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Archive for December, 2005:

Images

Posted by ianmackinnon at 3:14, December 21st, 2005

Image 0256The site now supports image uploading. I can’t take credit for this as I copied the code from someone else and haven’t even read it yet. It does work though. See this spiffy photo of my window at 07.00 this morning and wonder at the age of technological miracles.

hello from far

Posted by gabriellecariolle at 16:48, December 20th, 2005

this is just a way to remind you all my tiny existence.
i have just reached NID and ahmedabad and as there is a proper internet connection in my room, i am crying with joy for such a blessing.
i am fine, thank you ; my projet has been nastily attacked by fate : most of my drawing have been destroyed by a sudden flood ten days ago in the middle of the night at chennai. like you see sometimes on tv, i had to carry my luggage on my head with water up to the belly, which is quite adventurous.
today i have noticed that i might have lost at this occasion my return ticket to uk, and perhaps i should do something about it.
otherwise, being a teacher is fun. indian students are beautiful as they don’t know what unrespect and despise to the authority mean. this is very lucky for me, but quite amazing for a frenchgirl.
i might start being more precise about my projet in the next days. i might as well transfer some little compressed ugly videos, cause that’s the only thing left.

Sofa so good

Posted by ianmackinnon at 23:47, December 15th, 2005

Recently I’ve been thinking I should leave the house more often. This afternoon I got cabin fever and had a good script-writing-frustration stomp around my room. I ended up slumping in the armchair that I never usually sit in, which turned out to be very useful.

Right now I’m in the process of banging out the animatic. Animatics are super-simplified cuts with a few still images representing each scene, so they looks kinda like La Jetée, or any Hungarian movie. My animatic looks boring, and I couldn’t figure out why until I sat in that chair. Then it occurred to me that I’d planned to shoot about half the film from the seat that I sit in to write the script. I now realise that the house is not my problem: I need to leave the sofa more often.

In other news, Wikipedia, that most reliable source of half-truths, claims that structuralism is “violent” and can be identified with the “excesses of colonialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia”. Yeah! My film’s gonna have something for everyone!

Method

Posted by ianmackinnon at 20:49, December 5th, 2005

Actors wanted: Obsessive-compulsive male and angry-beautiful female required for part-animated structuralist romantic comedy tragedy. Can pay expenses only. Must supply own lighting rig.

So I finished the script. There’s now a plot. It even made sense to three out of four people that read it. On Saturday I showed my script to an actual, living actor. She suggested I bypass lurking outside acting colleges and personally approach professional actors that I admire. This was a very encouraging complement, but it brought to my attention two rather unnerving thoughts: One, I’m nearing the point of having collaborators, who are most likely far more experienced than I am, and I’m going to have to tell them, “Yes, this is the film I’d like you to help me make”, and, “no, those are all the pages.”; two, I don’t watch enough TV to know of any small-screen actors I’d like to work with. However, I am very familiar with the big-screen. I made a shortlist last night and I’ve decided I’m going to offer every role in the story to Dustin Hoffman, including all extras, props and sets (interior and exterior). Nothing makes a convincing coffee table like pure Stanislavskian Method.

Production Diary

Posted by Will at 12:13, December 2nd, 2005

Rather than fill the whole site with diary entries that are there whether your interested or not, I am putting my production diary in the comments section of this post. Click on the comments section to view.