Off topic - when it feels like music is keeping you sane...

You might be wondering where the latest update with progress on my in-development film script is; if you do, bless you, you’re very kind.  Work has taken a temporary pause due to everyday life getting so busy I’ve had little time to do anything.  However, better news is that I have been working on an outline (or, in my case, literally describing everything that happens in every scene of the film), which is between two-thirds to three-quarters complete.  When I have finished that I will post details on my Blog.

What 'pressure' looks like, apparently...

In the meantime, as I have suggested, things have been very hectic of late, and there’s been all sorts of work and real life related stresses.  And it looks to continue for the next two months at least – but hey, that’s the light at the end of the tunnel, and though it seems a way off, it’s still there.  Until I (and my family) are out the other end, it’s full pelt at the moment, and I rarely feel like I’ve time to come up for any air.

During this time I’ve noticed that I keep being drawn to the music of two particular bands, and I think that during times of particular duress, music is one of a handful of things which basically keeps me sane.  So I just wanted to highlight the music of the two particular bands that have been keeping me sane in recent months.

Firstly, towards the end of last year and around March of this year, during some times where there were a few pressures in my life, I found myself compulsively listening to two albums by a band called Hammock.  The first is an epic piece of work entitled ‘Departure Songs’ – almost two hours of mostly instrumental post rock/ambient hybrid music.  The song titles would leave you to believe that it’s a pretty bleak album – ‘10,000 Years Won’t Save Your Life’, ‘Let’s Kiss While All the Stars are Falling Down’ – but it’s a beautifully life affirming piece of work, which seems to have an underlying message that every moment of life should be embraced, every opportunity should be grabbed.  I found myself listening to the latter track over and over again – the way it sounds to me is how I imagine jumping out of a plane at great height must feel.

Their other album which I listened to almost as much is their most recent release, ‘Oblivion Hymns’.  Much more ambient than their previous album, it features no percussion, and strings and choirs are brought to the fore.  It contains a particularly striking piece called ‘Then the Quiet Explosion’, which I found myself listening to over and over.

And right now is another time of stress and pressures, and I’ve been listening to the music of Explosions in the Sky almost compulsively.  If you’re a film fan you’ll have heard their work at one time or another, perhaps without even realising – their tracks have been used in various films and trailers, most prominently on the ‘Friday Night Lights’ soundtrack.  They rightly have a tremendous fan base and reputation amongst music fans, as their instrumental post-rock has symphonic qualities, and their guitar riffs an almost lyrical, very expressive quality.  They have several albums behind them, they’re probably best known for ‘The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place’, and it is a wonderful album.  My favourite piece from it is this one, ‘The Only Moment We Were Alone’, which feels like it walks a tightrope between euphoria and heartbreak.  Perhaps I keep listening to it so much of late because I’m feeling I could go either way at any moment…

I’ll leave you with this track of theirs, form their most recent album ‘Take Care, Take Care, Take Care’.  Like the last track, it shares a similar sentiment of simultaneous joy and sorrow, but is in its own right a gorgeous piece of music.  This music has given me a bit of solace and comfort in recent months; I suppose it connects with unspoken feelings and thoughts, acknowledging the hopes and fears that are always at the back of my mind during times of pressure.  It might not affect other people in the same way, but I am certain that at some point or other, everyone has felt there has been a favourite band whose music has helped them through a difficult time.  Right now these bands have been doing this for me, and I’m very grateful.

6 months??!? I better post an update then...

It's now been a year since I started this blog, and it's fair to say that progress to achieve my ambitions before I turn 40 is a bit, well, non-existent, if I'm honest.  Actually, that's not entirely true - I am still chipping away at the film script, but progress is really, really slow.  Like, measured in glacial epochs slow.  But!!! I have reasons for this.  So here are several legitimate* reasons why I have not got very far writing the script for 'The Harrowed Man':

1) I bought a Tablet PC to work on it during my daily commute - but then my commuting pattern changed...

