"First Date" Script Posted

I have been struggling to get started on my writing and movie projects. Some one suggested that I write a story about a man who's wife had died. My wife died last year. They thought that writing a story about what it is like would help me come to terms with her loss.
 

When I made "Line of Taxis" I wanted to use it to help me deal with some of the problems I had. Since it was an on-going situation, I didn't want to address it directly. I created a situation quite different from my own, but where the protagonist would feel the same emotions. I believe that focus on the emotions was the main reason the film worked so well.

I tried to take a similar approach with this story. I hadn't come up with any good ideas for a story that would allow me to explore my feelings.

Over the last few months I have been part of a script writing groups. They have a writing exercise every session and I wrote up a number of ideas. Recently they suggested I write a two page dialogue scene. That gave me an opportunity to write a character like myself. Since it would be just a short scene, I didn't need to come up with a larger story that it would fit into.

The scene is about an older couple who are on their first date. The woman is recently divorced, while man's wife died. Not only is it their first date, but it is the first date either has had since they lost their spouses. I haven't progressed this far myself.

I felt it turned out OK. I only intended it to be a writing exercise, but I started to get interested in the characters. I felt I could build a larger story from it. I'm not sure just where I would take it, or what the point of the story would be. It isn't the approach I planned to take.

I revised the scene based on some feed back, and posted it on my website at: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/stories/first-date/

I would like to know if people think it would be worth my while to pursue.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Dabbling in "The Barrier"

I restarted my rewrite of "The Barrier" this week. My family responsibilities took precedence over my movie for the last few weeks.

It had been a while since I looked at the rewrite, and I found that I had changed my mind about what I wanted to go with it. Most of the effort I put in was on story structure. I deleted several scenes, I added some scenes, and I changed the order of some of the scenes.

One of the problems with the old version of the story was that I felt more emphasis needed to be on the barrier part of the story. Too much focused on Campbell's Glencoe development. I found in the rewrite that most of scenes ended up longer, which made the whole movie longer than I wanted. That allowed me to drop some of the Glencoe scenes.

Most of the scenes I added were to accommodate the new scene I created of Arthur's video shoot on Gladstone. I also needed to modify some existing scenes to fit it in. I did need to add a short scene to fill a gap left in the Glencoe story when I deleted those scenes. It was fortunate that I was able to cut them out without creating a major issue with the story.

I wrote brief versions of the new scenes, but they will need to be rewritten. I wanted to have something that I could start from. I had a good idea what I want to happen in them, but found it hard to get motivated to write them in much detail.

The hard part will come when I have to rewrite other scenes to adjust for the scenes I deleted or I added. There is a lot of good stuff that I will need to cut out.

With all the politics, doom and gloom in the news lately, the subject of "The Barrier" can seem trivial. However, I think the issues I address in the movie are important. Big complex things are built from many small simple things.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"The Barrier": How Specific Do I Need to be About the Transportation Model?

In my initial version of "The Barrier" I was kind of skimpy on the details of the issues with the transportation model. With the rewrite, I felt I needed to make that more detailed.

I revised 4 more scenes this week. I've done 14 of the 39 scenes I plan to rewrite. Most of the remaining scenes have only minor changes, but there are four scenes that need major rewrites. In those scenes I had the characters talk in vague generalities about the issues that come up about the transportation model. I started to work on those specifics this week.

I've run into some barriers of my own.

Hazy Memory

It's been 13 years since I last worked in transportation forecasting, and 7 years since I actively kept up with developments in the field. My memory has faded somewhat over those years. Transportation models have thousands of details that can become controversial. I struggled to remember a handful of major issues. I'm sure that as I think about it more, some more will come to mind.

Dated Knowledge

Since I haven't kept up on new developments, the criticisms of transportation models may well have changed. Around the time I left the field, new types of models were being introduced that were supposed to address some of the major criticisms of existing transportation models.

It may well be that some of the issues I want to use in the movie are no longer relevant. No doubt there would be some criticism of  the newer models, but I wouldn't know what they would be. I'm not keen to do a lot of research to update my self. Maybe someone can give me some suggestions I can use.

I do remember one criticism of the newer models was how much more time and effort they took to run. That isn't an issue I can use in my movie. Another was the perennial complaint about models that they were black boxes that nobody understood. I already use this in the movie. I even call the model software "BlackBox by VooDoo".

