Draftages...

Having completed up to a fifth draft now, I am happy with the direction the script is going. I am still working on the story of the husband and wife, there is not enough love between them and I need to concentrate on making their relationship more real.

I have gotten the scrip out to a few actors now, who I have located using show cast having completely given up on the very unprofessional star now, which has the biggest amount of time wasters in the history of casting websites.

I am looking forward to working with the actors, creating an environment where they feel safe to take some chances and hopefully work on some improvisation to really get some life into their characters.

I have still not found an art director which is stressing us out a little because it has become an important role for this film. We are in discussions with a few so hopefully one will come through.

Beethoven...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh2M1uPoPD0&feature=fvst

This sonata by Beethoven gives me a feel of what I would like the mode of the film to be. It is unnerving from the beginning but reaches great heights of intensity but never loses its composure, so beautiful but yet so utterly dark.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

I have been very busy this week due to some drastic changes in the script. After some serious though and looking objectively at my last script, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't pushing the idea to its upmost potential. I felt that it was reading like something along the lines of a TAC commercial and a 'dark' episode of Neighbours. This is not good.

However, there was something significant in the idea and I think I had to get these initial thoughts and concepts out of the way before I could dig to the heart of the story. The drama in the story was not in the woman being injured and watching her in hospital helpless but the aftermath, how she deals with the events when returning to her normal life. To add an extra element in the idea I chose to have her pregnant at the time of the accident, resulting in a miscarriage. Now I am dealing with some real drama. In turn the other story needed to raise its stakes as well, so rather than average guys out they are junkies in need of a score which leads to the climatic event.

The story itself becomes a cause and effect parable. How something tragic can occur at any seconds and how we have the strength to overcome it. The junkies will obviously be taken to prison, there story after that does no interest me, so I follow the victim and her attempts at recuperation. 

To add to this she is dealing with severe Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome with persistent re-experiencing of flashbacks, nightmares, subjective re-experiencing of traumatic events, intense negative psychological responses, emotional numbing and various other symptoms typical of victims involved in traumatic events.

I have taken a long time to get to a story that I am happy with and as I feel right now I am very eager to pursue the direction of this project. The idea excites me and the depth of understanding and potential for exploring the human condition with such dark subject matter is a project I am eager to pursue. 

It is taking considerable re-scheduling and planning, my brother the Producer, has been extremely supportive in being respectful and supportive of my constant striving for a better idea. I believe if I didn't have such a personal relationship with my Producer circumstances could have been different and I might have made a film I didn't want to make.

In the mood for love...

This scene is a master stroke in depicting the seperation/ alienation of the characters despite being so close to each other in the physical world. I want the effects of the incident that caused the miscarriage to have a profoundly negative effect on the young couples relationship.

Antichrist

Some examples...

They way forward... and back

I have completed my 4th Draft of my script. The latest Draft however had some significant changes in its structure and plot line. Rather than having two stories running simultaneously in parallel, I have opted for having the aftermath of the violent encounter, running backwards towards the climax.

I believe this will be more effective because the stories will not be repetitive and the audience will not notice the second story is running backwards until much later in the film, which I think will make it far more dramatic.

In terms of production, I have been in contact with actors and will be having auditions on the 14th May. I am still waiting for a few more replies, at the moment I have 4, but I will be getting in contact with the actors I worked with last year, especially in the case of Katharine, the lead female of my last film, who I feel did a great job in that role and could manage this one well.

My DOP Aaron, is finishing up work this week on Winners + Losers and that will give us plenty of time to really get together and start to work out the style and aesthetic we want for the film. We need to plan this very carefully because we will be working in conditions uncontrolled, documentary style and this will undoubtedly cause problems to arise throughout the shoot.

I feel like I am in a good place at the moment, I need to start spending more time defining specifically how I want to shoot and Direct the film. I will be using a naturalistic approach to both the way we shoot and how I direct he actors, but I must really define what elements of this kind of filmmaking I will focus on most.