I don't want to outright blame my wife, but it kind of is her fault: she recently changed jobs and as she works in the same town as me I get a lift in, rather than the train.  This means that I now only get a train four days out of every fortnight.  I do use the time, but as my train journey is only just over 10 minutes I'm only able to do a few lines each journey.  Still, every little helps...

2) We got addicted to 'Breaking Bad'...

Actually, this isn't much of an excuse as we'd already started watching this before I started working on 'The Harrowed Man'; however we recently got on to Season 4, and it sort of snow-balled from there.  Anyone who's watched this series will tell you - aside from it being absolutely brilliant - that it's pretty compulsive viewing from the end of Season 3 onwards, right through to the finale.  But watching this has kept my attention away from my script, which hasn't helped my writing process is really slow anyway...

3) My creative process would make a sloth look like it's got ADHD...

It's not so much that there's no motivation (alright, sometimes that IS an issue!), but just that my ideas don't develop when I'm forcing them.  Let me employ a gardening analogy (probably incorrectly): it's like tending to a plant which not only grows slowly, but flowers and produces fruit after a long period of time.  So each scene is like a vine or branch of this plant, and each time I go back and think about it, a new detail will come to mind - like it's very slowly developing from a bud in to whatever kind of flower it's going to be when it finally blooms.  Or something like that.  To counter this, I'm now basically writing the outline as linear piece, before I truncate it down to become a treatment, and then finally a script.

4) I've been writing my Film Blog... quite a lot actually

I know that one of my other ambitions was to write something else - a blog about movies wasn't quite what I had in mind!  I do have other ideas of what I could write, I just need to settle on one particular thing to write.  However, if nothing comes of any of these other concepts at least I can use the Blog to say I've fulfilled that ambition!  The other side of that however is the time and headspace this requires, which takes from that which could be spent on the script.  I've managed to separate the two things though, so I'm able to be strict about when I can work on the script, and when I can write an entry for the Blog.

Anyway, despite all this, I'm still committed to getting this script done - just being very slow about it.  And as for the other ambitions - well plans are afoot.  But those are long term things which may take a year or two to come to fruition, so watch this space...

I apologise for the lack of pictures on this latest blog post.  To compensate, here's a picture of a sloth, seeing as I mentioned one earlier.  He looks a friendly fellow, doesn't he?

* Actually, I think they're more like excuses than legitimate reasons...

That horrific moment you realise a film already exists similar to the one you're trying to write...

Writing can be a bit of a struggle at times.  You can often find you have the time, but not the inspiration, to get anything down.  Or if you've got ideas but life keeps throwing other stuff in your way, you can't get anything down on paper.  At least, that's what I find anyway.  As I stated last week I've been finding things very slow going creatively in recent weeks - last week I discovered something which, to say the least, hasn't exactly encouraged me to press on.

I'm a subscriber to Empire Magazine, and whilst flipping through the latest issue last week I had one of those moments where you want to exclaim, quite loudly 'Oh, for f**k's sake!!!' and put your head in your hands.  Reading through their article of movies available to watch On Demand, I came across this description for a 2011 Swedish Horror Film entitled 'Marianne':

"In Swedish writer-director Filip Tegstedt's chilling debut, the death of a cheating husband's wife causes him to have terrifying visions of a nocturnal visitor, drawn from Swedish folklore, threatening not only his sleep, but his sanity.  But is the creature, as his psychiatrist believes, an expression of his own guilt?"

My reaction is understandable, if you recall the brief outline I published for 'The Harrowed Man', the horror film I am (trying to) write:

It is about someone who loses their wife and 4 year old child in a car crash, which he survived. Whilst struggling to carry on with his life, coping with his grief and a creeping feeling of guilt that he survived when they did not, he begins to be haunted by a terrifying figure. This figure not only feeds the man's feelings of guilt, but it also physically attacks him, each encounter more dangerous than the last.
With the support of his sister, and a grief counsellor (who believe that the man's injuries from these attacks are self afflicted), he realises he must confront this figure, in order to overcome his grief and guilt.
But this figure is not merely trying to hurt the man - it wants to make him remember things he has suppressed from his memory...

