I recently enrolled on a screenwriting course. Last Wednesday evening was week three of an eight week introduction to learning how to develop characters, fine tune stories, dialogue, plots & subplots and generally getting an insight into turning an idea into a fully formed, all singing all dancing, script.We're looking at a lot of films (full length and shorts), covering a lot of genres and in so doing trying to bottle that elusive spark that will ultimately give birth to the complete package - something that can then
be pitched to film makers. That's the theory, anyway! Me and my other nine cohorts are under no illusions; whilst we all enjoy writing and are bristling with ideas, the chances of us getting a script picked up by Hollywood is as remote as a lottery win.
Some of the films we've looked at contain little or indeed no dialogue. The Black Hole is a case in point. This five minute gem is near perfect. It had a budget of less than $5,000 and is the real deal. Forget what I said about Hollywood earlier - if I came up with something this good, I'd be a happy man. Tell me what you think.
This is brilliant John, thanks. So simple... nothing spare...and, as you say, not even any dialogue, yes I can see how inspiring this is. Your screenwriting course sounds really interesting, what a great thing to do. Wishing you lots of luck with it and perhaps you'll post some progress reports?
ReplyDeleteIt keeps me out of mischief!
DeleteIn a world of box-set TV series, which use endless hours of film to elaborately tell their stories, short films like The Black Hole take a special kind of genius to get it all done in less than three minutes.
ReplyDeleteLike C, I'm looking forward to hearing updates on the fruits of your labour.
Less is more. Yes, updates for you both - probably when I have something tangible to show.
DeleteGood luck with the course - With short films like this as inspiration who knows?! Very, very clever and I suppose we all knew that as soon as money/greed entered into the equation, it wouldn't end well.
ReplyDeleteI once did a similar course but my screenplays always had to be based on real life and actual dialogue as I find it hard to be truly imaginative - The feedback was that in real life, no-one would say such cruel things! I feel that real life is indeed very cruel sometimes and we almost have to tone it down for the world of the screenplay. Sad indictment.
You can count on me to keep it real Alyson!
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