Trevin - Thomas Mann
Blake - Evan Breen
Al - Affion Crockett
Monday, April 25, 2016
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Vic Perillo
There's a disconnect between cast and crew. It's important to work as a team because it is a team telling a story not a hundred separate roles. You can't demand things because people need time to accomplish tasks. There has to be a connectivity between director and actors. The goal is to make it an amazing experience for everybody. When pitching a script if you have a whole team behind that script ready to shoot it the chances of it being accepted is higher. Don't allow "veterans" in the business to tell you about people and how to work with them because you don't want bias. What message do I want the audience to leave with? Stop with the shot by shot bullshit and focus on the full story. Put yourself in the mindset of the audience. We don't want to watch it to think about how technical it is they want to be encaptured by the story. Why make movies if they aren't meaningful to you? The problem with the industry is that it is a power struggle. Take actor input because sometimes they have really good insights. Keep going back to the script. We've ruined the casting system. It's electronic and too technical. We need to go back to having the person in the room with the director. The director has to cast the part because he has to use them to execute his artistic vision. Workshop your script to get more out of filming time. He has a dream to eliminate resumes and photographs because those can't act, people can.
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Von Stroheim Treatment
Open
on a vast desert, there is nothing on the horizon but as we scan we see two men
fighting but the fight seems very scripted and poorly acted out. Off camera a
man begins to yell and as he steps into frame we see a tall and limber man, Von
Stroheim. He approaches the actors and pushes one out of the way and puts
himself nose-to-nose with the other actor. “Fight dammit! You need to actually
fight. Hate one another the way you hate me!”
Both men cower in fear. Stroheim turns around and
leans into the other man. “Do you hate me? Of course you hate me, but you are
too coward to show it.” He storms back off camera.
“Again from the top!”
The men begin fighting again as the camera’s roll
and we see a sly smile rise on Stroheim’s face. You can see the pride in his
eyes.
As a younger man we see Erich Von Stroheim arriving
on Ellis Island and signing his name for the first time as Von Stroheim. It is
interlaced with narration from the interviews conducted with those who knew or
adore Von Stroheim.
Erich’s next big step is when he began to work with
D.W. Griffith and this is the moment his vision began. We see an image of D.W.
Griffith directing his film and it fades into Stroheim directing on the set of
Greed again as he repeats the same direction that Griffith was using.
We look into the eyes of the actors on the set of
Greed as they attempt to follow his direction and we fade into the image of a
younger Stroheim who is struggling through acting out a scene on one of his
earlier projects and he is getting mad at himself while the crew attempts to
calm him down and explain that they can shoot it again but he continually is
telling them that he can’t fail at acting because this is a Stroheim
production.
Stroheim continues to act but after Queen Kelly he
begins to get blackballed. This time in his life is intercut with the time on
the set of Greed when Von Stroheim kills the burro. It is very symbolic of the
death of his career.
Erich leaves his wife for his lover and on the set
of Greed we see him leave the set for a moment of alone time. While he is there
he talks to himself, “You are a Von Stroheim. This production must be perfect
and it will be as long as these damn actors follow my perfect instruction.”
As the scene from Greed plays out we cut to Sunset
Boulevard as Erich and Gloria Swanson overcome their former problems. The
director on Sunset Boulevard calls for a wrap and it transitions into Von
Stroheim calling for a wrap on Greed.
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Dan Whalen
While I was not in attendance for this guest speaker I have reviewed notes of a couple classmates and here is what I believe I missed:
A location manager is the first on the set and the last to leave both for the purpose of production and location.
The location manager is responsible for not only finding the places to shoot but dressing a scene if needed to fit a description and is responsible for obtaining any permits needed so that the shoot is legal.
Utah is a great state for filmmakers who are new or independent because it is not unionized. However, without the union you can be fired without cause at any time.
Your job as a location manager is ultimately to understand the vision of the producer and director. Without that your locations won't match what they want and they will go another way.
Dan has built a database of photos of locations he has worked so that he can direct potential shoots to his portfolio for easy access to sites that are known to work.
The overall conclusion is that a location manager is responsible for the locations and the permits needed to shoot their. He works closely with producers and directors to create a vision. And without a location manager filming to fit a vision would be nearly impossible.
A location manager is the first on the set and the last to leave both for the purpose of production and location.
