Partially, because one of my teeth is
acting up (my teeth always hurt a little bit, one way or another, especially if
I eat veal), or partially because I have been watching movies in which people
are unable to sleep, I can't sleep. This is unfamiliar territory for me, who
usually passes out around ten and dreams full throttle until at least five if
not half to seven. But a hotel bed, outlandish silences, biorhythm slightly off
kilter and a heavy dinner (had to try EVERYTHING) have me up at two. General is
cross, because of course he can't sleep if I am not sleeping. My otherwise
gentle snoring is his "the world is alright" sound.
I am being haunted by the idea of a no-budget
movie that also stars a location (like a city .. or a building in my case. Like
a castle.. With a museum in it.. ).. I have never done a project of that
magnitude before, mainly because it is probably not possible to do it
completely alone. From how I perceive it, if you are going to make a full
fledged movie, you need at least three things: a face an audience can't stop
staring at, one that will make everything else in the background seem important
... A simply, relatable, but an inviting, original story with a little bit of a
sexy or perky twist ... And a certain amount of focus.
Haunted, I say, because I think I know almost
exactly of the kind of movies I would want to make (and working on Redeeming
Isobel had me getting very close to writing a logical, consecutive
stage play, so that's similar..) I have already done a music video. I have a
camera. I can edit. I know almost exactly what sort of scenes I would take
(using the approach I appreciate in my fond-of low or no-budgets or movies that
actually appear to be such, because they are a peephole into a very intimate
happenstance (I am thinking The Station
Agent, although that movie is based mainly on the overwhelming performances
of the actors).
So what would the story be? Not "Isobel", that one is a judgmental
drama. I don't want that. I would want something that would also appeal to
universal audience, as aiming at a Slovene audience would be like aiming to
shoot your own knee. (As pleasant as it would be productive.. ) Right now I
really want to go out and go to the bar and walk around, exploring as the
heroes and heroines of Lost in
translation and Dual do, but of
course a) General would never allow me to walk alone at night and b) I am at a
spa. There is nothing to explore, the bar is closed and people would be spooked
if they met me. ... So that is certainly something I would want in my story.
Night shots, especially moving ones, with lots of false light, are very
appealing.
There would have to be a girl.. Not a surrogate
for the audience and not exactly a heroine .. But I don't know who or what just
yet. Somehow I would prefer to make a silent movie or a movie in which you
don't really understand what is being said (like a new language?) .... hm....
than Slovene language, which isn't really all that listenable. I know that it
would have to be a little bit adventurous and would want to involve at least
one form of Snufkin, because the scenes where a wild child comes to meet the
heroes of civilization, usually at the edge of the forest, and they are as
close as siblings as they are as lovers, is present in almost all of my
stories..
So... What. A crime? A mystery? A survey? A
road? This, right here, right now, is the perfect place and time to write a
timeless screenplay. A beginning of a great idea. Tremulous, probably, as
all things I take on involve a whole lot of passion … but really fun
nonetheless.
-------------
I wonder if I would ever want to rent a digital
camera as opposed to shooting everything via Marki... Though the scenes I have
noticed being done just so appeal to me. But I am not sure if that is because I
just happen to really love Marki.
The plan was to write dad's autobiography this winter... I still plan to do that, even though he is fighting me (and mum is kind of jealous). I have been reading three different bios these past few weeks. One written about an admired man, another about a disdained man and the third about a bad man who did good stuff. As Fidi would say it:" You don't need to be good to be great." As experimental winter projects go, I still insist it is a good idea.
But as beauty projects go.. Summer stuff, but
perhaps even a little bit of winter idyllic...
Hm...
Hmmm......
Okay, think.
It's 3:3o.
Which movies do I like, considering the way they
are done?
Station Agent
No
Lost in Translation
Luther
Looking for Richard
Miami Vice
Which movies, done the same way, I hate?
Before Midnight
Boys
What do I love most about that kind of footage?
Faces. Scenery. Details. Close-ups. Partially blurred frame. Light. The fact
that the music and acting speak instead of the dialogue.
There is a notion that I would find difficult to
put in a book, although I really want to. It involves pretty much all of the
things I wrote about (ranted about) this past hour. It would make for pretty
much an amazing movie. But it is ambitious. I am not sure ambitious (and in a
way hence expensive) is a good idea for a first movie, which would almost
certainly never screen anywhere, yet alone pay back in any kind, shape or
form.
