Monday, April 12, 2010

DAY 043: MAKING THE THRILLER FILM *****



 DAY 043 of MAKING THE HORROR MOVIE: *****
  ...and the script is about 80% complete.  I ask you friends - is a script ever really done - I don't think so -
not really.  I'm sure certain changes will be made all the way up to - and including - the first day of filming. During the shoot in fact.  Some people - this may bother - but not me. I like the fluid malleable aspect of the fact - that for me - the script is an actual living breathing entity - and as all living things - change is reality.

I accept that. Am cool with that.

On DAY 043 it's 3:42 a.m. in Cali - I'm in the studio - it's dark outside.  The night air is cool.  I can see the ocean from the studio window. Night is the only time the shades are open - daylight ruins the screens of all the color specific programs for the movie - so it's dark in the studio most of the time.

I currently am working on the storyboard - and that brings up this topic - I have received many - MANY e-mails asking me about the program I bought for storyboarding - why am I storyboarding - is the program clunky etc and on and on - well:
  Give me just a few more days to put the video together and I'll post all my thoughts on the program - if it was worth the money for me as an #extremeindie filmmaker to spend the money on - and - the pro's and con's of the program I am using.

Last thought before I hit the gym to keep my body and mind tough for the making of the movie - it's a physical grind my friends - and keeping oneself healthy for the process, helps. A lot. Anyway - been wrapping my brain around just how much of the horror movie plot I'm going to exploit here in/on the website - would love any of your thoughts on the subject. That subject always causes HUGE debate within all the factions/people of a movie - how much does one talk about the plot - how much is shown in the trailer - on and on. Will be having a long long talk with Peter Broderick about this - and probably arguing with him too about it lol.

Would love to hear your opininon on this - from a movie fan point of view - and/or - anyones point of view for that matter. I mean that. Do trailers that give it all away "really" bother you - or do you end up seeing the movie anyway - even if you know what its about - completely via the trailer and/or the written word?  Honestly ask yourself. I say this because I have a lot friends who say I hate it when movies do this - but then go ahead and see the very same movie they were pissed about the promotion campaign. So does it really matter?

I am comfortable sharing this - it's a movie that hits on a HUGE phobia of millions - it won't allow many to sit still in the seat - three people who have heard the pitch for the movie stated - they would love to work on the film - but absolutely could not watch it - too much of thier nightmare involved. And yes - did I take that plot point from Hitchcock - you bet I did - I studied him and Kubrick for  a year before writing this script - honed in on thier ability to find the human collective fear/phobia of many - and exploit that social phobia for the fun of watching an audience squirm in thier seats - and that was/is my goal - to provide an experience - a fun one - but an intense one.

For now - that's all I can share about the movie. After talking to many and listening to many - will decide how much more will be shared.

Another vid blog will be up in days - back to work for me - the shooting day is coming fast - and - one of my very favorite stages of a movie - is on the horizon: auditions!  I love auditions!

I'm jus' sayin'

OKLAHOMA WARD

9 comments:

  1. Well I think the SB is looking pretty bad ass if I do say so myself.

    Looking forward to your next vid blog and also AUDITIONS!! YIPPIEEE!!!!

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  2. But what about the question??? That's some information I'm needing to analyze and could really use your opinion on - not that I don't appreciate the compliment my dear lol - I do - but really trying to get a consensus on the answer to the question to help me make my decision on my movie ;-)

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  3. Yes. I hate movie trailers that "give it all away"! I consider myself an avid movie fan. I like scary, horror, funny, drama, science fiction...I love all different kinds of movies! So I hate it when a movie trailer shows the best parts of the movie with nothing left to the imagination. If I really want to see a movie I might go see it even if the trailer shows too much of the good stuff. If I am not sure about the movie and see the trailer that shows everything about the movie I will wait for it to come out on DVD or never watch it at all. I do not want to know everything that is going to happen in a movie...I want to be surprised!!

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  4. I agree w/Alana. I for one - especially when it comes to the horror genre - can't STAND when the trailers/write-ups give away too much of the plot.

    I think it's best to leave it up to our imagination - for that will always be scarier than what actually exists - Paranormal Activity is a perfect example of this.

    I say give no more than a "Teaser" of what's to come - keep it old school 'Alien' trailer like. That's the way to go IMO.

