyway, just in case she does need help.
time for bed i reckon. Long day at work tomorrow with an early start. cya later!

random rants

why is everything always so complicated? Why, just for once, can't it be simple. Is there anyone who just goes through life without complications? Surely somewhere out in the vast planet of earth there is someone, just one person, who doesn't have a complicated life. I want to meet them, I want to know why life is so complicated. Mind you, now that i think of it I already know the answer to that one. It's people,other people. They make things complicated. If you went through life never meeting or talking to other people then everything would be simple. you'd get up, do whatever it is you wanted to do that day then go back to bed. No contact with anyone just you. You wouldn't want a big screen TV or a better paid job, or a flash car. Why would you? you'd never met anyone who could tell you about them. You'd be happy with your life. A little bored from time to time but happy. As soon as you stepped outside your little world though all hell would break loose. "where have you been hiding?" "what do you mean you've never heard of Simon Cowell?" "you've don't need money? freak!" It's the world and people in it that make things so complicated.
anyone know a desert island in need of a hermit?
cya later

Stuff and junk

It's really hard to start this without using some kind of cliche. So screw it, this is going to be cliche filled!
Today's kind of like the quiet before the storm. Everything is set to take off this week both in work and with the film. I know there is going to be loads to do, I'll be snowed under with it all but I think it will be worth it in the end. It's going to be great to finally get stuck into some design in work. It's great to be creative and get paid for it!! At the same time it's going to be tough having people judge it. I'm being paid to do this so it has to be spot on. On the film side, we have a great cast, brilliant locations, and mandy's come up with a great plot. I still have some doubts about whether my script does it justice but I have faith in the cast to bring the best out of it and it's up to me to bring the best out of them. I'll let you know how it works out. Cya later :)
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The beginning, the end and all the bits inbetween

It's finished! the script ! all done! 112 pages of zombietastic fun and gore. well fun, with some gore thrown in. I managed to get it finished in the early hours of Sunday morning. 4:30 am to be exact! It was a bit rushed in the end but it got there. After that it was passed over to my good buddy Mandy to work away on editing and making sure it all makes sense. Then Came Tuesday, the big read through. We gathered as many of the cast and crew as possible in the spur hotel and sat down to read. It's strange feeling other people reading your script. hard to describe.I was really nervous about it for days! what if they hate it, what if they all decided this was the biggest load of shit ever and they were definite;y not taking part? well I didn't have to wait long to find out. Page 1, everybody laughed! thank god for that! And the laughter continued all the way through. There were a few surprises in the way people read but nothing that can't be fixed with a little direction. Now we just got to film it! That's when the real fun begins :/

I got some sad news this week as well. A Friend of mine passed away. Charlie McKinnon.I call him a friend but Charlie was more like a mentor at times. He was one of the founding members of the Apex Players.When I joined them I said I wanted to direct but was told it wouldn't happen, that i needed more acting experience first! Charlie heard this and came up to me at rehearsals one night. He said he was about to direct a play and he needed an assistant director, he wanted it to be me. I accepted. it was my first shot at directing. He was great. He told me everything, never tired of me asking questions and was always there to point me in the right direction. Unfortunately his wife took not well and he had to give up the apex to look after her. He would still pop in occasionally to say hello and see how we were doing. I'll miss him.
well, that's all for now. I'm going to try and keep blogging during the filming. Partly to keep you all up to date but mainly to try and keep me sane! cya later!

The Eternal blog problem

This isn't my first blog. I've tried it before. I have, however, posted to this one more than I normally do and I'm quite proud of it. I have now though reached what I call the "Eternal Blog Problem". You see the trick with blogging is what to post and what not to. There may be things you want to talk about and they would make an interesting blog but at the same time you know that if you do someone may not like it. So the Eternal Blog Problem is this, do you blog honestly and openly about whatever you want and risk hurting someone's feelings or go for the self censorship option and make your blog uninteresting? Most folk tend to go for what I call the Dragnet option. In other words "the names have been changed to protect the innocent". It involves blogging whatever you want to but changing some small detail in the hope that the person your blogging about doesn't realise its them and you get away with it. The problem with that though is it makes for a very confusing post. You know what it's about but no one else does! So this is the problem I now face. So what do I do now? here's my solution. I'm going to be honest and tell the truth, but instead of a huge big page long rant about it, I'll sum it up in as little words as possible. here goes:-

you made me feel bad.

glad I got that off my chest! Cya later ;)

stranger than fiction

here's a quick summary of the last few days....shit! OK summary done!