The location manager is responsible for not only finding the places to shoot but dressing a scene if needed to fit a description and is responsible for obtaining any permits needed so that the shoot is legal.
Utah is a great state for filmmakers who are new or independent because it is not unionized. However, without the union you can be fired without cause at any time.
Your job as a location manager is ultimately to understand the vision of the producer and director. Without that your locations won't match what they want and they will go another way.
Dan has built a database of photos of locations he has worked so that he can direct potential shoots to his portfolio for easy access to sites that are known to work.
The overall conclusion is that a location manager is responsible for the locations and the permits needed to shoot their. He works closely with producers and directors to create a vision. And without a location manager filming to fit a vision would be nearly impossible.
Scene Sample
This scene is the beginning to plot point two. This leads up to Blake changing his life around, Trevin developing the app, Louis trying to help Blake and Al get their life's in order and ultimately the disappearance of Al.
INT. LOUIS' HOUSE - NIGHT
A well developed and raging party is taking place, all ages
and class of people are in attendance. LOUIS stands in shock
and looks worried. He grabs a blunt that is passed in front
of his face and takes a long drag when reality strikes hard.
LOUIS
WHAT THE HELL??!?!?!? This doesn't
seem like a solution Al! This is a
problem.
AL
Loosen up, Lou. Gimme two seconds
and I'll give you three reasons
that this is working.
AL walks away and comes back fairly quickly while LOUIS
continues to panic inside and out. AL returns with an
attractive blonde that can't be any older then 22 and Blake.
AL
Louis, I present to you reason 1,2
and... 3.
On each number AL points, 1 - to the left breast of the
blonde, 2 - to the right breast of the blonde, 3 - he points
to Blake who pulls a large stack of cash out from his hoodie
pocket.
LOUIS
But. But. But, how?
BLAKE
Cover fees, booze money, and drug
and paraphernalia pitch ins. Trevin
is did the math he estimates we can
pay off the next three months of
your mortgage by tonight's profits
alone.
LOUIS
Wait really?
TREVIN(Walking into the conversation)
Really Uncle Lou. High Schoolers use
their parents money and don't know the
value of anything. Al's street friends
provided the drugs and some of the booze.
And then we have at least 50 strangers in
here.
LOUIS
Alright then.. Let's fucking
party!!!
The entire CROWD cheers!
LOUIS
Wait. That dude is shooting heroine
on my couch... No!
BLAKE places his hand on Louis' chest.
BLAKE
And he paid 300 bucks to be able to
do it somewhere that his wife won't
see him. So I suggest we leave the
nice businessman alone.
EXT. LOUIS' BACKYARD - MORNING
LOUIS, AL, BLAKE and TREVIN sit in the back yard passing
around a joint.
LOUIS
Look guys, this may be the drugs
and alcohol talking but thanks. I
dunno how I would have gotten
through the next few months without
you guys. You're like my real
family.
TREVIN
Don't say that quite yet... I
forgot to calculate in clean up
cost. This may only get you through
the next month. So either you and
Al need jobs or we gotta through
one of these monthly or better yet
weekly.
LOUIS
Oh no. I'm gonna be sick.
LOUIS turns and pukes onto the grass.
LOUIS
Did you say monthly? I can't handle
this once what makes you think I
can handle this monthly?
BLAKE
Tolerance. That's why I can smoke a
lot of weed now.
LOUIS
This isn't weed you moron! This is
my life. I know that you are so
delusioned in your forever high
school world that you can't see
what it's like to get a job or pay
a mortgage or get a divorce but I'm
going to tell you right now that
you wouldn't last a day. Sure you
could sell weed and be able to live
in a van eating Spaghetti rings out
of a can for a few years but the
truth is that no one wants a loser
like that in their lives. Trevin
will grow out of this phase but
what are you gonna do?
TREVIN
Woah asshole. That's uncalled for.
Blake is working his way back up in
life.
LOUIS
Sorry. Sorry. Sorry Blake. I'm just
kinda on edge. Blake? Where'd he
go?
The guys all look around but can't find BLAKE.
AL
Well shit. We better find him
before he goes and does something
stupid.
They all split up looking around the yard and house.
Character Outlines
Because I do not want to post my entire script online, I will layout my characters and their attributes and how they play into the story.