As you can appreciate, this isn't the sort of news to inspire someone who has been in the creative doldrums of late...

However! - I decided that, before I simply throw my idea out of the water entirely, I would investigate this seemingly identical movie further.  Thankfully, I found some key differences:

• In 'Marianne' the main character only loses his wife but not his children.  In 'The Harrowed Man' he loses his wife and only son.
• In 'Marianne' the main character is only attacked at night (the film is apparently trying to touch on 'sleep paralysis').  In 'The Harrowed Man', the main character won't really be safe at any time of day - even though some incidents will be at night and relate to dreams.
• In 'Marianne' the main character struggles to rebuild his relationship with his children following his wife's death.  In 'The Harrowed Man' the main character's struggles are with himself and trying to adapt back to a 'normal' life.

Also, from watching the trailers, it appears 'Marianne' plays down horror staples such as special effects, and is shot in a low key way - 'The Harrowed Man' would definitely require some effects and more stylised filming to realise certain elements.  On top of that, I don't believe the film is widely seen outside of Sweden anyway...

Besides that, I'm torn between whether to watch 'Marianne' or not: part of me wants to, to affirm that it's different to my film script; the other part doesn't, unless it unduly influences it (or proves that my idea is too similar for its own good).!

Ultimately though it hasn't deterred me from writing my script, which is just as well.

I just need to get time and inspiration to do so....

6 months on - a progress report. Or lack thereof...

Well, it's been about 6 months since I started this blog - time I guess to see how I'm getting on. The (somewhat depressing) summary is: not that great so far :-/

So, looking backwards over my objectives for the few years before my impending 40th, here's where I've got to:

Buy a House: this is a bit immeasurable at the moment, as progress towards this will be slow. On the positive side, our financial situation should improve gradually from this month and over the next couple of years, so steps are being taken, which is the most positive bit of progress.

Improve my career prospects: sadly, I'm not having much success with this at the moment. Still, I have a job, and in the current economic climate I'm not complaining otherwise!

Write...something else: err, nothing to report here! I keep mulling over ideas, but seeing as I can't even get on with my primary writing objective...

Write a film script: I've not really made any progress with this - partly because work has been pretty intense over the last few months, so I've not had a lot of time and inclination to write; also, I've realised I have absolutely no idea about the final act for this film, which doesn't help! Literally all I've done is, mentally at least, amend one scene.

However, I recently talked through my 'Third Act' dilemma with my wife and I think it has helped, as some ideas have begun forming in my head. My priority now is to keep jotting down ideas for scenes, then order them in to a structure I can work from. So watch this space...

So, while my progress with some of my objectives is slow (non existent in some areas! :-/ ), it's just as well I've another 3 1/2 years to crack on...

A Separation, of sorts...

Hello, well things have been quiet of late on my Blog front, mainly because work has been horrendously busy (we are down to one team member, i.e. me, at a time when several big projects have been due, joy!).  As a result, I've not had much in the way of time or inspiration for creativity, so I've not been writing either [sadface].

However, it has struck me that I want to write more about films, on top of the ones that have influenced me and the one I'm writing (very, very slowly) - to that end I've set up a new blog, which will just be for writing about films.  So there'll be articles about films that have had a big impact on me, idle speculation about future films, and reviews of whatever film(s) I happen to have seen lately ...when I have time/motivation... 

From henceforth, all my film-related blogging will take place here:

http://justanotherfilmgeek.blogspot.co.uk/


Anyway, the film script is still on the agenda - I'll hopefully have more time and inspiration to carry on with it once things quieten down at work...

I've actually been writing...

Yes, I've even surprised myself - last week was quite a creatively fertile week for me.  I had a positive break through in terms of how I'm going to approach finalising the structure for 'The Harrowed Man's outline, and I've put some things down for that.  On top of that, I have written something else - a very (very!) short script, which I present here for your perusal.

