Is FrameForge worth buying for storyboarding?

[Paul R Johnson]

What you could do, if you can, is let us have a page of the script for this scene so we can read it and get a snap judgement on how the words flow and the scene works.

I work an awful lot in theatre land, and have suffered, rather than enjoyed an enormous amount of dreadful scripts. The Directors in theatre (or at least the good ones) are not precious about their words, and when the leading actor says "you know Tim, I don't think my character would say that - how about I say this....?" usually the director seriously listens and then says yes, change it. I'd say that mismatched dialogue in Theatre, TV and movies is the worst thing for actors to deliver. They have an assumed persona, but the words are just not right.

I wrote a musical once, and while not Cameron Macintosh/Andrew Lloyd Webber, I thought not pretty good, until a good friend said "you know that crap musical you wrote about ten years ago, what was the song where the girl had lost her job?" To be honest, I was gutted - 'the crap musical'? the thing I thought was OK? I assumed because I've done lots and experienced much, I'd know when my own was rubbish, and the fact I didn't hurt!

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay thanks. I'm actually rewriting the scene now. I can post it after, but when I post pages from my script on sites before, the format gets messed up. I can try again.

I am open to actors changing their lines. However, when I did some acting on other director's projects, they really don't like if you ask to change the lines, and I was told in acting courses, not to change them, if that's true. But I'm open to it when directing.

[Brian Drysdale]

Actors being allowed to improvise or change lines depends on the actor and the director and their relationship. Some classic lines were ones that actors came up with, but not all actors are Orson Welles or Rutger Hauer.

[Josh Bass]

I believe in you Paul. Your musical was probably ok. I’m an “artist” and as such I can tell you we’re all judgmental a-holes who secretly hate each other’s work.

[Paul R Johnson]

I suspect I'd not have wanted to change an orson well's line, but equally, I bet most directors would have listened to Sir Laurance Olivier?

Bryan will get this, but place, location and language can mean a script written by one person can be difficult for an actor of a different background to do, and is usually because they understand the audience better.

Very few, for example can write at the correct level and style for children if they are grown up. The best children's movies are written by those clever enough to be able to do kids level - and it's reversed too - the hardest thing for a young actor to do is speak and act like an older person.

In Ryan's movie, I wonder if his Police, and other officials will be able to act in the authoritative style these professions always seem to have. This is where the script AND the actor need to be in harmony.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well I was thinking about what was said about possibly 5 minutes being too long for such a scene, but I thought it's probably a good idea, to not use a lot of locations when making movie. Some movies have scenes that go on for a much longer amount of time in the same location, so I thought that for a microbudget movie, perhaps telling a certain amount of the story in the same room, with all the characters together, to save on budget, would be a good thing?

[Paul R Johnson]

Would it not also be a copout? Cheaper, easier and boring?

[Josh Bass]

Yes. I refer you again to my friend Mr. Roberts in this masterpiece:

YouTube (Short URL)

[Brian Drysdale]

Originally Posted by Ryan Elder

Oh okay, well I was thinking about what was said about possibly 5 minutes being too long for such a scene, but I thought it's probably a good idea, to not use a lot of locations when making movie. Some movies have scenes that go on for a much longer amount of time in the same location, so I thought that for a microbudget movie, perhaps telling a certain amount of the story in the same room, with all the characters together, to save on budget, would be a good thing?

I did that to a certain extent on a short, which was in for a short film production scheme, I was asked to make it less expositional by the Head of BBC NI Drama. So I did a rewrite, it wasn't selected on the final round, but was a near miss. It got made in the end using other funders and was screened in 37 film festivals, together with sales to a number of TV broadcasters.

Scenes can go on longer if if there's rich dramatic content, but if it's just expositional the scene will become boring. Unless the participants are arguing their corners in this briefing, make it short or do it another way. The audience won't make any allowances for your budget if they're bored.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. I went over it again, and cut out some of it, to try to make it a bit tighter. What does that Eric Roberts movie have to do compared to mine?

[Josh Bass]

dangers of doing too much in one location. Im told most of that movie is people talking to each other on screens.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

There are movies like Reservoir Dogs or 12 Angry Men that come to mind but these movies depend on great performances, smartly written dialogue and interesting characters. Many tv sitcoms in the past have been shot in one location but they have a team of full time writers coming up with interesting situations and dialogue. Will that work for the genre of movie your doing without becoming boring...

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay well I am trying to get creative and double locations, so I can lesser than number of them, but at the same time, still keep the plot interesting.

For example, For example, there is a scene I have now, where I want a witness being interviewed by the police in a police station interview room. Now normally the interview is observed from the observation room. However, in order to avoid another location, what if I wrote it so that the prosecutor is watching the witness being interviewed from his computer, in his office.

But would audiences believe, that the police station interview room has a camera, that has a feed, that can go all the way to the prosecutions office, so he can watch it on his computer?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

We can appreciate the difficulty of your situation, but for the most part there isn’t a lot we can say or do. It reminds me of art school where you’d get up in front of the class to present your project. It either was a success or it wasn’t and no amount of explanation would alter that result.

“Why is your Irish Pub ad half green and pink? Well you see I ran out of green paint and when I got to the art store they were closed and all I had was pink...”

Sometimes when you’re in a tough position all you have available are varying degrees of less bad options. So in this case the consensus is that this scene should be shorter but you say it’s got to be longer because you’re limited to locations.

[Ryan Elder]

Oh okay, well I could move some of the scene into another room, I just didn't think that another room, made much of a difference though.