|
SUMMER 2008
The Dynamics of Studio Film Concept
Development and Management
Research @ Analysis @ Development @ Management
February 2007 Creative Seminar
 Translating Short Stories into Horror "pocket stories"
is real. You can find several series of ghost stories that are actually short stories with sometimes "cheesy" ghost
pictures. Usually, a pocket story will range from 10 to 15 pages. Given that a collection is made up of 5 to 6
short horror stories.
Coming up with new materials is often difficult. But if you know the structure and components,
it is generally less difficult. But I must admit, scaring people is not a walk in the park. But if you are able to create
a winning formula, chances are, you will be able to capitalize on the business of death.
==========================
Short Story Development and Management
Workshopampalaya08 ( multiply id)(Terror Genre : Horror)/ 4 Sessions/saturdays
2-4pm
Slated For October 2008
Fee ( 4,500)
1st Creative Minds Brainstorming Clinic
1. Corporate-Media Brainstorming Procedure and Orientation
a. concept development group
b. material development and management unit
c. creative research and analysis group
2. Material Development and Management
a. studio archetype
b commercial model
c unique selling point of an idea d studio parameters
3. Premise vs. Pitch
a. elements
b. components
c. structure
==========
For Registration: Please indicate full name and contact number
========
FILM STUDIO BRAINSTORMING...
The Science & Art
Want to know how a commercial film production
outfit develops projects?
Master the principles crucial to make a
certified box-office hit movie.
Learn how to integrate into your story
concept aspects that affect the production of a script. Know anything from market
viability to star system to studio jargons and doctrines.
Seminar-Workshop:
MARCH 24 & 31
2 Saturdays (9am-1pm)
Workshop Fee: P 2,500
Email: irish_patatas_entertainment@yahoo.com
Creative Seminar
Lecture Outline :
First Day (4
hours) : Research & Analysis
- Idea
- Concept
- Premise
- Studio Genre
- What they want vs
What you need
- "May Puso" Doctrine
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ------
Second Day (4 hours):Development & Management
- Creative Marketing
- Brainstorming
- Group Dynamics :
The Collective
- Individual Dynamics
: The Self
- Edit & Revision
==============
A good creative manager, head-writer or creative head
unitis able to spot raw talents and guides such talents to absorb skills that are within the parameters of a company or creative
team. The real difficulty is not the training but the spotting. Contrary to ruthless methods, anger will only
make the situation more difficult. Real talent is often identified through diagnostic trade secrets.
Creative Management and Development in highly successful
multimedia companies are often structured in a think-tank model. The model presents five distinct types namely;
1) the spotter, 2. the tosser, 3. the pointman, 4. the baseline and 5. enforcer and 6) moderator. The said types are under
the moderator who is often the creative head unit or the creative manager.
The baseline provides the initial spread of the creative
engagement. He or she comes up with the raw parameters that are often dictated by the moderator. The
baselines are individuals who present the team with the initial spread that are often raw and
general. It is then the job of the moderator to evaluate the potential of the baseline's initial spread.
The tosser gives the baseline the creative possibilities.
He or she saturates the baseline with creative inputs that are within the initial parameters of the moderator.
The spotter guides the tosser in terms of interpreting, validating and analyzing the tosser's creative possibilites.
The enforcer then edits the the creative output using the analysis of the spotter. The pointman identifies
all the creative options as presented by the creative outputs. In
the end, several creative options are presented. The moderator selects the best option and refines the creative output.
A good creative head should know how to classify
the members of his or her team. When the creative head fails to do so, usually, brainstormings are unpleasant and
full of useless shouting matches. Some would argue that anger is a good source for creative outputs... I disagree.
Marketing studies show that when the primary emotion in any creative engagement is anger, creative outputs tend
to be shallow and empty. So know what type you are so that you can efficiently use your creativity in a very efficient manner.
Writing
about Fat People and their collective struggle is not easy specially if you do not know what is behind the fat. Domestic
Movie Studios, trying to embibe the Korean Cinema Sense and Sensibility are unable to capture the real essence of what the
struggle is all about.
