Check out Aurora's pictures of our first shooting day here
Yesterday, we ate pasta (in a pot provided by Jacob, yay!) with red sauce and a loaf of bread Aurora baked and brought to set. Tonight, lentil soup.
I agree with Evan that we were jiving well, it does always feel better when we are making scenes then when we are arguing over content. I think the major problem we are facing right now is a tension over the product we want to make. I don't think it is possible for us to make a "normal" movie with "characters" and a "story" -- do people disagree? -- in my opinion, this means, the most we can hope for is to put something compelling on screen, and that's a lot, that's EVERYTHING! To do this, I think, we should focus on producing as much "usable" footage as possible, meaning making each thing we shoot compelling in and of itself without worrying about overall structure, story, tone, style, etc.
How to do this is up for debate. We could start with one or two of Casey's texts. It could be like playing telephone-pictionary, someone writes a sentence, someone else shoots their interpretation of that sentence, the next person writes a sentence-long interpretation of the footage, which is shot again in turn, etc. etc. till Feb. 28. Bring other ideas.
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5 comments:
now we're talking.
i agree completely. we don't have to shoot plot and characters, we can if we want, but this is movie making, WHATEVER WE WANT can go on screen, whether green screen teleportation in a moving vehicle of a house, or 25 year olds eating beans on the floor in a bare apartment in brooklyn. and but as George suggests, HOW we make this film is equally interesting and important to think about and our process in this experiment is probably what is most important.
so to summarize what I think we are trying to do so far: reconfigure the way films are made by letting everyone control it (even if rat king style) and see what new structure of film results from this way of making films.
so then our starting point needs to come from our process, not a plot or theme. george suggest telephone pictionary, but I don't know if that really fits the rat king process. something to think about.
i do think we should keep shooting regardless, I agree with Evan that when we're shooting we're having fun and our brains are firing away, and that what we've shot up til now has been worthwhile.
and maybe we can just continue this way for the rest of the month, and make a big menagerie of a film. i can almost see that working as is, and I would be happy with that, but I think we need to agree to suspend all the rules (but not the tools) of filmmaking and agree on a particular process as George proposes.
we need a basic manifesto. I think the argument about content last night proved that we aren't all on the same page as to what we're doing. are we trying to make a plotted film but let everyone take turns directing? what is it exactly that we are agreeing to do together? is it telephone pictionary rat king style? or something else? i don't think we have decided that yet, even though we're all on board.
i take full responsibility for steering us to try to make a plot but I recant the necessity of that now. and now i've gone on about this all too long. time to go make films with you all. see you soon.
Commenting to say long live the ratking.
Also, I'd like to avoid the idea of a "manifesto," but yes, a Rules of Engagement is necessary, I agree. Sorry, just a hang-up on the connotations of that word.
So what I'm saying is I'm with Travis.
nice illustrations Aurora.
CJ's got his priorities straight.
Anyone have any ideas about a process, method, rules, directives that do fit the rat king process? Where does the term "rat king" come from? I love it.
Highly unlikely anyone is going to read the fourth comment on a post this old.
George, I read it. And I'm going to quickly respond.
I imagine you probably looked at this already, but to save 10 seconds for those who haven't: Wikipedia says "Rat kings are phenomena said to arise when a number of rats become intertwined at their tails, which become stuck together with blood, dirt, ice, or excrement. The animals reputedly grow together while joined at the tails. The numbers of rats that are joined together can vary, but naturally rat kings formed from a larger number of rats are rarer. The phenomenon is particularly associated with Germany, where the majority of instances have been reported."
What does the last sentence even mean?
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