Latest blog posts by AlexNakone

Carrie Mathison: Case two in the study of a great character

11 03 2013 04:21:29 +0000

In the following discussion I draw reference to Richard Walter's arguements that make a good character in a screen play as per the blog by Amelia Nakone.

Carrie Mathison is the female CIA agent and the main protagonist in Homeland and a very unlikely one at that. She suffers with Bipolar Affective Disorder which she keeps secret from her superiors because it is incompatible with the requisites to hold a position as a CIA agent. She secretly receives Clozapine (which is an antipsychotic medication) from her elder sister who is a psychiatrist. Already she evokes audience sympathy. She is female and bipolar, so is the exact opposite to a stereotypical CIA agent.

Homeland co-creators Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa initially pitched the show to conventional TV networks with Carrie Mathison being a rather straight-laced CIA officer. Once it wasn't picked up they moved on to pitching the show to the cable channels where they made Carrie’s character more complex and flawed. She was given bipolar disorder and made more unreliable. Showtime eventually secured the rights to the show and embraced the unstable protagonist. This little story is quite revealing and underlines the willingness of cable TV to be more broadminded (hence why we are seeing such a wealth of good quality modern cable TV shows) but more importantly, the attributes needed to make a protagonist interesting.

Indeed, Carrie Mathison is deeply flawed with her mental illness, and her judgement at times is so impaired that she herself is uncertain whether to trust it. This is her almost insurmountable flaw in her quest to firstly prove that a rescued US marine platoon sergeant, Nicholas Brody has been “turned” into a “sleeper cell” during his years of captivity by Al Qaeda as a prisoner of war in Iraq, and then to capture the Terrorist mastermind, Abu Nazir. Carrie starts her journey as a field officer in Iraq and gains information about an American who has been turned, but she is reassigned to the CIA Counterterrorism Centre in Langley, Virginia, where it so happens that Brody has returned to civilian life hailed an American hero. Here she tries to gather surveillance information about Brody to prove her supposition that he is the one that’s been turned, by her own unauthorized surveillance operation. In the process, bizarrely, she has an affair with Brody, underlining her dubious judgement. Further, she has an exacerbation of the mania following a bomb blast. This leads to insomnia, pressured speech and a succession of rapid thoughts that paradoxically, give her the genius and insight to make all the connections between Brody and Abu Nazir. Unfortunately it also lands her in the mental hospital, and leads to her losing her job as a CIA agent. To make matters worse, by now she has entered the depressive phase of bipolar disorder and has lost faith in herself and succumbs to advice to be treated with Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT). ECT is known to lead to short term memory loss so she will lose the one memory of Brody's sleep talk one night during their affair connecting Brody to Abu Nazir’s son.

I digress for one moment, and add the point that ECT is a very controversial treatment of mental illness and is well known within medical circles as a way to “fry patient brains”. The damage that it does in my opinion out-ways the risks and it should only be used as a last resort. Remember that only a short 60 to 80 years ago a procedure known as the Frontal leucotomy (famously termed frontal lobotomy) was widely used to treat psychiatric illness. I hope to explore this topic in a future blog.

She is a complex yet endlessly interesting mix of attributes. Firstly she finds herself in a male dominated environment, particularly on the ground in the Middle East, where she has to change her blonde fair complexion appearance to blend in with the Arab world and also amongst her male peers in Langley, Virginia. Her mental illness clearly holds her back yet at the same time the manic phase of this illness gives her the superhuman mental energy to make brilliant observations and mental connections. Conversely, this same mental state can also destroy that very brilliant mind. She is a character almost seemingly on a perpetual high altitude tightrope, only standing aloft by the narrowest of margins.

Character Analysis of Little Miss Sunshine based on Richard Walter’s Discussion on Evoking Sympathy in an Audience

08 03 2013 03:37:28 +0000

In the previous blog, Richard Walter’s discussion on character development and the vital link between this and the quality of a character was used to analyse and evaluate the quality of various characters in the film, Little Miss Sunshine. This blog is an extension of the character analysis and evaluation in the last blog, this time focusing on Walter’s discussion on the importance of evoking sympathy in an audience and how effectively the characters in Little Miss Sunshine evoke sympathy in the audience.

Walter argues that the fundamental method of evoking sympathy in an audience is to construct a character that the audience can easily relate to. Little Miss Sunshine is arranged around an overtly dysfunctional family in which each member has drastic personality flaws that they must overcome to lead happy lives. The quest, whether conscious or subconscious, that each character embarks on to overcome his or her flaws instils in each character the flesh and blood of a real person and, therefore, real people in the audience can relate to each character in some way. In a film review, Craig J. Koban states something similar in his own words; he says “[the directors and screenwriter] allow [the characters in Little Miss Sunshine] to be presented to us, warts and all, to the point where our own inherent unease with their personalities nourishes the comedy. Some say that we laugh at things because there are subtle layers of truth that is buried underneath. In Little Miss Sunshine we see characters that overcome their sheer absurdity and become figures we can relate to”. Dwayne is an example of a character who has a flawed perspective on life. The fifteen- year-old antisocial, apathetic teenager and strong believer in the doctrine of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, spends most of the film in silence to build the discipline necessary to secure a position in flight school and, ironically, as an act of nihilism. Towards the end of the film, Dwayne discovers that he is colour blind and cannot enter flight school; at this moment he shouts out in anguish as his dream has been shattered. Later on, in his discussion which Uncle Frank, he decides that he can still achieve his goal if he wants to. This is an indication that, at least, he has renounced the nihilistic idea that everything, including his own actions, are pointless (although he obviously never wholeheartedly believed this as he still had goals) and decides that through action, he can achieve happiness of some sort, even if it is not through being accepted into flight school. Dwayne’s experience of overcoming sentiments of pointlessness and apathy is what links him to the audience and enables them to understand and sympathise with him.

Essentially, Dwayne and other characters in Little Miss Sunshine very successfully encapsulate the sympathy of the audience in the way that Walter believes they should: through relating to the audience. This is the last of the blogs discussing Little Miss Sunshine; the next blog will focus on a fresh topic, the characters in the horror film series, Saw.

By Amelia Nakone

Brief Analysis of characters in Little Miss Sunshine Based on Richard Walter’s Idea of Character Development

02 03 2013 01:38:40 +0000

The past three blogs have summarised Chapter Eight of Richard Walter’s “Essentials of Screenwriting” dealing with how characters should be represented and developed in screenwriting. This blog will be a diversion from the focus of the previous blogs as it will provide a brief analysis of the quality of the characters in the film Little Miss Sunshine (screenplay by Michael Arndt) based on their development throughout the film, a method by which Walter measures quality in characters.

The film is about a dysfunctional family consisting of fourty-year old, twice-married, mother-of-two, Sheryl, her current husband, college lecturer, Richard, his drug fiend father who is given the title grandpa, Sheryl’s depressive, homosexual brother and highly regarded scholar, Frank, and her children, antisocial fifteen-year-old, Dwayne, and bubbly six-year-old, Olive. When Olive gets awarded first place in the regional Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest the family must travel, by car, to California for her to compete in the state finals. Walter is of the stance that character-development is the transition of a character from one set of values and personality traits to another. The film centres around transition: the family’s physical journey to California which can be interpreted as a symbol of the each member’s personal development throughout the physical journey.

The film makes it very clear that the insecurities and misconceptions of life felt by the characters under societal pressure prior to the road trip, are challenged and expelled by the completion of their physical journey to California. In order to prevent this blog from being long and convoluted, only one character will discussed here: Richard (although there are many more). At the beginning of the film, Richard asserts to the college students in his lecture that “winners see what they want, they go out and they get it”. He is confident that he will get an advance in his job but he is unsuccessful in achieving this even though he tries to turn this around by visiting and interrogating his college whilst on the trip to Florida. This substantiates the fact that sometimes it is not possible to “…go out…” and win against other people; sometimes one has to be content with self-fulfilment despite the extent of one’s external achievements. He is closer to accepting this towards the end of the film when he gets up and starts dancing with Olive, who the crowd is hissing and yelling at because of her shockingly poor dance performance, but who persists despite this because she enjoys what she is doing and is fulfilling the wishes of her grandfather, and, in turn, fulfilling herself. The film presents Richard as a complex, dynamic character who develops from an individual brimming with insecurities and misconceptions to one that is content with his life as it is and accepting of the things he cannot change.

In conclusion, based on Walter’s idea of character development, his insistence on the importance of this in character construction in screenplay and Richard’s actions as a character in the film Little Miss Sunshine, this film builds quality characters who are interesting and engaging. The next blogs will further explore the characters in this film in relation to Walter’s understanding of evoking sympathy in the audience for characters and avoiding stereotypes.

By Amelia Nakone

Three Studies of great contemporary characters.

28 02 2013 11:54:46 +0000

What defines a good character in a screenplay? Further to Amelia Nakone’s blogs about the ‘anatomy of a good character’ according to Richard Walter, I thought it would be a good opportunity to have a look at some fascinating contemporary examples from TV series. In each case, the characters incite audience sympathy, are dynamic as they change throughout, and are all very un-stereotypical. Indeed, on this last point, they are the exact opposite to the stereotypes you might expect. They also all begin their journey without the personal resources and skills which they need to develop so they can achieve their goals. Each of them has an important character flaw, which acts as an almost insurmountable ‘internal obstacle’ (to their goal). Yet, paradoxically, we sense that each of them also has some ‘superhuman’ quality which gives them the ability to reach their goal! As I was exploring in some earlier blogs, a good character has contradictions within them. They often have a raging internal conflict.

I will study three characters. Tyroin Lannister is a high standing dwarf, who is a towering character in Game of Thrones. In two subsequent blogs I’ll look at Carrie Mathison, a CIA operations officer with bipolar affective disorder who masterminds the capture of al-Qaeda terrorists in Homeland. Finally we’ll complete the studies by looking at Walter White, a middle class high school chemistry teacher, who becomes a criminal mastermind in Breaking Bad.

Tyrion Lannister in a Game of Thrones is a remarkable choice for a central character. Tyroin is the third son of the Tywin Lannister and has an eldest sister Cercsei and elder brother Jamie. He holds quite a high social standing as a result of his family, but is a dwarf, so is never accepted by his family. Immediately he incites our sympathy and he has already broken all stereotypes! He receives very little respect from his father, has a very strained and mistrusting relationship with his sister, Cercsei and paradoxically has a good relationship with his brother Jamie who treated him with love and affection when he was growing up. Tyrone therefore has clear character flaw which will prevent him to attain one of his goals which is winning the love and respect of his family. Yet he is educated, intelligent and capable of cruelty to his enemies so has this superhuman quality which gives him the capability to attain other goals.

There are a wealth of contradictions in his character! On the one hand he is the mortal enemy of the Starks because his nephew, King Joffrey (born to an incestuous relationship between his sister and brother) ordered the beheading of the Stark family patriarch, Eddard Stark, but on the other hand offers protection to the young daughter of Eddard, Sansa Stark when she is stranded in King’s Landing. He has a lusty sexual appetite and imposes himself on women and prostitutes’ alike but will never impose himself on Sansa, yet Sansa finds him repulsive. He has an awkward physical appearance, with jutting forhead, stump limbs and later a facial scar, yet carries on like a Don Juan with his prostitute lover Shae, whom he believes wants him for his money! As you can see the contradictions keep mounting! Thus his character remains endlessly interesting.

