A Film Viewing Experience

As part of my Film Application process, I have to go through an interview where I tell about a film viewing experience.  When I sat down to write the writing sample for next week's creative writing class, I decided I'd try to put on paper what I wanted to say in my interview.  It came out a little more nostalgic than how I think I'm going to actually tell it, but here it is in all it's glory, haha.  Honestly, when I was asked about a film viewing experience, this is the very first thing that popped into my head.  I wish I had a better memory.

I almost cried when I read through it after writing it.  Gosh, I'm so homesick.

            I was eleven years old, and entirely too ecstatic to be at the movies on a Saturday morning, just Daddy and me.  I didn’t know what we were there to see, but it really didn’t matter.  We watched TV together all the time, but we never went to the movies all by ourselves!  It wasn’t that I was excited to get away from my mom, or anything.  I liked going to the movies with her, too.  I think I was just happy to do something special with my dad that I’d never done before.  He held my hand all the way from the truck to the lobby of the dollar theater.

            He bought us tickets to something called Star Wars II.  As we sat down right in the middle of row, Dad explained to me what clones were.  Then, he quickly tried to tell me what had happened in a previous movie—or was it movies?—so I wouldn’t be totally lost.  I didn’t really understand any of it, but it was interesting.  When the movie actually started, I had no idea what was going on most of the time, but it had a lot of action and running and shooting, so I liked it alright.  It was my very first experience with science fiction, and I was definitely intrigued.

            It wasn’t the movie that made it special, though.  We were the only ones in the whole theater, so I sat with my legs draped across his lap.  I could ask aloud why something happened, and what something meant, and my dad could answer, because there wasn’t anybody around us to bother.  We had a great big bag of popcorn all to ourselves, a bag of regular m&ms and a bag of peanut m&ms that we took turns trading.  Honestly, I only remember one scene from the entire movie, and nine years later, I still don’t understand Star Wars.  Mostly, I just remember that I went to the movies with my dad, just the two of us.

Wild Target

This movie starring Emily Blunt, Bill Nighy, and Rupert Grint was...  Well.  I can't even think of a good single word to describe it.  How's about "promising"?  Yeah, that one kind of fits.

It was good.  I think I would've enjoyed it more in the company of friends, but it was good.  It was funny, creative... but it could've been so much better!

It honestly felt like a low-budget film, which is strange, since it's got three, not just one or two, but three high-price actors.  This film felt like watching The Losers right after The A-Team.  If it had just been written a little different, it would have been so much better.  The actors all did a fantastic job.  It had a nice comedic set-up, but after that, it felt like it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be one of those highly intense action dramas (which it definitely wasn't) and a really good comedy.  If it had dropped the seriousness a little bit more, it would have worked much better.  I think they were going for an Ocean's Eleven-esque sort of story, but they didn't quite hit it.  The plot was much too watered down for that.

There was a wailingly silent lack of music.  I mean, when they were being chased, yes, there was music.  But other than that, it was so quiet.  That could have worked for them, if they'd made the dialogue, actions, whatever... more awkward.  That sounds funny, but that's the point.  There needed to be more awkward moments.  That, and a little more music.

I was bothered that at the end, it seemed like what they were doing was a plan...  And, okay, maybe it was, but they needed to bring that together much better.  It didn't quite work.  The very last scene was cliche, the death of the bad guy could be seen coming from a mile away...  It just really should have been written better.

Rupert Grint's character was hilarious.  I think he did the best job out of the three of them (tiny growing crush on Rupert...check).  I think he, of the three of them, did the best job developing his character where he didn't have a lot to work with.  [Have I bashed the writing of this script enough yet?]  I just love the way he uses his expressions and his body movements.  He does a really good job with creating comedy.  That being said, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this to anyone, unless you're a die-hard fan of Rupert Grint.  If that's the case, by all means, check this sucker out!

Forever is a Long Time

And here it is!  The finished product of my creative sample for my film application.

I don't know what I'd do without the people that helped me with this.  My heart goes out to Rhonda Gray, Samantha Arellano, Richard Dennis, Paul, Nita, Ken, and Karen Caldwell, and the random people here and there that made suggestions.  Thank you!

A Haunting

I love when my research consists of me watching "Supernatural."  :)

So, this week I'm filming a short that I might be using for my film application.  I'm so excited!  It's about a girl haunting her ex-fiancee after she dies.  I can just see all of it happening in my brain.  I can't wait to put it all together.  I'm using music from "Supernatural," Sam (my star) and I are going shopping at DI to find a dress we can tear up for her, I've got to figure out how to make fake blood that is washable...  Gosh.  Everything is just falling into place!  I love this!  I love being the writer/director/cinematographer.

Yeah, okay, this isn't a very informational post.  I'm just super excited.  :)