Before you read, I've got to admit this came out of a couple of nights of disturbed sleep, having dreams where I literally felt like someone was in my bedroom, and I couldn't let them know I was there.  A warning to you all: this is what happens when you read the 'Nightmare Fuel' page on TV Tropes before going to sleep...

Anyway, here's my little vignette, which I quickly thrashed out over a few 10-minute train journeys to and from work last week.  Enjoy!

[INT.] [NIGHT]

(A dark bedroom.  All is silent.  The camera shows the perspective is of the bed's occupant.  After several moments we hear the padding footsteps of a small child, running barefoot from one side of the room to the other.  However, there is no one to be seen.)

[Man (V.O.)] There's been someone in my room again.  I heard them.  It's not a dream, I'm sure.

(The camera pans slowly around the room, lingering on shadowy recesses, where there is a fading suggestion of a figure.)

[Man (V.O.)] Whoever it is, I think they are still here - they're in the shadows.  Or maybe - 

(the camera swings back to the side of the bed)

[Man (V.O.)] - they're right beside me?

(There is no one there.  The bed covers slowly begin to draw up over the camera, as though the bed;s occupant is pulling them over his head.)

[Man (V.O.)] But there shouldn't be anyone here.  After all, it's been two months since she left, with Jack.

(The camera turns, as though the occupant is now laying on his side, facing the empty side of the bed.)

[Man (V.O.)] He would wake me during the night.  Sometimes I'd hear his footsteps.  Sometimes I wouldn't wake until he was stood right beside me.

(The camera shifts, as though the occupant has sat up, looking at the doorway in the corner.

[Man (V.O.)] Even though he has gone with her, I'm still waking up with someone stood beside me.

(The suggestion of a shadow slowly emerges from the doorway, gradually moving closer to the side of the bed the man is in.)

[Man (V.O.)] I know I there can't be anyone there, but there IS a shadow, like the outline of someone.

(The sheets pull up over the camera, and it shifts as though the bed's occupant has laid down again.

[Man (V.O.)] So then I think, am I still dreaming?  There CAN'T be anyone there.  And I'm afraid, so I cover myself, to hide under my bed sheets.  I dare to glance - 

(the cover slowly lift)

[Man (V.O.)] - and I tell myself I AM still asleep, dreaming, because there CAN'T be anyone there - and there ISN'T.

(the covers go to reveal the figure is not there.)

[Man (V.O.)] So, if there's really no one there - why do I still feel like there is?

(The camera tilts as though the bed's occupant is laying on their side again.

[Man (V.O.)] I lay there, trying to convince myself I'm alone, really.

(A few moments pass.)

(Then there is the sound of running footsteps, from one side of the room to the other.)

[Man (V.O.)] But then the footsteps begin again.

(The camera rapidly tilts up, as though the occupant is now sitting up abruptly.  It then begins to pan from side to side, slowly)

[Man (V.O.)] And I'm searching the dark, again.

[Man (V.O.)] I KNOW they're still here.

(There is a suggestion of a shadowy outline.  The camera snaps back, but it is not there.

[Man (V.O.)] And I begin to wonder why someone is in my room when I should be alone.  Perhaps they don't realise I'm here.  OR, I hope they don't.

(The sheets begin to draw up over the camera.)

[Man (V.O.)] SO I hide, not allowing any part of the my body to be seen  I have a great fear that, if I leave an arm or leg hanging out, I'm sure whoever is in my room will find me.  And I don't want to know what will happen to me if they do.

(Slowly the sheets lift off the camera, and there is a shadow of a figure stood at the side of the bed.  Suddenly the camera jerks forward and it moves as though the bed's occupant is being dragged off the bed, on to and across the floor, in to the darkness outside the room.)

[CUT TO: The camera suddenly returns to the perspective of the bed's occupant, under the covers, as before.]

[Man (V.O.)] But this is crazy.  There is NO ONE here but me; I AM alone.  These shadows must be my imagination.