That's the spirit.
----
The first step (of about fifty thousand of them)
of making a movie, part two.
There are big pluses and big minuses about
casting Ape as the lead. Big pluses are: she is mesmerizingly handsome. She
appears to be of thoroughly mixed nationalities. She wouldn't have to be paid
the extent of our non-existing budget. She would be perfect for the role I have
in mind.
Minuses: she is busy. She is far away. She is
dark skinned and the retarded population of my country and this continent are
subconsciously vary of non Caucasian features and wouldn't necessarily relate
... Thought that also makes for a big plus. Considering the story. My next
choice would be Ivory Flame, but that's just because she is ginger and very
pretty. I have no idea how she would act.
I am thinking of the exact scenes from movies
that I think are unique (and exactly what I would want): in Scott's Robin Hood, there is a moment, shot
almost entirely in deep dusk, when the men are planting the seed. The music is
perfect and the whole shot is just excellent. In Eat Pray Love, in the beginning, the lead char is having fight with
her BF and she's making the bed and the air is full of dust. I liked that a
lot.
I would need a stronger computer, because mine
edits movies extremely slowly. But whatever. You don't go into stories like
these thinking what you could do only if ... You make gems with what you got.
Of course we would certainly need a better mike and original score. And not to
divorce, because projects like that take A LOT out of people ...
And fuck me, but I think I really will have to
go to the dentist (even though I said I will never do that again ... Like labor,
I guess?), because this is getting annoying ... First thing Monday, then.
Where was I?
Oh, right. Budget.
Many starter movies, that come through and
people grow fond of (which I imagine is 50% of movies, other half being movies
with messages) are very cute and intimate - and then the second ones are done
with more money and not so cute and so intimate. I don't know if it has taken
me 35 years to realize I want to be a movie maker, but it is something I have
never tried, so let's try.
I also know that by making a movie, I could make
a great movie ABOUT making a movie. So, two movies. Especially if we drove
around from set to set. Which we would.
That would make for one heck of a road trip. If
I had any kind of budget. But a camera and a car are a very good start.
To test this, I would have to shoot a couple of
scenes that would fit in the whole later on, but would also stand alone and it
would show if the idea works IRL at all? ...
It helps if you have twenty-five years of experience
is a photographer beforehand. You own the understanding (and ultimately taming)
of light is almost half the victory.
Okay. So, the scene that I would shoot for the
Lakmus test (not Litmus, how I've been mistakenly saying it for the past
decades. Thanks, Drej, for remedying that one.) would be this:
Sitting somewhere very pretty, under a tree or
some trek stop or outside a very quaint cottage pub or something, our heroine
would see that the alternative to the Snufkin character would emerge from a
country road or forest path to come join her. She would grin and wave and he
would do the same. The chemistry between them would be hard to define, as there
would be some sexual attraction, but almost none of the desire for a consistent
relationship. They would simply be in tune, two otherwise completely different
people.
They would eat or
drink something of simply move on. Preferably, it would start as a sunny day
and then get rainy. Thought I have a hard time making rainy cheerful. I would
have to learn that.
Anyways. They would
continue on their road together for a short while. At some point, they would
gravitate towards an abandoned house, a very nice old house, very small and on
a very romantic location. This house would mean something to the heroine.
(Probably, for working purposes, called Mireille or mire or Mi - no pun
intended, Tove. Or Tove, fuck it. ). By looking at her face or their exchanged
glances, you would begin to suspect this is where she or her parents were born
or something. They would descent/climb to it and start to search it. Though
slowly. It's possible that even at the broken door frame, especially if it
started to rain by then, they would pouse and made out for a long while.
But Mireille
would start to go through the ruin methodically, even at times flashbacking or
something, to the forlorn objects. She would less search and more remember
items. Except this one shard from a broken pot. She would pick that up and as
Snufkin-alternative would join her, she would produce a small pouch with
similar shard, put them out on a broken old table and arrange them. We would
see that, although originating from completely different objects, different
ages and different uses, slowly and surely the things she collects on her
travels are coming together into one complete sense.
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