His Great internal conflict is as a result of his strained relationship with his father who blames him for his mother’s death which occurred when he was born. His father hates him for that and his deformity. His strained relationship and outcast nature in his family also lead to the open and bitter hatred that developed between his sister Cersei and himself. Tyrion even dreamed of hiring a Faceless Man to kill his sister but the only thing that kept the two from harming each other was Jaime. Cersei once stated that she would have killed Tyrion but Jaime would never have forgiven her if she did and Tyrion would not have harmed Cersei because he loves his brother Jaime and knows how much Cersei means to him. In summary, There is a raging internal conflict within Tyroin’s character.

To conclude, Tyrone Lannister serves as a fascinating character study in which many of the examples that Richard Walter cites as attributes of a good charcter are cleary evident. Next blog is about an equally fascinating and unlikely female protagonist, Carrie Mathison.

Summary of Richard Walter’s Discussion on Stereotypes in “Essentials of Screenwriting”

26 02 2013 02:54:00 +0000

The past two blogs have provided a summary of Richard Walter’s discussion on character development and evoking sympathy for characters in Chapter Eight of his book “Essentials of Screenwriting”. This blog will summarise the last major topic in the chapter: stereotypes and how to avoid them.

Firstly, Walter gives explanations as to why stereotyping in screenwriting is quite common. He assigns two major reasons for the inclusion of stereotypes; a writer’s desire to live up to the type of the writer he or she is (i.e.: a comedy writer or an action writer) and for convenience’s sake. Writers who consider themselves to specialize in a particular genre of writing, and this is usually the case with well-known writers, are likely to include characters that are common to that genre and, simultaneously, are stereotypes. Not only this, but it is far easier and more convenient to base characters on pre-used templates, such as…”the heard hearted business man [and]…the by-the-book cop…”, rather than coming up with fresh and original characters. This is succinctly summed up by the comment that, “there are…just two kinds of writers: good writers and bad writers;…good writers avoid types altogether in their scripts ”.

Secondly Walter discusses the reasons that stereotyping is undesirable in screenwriting. Due to film’s overwhelming influence on society, stereotypes in screenwriting, particularly, encourage and affirm common prejudices. In Walter’s rhetoric, “…if writers don’t battle to consign bigotry to its rest, who shall assume the task?”. What is really off putting about stereotypical characters is that they are usually boring and predictable. It is often that case that there is little relation between a generalization of something and the real thing itself; a New York journalist believed that all New York City taxi drivers would overcharge tourists so he tested his belief by dressing up as a tourist and catching several taxis, however, he found that none of the drivers overcharged him. This illustrates that In real life, generalizations make for “…poor relations…”. In comparison, within the world of screenwriting and film, generalizations build flat, boring and predictable characters. The above lists the main reasons Walter warns against stereotyping, however he does also provide methods to avoid it.

Walter suggests one particular technique writers should use to develop characters that are new and unique. This involves thinking of a stereotypical character and the traits that this character possesses, removing these traits and replacing them with traits that oppose common biases surrounding this type of character. For instance in Fargo (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen) the sheriff is a pregnant woman, an unlikely combination which makes for a fresh and interesting character that challenges the stereotypically masculine role of sheriff. Overall, Walter illustrates that there is a reliable means to create new and interesting characters and avoid stereotypes.

In conclusion, in the last section of Chapter Eight in “Essentials of Screenwriting”, Walter discusses why stereotypes are so common, what is undesirable about stereotypes and how to avoid stereotypes. Earlier in the chapter, he discusses the definition of character development, the benefits of character development and other ways of capturing an audience’s interest in a character as well as how a character’s behaviour evokes sympathy in the audience and examples illustrating the importance of such characters. The next blog will be an analysis of the characters in a particular film according to Walter’s ideal of character.

By Amelia Nakone

Summary of Richard Walter’s Discussion on Evoking Sympathy for Characters in “Essentials of Screenwriting”

24 02 2013 09:12:29 +0000

The previous blog was a summary of the first section of Chapter Eight in Richard Walter’s “Essentials of Screenwriting” focusing on character development in screenwriting; this blog is a summary of the next section which focuses on the importance of evoking a sympathetic audience for characters in screenwriting.

In this section, Walter discusses how to construct a character in a script that captures the sympathy of the audience through several examples. The fundamental principle to evoke sentiments of understanding and pity in the audience is to make the character relate to the audience in some way. In Treasure Island (Lawrence Edward Watkin, adapting the Robert Louis Stevenson Book), the antagonist, Long John Silver, is portrayed as a wicked, peg-legged old man who holds the protagonist, young Jim Hawkins, hostage and threatens his life; however this side of the villain is compromised when British sailors find him and pursue him as he desperately struggles to escape from the shore in a dinghy, pitifully slipping on his wooden leg in the sand as he attempts to launch it. At the end, he does escape with Hawkins’ help, much to the audience’s delight; as Walter puts it, “[this] provides [the audience] with a glimmer of hope for our own undeserved salvation”. The connection mentioned here, between the audience’s own desires and interests and Silver’s act of surrendering his wickedness as well as his deliverance from punishment, encourages understanding and tolerance in the audience. Walter lists many other examples in which characters captivate the compassion of the audience through similar methods; he also provides examples that illuminate the importance of such characters.

Walter provides a wealth of historical and current evidence shedding light on the importance of characters that encourage pity or understanding in the audience. As far back as the ancient Greek era characters that attracted a sympathetic audience were desirable and significant playwrights went to great lengths to create these characters. Sophocles, for instance, constructed Oedipus as a protagonist who kills his father and commits incest but is unaware of his origins until after he has committed the associated crimes, evoking pity and sympathy in the audience. A comparison between modern day Z (Jorge Semprún, adapting the Vassili Vassilikos novel) and The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, Franco Solinas) demonstrates that the sought after characters in ancient theatre are very much the same as today’s desired characters in screenwriting. The Battle of Algiers is the superior of the two because the characters command, to varying degrees, the understanding of the audience by portraying the villains, the French establishment, as being not born evil but the product of their upbringing and the protagonists, the Algerian independence fighters, as being imperfect heroes who commit such blunders as murdering innocent children. Each of the examples Walter delivers, some that are not mentioned here, adds further merit to characters that inspire a sympathetic audience in screenwriting.

Essentially, Walter describes how characters’ behaviour evokes sympathy in the audience in screenwriting and provides examples illustrating the importance of these characters. The next blog will be a summary of the last major point he discusses in relation to characters in screenwriting, that is, the necessity of avoiding stereotypes.

Written by Amelia Nakone

Handing over to one of the team

22 02 2013 06:35:44 +0000

My daughter, Amelia Nakone is an accomplished visual artist and writer. She has won a competition with her self-portrait in South Australia. She is a fine writer currently studying English at University. She will be writing some blogs on my behalf with my guidance and advice about topics.

A preliminary drawing for her self portrait. The winning painting below.

Over the next few months I will be working on a new short film called Learning to Hear. This film will be light Rags to Riches story about a protagonist undergoing a surgical treatment to for his condition known as otosclerosis, which is a disease of the tiny little bones in the middle ear causing deafness. Its going to take up a lot of my time. I hope to keep writing blogs about its production as it progresses.

Summary of Richard Walter’s Discussion on Character development in "Essentials of Screenwriting"

22 02 2013 05:00:18 +0000

This blog will summarise a section of Chapter Eight in Richard Walter’s “Essentials of Screenwriting”; this section deals with character development in screenwriting.

Firstly, Walter provides a definition for character development in screenwriting. Essentially it is the transitioning of a character from one set of circumstances, values, ideas and quirks to another within the bounds of a script.

Walter then asserts two pieces of evidence demonstrating why character development is desirable in screenwriting. The first is that static characters (as opposed to developing characters), who reveal the entirety of their personality when they first appear in the script, are hence forth, predictable, dull and unengaging. An eloquent analogy for the impression these characters give is that made by “…real people who on first encounter regale you with every detail of their lives”. The second, which is connected to the first piece of evidence, is that the most memorable characters are those that experience development throughout the script. In the screenplay of the The Reader (David Hare, adapting the Bernhard Schlink novel) the main characters, Hanna and Michael, evolve drastically from illiterate woman and teenaged boy to literate woman who has accepted responsibility for her actions in war and mature aged man and this is what makes each character so memorable. Walter speaks in length of the advantages of character development in screenwriting, however, he does mention some exceptional cases of successful screenwriting in which the characters remain static.

Walter acknowledges that, on some occasions, screenwriters can capture the attention and intrigue of a reader without the tool of character development. By shifting the focus from the journey of a character’s development to affirmation of and insight into the static traits of a character there is still potential for reader engagement. The character Patton, in Patton (Francis Ford Coppola, adapting books by Ladislas Farago and Omar N. Braley), remains virtually the same throughout the screenplay, however, the reader is still engaged by the articulation of his character and the challenges it faces. Character development, is, therefore, not always necessary in a screenplay as there are other ways to achieve reader engagement.

Overall, Walter provides an insight into the definition of character development, the benefits of character development in screenwriting and alternative ways of capturing the reader’s interest in characters in a script; he also mentions other things to consider when constructing characters in a screenplay and these will be summarised in future blogs.

Written by Amelia Nakone

A REFLECTION ON THE 7 BASIC PLOTS.

21 02 2013 12:12:09 +0000

Christopher Booker's Seven Basic Plots is only a relatively new analysis of storytelling published in 2004. Booker has bravely attempted to make sense of all the stories that have ever been told and categorize them into one of the seven great archetypical plots. He does admit that he has not covered all the plots including specialist tales like “Creation myths” or “Murder Mysteries”. He adds that not every story ever told fits neatly into the one of the seven categories. The more any story is analyzed the more archetypical plots can be seen within it.

I like Booker’s analysis as it expands on the basic Three Act Structure so keenly used in much of the current texts on screen writing. That is:

ACT 1: The “Set Up” or ‘exposition’ used to establish the nature of the main protagonist and surrounding characters, as well as the world they live in. Near the end of Act 1 (which usually only lasts one quarter of the film’s duration) there is usually some incident which changes the protagonist’s life forever, and raises the question that will be answered in the climax of the film. It’s the so called “first turning point”.

ACT 2: The “conflict” lasts around one half of the film’s duration and reveals the protagonist's attempt to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point. The protagonist is confronted with a range of obstacles or antagonisms. There may also be a chief antagonist. The protagonist needs to undergo character development to resolve the problems that confront them as they may not yet have the skills to achieve the goal set out in the first turning point. They are often helped by characters around them or “pro-protagonists”. Toward the end of Act 2 comes the “second turning point” where the protagonist reaches their lowest point and something happens to change their fortunes.

ACT 3: The “resolution” also lasts one quarter of the film’s duration. This is where the tensions of the film brought about by the second turning point reach their climax and the dramatic question proposed by turning point one are answered leaving the protagonists and other characters in a new reality.

The three act structure, while helpful in guiding the overall progression of a story fails to truly negotiate the nuances of good story telling which Booker infers has at least a five act structure.

I have attempted to outline the seven Basic plots described by Christopher Booker as a way of trying to grasp why good stories in film remain such an evocative and compelling form of entertainment.

Further to this I also want to know:

Why tell that story? What meaning does that story have? How was that story told to express that meaning?

As an appreciator of films, I firstly want to be entertained by a film, secondly I hope that a film can transform me out of my mundane daily existence and thirdly I also want that film to expand my understanding of human nature. So often I see films that mange to achieve the first two but fail on the third. When at last, I see all three in one film, I call that film one of the "greatest films" I've ever watched.

I look forward to exploring more aspects of story telling and film craft in 'blogs" to come.

Plot 7 Rebirth Part 2 “The Dark Spell Within”

18 02 2013 12:23:29 +0000

As described previously the re birth plot can be seen as essentially two states, one where there is a dark spell over the protagonist causing coldness, darkness, decay, isolation and torment; and one state where the dark spell is lifted by some miraculous redemptive event (usually from the love of another hero or heroine, but it can also be from a child) where there is re-birth, warmth, love, life, happiness and liberation.