What I don't believe has changed is that forecasting models are still the weak link in the planning process. Knowledgeable people who want to question transportation plans will go after the forecasts. You can see the same pattern in the climate change debate.

Avoid Confusion

I worry that if I get too specific about the transportation model, people without some background in the field will get confused. On the other hand, the vague descriptions I used in the last version of "The Barrier" confused people anyway. I need to strike a balance where most viewers can follow what is happening.

The issues with the model are what Alfred Hitchcock used to call a McGuffin. It's what the characters in the movie think is important, but it isn't important to the story or the audience.

Options

My first inclination is to use the jargon that transportation planners would use. The problem with that approach is that then I would have to explain what the term means. I've done that in a few places already. I had the developer play dumb to force the engineers to explain what they meant.

In the scenes I need to revise, the characters should know what they talking about, which eliminates any excuse for characters to explain. The approach I have in mind is to have the characters describe the real world implication of the issue, rather than use the jargon. That might grate on people who do know the jargon.

For example, I want the consultant to criticise the volume delay curve equation. When I have Dennis talk about the note the consultant sent, he could say something like, "Here he questions how we calculate the delays from traffic congestion." Most people know what delay and traffic congestion mean. They don't need to know how the model estimates the delay.

Issues To Use

I've come up with a few more issues I think I can use.

·         Parking cost - this would affect whether people drive or take the bus.

·         Pedestrians mode constant in the modal choice model - this would affect how many people walk instead for drive.

·         Ride sharing - this would affect car pooling. This might include newer services like Uber or Lyft.

·         Trip distribution exponent - this would affect where people would go to work or shop.

·         Cycling - I plan to use a reference to cycling elsewhere in the revised script, so I wouldn't want to use it here.

I'll need to work on these issues some more before I go ahead with my rewrite. I still might decide to do some more research.

You can watch the previous version of "The Barrier" here: http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-barrier/

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Sketchup, Blender and "The Barrier"

This week I tried out both Sketchup and Blender for a revised version of scene 1 of "The Barrier". Initially I thought Sketchup was the better choice, but then changed my mind.

I used Blender to do the backgrounds of the public meeting scene in "The Barrier" and had planned to use it to do a new version of scene 1. In the current version it is difficult to understand what happens, so I want to make it more obvious.

I found it difficult to learn how to use Blender, so I decided to see if I could find an easier alternative. I found some reviews on-line and they help me identify several other programs I could use. From what I read it looked like the best option was Sketchup. The reviews said it was easier to use, which was my primary goal. The reviews did note that the output quality isn't as good as Blender and it doesn't have the flexibility of Blender. I decided it sounded good enough.

After I installed Sketchup, I tried it out with some simple figures. I found it was easier to learn and I was able to get results quickly. I felt good about it and prepared to move on to work on the actual scene. Before I did, I checked the licence restrictions again. I had thought I could use the free version, but it turned out that I would have to buy the commercial licence. They cost about $600, so I decided to try Blender again.

I made good progress with Blender. I found that what I learned from Sketchup helped me work out how to get what I wanted from Blender. As a test, I created some terrain, a road, and some trees. I also made a short test animation where a vehicle drives down the road. It was actually just a block and not a car, but after all it was just a test.

I created the roadway for the scene 1 set, based on some calculations I'd done earlier. I found the roadway awkward to work with. I found it difficult to move around, and image. Sometimes, some of the roadway would vanish for no reason I could come up with.

The set is about a kilometre long. I think that I need to redesign the set somewhat, and maybe change the scale as well. I did some calculations and think I can cut the size down quite a bit.

At the end of the day, this exercise made me feel more confident about Blender.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"Felix" and "The Barrier"

I worked on both "Felix" and "The Barrier" this week. The "Felix" rewrite progressed well, but with "The Barrier" it just seemed like I spun my wheels. I still would call it a productive week though.

"Felix" Rewrite

I tried my new approach with "Felix" this week. I printed off the most recent version, then sat out in the back yard, went through the printout and made my revisions. I got about a quarter of the way through. I thought this approach worked and I felt positive about the revisions I made.

Later in the story I have some sections that I will likely have to completely replace. I may even need to add totally new material. That will take a bit longer. I think that I will need to go through the whole story at least one more time before I'm done this revision. It should be ready to share with other people then.

