Hi all,

Just wondering if you have ideas for plots or stories that work well with our beloved format. Thanks!

Hi,

what about this one:
* Person opens his/her mailbox. Contents: 1 letter and 1 newspaper.
* Person opens the letter: It's a "pay your bills (50000 EUR/$/whatever) or get impounded"-warning. Person panics.
* Person takes a look at the newspaper's headline with a very blurred photo: Yeti spotted in <your hometown's most famous park here>! 50000 EUR/$/whatever reward for better photos!
* Person grabs camera and is desperately trying to photograph the Yeti... (of course only dogs, kids or other photographers can be found behind the bushes)
* Next day: Newspaper's headline: "3 billion photos shot because of an April Fool's joke". Newspaper's date is April 2nd
* The bailiff is ringing at the door.

Should work without speech/sounds/... and shouldn't exceed 120m (or 400ft for the British)...

Jörg

Hi Jörg,

haha thats some story you got there. Just reading about it was entertaining. Thanks for the input. I ran out of ideas and panicked leading up to the straight8 deadline (ended up with some crappy random shots of Luxembourg). Oh well, there's always next year right? thanks again

Daniel

Just about any story should work fine.

Remember.

Movies are about the moving image. Not dialogue.
That's what plays are for...and TV to a large extent.

I was lucky to meet and talk with Billy Wilder while I was
in film school in the late 90s.
And he told me that...if you watch a movie...with the volume turned down,
and you can follow it -- both story wise and emotionally...then the director
is doing it right.
And this came from a director who was know for very greta, literate scripts.
but...go back and watch his greatest movies again.
With the volume turned down.

I watched a lot of movies in film school.
Starting as a screenwriter first.
And I probably learned more as a director-writer...watching
foreign films, silent films and experimantal films,
where the directors all started off as lovers of stories first.
In other words...as readers...and then fans of movies, visual arts, etc.

And in this digital world?
Audiences are even more intelligent.
All of my scripts going back to script 1...not matter how bad it was,
I never assumed anything about the audience.

Which means...I don't hit it on the nail head.
And I don't get caught up in this argument that everything in a movie has to be externalized,
especially in the script stage, like so many of the Hollywood and wannabes are
always talking about.

good luck.

MARK11

wow..thanks Mark. Very thought-provoking advice indeed

Daniel