Christopher Booker also identifies a five act structure to these tales:

Act 1: The protagonist falls under the dark spell.

Act 2: The spell leads to a short time where things appear to go well.

Act 3: Frustration grows as the protagonist wakes up to the torment which the dark spell has caused them. They feel imprisoned in a state of living death.

Act 4: There is a nightmarish crisis when the Dark spell looks like it’s completely triumphed.

Act 5: The miraculous redemption takes place when the heroine or hero frees the protagonist from the dark spell with their love.

The dark spell can be an external force or, as we shall see, an internal force.

In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol the main protagonist Ebenezer Scrooge carries this dark spell within him, as part of his character. He is a solitary ‘monster’ obsessed by money and greed. Now old, grumpy, selfish and rich, Scrooge has no interest in the spirit of Christmas on Christmas Eve. He rejects an invitation for Christmas dinner from his cheerful nephew, declines to donate to charity to help the poor and refuses to help his clerk Bob Cratchit with more coal for his fire in his cold home (as unknown to Scrooge he has very sick child at home, Tim Cratchit or “Tiny Tim”). It’s a very cold evening indeed, and when Scrooge returns alone to his home he is confronted that night with visions. Firstly of his former partner Jacob Marley who had been dead for seven years, to for-warn Scrooge of the punishment that awaits those that live selfishly and that three apparitions will visit him over three nights. The first ghost of ‘Christmas past’ provides Scrooge with a series of flashbacks of his earlier childhood where he was surrounded by loving relatives at Christmas dinners and then flashbacks to when he was a young man and had been engaged to a pretty young woman who left him because he worshipped money. The Ghost of ‘Christmas Present’ reveals festive families enjoying Christmas presently including a vision of his nephew and Bob Cratchit with their families. The third ghost of ‘Christmas to Come’ vexes Scrooge with nightmarish visions of the passing of a dead man without a friend in the world but a group of vagabonds stealing his belongings after death; Tiny Tim dying of an illness and a vision of a gravestone recording a man who has died un-mourned and unloved (of course that’s his grave).

Scrooge awakens from his nightmare to find that it’s the next morning, Christmas day. He has a change of heart, and in explosion of generosity and goodwill, sends a turkey around to Bob Cratchit’s home, donates a large sum to the charity for the poor, attends his nephew’s Christmas Dinner, increases Bob Cratchit’s salary and then from that day on he becomes, like a second father to the young sick boy, Tiny Tim. He is liberated from the internal dark spell that was imprisoning him.

PLOT 7: REBIRTH (Part1)

14 02 2013 11:37:21 +0000

It is fitting that I am writing this on Valentine’s day, because the central redemptive force in this plot line (re-birth) is the liberating force, Love, which ‘breathes life’ into a ‘state of living death’. The following image is a shot I took in my front garden. Happy Valentine's day!

Re-birth, the last of the great seven plots, according to Christopher Booker, is essentially made up of two parts: firstly, the protagonist find themselves in a cold, dark, tormented and decaying state of ‘living death’ where a dark spell causes spiritual imprisonment, sleep, sickness or evil enchantment. Secondly some miraculous redemption usually in the form of love from a hero or heroine, leads to the protagonist awaking from their death and ‘coming to life’. Alas, the title of the plot “Re-Birth”.

There are a multitude of classic fairy tales and stories with this plot line such as Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast, Snow White (and the seven Dwarfs), The Snow Queen, A Christmas Carol, Crime and Punishment, The Secret Garden and Peer Gynt.

Booker gives us a clear distinction between the dark spell as either being an external force ( such as an evil spell cast by some enchanter as in Sleeping Beauty) or an internal force (such as the Scrooge ‘s own greedy nature in A Christmas Carol). He makes us aware of the indelible quality of this plotline in our subconscious mind, with many of these stories being first introduced to us during childhood when the ‘dark spell’ is more appropriately portrayed as an external force. It’s as much as our immature developing minds could cope with. When we mature into adults and our psychological defence mechanisms develop, we can absorb the ‘dark spell’ within us to recognize that it is often an internal force. The great joy of this plot line is that in either case, it concludes with liberation from this dark force with, Love, as the great liberator.

In Walt Disney’s classic animation, Beauty and The Beast (1991), we see the childhood fairy tale versions being told. A Father of three daughters, Beauty being the youngest, goes on a journey and loses his way in the forest, where he finds a mysterious empty castle filled with all sorts of comforts. It’s only inhabitant a semi human like creature, the Beast reveals himself to the Father when he was about to leave. He stops him from doing so until the Father agrees to the condition to send back his youngest daughter. Eventually Beauty comes to live in the castle and is well treated by the gentle Beast, but feels terribly trapped when the Beast proposes marriage to her. The Beast allows her to return home to attend to her sick Father, but unbeknown to Beauty, she has fallen in love with the Beast, and has a bad dream about him dying of grief. She rushes back to the castle to find the Beast dying in the garden, and embraces him which brings him back to life. The Beast transforms into a handsome prince. He tells her that he had been turned into a Beast by a wicked enchantress (the external force), and he could only be released if a virgin would freely consent to marrying him.

In part 2, we will look at the version of this plot line with the internal force casting the dark spell.

Plot 6: Tragedy (part2)

12 02 2013 08:55:13 +0000

These two very famous tragedy plots written by the same remarkable author, both reveal Booker’s five stages of a tragedy but contrast good and evil protagonists.

In Romeo and Juliet the protagonists are two people and their tragedy brings light onto their hostile environment so are ‘good’ protagonists. The story unfolds in the anticipation stage in fair Verona where a brawl breaks out on the streets setting the tense and combative atmosphere between the feuding families; the Montagues and Capulets. One of the Montague clan, Romeo who is detached from the conflict and struck by love sickness is convinced by Mercutio to attend the Capulet ball where he can find the objects of his desires, a Capulet girl by the name of Rosaline. By chance he meets Rosaline’s younger sister, Juliet and both fall deeply in love with each other at first sight. Their “focus” has now been found, even though it is apparent from the outset that their affair is likely to end in disaster.

The story quickly moves into the Dream stage as their love affair moves forward when Romeo makes a daring attempt to reach Juliet on the balcony of the Capulet manner where they declare their love for each other and arrange to marry (under Friar Lawrence). The story moves into the Frustration stage when the Capulets become aware that Romeo gate crashed the Capulet ball. Juliet's cousin Tybalt, challenges him to a duel but Romeo refuses to fight. Mercutio (neither a Montague nor Capulet) is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission," and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight. Grief-stricken and guilt-ridden, Romeo confronts and kills Tybalt. The frustration worsens when Romeo is exiled from Verona by the Prince but secretly spends the night in Juliet’s chamber to consummate their marriage and then after Romeo returns to exile, Juliet’s father wrongly interpreting Juliet’s grief, prepares to marry her off to Paris (not knowing she is already married).

The Nighmare stage unfolds when Friar Lawrence masterminds a plan to help Juliet escape the approaching threat of her marriage to Paris by giving her a potion that will make her go into a death like coma, making the appearance of her death to Paris. A message of the plan was supposed to reach the exiled Romeo, but failed to and Romeo, like Paris gets the message that Juliet is dead. He rushes to the Capulet family tomb, to find Paris beside her seemingly dead body. The two engage in a battle and Romeo kills Paris. Now the story enters the Destruction stage when Romeo, who had already acquired some poison, is so grief stricken by Juliet’s death drinks it and dies by Juliet’s side. Juliet then awakens and finds Romeo’s dead body beside her, so stabs herself with a dagger.

The feuding families and Prince meet in the tomb to find all three dead. Shocked with the outcome, the families decide to end their bitter feud. There we have it, a tragedy but a good resolution, highlighting the benevolence of the protagonists, which endures after their deaths.

On the other hand, Macbeth follows similar stages to the tragedy plot but portrays the protagonist as essentially a monster. Act one, the Anticipation stage begins when the news reaches the grateful King Duncan of Scotland that his generals Macbeth and Banquo have been victorious in battle over the allied forces of Norway and Ireland who were led by the traitorous Macdonwald, the former ‘Thane of Cawdor’. Banquo and Macbeth (already gifted the title ‘Thane of Glamis’ by Duncan) are greeted by three witches after their battle offering them prophecies. The witches prophesize that Macbeth will be Thane of Glamis, Thane of Cawder and finally the King of Scotland. They claim Banquo will be the father of a line of kings but never king himself. Mesmerized by the witches, Macbeth is then informed that he has been given the title of ‘Thane of Cawdor’ further fuelling their mesmeric power. He then writes to his wife Lady Macbeth, who after being initially amazed by the prophecies, eggs him on to make the predictions complete, and murder Duncan. Thus, our protagonist has his “focus”, and we are in no doubt that it will lead him to a disastrous end.

Then In Act two the Dream Stage sees Macbeth fulfill the conspiracy plan devised by his wife Lady Macbeth to get King Duncan’s chamberlain’s drunk at night then stab Duncan to death with a dagger and plant the murder weapon on the drunken chamberlain’s by morning. Macbeth is so shaken by his act, which he had already doubted experiencing hallucinations of a bloody dagger was unable to complete the plan and was finalized by his wife (who took control). As Christopher Booker describes, the protagonist can often be divided within themselves about the light and dark sides of their natures as they take up the temptation of their focus. The next morning it so happened that the loyal ‘Thane of fife’, Macduff, was visiting castle. Macbeth leads him to Duncan’s chamber, where Macduff discovers his slain body at which point Macbeth fakes a fit of anger and kills the guards ( to prevent them from proclaiming their innocence) although Macduff is already suspicious (about Macbeth). The next chance event, is where the dream stage really starts to occur for Macbeth; Duncan’s sons, including the rightful heir, Malcolm, who after hearing the news of their Father’s death, flee the castle for fear of their own lives making them the key suspects of his murder and paving the way for Macbeth to be crowned king of Scotland. Banquo, although also suspicious of Macbeth, remembers the prophecies of the witches, so declares to the audience the truth of his crowning, but also recalls that his own sons will be heirs to the throne of Scotland.

Act three The Frustration stage begins when Banquo leaves the castle. Banquo leaves with his son, Fleance, one night when Macbeth was holding a feast for the lords. Macbeth, so disappointed orders their murder that night as they make their way from the castle, fearing the prophecy that Banquo’s sons will be in line for the throne. The assassins succeed in murdering Banquo but Fleance, escapes. Macbeth is furious. That same night he is haunted by the ghost of Banquo which seemingly turns him mad in front of all the Lords at the feast, initiating a face saving exercise by Lady Macbeth.

All is set up now for Act Four the Nightmare stage. Seeking reassurance of the security of his throne, Macbeth turns to the witches who prophesize he can never be slain by any man born of woman, to beware Macduff, but also reveal an apparition to Macbeth of eight crowned kings all looking like Banquo. In the meantime Macduff leaves Dunsinane castle to join with Duncan’s son, Malcom in England. Fear now taking full control of Macbeth’s actions, he orders the brutal slaying of all the inhabitants of Macduff’s castle including his wife and young child. The news reaches Macduff in England who has since joined forces with an army assembled by Malcolm. Lady Macbeth is now fully affected by sleep walking and in a trance one night bemoans the murders of Duncan, Lady Macduff, and Banquo, as she tries to wash off imaginary bloodstains from her hands speaking of the terrible things she put her husband up to. She descends into madness, and eventually kills herself not being able to absolve herself of her wrong doings. News of his wife’s suicide reaches Macbeth and the nightmare is nearly complete. The English army is advancing on Dunsinane castle (although he thinks he is invincible as a result of the witch’s prophecy that he can never be slain by a man born of a woman).

