Hello readers.  I notice that it’s been a while since I wrote anything… anything at all.  So, to make up for it, today’s post is going to be about two entirely unrelated topics.  Basically, two days worth of blogging in one thrilling adventure…  Here we go.

The age old debate continues.  Superman, or Batman?

I have read more than one article/blog now saying big movie execs are worried about the future of a squeaky clean Superman in the dark realm of heroes such as Batman and Hellboy.  In a way, I guess I can understand the panic.  In a world of self-professed cynics we relish the the flawed hero, or even the anti-hero, which I guess is fairly interchangeable at this point. For Pete’s sake, even the Harry Potter movies fight for that dark and broody, angst filled atmosphere… and they’re based on children’s books. (Go back and read the first four novels… Not broody or cynical.  Children’s books.)  You know what, that’s fine.  Largely those movies work and for various reasons, and are hugely popular, but just because a couple movies work one way, doesn’t mean they all have to.

Superman has always been a much lighter hero, right up to the bright blue spandex.  He is the squeaky clean, super human, bringer of hope.  To change that for box office purposes would completely change who that entire character is.  Where Batman sees the flaws and warts of humanity,  Superman sees the strength and good-will of it.  What’s wrong with that?  In today’s world, where bombs are being dropped on various countries by various enemies, children are shooting their peers, and politicians play bloody knuckle boxing with tax-payers, why can’t we go to a movie to see someone actually be able to save the world, just because he wants to?

Superman is an idealist.  He does not seek revenge or have too many inner-demons to battle, and though he may not represent the ever-popular downfalls of humanity, he does represent the hope that we have all seem to have forgotten these days.  He doesn’t need to be the same as Batman to succeed.  He’s Superman for Heaven’s sake.  Use what you have on the table in front of you, don’t go stealing off of other people’s tables.  With the USA being ripped apart by this year’s election over issues that there seems to be no Right or Wrong answers for, and when the people are doing nothing but screaming for a savior,  ¹ why not just give them one?  Superman does not play in the grey areas, he’s so Black and White, so good vs evil and he wins everytime.  Don’t underestimate people’s need for that.

Superman and Batman are different heroes, that’s why there’s two of them.  Let Superman stay Superman.  Batman gets to come into his own being Batman.  So, let Superman come into his own by being Superman.

That being that, onto Topic #2, and I wouldn’t mind someone swooping in and saving the day.

Today I will finish Draft Two of one of my screenplays  – that is, if I will get off the internet and finish it’s last sequence.  It’s a decent draft, much better than the first, but it is still facing a lot issues, a lot of which I created for it with the premise.  Six redheaded women are forced to stay under the same roof after the death of the patriarch.   Adding to the claustrophobia, two of the women are former wives of the man while the other four of the offspring of the respective unions.  The fact that the action takes place under one roof where little happens in terms of plot stimulus, the women are forced to continually rehash their past with one another.  Anyone who has taken Screenwriting 101, or even has just SEEN a movie, knows that the last thing that any audience wants to sit through is a bunch of people sitting around talking about the past… except, for some reason, in The Big Chill, that was a huge success. ²  I am completely stuck on how to bring about keeping the story in the present as well as bringing a bit more action³ to it.  So yeah, that’s where I am with that.

I feel as though until I can work out some of the big flaws, as well as a title⁴, it would be pointless to pursue another draft.  And to be honest, I don’t think I could do that right now.  It has worn me out, and I need a break.  So where do I go from here?   I have a few options,  I suppose:

1. I have another screenplay that I have draft 1 already out there for.  It needs a lot of plot work, as well, in order for another draft to be attempted.  It’s difficult but not impossible.  I like this project, it’s a bit lighter in tone and not quite as soapy  – though I never intended my Redheads project to fall under the “soapy” category, for the record.
2. I also have a TV Show that I am trying to develop.  If I had to choose, this would probably be my “passion project.”  It’s something that I have been swirling around with for a few years now.  I’ve written scraps that could eventually wind up as a bible and a draft of the pilot episode.  Both need considerable work before they have the ZAP and PUNCH that I think is completely achievable with the idea and that’s fine.  I can work with that.  It’s my favorite idea so far, but honestly, probably the one that’s least likely to get me any work at the moment.
3. This last week or so I have been itching to get started on this new idea that’s been brewing in my head.  It’s the idea that the more I think about the project I’m working on, the more I think about starting this idea. It is called Finding Geraldine and it is to be a feature film.  I have deliberately suppressed working on it because I would get swallowed by it and never finish Redheads. I’d love to start now, but I fear taking on yet another project would just cause me to neglect my existing ones and they would never get any further.
4. Hopefully next year, I will be applying for the ABC Disney Writer’s Fellowship. Hopefully.  It is an intensive (and very competitive) program where they throw you into the TV writing business and help you hone some skills with on the job training.  It is how many TV writers in L.A. get their start.  In the application you must submit a TV Spec episode (essentially a glorified Fan Fic ep) of a series in production.  This will probably take me months to do because of all the research  – which I promise involves slightly more than just watching the series over and over — and planning involved.  I have a little less than year to get this underway.

