It was hard getting up this morning. I didn't go to the workshop. I felt so weak, and it was so stormy. Maybe I'm pregnant. I've decided to stay home. Michael Chapman and his enthusiastic crew will do without me.
I started to write my first feature. I was scared at first, telling myself it's bad to start writing without a beat sheet or an outline. But My head was too dry and just writing scenes seemed right. So I wrote 3 scenes, very short, no dialogs.
I'm registering for the UCLA Extension Online certificate program today. I already chose some courses. I thought I'd take the intermediate level courses, but since the beginners start earlier, I could just try one class with them and then decide if it suits my level. Since we never experiment with feature length ideas at uni, all I know is self knowledge. I'm not sure though how different shorts are, from the writing perspective. You still need to understand the structure, still need to define your characters. I'll register today and report here after the course begins, the second week of January.
Friday, December 7, 2007
The tired film student - a new day
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3 comments:
There's no one right way to write a feature. everybody should find what works for them.
Having said that, it's very very hard to write a 90 minute script without having some sense of direction, of knowing where you're going. It can be done, but it's certainly the hard way. Read Robert Mckee's take on "inside-out" and "outside-in" writing in his book "Story". The man has a point.
As for shorts, well, that's a different ball game. Most of my stuff is shorts. Sometimes it's harder than a feature in some ways, but at least you get to the end fast and have a completed work without trudging through 10 sub-plots.
Just a million rewrites...
I would highly recommend writing a few short scripts before tackling a feature. Remember, in a decent movie, every scene can be a short film by itself.
Hello,
I am so sorry to hear that you are tired (but I would congratulate you if you were pregnant *clap*)!
Good luck for your course!
Cheers
Lior - I know you're right, there is no one correct way. And of course writing when you know your intentions is the best way to go. But sometimes just writing the scenes makes the head think about it all better. Your characters are clearer, the situations they can find themselves in, etc.
Max hi :)
tomorrow I go to the course again, shooting a half horror film in a Kibbutz's factory. I hope this will be my last day there. I just want to sit home and write!
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