Malignancy Update

Well, a few days have passed since I first wrote here...

And I've been working pretty much non-stop at this script. Still have 6 scenes to map out so, I don't think I'm gonna finish it today...

As I write this this script is already 11 700 words long.

And, if all goes well, tomorrow a first draft for it will be ready - though I don't know if I'll read it all top to bottom then... I think I need a break!

(I'll work on another story!)

I think it's been going pretty well. A few scenes gave me problems the last few days. I didn't know how I'd visually recreate the intentions I had in my head but I think what's surfaced so far looks pretty good. The script is riddled with inconsistencies but all of them (or at least most of them!) are deliberate - I hope they'll build up on one another towards the sense of realisation I'm aiming for the reader to have when he/she reaches the end of this story.

Yesterday I once again rediscovered something that I'd found quite a while ago: it's easier for me to create panel/visual descriptions with pen and paper than typing them straight onto the screen (unless they're incredibly clear in my head, that is).

Yesterday I was blocked on a scene. Just kept staring at the screen over and over again and nothing came out. I knew what was going to happen - I just couldn't see it visually in a way that appealed to me.

So I just decided to pick pen and paper, shift body posture and see what came out.

I wrote during the next few hours 11 pages of panels and page layouts.

Of course, today I had to type it all up but it was well worthwhile!

Sometimes I think the hardest thing is to keep track of where our mind is - or wants to be!...

Anyway, the learning curve is working it's magic...

See you tomorrow!

(with a finished script...)

Peace.

The Black Dahlia

Is the title of the film I just saw. Brian De Palma directs, based on a James Elroy book, inspired on true events.

Not for everybody I should say. Dark, dark, dark.

If you like Hitchcock... then this is for you.

But if you don't... stay well away...

To be perfectly honest I don't even know what to say about this film. It's too early, too close to be able to. But I feel I've seen some of the most powerful moments contemporary film-making has created.
And this is a pun (somewhat) since so much of what is seen echoes "old school" cinema.

All I can say right now is that I have probably a dozen films that I really want to own (the truly, utterly, impossibly indispensable ones)
And this is one of them.

If only to learn about film-making you should see this film.

And it's a long dark ride.

As soon as I get my grips on "reality" once again I'll write some about it. I think this is going to be one of those films that is going to stick around for a while.

I just hope I won't have any bad dreams tonight.

Whenever I do fall asleep.

Peace...

Moving On

The last few months have been pretty hectic. Between job instability, failing hard drives, being ill, going on my yearly meditation retreat, going home to see my family and doing a great number of things I can't recall anymore, I have managed to write a few new things - with a clean slate starting point...

As soon as I came back from Myanmar I started to type up the ideas that surfaced during the retreat (and they were quite a few...). This is a task still to complete but, I'll get there in due time.

I started working on a couple of scripts, a series of short advertising scripts and a small essay related to food disturbances and meditation insights. Halfway through all these projects a friend mentioned that an animation company she works for was looking for some scripts...

Guess what I did?

Yup. I typed up some of the ideas and sent them to her.
I finished a first draft of two stories (Khanti/Forbearance and Second Sight), revised an old script (In The Wild) I'd sent to a couple of friends ages ago (god bless gmail...) and typed up a fairly detailed synopsis of another short one (Winter Snow/White As Snow/... I still don't know the title for this one...)

Good news right?

Well... perhaps not that good.

Apparently they're really interested in stories that reflect Portuguese culture in some way. And this is precisely one of the things I'm trying to avoid the most in the stories I dabble with. I want them to reflect the "inner culture" rather than the outer one. I don't want to tell tales just for Portuguese (or English, or French or whatever). I want to aim right at the heart and find tales that everybody can relate to, where that cultural backdrop is not crucial (well, for most of them that is...).

So, I don't really think any of these stories will be used by them. Still, these scripts have been completed somewhat and perhaps there will be other people interested in them... time will tell!

I didn't manage to complete the advertising and essay projects before I went to Portugal. They are both lengthy - even if in quite different ways.

I wrote very little in Portugal. For the most part I typed stuff.

And rested...

It was good to soak a bit in the sun and not do very much.

But now I'm back in London and things are moving once again!

I arrived on Wednesday the 23rd.

On Thursday I mapped out yet another story called Malignancy and today (Friday) I've been writing some more of the dialogue (and captions) as well as panel descriptions and page layouts. It's been slow but I'm happy with what I've done so far. This is a somewhat bizarre story and I'm trying to insert unsettling elements (mostly visual ones) throughout the script. It's important that some measure of confusion, of things not adding up, will be present in the tale practically from the onset.

I also wrote a bit on the essay I mentioned in the beginning of this post. I probably have it 70 to 80% completed.
(and there's still revision time to come...)

Apart from this today I joined DropBox and have started a new structure to file all these documents I seem to create all the time... I still have to learn how to synchronize that with my external hard drive but it shouldn't be too difficult.

Tomorrow I aim to continue working on Malignancy (that I'm hoping to send to a couple of friends, to see if any of them know someone that might be interested in drawing it...), perhaps type some more stuff and call/email a data recovery company to see if they can sort my external hard drive, and how much would it cost.

Hope you are well!

Peace...