So there you have it.  How do I spend my days now?

And also I would much appreciate your advice on how I can get out of the house in the process.  I’m tired of being here all day alone with my body image.

According to an article on the BBC website, there is technology in the process of being developed that can realistically replicate the human form so authentically that it will be possible that the CGI human could replace the “real” actor in the movie without being noticed.  They just make an actor sit in a box, which to me looks a lot like one of those globe cages motorcyclist ride around in, and get an insanely detailed photo taken of them.  This allows computers to generate an image that looks completely authentic.  Or even better, they can now just make a person up, from scratch.

Awesome!  We can cut back on paying all those divas and just let the computer can do the work!  I mean, people are lining up to see those Pixar movies, now imagine what the lines would look like if the people looked real!  Walt Disney himself proved that someone can relate to an onscreen character (of cute animal form) that was completely fabricated, so why would it be such a leap for an audience to buy a completely fabricated human being?  Just imagine, directors won’t have a limited pool of actors to choose from, their forty-seven-year-old, seven-foot-tall, half-Japanese, half-Native American, one-eyed ballet dancer can look exactly how they envisioned instead of having to settle for someone else that’s “close enough.”    Bald caps and greenscreen leg amputations are a way of the past.  With just a tweak here and a few clicks there, a director can get the exact performance that will be the key to making him/her (more) critically acclaimed.

And you know what?  I believe that they can do what they say they can.  I’ve seen some pretty awesome CGI before and it’s not a stretch to believe with a little time and money, computer geekage would triumph. But who’s going to voice these ingenious inventions? … Anyone?  That’s what I thought.  We are still going to have to pay (and direct) an actor of some form to deliver the lines.  Well, I guess that will be their next computer project then.

I guess the question that lends itself to be asked, is what will happen to the trash mags? And where will we be without Angelina or Paris’s latest gossip? And what will happen to the Oscars?¹   No one cares about a bunch of Directors and Writers standing around in rented tuxes — other than film geeks, anyway — we want to see pretty people in Gucci.

I have very little fear that actors will be replaced by computer look-alikes anytime in the near future, and if they did, what’s the worse that can happen?  The world continues to evolve.  It’s not like they’re the Artificial Intelligence Robots that will eventually turn on their masters and wipe out the human race.  And if it were to be a step in that direction, I think we could take them.  Celebrities are known to be pansies in person anyway.

It is no secret that a film can live or die with it’s publicity campaign leading up to the film.  If sold right, you can get butts in the seats to see any movie, whether it is any good or not.  Trailers play a large part in these campaigns, from the first twenty second teaser to the full blown epic three-parters, and often they are successful in piquing the average viewers interest.  Trailers are hard workers too and are often taken for granted by the average viewer who pays no attention to how what they are watching is effecting their psyche.  These babies have to offer a huge amount of appeal in anywhere from thirty seconds to two minutes on the outside. This might sound easy for a Disney adventure, but can you imagine having to be the poor sucker who had to cram the three hours Lord of the Rings into that little box?  Talk about a time crunch.  Trailers, like their movie mommies, tend to have a certain structure to them.  They start off setting up the premise where the second part dives you just slightly deeper in the story to hook you and then the third part drives it home making you want to DIE if you don’t see the movie now.

I love movie trailers and if this whole screenwriting thing doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t mind settling into a career as a Trailer editor.  I think if done properly they can really draw you into the story — a story that almost can exist on it’s own, without the accompaniment of the bigger piece.  Set aside the fact that they are constructed to make you want to see more, there is a certain amount of closure you get with a good  one that just gives you the warm-fuzzies.  A good trailer transcends a movie and becomes it’s own work of art.

