“The ZOOM Bomber”, “The Minions of Eros”, and “The Last Crow” Updates

I’ve been working on a few projects, but I’ve been lax in talking about them on my blog. I’ll try to catch up today.

 

“The ZOOM Bomber”

This began last year as a challenge from my writer’s group. I did several blog posts about it, but just recently I realized that I’d never posted the storyboard video publicly, so I did that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jePgb298O_k

I rather doubt that I will ever follow through on making the actual film.

I suspect that the process I went through might be more interesting than the storyboard. Here are the links to my earlier blog posts about it.

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-zoom-bomber-update-1/

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-zoom-bomber-update-2/

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-zoom-bomber-update-3/

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-zoom-bomber-update-4/

https://dynamiclethargyfilms.ca/the-zoom-bomber-update-5/

 

“The Minions of Eros”

I did some more work on my “Speed Date” movie idea, including choosing a new title. I made a video of the script using NAWMAL. I made quite a few changes to the dialogue in NAWMAL, then posted it for feedback.

I got a lot of push back over the artificial voices I used. I’d had that complaint before about the artificial voices I used in “The Barrier”, although not everyone had a problem with the artificial voices.

My plan had been to use the artificial voices only during development of the story, then have actors do the voices once I had the dialogue where I wanted it to be. One problem is that I'm too cheap to hire anyone else. I did a test of the story using my own voice. It turned out OK. Unfortunately, it seems I can only do one voice. I was sure I could do several when I was younger. Not anymore. Maybe I can practice. In any event I can’t do a woman’s voice.

The comments about the story itself have caused me to rethink the whole story. I felt that I didn’t have much of a point to make with the story. It was just two people talking. They had no motivation for anything they said.  The idea for the story is really just a framing device to have a conversation about something. I hadn’t really given enough thought about what they would talk about.

 

“The Last Crow”

I did a writing exercise for my writer’s group based on the writing prompt: “The Last Crow”. I wrote within the normal 30-minute time limit. I write in long hand and didn’t really want to retype it so I could share it. I decided to record my reading of the story. I posted it on my sound cloud account.

https://soundcloud.com/dynamiclethargy/the-last-crow

I got a like right away. Also, someone contacted me about promoting my “song”. I didn’t see any point in paying someone to promote it. I only posted a reading of one of my stories before. That was seven years ago. I’m inclined to do more of this.

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

“Speed Date” Update 2021 April 25

I didn’t get as much done as I would like. I did start to see where I need to improve the dialogue. I’m still on the look out for some one who has gone to a speed date that I can interview.

I have focussed on developing the video in Nawmal. It has some glitches that I want to fix. Mostly this had to do with changing the location and timing of the camera angle changes. But, as I worked on it, I realized that I needed to work on the dialogue first. After watching the video multiple times, I just didn’t find what they talked about that interesting. Of course, parts of the dialogue are supposed to be superficial.

I used Xtranormal as my writing tool a few times and that seemed to work well for me. I want to take the same approach with Nawmal. But I got too involved with getting the visuals right at the neglect of the dialogue. So, I went and dropped all the camera setups and now I have a single camera set up for the whole video.

That is as far as I got on the project. Next week I hope to focus on the dialogue and action. Once I’m happy with that, I will start putting in the camera setups again.

I am calling it "Cupid's Associates" for now but am not happy with that. I came up with some alternatives:

·         “Cupid’s Underlings”

·         “Cupid’s Minions”

·         “Cupid’s Cronies” (my niece suggested this one)

·         "The Minions of Cupid"

·         "The Minions of Eros"

I still like the name minions, but that will bring up the image of the cartoon characters in most people’s minds. I like “Cupid’s Cronies”, but there are at least two dating companies with that name. "The Minions of Eros" is my favourite at the moment.

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

Project Updates 2021 April 18

I’ve struggled to make much progress on my projects. Mostly due to a stretch of lethargy. I did make some progress though.

"Bright Freedom"

I came up with the idea for “Bright Freedom” about 12 years ago. Since then, I wrote several different drafts of a script. Then I abandoned that approach and tried to turn it into a novel. I went through several different versions of that. I abandoned the story altogether several times.

I ran into several different problems. Partly it was that the main character was a different gender, a different ethnic group, and a different career than me. I often felt that I was the wrong person to write the story. I also ran into trouble with the actual story. It started well, but I felt the resolution was weak, and of course I struggled with the middle section. I find it hard to come up with a middle and an end that would match the beginning.

Nevertheless, I kept going back to the story. It is almost as if the protagonist keeps pushing me to write her story. She is a strong woman, and I can’t really say no to her.

I have never shown anyone any of what I’ve written because I never felt that I had anything complete enough to share. I feel that I need to get some feedback before I can move forward.

I decided to write a treatment for the story. That would give me something that I can approach people on feedback for.

I made good progress on the treatment in my first session. But then, I got stymied on it again.

Nawmal Movie

I got a licence for Nawmal (https://www.nawmal.com/) a short time ago. I wanted to redo “The Barrier”, which I’d done with an earlier version of the program. I was a little intimidated at taking on such a large project, so I wanted to find a shorter project to start on before I got the licence.

I decided to do one based on a writing exercise I’d done for my writer’s group: “The Broken Attic”. It was fairly short, and I felt it would work well in Nawmal. However, I kept procrastinating on it, and I never got started.

More recently, I did a treatment and draft script titled “Speed Date” for my writer’s group.  It is about two people who meet at a speed dating event. There were some issues with it I would need to fix, but I decided to try doing it with Nawmal. In the past I’ve found that it can help me to write dialogue using Nawmal.

I used a new set of characters and sets that weren't in the earlier version. I found them quite good for the story. I was disappointed with the voices that come with Nawmal when I tested them. However, when I used them in the movie, I was quite impressed. They sounded much more natural than the earlier voices.

So far, I have just created a version of the movie based on the original script. Once I’m satisfied with that, I plan to start revising the dialogue. Already I can tell that I really need to develop more interesting things for the characters to talk about.

I decided to change the title from “Speed Date” to "Cupid's Assistant". I am intrigued by an alternative "Cupid's Minions" or maybe “The Minions of Cupid.” I always thought of the word minion as being vaguely sinister, but I think most people wouldn’t because of the cartoon characters.

I’ve never gone to a speed dating event, and I’m not likely to ever go on one. Someone in my writer’s group suggested that I find a movie with a speed dating scene to study. I'd rather try to find someone who has been to a speed dating event to hear what their experience is.

If you know anyone who has been to a speed dating event and would be willing to chat with me about their experience, please encourage them to get in touch with me.

 

 

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