One of the problems I have noticed is some of the technology the astronauts use on Mars seems outdated. I can't mix 2020's technology with 1960's technology. For example, I gave the rover a considerable level of autonomy, but the astronaut's have to drive their own vehicle. I can fix much of that fairly easily, since the technology is mostly in the background. Unfortunately, some of it is tied to major plot points.

I thought it would be enjoyable to sit outside and listen to the birds as I worked. Unfortunately, we only seem to have crows and magpies around here, so not much in the way of  beautiful songs. The chattering of the squirrels sounded better, but after what they did to our garden, it's hard to feel too kindly toward them. I did find it more restful to be outside though.

"The Barrier"

I did some more research on one of the programs I want to use to do "The Barrier". I used up a lot of time, but I can't say I have much to show for it. I can say I did learn more about what it can do. I can't really get too far along with the new version until Xtranormal is rereleased.

I've given some thought to what I'll do with the movie when I get it done. My current plan is to use a site like http://distrify.com/ to distribute the movie. There are several sites that look similar, so I should do some more investigation before I sign up for one.

I believe that this is the first movie ever made specifically about transportation planning, so I need to promote it transportation planners. There might not be much of an audience beyond people who work in the field.

I've done some posts on a few LinkedIn transportation planning groups, but I think I need to look at other options. There are a number of transportation planning magazines, newsletters and journals. I don't think they would have movie reviewers, but I still think I should approach them.

I could use some contacts at these outlets. If you can help me I would appreciate it.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Internal and External Conflicts in "The Barrier"

In the past people often told me that there was no conflict in my stories. I found it hard to understand why they said that, because I did have conflict. It took me a long time to realize that most of the conflict in my stories was internal to the characters and these inner conflicts did not come across in my writing.

I didn't know how I could bring out these internal conflicts in my stories, so I decided to shift more to interpersonal conflict in my stories. I felt it would be easier for me to depict interpersonal conflict. Although, I was reluctant to do that because I felt that internal conflict was more important.

Over the last few weeks I have tried to absorb the feedback I have had on my last movie: "The Barrier". I started to see that interpersonal conflict can be used as a metaphor for internal conflict. in the barrier. I'm sure I had been aware of that from other people's work, but had not thought of it for my own work. It seems pretty obvious now.

When I developed the movie, I thought of the characters Arthur Macdonald, Brandon Baker and Dennis Kennedy as different aspects of myself. The conflicts between them, and with some of the other characters, reflect my own internal conflicts.

I can see places in the story where I have used this concept, although I didn't realize it at the time. There is one point where Arthur argues with Dennis in a scene and in the next scene Arthur tells Ling that he actually agreed with Dennis. I know that I had the same kind of argument internally many times in my career.

Over the next few months I will decide what I should do with "The Barrier". I think I can use this insight to develop the story further. Certainly it should allow me to work more depth into the interactions between these characters.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"The Barrier" Criticism Considered

A few years ago, I saw an interview with the Smother's brothers. Tommy talked about some musicians who would practice for years before they went on stage. He felt that was wrong. He said that you really don't learn how to perform in public unless you perform in public. The audience will tell you what is working and what isn't. On your own, you'll focus on the wrong things.

When I posted "The Barrier", I knew that it wasn't a final version. But, if I didn't show it to anyone, and in particular people that didn't know me, I would lose out on some important lessons.

I've had a range of responses to "The Barrier" so far, from very positive to very negative. I am pleased that most of the responses have been positive. Even some people who had criticism did have positive things to say.

I was disappointed when people didn't like the movie, but you can't expect everyone to like what you do. If only one person in 1,000 like your work, that is still 7,000,000 people.

It is tempting to get snarky with some commenters, but that isn't a good way to build support for my movie. Not only will it put them off, but other people who see the posts will be discouraged as well. I used to say I wish my word processer had a diplomacy checker.

I knew that my movie had some problems, but I've been surprised that people pick up on things I hadn't expected, and don't seem bothered by what I thought were the "real" problems. A lot more people were put off by the animation and computer generated voices than I expected. In part I think that was because, in my mind, I imagined the film with live action and live actors. On the other hand, some people really liked the animation.

Another comment I got was that it didn't seem like very much was at stake. Strictly speaking, the stakes are quite high, but that isn't made explicit until the very end. I can see that as a problem from a pure story telling perspective. However, it has to be that way to express a specific  idea, which is one of the main reasons I want to tell the story. I'll need to think about how I might address that.

