Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Future tense

So... tomorrow is the "Scriptmarket Market Ready Workshop" in That London.

I shall be up an hour earlier than usual, hopping on a train and arriving Euston at about 8:15. The event starts at 9:00am, and the Underground trains are on strike. (Not the trains themselves, you understand, but the staff.)

Which means two things: I shall be walking a mile or so to the location (unless I decide to take a taxi - but they're 'spensive) and I expect the train not to be very crowded, which is a definite plus.

I'll be travelling all the way back up North afterwards because my employers asked me to attend a meeting in Derby on Friday. This has the unfortunate side-effect of forcing me to carry my washing around with me - I deliberately travelled light this week. I shall endeavour to throw out a blog on the events of the day tomorrow evening on my way home.

What else?

Oh yes, the secret. Well in order to support Shooting People's Script Pitch bulletin which was being bad-mouthed by a silly person, I let the cat out of the bag today so I might as well tell you: I put Monsters in the bulletin a couple of weeks ago, got a contact from a director who wants to make a trailer, and we now have a producer as well. Which is all good fun.

And this is why I've been thinking about trailers.

As in: What is a trailer composed of? I'm pretty confident I've nailed it conceptually. In all probability I'm not the first person to think what I'm thinking but let me throw it open:

What is a trailer composed of?

I have written down my answer and put it in this sealed envelope and there'll be a prize for the person whose answer most closely matches the one I've written here. Put your answer on a postcard, or on the outside of a stuck-down envelope, and send it to the usual address (and don't forget your own name and address) - or put it in the comments below (and don't put your address for heaven's sake).

(Future tense? Just being a smarty pants ... I'll be tense in the future ... one day I hope to gain the other 50% and become a complete wit.)



What's on the turntable? "Summer: 2nd Movement" by Vivaldi from "The Four Seasons"

4 comments:

Eleanor said...

Trailers?

The hero, the obstacle, some exciting conflict between them, some snappy dialogue [and effects shots of things blowing up...maybe]

....

And in an ideal world,...

I hate knowing anything about films before I get to the cinema, so if you want to please me:

Avoid (anything but mini snapshots of) anything that happens after the curtain raises on the second act - OR I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU.

Eleanor said...

Okay, so TV Series are a little different from films ... but similar theory for trailers IMO, okay?

FrankA said...

Disclaimer: I know nothing, but as a fellow aspiring writer I follow your blog with interest and feel the urge to feedback! :)

Surely a trailer is the visual equivalent of a logline?

And would show:

Protagonist
Antagonist
Conflict
The Hook
Style/Genre

And it would show these element by picking key moments or scenes from your finished film... perhaps ideally using scenes which reveal more than one element at a time? (Economy is king)

Above all it should perhaps make the audience do work, make them fill in the blanks, invent their own ideas of how the story would pan out.

After all, how many times have we seen a great trailer only to be disappointed by the movie because of the story expectations the trailer evoked?

I guess you need to imagine Monsters as having been shot not as script and which pieces you'd show?

Anyway, prob best to ignore me!

BTW - I've read your first 10 pages - thanks for posting, although my CBBC script feels a little inadequate after reading Air! :)

Chris Regan said...

Great to hear some success coming from the Script Pitch bulletin!

If I can suggest something on the trailer front, it's worth remembering that it's a trailer for investors rather than for audiences and there might be some differences.