Saturday, November 17, 2007
STARTING ROUGH DRAFT
I had to make the decision of doing a rough draft first. I wanted to go straight to first draft but my deadline is very tight. I can't blame it all on the deadline, though. I've had this story in my head for so long I thought I could just sit down and it would pour out of me. No such luck. The moment I wrote FADE IN all of my ideas FADED OUT.
My rough draft will be just cranking out the story. Sort of a more detailed step in between treatment and script. Some people call it a scriptment. There may be no jokes and there may not even be any dialogue in some scenes. For example if there is an action sequence that I have not figured out then I will just write the basic beats of the sequence out and move on. The goal is to get eveything out as quick as I can. Besides, no one will be reading this draft but me and my story editor. Sometimes this stream of consciousness writing can be good. If you don't stop to fuss over the details you don't have time to second guess your instincts and you might just come up with a couple of gems. Then, with my remaining time, I can go back through and (re)write the first draft. I can more easily bide my time this way. And believe me, I can lament over a single line of dialogue for days so doing it this way is probably for the best. It's always easier to rework words on a page than sitting there staring at a blank one.
I hope to have this "draft" done by Christmas. That'll give me roughly 5 weeks left to turn in the first draft.
Wish me luck!
Chris
My rough draft will be just cranking out the story. Sort of a more detailed step in between treatment and script. Some people call it a scriptment. There may be no jokes and there may not even be any dialogue in some scenes. For example if there is an action sequence that I have not figured out then I will just write the basic beats of the sequence out and move on. The goal is to get eveything out as quick as I can. Besides, no one will be reading this draft but me and my story editor. Sometimes this stream of consciousness writing can be good. If you don't stop to fuss over the details you don't have time to second guess your instincts and you might just come up with a couple of gems. Then, with my remaining time, I can go back through and (re)write the first draft. I can more easily bide my time this way. And believe me, I can lament over a single line of dialogue for days so doing it this way is probably for the best. It's always easier to rework words on a page than sitting there staring at a blank one.
I hope to have this "draft" done by Christmas. That'll give me roughly 5 weeks left to turn in the first draft.
Wish me luck!
Chris
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
CREATING COMIC CHARACTERS
Okay, so you've got your story and you think it's pretty darn good. (I'm speaking in third person about myself) Now is the time to develop your characters in such a way that will render your story obsolete. (still speaking about myself) Okay, it's not that drastic, but it can be.
Creating characters, or should I say comic characters is both fun and difficult at the same time. We all want our characters to be multi-faceted and have depth, but I think that you cannot know your character that well until you start writing or boarding for him/her and start putting them into situations. Dexter from Dexter's Lab was a pretty well figured out character right from the start, but all of the nuances that we know and love about Dexter only came after many season's of fine tuning and experimenting. It's a good place to get to with your character but you need a solid foundation to start from. How? Well I found a great way to create comic characters that is not only fun, but easy enough to generate many comic characters and see which one fits best with your story without expelling to much time and energy.
There are many books on creating characters and I am sure there are one or two that are the most popular. I, on the other hand, use a book called THE COMIC TOOLBOX by John Vorhaus. It's a book on "how to be funny even if you're not." There are a lot of useful tips in there on writing jokes and comedy in general. There are even a few chapters on the basic steps of story telling in a screen play. The chapter I really love is the one on creating comic characters and it is the one I will be quoting and referencing here.
There are four basic elements that make up your comic character. They are:
1. Comic Perspective
2. Exaggeration
3. Flaws
4. Humanity
COMIC PERSPECTIVE is simply the unique and quirky way your character looks at the world. Every thought, every idea and every reaction you character has needs to "filter" through their perspective. I like to call it looking at the world through your characters glasses. For example, Gracie Allen (of Burns and Allen fame) was INNOCENT. Everything she said and did was INNOCENT. One of the best examples of this is Jack Benny. His comic perspective (among others) is cheap. There is a skit where Jack is being held up at gunpoint by a robber. When the robber says "Your money or your life" Jack Benny answers "I'm thinking." It's Jack's cheap comic perspective that tells us that he might just value his money over his life and what makes it funny.