Finally in Act Five the Destruction Stage Malcolm and Macduff’s army overwhelm the army of Dunsinane castle, and Macbeth still believing in the witches prophecy of his invincibility, is confronted by Macduff who declares that he was not born of woman but was taken from his mother’s womb by a Caesarean section! Macbeth realizes it’s too late that he misinterpreted the Witch’s words and so makes a last effort to fight but is beheaded by Macduff. The throne of Scotland is handed over to Malcolm who declares his benevolent intentions for the country.

Arguably, we should feel pleased that this evil monstrous protagonist has been put to death, but I must confess, that I am slightly disappointed by this end. We have for the whole journey been taken for a ride of the protagonist ‘getting away with it’ so finally, we feel let down when their caught! This is partly the enduring quality of this type of story, that so reaches the collective unconscious. In tragedy, we certainly identify with the good protagonist who is essentially a sacrificial lamb, but we are also transfixed by the enterprise of the dark protagonist identifying with their human foibles that lead them down their evil path.

Plot 6: Tragedy (part1)

11 02 2013 10:31:37 +0000

Christopher Booker argues that when looking for the deeper pattern in storytelling most satisfying and complete stories (and by no means all of them) conclude in one of two outcomes; the man and woman finally unite; or death. Tragedy is about the later.

He uses many seemingly disparate stories, such as Macbeth, Richard III, The Picture of Dorain Gray, Anna Karenina, Bonnie and Clyde, Don Giovanni, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, King Lear, Samson, Romeo and Juliet, and Dr Faustus, to demonstrate that they follow the five basic stages of a Tragedy plot.

1. Anticipation Stage. The protagonist is uneasy and tempted by some carnal desire, temptation or forbidden pleasure (that we as an audience know is wrong and will bring the protagonist down) which gives the protagonist a “focus”.

2. Dream Stage. Now that the protagonist has taken the first step in crossing the boundary, they have a ‘dream like’ time in getting away with it.

3. Frustration Stage. The dream like stage is comes to an end and problems begin to arise. A shadow figure gets in the way and soon it leads to the…

4. Nightmare stage. This is fairly self-explanatory. The forces of fate and opposition are closing in on the protagonist

5. Destruction or Death Wish Stage. The end usually concludes in the protagonist’s death.

The distinguishing factor that separates the protagonist’s goal ( or focus) in a tragedy, as compared to that seen in a Quest or Rags to Riches plot, is that we as the audience know from the outset, in Tragedy the goal will end in disaster. There is a subtle distinction between the dark versions of both rags to Riches and quest compared to Tragedy in that protagonist in these, sets out with full commitment to achieve their goal which initially seems worthy, but then gradually starts to reveal itself as unworthy. In Tragedy, the protagonist fights with themselves about embarking on their goal dividing the ‘light’ and ‘dark’ sides of their character as they struggle with the temptation, lure and ultimately guilt of their ill-fated goal.

Romeo and Juliet (1996)

There is also quite a variety of protagonists in the Tragedy plot ranging from those that are just unlucky to be in a feuding environment like Romeo and Juliet, to those who are real monsters like Macbeth, Richard III and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Macbeth (1971)

There are two great adaptations of William Shakespeare’s tragedy works that spring to mind for me as the most visually enticing film adaptations of his work. First is Baz Lurman’s Romeo and Juliet which is an edgy modern adaption. Second is Roman Polanski’s great masterpiece Macbeth which for me still rates as the best Shakespeare adaption to screen. Stories which I’ll outline in part 2 of the Tragedy plot.

Phineas Gage: a great untold story!

08 02 2013 11:00:22 +0000

One of the most profound stories I can remember ever being told was that of the famous “Boston Crowbar case”, Phineas Gage. Phineas P. Gage (1823–1860) was an American railroad construction foreman now remembered for his improbable survival of an accident in which a large iron rod was driven completely through his head, destroying much of his brain's left frontal lobe, and for that injury's reported effects on his personality and behaviour.

A remarkable event to say the least! He survived! Testimony to the magnitude of what we are as human…much more than we think. To survive this supernatural yet disastrous event is unimaginable. Nearly two centuries after this man died, we still marvel about what it really means to have our brain in our heads! Phineas provides medical science with an incredible opportunity to understand what the frontal lobes contribute to human capabilities.

I often wondered why his story has not been taken up by big present day film production houses. But then again, we often do not want to think too much when we are being entertained. Understandably so, for it is more a “visceral need” than an intellectual one!

I think about Phineas and query where his story sits in one of Christopher Booker’s great plots. Maybe he is a “Tragedy”, or a “rebirth”: plots which I’ve yet outlined. I find his story an epic one. I hope that this blog might make you wonder … Who was Phineas Gage?

The Genesis of a new short film.

07 02 2013 09:27:11 +0000

The first book I ever read about screen writing was Syd Field's “The screenwriter’s Workbook”. It impressed upon me how screenwriting for film is all about writing what you ‘see and hear’ on screen.

So much of my life I have adored the possibilities of vision. The beauty, power, stark contrast, chiaroscuro, sfumato, abstractness, allegory, light, colour and so much more that engages the cerebral cortex about what we see. I would approach the film medium through the paradigm of a visual artist.

It has been a compelling real life story about sound that the “genesis” of a new film has come. I was told a story by a most remarkable man who has inspired a short film. He is someone that spent over the first third of his life with poor hearing. He recalls the moment when in his late 20’s he went through a surgery that changed his life forever.

Hearing or auditory perception is the ability to perceive sound by detecting vibrations, changes in the pressure of the surrounding medium through time, through the organ called the ear. The ear then sends messages to the auditory cortex in the brain which resides in the temporal lobes and is connected with the emotional centres of the brain (so called “Limbic system”). Emotions are far more easily conveyed through sound than through vision. I am really enthusiastic about this project and hope to keep you posted with blogs about how it evolves.

PLOT 5: Comedy

05 02 2013 01:31:12 +0000

Booker spends two chapters on the comedy plot quoting numerous classical comedies but argues it’s a type of story derived from conscious contrivance rather than from myth or legend like Overcoming The Monster or The Quest.

The comedy plot also embraces a wide variety of stories, so there is a far less easily recognizable overall pattern, although there still is a pattern according to Booker. That pattern can be described as building an absurdly complex set of problems in the set up and amplifying the “tangle” caused by these problems in the conflict and finally miraculously resolving them in the climax.

The key to comedy is two general states:

One where there is complete “ignorance and misunderstanding” usually caused by the egocentric actions of a dark character (who often is the protagonist) causing confusion and doubt.
The second state is that of recognition and unravelling the mess which this dark character has caused, and the reveal, where the dark character is recognized as the main culprit!

Booker quotes a number of mainly literary examples, but given this is a blog about independent film making, I will adhere to examples in film and TV. Arguably the most successful comedian of modern cinema is Rowan Atkinson. His portrayal of Mr Bean rates as the funniest comedy I have seen. Mr Bean is a childish and self-centred buffoon who conjures up unusual schemes to achieve everyday tasks. The humour is derived from Mr Bean’s rather unusual set of solutions to these simple problems, often ignoring those around him offering help to the point of even showing disdain. His very nature builds an absurdly complex set of problems. On a Plane with Mr Bean demonstrates this point. Mr Bean is given the problem of entertaining an unwell child seated next to him, but fails to do this, so arrives at many absurd solutions including setting off the airplane life jacket which goes shooting across the plane. The air-flight attendant retrieves it questioning him “Is this yours?” This little sequence demonstrates two general states of “confusion and doubt” and the “reveal”. He also attempts to humour the boy by popping a paper vomit bag, which after a sequence of absurd events was just used by the boy. Again, this little sequence also demonstrates ‘confusion and reveal’.

The great comedienne from the 20th century, Lucille Ball again uses the simple two step device of comedy delivery time and time again in her sitcom I Love Lucy. As an example, I Love Lucy-Hamburgers. Check out numerous such examples by Charlie Chaplin.

Although Booker does not really go into all of the guises of comedy, I think they deserve mention here.

1. Satire is comedy that portrays real persons (often Politicians) or institutions as ridiculous. It can be quite derogatory to the subject being ridiculed. A classic Australian TV satire is Chaser’s War on Everything. This clip Terrorist security response just shows how the Chaser hosts set up absurd scenarios that poke fun at security in the “post terrorist” world.

2. Parody is comedy about mocking a popular genre or form. Monty Python’s classic Life of Brian is parody of the story of Jesus Christ. It has one of my favourite comic sing alongs, Always look On The Bright Side of Life. The film Italian Spider Man is a great independent short film shot in my own home state of South Australia, which is a parody of Italian action adventure films of the 60’s and 70’s.

3. Romantic comedy is centred around sexual confusion and mis-understanding in the boy meets girl scenario. The “reveal” usually leads to the couple coming together to live happily after. A great example is Meet the Fockers.

4. Slapstick comedy with such examples as The Three Stoogers.

5. The Fish out of Water comedy, is where the absurd set up is putting the central character into an entirely foreign environment. Check out this classic scene where “Mr Bean” attends the Cannes Film festival screening of “Carson Clay’s” shameless vanity production “Playback Time” in Mr Bean’s Holiday.

6. Black Comedy is one of my favourite forms. It is comedy that deals with a taboo subject like death, murder, suicide, or war. Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb immediately springs to mind.

Comedy is often thought to be one of the most difficult genres to manage in film making. It is dependent on the skill of the performers and writer. However, I think the conclusion Booker draws de-mystifies the magic of comedy. In all these guises of comedy, the same fundamental ‘two states’ can be seen.

LONDON REAL - interview with Canadian filmmaker Syl Renaud

01 02 2013 07:12:41 +0000

The internet is a magic thing! Today I am sharing a blog about my film making colleague from across the globe, Sylvain Renaud from Reno Video Productions who has teamed up with his wife Caroline to provide a professional film production service in Ottawa, Canada. The amazing thing about this is that Sylvain (Syl) and I have never physically met. He lives on the other side of the globe, compared to where I live, 'down under' here in Adelaide, South Australia, yet we are good friends and respectful colleagues.

I interviewed Syl about his latest film London Real = Brian Rose + Nic Gabriel which has been incredibly successful. It explores the endless subject matter explored by Nic and Brian who run a weekly discussion about all aspects of the human experience on their site London Real . I was amazed by Syl's storytelling and use of visual imagery including some of his own, and stock time lapse footage of London. Here's what Syl had to say.

1. What is your background in film making?

I've been shooting and editing video since 1982 it was a part time job mostly shooting weddings and sports. In 2009 my wife Caroline and I decided to buy the company from my brother and I became a full time cinematographer/editor / Producer we invested over $50k in new equipment and switched over to H DSLR gear three (Cannon) 5d mark II's and one 7d and all the cinematic toys like sliders, Steadicam, cranes, audio recorders and 3 full stand- alone Editors.

I am completely self-taught with no film school training.

You see, I was supposed to be a rock star bass player in the band (LOL) when that didn't work out I spent 25 years as a FedEx courier in Ottawa, Canada. Three years ago my wife began learning how to shoot so we are always together on most shoots including London Real. We bounce ideas off eachother but for the most part it's pretty intuitive and organic. I don't like to storyboard too much.

2.How did you get involved in this project?

I stumbled upon London Real while doing a search on YouTube.

I started watching one episode then another and finally Caroline and I watched over 40 hours of London Real podcast episodes together, and we couldn't get enough. I found it refreshing to listen to people talk so openly and honestly about a variety of subjects without the constraint of any censorship either through sponsors or the hosts themselves. I just cannot find this type of open dialog on television.

