characters

First of all I want to say that there is no reason to feel down on FGP. As Evan says the process works enough to keep us going from day to day. And we still have laughing fits and new ideas should be broached, don't hold back.

So, I want to try something.

A lot of our footage, when viewed by the royal "audience" could be said to be about a bunch of characters. And yet I don't think we've done much to establish ourselves as individuals apart from the group, there has been little footage shot of us alone, whether doing a solo "scene" or just us. I think to combat this we need to shoot two kinds of footage of everyone: what I call "video portraits" and also interviews (traditional or otherwise).

To elaborate:

David W. shot a video portrait last night. I put the camera, propped up on a chair in the corner of the green room and shut the door, leaving David to his own devices for like 7 or 8 minutes with the camera. I'm sure he danced and pranced and he said he had this idea of striking different poses to resemble fashion stereotypes, but he didn't do that for some reason (he should have).

I want everyone (and I'm almost at point of being tyrannical about this) to have this experience with the camera. It can be for 5 min or a whole tape, and you can just sit stone still in front of the camera or you can have a dialogue with it, but we need this footage. We can work together to design your portrait.

And I would like everyone to have an on camera interview by one of your peers (George interviews Steph, I interview Evan, Evan - Aurora, Aurora - Michael, whatever). As for questions I think it should be up to the two people involved (or not) but the questions should cover three types of territory:

1. Questions about your life outside the film
2. Questions about your experience with the filmmaking process (including "describe the process as if to a stranger")
3. Questions about your character living in the New Age World (or whatever reality you think the "movie" is taking place in)

And I think we need to be disciplined about this, even if you are camera shy we need you for 5 minutes for each of these things. It will really help the greater footage I think. Further ideas?