Project Update Journal: September 7, 2018
Current Project: 'Metamorphosis, Interrupted'
(Current Funds: $307.26 [+0.00 Since Last Update])
Project Funds
No increase of funds this week for our film. Wasn't able to get work off of Craigslist due to setting up my work ads late. But I've got quite a few work appointments scheduled for the coming week. And there is also the promise of some wiggle room from financial aid. I think we're on track to get at least $1000 toward this production by the end of September. Hard to tell how many dollars we can get over Pre-Production (Oct, Nov, and Dec), but I think I will budget it for at least $1000 and anything on top of that will be icing on the cake!
Deadline Deliverables
This first week of December I gave myself an extra week to complete the Scene-by-Scene Analysis. It became a close shave yesterday when I hit a hurdle I now realize is a recurring problem within my writing process. Around the third act (of a four/five act structure; the Midpoint for traditional structuralists) I sometimes add in a montage or some development that requires a passage of time.
Not only is that a bad habit, but I also tend to gloss over it within the outlining phase. By the time I get to the analysis I discover the problem and have to go back to the drawing board, which costs a lot of time. I don't remember how long it took for my first screenplay, but for the one before this I went back to the drawing board at least five times over four months.
Boy, did dread suddenly come over me when I realized I hit this dumb hurdle again.
However, today I woke up and shook off the dread of tackling the problem. Instead of doing a passage of time I decided to focus on a different aspect of the problem...
The Scene in Question
By the third act, a major argument has occurred between Sam, the daughter with schizophrenia, and her father James, a retired English professor who'd prefer to work on his Great American Novel. The argument culminated in something of value to Sam being thrown, essentially destroying their relationship. However, just as soon as James threw the object he realized his mistake. He wants to apologize. But Sam won't have it.
The plan was to have James finish his novel and ask Sam to read the first draft. Of course, she'd decline, and over a few scenes time would go by and she would slowly give in until a key moment brings them back together.
In concept, this sounded good. But I realized the work that needed to be done to mend their relationship would take an act if I followed this approach. I didn't want any more acts to a film meant to be between 80 and 90 pages. Nor did the passage of time seem interesting enough to hold an audience's attention. Maybe it would in an art-house film, but I want to entertain more than just the art-house community.
But what could I do? I had to look elsewhere.
Then I remembered something obvious I should've planned from the beginning. In the story, Sam's mother, June, is a bit OCD. A part of the setting to the story is the process of moving in to a new home. However, due to June's OCD she is constantly moving in and rearranging things, despite a month having gone by. I didn't incorporate this quirk to be funny. Rather, it coincides with an allegory of a butterfly (which relates to the theme of metamorphosis).
You see, after a caterpillar spins its cocoon it liquefies into a green goo. Over the next few months, the only remaining parts of the butterfly, special segments and a central nervous system, reorganize the goo into what eventually becomes a butterfly. I figured this might be a nice allusion with June doing the same thing in the house. In a way, the house of the story is the cocoon and James and June are helping Sam transform.
Neat, huh? I hope so. It sounds good in concept.
So what does this have to do with the story? Well, I know that James and Sam need to find a way to start talking again. How about talking about June's OCD? What if Sam isn't the only one in the family with problems? Maybe it's something that runs in the family? This is also helpful since a part of the story is helping Sam realize her hallucinations aren't real.
Then when the key moment happens (which I won't spoil right now) both James and Sam will have some bond between them that will allow the key moment to take its full effect. And it doesn't have to happen over an entire act, but a few scenes as originally intended!
I suppose it's hard to appreciate the full weight of this change unless you faced a similar issue yourself. But I'm super happy I fixed the problem in a day instead of five months.
What's Next?
With the scene-by-scene analysis complete, I plan to get working on the scene drafts. (There are a total of 50 scenes; some a half page while others shouldn't surpass 3 pages.) Then I consolidate them into a Rough Draft, then edit that Rough Draft into a First Draft. Let's hope it goes as plan.
Lastly, I've decided to rename the Scene-by-Scene Analysis to Chapter Analysis. I realize that more than one location can take up a scene, especially if you're walking through rooms in a house. So I don't want to confuse locations, which many also call scenes, with those individual story arcs within the greater story.
That's all for today, everyone! Thanks for reading this far Hope my tidbit about my story hiccup was helpful for you!
#minds #blog #update #filmmaking #lesson