I still want to hear more about what people think of the movie. Please take the time to watch it and tell me what you think. If you already have, please encourage other people to watch it as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-LOUNSEKac

If you have any suggestions about where I can find people who might enjoy the movie, I would like to hear that too.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

"The Barrier" Almost Done. Again?

I remember when I moved from my apartment to my house I went back to the apartment for one last visit to see if I'd left anything. I ended up going back about a half dozen times! Each time I found something I'd forgotten. My experience with "The Barrier" feels almost the same. Every time I'm think I'm done, I find one more thing to do.

I did pass a major milestone this week. I uploaded the movie to YouTube. It took 14 hours to upload! I have it set to private for now while I prepare for the release. I want to do a good write up for the YouTube page and my mail outs.

I decided to create subtitles for the movie, and that took up much of my time. I tried to use the Premiere Pro voice to text system. The file has each word as a separate item, so I decided it would be too much work to reformat it.

I thought YouTube would generate a subtitle file when I uploaded the movie. I thought I use that after I cleaned it up. It turns out that YouTube won't generate a subtitle file for a long video.

I went back to the text file from Premiere Pro and found a way to reformat it into a subtitle file. There were some problems with it. Sometimes I would get some very long subtitles I had to break into two or three. Sometimes the voice to text didn't work very well, and I got subtitles that were vastly different from what the characters said.

I started to review the file manually and make adjustments as I went through it. I am on my second pass through now and I think I will need one more before I am done.

I think I will be done this week, but then I thought the same thing last week.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

A Movie I Want to See and Other Notes

I moved forward a little on "The Barrier" this week. I also made some changes to my website, and cancelled my Bukisa account.

A Movie I Want to See

A while back, I wrote a blog post about my goals for "The Barrier" (http://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/my-goals-for-the-barrier/). This morning I thought about it some more and realized that one of my goals was to make a movie I wanted to see. "The Barrier" isn't finished yet, but I think that I have accomplished that.

The big question now is: will anyone else want to see it. I believe that if I want to see something, then other people will as well. If my tastes are one in a million, then there are only a few thousand people in the world who want to see it, but if my tastes are one in a thousand, then there are several million people who want to see it.

It's times like this that I hope that my tastes are not uncommon.

"The Barrier"

I did some work on version 0.2 of "The Barrier" this week. my main objective was to review the videos I have now and identify which ones needed more work before I can put the movie together.

I left the computer screens blank in scenes where they are seen, so I need to create images for them and composite them into the video. I started to prepare the images this week and have most of them done. The ones I still have left to do are more complex and will take me a while to do.

Another problem I found was that some videos have "glitches" where the video breaks up. For the most part, it looks like it is just a single frame that is messed up. I have some tricks I can use to cover that up.

Later I will need to add in some more audio; sound effects mostly. I also want to process some of the dialogue, such as people talking over the phone, so it sounds like they are on the phone. I wonder if there are places where I can add some music. I need to find some free music if I want to do that. I plan to leave the sound work to version 0.3 or later.

Website

I did some modifications to my website this week. I've had a donation button and a store page, but they never generated any money for me. I changed my tactics and replaced the donation button with a link that asks: Do you believe that artists should be paid for the work they do? That links to a "support my work" page. I have my donation button there and some other suggestions on how to support me work. That hasn't generated any money either. At least not yet.

I changed the web page Monday, but I get the old version of some pages for some reason. Apparently they get cached somewhere. I'm not sure how to refresh the cache.

Bukisa

Bukisa is a website where I published some of the articles I wrote. It did generate some money for me over the years. About $18 altogether. Good thing I have a pension.

They sent out a note this week that they had lost their agreement with Google to handle advertizing. They won't have any money come in anymore. They tried to encourage people to leave their articles on the site, but I decided to just dump them all. I cancelled my account too.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

How to make a Film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival - Part 7

In the previous posts, I’ve looked at how I made some of my films for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival. In this post and subsequent posts, I will use those experiences to give advice on how to make a film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival. I will begin with the limitations that technical side of filmmaking impose. This will be important to keep in mind when it comes to the creative side of filmmaking.

Experience

Now that digital video is so much part of the culture, many people do not understand the technology of film as much as people used to. If you don’t have experience with film technology, I encourage you to experiment with film and cameras before you start your film. You may be able to use some of your experimental footage in your film, but don’t count on that.

Most cities have groups like the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers that can provide the support you will need to make your film. This can include access to equipment, training, and advice.

If you can find a more experience filmmaker to help you, that can make the process easier for you.