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  5. I’m guessing that I’m an anomaly. In my youth, I would have said, yes, trailers that give too much away irritated me. Today, in my dotage, I don’t go to many films to be entertained – I go to be amazed by the writing or (less frequently) the acting, or to try to puzzle out, how did the director/cinematographer make that happen? The flip side being that word of mouth, source material (if it’s an adaptation) and comments from people I trust have more pull on whether or not I see a film than trailers do. Sometimes a trailer will pull me in, but then I do a lot more reading and talking before I pull the trigger and actually go see it. In fact, I can’t think of the last film I saw because of the trailer.
    In a nutshell, I guess I see trailers like I see title sequences – they can be little works of art all in themselves, but they don’t really reflect on the overall quality or I gottoseeit-ness of the whole product.

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  6. Good points Dittman. I have always stood in the corner of reading too much about a story in a review and/or seeing too much - like a trailer that gives all away - infuriated me - but was always stumped why Hollywood and the powers that be - would do it so often - and then I was told by a major H-Wood power-player - because that's the only way to hook the general public - you got to spoon feed them exactly what they are going to see - or they won't go. They even went as far as to say - hell - you could release a crappy version of the movie on the internet - and that won't hurt - it will only build excitement and word of mouth - and they'll still go see it at the big screen - if it's good. That scenario infuriated me for years - I refuse to do much of that - but - at the same time - I received so many e-mails asking what's the movie about etc - and the written word - ain't my strong suit - and figuring out how to give away some - without ruining the story - in my eyes - what it/the movie is all about - that is my crux - and yet - I still wonder - maybe it really doesn't matter - give it away and if it's good they'll go. Thanx for chiming in my friend - a point of view I hadn't considered - thanx - I mean that.

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  7. Horror films, well do I like them. Yes but only certain ones. Very hard for me to watch extremely tense and suspenseful situations and yet I can't pull away. Still don't like tons of violence, blood and gore. Not too much into the ghost stories. But Freddie on Elm Street scares me too much to watch. Still think Audition was terrifying but good. The movie about watching the video causing your probable visit and subseqent death was very very scary to me. I really even worried about watching the darn thing afterwards even though I don't believe these effects can happen. Its probably old hat now but the visual effect of the young girl with the stringy long hair and haunting face was mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time. Maybe we all like watching these movies because real life scares us too. Between illnesses, brutal people, weather, floods, earthquakes, wars, weapons, loss of superficial securities such as income, home, food, etc, etc., comets, terrorists, bombs, and so on, which we manage to push to the back of our minds and ignore to some extent, maybe it does settle our real fears by watching fearful situations. Who knows!!!! Anyway, back to daily living and finding pleasure and security in minute by minute living. lol Shirl

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  8. Also I agree all should not be given away on trailer. Comedies these days are really bad about that. Usually the funny scenes in the previews are the ONLY funny scenes in the movies. Hate that. The latest one, the Date, I think looks funny but they have shown so many funny scenes, I am wondering if anything is left. Hope so. Some trailers are misleading. District 9 (which by the way I really really liked) was not what I expected from watching the previews. I mean I know there were aliens and a really big alien ship hovering in the sky, and I knew there was a barricaded area but that was it. I didn't know if the aliens were extremely dangerous, man-eating monsters or what. But it made me curious to see the movie and as I said, I was surprised at the actual movie. The political theme was amazing. And the location of the movie was inspirational as far as filming. Probably didn't even have to build the ghetto sets, just used the real ones. The use of canned cat food was mind blowing and disgusting at the same time. It wasn't a perfect movie by any means but it was presented in a refreshingly new way to me. It wasn't scary but very intriging and I wasn't sure what was going to happen for the first half at least. Can't say that for many movies.

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  9. Looking forward to the feedback on the SB program.

    You couldn't have done better research for a horror script.

    My views on how much to include in a trailer; I will say what irritates me the most is when there are some high impact scenes in the trailer but they are cut from the movie. Sometimes I am waiting to see the real context of a scene I saw in a preview that appears will be a high point of a movie, and then nothing.

    How much plot? For me, I like to have enough info to have an idea what or where the story "resides." I don't necessarily want to know what the "thing" is that is going to impact me, I just want to know that there IS something that is going to impact me; i.e. hinting. I also like to know basically what the context of the story is so that I know if it is in the realm of stories I am interested in seeing. While this is being revealed I like the lines, character's appearance, or settings to grab my interest.

    What all this does for me is let me know if the movie has a theme that intrigues me, is well executed, and will impress me.

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