You might think that this is a rather mundane topic to post about, and perhaps it is, but I have done it with some context.  I was recently shown the trailer for Brad Pitt’s new movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  Watch it here:¹

After the first viewing I was absolutely blown away, so much so that I had to immediately watch it again.  Now, I can’t say for certain that I know what the film is entirely about, nor do I really care. The premise is set up well enough that I’m not floundering and as the trailer progresses you can tell that the eponymous Benjamin has a certain tension with fair lady Cate Blanchett, and to be honest, that’s just fine with me.  Not being a Brad Pitt fan myself — I have nothing against him, I just think he’s overrated, that’s all — I probably wouldn’t have just run out and saw this movie before, though I might now.  I think the trailer is absolutely beautiful.  It’s moving and poignant with the music taking us on highs and lows perfectly in time with the images we see on screen.  Thanks to this joy that was the trailer, I am excited about seeing this movie when it comes out at Christmas.

That said, we can all look forward to the following movie.  Watch me insert my tongue firmly in cheek.

W.

I have absolutely no interest in seeing this movie and that’s not just because it seems to be painting Dubbya in a unsung struggling hero light. I think if I had to watch a biopic about the President Coat Tails I would have to stab myself and the person closest to me — despite whether the message was Pro-Bush or Anti-Shrub.  However, I did feel the need to add this trailer in because at the end it introduces all the characters to you and instead of listing the name of the actor who plays the character, it went ahead and listed who the character really was.  This is possibly because the glossy character portraits painted are so blindingly shiney that you can’t see who they’re actually supposed to be.  That, or it was made especially for Mr. President’s eyes himself, who needed to be told that this was just make believe and those people on screen are just “actors.”

Third day in a row my Wii Fit Graph went down in numbers instead of up (way to jinx it Carrie).

BMI: 22.23 (from 22.61)

Weight: 59.8 kg (from 60.8 kg)

A full Kilo! Though I expect that number to go up tomorrow after the huge burger I ate tonight.  Such is life.

I started using the Celtx program in late 2005, I would guess, but I could be overshooting that a bit.  Back then, it was still very much in Beta and nothing but a glorified typewriter, but I have stuck with it and after it’s long awaited 1.0 release, the program has really come into its own as a sophisticated piece of screenwriting software and pre-production tool.  I stumbled across it when I got fed up with using the temperamental Microsoft Word but didn’t have enough money (I didn’t have any money, really) to go out and buy something like Final Draft.  Luckily, there is a group of unsung heroes out on the web that believe in Open Source Software, and that’s how I came to find Celtx. Yes, it is completely, and will always be, free.  I am not  going to do a full review here, maybe one day, but I do recommend the download.  Like I said, it free, and the interface is so simple that you will have yourself writing a screenplay, stageplay or anything in seconds after launching the program.¹  Not only is it great for writing, but the ladies and gents of Celtx have really worked hard to make it a complete pre-production planning tool as well.  It has script breakdown capabilities, calenders for planning, a storyboarding function and so much more.  If you got a few minutes I recommend the download to see what it has going on.

Also, another thing that the developers at Celtx have done is started releasing short films about filmmaking.  They have a channel over at Blip.tv  where they have started releasing quick little shorts titled “Motion Sketches” and I’ll give them credit, they relay a lot of easy to digest information in short amount of time.  I’ve only had time to look through a couple, but if you have any interest in filmmaking or how cinema is evolving, I would check them out.  The current one is about the role of the producer but their first episode is about how the definition of Cinema has changed over the last several years due to what is referred to as the “digital age.” 

I watched the first episode last night entitled “So this is Cinema?,” where the host, Mike Jones (who I will talk about later) starts off by telling us that Cinema is so much bigger than sitting in a big dark room. There is an old way of thinking that a writer writes and a director directs and a cinematographer… cinematograph-erises… but there is room for us writers to be better if we are educated about post production and if editors were educated about pre-production, and so on.  According to this sketch, 21st Century Cinema is about empowerment and being self-sufficient.  Software has started to be bundled together so that any filmmaker, at any level in their career, can start thinking about all the processes instead of just the one stage they’re on now and worry about the next step when they come to it… only Mike says it much better.  If you have five minutes check out the first Celtx episode here.  And if you have more time, visit the channel.

