Doc Hollywood June 29, 2007
Posted by joost in : LFA, directing , comments closedHow would you respond if somebody sends a welcome letter for a lecture that he will give, and that letter includes one page filled with quotes by other people proclaiming how great this tutor is? How he forever changed their view on directing, what an inspiration he is, how happy they are to have spent a day in his presence? Well, I was skeptical to say the least, and also quite curious when the masterclass on directing was announced, to be given by this guru, Mark W. Travis. On a side note: why do only a certain type of people use an initial in their name..?
Anyway, as you have gathered, Doc Hollywood (as I nicknamed him) honored us with a visit. As is often the case, when you expect nothing you may be pleasantly surprised.
Case study of the day was American Beauty. We talked a lot about the meaning of the story, the themes, the characters and how you relate to all of this. Mr. Travis has a thorough way of breaking down a script and “demands” that you know it by heart before you start to focus on one scene in particular. After this preparation, he showed us in the afternoon how he works with actors. The two actors that were present (unfortunately not Kevin Spacey and Annette Benning 
underwent what can best be described as a therapeutic coaching session.
Many directors coach actors by telling them what to do or what he expects them to deliver. Travis did a nice impression of their method:
“So I want you to walk in, look curious, then walk to the bar impatiently, ask for a drink, first be happy but then slowly angry, reach for your phone, do something, and then burst out in tears. Can you do that?”
Besides the fact that this will hardly lead to genuine performances, it is naive to think that what the director has in mind can be translated one-on-one to an exact representation and re-enactments of those thoughts by an actor.
His approach is different. One of his quotes: “Actors know they play in a film, characters don’t.” So in the example above, the character just walks into the bar and does not know what to expect, what will happen or what he will do. He only knows who he is and where he just came from.
What Travis does, is talk to the actors in character. He chats about memories that this character has about certain events, he stirs up emotions, asks them how they will achieve their goal, how they will conquer (one of) their obstacles, or pushes them to be angry or sympathetic. He engages with the characters and guides them to explore different attitudes in a “scene” (event or encounter would be a more appropriate word in this context). Fascinating to see how the same scene can be played differently by the way he interacts with the characters and on which “path” he sends them.
At the end of the day I’m happy that he visited the LFA. He showed us a different way of directing which will be a nice addition to our directing skills. And thanks to Mr. Travis and his “bag of directing tricks” I now know how to apply reverse psychology to get an actor to do something that he did not do before. “I love that intense look you gave her!”.
Screenplay round 1 complete June 26, 2007
Posted by joost in : LFA, screenwriting , comments closedMy screenplay is through to the next round! This means it is one of the five scripts that has been selected and that potential director’s can pitch for. The four most successful / promising pitches will lead to going into production. That means there’s a good 80% chance that my screenplay will be turned into a 5 minute film this summer! More news on the final selection next week.
House vs. mouse June 21, 2007
Posted by joost in : lifestyle, london , comments closedSince about a week or two mice have discovered our house, and more in particular, our kitchen. Contrary to what you might think our kitchen is actually very clean, thanks to a cleaning lady that comes here every day – yes, I live in a student dorm, but a posh one, mind you
Unfortunately that does not stop the mice anymore, and the word on the mice street spread fast. Two nights ago I spotted three of them when I was making some food in the middle of the night. Cheeky bastards those mice, rummaging around near the trash bins and the stove, only fleeing for me when I came too close and stamped my feet.
Today we struck back, with a vengeance. Forget about traditional mouse traps and poison, the mice danced around those and I think one of them actually giggled at our feeble attempt. Well laugh no more Mister Bojangles, for I present you the Glumeister 2000 (TM). Think of a crossbreed between a post-it-on-acid and a wax strip for Russian women, and you start to get the idea. These declamations of death lay on the floor, patiently waiting… the sun sets… the mice enter the kitchen… SQUEAK!
Always wanted to know what a sticky mouse looks like? Wonder no more:
The score: house 5 8 – mouse 0.
school’s in June 18, 2007
Posted by joost in : LFA , comments closedBlimey! The LFA schedule is rapidly changing into a “real” school schedule! Besides the usual rewrite deadline, I have a written camera and sound test this Friday! Yes, a written test, for which I have to… *shiver* study!
And because we have a Hollywood hotshot directing teacher coming over next week, we are kindly requested to thoroughly read the integral screenplay of American Beauty at least two times and to write an analysis of the script, theme and characters. “So forget about your weekend.”
Connecting the dots June 18, 2007
Posted by joost in : LFA, editing, screenwriting , comments closedLast week was all about editing and writing. Although we are editing our 2 minute films and writing our 5 or 10 minute films, the combination was interesting. In one week we were both working on the start and the end of the film making process.
We spent several days editing our 2 minute films. We got assigned to edit somebody else’s film, because “in the real world” you also do not get to edit the film that you’ve written, produced or directed. In my case I got to edit a somewhat sad table conversation with a supernatural flavor. I liked editing it, because it had some technical and storytelling challenges.
From a technical point of view it was interesting because I had to “cut on action” between takes that did not connect nicely. In one take a character for instance said a line of dialogue before picking up a glass, and in the take that I wanted to cut to the line was said after picking up the glass. Which makes a cut impossible, ugly, or optimistically put: “challenging” 
From a story telling point of view, the scene cut together nicely but did not really convey what it was about until the very last seconds. It was too normal for a scene that has a supernatural touch to it, but there were no takes shot that gave hints in that direction. So in this case I had to find a way in the edit to get that point across. You’ll be able to judge yourself in about a week time when I upload the film.
