The transition

[kotte]

So I've been writing and generating ideas for a feature script and I just realized the core story I want to tell can be told in 15 minutes. So I'm making it a short instead.

I find the transition from shortfilm writing to feature writing hard.

I know it's a transition phase and it'll take some (frustrating) time. You have any ideas or tips?

[pete]

let everything bottle up for a while and don't write any script, just take notes and such.

[cowboykurtis]

find a story that is hard to tell in 120 mintues - a story that could easily take four hours to tell - then take the best 50% and you've got a movie

[atticus jones]

find one simple thing you want to say...

say it two different ways, to three distinct audiences...

movie making 101 as simple as 1-2-3

food luck

f and g are next door neighbors...but no one wants to talk about that as a reason...do they?

redirect the last particle to a pdl article if you must

[Ghostboy]

I'm having the opposite problem - I'm turning what I originally thought was going to be a feature into a short.

I like writing features because they give me time to take my time, so to speak.

[kotte]

For me, there are two different approaches...

Finding a character and develop a story out of her or do it the other way around.

When I have the story worked out, the core story, I automatically see its simplicity. And that's the beginning of the end for me.
Any side-tracks, character development seem unecessary and time wasting.

I do have interest for óther things, the people, the emotions...that is actually what attracts me to filmmaking...

Well, when it comes down to it I just think I'm too used to writing short stories...

[socketlevel]

just make sure every scene is progressing the plot. all the previous actions of the characters should tie into the next unfolding scenario.

i've read articles and heard commentaries on how filmmakers like to use cue cards to reorganize their scripts, you know, have one scene come later than they had originally intended, or vice versa  (script writting software also lets you do this).  i think this is a self-defeatist technique; if your scene holds no specific weight to the plot then it's useless.

the good scripts, and in turn good films, are ones in which everything is dependant on the last scene.  just imagine the big lebowski or fargo without any one of the many scenes.  If you did remove a scene arbitrarily from one of these two movies, the film wouldn't make any sense.  That in my opinion makes a tight, lean, well-written script.  It also better shows the progression of the protagonist and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat.

other than that, i would say start with the message.  think about what you want to say and then find the best way of creatively articulating that.


-sl-

[kotte]

other than that, i would say start with the message.  think about what you want to say and then find the best way of creatively articulating that.

You're saying some good things but the above the complete oppsite to my philosophy. For me it all starts with the characters and the story. Message and "meaning" is something you pull out of that. When you put a message in a film you're teaching your audience. You can't teach anyone, all you can do is show them your point of view of the world.

[socketlevel]

other than that, i would say start with the message.  think about what you want to say and then find the best way of creatively articulating that.

You're saying some good things but the above the complete opposite to my philosophy. For me it all starts with the characters and the story. Message and "meaning" is something you pull out of that. When you put a message in a film you're teaching your audience. You can't teach anyone, all you can do is show him or her your point of view of the world.

true, to each his/her own.  a good story is a good story, plain and simple.  there are many ways to skin a cat.

sorry i wasn't clearer.  i don't mean such a didactic message like propaganda or what have you, i like stories that are subtler and don't necessarily give the answers either.  but the subtext is the most important thing for me, and i start with that.  like for instance, lets say i feel shitty about the current state of youths in our culture.  i think of that for a while, and then of why i feel it's in the situation that it is, then i build on that.  from that i can create a scenario that best articulates my dilemma.  then i can subvert the audiences' conception of the subject matter, or not, depending.  i don't per say want to teach the audience anything, more propose a problem and give the evidence of this problem.  i think the audience needs to take something greater from film then what has normally been presented... well not always, but these days it's seldom the case.  but i guess we're talking about the same thing, showing your point of view, only difference is i start with that.

-sl-

[pete]

I think at best the script with a linear story can be an epic adventure, and at best the script that started with a message at its core can be a moving parable.  all depends on what kind of film you wanna make I guess.  obviously most people write with a bit from each category in mind.  I just saw the interview with takeshi kitano from the sonatine dvd last night, and he was talking about how he just started with four moments and based his film on those four distinct moments.

[meatball]

I'm so tired of people trying to be spokespeople through their films. I experienced enough of that in film school. It would be nice for somebody to tell a story that doesn't try to win over the audience to a cause. That seems to be the trendiest thing right now. Be intelligent, be passionate, be in the know. It's well intentioned, or is it?

[socketlevel]

I'm so tired of people trying to be spokespeople through their films. I experienced enough of that in film school. It would be nice for somebody to tell a story that doesn't try to win over the audience to a cause. That seems to be the trendiest thing right now. Be intelligent, be passionate, be in the know. It's well intentioned, or is it?

i think the films you mention are bad because the people suck at doing it.  they often make it overly obvious.

but i agree with pete.  like i said before, in the case were a film is made to entertain, it seems to be the norm and vast majority to not have some kind of message.  i'd just like to see the scales balanced, but i do like to escape as much as the next guy.

-sl-

[kotte]

It would be nice for somebody to tell a story that doesn't try to win over the audience to a cause.

I'm kinda with you here. The story first and foremost...

but your story told from your point of view and by that you layer your film nicely. I don't like films with depth, I like 'em layered.