Size has a form and a function. Usually, what we see is the form minus the function.
A person who loves food and does not exercise has a different function from a person who loves food and does exercise.
Fat, in its molecular dimension, has its own relative emotional and physical effect to a person. Thus, one must study the
molecular dimension of a Fat Person.
The Nutty Professor is a good example in terms of entertaining the viewing public
using Fat as the core value of the comedy. When writers and directors provide a distinct personality behind the "fat",
we begin to engage and realize that the "fat' character has an inherent form and function.
I guess, the same treatment
is applicable to any sector in society. If we just show the form, we are not seeing the big picture in terms of character
dynamics. I do understand that entertainment is a huge given in any mainstream material but it will be more entertaining
if we get to know Mr. Chubby. After all, more money is gained when the audience is engaged.
===========
A sequence is considered as a unit
under a script construct. The conventional appreciation of a sequence relies heavily on quantity as a collective. Meaning,
a material with a 60 minutes peg usually have, in general terms, 60 sequences. This is true if there is symmetry in
terms of how you mount a sequence in relation to or with the previous and next sequences.
But what prevails in the alternative digital movie industry is the notion of asymmetrical treatment
of sequences. Meaning, a material with a 60 minutes peg relies heavily on quantity in terms of time per sequence. Thus,
a sequence may have a different amount of time expenditure compared to the previous and next sequences.
Given the distinction between the two, it is possible for an alternative material to have 40 sequences
with a running time of 60 minutes. This is so possible within the framework of asymmetrical treatment. Thus, this
technique is well suited for low budget productions that seek to have big budget look in terms of material deployment.
irish_patatas_entertainment@yahoo.com
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Love story, love story and love story! The mainstream film industry is full of it and the market is saturated with it. But
do love stories really bring home the bacon? To give a sweeping answer to this question is not ideal for an academic discussion.
And besides, it is difficult to determine whether or not a love story is a blockbuster considering that we do not have a mechanism
for it. I feel that it is not a good idea to rely on professional spin-doctors in the film industry calling a love story a
big hit when in fact the real accounting does not give us the fair shake.
A love story is not a genre but a plot structure. It is not a story but the spine of the story matrix and the character matrix.
Understanding a love story as a plot structure makes it more real as a construct that yields unity, plausibility consistency
as it moves from the beginning up to the end. This is the nature of any plot. It provides both the story matrix and character
matrix a visible frame.
Unity, plausibility and consistency are the elements that make a love story move as a plot structure. This is the triangle
from which a story-editor tracks down whenever he or she evaluates a material that uses the said plot. It sounds cut and dry.
But believe it or not, this basic triangle does not hold true for both mainstream film industry and alternative digital movie
industry.
 Certain people will demand for more dialogues while
others will demand for less dialogues. Conventional wisdom states that character driven materials are always given more
dialogues compared to story driven materials. But this is not always the case, sometimes, character driven materials
are more effective if less dialogue is employed.Then again, there is always this question with regards to melodramas.
Usually, melodramas like soaps are often dialogue stereotypes with emphasis on the deliveries of the words and sentences.
But when we deal with character driven "dramas" or "pure dramas", what works with the construct is the principle of "less
is more".
When demanding for more dialogues, there is the need
to come up with unique models. Recycled dialogues are rampant specially in television soaps. When soap wirters
write for cinema, the wide screen is transformed into the television screen. Instead of making the central problem cinematic,
the audience ends up with emotional sprints.
Melodrama works for television when it is the only tone offered by television
networks. The same is true for cinema. We always get this over the top melodramas that are only good for 2 minutes
and then the whole thing becomes an artificial emotional loop.
Dialogues should describe the physical and emotional
flows of the narrative. "The Dialogue" is not the center of the material or the universe from which all the
elements in a material or script are subordinates. Dialogues augment the milieu, the montage and the mise en scene. "
The Dialogue" is just a part of the cinematic experience and not the experience itself.
 To be technical about it, a summary refers to the beginning,
middle and end of a story or backstory of a character . A synopsis is different. It does not refer to the story rather
it pertains to the conflict of the material.