At the same time, someone else was editing “my” film. She did a first rough cut, then tweaked that after some comments by the tutor, me and other students. Add some music, minor sound effects, titles, change the volume, tweak the pacing some more, and a few hours before we had to finish editing we decided to add in another shot because it felt that the film could use it. In the end I think we improved it but it caused us some last minute headaches because of awkward timing issues where we tried out several cutting options and where we literally were moving the cut one frame (1/24th of a second) forwards and backwards.
During the day we were editing, which meant that I spent several evenings rewriting my screenplay. Mine is shaping up to be a 5 minute film (about 5 pages).
One of the difficulties of the short film “genre” is that everything has to be spot on. In a feature there is more room for exposition and development, whereas in a short every sentence has to mean and add something to the overall message / theme. This means that you scrutinize every sentence and every line of dialogue that you write; “is this really necessary, what if I leave it out?”, “can’t I make it shorter?”, “does this move the story or the character forward?”.
We also have to take production considerations into account, setting the story in the Middle Ages with two armies in a big battle scene is sadly not an option. A lot of us got the advice to cut down the number of locations, and/or where possible to swap external locations for internal ones.
The cool thing in writing a short is that you’re aiming to connect all the events, characters and story elements with each other. And if you succeed in doing so, it really feels like you’re connecting all the dots. Suddenly it seems like there is only one logical and optimal way of unfolding the story and spreading your message. And you’ve just found it Or at least I try to get closer to this nirvana one rewrite at a time
Organized chaos June 11, 2007
Posted by joost in : LFA , comments closedI’m having flashbacks to my glory days at the University of Amsterdam. The start of the second term can be best described as organized chaos.
We regrouped on Tuesday the 5th of June, exchanging stories about our holidays. Plan for the day was syncing up rushes, i.e. synchronizing the digitized rushes of the 2 minute shoots with the sound we recorded during the same shoots. However, the person assigned to assist us this day was not aware that she was supposed to help us out. The rest of the day was mostly up to us to figure things out.
Next, we spent one day talking about and listening to music in film. Our guest tutor recently worked on orchestrating part of the score of the new Harry Potter film! We experimented with a scene, adding different kinds of music and different timings. Most of the day consisted of trying to articulate your thoughts, ideas and emotions in such a way that it could be translated into music, and the other way around.
On Thursday we started editing our 2 minute films, with tutor support – who thought we already completed a first rough cut so that he could give us feedback. When he found out we had just started, he remarked “Well then you’d better start cracking! Show me something by lunch time!”. Miscommunication strikes again…
Friday screenwriting class, focusing on archetypes in literature and screenplays. The tentative schedule for the next two weeks turns out to be very tight, with a new rewrite every other day or so. Highly unrealistic, so we turned it upside down and came up with an alternative. That still requires a rewrite every three days 
Not ideal but we’re pressured for time because we have to finish our scripts, with an external screenwriter reading and “judging” them, and then selecting the screenplays for the 5 minute films. All within three weeks in order to start the pre-production process on time.
To compensate our “home study day“ on Monday we had to come in on Saturday for further editing. Later that evening I did a rewrite of my screenplay, because we organized a BBQ on Sunday with a bunch of my classmates. Great fun but all in all a very short weekend!
Monday, week 2, and the chaos ensues. We had a sound designer as a guest tutor today. Excellent guy who is very knowledgeable and also happens to be a synaesthete (a condition where the human senses are coupled and mixed, e.g. they can hear a color – see wikipedia for more details). Amongst the various things he has done in the past few years, he worked on a cool project called The Sound of Clothes.
After a short talk about sound design, he suggested to talk with us about our projects. ”Uhm… which one? The 2 minutes that we’re editing right now? The screenplays that we are writing? Or some sound specific exercises?“ We had no idea what the plan for the day was, and neither did he – because nobody had bothered to tell him what we were up to and where his help would be useful. Slightly embarrassing actually to have such a talented person around and everybody looking at each other asking what to do.
In the end things worked out and he was very useful and insightful.
Me and fellow students have been joking the past few days about this organized chaos at the LFA. It’s partly a way to ventilate our frustration and dissastisfaction, but like I said it reminds me of my UvA-days; when studying there you knew that things were disorganized, it was part of the inner workings, the spirit of the UvA. Same for the LFA. At times it’s embarrassingly amateuristic, but at the same time it is very flexible, ad-hoc and when you have professionals around who have tons of skills and experience, there’s never a dull moment. Some tutors have the ability to raise your awareness to new heights, and then organized chaos suddenly is not so relevant anymore.
I need a holiday June 4, 2007
Posted by joost in : lifestyle, netherlands , comments closedAfter nine days in the Netherlands, I’m in dire need of a holiday! Seriously, what’s up with you guys? You’re a health hazard! Or is it the other way around, am I the one who is to blame for some new prospective members of the AA..?
In case you’re wondering: I had a great time! Heartwarming to see so many familiar faces, friends and family. Finally plenty of opportunities to talk face to face about life, the universe and everything. Such a great feeling to be in Amsterdam again, and strange at the same time because I have no home there anymore. Thanks to Jaap’s bike and plenty of drinks scattered throughout the week and all over Amsterdam, I had no difficulties feeling right at home though! I owe a big thank you to the people who graciously offered me a place to stay and their hospitality during this week.
A true morale booster this week has been. It also helped me to reflect on my first term at the LFA and the second term that is about to start. Even though I’m tired because of the past reckless week, I am looking forward to a new term that will revolve around a couple of 5 minute films that we will totally create ourselves; screenplay, pre-production and the actual film shoots. I feel confident based on my experiences in the first term and hope I can kick it up a notch to achieve new highs.