WB 2/2

We started the week with a meeting with Kim and Barbara: producers. I'm quite interested in how the module will develop with them, though I anticipate that my antipathy toward soaps will cause me some problems. Especially as I'm now hearing we have to dip in and out of various soaps and watch several episodes of Coronation Street. Sounds like torture!

Monday afternoon was a class on Sound - further revision, and again I didn't feel I was learning a great deal. But hopefully the stuff that I have learnt, I have now learnt quite well.

Tuesday was a class on Screenwriting, where I got feedback on my 3 minute short. I had been quite pleased with it, but Richard hadn't been! He said the concept was too big for the time slot and I can appreciate where he is coming from. But trying to find an idea small enough for three minutes and big enough to capture my interest is not easy. It doesn't help that Richard has failed to provide us with a good example of a three minute short which follows the narrative pattern we are looking for. In fact there are only two short films which stand out for me as being really memorable and quite special: Un Cheval (which, being merely a gag, would not satisfy Richard) and Divine, which ran for over ten minutes, and equally would not satisfy the criteria. We got started on writing outlines for a second attempt at a three minute film.

Wednesday was a class in TV, thinking about the differences between high-budget TV drama and the repackaged mainstream of remakes and sequels coming from Hollywood. While I still think there would be - for me - something far more exciting about making Pirates of the Carribean 8 than making an edgy, gritty urban, boundary-pushing TV drama, I can very much appreciate what Andy is saying, and with the blurring lines between film and drama there will certainly be plenty of opportunities to experience both disciplines. I think, in particular, the long-form story arcs of the TV series might suit my imagination better than a feature film, where everything has to be very finite.

Thursday was a lecture in the development of cinema, looking at the influence of DW Griffeth, Cecil B de Mille and other early directors. We also glanced at German Expressionism. I am glad to hear that we will be returning to look at this in greater detail later, as production design, especially in fantasy films, is one of the most memorable and breathtaking elements of a film. One of the last films I watched (Titus) I gave a top rating to, almost entirely on account of the production design. So the more I know about this aspect of film-making, and the more I can appreciate what has been done in the past, the better equipped I will be for making films in the future.

Friday was a screening of Sunrise, followed by another Sound class, where we attempted our most advanced set-up yet: a multi-camera shoot of a two person interview. It all seemed a little tacked together, but I suppose sound without much attention to camera is no less a problem than camera with barely any attention to sound.

At the weekend I was away to a church retreat, which I had feared would be something of a Wierdo's Convention. In the end, it probably was, but I found I got on better with most of the wierdos than I anticipated. Probably says quite a lot about me...


Wed