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Wow. Great questions.
Much appreciated.
Ms. Mai-ling asked. How did you conceive the idea for “Centigrade” and was it difficult going from concept to actual writing a script?
The ‘idea’ is at least 14 years old. Not entirely sure if it was a concept I’d written in film school, or just before. Although I’d been writing as far back as I could remember, CENTIGRADE was one of my first screenplays.
Started out as anything I suppose. An idea. We’ve all got them. Though, with due respect, most of us just sit on our ass and bore the shit out of everybody else with them. Spitting out every little nuance of the story. The quirky characters. Plot twists, etc. But, that’s the one thing I NEVER do.
‘Talking’ about your project is the kiss of death. Want to make sure you’re a complete failure in life? Talk about what you’re going to do. Tell everyone your great idea for a film or a book and I can guarantee nobody in hell will ever read it. Ever see it. By opening you mouth, you literally dissipate every once of energy needed to create it. My advice? Shut up and show them.
As for it’s conception and any difficulties? Nah. The idea was solid and it was simply a matter of pulling it down from around my head and laying it down on paper. Although, generally a massive undertaking, CENTIGRADE went to paper very easily. Bringing it to the screen? Now that was a challenge.
Remember, the script sat in a box for 14 years. It wasn’t until Madison Graie showed up that it had any chance.
Mark Rickerby inquired. Why didn’t the main character in *Centigrade drink the fish bowl if he was so desperate for water, and eat the goldfish? It counts as sushi, right?*
Good point. The simple answer is that he doesn’t drink the fish bowl for the same reason very few people even think about it until ‘after’ it’s been tipped over. He forgot it was even there. It would have been the kids after all, don’t you think?
There are ‘deeper’ more obscure reasons, but they’re mine and have little bearing aside from being of interest to cinephiles and film critics with too much time on their hands.
Sally asked. *Centigrade has very little speech in it. Would you consider it more or less difficult to write a ‘script’ like that, as opposed to writing something that has conversation flowing between characters?*
It was challenging. I personally love the written word. Windows into the heart and all that. But, with this project the challenge was to tell a story without any words. In that way, it’s a bit of a ‘perfect’ screen play. (For a director, that is.) The story would simply not play as strong if it were a short story or novella. It has to be a movie. The story needed to be ‘seen’, and that needed a Director. The reactions. The shots. The perfect script for my directorial debut. All story. No words. If I could pull it off then I’d have a something I could show anywhere in the world. And I think we did it.
Rob said: What stage is another one of your ideas in?…”THE METHOD”
As a screen play, THE METHOD is finished. 8 years in the making. It’s now a matter of raising the money and support to make it real. Centigrade was in fact part of a master plan. To see if I could pull it off for one, and secondly to use Centigrade as a calling card to help make The Method a reality. Other than that, I’ll shut up.
baterista9 said: What criteria would you use to select extras on a feature?
Criteria for choosing ‘extras’ on a feature is entirely context driven. Kids. Adults. Seniors. Simply a matter of putting the right kind of people, in whatever wardrobe fits the scene, into the background. A park, court room or coronation. I’ve done extra work and it sucks. But, it’s still more fun than stackin’ a box of coal.
Mike A. in Virginia said: How about the addressing the religious angle…karma, Hell, or just a boy’s drawing and imagination? See you in a couple weeks, and Sean Hogan sends best wishes from Saskatoon.
Hey Mike. Say hi to Hogan for me.
The religious angle. Well, there’s no question that it’s laden with concepts of karma, judgment day, atonement, hell fire and all the rest. But of course, I prefer to let the viewer find their own truth in it. There’s a little something in there for everybody, closer you look, the more you’ll find.
For the new age minded folks, the karma’s loud and clear. For the secular avant gaurde ‘Twilight Zone’ fans, be wary of strange little boys with crayons. And as for those familiar with the good book, well… they could spend a good month breaking CENTIGRADE down to its pixels. Goldfish don’t just pop into scripts accidentally you know.
*Bunni said: As a writer and director, regarding the process of translating what you visualize in your mind to a medium where others can see it :
How satisfied are you with the end product?
How closely does it match your original “vision”?
What do you see as difficulties in translating from the mind’s eye to film/video?*
1) Very.
2) Incredibly close. Only that it’s far greater than my original idea. My ‘vision’ (hate that word) was tremendously well thought out and prepared for. The beauty of the shoot was the fact that I now had other like minded people who were very creative. I am NOT a tyrant as a Director (though I can be as a Producer.). I really like the idea of opening up the creative to my team. Granted, I may have struck down 90% of the ideas brought to me, but the 10% that made it through added a magic to the show that I NEVER would have come up with on my own.
