Archive for January, 2010
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Where’s the End of Act One in ‘JAWS’ anyway?
It’s probably before the scene picture above, isn’t it. I ended up with the arduous homework for my Computer Games Writing course of having to watch good old horror films such as Alien, The Thing, The Exorcist and Jaws over the last few weeks. Nightmare 
The point of the exercise was to identify and compare the major structural beats and turning points of these films held up as good examples of the genre. And yet sitting there watching it with the clock on and looking for the nice ‘hello, I’m off into the magical new world of act two now‘ clarity of modern film-making seemed strangely absent.
I had always assumed that the death of the little boy on the raft (and the best contra-zoom shot ever!) was the end of Act One as everyone realises there is definitely a shark knocking around. But this only happens at about 11 minutes in whereas we are told that Act One ‘must’ end 25-30 minutes in.
I put that the end of the town meeting (after Quint scrapes his nails down the board) was the end of Act One as he essentially challenges Brody with the facts - take the battle to the shark or we all hide on land and our township goes bankrupt. But is that right either?
While we all came back with different answers, we all agreed that, if Jaws were re-made now, Act Two would begin with Chief Brody heading out to sea with Quint and Hooper, going to battle the shark in the watery world Chief Brody has always been afraid of. As you probably know, this doesn’t happen until over an hour in to the film.
So does Jaws have an hour long first act? Does Jaws show that the ‘rules’ of screenplay structure are malleable enough when your story is that strong? Or does this show Jaws‘ flaws? It’s also an hour before John Hurt’s chest bursts in Alien or before anyone even mentions the word ‘exorcism’ in The Exorcist. Do contemporary audiences not enjoy (or are presumed not to enjoy) the ratcheting build up of films like in the 70s?
And just where is the end of act one in Jaws?
Friday, January 1st, 2010
New Year’s, New Ideas (plus a spaceship quiz!)
I just finished reading Joe Hill’s equally heart-stopping and heart-warming ‘Heart-Shaped Box‘ while fending off the final New Year’s Eve event cobwebs. Finishing more books is definitely something I want to do in 2010.
But what else?
This year, I feel really lucky to have been allowed to work with amazing theatre company Slung Low on theatrical extravaganzas Beyond the Front Line, They Only Come at Night and, with perhaps too much free reign/too much fun, the TOCAN Live online narrative (running this project live and interacting online with the audiences as various characters was probably my working highlight of the year so thanks as well to any of you who played along!)
But what else?
Apart from the work I did with Slung Low, I feel that most of my other writing has been chasing various schemes and deadline applications. Mostly, without the time to start anything anew, this has meant freshening up old scripts and ideas. It seems obvious now that perhaps there’s a reason why these ideas were still sitting in my draw rather than already appearing on TV or stage.
It’s time to let go.
So I’ve decided to not apply for anything for a while and sit and write some new projects which new thoughts have been repeatedly popping up for. When they’re ready, then and only then will I see what schemes are knocking around to send them off for. So rather than New Year’s Resolutions, this is what I intend to have written by - not the end of 2010 - but by the time I turn 29 (which is at the end of March).
1. A new one hour TV drama pilot - it wont feature spaceships, aliens, monsters or magic of any sort (I gather this is possible ) I’m also going to break my rules about schemes too as this is intended to be ready as my submission for the BBC Writers’ Academy.
2. A radio play - now that I actually have sound on my computer again, I’ve been catching up on some amazing drama on Radio 4 and some spectacular sci-fi on BBC 7. I want a go! 
3. An original low-budget feature film treatment - I’ve got the idea in mind, it’s mostly influenced by the clear ideas of Richard Matheson stories and adaptations such as Stephen Spielberg’s Duel (although mine does not feature a big truck)
4. A two minute short film - Wow, you’re gonna write two pages huh, John? Yeah, I know. But, as I found with The Emaciated Man, fitting a story in two minutes can be harder than telling one in an hour. Also this is going to be a self-contained snippet from the above feature film. Hopefully I might be able to con some talented people into making it with me and maybe entering it into this year’s Virgin Media Shorts competition. Either that or it could just be fun!
So these are my plans. Out with the old, in with the new. Wish me luck!
But that’s not why you’re here, is it. Okay okay, at my friends Russ and Ed’s New Year’s bash last night we had a bit of a quiz and the round I came up with was ‘match the Spaceship to the Film/TV franchise’. Click on the picture below to have a go yourself.
And Happy New Year to you all. Onwards! 
