An idea for DVC3... in the style of PGL

Sean McHenry · July 19th, 2005, 02:08 PM

The game we used to call "Telephone". I whisper a sentance to you, you tell the same sentance to the guy next to you and so on. Last guy in the line tells his sentance aloud and we all laugh at how far off the mark it has drifted.

Still, an interesting idea. There are examples of nearly similar collaboration like this in the real world now. I can't name them at this moment but there have been several recent films where differing directors did basically shorts based on similar characters or situations and they formed a patchwork that when edited together correctly equal one film.

It would have to be carefully constructed so nobody thinks they are making "Shaun of the Dead" while the rest are making "Dawn of the Dead". Wouldn't edit together too well.

Sean

Michael Gibbons · July 19th, 2005, 02:20 PM

I thought about this too, and I think it is the idea's fatal flaw.

Stephen van Vuuren · July 19th, 2005, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean McHenry

Wouldn't edit together too well.

Our local group talked about this several times (group film) and the editing it together is always the hitch. Even if you are making the same film, the infinite possibilities of styles/takes/casting/directing = fun to make, not fun to edit or watch.

Perhaps one team does script, one does casting, one does shooting, one does sound, one does editing might be a better approach.

Sean McHenry · July 19th, 2005, 02:36 PM

So what we end up with in the end is a production company with each department potentially run by comittee. A rather idealistic (read as Socialistic - not a bad thing if run right) company. Each according to his abilities, each according to his needs to quote a famous Russian.

I am not against it as an experiment and for fun but it might not produce anything the outside world would want to see. Still, except for the number of people involved, we just re-created Hollywood.

Sean

Michael Gibbons · July 19th, 2005, 02:36 PM

I think in this case the various jobs could still be self contained, there would need to be a master script, and the various "teams" would not, for the most part anyway, interact so editing style of the various segments wouldn't seem so disjointed. I'm thinking of something like Independence day or Deep Impact. A big story in the background with many smaller stories contained within it. The teams would have to shoot and edit with the idea that their segemts would be integrated into the whole.
The master scrip would be little more than an outline of the disasters progression- for instance if day four has a global quake and your team is doing a scene on that day, they would ned to work the quake in somehow or other, and it's aftermath would have to be felt in some minimal way in the scenes which come after.
I have a ton of ideas on the logistics of this thing, but once again, though, I'm not certain it could work.

Sean McHenry · July 19th, 2005, 02:41 PM

I could see setting a general theme and then setting each group up with a guideline on styles. We used to have style guidlines at the previous Post house I worked at. Type fonts, color schemes, music beds, etc.

If the theme was aliens from space attacking, we could split it up something like I do rural midwest towns under attack and how we defended our small town from the aliens. You take a big city like NY and show the same idea but with a bent on the big city and the way they do it there. Somebody else takes a look from a colder climate like Canada and others from various other areas. We can then intercut the sequences to show how we are all fending off the attackers in our own way.

That sort of thing might work but we would have to stay pretty close to the guidelines.

Sean

Michael Gibbons · July 19th, 2005, 02:47 PM

Wow, Sean it's like you read my mind or something. That is pretty much my whole vision for the project. My Global Zombie Holocoust would probably be supernatural in origin and the Framing Story would deal with that and the groups associated with diffusing the situation or failing to do so. the rest of the segemnts would be just as you descripbed, basically "what we did during the Global Zombie holocaust" narratives.

Sean McHenry · July 19th, 2005, 02:59 PM

If you were willing to experiment rather than try to create something great from the start, you could do each in a different style. That is, change the perspective a bit. Make the city version through the eyes and camera of a seasoned television crew. Polished shots, except when being chased by Zombies naturally. The rural take could be that of a Jr. high student with a basic handy cam. Think Blair witch. Do one as a simulated cell phone camera (maybe a bit too gritty to watch for long). One could be from the eyes of a film school student who was backpacking across Canada shooting nature footage of Grizzly bears. Film student would have grain, etc and be processed to look like film.