EXAGGERATION is taking your characters comic perspective and stretching it and pushing it so far out there that it far enough from our own perspectives in life that it starts to be funny. Recalling Gracie Allen, she was not only innocent she was the ultimate innocent. Dudley Moore as Arthur was not only a drunk he was the drunkest drunk. Jerry Lewis (used to be) the biggest bumbler the world ever knew. He not only acted bumblng he thought it. Don't be afraid to push your character to the extremes of their comic perspective.
FLAWS are a failing or negative quality in your comic character that opens up an emotional distance between them and the audience so that the audience can comfortably laugh at them with out feeling as though their pain is too close to home and therefore not funny. Sam Malone's flaw is egomania. Diane Chamber's flaw is snobbishness.Scrooge's flaw is greed. Dean Martin's flaw is drunkeness. Murphy Brown's flaw is stubborness. Flaws don't have to always be bad traits but taken to the exaggerated level can make them abnormal and thus distance them from the audience. Vorhaus' example of this is Charlie Brown's flaw is his trusting nature. Huh? How is that a flaw? The flaw is that he trusts TOO MUCH (more than you or I might) and thus let's us laugh every time Lucy pulls that football away.
HUMANITY, unlike flaws which separates the audience from the charcter, builds a bridge between us and the character so that we can care about them. The sure fire way to engage your audience and make them want to go on your hero's adventure is to get them to care about your character. You must arouse symapthy and empathy in your audience toward your hero. You are supposed to like the hero and the hero is supposed to be like you. If that happen, you engage emotionally and will gladly undertake his/her journey with them. If you want your character to have the legs to be consistantly funny through the life of your story, your audience must feel a part of the experience.
Building your chracter off of these basic elements will give you a great starting place. In some instances this might be enough. But don't be afraid to continue molding and fine tuning your character. I only touched the surface of the basic ideas brought forth in The Comic Toolbox. If you are interested in reading about this technique (or tool) further, I really recommend going out and buying this book.
See you next time!
Chris
Creating characters, or should I say comic characters is both fun and difficult at the same time. We all want our characters to be multi-faceted and have depth, but I think that you cannot know your character that well until you start writing or boarding for him/her and start putting them into situations. Dexter from Dexter's Lab was a pretty well figured out character right from the start, but all of the nuances that we know and love about Dexter only came after many season's of fine tuning and experimenting. It's a good place to get to with your character but you need a solid foundation to start from. How? Well I found a great way to create comic characters that is not only fun, but easy enough to generate many comic characters and see which one fits best with your story without expelling to much time and energy.
There are many books on creating characters and I am sure there are one or two that are the most popular. I, on the other hand, use a book called THE COMIC TOOLBOX by John Vorhaus. It's a book on "how to be funny even if you're not." There are a lot of useful tips in there on writing jokes and comedy in general. There are even a few chapters on the basic steps of story telling in a screen play. The chapter I really love is the one on creating comic characters and it is the one I will be quoting and referencing here.
There are four basic elements that make up your comic character. They are:
1. Comic Perspective
2. Exaggeration
3. Flaws
4. Humanity
COMIC PERSPECTIVE is simply the unique and quirky way your character looks at the world. Every thought, every idea and every reaction you character has needs to "filter" through their perspective. I like to call it looking at the world through your characters glasses. For example, Gracie Allen (of Burns and Allen fame) was INNOCENT. Everything she said and did was INNOCENT. One of the best examples of this is Jack Benny. His comic perspective (among others) is cheap. There is a skit where Jack is being held up at gunpoint by a robber. When the robber says "Your money or your life" Jack Benny answers "I'm thinking." It's Jack's cheap comic perspective that tells us that he might just value his money over his life and what makes it funny.
EXAGGERATION is taking your characters comic perspective and stretching it and pushing it so far out there that it far enough from our own perspectives in life that it starts to be funny. Recalling Gracie Allen, she was not only innocent she was the ultimate innocent. Dudley Moore as Arthur was not only a drunk he was the drunkest drunk. Jerry Lewis (used to be) the biggest bumbler the world ever knew. He not only acted bumblng he thought it. Don't be afraid to push your character to the extremes of their comic perspective.