3) Difficulties? The answer for that would require a years diary. Just imagine for a second you have an ‘idea’. A non-thing. A blip of neurons and plasma. And you turn that very thing into a three dimensional reality that can be touched, witnessed, slapped into a dvd player, spun through a projector or stuffed into a suit case. The amount of things that need to be done is simply incalculable. It’s exactly like giving birth, only instead of letting the instinctive nature of biology give life to the child, you have to literally think, plan and execute every single aspect of it’s creation. You do not have to be talented. You have to be f*cking insane.
Zephyr RS said: Have you ever developed a visual idea of a scene in your head while you were initially writing only to decide moments before filming that you were off-target? What inspired the change - actors, sets, costume, etc?
Absolutely. Anything and everything could inspire that change. It just started raining, but there’s nothing but sun in your script. The white actor playing the KKK guy is sick, but his black friend can do it. You’ve got a killer piece of wardrobe, but it won’t fit the fat girl. The limousine you rented blew a tire. BUT, the craft service gal has got a really cool bicycle. And so, the bride and groom leave the church on a bike. He, pedaling as fast as he can. And she, laughing atop the handle bars.
And the Oscar goes to…?
baterista9 said: What literary work (in the broad sense, anything from haiku to “re-imagined” film /TV series) would you like to bring to the large or small screen?
Can’t tell you Gilder. Don’t want anyone beating me to it.
Hey everyone. Need some help here.
It’s tough trying to come up with a new entry every three to four days and so, I’ve come up with an idea.
I need some suggestions.
Anything ‘film’ related. And not, “Did I like making the movie?” but, questions that would imply a little something more than, “Yes. It was great.” Could be anything. Only try and keep it to the spirit of what this sight is all about. Movies. The ‘process’, the people, specific hassles, how can ‘you’ make a movie? I don’t know. All I know is that I enjoy writing them, but since things don’t always happen every four days, it’s kind of hard to keep it all going with something interesting. So. That said, just use the ‘comments’ to write a question. But ONLY one. And if I only get ‘one’ then I’ll know that this site totally blows and that no one is tuning in. Kind of like my career.
Talk soon.
C.
Real quick, I need to mention something right off the top of this posting. I have mentioned the ‘key’ players above. But I wanted to add a name. Jonathan Tyrrell. AKA ‘The Great Briton’. This poor bastard started out as our editor, then somehow got roped into being our post production supervisor, then color timer and now web master. And all for the price of an avocado roll.
It sucks not being able to ‘properly’ pay people. So many people on this show have literally worked for a bottle of wine or a sixer of Bud. The final shot in the film, a massive piece of VFX work that was quoted at over 20,000 dollars… Well, only one guy stepped forward. Mike Borgstrom, our VFX artist, did the work for a box of Corona.
But even that my friends, adds up. Fifty bottles of wine. 20 bottles of scotch. Countless cases of beer. And things are now, most definitely ‘tight’.
No money.
Tapped out.
The film cost 20,000 dollars to make (THANK YOU KICK START), but because Montréal wants to screen us in competition (and we want to compete) the film ‘must’ be screened in 35mm. That’s an ‘additional’ 8,000 dollars, almost half our budget.
In addition to that. HD to film transfer, 5 grand. Answer prints, 1,200. Optical strip, 1,000. Stills, media packages, HD transfers, DVD transfers, screener copies….
I’m now out 12,000 bucks. That’s… Out. Of. Pocket. Madison’s out at least 5. And all for a film that nobody will ever see.
Seriously. What was the last short you saw? Of course there was that brilliant Academy Award winning short from last year? Remember that? Wasn’t it astonishing? No? Didn’t see it? Really? Me neither. How about the winner before that? Anyone? If you’re older than 30, the last short movie you saw probably starred people with names like Alfalfa and Buckwheat. (God bless you Hal.)
But still. You bust your ass. Flirt with bankruptcy. (Or at the very least say goodbye to the condo.) Sacrifice. You never see your friends. Girlfriends leave you. (They also step up to help you.) Bills go unpaid. ‘Family’ is stretched to it’s limit.
And then should you actually pull the thing off, and SCREEN your movie, some bozo walks out of the theatre and chimes, “Eh… Hey! Let’s go find some pussy.”
But am I complaining? No way baby. Wouldn’t trade it for the world. How many people can say they made a movie? Only a handful really.
And so, if I’m going to ‘count’ anything. Let it be my blessings.
Out.
