Wednesday, 21 April 2010

Script Frenzy Day 21

Well, it's now 4pm and I've just finished drafting the second of the two ideas I had to help out my friend (I'm not mentioning her name here since I don't know if she'd like that or not... that's usually my policy)

We chatted for a good long while yesterday. The theme was about turning 18, the experiences, etc.

I more or less dropped the ideas we chatted initially, came up with another one, with lots of monologue, more internalized. Dropped that two and came up with two others. Both with no dialogue or voice overs.

She's at work now so I'll send her the short animation scripts as soon as she's back online.

The plan for the rest of the day is to finish typing my notes on MIRIAM, print them out and hit that script hard! I want to have it finished before the weekend starts!

Been listening to the B-52's in order to gear myself up to a more positive note. Tried to watch a film yesterday but only watched the first 15min...

I'm hoping that I'll write some 20 or 30 pages today... let's see what happens!
Even though I'm at home I've still been taking care of stuff for friends and friends of friends... that's life! And that's why it is good!

Peace!

Script Frenzy Day 20

Yesterday I went to work and had a mad day there. Ended up staying an extra two hours just finishing bits and pieces and then, of course, as I was about to leave, something would come up, just a few more minutes and on and on for two hours...

When I arrived home I started chatting with a friend of mine, working in Brasil for an animation company, doing an animation course there and wanting my help for one of her projects.
I was so tired that I ended up falling asleep during a long pause in our chat... I don't even remember lying down...
I just remember waking up at 8am!

So not much work on the frenzy yesterday...

peace!

Script Frenzy Day 19

After spending a good part of the day ceiling mounting my projector I ended up going to the IMAX to watch Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland 3D - which I thoroughly enjoyed. Probably because my expectations were quite low.
It's a blockbuster so, blockbuster rules apply...

But i'ts always a treat to see Tim Burton's wild imaginings take life on the big screen. Especially one as big as the IMAX one!

When I came home I didn't do much. Just went straight to sleep!

Then the next day I started working on my other script called MIRIAM.
After a lot of pottering about I managed to plot the whole thing and write a few scenes. But I felt far away from my 40 page a day frenzies...
The good thing was that the bits I did write actually felt funny - or at least amusing.

I decided I needed a little break so I didn't push myself that much...

peace!

Sunday, 18 April 2010

Script Frenzy Day 18

Hello and good afternoon!
Well, I've more or less finished this one!

Just ended typing up 7 new short scenes that I'm going to have to insert back into the story in a second revision phase - even though I think I still need to create 5 or 6 more for one of the secondary characters. He kind of has a strong start and I never picked it up. So I'll have to develop that a bit more and then wrap it up quickly.
I'm also wondering if I should give Jennifer a bit of a back story. After all she is the only character in the story that doesn't seem to have much to hide.
oh.
I just remembered.
I did do that...
Ages ago...
Not to worry then!
Problem solved!
(I should trust my skills more...)

As soon as I finished chapter 25, Grace, my computer collapsed. I thought power had failed. But it turns out that it didn't... Maybe I've burned one of the RAMs... I don't know. I replaced one of them for one of the old ones I've kept lying about and it's working now... I need to clean this computer... TLC TLC TLC... it's always the first thing to go out the window...

Anyway, when I rebooted the whole thing I realised that the last three pages (that I felt were actually quite good) and disappeared.
And I'm pretty sure that I'd saved them...

I was really frustrated for a while and really didn't want to go back and re-write the whole thing again. It was the most gruesome scene in the whole series and I didn't feel like revisiting it at all for the time being.

But I did and I re-wrote it even though I don't think it flows as well as first time round...
Well... there's always revision...

Chapter 26, This Blinding Light, the epilogue, was much easier to write.
I still don't know if the ending that I've written is the one that will stay. I'm quite tempted to tone down the final scenes in chapter 25. My only fear is that they're not believable enough in that way. At the same time this might contribute to what happens in chapter 26 to be more believable also...

Revision will decide!

I think now I'm gonna sort out my room a bit. Find out where all the bits of information in relation to Miriam are located and prepare a file with all my notes about it. I don't think I'll start writing that film today. But I do want to start it tomorrow.
I'm gonna watch a film in a few hours!
I think I deserve it!

