Links to my three blog posts for assessment:
Post 1 – Cleese Quote
Cleese-ativity and Collaboration
Post 2 – Piece of Writing
On The Run script and reflection
Post 3 – An Influential Text
I declare that in submitting all work for this assessment I have read, understood and agree to the content and expectations of the assessment declaration.
I made a poster of myself for a screenplay starring myself based on photos of myself. If this were a river in which I could see my reflection, I drowned long ago.
Initially, there were a few more references and actions that would have directly fit alongside the original set of images. I got rid of them because they didn’t work for what I wanted any more and some parts just felt stilted and without conviction.
Agent 33’s personality has been portrayed clearly through her digs at men and the seemingly unexciting reality around her. I feel there’s a disconnect between her internal sass and her interactions with the security guards – a disconnect that exists because I haven’t settled on her character in my head either. I am unsure so the script is unsure. I tried to establish her humour and adoration for times gone by without downplaying her professional ability which was a hard task and I don’t think I quite succeeded. Tonally, I was trying to go for Legally Blonde meets Agent Carter. I tried to establish a colourful and slightly ridiculous world through the set design, humour, and attempts at satirising the spy genre. The camera should be trying to recreate recognisable spy film tropes through angles and editing but it is being foiled by the cheerfulness/ordinariness of the place…or that’s what I was going for, at least. It was mainly through the directions that I tried to incorporate that but, frankly, I’m struggling to write for the lens. In my mind, this particular sequence is edited in a way that plays with rhythm through cuts, sounds, and music but I’m just not sure how much I should be doing that on the page. In terms of layout and script-crafting, I and many others are probably so used to having lots of creative control over our work; so much so that I don’t know where the screenwriter should end and begin their job.
So dry, so earnest, so real.
It was interesting to have a chat in class about what is acceptable for a screenwriter in regards to how much they can include for actors and directors. In major productions especially, screenwriters to do appear to be the bottom rung of the creative process, only really there during its early stages until they sell of their work to be done with as others will. I definitely forgot that – not that it was a surprise (how many screenwriters are household names after all?) but it’s a little demoralising to hear about.
So it’s nice when you get to read a script by Billy Wilder who was at the absolute top of his game during The Apartment, already an established name with several classics under his belt. The script doesn’t feel like it’s written by someone quivering in their boots and as a piece of wrtiting, it’s put-together and reads like literature which makes it such a pleasure to read. The make or break for me lies in the “Action” paragraphs. I haven’t read many screenplays but the ones I have feel robotic or “too technical” – without personality and a chore to read through. It fills me with dread to write that way but reading The Apartment restores my faith in the art of screenwriting – or I could have resigned myself to unemployment/being “difficult to work with”. Either way, The Apartment inspires me to write for the screen and the formats of screenwriting freaks me out significantly less which is always a good thing.
The elevator doors open, revealing the operator. She is in her middle twenties and her name is FRAN KUBELIK. Maybe it’s the way she’s put together, maybe it’s her face, or maybe it’s just the uniform — in any case, there is something very appealing about her. She is also an individualist — she wears a carnation in her lapel, which is strictly against regulations.Billy Wilder; The Apartment screenplay, pg 22.
INT. TWENTY-SEVENTH FLOOR FOYER – DAY. It is pretty plush up here — soft carpeting and tall mahogany doors leading to the executive offices. The elevator door is open, and Bud steps out.Billy Wilder; The Apartment screenplay, pg 34.
SHELDRAKEYou know how it is — sooner orlater they all give you a bad time.BUD(man-of-the-world)I know how it is.Billy Wilder; The Apartment screenplay, pg 60.
Sorry, Daria, that’s exactly how it works.
What impresses me so much about Daria is that it is a genuinely pro-female and intersectionally considerate show. What they say in regards to race and gender are equally important to what they don’t say, specifically what they never say about the kinds of women/personalities opposed to the heroine. The show never portrays vanity, being attractive, or lack of intellect with scorn which is always refreshing. Its social commentary is cutting and dark but rarely bitchy, its female characters never really pitted against each other for the attention of men.
There’s an interesting disconnect between how Daria is treated by her peers and how she is perceived. For sake of narrative action, I suppose characters HAVE to interact with Daria but since they do it so often, it makes it difficult to believe when Daria is spoken of as ostracised as an “other”. The writers could have easily made the show about Daria and her best friend Jane against the popular/normal kids but they don’t; including instead a significant amount of time dedicated to developing ditzy Brittany and narcissistic Quinn.
From Episode 3.2 where Brittany comforts Daria who realises that she does care about how people perceive her.
I love that the show never includes bullying or any other typical high school narratives. The pop culture high school hierarchy is present of course but the show is able to play around and subvert it.
I always find that if two (or more) of us throw ideas backwards and forwards I get to more interesting and original places than I could have ever have gotten to on my own.
John Cleese, 1991
A favourite collaboration exercise so far has been walking around RMIT taking action stills. I didn’t know the other two very well so I wasn’t sure what to expect but the slight discomfort of the situation was fun to initially bond over and created the atmosphere needed to just take funny, random shots based on some loose ideas. Honestly, we walked the fine line between overthinking and making fun of the exercise – feelings which are reflected in the final set of shots!
On Overthinking
We attempted to deconstruct how RMIT’s architecture could be interpreted for dramatic purpose, even going insofar as discussing how we felt about the looming construction sites that constantly surrounded us. I am pretty obsessed with quite a few RMIT buildings and atmospheres so it was fun to a) fangirl about them with other people, and b) delve into melodramatic interpretations of how being surrounded by construction sites can affect the consciousness. The easy transition into the latter was a classic example of on-brand Millennial unironic irony.