Film Length

I would plan on a film between three and four minutes long. The original rule limited filmmakers to four rolls of colour film, or five rolls of black and white film. This gives you about twelve to fifteen minutes of film.

I know some filmmakers were able to use almost all of the film they shot. More often though, you use only a fraction of what you shot in the final film. It’s common for a feature film to use just one per cent of the film shot. For a three to four minutes long Hundred Dollar Film Festival Film, you will need to have between 20% and 25% of what you shoot in the final film.

That goal can be difficult to meet, so you need to avoid complicated and tricky shots that may not work. Some may see this as stifling creativity, but it can also be a spur to be more creative.

Type of Film

Super 8 film is available in reversal and negative, but as far as I know, you can’t get prints from the negatives. For Super 8, reversal film is the only real option if you want a final version you can project.

In 16mm you can use reversal as well, but I prefer negative. I used negative film for Contingency and then I edited the print for the final film. You can go back to a negative cut and answer print, but that is more expensive. One reason I prefer negative is that I still have that to fall back on if something happens to my print.

Post Production

The approach I have used for the last few films I made was to transfer the images to video and edit them on the computer. Then I used information from the video cut to cut the actual film. That can be tricky to do, and I have used different approaches with each of the films I have done.

On My Next Film, I wrote some of the edge numbers on the print so I could match the video to the film print. This wouldn’t work as well if you want to use the print for your final film.

When I did Contingency, I planned the shots so that the exact cuts were not critical. I only needed to get the length right. The final shot of the film was an exception, but I could identify the correct frames visually.

Sound

Super 8 sound film is no longer available, and 16mm sound requires a much more sophisticated, and expensive, approach. That pretty much limits your options for sound to non-sync sound. If sync is critical, you may be able to achieve that will live sound at the screening.

For Contingency, I created the sound track in my video editing software (Premiere Pro), and then output the sound on a CD. I had a beep on the CD that corresponded to the “2” frame, that allowed the projectionist to do a rough sync. Projects all vary slightly in their run speed, so the sound could be a second or two out of sync. It can vary through out the film.

If you work with non-sync sound, it is best to stay with either music or voice over on the sound track. Sound effects that don’t need to be in sync work as well.

Another option is to have no sound at all. Sound can add a lot to the impact of a film, so a silent film can be more of a creative challenge to make.

In the next post, I will move on to the creative side of filmmaking. Creativity is difficult to explain, but I feel some aspects of the creative process are easier to convey.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

How to make a Film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival - Part 1

When the Hundred Dollar Film Festival first began, the idea was that you could make a film for under $100. Now, twenty-one years later, is that still possible? In this and later posts, I will to talk about how to make a film for the festival. As I wrote this post, it began to get very long, so I decided to break it up into several separate posts. In this post, I will look at what kind of film I will discuss.

As the deadline for the twenty-first festival looms, this may seem a bit late to talk about how to make a film. But, there is always the twenty-second festival.

What qualifies me to talk about this subject?

I’ve had eight films in the festival over the years, with films in both the first festival in 1992 and the twentieth in 2012. I also started the festival.

The Festival Rules

The festival rules have changed over the years and it doesn’t need to be constrained by the original intentions, but I hope that films made to the original limits will always be welcome at the festival.

When I first came up with the idea for the festival, the kind of filmmaker I aimed it at was someone who had just begun to make films. That was what I was back in 1991. Maybe they were someone who had never made a film, or who had only made a few small films. Their interest would be to learn and develop their skills, and, of course, to have an audience for their films.

I became aware of a different group of filmmakers who were interested in the festival. These were experienced people looking for a challenge, or a chance to have some fun when they made a film. I know that some looked at these films as a way to reinvigorate themselves after a frustrating project.

The challenge came in the constraints on how they could make the film. In the first festival, the cost was not the limitation, as implied by the name. Instead, we set a limit on how much film the filmmakers could use to make the film. The limits were five rolls of black and white, four rolls of colour, or three rolls of sound. With a shooting ratio of 3 to 5, the final films would be 2 ¼ to 5 minutes long.

Can It Still Be Done?

A lot has changed since 1992. Can you still make a film the way it was back then? I believe so, although not as cheaply. Super 8 is still available, and you can make films on 16mm in the same spirit as Super 8. I did that for my film Contingency for the 2012 festival.