LOUIS aka UNCLE LOU
Louis is the main character and his quest to be accepted drives the story. He is in his mid 30's and is of very average build(Much like a Steve Carrel type). We first meet Louis as he awakes to an empty bed for the first time the morning after his wife left him. He seems hopeless. At work he doesn't perform well and his co-workers don't respect him. After he is fired for being unable to perform at a desired level he begins his journey of acceptance where he meets BLAKE, TREVIN, and AL. With the help of the group he learns to overcome his fears and is faced with adversity like he never expected in his life as he gets involved with the world of drugs, alcohol and partying. When times become desperate he is forced to become responsible again and in the process is able to help Blake and Al like he never thought possible. But the challenges don't stop there, he is faced with overcoming loss one more time and the challenge of his wife trying to re-enter his life but he is now an independent adult who can take care of himself. Louis is never sure if he fully accomplished his goal of acceptance in a group but by the end he finally accepts himself.
ALBERT WASHINGTON aka AL
Al is a homeless man and provides a lot of the comic relief to the film as well as the one who keeps Louis off of his potential ledge. Al is in his late 40's, he's black and he's a tall man with a good build and has been homeless for nearly 20 years. We find out late in the story that he chose the homeless life after leaving behind his old life in which he was successful and happy. Al has 3 sisters who all live in Northern California. He also has a daughter and a son. The daughter also lives in Northern California while his son has moved away to Tennessee for work. Al loves his booze and he loves drugs and money but not nearly as much as he loves sex. Al is a total ladies man and when correctly presented could sweep any woman off her feet. While it looks like Al is always helping Louis in the emotional and mental while Louis helps Al in the physical the truth is that Louis is doing a lot more for Al then we knew in his emotional and mental state.
BLAKE
Blake is a high school stoner who just happens to be dumb enough to be held back as a senior enough times that he is 20 years old. He is exactly what you would expect: long greasy hair, clothe's that are either too baggy or have holes in them, he always has a tired expression on his face, and he just looks like the lovechild of Seth Rogen and James Franco. When Louis calls Blake out for his stupidity he is motivated to change his life around and graduate high school and go to college. He cleans up, he still looks the same except that he now looks awake. His loveable stupidity fades and he becomes almost identical in character traits to Trevin with sprinkles of Louis mixed in.
TREVIN
He may only be 18 and he looks like an undercover stoner because he looks so primp and proper but can smoke more marijuana then anyone he has met in his life. He is against the establishment of school but knows he needs to graduate so he goes just enough to graduate and get his diploma. He takes care of Blake as if he were his older brother and when the guys get themselves in a financial crisis it will be Trevin who has to bail them out with his brain to develop the next big app. His parents are extremely rich but Trevin acts middle-class. He is very Ferris Buehler-ish.
LOUIS aka UNCLE LOU
Louis is the main character and his quest to be accepted drives the story. He is in his mid 30's and is of very average build(Much like a Steve Carrel type). We first meet Louis as he awakes to an empty bed for the first time the morning after his wife left him. He seems hopeless. At work he doesn't perform well and his co-workers don't respect him. After he is fired for being unable to perform at a desired level he begins his journey of acceptance where he meets BLAKE, TREVIN, and AL. With the help of the group he learns to overcome his fears and is faced with adversity like he never expected in his life as he gets involved with the world of drugs, alcohol and partying. When times become desperate he is forced to become responsible again and in the process is able to help Blake and Al like he never thought possible. But the challenges don't stop there, he is faced with overcoming loss one more time and the challenge of his wife trying to re-enter his life but he is now an independent adult who can take care of himself. Louis is never sure if he fully accomplished his goal of acceptance in a group but by the end he finally accepts himself.
ALBERT WASHINGTON aka AL
Al is a homeless man and provides a lot of the comic relief to the film as well as the one who keeps Louis off of his potential ledge. Al is in his late 40's, he's black and he's a tall man with a good build and has been homeless for nearly 20 years. We find out late in the story that he chose the homeless life after leaving behind his old life in which he was successful and happy. Al has 3 sisters who all live in Northern California. He also has a daughter and a son. The daughter also lives in Northern California while his son has moved away to Tennessee for work. Al loves his booze and he loves drugs and money but not nearly as much as he loves sex. Al is a total ladies man and when correctly presented could sweep any woman off her feet. While it looks like Al is always helping Louis in the emotional and mental while Louis helps Al in the physical the truth is that Louis is doing a lot more for Al then we knew in his emotional and mental state.