(The covers lower and the camera scans the room for shadow, before the perspective changes as the the bed's occupant is laying down.)

[Man (V.O.)] Perhaps it's because I've not got used to being alone.  Perhaps I don't want to.

(The camera turns as the bed's occupant has rolled on to their side, to view the other side of the bed, which is empty.)

[Man (V.O.)] When you've lived with someone for that long - 7, no 8 years - you're not going to find this ...loneliness normal.

[Man (V.O.)] So I guess I've made these things up - the sounds, the shadows, so I don't feel like I'm on my own now.

[Man (V.O.)] I don't know what's more frightening.

(Several moments silence.  Then there is the sound of footsteps.  The camera adjusts as thought the bed's occupant has sat up.  The footsteps continue from one side of the bed to the other, the camera following them as they go around the other side of the bed.  Then the footsteps become running footsteps, back to the other side of the bedroom.  The camera pans slowly back to the other side of the bed.  There is someone laying next to the occupant, their back to him, the covers up over their head.

[Man (V.O.)] If this is just in my head then it's because I need someone with me.

[Man (V.O.)] But if it's not, I'm not really alone, the thought that scare me most is what do they want of me?

(The other person in the bed slowly turns over, pulling the sheets down, to reveal a female face, but with dark shadowy pits where the eyes and mouth should be.  They move towards the camera, closer and closer, until the shadowy pits swallow all in darkness.)

END

Thank you for reading!  All there is to say for now is: nite nite, pleasant dreams..! :-p

The Matrix Sequels - 10 Years on...

I'm back with a post, unfortunately no new writing to report - I've had a bit of an uninspired patch lately, my creative get-up-and-go seemed to have got up and went! Anyway, I apologise for using that clichéd joke - I've not completely dried up as I've a couple of ideas that have sprung to mind in the last couple of days; I just need some time to sit down and wrestle them in to my (still non-existent) story plan.

In the meantime, I thought I'd write about some more films, and as this month marks 10 years since the release of the first of the two sequels to 'The Matrix', I felt it an appropriate time to reflect on them.

They are, with some justification, widely regarded as two of the most disappointing sequels ever filmed. Whilst their flaws are pretty apparent, I believe there are redeeming features to them which shouldn't be entirely dismissed. I recently decided to watch them both back-to-back (it was actually the first time I'd watched 'Reloaded' since it was in the cinemas), and here are my thoughts on them.

I'll start with 'The Matrix Reloaded'; elements of this film have been widely derided, and viewing it ten years later hasn't dulled these. Firstly, there's the Zion Rave scene - a miss-handled attempt to show why humanity is worth fighting for and warring for its salvation. Only, it does look pretty laughable, especially interwoven with a particularly unconvincing sex-scene... There is also the Architect scene, famously parodied on more than one occasion - the revelation this delivered about Neo and his role in the Matrix should have hit like a Vader-sized bombshell; but because of the ostentatious, overly-verbose and slightly pretentious speech the Architect delivers it is robbed of its power. This speech requires multiple viewings to really get your head round, and while I think any film that is designed to encourage and reward repeat viewings with an enhanced understanding of its message, if the majority of the audience can't follow it on the first viewing then it's kind of failed to achieve it's point.

Aside from these glaringly obvious problem points, I think 'Reloaded's biggest problems are its structure/pacing, and the heavy-handedness with which it presents the philosophical points the makers want to get across. Probably the worst example of this is early on in the film when Neo and Councillor Hamann have a conversation about the machinery which powers Zion - who is in control, the humans or the machines? It does nothing to advance the plot, and is the equivalent of hitting the audience over the head with the film's philosophy: 'freedom of choice is an illusion!!! Or is it?!?!'

This is a shame, as (like the preceding film) there are some neat visual metaphors for this, in the shape of doors (...lots of doors, as Neo might say ;-) ) - some of which lead the characters to places they might not expect; and as in the first film, this imagery is underpinned by Don Davis' great score. So while all of this unsubtle and thinly veiled philosophical exposition is taking place, you can forgive the audience for thinking 'Christ's sake, get to the Kung Fu already!!!'

