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writing a film

B

bobbyburns

New Member
my friends and I are going to try our hands at writing, directing and producing a low-budget sci-fi/horror film. only a couple of us have any experience, mostly in special effects, lighting (and other aspects of cinematography) and acting. right now we're throwing out ideas trying to come up with a screenplay, which is a lot tougher than it sounds. I've only made a couple short films, so I'm not very seasoned at this. has anyone else ever done something similar? I could use some advice.

thanks.
 
Very cool, bobby!

Do you guys have anything, yet? A storyline, characters, stuff like that, or are you starting from scratch?

What do you want from us? Stand-alone ideas/events, storylines, etc?

Let me know how you guys are progressing!

Cheers
 
we have certain scenes in mind, like one in particular that we all thought would be pretty cool was of a guy riding his bike down a road in some middle-class neighborhood, no big deal, when suddenly this car comes barreling towards him, but is only fucking with him it seems, at first, veering and then pulling back, but then finally hitting him. but the guy's not dead. the other guy gets out of his car and drags him into the backseat and starts driving again. so now the scene is inside of the car, and the biker guy seems half-conscious, so the driver is gonna take him into the woods and finish him off because he's a killer too. but then, ha ha, the biker comes alive and starts gnawing on his throat, tearing sinew and flesh out with his teeth. anyway, that's one of several scenes we want to integrate into the film.

abulafia, the problem we have is not being able to come up with a coherent story because none of us have ever written a screenplay before. can you help? if so, where do you start?

thanks again.
 
Having no more insight than anyone else (except that I can claim to be from Lala-land where people do this stuff for a living), I believe the first thing you do is develop a story idea, a general outline of the beginning, middle, and end. Then, as you develop the script, you also create a storyboard -- a diagram of how you want the individual scenes to look like, the camera angles, perspective, etc. This will also help you determine set design, costumes for the characters, etc. Once you have a script and a story board, you assemble sets, locations, actors, props, etc. and you begin making your movie. That is, at least, my understanding.

Hope it's helpful and best of luck on the project. :)

Irene Wilde
 
then what am I supposed to do with all my great ideas, put them in a tub and wash myself with them? because that's what soap is for, irene.
 
I have an idea for an ending ...

if you've ever seen the end of neon genesis: evangelion, it starts out just like any other anime, but the ending is all inside shinji ikari's mind--it takes the themes from the series (piloting the evangelions, fighting angels sent by god, destroying lives), and relates them to the existential problems of his own identity. the same thing could be done with a horror film, in the end, looking at what the killer invisions psychologically, the images inside his mind, his outlook on life. it wouldn't have to be coherent, it could be pretty obscure, but it can't just be philosophical masturbation. there's gotta be some thread tying it all together. I don't know what that's going to be yet, but the idea sounds interesting. taking a normal horror flic and turning it inside-out. that's something I've never seen before.
 
I wouldn't consider a bunch of random scenes being philosophical masturbation; the viewer takes away from it whatever they felt was important. That's the beauty of it, everyone will get something different.

I don't think you can really get into a killer's head, without being a killer. I suppose you could go kill some animal, but that isn't really the same thing. I mean every horror flic I've ever seen tried to get into the killer's head, to some extent. I don't think I've seen one where it shows why the killer was doing it;but isn't that supposed to be left up to the viewers' imagination?
 
warm_enema said:
I don't think you can really get into a killer's head, without being a killer. I suppose you could go kill some animal, but that isn't really the same thing. I mean every horror flic I've ever seen tried to get into the killer's head, to some extent.
Click to expand...

I kinda agreed on this. It would be so different an experience to be a killer of humanbeing from to be a killer of some animals. But it would be so threatening to the person who is a killer as well.
 
I helped out and kept in regular correespondance with these GREAT guys in Austin Texas, who made this amateaur Sci Fi film based on Star Trek the Original Series. It has been a smash hit and very successful.
I was over there in December just before Christmas gone.

www.starshipexeter.com

I was going to star a minor role in the next upcoming episode- "The Treasurian Intersection" but alas other events in my life have been predominating. I mush remember to give these guys a call sometime and see how they're getting along.
 
bobbyburns said:
we have certain scenes in mind, like one in particular that we all thought would be pretty cool was of a guy riding his bike down a road in some middle-class neighborhood, no big deal, when suddenly this car comes barreling towards him, but is only fucking with him it seems, at first, veering and then pulling back, but then finally hitting him. but the guy's not dead. the other guy gets out of his car and drags him into the backseat and starts driving again. so now the scene is inside of the car, and the biker guy seems half-conscious, so the driver is gonna take him into the woods and finish him off because he's a killer too. but then, ha ha, the biker comes alive and starts gnawing on his throat, tearing sinew and flesh out with his teeth. anyway, that's one of several scenes we want to integrate into the film.

abulafia, the problem we have is not being able to come up with a coherent story because none of us have ever written a screenplay before. can you help? if so, where do you start?

thanks again.
Click to expand...

That sounds, um....interesting. Do you not think that slasher movies have been done to bits? Anyways, I've never made a movie or anything, but I'm hoping to do it some day.
 
well, it's supposed to be a low budget b-horror movie ... we're not exactly gonna set the world on fire, but it should be fun.
 
While it's okay to be throwing ideas together, the first thing you should be doing is guaranteeing the budget you have to pursue this endeavour. How much money do you have to work with. This will dictate what is feasible.

Get a story, plot it out, and make a storyboard of how you want it to look. Having a storyboard ensures you know what sort of camera angles you are looking to achieve. It will, ultimately, save time instead of trying this angle and then that angle. Also, you'll be able to tell which angles are feasible.

Write a script. Rework the plot. Redraw the storyboard at bits where necessary.

Look at the characters. Do you have to pay actors? Reconsider the budget. Do you need so many characters? Write them out. Tighten the story.

What about props? Are they obtainable? Are they costly? Write them out of the story. Rework the story. Redraw some storyboard.

Get somebody - or two - to proofread the script. Any plotholes? Any breakdowns in continuity? Fix them.

Then film. Save actors' time by doing all their scenes at one time.
 
first off, I tend not to write for a budget, it stifles my imagination. and on that same note, creating ways of getting around costs can lead to portals of discovery (mostly what I need I can borrow, anyway). second, you're kind of ahead of us with the storyboards and the mis-en-scene ... we have nothing to illustrate except a few scenes that aren't even connected. that means no characters, no script, no props, nothing. I was more hoping you could show me how to weave a story.
 
Emm, wonderin whether you still want to have another scene, :rolleyes: because some horrible imagination came to last night. If you still want to have some other idea, I would like to write it here. Not sure though.
 
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