Monday, our half-term holiday, was well used. I was First AD and Camera Assistant (I love using that clapper-board!) on a shoot for Murdo’s ninety second short Fire and Ice which spanned the usual timetabled day and whilst being excellent experience with lights was also great fun. Nothing went terribly wrong, we managed to keep to schedule and some of the footage was rather impressive. Personally I can’t get enough of the whole filming lark! It seems like a right good larf!
Screenwriting involved each of us presenting our latest three minute scripts to the class for instant feedback. Although tiring (there were eleven and a Benoit scripts) it was extremely helpful to be able to hear and comment; be heard and receive comments and ultimately compare our work. Two things it highlighted very clearly for me: first, just how tunnel-visioned we get as writers. I for one, having got myself out of a writer’s mindset and into an audience mindset, could instantly see the problems with my own script. This shows the necessity for, what Richard calls, allowing ‘space’ when writing. Secondly, it highlighted the importance of the basic rules of screenwriting particularly regarding structure – for example the inciting incident – and of simplicity; often the simplest screenplays were the best. I realised that clear was better than clever, and that the rules are there to help. Audiences expect certain things from a film so to disobey the rules and subvert those expectations is to take a huge risk and must be for good reason. Ultimately it was just great to hear everyone’s work and I enjoyed putting my own up for consideration. I hope more of this will follow in the future.
Wednesday morning started, for me, fifteen minutes after I should have been in class. I slept in and missed an extra technical class. There are many excuses I could call up in my defence. Since this is a written journal any argument is impossible, so I thought I may as well list two of them here. Firstly I had been performing in a choir concert the night before, as a backing singer of Jessy Dixon (the King of Gospel), which was really enjoyable, uplifting and liberating and although I didn’t get home especially late it was quite exhausting; rather like a night of heavy drinking, except that it was a night of heavy worship! Secondly, due to the normal classlessness of a Wednesday morning, I think my body has trained itself to sleep later on that day in order to catch up; it seems I was too weak-willed to break that pattern on this occasion. There are more explanations that I could offer but really the bottom line is; I slept in, I missed the class, I felt guilty, I’m over it now.
I had a PAT Tutorial, which was fine, followed by a class on television which both concluded the first module and began the second. We filled in those evaluation forms again and watched a documentary called Auntie’s War on Smut which I’m afraid I didn’t think much of at all. It didn’t seem clear exactly what side it was coming from. It seemed to be presenting the situation from the BBC’s point-of-view but sarcastically, as if saying “Look how stupid we were!”. Actually it is my opinion that they were a good deal more sensible then than they are now. Things have swung so far in the other direction now and it seems we are in a society influenced by a media where almost anything is acceptable and morality, decency and respect is really just a point-of-view. Personally I think we could benefit from a new ‘green book’ for today (though perhaps we should change the colour to avoid confusion… pink might be nice!) to restore some sense of restraint and taste. Beyond that the programme was of quite a poor quality, with a less than gripping style, no particular firm argument and, I suspect, a shortage of footage (there was noticeable repetition). However, it has sparked my interest and I look forward to exploring the influence of television on society, and vice versa, as this is one subject which definitely fascinates me.
On Thursday morning we began our second Cinema module and explored further the emergence and development of Sound. We watched another documentary called The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk which was very good and filled in the history of how the transition from silent to ‘talkies’ actually occurred. It helped add to the foundation laid by Singin’ in the Rain; fleshing it out with some facts, instead of songs. It is interesting to note a similar reaction happening now with the advent of 3-D films and one can only wonder what may be next…
That’s Entertainment! was a rather lengthy but nevertheless enjoyable documentary expounding on the vastness and wonder of the MGM Musicals and their beloved stars. The longevity was owing to the numerous clips from various famous shows which were scattered throughout as each star was described and commended. It was presented in a very informal style as an ageing Hollywood legend conversed in enthusiastic, colloquial and securely scripted dialogue directly to the camera. This made it easy to watch but risks audience engagement if they happen to be unfamiliar with that star. It was an easy mix of entertaining and informative filmmaking and it left me with a glowing urge to be a dancer and a messy mush of show tunes whirling round my head.
Production hasn’t quite got off the ground and I fear Abigail isn’t exactly sure where to pitch her teaching as we are her initial first-year and there are varying abilities within the class. We began by going over the ‘elements’ of production, which I think most of us are well aware of now, when really I am eager to get into some actual producing and, for example, how to make up a professional schedule, or budget plan, etc. However, I think in this, as in all things, patience is key. We continued the lesson by watching a low-budget mildly entertaining feature called Big Things in order to analyse the production value and luckily I got to leave two thirds of the way through; it was getting worse…
My weekend was completely filled up with a National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS) Training Choir rehearsal and concert. I spent the time immersed in amazing meaningful music and surrounded by immature disrespectful teenagers who unfortunately are the ingredients that make up this internationally renowned choir. Anyway, that’s a different story. Life hurtles on fraught with mountains and valleys and the question is: are we living, or simply existing? Heaven help us if we ever forsake our search for truth and make do with the latter.
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