If you check out the backs of your dvds, you will discover that
the actual description of the feature tackles the main conflict of the material. The trick in giving out a "kick ass"
synopsis is to determine which part of the conflict is super interesting to the end user.
Usually, the first
5 or 10 minutes of the outline of the material is the hook of the potential feature. But there are times that the body
of the conflict is far more "gut wrenching" than the others. Again this is a matter of common sense. There is no magic
about. If you know your conflict, I bet you can write a 1 Page/ Double Spaced Synopsis in 30 minutes or less.
|
|
In Hollywood, there are creative individuals
whose main bread and butter is come up with "commercially brilliant ideas". With emphasis on the word "commercially".
Idea, by nature is abstract. An idea is not a concept and a concept is not an idea. A concept is relatively more concrete
than an idea. Some may argue that a concept is a collection of ideas. Ideas that are put together in order to form a concrete
action plan with regards to the overall material.
Judging an idea is subjective,
some may hate your idea while others may adore it. What is important is that the haters are within the parameters of non-decision
makers and the lovers are those who call the shots. In the "prelims", the key people are the producers and the creative directors.
Your team mates may hate your idea but what can they do. In the end, the best idea is the idea that sells itself to the immediate
consumers and not your immediate
Unrealized Slapstick Situational Comedy
Slapstick Comedy depends on broad physical comedy and pantomime for its effect rather than verbal wit or character dialogue.
Thus, when a comedy revolves around slapstick, physical routines that provoke audience to laugh are essential.
Word plays and puns are often identified with slapstick. This is a common mistake. Action and activities are
more related with this mode compared to text and subtext. This is more or less supported by Slapstick Comedy of the
Three Stooges wherein physical comedy is widely applied.
People who do not understand this mode and genre of comedy often label Slapstick to be a comedy with no meaningful content.
Partly, this is the fault of comedy writers who are not familiar with and do not respect this comedy sub-genre. Often, they
recklessly interchange Slapstick Comedy with Gags.
Slapstick Comedy provokes the audience to react or act on a funny and physical stimulant. The funny factor of this genre
may draw its strength from its form or function. Thus, Slapstick Comedy may either entertain people or engage them in a dialectic
discussion of varying topics or issues.
When television introduced Pugad Baboy as a situational comedy, immediately,
it was a disaster in the making. The lack of proper research and deconstruction made the whole attempt futile in the first
place. Such a promising material was reduced to a meaningless exercise. Some people say, that disastrous sitcom affected the
popularity of the franchise in the print media. Somehow, the magic disappeared when inherent weaknesses of the franchise were
exposed.
Pugad Baboy is a comic strip that relies on physical comedy as a mode. Characters revolve around routines
that are directed to inducing laughter to its immediate audience. Furthermore, the comic strip by nature is made up of visual
one-liners. Thus, there are no visible emotional and physical narrative threads. What we see are feedliners and punchlines
that constantly interact in order to create what we call "the funnies
Translating a comic strip that is base on visual one liners that utilizes slapstick comedy as a mode requires a lot of
structural conversions in order to transform it into a workable situational comedy. For one thing, a sitcom requires visible
emotional and physical narrative threads. Thus, the mode of comedy is no longer a function of feedliners and punchlines rather
it begins to tell a complete story in terms of components and structure.
The Pugad Baboy sitcom did not exhibit such
vital features rather it relied on sentimental popularity that was clearly flimsy because the story and the characters were
not deploying a meaningful material whether it was for entertainment or dialectic discussions.
Proper research and
deconstruction would reveal that the sitcom was a situation of place. The magic came from the mythology of the place called
Pugad Baboy from which the characters and their relationships existed. Take away this urban myth and the characters cease
to be alive. I mean, where was the self-conscious dog Polgas in the equation?
The point of this case study is to emphasize
the need to understand the dynamics of both the genre and the format. The inability to identify, deconstruct and manage a
material will always lead to disastrous consequences. Pugad Baboy could have been a groundbreaking sitcom. It has the potential
to use Slapstick Comedy as a genre in engaging its audience in dialectic discussions through the situational comedy format.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