FLAWS are a failing or negative quality in your comic character that opens up an emotional distance between them and the audience so that the audience can comfortably laugh at them with out feeling as though their pain is too close to home and therefore not funny. Sam Malone's flaw is egomania. Diane Chamber's flaw is snobbishness.Scrooge's flaw is greed. Dean Martin's flaw is drunkeness. Murphy Brown's flaw is stubborness. Flaws don't have to always be bad traits but taken to the exaggerated level can make them abnormal and thus distance them from the audience. Vorhaus' example of this is Charlie Brown's flaw is his trusting nature. Huh? How is that a flaw? The flaw is that he trusts TOO MUCH (more than you or I might) and thus let's us laugh every time Lucy pulls that football away.
HUMANITY, unlike flaws which separates the audience from the charcter, builds a bridge between us and the character so that we can care about them. The sure fire way to engage your audience and make them want to go on your hero's adventure is to get them to care about your character. You must arouse symapthy and empathy in your audience toward your hero. You are supposed to like the hero and the hero is supposed to be like you. If that happen, you engage emotionally and will gladly undertake his/her journey with them. If you want your character to have the legs to be consistantly funny through the life of your story, your audience must feel a part of the experience.
Building your chracter off of these basic elements will give you a great starting place. In some instances this might be enough. But don't be afraid to continue molding and fine tuning your character. I only touched the surface of the basic ideas brought forth in The Comic Toolbox. If you are interested in reading about this technique (or tool) further, I really recommend going out and buying this book.
See you next time!
Chris
Friday, October 12, 2007
MARY BLAIR
Hi! I wanted to share this. Anyone who is interested or a fan of the great MARY BLAIR please click the title of this post. Some nice stuff.Chris
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
SAMPLE PAGE
Here is a sample page from the BLOOPS CEREAL commercial. Written in the spirit of the early Jay Ward CAP'N CRUNCH commercials we all know and love.
It's interesting how out of place a page can be when it is removed entirely from it's context of what comes just before and just after.
It's interesting how out of place a page can be when it is removed entirely from it's context of what comes just before and just after.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
OH YEAH, THE OUTLINE...
Oopsy...in my excitement of the Andrew Stanton presentation I realized that my next post was supposed to be about putting all of this together into an outline. My bad.
As you can see to the right I have completed the outline. It came out to around twelve pages. Not bad. It's a quick read with enough information to get across story, plot, character etc. I have read a bunch of outlines and for the most part they can be boring. Lots of information. I try to make mine a fun read. Give a sense of the tone of the movie but not so much detail and frills that it takes away from the purpose of the outline: Executive Approval.
After I was satisfied with where the cards were on the big board I sat down in front of it with my laptop and started to write. I don't want to say transcribe, because that would mean that everything on the board was perfect. Far from it. While I write I try not to look at the board. Instead, I just write from memory. This serves me two purposes. One, it allows me to write in a more story telling fashion and not so "card to card" feeling. And two, if I am writing and forget a card but the story still works it tells me that maybe that story point or idea wasn't necessary to the movie. So out it goes. Kind of a natural editing process. Granted, it could be my terrible memory and I forgot to write an important plot point or character arc, in which case, I review all the cards once I am done and double check cards against outline.
The outline, like a script, will go through many rewrites. My first pass is just to get all of the information out. Then, I can go back through paragraph by paragraph and line by line. I might look at a paragraph and see if there is a more entertaining way to get the point across or perhaps tell the same information in less words.
I like to give my outline act breaks as well as a mid-point header and also number each scene or sequence. I also try to break up paragraphs into short chunks so there is more white space on the page much like one might only have two or three lines of description in a screenplay. Makes it open and airy and less daunting and less dense of a read.
The screenwriting team of TERRY ROSSIO and TED ELLIOT have a great website called WORDPLAY. It has a bunch of great columns on screenwriting and also one on WRITING TREATMENTS AND OUTLINES. I recommend checking it out and maybe even printing out the columns and including them in your arsenal of "how-to" material.
Until next time,
Chris
NEXT UP (AGAIN): COMIC CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
As you can see to the right I have completed the outline. It came out to around twelve pages. Not bad. It's a quick read with enough information to get across story, plot, character etc. I have read a bunch of outlines and for the most part they can be boring. Lots of information. I try to make mine a fun read. Give a sense of the tone of the movie but not so much detail and frills that it takes away from the purpose of the outline: Executive Approval.
