Lee Bretschneider ([info]hellomightydog) wrote,
@ 2009-06-12 09:24:00
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Entry tags:observations, orlando, weekend update

Re: Writing
A few months ago, my hard drive bit the dust. I had a lot of important things backed-up, but a few items slipped through the cracks. One of which was a graphic novel I'd been writing. I have an older copy stored on my work laptop, but since the crash, I haven't opened it, fearful of discovering what little remains of my work.

It's almost time, though. I know I'm going to open it soon, maybe even today, and thinking about it has prompted a reinvigorated interest in good writing as well as an awareness of intent. There are two things I've "discovered" that promote my interest during the intake of media. It seems obviously silly when I type them out.

1. I like it when as a viewer/reader I'm dropped in the middle of a situation and my brain has to work to figure things out. This mirrors my attraction to conceptual art (not concept art), where there is a relationship between artist and audience. A shared understanding is created when both sides contribute, which is a more valuable payoff than "look at what I have made". The most engaging art is participatory.

2. Change has to occur to prevent the work from becoming stale. Like I said, this is obvious, but I need to write it out because I don't think I've ever successfully done it. In this rule subtlety is crucial. I've had a habit of setting up problems for my characters to work against and react to, but it's always right out front in big bold letters.

I just need to keep this stuff in mind.

Today feels like a Monday because I was out of town for a few days. I went to Orlando with Tamar and saw Jon, Morgan, Justin Peterson, and Animal Collective. I did not get to see Dav or Aaron. I bought some lamps. Tonight I'm going to some city an hour south of here with Shannon, then it's off to Jacksonville to watch her zip around a rollerskate track and to meet her mom. There were a lot of places I wanted to visit this summer and I have a suspicion I'm not going to see any of them. Hmf.

EDIT: I opened the script. I only lost 2/25 pages. YES.




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[info]walk_slow
2009-06-12 03:15 pm UTC (link)
Something else I didn't mention last night about that New Yorker article I read about Star Trek was an attack on the trend to produce origin films. Instead of just throwing someone into the action and giving them enough credit to figure it out on their own, lots of films are now devoting a significant part of their story to origins that aren't all that interesting. Beyond that, now film franchises are devoting entire features to explaining characters you already know. The article laid into Batman Begins pretty hard, but Star Trek and Wolverine are more of the same- characters you already know... and here is why they are who they are... although you already know who they are... and you may even have a pretty good idea of why... but, you know... here you go...

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[info]hellomightydog
2009-06-12 03:26 pm UTC (link)
Haha. yeah, I can see that. I feel like you guys were a little taken a back by my reaction to the article. I've been out of sorts a bit, lately, I guess, and I just had no idea that the New Yorker was...scathing? I mean, I guess I KNEW but I never saw them as the kind of magazine to call someone a "dickhead." Then again, I can count the times I've opened The New Yorker on one hand, so what do I know?

As time goes on, I'm getting more and more disillusioned by the idea of The Franchise. I wonder if this is your old man cynicism rubbing off on me. One of the more refreshing things I've heard lately was in an interview with someone at Pixar about the "lack" of merchandising (I put that in quotes because I was at the Disney Store in Fort Myers and I know they have all sorts of merch) for Up. The guy said, "look, not every movie we make requires a huge merchandising campaign." I'll still tell you that I enjoyed Star Trek and The Dark Knight as movies. As a movie watcher, things that happen outside of the theater don't change what happens to me in the theater.

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[info]walk_slow
2009-06-12 04:13 pm UTC (link)
I wouldn't classify the Dark Knight as an origin film, necessarily. It's not like they spent forty minutes showing the Joker being beaten by his father or something, ala Rob Zombie's Halloween (or so I've heard- I never saw it).

And I don't typically judge movies based on my opinions about all of the crap that goes with a movie, be it merchandising or awards or whatever. To an extent, I contribute this to the fact that I don't really follow... well, anything. Most of my movie consumption happens in a cultural vacuum, with the exception of cultural "events" that seep into my snobby as fuck media outlet streams.

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[info]hellomightydog
2009-06-12 04:48 pm UTC (link)
Oh, I was referring to the Dark Knight as part of a franchise, not to the article's mention of origin movies.

I read the article, btw. He raises some good points, but some of the stuff is bullshit.

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