Spinning Our Web

Our journey with writing our script still continues. Although such a task is relatively easy due to the fact that our treatment is rather informative, we still had a bit of trouble. We tended to write out every action rather than simply let the story flow. Yet, now that we know the problem, I feel like we will both do better.

 

Another problem we encountered was establishing the problem/challenge in Act I. Although Jachelle and I know what the problem is--our main character, Finn Grey, is a pushover and befriends the school loner--we did not know how to exactly transfer that onto the script. I feel like such a problem is too general and so it may be applied to the whole story rather than pertaining to Act I only. Jachelle and I will work even harder to ensure that our Act I will be excellent because that is the stepping stone for the following acts.

 

This is also a new experience because I do not think we have never been told to break apart our script. Usually, we write the whole script through and revise it later. However, by doing this instead, the process allows for growth because we are able to catch our mistakes before and avoid them later on. Yes, this includes rewriting and revising almost everything, but that is a very good thing actually, even if it is time-consuming. Like Mr. Lemos always says: writing is rewriting.

 

I also like how our teacher, Mr. Lemos, is personally helping us. By dividing us into groups of two, Mr. Lemos can then discuss our projects and truly give us helpful advice. This is really good because it gives us an opportunity to excel but at the same time, we can always ask for help and guidance.

 

Throughout this whole process however, I hate how Jachelle always has good ideas. She is constantly creating new and wonderful scenarios that only make our story more alive. I also hate how amazing she is when it comes to combining our different ideas which allows us to embellish our story, improving it. We work quite well together and I truly hope we end up in the same group in order to produce this film because I believe it will be extremely fun. 

 

Partners in Crime

It appears that this project has led to many surprises. Unlike other projects, this film noir event has a lot of planning associated with it which is actually very good. The treatments are constantly analyzed and rewritten while the ideas are changed again and again. Even though this process is a bit tedious, I have to admit that I enjoy it because it decreased the amount of sloppy errors that will be present in the final product. All this careful planning is only making our films better because we will not attack the project blindly, but rather have a strong guide.

 

I also liked doing beat sheets because it was something new that was introduced to us. The fact that we are always learning more about pre-production is rewarding because usually its all about filming and editing with no clear emphasis on the planning. However, with beat sheets, everyone learned something new and used such skill to their advantage.

 

The beat sheets were also helpful because it was a simple method to organize our stories. To me, storyboards are a bit more confusing because sometimes the pictures are not accurate and so it causes more problems. However, with the beat sheet, everything is clear and concrete so that anyone can simply follow the story without much hassle. I also enjoyed making it because it establishes the story better; it covers all the holes present in the treatment by attacking the main ideas, centering the story better.

 

The next step now is the script, a task that I predict will both hard and easy. I believe it will be easy because the story is solid and so no confusion will be present during the writing process. However, it might be challenging because the language used in film noir is often tricky. I am afraid that the language might be overused so that our film turns out to be cliché and generic rather than different and exciting. At the same time, I do not want to make the dialogue too simple because that is an extremely important component in all film noir movies.

 

Our story also has a lot of dialogue and so I believe that it should be cut down to only contain the main points. The narration is also key so the dialogue does not need to be dramatically changed because the narration fills in everything else that is missing.

 

Overall, I truly enjoy working with Jachelle (hi!) in improving our story.

  



Sharing Pages

In writing my treatment,  I genuinely enjoyed working with someone else because it taught me valuable lessons. For example, I sometimes suffer from writer's block because I tend to overthink some stories which usually sidetracks me. In the end, I am not satisfied with my story because I felt that I could do so much better. However,  by working with Jachelle (hi!) I was able to come up with several different ideas that I was proud of because she would offer advice that kept the story flowing. Our various ideas helped me in leaving behind the usual and boring routine I sometimes take in writing a treatment because I was able to look at several possibilities that I had not previously thought about. This expanded my mind and led my creativity to shine stronger, especially when Jachelle and I managed to combine our ideas to make a story we truly enjoyed.

 

Another reason that I liked working with a partner was the fact that I was able to realize how I could share and combine my ideas with someone. I have never worked with anyone else when it came to writing because the chance had never presented itself which never allowed me to realize what I was missing out on. I knew that Jachelle is also a writer like me, but we had never collaborated in something like this, so I did not know what to expect. However, it was easy to create a story we were proud of because we had similar ideas that made the whole process easier. This also proved to me that it is very interesting and fun to work with someone else, especially in creating a story because such a task can go in various of directions which may result in pleasant outcomes.

 

When I first heard that we had to pitch our story to the class, I was a bit uncertain because I did not know how everyone else was going to view the story. Just because Jachelle and I deemed it worthy, that did not absolutely signify that everyone else would love it. However, this experience was very helpful because it allowed for various of perspectives to shine on the story so that improvements could be made. Through this, all stories can become even better which is something that is very valuable because such improvements may not have been noticed by the original writers. I believe this experience was also helpful in the way that it brought confidence to all the writers because they presented their story and had the chance to defend it. To me, this managed to amount further confidence in all the writers because they truly knew what they were doing and so when it is time to film it,  better product will be the result.  

 

Overall, I enjoyed working with Jachelle in writing a treatment because new ideas were created to make a story we definitely liked. Pitching the story was also very beneficial because it gave room for improvement which will only help--not just in rewriting, but in producing the film.