I quickly became connected with Brian and Nic through social media and messaged them through Facebook about a possible profile describing the 'Genesis of London Real'. It must have been weird for them. We knew a lot about them through watching so many hours (of London Real podcasts) but they knew nothing about us. Next thing, we are on a plane heading to London just a few weeks later.

3.Tell us a little about the production. How long did it take to shoot? What camera did you use and why? What other equipment? What sound recording gear did you use?

We only had 3 days to shoot everything so there was very limited time to get it right. I used mostly the 5d markII but some b-roll segments were shot with the 7d. Lenses all L-series 35mm 50mm & 70-200mm. The 5d was a real game changer for me with it's big full frame sensor which is so addictive. It's been a three year love affair and until 4k becomes the standard, I don't see myself going to something else anytime soon. We brought 1 monopod, 1 mini slider 18 inches, and a very small compact tripod. We had to travel light. Interviews were recorded with the Zoom H4n lap mics and other b-roll audio was straight from the camera.

4. There are some amazing time-lapse sequences in the film, one of a busy London intersection. How did you do them? How long did it take?

Half the time lapses were mine and the other half were bought royalty free. We just did not have enough time in London so I had to compromise. The Piccadilly square time lapse was 12 minutes of the guys looking straight into the lens. The feeling I wanted was to show Brian and Nic as the stable voice of reason behind our fast pace western society in the background.

5. Tell us a little about post production? Who’s music?

The music is an instrumental version of "Hold me together" by Loud Harp rights purchased from The Music bed.

6. How did you distribute this film?

The film was loaded on Vimeo and used on the London Real website home page. The file was also downloaded on the London Real You Tube channel. Its currently sitting at over 34k plays and counting. The podcasts themselves had over 5 million hits since they appeared in the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast from Los Angeles back in October 2012 just before the launch of this profile.

7. What are the future plans for London Real?

London Real is currently putting out 2 episodes per week and the sky is the limit.

Production Design of The Short film Ouroboros.

31 01 2013 09:32:35 +0000

This blog, I am taking a break from talking about "the seven Basic Plots" , and thought I'd just talk about the production design for my recently completed short Ouroboros. Its a difficult task to give a low budget film a "certain look" an I marvel at films like this work The 3rd Letter for achieving that. The production designer works closely with the art department to select, costumes, props and even the makeup, to implement the scenic elements to make up the film.

The production design for Ouroboros, was quite challenging to say the least. The quarry locations were selected for their stark appearances and the decision was made to shoot at night to create an eerie mood and disguise any Australian looking flora. Smoke was used to enhance the eerie mood. The “Far away” location was chosen due to its European trees and running creek.

The convertible American car Emilio drove reflected the amount of Frank’s money that he spent, so an effort was made in finding the best vehicle which had large silver wheels with wide tyres and looked a real gangster’s car. Emilio’s makeup consisted of tattoos sprayed on with airbrush with stencils over his bald head, neck, arms and chest and included the Ouroboros symbol, Mexican mafia insignia, Terra Firma logo and a message written with old English style font on his neck, “One Chance”. He wore a white singlet, so to enhance the blood effects on his torso, and it was be fitting of such a hardened Latino criminal, with dark canvas jeans and sneakers. His gun was a Brazilian revolver with streamlined silver appearance.

Frank Shaunnessy wore black leather jacket, gloves, a white shirt to add contrast, black slacks, a heavy Gold chain necklace and Italian black shoes. His hair was slicked back to create the appearance of an old style mafia like figure even though he spoke with a Scottish accent. His favourite modus operandi in murdering was using his large dagger which he always keeps well-guarded inside his jacket but when he wields it looks silver, sharp and brutal. There were 2 knives, one with and another without the blade.

Bonnie Adams wears a hot pink dress, one gold bracelet on her left wrist and make up that brought out her facial contours giving her a more stylized appearance.

Props included the money bag which was selected as it had a white title reading “sport” on the front of the bag. The money contained in the bag was mock US$100 notes. The Ouroboros ring was a size 13 stainless steel Replica bought from overseas, and was added and turned gold in post-production. It was re-sized to size 9 by a jeweller and then worn by the lead actress in stage 3 of the production.

Christopher Bookers Seven basic Plots. Plot 4: Voyage and Return

30 01 2013 10:30:26 +0000

"Voyage and return" is a basic plot type about a journey, but of a different kind compared to "Plot 3 The Quest". Here the protagonist is transported from their everyday world into another world where everything seems abnormal and dreamlike. Initially the experience seems wonderful but gradually “a shadow” develops, and the protagonist can feel trapped and eventually threatened in this world, and so the story usually ends in a great escape where the protagonist escapes back to their normal world.

Three classic stories which are the greatest examples of "Voyage and Return" are very much centred on female protagonists. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. In the first story, Alice is bored on a hot summers day, and falls through a hole in the ground where she encounters a wonderland which causes her size to change relative to the surroundings, and she meets a succession of strange animals talking to her in riddles. This wonderland then starts to turn into a nightmare when the Queen of Hearts orders her beheading prompting Alice to walk up and find herself safely in her normal everyday world.

There are a host of other such stories: The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Robinson Crusoe, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, Swift’s Gulliver travels, Journey to The Centre of the Earth, The Lord of the Flies, and Total Recall. There are variations to the extent of the “other world” which need be so overt like Alice’s wonderland, but a more subtle “other world where there has been a change of social circumstances. Like in Brideshead Revisited the central character is plucked out of his tedious world and put into an exotic upper class world. In Gone with The Wind, the world is the destructive one the American Civil war.

The main difference that this plot has from the Quest, is that the protagonist stumbles upon their journey unexpectedly whereas in the Quest the protagonist initially sets out with a purpose and is conscious of their task. The protagonist is violently propelled into this world (such as Alice falling through the hole in the ground) and the other world operates on an entirely different framework. Their goal is often to make sense of this puzzling other world and return back to their normal world.

The protagonist can fall into one of two types, one that has been changed by their experience of this other world or one that has not been changed. The first type of protagonist starts out often as a selfish character who is naïve and in the darkness but their experience in the other world transforms them into a much greater character . On the other hand, if the protagonist remains completely unchanged from their experience in the other world, they may often develop a relationship with the opposite sex in that world and then return to the normal world with a sense of loss.

This plot reflects the way that sleep and dreams can transport us into another world every night and then we are return to our normal worlds when we wake. The journey in Voyage and return is often an exploration of the unconscious mind!

Plot 3: The Quest

28 01 2013 22:36:34 +0000

Plot 3: The Quest

The Lord of the Rings, Excalibur and Raiders of the Lost Ark are examples of stories, according to Christopher Booker, sharing a fundamental plot: a protagonist is charged with a grand, all important task. In The Lord of the Rings, the old wizard Gandalf, tells the young Hobbit Frodo, there is volcanic mountain in the distant land of Mordor where he can finally rid the kingdoms of the priceless ring which possesses it bearers with evil powers, into the cracks of Doom. It is only Frodo who can carry this ring, as he is the chosen Hobbit who will not be fully bewitched by its mesmeric powers. In Excalabur, a deep curse leading to sickness and famine falls onto King Arthur and all his lands inflicted on him by his half-sister, Morgana who bears a son born of incest, Mordred. He sends his knights on a quest to find the Holy Grail which can restore the king and his lands. It is the most unlikely of these knights, Percival who succeeds. In Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones needs to secure the Ark of the Covenant, which Adolf Hitler believes has the power to make armies invincible, before a group of Nazis get it.

Booker identifies a pattern in these stories.

The Call. There is some form of oppression or destruction inflicted on the whole land. The protagonist is given a supernatural directive in which they need to make a long difficult journey to rectify matters. Frodo is given the task of destroying the ring sought after by the evil Sauron, which would eventually pose a threat to Hobbit’s home, the Shire. The hero or heroine is also accompanied by companions who can be categorized into one of four types: those just there for the journey, alter egos, foils, or those being a necessary part making up the whole. Samwise Gamgee, companion of Frodo would be considered a faithful ‘alter ego type’.
The Journey. The protagonist and his/her group make their way into the perilous lands. Booker describes this as cyclical phenomenon, where the protagonist goes through a near fatal ordeal, followed by an escape, then onto another dangerous ordeal and so on. These near fatal ordeals can be with monsters, temptations, narrow pathways between two opposing dangers, or through a journey into the underworld. There are a wealth of examples in Frodo’s journey, encountering such monsters as the Orcs (time and time over), the Black Riders and the fearsome giant spider Shelob; the seductive temptation of the power of the ring; the very narrow paths travelled between opposing armies during battle, and the very journey through Mordor, the most archetypical of underworlds.
Arrival and Frustration. The protagonist arrives within sight if their goal but, you guessed it, has yet another obstacle to overcome. Booker argues, after our long journey we are only half way there. Oh No!!! This leads to:
The final ordeals. The protagonist goes through a series of tests (usually three) to see if they’re really worthy of the prize. Frodo in fact fails the last of these tests when at Mount Doom in Mordor he finally doesn’t give up the ring on his own volition. It only ends up in the cracks of Doom when Frodo’s finger wearing the ring is bitten off by Gollum who overbalances and falls with the ring into the molten lava of Doom.
The Goal. Needless to say this is what all the fuss was about! The task has been achieved and the kingdom restored to peace and order. The threat of evil overcome. One of the most memorable scenes I can remember in film is the blossoms in full bloom dropping their petals while the knights of the round table ride again in Excalibur!

Booker finally acknowledges (in his own way with words talking about so called ‘phases of expansion and contaction’ of the story) the three plots we’ve looked at so far, Overcoming the Monster, Rags to riches and The Quest can be further distilled into the basic three act structure: the set-up, conflict and resolution. He also describes” both a ‘light’ and ‘dark’ version of the Quest. He uses the classic story of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, to illustrate a dark version where the protagonist, Captain Ahab sets out on a quest kill the great Sperm Whale, Moby Dick, leading to a voyage filled with bad omens and disaster.

Plot 2 Rags to Riches (part2):

26 01 2013 11:42:53 +0000

Rags to Riches …the Dark Version!

Well this is the plot structure that I believe even Christopher Booker didn’t realise would be played out in contemporary “anti-hero stories”. Understandably so, as I’m sure that he wasn’t predicting the interest in this rather “swept under the carpet” aspect of Rags to Riches. Truth is that the ‘dark side’ of these stories are just too honest. Sometimes for us, average people, maybe even too confronting!

We are brought up in western society, that only when we make our fortune, we are a success! Therefore, if we are critical about our beliefs, Rags to Riches ‘light hearted tales’ can seem like “Western Propaganda”. How many “Jamal Malik’s” exist in Bombay? What about Cinderella’s? Superman’s? And the rest? We feel deceived by these simplistic allegories!

Since the Western way has been so shaken up by a challenge to its entire premise ( ie 2001 , terrorists and beyond) so in parallel have emerged stories that confront stereotypes which, the by-gone 20^th century, held up as pillars of that Western way! It’s the necessary anti-energy, to balance our existence.

Booker talks about two versions of these Dark “Rags to Riches” tales. One is the less dark tale of a protagonist who sets out in “rags “but through their journey achieves the acquisition of “riches” which only accompanies hollowness and dissatisfaction. Barry Lyndon (1975), by the master, Stanley Kubrik, is such a tale. Shot with exquisite candle lit lighting, creating pictures reminiscent of 18^th century romanticism, rates as the most beautiful film I have ever seen. Yet it tells the tale of Redmond Barry (played so memorably by Ryan O’Niel), an Irishman who flees to Dublin, en route having his purse stolen leaving him broke. This sets him on a journey to claim his fortune which by a series of dastardly events he does, only to leave him empty and hollow, and reassessing the “riches” he initially sought.

