Help Please: need idea for...

[J Leigh]

What would you make a movie about if given this situation?

You've got three and a half months in London, England.
You've got three and a half months in France.
You've got all the time in the world in Madison, Wisconsin; La Crosse, Wisconsin (campus); Eau Claire, Wisconsin (campus).
You've got all the time in the world to edit.
You've got four months before you leave for London.
You can pretty much use any of the people in any location (and you know French), but don't want to rely heavily on any of them time and time again (and they can't travel around like you can).
You don't really have any budget (except for traveling and things)
You've got some camcorders and editing software (etc.)

What would you do? (and please don't say documentary unless you have a really specific idea because I don't want to risk not finding something. This is my only chance). Would you do a mocumentary? Some sort of plotted story that doesn't need consistant actors and locations? A Choose your own Adventure movie? A reenactment/interviews (along the lines of "This is not a Film")?

What sort of topic?

Need advice. Help please. Thanks so much.

--J Leigh

[odocoileus]

Some documentary ideas: ask a lot of different people - all ages, genders, ethnic background - and tape them giving the answer. eg "What is the meaning of life?" or "What is your definition of a good life?" Or "What does God look like?"

You could sex it up by asking men in every country the techniques they use to pickup women, or asking women what they find sexy in a man.

Also, check out episodes of the NPR radio program "This American Life". They have a knack for making something interesting out of everyday life.

You could turn the camera on yourself and do a video diary of your daily moods and experiences. Post it on a blog yet.

If you wanted to do a fictional story, why not a series of related short films. Find a unifying theme - rejection, say. Rejection in WI, rejection in Fr., rejection in UK.

Or interview hookers in each country - find out how they're alike, and how they're different - approaches to work, methods of payment, pimps or no pimps.

[English Dave]

Francophile Vampire Zombies?

[dpaterso]

A shamelessly commercial vampire horror flick featuring the cool teenage sons and daughters of deceased vampire hunters, who discover their legacy and band together to pursue their late fathers' sworn enemy and his coven of Eurotrash bloodsuckers to London, then finally to the States.

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
You know what the definition of insanity is, baby? Performing the same task over and over and expecting different results. Learned that in murder rehab.

[English Dave]

A shamelessly commercial vampire horror flick featuring the cool teenage sons and daughters of deceased vampire hunters, who discover their legacy and band together to pursue their late fathers' sworn enemy and his coven of Eurotrash bloodsuckers to London, then finally to the States.

-Derek
.

I'll buy it for a dollar!

[Goodwriterguy]

What would you make a movie about if given this situation?

You've got three and a half months in London, England.
You've got three and a half months in France.
You've got all the time in the world in Madison, Wisconsin; La Crosse, Wisconsin (campus); Eau Claire, Wisconsin (campus).
You've got all the time in the world to edit.
You've got four months before you leave for London.
You can pretty much use any of the people in any location (and you know French), but don't want to rely heavily on any of them time and time again (and they can't travel around like you can).
You don't really have any budget (except for traveling and things)
You've got some camcorders and editing software (etc.)

What would you do? (and please don't say documentary unless you have a really specific idea because I don't want to risk not finding something. This is my only chance). Would you do a mocumentary? Some sort of plotted story that doesn't need consistant actors and locations? A Choose your own Adventure movie? A reenactment/interviews (along the lines of "This is not a Film")?

What sort of topic?

Need advice. Help please. Thanks so much.

--J Leigh
If I were in your shoes I'd not script anything. The reasons should be obvious but they would include the many roadblacks and hurdles you would encounter, plus the cost.

I'd bust my head open looking for a theme, some unifying idea that could make sense of some topic or other. Take cab drivers, for instance; shoot them in London and in Paris and in Wisconsin, ask them what they think of the state of things: Terrorism, GW Bush, Iraq, the taxi business. I think you could do a very interesting little film just asking cab drivers what they think of GW Bush. You could then edit them togetrher to get a themantic flow and to illustrate the differences in views expressed by Americans, Brits, and the French. You might expand on this to include waiters and waitesses, bus drivers, shoe shine guys, hotel clerks, shopkeepers, and orhers you'd encounter along the way.

The title of this piece might be something like "A View from the Bottom."

But, short of something like that I'd just drag my camera gear along with a suitcase full of blank tapes and shoot anything and everything that caught my eye during the entire six months, including short interviews with interesting characters.

Then I'd come home, look at everything I had, and find the movie that's inherent in it all. That might take two months, just looking, and thinking.

Then I'd decide what my movie was gonna be and I'd cut it together, put some titles and a music track on it, and away to the festivals I'd go.

Have fun! :Thumbs:

[J Leigh]

Thank you for your suggestions. There are some very interesting ideas here.

Odocoileus -- I like your realted shorts idea quite a lot. They could even be bits of one movie, but stand-alone scenes that have some connection whether thematically or something that happens to bring them all together at the end.

Dpaterso...er, Lorne -- Well, I'm not opposed to anything vampirey, but the problem is we don't have consistent actors between locations.