And so on. Each should have a distinct, easily discrenable style.

Sean

Michael Gibbons · July 19th, 2005, 03:05 PM

I agree, and I believe that it ultimately add to the work. i don't know if each segement should have a "in story" cam associated with it or not, although that might work for one or two segements- the news crew for instance would be a good group to follow when they are on camera and off camera. Other segments could be shot according to the mood of the narrative dyanamic/situation/location/cast of characters. On second thought, the dedicated cam idea might work... I dunno, I like to use the cam as an additional character, almost anyway, when I shoot and that might or might not work out better if the cam was actually in the story. Hmmm.

Dylan Couper · July 19th, 2005, 10:02 PM

Ok, two things:

One, the DV Challenge will stay as loosely formatted as possible, simply because I've worked on lots of short film challenges with tons of restrictions, and I hate them. :)

Secondly, when I first came up with the DV Challenge, I had previously considered doing a Lady X style DV competition based on a zombie/horror theme. I have the entire framework laid out for it, but I'm not going to post it in public unless I am actually running it. If any of you are really interested in it, email me for the details and I'll consider doing it.

Sean McHenry · July 19th, 2005, 10:29 PM

There you go Michael.

Thanks Dylan. I think we decided we would all like the competition loose too. But the Zombie thing sounds like it might be an interesting experiment.

Sean

July 19th, 2005, 02:08 PM	#16
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	The game we used to call "Telephone". I whisper a sentance to you, you tell the same sentance to the guy next to you and so on. Last guy in the line tells his sentance aloud and we all laugh at how far off the mark it has drifted. Still, an interesting idea. There are examples of nearly similar collaboration like this in the real world now. I can't name them at this moment but there have been several recent films where differing directors did basically shorts based on similar characters or situations and they formed a patchwork that when edited together correctly equal one film. It would have to be carefully constructed so nobody thinks they are making "Shaun of the Dead" while the rest are making "Dawn of the Dead". Wouldn't edit together too well. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

July 19th, 2005, 02:20 PM	#17
Michael Gibbons Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Loveland, Colorado, USA Posts: 292	Telephone I thought about this too, and I think it is the idea's fatal flaw. __________________ " When some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head against a bar room wall, and looks you crooked in the eye, and he asks you if you've payed your dues, well, you just stare that big suker right back in the eye, and you remember what old Jack Burton always says at a time like that, 'Have you paid your dues, Jack? Yes sir, the check is in the mail."

July 19th, 2005, 02:36 PM	#19
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	So what we end up with in the end is a production company with each department potentially run by comittee. A rather idealistic (read as Socialistic - not a bad thing if run right) company. Each according to his abilities, each according to his needs to quote a famous Russian. I am not against it as an experiment and for fun but it might not produce anything the outside world would want to see. Still, except for the number of people involved, we just re-created Hollywood. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

July 19th, 2005, 02:36 PM	#20
Michael Gibbons Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Loveland, Colorado, USA Posts: 292	I think in this case the various jobs could still be self contained, there would need to be a master script, and the various "teams" would not, for the most part anyway, interact so editing style of the various segments wouldn't seem so disjointed. I'm thinking of something like Independence day or Deep Impact. A big story in the background with many smaller stories contained within it. The teams would have to shoot and edit with the idea that their segemts would be integrated into the whole. The master scrip would be little more than an outline of the disasters progression- for instance if day four has a global quake and your team is doing a scene on that day, they would ned to work the quake in somehow or other, and it's aftermath would have to be felt in some minimal way in the scenes which come after. I have a ton of ideas on the logistics of this thing, but once again, though, I'm not certain it could work. __________________ " When some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head against a bar room wall, and looks you crooked in the eye, and he asks you if you've payed your dues, well, you just stare that big suker right back in the eye, and you remember what old Jack Burton always says at a time like that, 'Have you paid your dues, Jack? Yes sir, the check is in the mail."