The next such “Rags to Riches” tale is one step more extreme. It’s when the protagonist who starts out relatively poor, quests riches and uses his or her egotism to achieve this at the expense of others (even claiming their lives). Breaking Bad, the American TV series, is the modern example of this. Walter White, an average middle class high school chemistry teacher, learns that he has inoperable lung cancer, and then he turns to a life of crime, producing and selling methamphetamine with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, with the aim of securing his family's financial future before he dies. Walter then recovers from his lung cancer and so re-defines his motive. He then awakens to his sense of failure in his life after he missed out on previous business opportunity. Walter is now charged with a new mission whom he will kill for to succeed. Booker quite rightfully describes this protagonist as “really a monster”.

These new takes on this old parable, are really exciting. They teach us we are human. We are marvellous and yet dubious. We awaken to the potentially terrifying prospects of our own natures.

Plot 2 Rags to Riches (part1):

25 01 2013 10:31:33 +0000

This plot is a real favourite and seems to be told over and over again, and yet we never seem to get sick of it! It’s the plot where a meagre little insignificant protagonist who is dismissed by all, finds their inner super human quality against all the odds to emerge superior.

As a rule, the protagonist starts at a much lower status then everyone else and despite being condemned to inferiority by the Dark figures around them, emerges (improbably) to a status much higher than the Dark figures, and everyone else. The greater the contrast between the two states, the more dramatic the impact.

Several protagonists spring to mind, Cinderella, King Arthur, Perceval, the Ugly Duckling, Jayne Eyre, Aladdin, Superman, Charlie Chaplin in The Gold Rush, David Copperfield, Rocky Balboa, Genghis Khan, Eliza Doolittle ( from My Fair Lady) and Jamal Malik from Slumdog Millianaire.

It’s no simple achievement for our protagonist! Like all good stories, the harder the battle the more intriguing! Christopher Booker argues there are five identifiable stages of this battle.

“Initial wretchedness at home and the call” The poor little protagonist starts out being down trodden and often condemned by very malevolent Dark figures, and gets a strong calling to reach for their inner superhuman quality. Jamal, aged 5, in Slumdog Millionaire is bombarded by sewerage, witnesses his mother’s death, then flees the Bombay riots to find himself tricked by a gangster, Maman, to be trained as a beggar and then discovers that Maman deliberately blinds children to increase their effectiveness as beggars.

“Out into the world, initial Success” The protagonist has their first glimpse of the glorious future that we all knew they had in them. In Slumdog, Jamal manages to get an autograph from a famous Bollywood star.

“The central crisis” The Dark Figures make it real hard for our protagonist, causing some serious grief! Maman, captures Jamal’s young girlfriend, Latika and raises her to become a prostitute, meanwhile Jamal and his brother Salim have to pickpocket, steal, live on the tops of trains and much more to survive. Eventually, as teenagers they confront Maman and Salim kills him, but only to find that he has to work for Javed, Maman’s rival crime lord. That's some serious grief for our poor Jamal!

“Independence and the Final ordeal” In a nutshell, our protagonist wakes up to their superhuman quality, but still face some mighty ordeal. Jamal finds himself all alone, working in a call centre and tries to make contact with his long lost brother Salim and girlfriend, Latika. He contacts Salim but has to become a contestant on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in an attempt to contact Latika who regularly watches the show. The final ordeal for Jamal is dealing with the show’s host, who’s a nasty piece of work, Prem Kumar, who accuses him of cheating even though Jamal gets lucky answering questions. Meantime he “phones a friend” and happens to re-establish contact with his long lost love, Latika.

“Final union, completion and fulfillment”. Well it says it all. Naturally the protagonist succumbs with the reward of a loving union with their prince or princess, to live happily ever after. Suffice to say, that Jamal and Latika finally meet in a railway station to kiss and then end up having a dance scene on the railway platform!

Booker then goes on to talk about the “Dark Versions” of this theme where “a hero or heroine who attempts to follow the general pattern of the climb from rags to riches, but in some way fails to arrive at its fully rewarding conclusion” ( page 66-67 The Seven Basic Plots). Examples of this kind of story include Stanley Kubrick’s classic (one of my favorite films) Barry Lyndon and the hit TV series, Breaking Bad. It’s a worthy topic for another Blog.

Plot 1: Overcoming The Monster

24 01 2013 08:17:34 +0000

There are few more epic and quintessential plots than the overcoming of a monster. The plot is simple. Here, the protagonist (or hero) is all good, and goes into direct battle to overcome the evil monster. Suffice to say not much more needs to be said. Indeed this is what makes this plot construction so visceral rather than intellectual. It immediately engages our "gut instinct". It reaches us on a primordial level, and perhaps breaks through the maze of modern intellectualism.

Indeed, Christopher Booker claims "there have been few cultures in the world which have not some version of the Overcoming the monster". Coming from a Western Christian upbringing, the first story that immediately springs to mind is the biblical David and Goliath, and even the whole story of Jesus Christ! Then there is Little Red Riding Hood, Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, Jack and the Beanstalk, one of my favourites Beowulf, and well…etcetera, etcetera !!!

The Monster can be so overt, as a monster in the fairy tale setting. It can be a giant, a witch, a wolf, a dragon, a shark, a minotaur, a sphinx, a Grendel, a vampire called Dracula, Martians, Nazis, outlaw gangs, flesh eating dinosaurs, a hulking body with ogre teeth, all the villains in James Bond movies or some ex Jedi knight (who turned to the dark side) …well…yeah, etcetera, etcetera.

Booker argues that the action unfolds in similar stages in all such tales.

“Anticipation stage”: our curiosity is aroused, by the protagonist and that dastardly Monster!

“Dream stage”: rather more serious incidents take place, but impart on our ‘hero’ protagonist a dreamlike sense of immunity to danger.

“Frustration stage”: or confrontation stage. Here the first serious setbacks are experienced by our protagonist because of the overwhelming power of our monster. It’s not just any monster. This is the one that really will kill our protagonist!

“Nightmare stage”: the monster really does something awful! That’s right; he really is a nasty piece of work! Yes, we’ll have no regret when our protagonist finally does that monster in!

“Miraculous Escape”: of our hero who truly does possess a superhuman power. Through ingenuity and great fortune manages to break through the disaster our Monster was about to create!

Yes there is none other story more satisfying than this age old gem!!! It’s a real David and Goliath.

"The Seven Basic Plots- and why we tell stories"

23 01 2013 07:22:27 +0000

The plot of your story is merely a device in which you convey a theme. Its no wonder then, Christopher Booker has argued that every story ever told can be narrowed down into one of seven plots in his book first published in 2004 The Seven Basic Plots. They include :

1. Overcoming the Monster

2. Rags to Riches

3. The Quest

4. Voyage and Return

5. Comedy

6. Tragedy

7. Rebirth.

Its a very long book indeed, (728 pages) Over the next few blogs I'll run through each of the plots and just briefly outline the basic premise of the story and give examples of films that fit the plot.

Ouroboros Post Production

22 01 2013 10:03:05 +0000

Being a creative person is a lucky thing. It means that you can learn about technology and still maintain your creativity. Often, those people that are " techno" may not be creative. So, you are one up if you are creative and have a grasp of technology! As a break from screen writing, I thought I'd post this blog about the post production of Ouroboros.

Adobe Production Premium Suite CS5.5 and 3DS max were used for all post production on a PC with an Intel core I7 Central processing Unit, 16 GB of RAM with Window 7 operating system. H.264 files from the 7D were imported directly into Premier Pro. Files were stored on a 6TB NAS Network storage unit.

Post production began in August 2011 and took several months and was finally complete by end of May 2012 and took many long hours for myself and later first assistant Director, Andrei Gostin.

I created a variety of digital visual effects. Stop motion animation was used for the slow motion falling ring. Rotoscoping for the dripping blood falling from the dagger was performed with Photoshop. The “leave colour” function in After Effects CS5.5 and masking was used to create the Sin City style colour grade. After effects was also used to re-composite shots to remove green screens and add the moon, cliff textures, the ring, the knife’s blade, additional smoke and some blood effects. 3DS max was used to create the 3 dimensional bullet and cliff face in the falling sequence and then introduced into After Effects to assemble the final compositions. Slow motion sequences were enhanced by Twixtor plug in, in After Effects. Colour grading was mainly performed within Premier Pro, but also in After Effects and Magic bullet Looks.

The final edit was overseen by first assistant Director, Andrei Gostin, who finalized the edit from a number of early versions.

Automated Dialogue Replacement (ADR) was recorded by Sound recorder, Phil Van Hout in a sound booth in the university campus in Adelaide for both Dan Hynes and Fiona Delaine, and Raphael Felix was recorded separately on a Zoom H4n unit. Sound design was performed initially by Phil Van Hout done on Pro Tools and then sent to Red Dot Studios in Sydney where Sound designer and mixer Sasha Zastovnikovic (who performed the sound design for the feature film “The Tunnel”) finalized the sound design and the sound mix to output both 5.1 Surround and Stereo versions.

The final sound tracks were mixed in Premier pro. The final film was rendered with some noise reduction for the images and Dolby digital 5.1 surround and stereo versions.

Constructing a Scene

21 01 2013 06:49:40 +0000

I once went to a seminar on screen writing presented by Duncan Thompson who is the head Screenwriting teaching at the International Film School Of Sydney. He used examples such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Reserviour Dogs to illustrate his point that scene construction can be distilled down to 7 parts. He went as far as to almost disregard the 3 act structure ( which I'll save for another blog). He argued that the 7 part construction is the basis for the entire story. A good scene , according to Duncan, leaves the audience :

1. Being dimly aware that something ( a phenomenon) is afoot.

2. Seeking physical evidence of that phenomenon.

3. Seeking the nature of the phenomenon? Asking themselves is it benign or malignant?

4. Finding details of the Extent of the phenomenon.

5. Then having a time for "Normalization", or getting used to the phenomenon.

6. Coming to terms with the implication of the phenomenon and the fallout.

7. Finally , adjusting to the "New Reality".

You can see these elements all being played out in the opening scene of Steven Spielberg' s classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind . From the moment the credits hit the screen, the music alone, tells us that some sort of phenomenon is afoot. A military Jeep arrives through a howling sand storm. Our curiosity is now completely aroused, and we search for physical evidence of the phenomenon. There are international players at this location, so it must be something of world significance. More evidence arrives as another team comes with the expert map reader claiming, in English, that he is not much of an interpreter and then speaks in fluent French. We are introduced to some aeroplanes and details start coming through about gasoline in the tanks, their immaculate condition and how they went missing in 1945! Now we ask ourselves, Is this a Good or a Bad phenomenon? What is the extent of it? The aeroplanes are in such good condition they can be started up first go. By this stage, we are right in the palm of Spielberg's masterful hands.The pace changes and we have chance to catch our breath and "normalize". There's a local Mexican elder dazed by his experience of "the sun coming up last night" and " it sang to him". We are adjusting to a new reality that there is something very big going on here.

I found this presentation interesting, and applied it in some of my work. I have also come across many other ways of breaking down scenes and analyzing them but I do like this way. However, firstly, tell your story the way you want to tell it. If after reviewing and re writing, your scenes in your story are not working, then keep this in mind.

"Theme" in a screenplay.

20 01 2013 08:01:52 +0000

The most important reason why I want to make films is to explore themes. Why bother making a "genre' film for the sake of it? Why bother making a film for its marketablity? A film without a theme can be an insipid and forget-able experience. It is a great privilege to even make a film and there is a lot of money, time and trouble that goes into it. Therefore it is paramount that the screenplay have a theme.