I had planned to go to one of the scriptfrenzy meets in Southbank but I think it's best if I hang back and actually clean my pc...

Peace!

Script Frenzy Day 17

Day 17 didn't go as smoothly as I thought it would. To start I woke up later than I had planned. I went to see a friend on the day before and we ended up chatting for hours... this is what tends to happen!

Then, when I finally woke up, around 4 or 5am, I realised I'd left my notes at work... I meditated for a bit. Then tried to write, found it difficult because I needed to see what I had done before, and decided to go back to sleep and see what would happen closer to the morning.

I decided to go to work. Which ended up being the smart choice because I'd forgotten to grab some details for a farewell party with some colleagues from work, later that day. I arrived home around noon and I type until 4.30pm, having managed to finish chapter 24, Requiem.

I went to the farewell in Clapham but truly felt alienated from it all. I was on script mode... that means I couldn't talk about anything else but this stuff... and I did try! My head just felt empty. So I watched and listened, trying to figure out in the back of my mind if all this chatting would in some way prove useful for my script writing abilities...

Anyway, cycled home and began chapter 25, Grace (at least that's what I think I did... the last couple of days are a bit of a blur in terms of what I've written, I seem to very easily forget the order in which I do things...)

Afterwards it was time to go to sleep!

peace

Friday, 16 April 2010

Script Frenzy Day 16 part two...

Hey there again!
I know, I know, I can't stop blogging... I guess I'm all hyper from all the writing. What can you do?! Might as well enjoy it while it lasts!

Right. After that little ramble a few hours ago I type away at chapter 24, Requiem. This is when Roanoke and Jennifer get themselves into some serious trouble.
I won't tell you much because I would spoil it a bit, I'll just say that what I've written so far as been great fun. So much so that I wish I could be at home right now (I almost wrote, write now...) typing away.

I've realised that my plot for chapter 24 is actually better than what I envisioned. After I finished chapter 23 I jumped into a couple of scenes that I assumed belonged to c.24 but are, in fact, chapter 25...
This is really the cliffhanger issue!
Like the last one!
But what I'm happy about is that these will have MEANING by the time the reader gets to them. It's not so much the cliffhanger per se but rather what it might bring about...

Anyway, enough chit chat, I should actually be taking notes for some ideas I had for that other script (a film script) that's been showing up every so often in my head... it's called MIRIAM, and just so you know, it's a romantic comedy.

Come on.
I need it.
After all this talk about dark stuff I want to do something light but equally fun (though a lighter kind of fun...)

Peace!

Script Frenzy Day 16

I did wake up at 3 something but then stayed in bed a little while longer. Just dozing and getting myself ready, actually enjoying the relaxation - must've been that hot bath yesterday.
I woke up and for the first time since I started this thing I actually manage to start typing immediately.

Of course, after ten or fifteen minutes I started getting hungry and went to the kitchen and made breakfast.

I ate it while reading the second half of The Astonishing Wolf-Man volume 3 doing the revising en suite.
With that done I plunged back into the script and I think I haven't left this chair since... I'm really feeling a good momentum here.

It's now almost 8am. I must've written more or less non-stop for the last two and a half hours, three hours. I've finished chapter 23, Free Of All Fathers and have jotted down some ideas to add to chapter 24, Requiem.

The Murrau confrontation went well but differently than what I had expected. I had envisioned something quite epic and brutal and it ended up being something much more about subtlety and dissent. Don't know if that's the correct word for what I want to say... Murrau's character came out really solid I think. This old guy that just doesn't care about the consequences of his actions, but whose goal in life is actually seeing the dull extent of his manipulations.

I think it went quite well and I think I managed to tie up a couple of loose ends fairly well. And I mean fairly because I left in there some bits from an older version of this scene (actually a fragment, a page long) that I still don't know if I'll need to use at a later stage or not. They stay here for now and when I revise I'll know if they're needed or not. At least they're in their right place.
Trust me, there's plenty more of that scattered throughout the other chapters... just don't stop to try and tie up everything. It's best to get to the end of the story first. Then you'll see much more clearly what you need to add, what you'll need to remove, perfect, etc.

Alright! That's it for now! I still have another hour before I have to make my way to work. Better use it up wisely!

peace