What, you want more? OK then.
It's been a strange couple of days, strange week in fact. one of those times when if you write your thinking 'this would make a great storyline!' Of course if you did write it down no one would believe you. I would tel you all about it but, as i say, you wouldn't believe me and I certainly wouldn't want to impinge of the impeccable reputation this particular blog has for truth and honesty.....Look, I aint telling so bleah!
Here's the bits I can tell you. My car is shit! beyond shit. I used to hate my car but not now, now I detest it! I'd gladly smash it to pieces with a sledgehammer if I thought it would do any good! might knock it good looking! three times this week it's broken down on me. THREE TIMES. OK, maybe I was to blame for it a couple of times, I left the lights on and the battery died....twice! yep, i was stupid but my point is, anyone who has a car these days knows that when you leave the lights on and open the door the car will beep its nut off to let you know. Not Proton, no. Proton obviously thought the 2 quid it would cost to fit a buzzer or beep was better spent on making the car look more like a tank so didn't bother fitting that part! Grr! My car and me are having relationship issues!
OK onto the script. It's progressing. Faster than I thought it would. It's at 81 pages which means that since starting it up again about two weeks ago I've written 53 pages. Not bad going i reckon. Still some to go to get it finished but hopefully, fingers crossed, it'll be finished by this time tomorrow. Actually hoping to have it finished by 4pm tomorrow so i can go to Buzz, the local laserquest place, with some friends. I really need the stress relief you can only get from shooting some unsuspecting guy in the back with a laser gun!
Cya later.

Film stuff part 2

I can't write today. Don't know why but I just can't do it. I feel like I'm stuck on a speeding train heading for a bridge that's out. No, that's not right. A train full of explosives with a carriage of chainsaw weilding psycho's and a bunch or arsonists with blowtorches heading for a pool of shark infested waters where the sharks all have poisonious razor sharp teeth and really bad attitudes! Yeah that's better!
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What's up?

I'm in a funny kind of mood today and I'm not sure why. And before you ask Bob it's funny wierd not funny haha. I'm nervous about the film that much I know. Worried that no one will like it or that I won't get it right. The way it's looking just now we're going to be filming the first draft! Not sure how I feel about that :/ I'd like to have had time to polish it, finesse it, check it does actually make sense! It can be kind of lonely writing a script. You lock yourself away in your private room away from the world and create your own one. I really hope it works. There's so many things,technical issues, personality clashes, people problems, that can jeapordise it. I guess I have to have faith in myself and my cast and crew that together we'll get it right. So head down and onwards to page 58.... Cya later!
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choices

"Mr Eisner? they will see you now." Eric took deep breath and stood up. this was it, his chance to really make a difference. not just to his life but to the entire world! he looked down at the unassuming little black box in his hands. His invention. It didn't look like much. It was a small square box. the sides were all black and shiny like finely polished marble. On top was a small red button.
"this way Mr Eisner" repeated the female assistant.
Eric let out sigh and strode as confidently as he could into the board room of Mygene enterprises. it was huge. dominated by a very large wooden table which looked almost the same size and Eric's entire flat! At the end nearest him was a single seat and at the end furthest away was three very smartly dressed business men. Very smart and, to Eric, Very intimidating. Then the one in the middle spoke.
"Mr Eisner, thank you for joining us. You said on the phone you had an invention that was going to change the world. Is that it in your hand?"
"eh yes, it is. I called it the Pockision"
"nice name! so tell me what does it do?"
"well", said Eric as he placed the box on the table,"Pockision stands for Pocket Decision and quite simply, it makes decisions. Easily done i hear you say but, the important thing is, it always makes the right decision"
a murmur began at the far end of the table. Then a voice drifted across the room.
"always makes the right one you say? How?"
"I could tell you how it works" ,began Eric," but it might be easier to show you that it does"

Six months later

Eric was rich! his invention was truly a marvel! the whole world had embraced it. now everyone was making decisions using his invention. There was however one problem. He wasn't happy. As Eric sat there with the gun in his hand he looked down at the awful little box which now ran the world. As a result, suicide rates had tripled. People began to realise, if you always go through life making the right decision then life becomes boring. sometimes, just sometimes, you've got to make the occasional bad choice. Eric looked at the box. he pushed the button and asked it. "what should I do?"
The box replied. correctly.

