creativeEver since
suitboyskin and I started working on Ecology, the one of the weirdest problems that we've had is that the film really eludes a "twenty-five words or less" description. There has been no way for us to do so as it sort of defies genre; I've been referring to it as a "psychological drama", but that doesn't really explain much about what the film is about. The problem is that the "twenty-five words or less" descriptions boil a film down to essentials, and we're not sure how much an accurate one might give away about the film. It is certainly becoming an issue in the re-writing that we've been doing, as while Suit and I are quite clear about what we want to accomplish, the question is how much information should one be prepared to give away in the description. I don't really like the "twenty-five words or less" protocol because it really only works for more formulaic fare, which I have no problem with, but that's not what this project is, and what can I do? This is where the inspiration has taken us. I'm perfectly willing to work on the screenplay to make it more accessible to people (art is about communication, after all), but not at the expense of what the film is about.It's a pretty heavy story now, as we've really gotten deeper into our two main characters. This revision has had us delve into areas that we had intended to explore when we began to work together, but we didn't really accomplish in the first (171 pg) or second (114 pg) drafts; if there's one thing that I'm most proud of with the work that we've done so far it is that it isn't much like anything I've ever seen before (one friend of mine compared it to the work of Brett Easton Ellis, whom I haven't read, but according to Suit, the comparison comes primarily because of the millieu). Areas have been softened, but more have been sharpened. It's been exhilirating to revisit this project after our moratorium, and it yielded a new mix (albeit of primarily familiar material) that I'm very much enjoying.
It is strange how one can work through so many primary issues, only to find that the ancillary ones keep returning. The main problem with not having the "twenty-five words or less" explanation is that eventually the screenplay will have to be promoted, and that is the first thing anybody is going to ask about. It's not good form to just tell somebody to read the script (yeah, I know that's exactly what I told those of you who have read it, but you all were more like a focus group, it was best if you didn't have much preconcieved notions going into it). Eventually, I will also have to cut together a trailer, which traditionally are the visual/aural version of "twenty-five words or less." Now, I may not be down with the "twenty-five words or less" concept, but I do love trailers, and I have an idea of what shape the trailer might take (of course, much of that will change once actual film footage is produced), but because I think in terms of visual storytelling, I'm more comfortable with that approach. Unfortunately, in order to get footage to cut into a trailer, I'll have to raise the money to make the film. Talk about a catch-22...
For the first time in close to two years, I am online in my own apartment. Yes, this means that this is, indeed, my first ever LiveJournal post made from my own home. The previous section was idly composed by me on the bus home in preparation for some of the Ecology gutwork I'm working on now, made possible by the now-working wireless card and Office Suite, both courtesy of Raz.
There's something so satisfying about making this entry from home. This is, of course, something that most of you can take for granted, but believe me, you don't know how much you'll miss it when it's gone. The interesting thing is that this blog has become such a large part of my life during a period in which I didn't have internet access in my apartment. It's such a great outlet for my thoughts and experiences, plus it's been fantastic to get to know some people through their own Journals, but most people post from home, and I've not had that luxury; while I have composed a myriad of posts here, saved them to disc and posted them, it's not quite the same. I'm actually really excited.