Those discussions inspired the themes of feeling overwhelmed and surrounded by tall, bold, and futuristic buildings. It was encouraging for people to agree with and expand on ideas that were familiar yet unexplored. Someone in the group was really into including hints of the sites-in-progress which then inspired the concepts of being restricted and seemingly powerless against machines.
On Making Fun Of It
We found it easy to tap into the fun and joy of the exercise. Having been inspired to stick to a spy genre gave us the freedom to work within its constraints. We scouted for corners and locations that could potentially be exploited for narrative use, leading to my hiding behind plants and lamely climbing a green fire escape. Walking around in the group with a mission to take some ridiculous photos gave us permission to just go for it in a public space too – safety in numbers!
On The Technical
I’m not very technical on the camera so it was nice to be accompanied by someone who had an eye for angles and colours. It helps our ideas be realised in more aesthetically pleasing ways which will always be much more rewarding.
“It characteristic of the vast majority of cities in the movies that they focus not on the architecture per se, but on architecture as it affects, and is interpreted by, citizens.”
Thomas 2003, p. 410
Gotham City as it appears in TV show, GOTHAM (2014).
We spoke about the architecture of Batman’s Gotham City. Gotham is very much a character in the Batman series, known as a a city that is particularly stricken with overpopulation, crime and poverty. It’s dirty and unsafe, having reached its peak decades earlier and now on a steady decline (if it could even sink any lower).
The quote is here especially applicable because since it’s a fictional city, there are no famous locations to make architecture porn out of (unlike New York City or something). Instead, we are taken through its alleys, abandoned carparks, and other hubs of underground culture – breeding grounds ripe for any villain to form or collect henchmen. Interestingly, the underground can provide relief from a city whose streets are already swarming with crowds. Such an underground network makes it so easy for organised crime to thrive.
Slum or skyskraper, Gotham citizens live on top of each other. The sense of claustrophobia is strong and with so many buildings blocking the sunlight, its citizens continue to be deprived of space and Vitamin D. No wonder everyone wants to kill each other.
Gotham City as it appears in Tim Burton’s film, BATMAN (1989).
The class struggle in Gotham is intensified by the fact that the “little people”, the poor and downstrodden populations, are shuffling in the dirty streets, kept far away from the marble floors inches away from them. The effects of being surrounded by massive buildings which you know you can never enter can only heighten anger and frustration, spurring on the robberies, hold ups, and other street-level crimes.
Mozart In The Jungle is unabashedly a comedy but it’s probably the only television comedy I’ve seen that has been so artfully framed, directed, and edited. The show focuses on talented young oboist Hailey and eccentric maestro Rodrigo as its heroine/hero. Like its characters, the show haphazardly juggles its tones between dry and down to earth to incredulously surreal. The world may sometimes struggle to establish its internal logic but its sexy charm saves it from being unbearable. Rodrigo’s turbulent character rhythm also tends to trickles into the show’s pace, driving it teeter on the edge of confusing and boundary-pushing. Still not sure if it’s a strength or weakness.
The comedy comes in many forms (dry, character, broad, absurd) with brushes of whimsical and bizzarre. Coupled with the gorgeous cinematography, they create a sparkling world where possibilities abound. For example, Rodrigo (and the audience) often sees and speaks out loud to visions of a powder-wigged young Mozart during his times of crises which his friends easily brush off. An entire episode is even told/shot in an artsy documentary form made by one of the seondary characters. Anchoring the show is the enormous heart the characters have for their music, quietly showing the sacrifices they make to exist the way they do.
New York City and classical music is here delightfully paired and perfect for each other. Many establishing shots are underscored by manic classical pieces that are fitting for the pace of the city and the desperation of its characters. The show loves classical music but it also doesn’t take it too seriously, consciously but effortlessly turning its perceived “stuffiness” on its head. Because the public may generally view classical pieces as inaccessible to contemporary sensibilities, we become forced to experience it through the characters’ new, blood-pumping points of view. The disconnect is bridged yet the humour capitalises on the subversion.
NYC is painted with familiarity, the way someone who lived there would perceive it. It’s never cloyingly charming nor intimidatingly cold, often using warm palettes like greens and browns but takes care to include urban greys and blacks. Here, the city is not romanticised but lived in…with a little something special. After all, the characters we follow are much like the virtuostic people who walk among us – quite human but touched by something extraordinary.
Write something you like, then something you hate. Add five reasons why you like it, five why you hate it. Now write five reasons why someone might like what you hate, and why someone might hate what you like. What would these people be? What stories could they tell?
The thing: Winter.
I LIKE:
• cold weather
• better fashion choices
• no sweating
grey weather, cloudiness, rain
the city and indoors
THEY HATE:
• they want to wear shorts
• they want to go to the beach
• harder to get up in the morning
so many things to carry: jackets, umbrellas
loves the outdoors
The thing: Hearing Ghost Stories
I HATE:
they freak me out
i can imagine things really easily
I find it hard to sleep at night or walk down the hallway
THEY LOVE:
they love the thrill
they love the excitement and mystery of it
they love being scared
It’s summer and they are camping. They are best friends or sisters. Anna (me) has been convinced to go camping by my sister Olivia. Camping situation: It’s raining quite hard and they have to stay at a motel where they are the only people there. The woman running it is elderly and likes to cook but the smells are quite weird. The old woman assures them that it is just the country life but as they eat the stew, they start seeing strange things.