I estimate that films made to the original rules would cost $300 to $550. You can still make a film for under $100, if you shot only one roll of film. Shipping the film to the lab and back can cost more than the film and developing!

There are some further limitations on the films now. Super 8 sound film isn’t available any more. If you want sound, you need to put it on a CD, or have live sound. With pre-recorded sound, you can’t guarantee sync. It is not as easy to get a 16mm film negative cut and printed these days, so you can’t do effects like dissolves or title overlays, unless you can do them in-camera.

In the next post, I will review how I made each of my films. In later posts, I will use my experience to provide advice on how to make a film for the Hundred Dollar Film Festival.

I know that I don’t know everything there is to know about how to make a film, so I would appreciate any comments that build on my suggestions.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

$100 Film Festival Film Update – 2011 November 13

My film is closer to completion now. I’ve even given it a title: Contingency. Not really that original, but descriptive none the less.

My original plan was to include some shots of me editing some film on at Steenbeck at the CSIF. They are moving at the end of the month, so the time was tight. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get in touch with the guy I wanted to help me, so I came up with a plan B.

I will used some outcuts from my earlier films. That is one reason I picked the new title. I think this forced improvisation will make for a better film. I pulled out some of my old Line of Taxis files to see what I have that I can use. It looks promising. I documented my more recent films quite well. Some of my older films are not, so I am not sure what I have.

I shot another roll of film with a few more images I wanted and some titles. I wanted to include shots from my earlier Super 8 movies and I don’t have 16mm blowups I can use. I do have digital versions of those films, so I shot short bits of them off the computer screen.

I included two films that I did before the $100 Film Festival. The Smiling Corpse was a film I did back in 1974. In many ways, it was the original inspiration for the Festival. I copied two “cool” shots from the film. I can only include one of them though. The other film I used was Extra Special Care, which I did as a student project at SAIT in 1989. It was another example of the type of film I had in mind for the festival.

While I was at it, I short another short short film I call Somedays I just Can’t Get Started. If it turned out OK, I’ll submit it to the $100 Film Festival too.

I mailed the film to the lab Friday. I have some “Exposed Film” tape that I use to wrap the exposed film, but I couldn’t find it. Until, of course, after I’d gone and used some other tape. I still have quite a lot of tape and I don’t think I will find much use for it now.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

$100 Film Festival Film Update – 2011 October 30

I got the film I shot for my $100 Film Festival Film back this week. It looks good to me. I still have some more shots to get. Then I can move on to the edit.

I’ve started to think about what kind of sound track to do. I can’t do sync sound, but some kind of voice over or music would work OK. The first idea I had was to have a cacophony of voices and have individual phrases and lines popup into the foreground.

I’ve had a good idea about the images I want for a while now, but now I have to give more thought about the point I want to make. For a long time now, I’ve wanted to do a film about contingency: what happened didn’t necessarily have to happen. Just by chance, I got a shot that conveys that idea quite well. That makes me think this could be the film where I do it.

The original suggestion I got from Howard Horwitz was to do a film about the $100 Film Festival. My idea of contingency works well with how the festival came about. If you read the article (http://www.bukisa.com/articles/137107_the-history-of-the-100-film-festival ) I wrote about the festival you can see that there were several times where I might have dropped the idea before I proposed it.

I wanted to use a quote about contingency from Stephen Jay Gould. I was sure I had recorded it, but I can’t find it now. I’m tempted to record it with someone else, but I feel that would be cheating. Maybe I need to come up with my own line to convey the same point.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

The Seven Character Theory of TV Shows

Many years ago, long before I got serious about writing, I came up with what I called “The Seven Character Theory of TV Shows.” It came from my observation of the TV program Gilligan’s Island. What I noticed was that there were seven regular characters on the program and I wondered why.

My explanation was that the number was a compromise between two forces. The lower limit is set by need to provide a variety of possible relationships between characters, since stories are about relationships. If you had too few, the number of stories would be limited. The upper end is set by the number of characters that people can recognize. If you had too many, then it would become harder to differentiate them.

I read someplace that people’s minds have a limit of seven pieces of information that they can actively consider at any one time. Since this fit my observation that there were seven characters on Gilligan’s Island, I concluded that this was the ideal number.

Of course, once I started to look at other TV shows, the theory started to fall apart. While there are many shows that did have seven regular characters, there were many that did not. As a recall Batman had six and Get Smart had four or five. Mostly shows had fewer characters. I tried to rescue the theory by assuming that the shows with fewer regular characters relied on more guest stars, which brought the effective number up to seven. This didn’t even convince me.