July 19th, 2005, 02:41 PM	#21
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	I could see setting a general theme and then setting each group up with a guideline on styles. We used to have style guidlines at the previous Post house I worked at. Type fonts, color schemes, music beds, etc. If the theme was aliens from space attacking, we could split it up something like I do rural midwest towns under attack and how we defended our small town from the aliens. You take a big city like NY and show the same idea but with a bent on the big city and the way they do it there. Somebody else takes a look from a colder climate like Canada and others from various other areas. We can then intercut the sequences to show how we are all fending off the attackers in our own way. That sort of thing might work but we would have to stay pretty close to the guidelines. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

July 19th, 2005, 02:47 PM	#22
Michael Gibbons Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Loveland, Colorado, USA Posts: 292	Wow, Sean it's like you read my mind or something. That is pretty much my whole vision for the project. My Global Zombie Holocoust would probably be supernatural in origin and the Framing Story would deal with that and the groups associated with diffusing the situation or failing to do so. the rest of the segemnts would be just as you descripbed, basically "what we did during the Global Zombie holocaust" narratives. __________________ " When some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head against a bar room wall, and looks you crooked in the eye, and he asks you if you've payed your dues, well, you just stare that big suker right back in the eye, and you remember what old Jack Burton always says at a time like that, 'Have you paid your dues, Jack? Yes sir, the check is in the mail."

July 19th, 2005, 02:59 PM	#23
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	If you were willing to experiment rather than try to create something great from the start, you could do each in a different style. That is, change the perspective a bit. Make the city version through the eyes and camera of a seasoned television crew. Polished shots, except when being chased by Zombies naturally. The rural take could be that of a Jr. high student with a basic handy cam. Think Blair witch. Do one as a simulated cell phone camera (maybe a bit too gritty to watch for long). One could be from the eyes of a film school student who was backpacking across Canada shooting nature footage of Grizzly bears. Film student would have grain, etc and be processed to look like film. And so on. Each should have a distinct, easily discrenable style. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com

July 19th, 2005, 03:05 PM	#24
Michael Gibbons Major Player Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Loveland, Colorado, USA Posts: 292	I agree, and I believe that it ultimately add to the work. i don't know if each segement should have a "in story" cam associated with it or not, although that might work for one or two segements- the news crew for instance would be a good group to follow when they are on camera and off camera. Other segments could be shot according to the mood of the narrative dyanamic/situation/location/cast of characters. On second thought, the dedicated cam idea might work... I dunno, I like to use the cam as an additional character, almost anyway, when I shoot and that might or might not work out better if the cam was actually in the story. Hmmm. __________________ " When some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head against a bar room wall, and looks you crooked in the eye, and he asks you if you've payed your dues, well, you just stare that big suker right back in the eye, and you remember what old Jack Burton always says at a time like that, 'Have you paid your dues, Jack? Yes sir, the check is in the mail."

July 19th, 2005, 10:02 PM	#25
Dylan Couper Wrangler Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Vancouver, British Columbia Posts: 8,314	Ok, two things: One, the DV Challenge will stay as loosely formatted as possible, simply because I've worked on lots of short film challenges with tons of restrictions, and I hate them. :) Secondly, when I first came up with the DV Challenge, I had previously considered doing a Lady X style DV competition based on a zombie/horror theme. I have the entire framework laid out for it, but I'm not going to post it in public unless I am actually running it. If any of you are really interested in it, email me for the details and I'll consider doing it. __________________ Need to rent camera gear in Vancouver BC? Check me out at camerarentalsvancouver.com

July 19th, 2005, 10:29 PM	#26
Sean McHenry Trustee Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Hilliard, Ohio Posts: 1,193	There you go Michael. Thanks Dylan. I think we decided we would all like the competition loose too. But the Zombie thing sounds like it might be an interesting experiment. Sean __________________ ‘I don’t know what I’m doing, and I’m shooting on D.V.’ - my hero - David Lynch http://www.DeepBlueEdit.com