It is interesting that a writer may not really understand the theme of their story until they've written it. By " theme " I mean the whole purpose of a film's story: the reason why it even exists. The theme of the film is more important than the plot, which are the events or sequences that make up the whole story. A good plot can be very clever, but it will not give you the sense of advancing your understanding of humanity and the meaning of life like a film with a good theme. For me, the theme can change in the process of writing the story and realizing the vision, but is always the driving force behind the project.

Where do the themes come from? I tend to agree with Anderson West who wrote this blog Shoot what You know . The best themes come from your own personal experiences. Professor Richard Walter(professor and screen writing Chairman, UCLA) writes in his book Essentials of Screenwriting ..."Decades spent writing and teaching have taught me that writers' own personal stories are the only story they should write." (p13) This line has stuck in my mind. By this he does not mean screenplays should be autobiographical, but the theme reflects the writer's experience. "The movie screen is a mirror and not a window"(p32).

In 2008, I wanted to explore the whole topic of human cloning. I engaged the services of a screenwriter who wrote me a script based on some objectives which I gave her. She was a very clever screenwriter and wrote me a very clever story. However, I grew frustrated with it , as it some how failed to have a purpose. After telling her she became angry with me and didn't want to work with me ! I then went about writing the screenplay first entitled Dr Morag's Helical Dreams . I became aware that this story contained a theme I was experiencing in my life. The theme was about being a parent and sacrificing for your children. In the way that Morag, was the "original or parent" to his clone. The paradox was Morag was using his clone as as a reserve of perfectly compatible organs. Ultimately, the selfishness of this vexed him subconsciously, and rightfully he gives up his body's most valuable organ ( his heart) back to his clone. In the first drafts, Morag had a son, so there was going to be a contrast between off spring from sexual reproduction and offspring from asexual reproduction (the clone). For a variety of logistical reasons, I was persuaded to write this character out of the film. It ended up being a film that was set in a very sterile hospital environment. This too reflected my experience as a medical student, being trained in teaching hospitals. Indeed the resuscitation scene reflected an experience I had as a hospital intern. It was in the process of re writing and script editing (with the script editor Dave De Vries) where I began to recognize the meaning of the theme behind this story, and that it was reflecting my own life!

Ouroboros Cinematography

19 01 2013 07:23:49 +0000

Today I wanted to take a break from talking about screen writing, and just pay respect to the crew members who worked on my latest short film "Ouroboros". Its a wonderful technical skill and craft to create beautiful visual cinema. I was blessed to work with Dave Gregan, an experienced cinematographer and Yehuda Tatarko, a gaffer who has worked on some 50 plus feature films on the international film-making scene who just so happened to be in Adelaide, South Australia, the time we were filming Ouroboros. The following photo shows Yehuda on the left and Dave on the right one night on set on Ouroboros and the blog below details all the technical details for the "tech- heads"! [check out how they made the film perfectly match the storyboard vision]

Ouroboros was shot on the Canon EOS 7D DSLR camera, for its low light capabilities, using 10-20mm, 25-75 mm and 100 mm Sigma and Canon lenses. The camera was mounted with a Pro- am follow focus unit and genus Matte box, with an Ikan V800 monitor on a Miller DS 20 tripod throughout all stages.

A 20,000 Watt generator with 3 phase power was used in stage one. Several lights were used including 2 Blondes, 4 Redheads, and 2 Dido and 1Kino flo light. A Digi Dolly was utilized in some shots. Two smoke machines were used throughout. Aesthetically, Dave Gregan and the Gaffer, Yehuda Tatarko, aimed to firstly justify the light sources in this dark scene which came from both the parked car headlights and moonlight with the use of smoke to capture this. Secondly, Dave wanted to create a “contrasty” look similar to the Cohen’s brothers’ “No Country for old men” night scenes. He was aware that all shots were going to be altered to black and white in post-production so was continually checking the monitor black and white function, but continued to shoot in colour as this was needed to attain the “Sin City” colour grading in post-production. An additional difficulty was encountered on the first night of production when the reverse sequences were shot in forward motion and the reversed in post. Dave worked closely with Director Alex Nakone and first AD, Andrei Gostin with the storyboards created by Alex in pre-production.

The second stage required reproduction of the same lighting conditions which emulated stage one. This required careful visualization as the actor, Raphael Felix was suspended downwards and then the composition was rotated 180 degrees on the horizontal axis, in post-production.

The third stage again utilized a 20,000 watt 3 phase generator for this outdoor shoot. Lights included an Arri 1.2K, 2 Kino Flo Diva lights and hard board reflectors. A fog machine was planned for but due to the wind conditions was not used. Several 4 x4 inch Neutral Density filters ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 were used in the Genus matte box. A homemade camera slider was employed in one shot but abandoned due to heavy wind conditions causing camera wobble. Aesthetically, Dave recognized that the intention was to saturate the colours in post , so shot the scene using flat picture settings on the Canon 7D. In post- production, the colour levels were compressed increasing the overall contrast and colour saturation, and greens were added.

Watch Ouroboros here :

The Antagonist

18 01 2013 06:11:00 +0000

If a film has a protagonist, there must, by definition be an antagonist. The protagonist attempts to reach their goal but is confronted with every possible obstacle. Those obstacles, are created by, or even are the antagonist. In other words, the antagonist does not always have to be a character in your story. It can be the environment, society, an energy, animal or even a inner struggle within the protagonist themselves. In Danny Boyle's film 127 Hours a mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone and resorts to amputation of his own arm to free himself. Here, at first glimpse it would appear that the boulder is the antagonist, but later, as the story unfolds, there is an inner struggle in the character. His own fear of pain becomes an obstacle to freeing himself, and thus an antagonist.

It is often stereotyped that the antagonist is evil and makes morally reprhensible choices. This does not have to be so, and in fact the antagonist might be the good guy in your story. In Breaking Bad, the Protagonist, Walter White who chooses a life of crime, has a rather boisterous gung-ho brother-in-law, Hank Schrader, who works for the DEA. Hank's job is to catch the criminals behind a new type of amphetamine hitting the streets called "Blue Meth". Hank is unaware the his brother in law, Walter White is one of "the cooks" of this Blue Meth. Here, the antagonist in fact holds the moral upper hand. It's a rather masterful stroke by the creator of this show, Vince Gilligan, to not only make the antagonist morally a better person, but also to connect the protagonist and antagonist so closely, by making them related by marriage and seeing them interact at family gatherings. It certainly adds more obstacles and tension in the path of the protagonist. In deed, if you are going to make your antagonist a character, think of ways to connect them with the protagonist. One final word about Breaking bad, Vince Gilligan's intention was to make a show where the protagonist slowly transforms into the antagonist, so in fact Walter White ends up becoming the antagonist!

Do we always hate the antagonist? Well no, but it helps. If we care enough about the protagonist to be bothered to see what happens next , then naturally we will dislike the opposing forces. We may even fear, be in awe, be perplexed, or be overwhelmed by them.

In my opinion, create a sense of uncertainty in your story (for film), and never let the audience know too easily where the journey takes them, and they may even be bothered to follow that journey. The antagonist, I think, plays the most important role in creating that uncertainty.

The Protagonist.

16 01 2013 08:25:33 +0000

When we talk about a film's protagonist, we are not just talking about another character, but the central player ( or players if there are two protagonists such as in Romeo and Juliette) and is the reason for the story of the film to proceed. A strong film always has a strong protagonist.

So what makes a good protagonist? I think that we as an audience should identify with the protagonist and if we do, then we might actually care to see what happens next . What happens next , leads me to the single most important attribute about the protagonist and that is that they have a quest, goal, purpose, passion or mission! They want something, and its clear from the outset what they want. However, its going to be a monumental struggle to get it! The more difficult it is, the more interesting the story. Therefore if the character is flawed, there is already great difficulties to overcome. I think human foibles in the protagonist probably the single most important attribute in making me relate to them. Sometimes I may not even like the character, but as soon as I see that they have weakness, them I am willing to forgive them.

The protagonist does not have to be "good" or "bad" but they must be interesting! They can even be deliberately bad or evil ( which already makes them interesting). Here is where "contradiction" within the character arouses our curiosity about them. The more extreme the contradictions the more colorful. I think about Walter White in "Breaking Bad" who to me is one of the more fascinating protagonists. He is essentially a middle class chemistry teacher who lives in a typical suburban home and is married with two children the eldest son about 15 to 16 with cerebral palsy. Yet he has a quest to make money as a "Cook" of Crystal Meth dealing with extreme underworld figures including Mexican drug cartels and outsmarts them. A fine example of extreme contradictions between his conservative background yet criminal quest.

Another way to make them interesting is to make them humorous. If the story dictates that they be serious in order to build tension, then it can be very difficult . However that also provides the opportunity for some dry humour , so long as it breaks tension at the right time.

The final aspect that is needed by the protagonist, is a way to overcome the obstacles. I have a friend who wrote and illustrated for Marvel comics and is convinced that all protagonists have to possess a supernatural power. I am not sure that's true but I do agree that certainly gives them means to overcome their difficulties. I believe that circumstances, chance events , or maybe just simple persistence by the protagonist achieve the same outcome.

Ouroboros the short film is now out!

01 01 2013 20:17:39 +0000

Ouroboros the short film , world Internet premiere is now on Film Annex! Watch the full uncut version:

http://www.filmannex.com/movie/ouroboros/32629

Ouroboros - CAST - Raphael Felix

25 12 2012 03:20:30 +0000

Ouroboros to have its online premiere on Film Annex on Boxing day!

Born in Brasília, Brazil, Raphael and his family immigrated to Australia in 1987. In 1994, he started the Hip Hop band Terra Firma with cofounder Simplex and they went on to produce two albums Waking the Past and Music to Live By with over 20,000 sales each. Terra Firma were then featured hip hop acts on two occasions in “The Big Day Out” in the mid 2000’s, performing to audiences of over 20,000 fans. They played a significant part in the Culture of Kings Australian Hip Hop compilation. Ouroboros is Raphael’s acting debut.

Check out Raph rapping in this single from Terra Firma "Hold It Wide"

Ouroboros - CAST - Fiona Delaine " Bonnie Adams"

25 12 2012 03:06:32 +0000

Ouroboros to have its online premiere release to Film Annex

Born in Sydney to a family of actors and performers, Fiona DeLaine moved to South Australia where, in 2004, she completed her Bachelor of Performing Arts with Honours at the Flinders University Drama Centre. She then went on to play a variety of lead roles in professional and amateur theatre including a stand out performance in 2011 as Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd staged by the Hills Musical Company. She has appeared in the television series McLeod’s Daughters and the feature film Travelling Light.

Ouroboros - CAST - Dan Hynes "Frank Shaunessy"

25 12 2012 02:53:08 +0000

Ouroboros to have its on line premiere on Film annex on boxing day!

Born in Sydney Dan Hynes moved to Adelaide where he completed his film and stage acting training in 1992. He then went on stage to play a variety of lead roles in Alan Ayckbounre’s The Revengers’ Comedies and Wildest Dreams and Joe Orton’s Crimes of Passion and The Ruffian on the Stair. He appeared in several TV commercials between 1999 and 2007. He played the lead role, Dr Radox Gnosis, in Alex Nakone’s black comedy Biotech 8 (2008) and co-wrote the script.