I hadn’t thought much about the theory for a long time, but recently I’ve given it some more thought. My original theory is much too rigid. Basing it on Gilligan’s Island may not add much weight either.

However, I do think there is some merit to my idea. There is a need to provide more characters to bring variety to the stories, and there is a limit to the number of characters you can have without confusing the audience.

In the stories I’ve done of late, I have sort of followed this rule. In The Glencoe Project and The Gladstone Barrier I have 8 or 9 characters, although a few of them are minor. For The Crying Woman I only have two. I do have a couple of other characters that interact with the characters, but these are minor. Even so, that only leaves me with four characters.

One of the comments I had about The Glencoe Project and The Gladstone Project was that they were a little too complicated. That may be related to the number of characters in the story. I felt that one of the problems with The Doorman’s Sacrifice was that I had far too many characters.

I guess that in the end, you do need to carefully consider the number of characters when you create a story. If you find that you need too many, that might be an indication of a problem with the story. I am not sure just how many is too many. Maybe it is less than seven.

I also wonder: do you need an odd number, or can you use an even number?

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

New Short Story – “The Crying Woman”

I invite you to read my new short story The Crying Woman.

http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/The_Crying_Woman.php

A woman whose life has just been turned upside down tries to run away from her problems. When she has a chance meeting with a man on an elevator, she is drawn into a conversation by the empathy he shows toward her.

I wanted to do a story that was very different from the stories I wrote before. It was a difficult story for me to write.

I want to eventually develop this story into a movie. I would like to hear if you think this would make a movie that you would like to see.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Focus Focus Focus

A problem I run into all the time is that I spread myself too thin over many different projects. I find myself jumping back and forth between each project. In the end, I never finish any of them.

It is only when I take a step back; consider each of my projects, and then make one my top priority that I finish. In the last couple days I’ve come to realize that I’ve fallen into the same trap again. It is time to let go of projects.

I have a bunch of ideas I want to work on.

Feature Scripts and Novellas

I wrote four feature scripts and I’d like to rewrite all of them. I’ve also thought of rewriting them as prose. They’d all end up about novella length. Maybe some day I will get back to them, but right now, there is only one, Then the Phone Rang, that I can see I would ever make as a movie.

Transportation Planning

I want to do a movie about transportation planning. I worked as a transportation planner for 30 years and thought that background would help me write. I still feel strongly about many issues in transportation planning, which would help push me through to completion. A month ago I asked some transportation planners what they thought of my ideas. The feedback I got wasn’t quite what I expected. I think I need to take some time away from the project to absorb what I learnt before I pick it up again.

Articles and Stories

A little over three years ago I started to post my stories and articles on-line at sites like Triond and Bukisa. Generally I’ve noticed that my stories don’t do as well as articles. As a result I’ve done more articles. Right now I have quite a few ideas for articles. In fact I had a new idea this morning and wrote up some notes for it.

While it has been nice to have people read what I wrote, it doesn’t bring in much money. It also distracts me from my stories and movies. I’ve decided not to write anymore articles. I’ve decided that several times, but every so often I do one.

I have started to post my stories on my own website and no longer post them on Triond. I want to use them to build up my “brand” and I think that would be more effective on my own website. Several of the articles I wrote I’ve done as blog posts instead. Again, I think it is better to draw people to my own site, rather than some other site. So far it hasn’t made me much money either.

Blog

My blog does take time away from my other projects, but I plan to keep it up. It allows me to articulate some of the ideas I have and help me focus. In the long term I think it will help promote my work.

My Most Difficult Case

Long ago I started to refer to this project as “My Most Difficult Film.” The first draft of the script is dated March 6, 1991 and the film still isn’t finished. I really need to put this project to bed and move on.

Years ago I read a quote from François Truffaut. He said that when he started a film, he wanted to make the best film ever made. As the project progressed, he decided that he’d settle for the best film he ever made. By the end, he just wanted it finished.

I really need to make this project my top priority.

My $100 Film Festival Film

Next year will be the 20^th annual $100 Film Festival. Melanie Wilmink at the CSIF would like to see all the film makers from the first festival submit new films. I’ve got a couple of irons in the fire.

Howard Horwitz, who also had a film in the first festival, and I have talked about collaboration. I did some test shots a couple weeks ago. I need to fill out that idea more. It needs to be ready to submit by December 1.