BLAKE
Blake is a high school stoner who just happens to be dumb enough to be held back as a senior enough times that he is 20 years old. He is exactly what you would expect: long greasy hair, clothe's that are either too baggy or have holes in them, he always has a tired expression on his face, and he just looks like the lovechild of Seth Rogen and James Franco. When Louis calls Blake out for his stupidity he is motivated to change his life around and graduate high school and go to college. He cleans up, he still looks the same except that he now looks awake. His loveable stupidity fades and he becomes almost identical in character traits to Trevin with sprinkles of Louis mixed in.
TREVIN
He may only be 18 and he looks like an undercover stoner because he looks so primp and proper but can smoke more marijuana then anyone he has met in his life. He is against the establishment of school but knows he needs to graduate so he goes just enough to graduate and get his diploma. He takes care of Blake as if he were his older brother and when the guys get themselves in a financial crisis it will be Trevin who has to bail them out with his brain to develop the next big app. His parents are extremely rich but Trevin acts middle-class. He is very Ferris Buehler-ish.
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Arthur Lennig Presentation
How did you become interested in Stroheim?
The first acquaintance was in Grand Illusion and then later the film Sunset Blvd and he found him fascinating and when he began teaching films he got interested in Foolish Wives and then he loved Greed at least the part we have available. Most Stroheim films go long.
What was it like for Stroheim being one of the first director/writers?
It was groundbreaking and uncommon and even unheard of. He was able to do what he wanted in films including showing off his foot fetish through his films. Each of his films usually featured some sort of homage to feet.
He created his own past. He had already created the myth that he was a grad of the military school when he first had gotten to America. He was very keen on style and outfits. He said that D.W. Griffith dressed very loudly. He was very meticulous about wardrobes they all had to be real and had a lot of attention to detail. He was very keen on military medals and wanted them to be set correctly.
He did a portrayal of himself in Sunset Blvd because he needed the money and was overall washed up. He never told his wife that he was paid twice for the job because he went back for a few reshoots so she found out about the second filming from the IRS.
Stroheim had a very good sense of humor based a lot in irony.
Lennig took the Universal studios version of "Foolish Wives" and a German or French version and cut them together to get it back to the closest version of the original film.
Everything had to be genuine in his films. He refused to use fake props or lie about locations.
Stroheim wrote a letter to his son during the second World War and it was a full direction on building and loading a cellar in case of an emergency. It was written like how he wrote a film.
Lennig much like Stroheim view Erich Von Stroheim as one of the greatest film makers of all time. Overall the information received today was just more in depth versions of what we have learned so far. Finding that all the stories aline from each source will make it easier to write the script knowing in good faith that the story is accurate and there won't be anybody who knows Stroheim that will get frustrated with the film.
The first acquaintance was in Grand Illusion and then later the film Sunset Blvd and he found him fascinating and when he began teaching films he got interested in Foolish Wives and then he loved Greed at least the part we have available. Most Stroheim films go long.
What was it like for Stroheim being one of the first director/writers?
It was groundbreaking and uncommon and even unheard of. He was able to do what he wanted in films including showing off his foot fetish through his films. Each of his films usually featured some sort of homage to feet.
He created his own past. He had already created the myth that he was a grad of the military school when he first had gotten to America. He was very keen on style and outfits. He said that D.W. Griffith dressed very loudly. He was very meticulous about wardrobes they all had to be real and had a lot of attention to detail. He was very keen on military medals and wanted them to be set correctly.
He did a portrayal of himself in Sunset Blvd because he needed the money and was overall washed up. He never told his wife that he was paid twice for the job because he went back for a few reshoots so she found out about the second filming from the IRS.
Stroheim had a very good sense of humor based a lot in irony.
Lennig took the Universal studios version of "Foolish Wives" and a German or French version and cut them together to get it back to the closest version of the original film.
Everything had to be genuine in his films. He refused to use fake props or lie about locations.
Stroheim wrote a letter to his son during the second World War and it was a full direction on building and loading a cellar in case of an emergency. It was written like how he wrote a film.
Lennig much like Stroheim view Erich Von Stroheim as one of the greatest film makers of all time. Overall the information received today was just more in depth versions of what we have learned so far. Finding that all the stories aline from each source will make it easier to write the script knowing in good faith that the story is accurate and there won't be anybody who knows Stroheim that will get frustrated with the film.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)