MIke Jones, who is heavily involved with Celtx development down here in Australia, also happens to be a friend and mentor of mine.  I am going to let you in on a little secret about Mike; he knows everything.  I am not lying here or exaggerating, ask him how to do anything and he can tell you.  It’s really shocking.  That aside, he is also a fellow geek, and has some great insights on cinema that you might not get from the more wanky variety of filmmakers  – what it is, where it came from, where it’s going, etc.  On his website he has written articles about Cinema as a Spatial artform, an audio AND visual artform and how the old way of “film” is dead.  Though he’s a little bit more in love with the digital age than I and I have some differing opinions on the validity of gaming and cell phones as legitimate forms of cinema delivery, his opinions are worth reading and I promise you you’ll learn something new with every article read. 

I will be adding Mike’s blog to my links as well, something I should have done sooner.

As for Wii Fit, it’s a disaster. I didn’t make my goal, so I have started a new one and of course have not exercised since. Sigh.

James Cameron accomplished the awesome in the 80′s/early 90′s.  He made the first two Terminator movies, which in my opinion, T-whatever is the only role the Governator was perfectly suited for.  Though we can never really fully grasp why the futuristic cyborg has some strange miscellaneous accent, it seems to be forgiven and we allow the man who can hardly form a sentence save (or destroy) the day.  In 2003, we thought that Nostalgia and the Gov alone would be able to setup some box-office gold with Terminator 3. It almost worked… almost.  Turns out you have to actually have a good movie as well and cannot rely soley on a sixty year old man who used to be cool to sell the movie (this applies to Chuck Norris as well). ¹  

The grudge look attempts to promise quality.

Though all seemed to be forgiven (and possibly forgotten) regarding Terminator 3 and America was equally as stoked when the Sarah Connor: My Long Title Promises Awesomeness TV Series came into view.  Even this show was smart enough to pretend that T3 didn’t exist by jumping through time, effectively erasing the flop’s existence.  This must have built up some good karma because Sarah Connor is terrific, like really.  I enjoy it immensely and that’s not only because I have not-so-PG fantasies about Leda Headey, who plays the eponymous character, or that oh-so flexible Firefly chick.  Me, along with lots of other viewers anticipate the upcoming Season 2.  It has great potential and I believe that soon it will find it’s place on it’s own without the two movies and possibly earn a shorter title.

One would think this would be enough to the various sized Enchiladas in Hollywood. They have found a way to earn back our trust while also having a way to continuously generate an income due to the ongoing nature of a TV show.  But alas, it is not enough.  As Abba said, Money, Money, Money. Now we can all anticipate the arrival of the 2009 Box Office Smasher, Terminator Salvation.  I am stoked, let me tell you.  And to make things better, James Cameron has little to do with it and they have hired McG to be the director.² One might be able to say “Hey look, Christian Bale is in it as John Connor, and he’s Batman, so like, it’s going to be awesome.”  Unless he decides to put on the Batsuit with little to no explanation to his fellow characters, I highly doubt awesomeness will occur. ³

Though I might not be able to claim to be the first person to report on this movie, I can say that I’m definitely the most disappointed, possibly more so than I was with the last Harry Potter book. I can’t believe anyone would think that this was a good idea.  Even if I was a thirteen year old boy promised a free Playboy Mag upon entry, I would not turn up for this piece of bull.   What is the logic here?  Could it be a fake nostalgia thing?  The target demographic is far too young to remember the arrival of the first two movies and it’s even unlikely that a number of them have even seen them.  At best, there will be some that have occassionally tuned into Sarah Connor  or went and saw T3 for Kristanna Loken in that red spandex get up.  When things get down to it, and these kids were actually to see this movie, they wouldn’t enjoy it.  The effects are no where near what they would be used to and the first movie is way too long for their little attention spans. ⁴

Lucky for execs though, they do have one marketing tool that they can take advantage of — the fact that if you tell kids that it’s something they should remember as awesome, they will assume they remember it is awesome and will buy into the hype.  Have you seen those “Bred in the 80′s” shirts?  The majority of the consumers that buy that shirt were probably born in ’89, ’88 at the earliest, but they have been told that living in the 80′s was THE thing and therefore they get to share in this glory on a technicality, though they have absolutely no recollection of what that means. It’s false memories thus it’s false nostalgia.  I am assuming that this is the same principle that Terminator Wankation is trying to channel to ensure viewers. That, and Batman.

I may be way off on this assumption, but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens when it comes out.  Until then, I will be doing what any other self respecting Terminator fan will be doing: watching Leda Headey run around in kick-ass boots trying to forget that distressing night out with Kellie and Old-Man-Governator.

Wii Fit says I gained .4 kg.