Monday, March 30, 2015

Shorts on Love (1) They Wore Pink


I love the slow way [writer and director] Terry Miles tells a story. Even in a nine minute movie, he manages to hold on to things and unpeel them in unique ways.
 Reference: Watch this Film: They Wore Pink.

For me, it's the sinister soundtrack that hints at the dark motif in this short film.  Somehow this lady isn't all that she appears.  Even as her lover discovers the shocking import of what the two of them had just done, I get the feeling there is more up her bare arms or behind the corners of her smile. 

Terry Miles is so brilliant.
 

Friday, March 20, 2015

Kirk Bowman (9) Dealing with Writer's Block



Whether due to personal or project matters, writer's blocks can be disconcerting.  I write 18 blogs and post on 18 social sites on a regular basis, and I am grateful that more often than not, ideas flow out of me easily and satisfyingly.  Still I have had many occasions where blogging and posting can take hours, where it seems that my way forward is fraught with road blocks.  No sooner have I overcome one that another slips in front right away.  So it becomes a stop and start, painstaking process.  What each of us does, then, is some admixture, I imagine, of stepping back and keeping at it.  

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Kirk Bowman (8) Writing a Story



I've heard this a few times from those in the dramatic arts: A film or play must first and foremost have a good story.  You may have great characters, special effects, and evocative soundtrack, but unless they're wrapped in fabric that has fine threads, these will all have weak dramatic effects.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Kirk Bowman (7) Play Writing Ideas



It may help to have a friend along, as you brainstorm and search for ideas.  But on our own or not, I agree with Kirk Bowman, sources of and possibilities for creativity surround us every moment.  Because plays are inevitably about people, what goes on in our day to day lives or with happenstance incidents and unexpected places are ripe with staging possibilities.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Kirk Bowman (6) Creating a Character



Observing people is something I’m already inclined to do, just as it is with watching movies, I want to do so more mindfully and thoughtfully. Creating characters is also about remembering stories of what people did and how they reacted.
 

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Monday, March 2, 2015

Kirk Bowman (4) Writing Dialogue for a Play



A script is just a blueprint for actors to breathe life into, not the end products, such as in a novel, article or poem. The production is the final step. You write dialogue to be spoken, not read. The dialogue has to fit the characters (rf. `Ticket to Paradise). From a CEO, to a well-to-do lady, to a blue-collar worker. Keep in mind that dialogue is also as much what you don’t say, that is, what you communicate visually (expression, behavior). Fewer words can mean more.