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On filmmaking
Jul. 13th, 2009 09:33 pmTonight we made green curry and ate basil and green beans from the garden. That's two things more from the garden than we usually get. It's seriously the first time anything has ever grown in any garden I've planted. So that's exciting.
What's not exciting is how my brain seems to have turned to mush after finishing the book. I remember this time last time I finished a book--I'd had a lot of ideas and just felt like I was going around in circles, not really able to get into anything new. I auditioned a lot of characters, but the stories just didn't go anywhere. There was a lot of sweat involved to get Anubis started. And eventually it worked out, of course, and I have hope that it will work out again, but do you ever just look back and wonder how you ever did that, and feel nervous that the magic won't happen again? Totally silly, I know. My hard drive is overflowing with book ideas. It's just hard to start all over and find those emotional nodes/stakes/plot turning points that spring easily once you really know your characters. How do you get into a new book?
Total subject change, but I am very much looking forward to seeing The Half-Blood Prince. We're considering bringing the boys (11 and almost 9, both Potterphiles). Not sure yet. It will take a little while to figure out the babysitting details for the other kids. If any of you go on Wednesday, I'd be interested in your reactions and if you think kids this age would do okay. I know it's rated PG, but I also know the storyline. It all depends on how they film it.
That said, I haven't been able to keep away from the links on Mugglenet. I particularly liked this series of B-roll footage--a filming of the filming. (See part 1, part 2, and part 3--and just so you know they are scenes from the movie, so if you don't want spoilers, don't look.) The things that interest me the most about this film (and others) is just how they make a movie--how you adapt a book into a believable script, and how you make the visuals look real. In some ways it's like writing a book. You don't actually have to write start to finish in either one. I often jump in and write a scene that presents itself in my mind, totally out of order. But in a film it just seems all the more fragmented. You might film the key emotional scene of the book the very first day--and the actors don't even know each other! Or you do seven takes of a deeply moving interchange, and each time the actors have to seem fresh. And there is no audience, really, to interact with, and it's so piecemeal that it seems it would be hard to get fully into the story as an actor. Not to mention how silly it must feel to battle invisible fingers of flame while a bunch of grownups look on.
Not to mention the editing that goes on. I think film editors and directors and camera and lighting people do a whole lot more, creatively, on a film than a book editor does on a book. Not that the book editor is less important, but really, a film is just a lot more collaborative than a book. The B-roll footage is kind of like a really nice home video. But look at the completed scene, and suddenly you have lighting, mood, shadows, cropping--it becomes a different thing entirely. Which scenes you choose to use or leave out, and what order you put them in, can really change the point of your whole film. (I guess that's another similarity with novel writing.)
Anyway. I'm not ready to run off to Hollywood and try to write screenplays. But I do find it fascinating that there are such wildly different ways of telling a story.
What's not exciting is how my brain seems to have turned to mush after finishing the book. I remember this time last time I finished a book--I'd had a lot of ideas and just felt like I was going around in circles, not really able to get into anything new. I auditioned a lot of characters, but the stories just didn't go anywhere. There was a lot of sweat involved to get Anubis started. And eventually it worked out, of course, and I have hope that it will work out again, but do you ever just look back and wonder how you ever did that, and feel nervous that the magic won't happen again? Totally silly, I know. My hard drive is overflowing with book ideas. It's just hard to start all over and find those emotional nodes/stakes/plot turning points that spring easily once you really know your characters. How do you get into a new book?
Total subject change, but I am very much looking forward to seeing The Half-Blood Prince. We're considering bringing the boys (11 and almost 9, both Potterphiles). Not sure yet. It will take a little while to figure out the babysitting details for the other kids. If any of you go on Wednesday, I'd be interested in your reactions and if you think kids this age would do okay. I know it's rated PG, but I also know the storyline. It all depends on how they film it.
That said, I haven't been able to keep away from the links on Mugglenet. I particularly liked this series of B-roll footage--a filming of the filming. (See part 1, part 2, and part 3--and just so you know they are scenes from the movie, so if you don't want spoilers, don't look.) The things that interest me the most about this film (and others) is just how they make a movie--how you adapt a book into a believable script, and how you make the visuals look real. In some ways it's like writing a book. You don't actually have to write start to finish in either one. I often jump in and write a scene that presents itself in my mind, totally out of order. But in a film it just seems all the more fragmented. You might film the key emotional scene of the book the very first day--and the actors don't even know each other! Or you do seven takes of a deeply moving interchange, and each time the actors have to seem fresh. And there is no audience, really, to interact with, and it's so piecemeal that it seems it would be hard to get fully into the story as an actor. Not to mention how silly it must feel to battle invisible fingers of flame while a bunch of grownups look on.
Not to mention the editing that goes on. I think film editors and directors and camera and lighting people do a whole lot more, creatively, on a film than a book editor does on a book. Not that the book editor is less important, but really, a film is just a lot more collaborative than a book. The B-roll footage is kind of like a really nice home video. But look at the completed scene, and suddenly you have lighting, mood, shadows, cropping--it becomes a different thing entirely. Which scenes you choose to use or leave out, and what order you put them in, can really change the point of your whole film. (I guess that's another similarity with novel writing.)
Anyway. I'm not ready to run off to Hollywood and try to write screenplays. But I do find it fascinating that there are such wildly different ways of telling a story.