Ouroboros - the crew members- Cinematographer Dave Gregan

23 12 2012 01:50:54 +0000

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY Dave Gregan Biography

David Gregan has worked in both camera and lighting departments on major feature films shot in South Australia including, “Hey, Hey it’s Esther Blueburger”, ”Beautiful”, “Broken Hill”, and the Scott Hick’s film “The Boys are Back”. In 2006 he won a Silver Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS) Award for his cinematography in the short film “Chambers”. Again in 2010 David won another Silver ACS award in the corporate and educational category for “Uniting Care Wesley”. David, who originally worked in the lighting department for corporate filmmaking brings a strong emphasis on the lighting in his cinematography, so that it enhances the visual storytelling.

Ouroboros - the crew members- producer Fiona De Caux

23 12 2012 01:39:37 +0000

PRODUCER of Ouroboros Fiona De Caux Biography

Born in Perth Australia Fiona de Caux moved to Adelaide where she has been involved in the South Australian film industry for many years. Fiona has produced many short films and music video clips; these include “Change” by “The Vampire Project”, and “Just Go” by Awgie award winner Stephen House. She also has two feature credits, local indie sci-fi horror feature “The Forest” (currently in post-production) and Dave de Vries’s multi award winning Indie feature “Carmilla Hyde”. This feature has recently been signed for international distribution. Her latest production, a short film “Sally-Ann Watkins” also written and directed by Dave De Vries, has become an internet hit, with over 164,000 views to date. She has several other shorts currently doing the rounds of both Australian and International film festivals which she has produced.

Fiona brings strengths in casting, communication, marketing and publicity. She works tirelessly with new and emerging directors. She has the ability to attract quality people for the crews she assembles and has a flare of finding sponsors. She has been involved in the genesis of a number of projects, from film to mobile content to local television. Fiona is one of the founding members of production company “Dark Mirror Pictures” who aim to create a core of popular, edgy and commercially viable features. Fiona is also a screenwriter, drawing from her wealth of filmmaking and life experience.

Ouroboros about the production

22 12 2012 23:50:34 +0000

Ouroboros was filmed between May of 2011 and April 2012 in Adelaide, Australia in three stages. The first stage of the scene of the two gangsters meeting high on the cliff’s edge was shot over three very cold nights between Friday the 27^th May and Sunday 29^th May2011 in two quarries around the North Eastern Adelaide hills. Producer, Fiona De Caux worked tirelessly to attract a range of sponsors including the brick and paving company that owned the quarries, a car restorer company to provide an American 1971 restored converted Dodge Polara (worth over $ AU 100K) and other sponsors who generously provided goods for catering during this stage. Over the first two nights, “Quarry One” was used to establish the entire scene, and all of the main shots of that scene were performed. On the third night, the team moved location to “Quarry Two” which had some old factories providing the backdrop for the car driving scene, and where a one metre high edge was excavated to create a platform for the stunts, blood make-up special effects shots and discharging the firearm. Stunts were performed by the second lead actor, Raphael Felix. This location was made to look like “Quarry one” which had a much higher cliff’s edge.

The second stage of production was a visual effects shoot on Sunday June 26^th 2011. It was shot in a theatre in a University campus in Adelaide and was preceded by a rock climbing session arranged by the first assistant director, Andrei Gostin, who is also a rock climbing instructor. This familiarized the second lead actor, Raphael Felix, to being suspended by a harness which he would have to endure over this production day. There were just six shots achieved on this day, but there was no effort spared in recreating the “look” of stage one in the quarries.

The third stage was completed ten months later in April 2012, in a quaint location called Brown Hill Creek at the Adelaide foot hills. This scheduled production day of the “far away” scene between Frank and Bonnie, was complicated by gale force “gully” winds which caused a gazebo protecting equipment to blow over injuring Fiona De Caux and the lead actor suffering with episodes of vertigo. Despite these mishaps, the day ended up being a successful shoot.

Ouroboros will premiere on Film Annex on December 26, 2012!

22 12 2012 23:08:27 +0000

Ouroboros is my latest short film just over 11 minutes duration, , costing about $AU 12,000 to make, will premiere on Film Annex this Wednesday 26th December. watch the trailer (WARNING! There are graphic depictions of violence which may disturb some viewers.)

http://www.filmannex.com/webtv/alexnakone/movie/ouroboros-trailer/32179

the making of:

http://www.filmannex.com/webtv/alexnakone/movie/the-making-of-ouroborous/27990

Why Film Annex?

Film Annex is simply the best on line platform to promote and distribute short films for Independent film makers. Lots of time, money and passion goes into making a film, and its great that Film Annex rewards film makers with some monetary return to help us make our next films.

OUROBOROS-The Short Film

RUNNING TIME: 11 minute and 17 seconds

COUNTRY OF PRODUCTION: Australia, South Australia

DATE OF COMPLETION: June 30th 2012

SHOOTING FORMAT: Canon EOS 7D DSLR NTSC 1080p 29.97 fps

EXHIBITION FORMAT: Multi- Region, Multiple formats.

SCREENING RATIO: 16:9

SOUND: Dolby Digital 5.1

GENRE: Supernatural/Thriller

OUROBOROS-LOGLINE

One deal goes wrong. One man gets trapped in the moment.

OUROBOROS-SYNOPSIS

The film is a tale about how karma affects two underworld figures. Frank Shaunessy collects money owed to him by the younger Latino gangster Emilio Sanchez at a meeting point at the top of a cliff. Frank is overwhelmed by a supernatural experience which, changes him for life.

What Does Ouroboros mean?

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent snake, worm or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; (oura) meaning "tail" and (boros) meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail". Although this ancient symbol has many interpretations, it is most commonly believed to represent cyclicity, the concept of the eternal return, things which begin anew as soon as they end. I was interested in making an experimental film where the beginning and end of the film were the same. “The Worm Ouroboros” a heroic fantasy novel by Eric Rücker Eddison, first published in 1922 also achieved a similar result. It so happens that the Ouroboros is a symbol represented in jewellery, particularly rings, and I found it intriguing that “The Worm Ouroboros” was published prior to Tolstoy’s “The Lord of the Rings” by some 32 years and in fact Tolstoy praised this book, and based his famous trilogy on a ring.

I set out to achieve a short film itself becoming a cycle. The film would begin in reverse motion, then reach a point where a decision or choice was made, as in this case between two gangsters on a cliff’s edge exchanging some money, then proceed in forward motion to the same point film where the film began in reverse.

Ouroboros

21 10 2012 03:11:11 +0000

Ouroboros, my current short film, is a tale about how karma affects two underworld figures. Frank Shaunessy collects money owed to him by the younger Latino gangster Emilio Sanchez at a rendezvous on the edge of a cliff. Frank is overwhelmed by a supernatural experience which, changes him for life.

I was interested in making an experimental film where the beginning and end of the film were the same. The Worm Ouroboros a heroic fantasy novel by Eric Rücker Eddison, first published in 1922 is based on this concept. It so happens that the Ouroboros is a symbol represented in jewellery, particularly rings, and I found it intriguing that The Worm Ouroboros was published prior to Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings by some 32 years and in fact Tolkien praised this book, and based his famous trilogy on a ring. I set out to achieve a short film itself becoming a cycle. The film begins in reverse motion, then reaches a point where a decision or choice is made, as in this case between two gangsters on a cliff’s edge exchanging money, then proceeds in forward motion to the same point where the film began in reverse. This underlying simplistic concept, however, underwent much development and the “cycle” was broken in the final film. It became a way to build a story around the main character Frank Shaunessy, played by Dan Hynes, who was being ripped off in the deal. Frank is a hardened old world gangster linked to the Mafia with both Scottish and Italian descent. The reverse sequence was used quickly to set up Frank’s brutal past and emphasize the danger to the younger Latino gangster, Emilio Sanchez played by Raphael Felix as he attempts to short change Frank. When the film reaches forward motion, we become aware that Frank is immersed in a supernatural experience which leads to his epiphany and emerges our anti-hero. Frank is confronted by a vision of his blonde Geordie sweetheart, Bonnie, who speaks about the Ouroboros and Frank’s cycle of violence. The concept of the Ouroboros now starts representing the pattern of behaviour and choices that the characters are making in their lives. I had a variety of influences including Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s Sin City, David Lynch, Cohen Brothers and Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad. In particular I wanted to explore black and white with a splash of colour (most often red) to enhance the storytelling, making a distinction between what is real in the story, which is in black and white and that which is imaginary, in colour or in reverse motion. Filmed in Adelaide, Australia, I wanted the film to look like it could have been made anywhere in the world so no Australian accents were heard and efforts were made to avoid Australian looking landscapes.

Thank you Film Annex

21 10 2012 00:40:06 +0000

Filmannex,

It can be a very lonely task being an independent filmmaker, never sure where your future lies and competing against "big budget" juggernauts. Posting work on the internet can be rather daunting, as there is a mass of "noise" and it is difficult to stand out amongst this for a serious independent filmmaker. I'd just like to say thank you, on behalf of the independent filmmakers which you have supported and given a new lease of life. I feel privileged to be amongst the group "Eren's Picks". It has now made me re-assess the short film platforms on the internet. I believe that the model at Film Annex is coming out ahead, although I can see the technical aspects of this platform improving into the future. Compared to other platforms I've posted on, the support that Film Annex offers is simply second to none!

Alex Nakone

Independent Filmmaker

Ouroboros in production

07 06 2011 09:19:24 +0000

Check out the progress of our exciting new film production "Ouroboros". http://alexnakonefilms.com/?page_id=129

Ouroboros Facebook link

09 04 2011 07:05:49 +0000

Come with us for the journey through the " Ouroboros" ... on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Alex-Nakone-WebTV/206366516045817?ref=ts Have a look and contribute your views to help shape the development of this film.

Ouroboros poster

08 04 2011 21:34:49 +0000

The exciting new concept film by Alex Nakone. Visit the website for more information. http://alexnakonefilms.com/?page_id=129

Synopsis for Ouroboros

08 04 2011 21:26:35 +0000

In reverse time , at night in an abandoned forest high overlooking a cliff a man carries a large bag and a dagger with blood covering it. He drops a ring to the ground. He has just disposed of his victim from a cliff. In reverse , the bloody and gruesome stabbing of the man slaying his victim occurs right to the point at which the man takes the large bag from his victim, which he unzips revealing bundles of cash.Subtly, time changes to forward motion. Now the man realizing the act that he was about to perform, embraces his victim and starts to cry , wailing like an abandoned child. A complete emotional catharsis. The man , now in forward motion grabs the large bag and throws it off the cliff into the murky abyss below and is swallowed by blackness. The victim walks away. The man walks forward feeling satisfied, but then he sees the ring on the ground covered in blood.

Ouroboros location!

08 04 2011 21:13:14 +0000

Great location for the short film " Ouroboros". The film will be set over an abandoned quarry at night time.

"Ouroboros" new film project by Alex Nakone

05 04 2011 08:55:02 +0000

Production for the new short film " Oroborous " is getting under way . It will be a 3 minute film about a man caught in a "time loop". The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. The film will use lots of slow motion, reverse motion, and forward motion.

"Ouroboros" new film project by Alex Nakone

05 04 2011 08:22:29 +0000

Production for the new short film " Oroborous " is getting under way April 2011. It will be a 3 minute film about a man caught in a "time loop". The Ouroboros often represents self-reflexivity or cyclicality, especially in the sense of something constantly re-creating itself, the eternal return, and other things perceived as cycles that begin anew as soon as they end. The film will use lots of slow motion, reverse motion, and forward motion.

Tiltili Wines Proud Sponsor of Mr Morag's Helical Dreams

13 11 2010 09:44:26 +0000

Thanks to Tiltili wines of South Australia from Langhorn Creek who have proudly contributed to the development of the film project "Mr Morag's Helical Dreams" Visit http://www.tiltiliwines.com.au/ Enjoy their fabulous selections of white or red South Australian wine! Alex Nakone