This is where the weight of expectation was always going against the film - its predecessor redefined a lot of action cinema beats, with the gun play and fight scenes, and the ground breaking introduction of 'Bullet Time'. Perhaps there was no way the sequels could have improved on that, or even matched it really - but part of the desire for these sequels was to see more of the great action, so it was frustrating for the audience to have to wait for it - and to be honest, it still is, 10 years on. But when we get to the action sequences, it does deliver (mostly) - the 'Burly Brawl' and Freeway sequence are still, by and large, two well executed and at times jaw-dropping sequences.

Finally, the two-part structure of these sequels is another thing that impacts upon 'Reloaded' - the ending is far from satisfying, and leaves unanswered questions; okay, so it IS a cliff-hanger - but the sudden turn of having Neo sucked in to the Matrix without being plugged in is a twist which at that point doesn't make sense.

So it was down to the final Sequel, 'Revolutions', to redeem the two-hander. It clearly wasn't entirely successful doing this, as it is regarded as a disappointment like 'Reloaded'. It has similar pacing issues - the introduction, with Neo stuck in the train station, doesn't clarify things really, and the attack in the S&M club just feels like a dispassionate re-tread of the previous film's better action sequences; also, the reasons for Neo being sucked in to the Matrix just don't ever seem to be defined in a clear and satisfying manner.

Also, the ending is not entirely clear or satisfying - especially as the first film seems to set up a conclusion which would have Neo lead the rebellion to eventually defeat the machines and free all of humanity from The Matrix.  But there are clues as to why the film heads to this conclusion: firstly, in the suggestion that programs in the Matrix are individual intelligence's in their own right, capable of creating 'life', so in effect are a species of sentient being worthy of survival; secondly, visual clues, such as the big freakin' (and painfully heavy looking!) ear-rings worn by The Oracle.

I'm not saying that the Wachowski's execution of their message was particularly great - but at the same time I think audience expectations were pretty much confounded by the ending; I for one wasn't expecting it. But looking back and re-considering the signals and imagery that leads to it, there are certain elements of the story telling which mean the conclusion does make sense.  This article on Ain't It Cool, published towards the end of last year, hit the nail on the head for me - these two films have quite a strong anti-war message, where the conflict does not lead to a clear victory for either side; rather a peaceful balance is what should be aimed for - two sides co-existing side-by-side without war.  Whilst I disagree with the writer's assertion that The Wachowski's most probably changed the direction of the sequels to reinforce this message as a result of 9/11 (the films were already well in to production before those terrible atrocities), I think, in retrospect, this is what they were wanting to convey with these films.  Whilst this is a laudable message, as a way to conclude an action and conflict packed block-buster trilogy, it's understandable why they are still viewed as a disappointment.

So, having set out the many flaws of these Sequels, I still find myself wanting to watch them from time-to-time.  Yes, despite their myriad problems, there is still so much to enjoy about them.  I personally find 'Revolutions' the better of the two films - aside from it being the more satisfying in terms of story-telling as the conclusion, it features one of my favourite action sequences of the last decade: The Battle for Zion.  In the midst of all the Kung-fu fights, this Japanese Anime and Mecha influenced action scene was a pleasant surprise.  I love the design of the Battle-suits, the way they're portrayed on screen, the little details of them pulling the guns from their backs, with big belts of bullets feeding ammo to them.  The scenario, the desperate last stand, is well realised, making it a gripping sequence.  If I ever flick through the channels and find this film is on, and it is about to start this sequence, I will always leave it on that channel and watch it.  When I watch it, I am once again sucked in to that world and for a few minutes, completely forgetting about the real world.  That is the mark of a great fantasy setting, whether it is sci-fi or any other setting - and that is why, despite their problems, I'll keep going back to The Matrix Sequels.