Observational Journal - The Man More Badass Than Me

I was in the thrift store the other day, looking for props for a movie. I noticed these awesomely badass black leather trenchcoats, which were also really cheap. One had a cowboy-style pattern on the back, and another was made out of fake alligator skin. I seriously considered buying one, but I hesitated, because I was worried that I would look like a serial killer (one of the less-unfortunate effects of the Columbine shootings is that you can't wear black trenchcoats in public anymore). However, they were still really cool, so I decided to look around some more and come back to them. So I came back, but this time there was someone else checking out the jackets. He was a legitimate Mountain Man, with a long beard and weathered skin, and he was already wearing a leather jacket with cowboy boots and totally not looking ridiculous. If I had to guess, I'd say he was at least one million years old, and he probably could have killed me with a well-placed stare. I sheepishly looked at some less-badass jackets, then I decided that if anyone should be buying those trenchcoats, it should be that guy. And I am $20 richer today because of that decision.

A Life Unguarded: Concept Worksheet 1

Short, live-action film for web/festivals

20 minutes

Visual Look: Bright, saturated colors that enhance the bright colors of a swimming pool. Deep blues, bright reds, dark greens, and blinding whites all convey the sunny, hot world of a pool. The camera movement would be slow and smooth, to emphasis the tedium of being a lifeguard.

Story Statement: An extra lifeguard is brought in to work at a pool. He hates his job, and works very hard at not working at all. He also ropes in the original lifeguard to being lazy. Eventually, he is fired by the pool manager.

Narrative Outline: Tim works at his local pool as a lifeguard. He has few ambitions, and just uses the job as a way to kill time between semesters of college. The pool manager decides to hire an extra lifeguard, and she hires Matt. Matt hates being a lifeguard, but he needs the money. At first Matt thinks he can get away with being lazy; he sleeps on the job, takes long breaks, etc. However, he never gets caught, because he always looks like he is working when the pool manager shows up. Matt teaches Tim his strategies of lazyness, and at first, Tim rejects them. Eventually, however, the boredom of the job starts to get to Tim, and he gives in. In response to complaints by customers, the pool manager begins implementing stricter rules. Matt blatantly refuses to follow the rules, and eventually the pool manager sees him doing this and confronts him. Matt explains loudly and in great detail how much he hates the job, and how they keep taking away everything that makes the job tolerable. Matt is fired and replaced, and Tim continues to work at the pool, following the new rules.

Most of the movie would be little events, such as Matt asking a lap swimmer to leave the pool and her refusing, or Matt making fun of the swimmers to Tim, which don’t advance the story so much as they convey what it is like to be a lifeguard. It also would incorporate several fantasy sequences as Matt and Tim daydream while they're staring at the water.

Why an Audience Can Share in This: Every one can relate to having a sucky job that they hate and finding ways to deal with the suckiness.

Arguments Worth Having

The most important thing you need to have in a coolaboration is trust. You have to trust your actors to do what they need to do, the actors need to trust the directors decisions, the director needs to trust that the cinematographer knows what he or she is doing, etc. This is especially difficult on super-low-budget films, because most of the time the people working for you are not being paid. This means you have to rely on them to show up on time and do the work with no incentive other than professionalism and a desire to work. A lot of the time this means that I end up doing a lot of the dirty work myself, because I don't want to ask someone else to do it for me for free.

Moral of the story: having money is nice.

Observational Journal: I Need to Stop Eating Dinner So Early

The other day I had one of the most vivid dreams I have ever had, and it was odd because it wasn't vivid in terms of image or sound. It was vivid in terms of taste. All I remember about the dream was that I was eating chocolate ice cream, and it was the most delicious chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted. It was more smooth and creamy than words can describe, and there were chunks of chocolate within the chocolate, giving it an amazing texture. It literally melted in my mouth, and I felt full for a few minutes after I woke up (after that I felt extremely hungry). It was like my brain imagined the most chocolatiest thing it could imagine and made it real for a few seconds.

Stop, Children, What's that Sound

This soundscape idea is for my lifeguard movie. Pools have an array of sounds associated with them that I would use to open the movie, and to put the audience in the location. There are the sounds of water splashing and being sucked into the filters; the rythmic sounds of lap swimmers swimming back and forth; the sounds of children playing, and jumping into the pool; the occasional lifeguard whistle; the patron's conversations; and the wind as it blows through the trees. The soundscape would end with the most beautiful sound a lifeguard can hear: the sound of thunder off in the distance. This means that the lifeguards get an extra break, and it would transition the film from the black screen to the opening shot of the movie.

A STONE down by the RIVER.

This color scheme was inspired by trombones.

In middle school, I was in the school band and I played the trombone. During band class me and the other trombones would usually goof off and make snarky comments to each other (our section was in the back and in the corner, so it was pretty easy to get away with). We would also discuss episodes of the Simpsons quite a bit, because we were all fans and we all liked making each other laugh. In a way, we all bonded over our shared love of pop culture and goofing off. I don't think any of that could be turned into a movie, or even a short film, but I do think it could serve as inspiration for a group of characters or a scene within a movie.

"My Nature-Place, Part Deux"

They most obvious difference I noticed was the temperature. It was not cold, but it was cooler, with a cool gentle breeze blowing through the plant life. I could almost feel the freezing cold of winter coming, even though it was not here yet. The breeze made everything seem much more serene, which was a little ironic because I could here someone blaring death metal off in the distance. The plants had begun to feel fall's effects; the trees above me had turned a dark purple, and many of the plants were slightly browner than I remembered. Of course, this also could be because of the end of the rainy season, and I suspect that many of these plants are not native to the desert. The sun has definitely moved, because where there was once shade there was now sunlight, which was nice, seeing as it was significantly less hot. My thought was for the fish in the pond, and what will happen to them once it freezes over in the winter.