I have another idea I’ve considered for years. I think I can get it done fairly easily. It would be a very short film. Less than a minute long.

I really do want to get this project done this year.

The Crying Woman

This was originally an idea I had for a movie. It came from a suggestion that I do a film like Before Sunrise. I realized that it was very different from anything I’d done before. As a way to build up my skill, I decided to start with a short story.

I thought that not only would I develop my skills, it would also help me pitch the film. It has been a hard slog to get the story done. I made some good progress on a rewrite yesterday, so I feel much better about the project now.

While I feel good about the story, I do worry that people may not like the ending. It is so built into the structure of the story that if I wanted to change it, I would have to start over from scratch. I want to finish the story I have now, but I also think I will start on a new story in a similar vein.

My Short List

I plan to concentrate my efforts on just three projects for now.

·         My Most Difficult Case,

·         My $100 Film Festival Film, and

·         The Crying Woman

Ideally I should only have one top priority, but I think I can work on all three of these projects at the same time. Each of them will have periods where I have to wait for some one else to do something, which would allow me time to work on the other projects.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

Issues in Transportation Planning #5: The Public and the Media

The relationship that transportation planners have with the public and media is an essential part of the job. But it is a relationship that can be strained by conflict.

Researchers, like Zahavi, have found that people spend about an hour a day travelling. It doesn’t matter if a transportation planner works in the public sector or the private sector, in the end taxpayers have to pay. Given how directly people are affected by transportation, it shouldn’t be a big surprise that transportation planners are subjected a lot of public scrutiny. Needless to say, this can lead to conflict.

In my experience, everyone has an opinion about transportation and everyone thinks they are an expert. They may completely misunderstand what a transportation planner does, but since they pay the bills, you need to be diplomatic in your response. The customer is always right.

When I was in graduate school I read an article about public participation. That was 35 years ago, so I don’t have the reference. The article talked about the difficulty that planners had with public input to long range plans. Usually the people who showed up for public meetings would have more immediate concerns and had no real opinion on what should happen 20 or 30 years later.

More generally, when transportation planners meets with the public, people are often not interested in the issue that the transportation planner has been assigned. They may be interested in problems elsewhere, sometimes not even transportation related. I had a character in The Gladstone Barrier who was interested in sewers, but who glommed onto the transportation engineer to solve his problem.

I heard a story about a transportation planner who had a project where he expected several of the options to be highly controversial and get the public angry. While he was supposed to do all his evaluation under public scrutiny, he wanted to do preliminary analysis of these options before he went public. He thought that if he could eliminate the controversial options for technical reasons before he went public, he could make his life much easier.

The transportation planner’s relationship with the media is another potential source of conflict. I took media training once and I think most of the time the conflict in this relationship can be avoided. People in the media have tight deadlines, so they will be open to a cooperative planner who can make their job easier. That isn’t always the case. Good stories need some conflict, so media people look for the conflict in a situation. Some may even try to create conflict.

I must admit that I am tempted to make the public and media into the villains in a story. After all, that is often the way it feels to a transportation planner. I suspect that people in the public and in the media often see transportation planners as the villains. However, I believe that a more nuanced relationship where both sides show good and bad traits would make for a better story.

This post is a mirror from my main blog http://www.dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/blog

A Feature Movie is Difficult to Make in Many Different Ways - Version 1.0

Back in 2004, after I shot My Most Difficult Case, I decided that my next movie would be a feature. I felt I was ready for it, but seven years have gone by and no feature yet. I’ve started to consider some of the difficulties I’ve run into. I hope that will help me overcome them.

I expect that my knowledge and views will change and become better organized. That is why I call this version 1.0.

How Much Can I Afford to Spend on My Transportation Planning Movie?

Lately I have asked people for their opinions about my idea for a movie about transportation planners. Some comments I got made me realize that many people have an unrealistic view of the economics of moviemaking.

How Much Money Might I Make?

So, what is the market for a movie about transportation planning?

The Crying Woman and the Art of Listening

The Crying Woman

I got back to The Crying Woman this week. I got about 850 words done Thursday. The next day I couldn’t write if my life depended on it. I find this is a very hard story to write.

I’m about 80 per cent through the story now. I hope to get the first draft done next week. It will need a lot of rewriting though. Of course, since I plan to turn it into a film eventually, I’ll rewrite it many more times before I’m done.

The Art of Listening