Why do a lot of filmmakers seem to hate deep focus cinematography?

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well motivation wise, the main character wants revenge on the villains for being raped. The main character wants to do this by manipulating the police into doing it for them, for the murdered officer. If a person wanted to do that as their plan, what could there realistically be the best way about going about it?

I mean it seems to me that plan makes sense. Rape victim wants revenge, because justice system screwed up. So, manipulate justice system itself to get the revenge for you, then you don't have to worry about being trouble for the murders, cause then it's their problem.

[Paul R Johnson]

I suppose it boils down to one question. Can you write? I can’t.

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Rape victim wants revenge, because justice system screwed up. So, manipulate justice system itself to get the revenge for you, then you don't have to worry about being trouble for the murders, cause then it's their problem.

It depends on how likely it is for the cops to murder someone. The more likely method is that the victim gathers intelligence and lays a trail for the cops to follow., but there's no guarantee that cops will murder someone.

The question is did corrupt cops cause the failure of the rape case? Rape cases are notorious in being difficult, so failure to get a conviction is pretty common. Why is this rape victim going further than any of these other victims?

[Ryan Elder]

Yes the victim does leave trail of crumbs. Even though there is no guarantee the victim still hopes it might happen.

As for why one victim is not willing to get revenge compared to the others, well the reason is is that one character cannot let it go so much compared to them. It's like that with all these revenge thrillers where the protagonist, cannot let things go as much as the other victims, and is just different that way.

[Brian Drysdale]

But why personally does the victim have the need to do this?

[Ryan Elder]

Well I guess I need to ask the question why does the victim get revenge in other stories, where the victim gets revenge, for being wronged?

Like in the movie Revenge (2017) for example, why does the rape victim seek revenge in that movie? Why didn't she just leave it to the police to handle, and let them have final call?

[Brian Drysdale]

Good characters will have a differing need for revenge to satisfy themselves. There's no point in referring other films, you, as the writer has to know the needs of all your characters, because that's what drives your story along.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, I just use other movies help explain. The need is, after what the victim experienced, doesn't want to happen to others from the same group, if they keep on doing it and are not caught or stopped.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Why are you still banging away at this script? This is the same one that your friends weren’t interested in filming because of the disturbing subject matter and rape scene. Let me guess you’ve spent years developing it so despite people’s reservations you are determined to forge ahead. It’s hard enough to get someone to take on an exceptional script and this sounds like it’s far from that. You lack the objectivity because you’re too heavily invested. The fact you are getting similar feedback from multiple sources on and off this board is a red flag. It doesn’t ring true. What did I say about filming what you know.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh I just haven't found a better feature to film. There are some out there, and I can keep looking. Even if friends don't want to do it, I thought I would shop it around elsewhere, to others in the filmmaking community. Plus it saves a lot of money on budget to direct your own script, compared to purchasing someone elses. Like one friend told me, why not just buy a script that every producer is going to be knocking on my door and will want it? Well if there was such a script that producers all want, why would any writer sell it to me... I can't film what I know, cause I don't really know anything interesting to make a good script out of. I'm not one of those writers that can write just anything. I am happy to shoot someone else's script, but not seeing a lot out there, over the months though.

[Paul R Johnson]

Ryan for goodness sake - be honest. You are a terrible writer. You've admitted all the problems you have and the story is too tough, too gritty, and too complex to contemplate. You haven't even worked out how to tell it, and you disregard all the comments people are making, plugging on with a project clearly few people want to be part of, or interested in. does this not set off HUGE alarm bells in your head? it really should. You seem to be totally unable to write a script. I also suspect that your own life experience has not got much in it that would enable you to even write a couple of pages of genuine high quality dialogue.

I know you really want to make this movie, but who will watch it, EVERYTHING is a compromise. Technical people, equipment, sets, locations, the actors - you just don't have any cohesive plan at all. It's all seat of the pants stuff. You write dead words for the very average actors to deliver in large spaces with no lighting and wobbly cameras on compromised grip equipment with dodgy boom ops and cameras with lenses that won't keep focus.

More camera crews in today from commercial TV and apparently I'm the person now in charge of the forthcoming BBC documentary being shot. Not the director, but effectively the monitor. I've got to match up agreed times and lengths with the BBC and the musicians Union and the crews union, as many of the crew will be in shot and the Musicians Union have rules on shot lengths that feature theormembers playing it -so I have to enforce the agreements. On top of this I have a time-lapse video to control and live video feeds and projectors. I need to be Voldermort and split myself into 7 I think.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

To succeed in the creative arts you have to have talent that sets you apart. In most 9 to 5 jobs average is good enough. I think your time would be better spent pursuing a trade job in video and in your spare time you can experiment with this creative stuff. If you’re truly interested in screen writing here’s an interesting article.

https://screencraft.org/2019/09/30/1...-screenwriter/

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah that's what I am doing experimenting with it in my spare time. I mostly have been asked to do sound or act, for other people's projects some of them paid, some of them free. I would like to do sound more, but there are a lot more casting calls out there, than crew calls.

[Chris Hurd]

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

This is the same one that your friends weren’t interested in filming because of the disturbing subject matter and rape scene. Let me guess you’ve spent years developing it so despite people’s reservations you are determined to forge ahead.

This is the point where I have to interject and describe something that happened several years ago on another forum site in this industry (it's just a similar story; it doesn't involve Ryan at all).

Anyway, there was a poster who was very passionate about making a pet project that involved that same subject matter, had the same negative response from people he asked to help, and a large number of regular members on that forum tried desperately to talk him out of it. I saw all of that unfold and it was quite a cringe-fest.

I really hope we don't have to go down that same road here.

[Ryan Elder]

Well if I can't find anyone interested in making it then it won't be an issue then, would it? Another thing, is, movies that have to do with this type of subject matter, are made often, at least you see one every couple of years come out, if not more. So I didn't think it would be too difficult to generate interest hopefully.