48 Hour Film Project from Another Planet
Yes, maybe I am on a different planet or plane at times when it comes to my imagination - case in point: we entered a slightly different film this year to the 2008 St. Louis 48 Hour Film project. Our genre was "Film De Femme" - character: Earl or Ellen Frickle. Prop: magnet. Line" "I've been there you don't want to go."
I had a few sketchy ideas for a story within the first few hours but a very creative member of my team had a great idea. What about a gradual communication breakdown set in the corporate world. Some members of the team were a bit "if-y" at the idea. "It's kinda weird! Like a Twilight Zone episode or something." OK sure but it will be much different than most of the fodder out there. Everyone who thinks "Tarantino" is the shizzle and will make a short film trying to work the word F*ck in as many times as possible and each character will carry a gun whether the story calls for it or not. Nothing against Tarantino, mind you, I was on board when he first came out, but as each new film came out it dawned on me that every character in his films was the same character. They all talked the same and about the same thing. They all sounded a bit like Quentin in interviews I had seen. I could barely sit through "Grind House" - I kept hitting the fast forward to get through the mud-paced Hip dialogue. The characters reminded me of that guy at the party who loves hearing himself talk and you desperately want to say, "DUDE! Can you Shut for 2 minutes while my brain processes all the pop culture references you've uttered!"
Anyway, so we made our unusual film and I didn't feel the need to tag it with some sort of explanation. The films that stayed with me were the ones that left it up the audience to decide. Such as Meshes of An Afternoon by Maya Deren. That film set my film class in a tizzy for an hour with discussion. That's what I wanted to do. Not tie up everything neatly with "Boy Gets Girl Back", "Good wins over Evil".
And that is pretty much the reaction I've received. "I don't get it" "What does it mean?" etc.. Well the meaning is pretty much right on the surface. There is nothing below that you must search for. If you have ever had a day where it seems no one is making sense or you are not hearing things correctly - then that's all you need.
Here it is... discuss.
An
I had a few sketchy ideas for a story within the first few hours but a very creative member of my team had a great idea. What about a gradual communication breakdown set in the corporate world. Some members of the team were a bit "if-y" at the idea. "It's kinda weird! Like a Twilight Zone episode or something." OK sure but it will be much different than most of the fodder out there. Everyone who thinks "Tarantino" is the shizzle and will make a short film trying to work the word F*ck in as many times as possible and each character will carry a gun whether the story calls for it or not. Nothing against Tarantino, mind you, I was on board when he first came out, but as each new film came out it dawned on me that every character in his films was the same character. They all talked the same and about the same thing. They all sounded a bit like Quentin in interviews I had seen. I could barely sit through "Grind House" - I kept hitting the fast forward to get through the mud-paced Hip dialogue. The characters reminded me of that guy at the party who loves hearing himself talk and you desperately want to say, "DUDE! Can you Shut for 2 minutes while my brain processes all the pop culture references you've uttered!"
Anyway, so we made our unusual film and I didn't feel the need to tag it with some sort of explanation. The films that stayed with me were the ones that left it up the audience to decide. Such as Meshes of An Afternoon by Maya Deren. That film set my film class in a tizzy for an hour with discussion. That's what I wanted to do. Not tie up everything neatly with "Boy Gets Girl Back", "Good wins over Evil".
And that is pretty much the reaction I've received. "I don't get it" "What does it mean?" etc.. Well the meaning is pretty much right on the surface. There is nothing below that you must search for. If you have ever had a day where it seems no one is making sense or you are not hearing things correctly - then that's all you need.
Here it is... discuss.
An