The End

Joseph MacPhail Thomson Bachelor of Arts

I passed! Yep I got the letter yesterday to say I'd passed my advanced creative writing module. As it was the final module in my open degree it also means I've passed my degree! Woohoo! I know it's not a fantastic degree, but it is a degree. Never had one of them before! Mind you, my mum gave me the third degree a few times when I was growing up but I don't think that counts! My main modules where in creative writing so I can safely say I got my degree by making things up! My final piece was a half hour film script which is kind of ironic. I passed by writing scripts and last night could hardly muster a full paragraph! The film script is now at 46 pages. Ideally it needs to be finished tonight but that won't happen. Joan's sister is staying along with her two daughters, one aged 5 the other 8 months. Getting time to write is not going to be easy! When I do get time I'm struggling with what to write. It's at that middle part of the film where if your not careful you lose the audience. They stop caring what happens. I'm sure inspiration will strike. Just need to hope it coincides with me having time to write! Cya later
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film stuff part 2

Do you remember that blog I pormised in 10 days time? well it's here early!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!

Best laid plans

As I left work today I had my night all planned out. I was going to get dinner, watch some TV with Joan and then get stuck into the script. All that changed with one phone call. My sister called and asked if I wanted to go see Inception. I nearly said no because of the amount that needs done on the script but in the end I thought 'screw it! I need some time to relax and a good movie is just what I need' I'm glad I went. The film is awesome and it was good to see my sister :)
Back home though and I now need to make up for it. The next week or so will be busy! I gotta finish this! It's now at 35 pages so is officially the longest thing I've written...eek! Anyway, time to sleep. Cya later!
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Film stuff part 1

14 days. That's how long I've got to finish the script for the zombie film. 14 days. The phrase your looking for Bob, is "oh shit!" For some reason I'm sure made sense at the time we've set the first read through of the script for August 17th. At the moment I'm at 29 pages. Add in time for some of the action pieces and it's about just over half an hour. For it to be feature length it needs to be at least 90 minutes....eek! It's strange how a script can just take over your life though. It's pretty much all I think about just now. Not about the plot, Mandy sorted that out ages ago, no it's the little bits. Bits like 'ok, he's in his flat and I need him to be in the pub by the next scene. How do I get him there and make it plausible?' That's were having a production partner comes in handy. You do however need to be fluent in production speech. Here's how it works:-

Joe: hey! I just had an idea what about if they did this?
Mandy: do what you like (translation:that's shit!)
Joe:well what about this?
Mandy: if you want (translation: that's really shit!)
Joe: what then?
Mandy: try this
Joe:ooh! That works!(Translation: damn! Wish I'd thought of that!)

I have faith that it will be done in time. Be prepared though for a blog in about 10 days time that simply says "AAAARGH!" Until then time to get writing. Cya later
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Creativity: Trilogy

Here's the thing Bob (bob is my new name for the single solitary figure who reads these blogs. That would be you!) I've started writing again. Actually change that to I HAD started writing again and it was going well. I started another script, my strange take on a superhero film, and i made a dent on the zombie film. Well not so much a dent as a tiny bump! 25 pages to be exact. that was about a week ago since then nothing! The program's been open on my PC for all that time waiting for me to add to it. And i have kinda. Ive gone over it about 10 times making corrections on spelling and adding a line here and a comma there but not actually moving it on any. So when that happens I do this, I blog! It's not like there's any pressure to finish the script. we only have around 25 actors waiting to read the final script in just over 2 weeks time, locations all setup for filming in just over 3 weeks time and a possible venue to show the final product...that's not pressure is it? To be honest though it's how i work best. I NEED a deadline or else it just sits there. That's how i managed to get through the open uni course (still no word on that yet either btw). I was always one of those people who just finished in time for the cut off date. The thing with the script is i know how the plot goes, i know what happens in it I just need to get the dialogue down to get it there. I know who the actors are and i know the locations as well so all i got to do is sit down and write it, but i keep finding other things to do. I should be worried but I'm not. I know I'll finish it in time, i just hope the ink dries in time for the read through! cya later

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