one down, and about fifty five billion to go

I've completed my script, but there are parts of it I want to change before I shoot it off. I'm glad to have made it through the whole onerous process, but at the same time, it feels like the biggest anticlimax - as in, where to from here? I guess the worst bit is not knowing whether they'll get made, and not being able to have a lot of input into the production of your own script. I know this has to be done for a reason, but it's the first time for many of us to be put in this position, and I just find the uncertainty of it a little uninspiring. I'm sure once groups are formulated and we get our own production balls rolling, things will fall into place.

It's starting to eke closer, as much resistance as time has yielded in passing. This week's readings go into detail about light balance, how to focus a camera, all kinds of other delectable technicalities that will come in useful in the near future. I'm itching to get back into it, though.. to be honest. It's been far too long.


And now to change this bloody ending. I can't decide whether it's more difficult to begin a script or to suspend it. They both do my head in.

light reading

Pretty surprised by this week's readings. I guess when writing a script there is only so much you can say/do before getting back to basics. So far I've enjoyed the lectures, and kind of wish Di was in a position to stay on with us throughout the course. Her input and influence is going to be missed when she moves on.

Since it isn't quite off topic, I'd just like to take this moment to go off on a little tanty rant about the sad, downhill-headed state of one of Australia's most well-loved dramas: Home and Away.

Now, I've been a longeroom Summer Bay resident since the ripe old age of 9, so pardon me if this all sounds like it's hitting a little close to home. Every new season there are new credits, which are infinitely more annoying that the seasons' preceding. Not only this, there is a new style of filming/acting/construction that really only serves to make the show tedious and repetitive... I know, you're all thinking, 'but what else can be done with a drama that's been running for all those years?' - I'm not bagging out the plotline (although some of it in the past few seasons has been utter shite), but I have to say that as one of our main Aussie exports, the way this thing is put together nowadays doesn't do our name or country a lot of justice.

It really is said to see a show like this grow more formulaic and less suspenseful as the years pass. Why doesn't anyone have the guts to change the face of mainstream drama? We could all do with some sense of refreshment. As Alf Stewart would say, viewers are now copping the 'rough end of the pineapple', and the only thing I can attribute this to is a state of sheer complacency.

tips and tricks

Di really knows her stuff when it comes to defining the nitty gritty of character.

The way to getting to really know the in's, outs, strengths and weaknesses of your character is to put them through the mental ringer a few times over. That is, take them out of the context of the story - out them under pressure, gague their reactions to a vast milieu of social situations and predicaments. Will they cave when push comes to shove, or will they persist? What is the life-affirming message you wish to embed in your narrative... or is it even life-affirming?

You could even write a biography.

Di reccommended a good source of internal monologue/reflection, a book entitled 'You'll never eat lunch in this town again'. No better or more compelling way to get inside a persons' head than through a memoir.

Basically, you are not going to make progress with these characters if you aren't willing to get confrontational. This is often more or a challenge for the writer than the character in question. The key to writing colourful, evolved fiction is to dress up every situation to the nines, and work out exactly where their quirks of personality lie.

meditating on creativity

So the first chunk of this subject seems to be devoted to getting us to 'unleash the dragon' in relation to our creativity reserves.

Most of us are a little rusty in that department. Me especially.

According to Di, it's a writers' volition to tell the world about things. The innate desire to create, to reflect, is something we are driven to share with those around us. Whether it be to make a serious comment on humanity or poke fun at its foibles, the propensity to share that without is part of our cultural makeup. It's what truly helps us form our social identity.

Subtle tension, irony and conflict must be used to a maximum extent, particularly if the piece has been created to serve a greater moral precept. Noir, for example, is a narrative device used to elicit tension. Often, a set of technical formula is so ingrained within a specific genre but that it is indeed subconscious.

Of course, nothing exists in stasis - so these genre are continually evolving, growing. This is also relative to ever-changing values of the viewing audience, who as educated moviegoers are anything but a static, homogenous group.

Today, the sky is in fact the limit when it comes to putting a pen to paper and writing for cinema. Though there may not be a one-size-fits-all approach, the main thing is to relax with the medium and trust one's instincts. Then, and only then will filmmaking retain an element of unrelenting truth... no matter how fictitious the premise or story.