GWG -- While "finding" a story is way cooler than making one up, it's more risky. If I knew I had the option of going back across the ocean to try again, I wouldn't worry about it so much, but this is my one and only chance. I can't afford coming back with "nothing." Not everybody who interviews people finds "the story." They might find "a story" but not neccessarily one other people are going to want to watch. While a documentary does have the most potential to be great, it has more potential to turn up dry than if you know you've got the story in front of you on paper. There's movies of people interviewing people and getting people to open up, but in the real world, lots of people clam up in front of a camera or aren't going to busy themselves talking to a suspicious American college student, especially with all the terrorist scare stuff. Legalities and things. So, I do agree, it is a good idea, but probably not for my situation.

[dpaterso]

Dpaterso...er, Lorne -- Well, I'm not opposed to anything vampirey, but the problem is we don't have consistent actors between locations.

Well sure, if it doesn't fit then it doesn't fit.

But. Dare I say that's where directorial skills come into play.

While abroad, you'd shoot exotic locations, and long shots with extras substituting for the leads.

Then once you're back home, you'd shoot close up scenes with the leads, pretending they're in these exotic locations.

Or maybe the other way round, shoot the close up stuff first so you know which establishing shots and backgrounds you need to wrap around the pivotal actor scenes.

Shrug, I'm just saying. Maybe too ambitious. Or maybe easier than it looks at first? :)

-Derek
My Web Page - shameless vampyre fiction & other shameless writings. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
So, you don't worry that it's possible for someone to send out a biological or electronic trigger that effectively overrides your own sense of ideals and values, and replaces them with an alternative coercive agenda that reduces you to little more than a mindless meat puppet?

[icerose]

You could always do a first person pov movie. Where the camera operator is the main character, compounded with narration and these exotic locations. That is the only character you would need to be consistent. Have you ever thought of being the main character?? Just a thought since you would be everywhere the camera was. That would open up quite a few possibilities.

[Odile]

I would make a documentary about the influence of Piaget and Feuerstein on education in England, France, and America.
You could interview people on streets and in schools and in politics.
And if you make this you already have audiences in the Netherlands, because we are often very interested in the USA, France and England on educational matters.
The University of Wisconsin published at least one book about educating thinking in classrooms. There is a translated copy in my cupboard. Even though Piaget and Feuerstein started with this many years ago, their ideas are still actual. How to teach children to think better is important for every new generation. The attention has shifted from helping heavily impaired children to also helping very bright children with the same methods: thinking puzzels. You might consider making the documentary about puzzels, because it is fun to look at. Then include Chris Burm. He's passionate about abstract games.(but does he live in England?)
Is this too educational for you? I would really love to watch your documentary if you make this, and I think many parents and teachers with me.

Odile

[wyzguy]

J Leigh, are you the camera person or are you free to be on screen?

[J Leigh]

dpaterson -- actually our initial idea was to just shoot the establishing shots abroad and make the movie when we get back, but I thought, hey, we're actually going to be in these places for a long time so why not use not only a diverse set of landscape, but a diverse cast? We could do a little of both, I guess.

icerose -- one of the options would be to make a choose-your-own-adventure movie where the camera actually sees things from the character's point of view. Then you never need to see the actor. And I just figured out how to make CYOA DVDs with my software. So, yeah, definitely an option.

odile -- wow, that's an ambitious topic. I don't really know anything about those people and their methods. I think if I do go documentary style, it will be on a topic I'm very familiar with since I don't have much time to prepare. But thanks for that. Still kind of skeptical on making a documentary.

wyzguy -- I could be on screen. I don't really want to be a main character or someone who leads the viewer along because A) I'd feel it way too egotistical B) I'm not really an actor C) I think I'd be boring, even with a script, or if no script, people really don't want to watch a long "my travel video."


I was thinking about this movie I saw on the Independent Film Channel called 11:14 (I think. It's got Ben Foster and Colin Hanks). There's like half a dozen stories with different people in the same town, so they are rarely if at all in the same scene. They are connected because they all happen at the same time and they end up affecting each other indirectly.

What do you think about some time of cause-effect story? Global. Butterflies flapping their wings in Japan and all that. Separate stories affecting each other even though the characters have never met or live far away from each other. What do you think of that?

Or maybe one event happens and then we see how it affects everybody around the world. Like something on the news. Or aliens (ha). Or they recieve some kind of chain letter or something.

Just brainstorming. Feel free to put in input! You guys are tons of help, thank you.

[icerose]

Yeah, all else fails take the beautiful scenery in a variety of shots and blue screen the actors/actresses in.

[nielsty]

My first thought was to make the same story 3 times. Find a typical situation/problem and act out what the solution/conflict/end is in each country. It could be all from a love affair to a crime story - the interesting thing is how people would react differently.

[Odile]

I like the influence idea.
{I realize that I'm personnally hung up on puzzels and education at this moment, it's funny to realise this.}

Odile