After I was satisfied with where the cards were on the big board I sat down in front of it with my laptop and started to write. I don't want to say transcribe, because that would mean that everything on the board was perfect. Far from it. While I write I try not to look at the board. Instead, I just write from memory. This serves me two purposes. One, it allows me to write in a more story telling fashion and not so "card to card" feeling. And two, if I am writing and forget a card but the story still works it tells me that maybe that story point or idea wasn't necessary to the movie. So out it goes. Kind of a natural editing process. Granted, it could be my terrible memory and I forgot to write an important plot point or character arc, in which case, I review all the cards once I am done and double check cards against outline.
The outline, like a script, will go through many rewrites. My first pass is just to get all of the information out. Then, I can go back through paragraph by paragraph and line by line. I might look at a paragraph and see if there is a more entertaining way to get the point across or perhaps tell the same information in less words.
I like to give my outline act breaks as well as a mid-point header and also number each scene or sequence. I also try to break up paragraphs into short chunks so there is more white space on the page much like one might only have two or three lines of description in a screenplay. Makes it open and airy and less daunting and less dense of a read.
The screenwriting team of TERRY ROSSIO and TED ELLIOT have a great website called WORDPLAY. It has a bunch of great columns on screenwriting and also one on WRITING TREATMENTS AND OUTLINES. I recommend checking it out and maybe even printing out the columns and including them in your arsenal of "how-to" material.
Until next time,
Chris
NEXT UP (AGAIN): COMIC CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Saturday, September 22, 2007
THE CATCH 22 OF OUTLINE/CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
I had been having trouble with my main character and his involvement in the plot of the story I sweated so much in creating. Every trait I gave him seemed to negate my story. It was like trying to cram a square peg into a round hole. He was also less interesting and less funny than the secondary characters. I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure this out and then I had the serendipidous opportunity to attend a presentation by the amazing ANDREW STANTON of PIXAR fame!
Andrew said a lot of amazing things (if you ever get a chance to go to his presentation or even get a DVD of the event I highly recommend it!), but the one thing that stood out to me since it was foremost on my mind was regarding character and story. He spoke of the story and plot giving you information on who your main character should be. I was feeling pretty good because that's exactly how I was working mine. Then he said some interesting things about developing character. Most of which I was doing as well. I was two for two with this guy. Then he said something that floored me. He said that developing and getting to know your character will ultimately change your story and you have to be willing to throw away all those amazing scenes that you created if your character doesn't fit in them. LIGHTBULB!!! I realised that I was so married to my story that I didn't allow my character to inform me on how the story should change.
Needless to say I went home and reworked my main character without considering the story. I am happy with how he is coming out and even more happy as to how he is changing the story. I am sad to see certain scenes go away because they don't fit anymore but conversely i am extremely happy that the scenes that stayed as well as the new scenes are character driven and not driven solely by the plot. And isn't that what we are all after?
So, the catch 22 is that developing your story will inform you of who your main character is and developing your main character will tell you that your story is wrong.
Best,
Chris
NEXT UP: COMIC CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Andrew said a lot of amazing things (if you ever get a chance to go to his presentation or even get a DVD of the event I highly recommend it!), but the one thing that stood out to me since it was foremost on my mind was regarding character and story. He spoke of the story and plot giving you information on who your main character should be. I was feeling pretty good because that's exactly how I was working mine. Then he said some interesting things about developing character. Most of which I was doing as well. I was two for two with this guy. Then he said something that floored me. He said that developing and getting to know your character will ultimately change your story and you have to be willing to throw away all those amazing scenes that you created if your character doesn't fit in them. LIGHTBULB!!! I realised that I was so married to my story that I didn't allow my character to inform me on how the story should change.
Needless to say I went home and reworked my main character without considering the story. I am happy with how he is coming out and even more happy as to how he is changing the story. I am sad to see certain scenes go away because they don't fit anymore but conversely i am extremely happy that the scenes that stayed as well as the new scenes are character driven and not driven solely by the plot. And isn't that what we are all after?
So, the catch 22 is that developing your story will inform you of who your main character is and developing your main character will tell you that your story is wrong.
Best,
Chris
NEXT UP: COMIC CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
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