The Community Ideas Hub

What's your favourite logline?

  • The Organ Lottery

    Upvotes: 8 44.4%

  • The Cure

    Upvotes: 3 16.7%

  • The Uterine Plague

    Upvotes: 2 11.1%

  • Survivors

    Upvotes: 3 16.7%

  • The Geriatrics

    Upvotes: 1 5.6%

  • Going Viral

    Upvotes: 1 5.6%
  • Total voters
    18
NickClapper

NickClapper

This thread is a continuation of the discussion that's come out of 'The Community Brainstorming Thread'.

Through lengthy discussions we've narrowed it down to six potential ideas that have three key elements:

1.) They can be told by anyone, anywhere.
2.) They can work as independent threads.
3.) They will work together as one film.

Please take some time to read the loglines and select whichever is your favourite. If you have a little bit more time please leave a comment. Tell us which are good, which could be improved, how to improve, how you'd do it...etc, or just tell us which one is better.

Please bear in mind the fact that this film would be produced by several small remote units around the world and so the plotlines have been specifically chosen with this in mind. The problem had to be universal so that the response could be universal.
 
Ok, apparently the poll options can only be 100 characters long. So here are the loglines:

The Organ Lottery 'In a world that is starved of usable organs, [X Number] people across the world wait with baited breath to see whether they have been selected as one of the lucky few to receive a transplant. The build up and fall out of this momentous wait will change all their lives, for better or worse.'

The Cure 'The world has fallen victim to a terrible plague and, with time running out, only 1000 people worldwide can be vaccinated in time. Across the world [X Number] people wait to find out whether luck is on their side, or whether they must accept their fate.'

The Uterine Plague 'A uterine plague has swept the globe rending all women unable to conceive. Twenty years on and civilisation is on the point of collapse with the population plummeting and disease and disorder rife across the globe. Through this setting tales of desperation and hope emerge.'

Survivors 'Finding unity in the voice of a far off radio broadcast small bands of survivors struggle against a zombie plague and its victims to reach a rumored refuge.'

The Geriatrics 'Abandoned by the country they love, and without family to help them, five elderly strangers seek the support they need and the revenge they crave.'

Going Viral 'A debilitating flesh eating infection threatens to destroy the last remnants of the human race as people all over the globe struggle to survive and regain control of the planet.'
 
even if they have been done in some way they havnt been done like this. with all these people involved, no matter what plot is chosen it will be different then every other plot like this
 
letsmakeamovie6 said:
even if they have been done in some way they havnt been done like this. with all these people involved, no matter what plot is chosen it will be different then every other plot like this
Click to expand...

For me this is one of the crucial points of indie filmmaking.

People get really het up on finding something original to say. And 99 times out of 100 it still isn't original. And the 1 that is will look as if it's trying desperately hard to be original.

For the creative process it's much better just to forget about trying to come up with an original plot and just focus on telling a good story well. Films don't get judged on big themes, they get judged on the story, scene by scene.

That said I'm not sure what movie's he's thinking of which have the same sort of plot as The Organ Lottery, The Cure or The Geriatrics. I'd be curious to know if we're missing something terribly obvious.

At the moment (I have yet to vote) I'm split between The Organ Lottery and The Cure. The Organ Lottery has the greater potential for social commentary but The Cure has the greater potential for dramatic range. So I am, in the immortal words Natalie Imbruglia, torn.
 
I've got an idea for The Cure that I like, so I voted for that in the end.

Almost 19,000 members on Indietalk and only 5 votes?!?!? Come on peeps! :D
 
“The Organ Lottery” and “The Cure” are exactly the same. [X
Number] of people waiting for something. The loglines lead me to
wonder how interesting a movie would be that is essentially about
people waiting for something to happen.

For this type of project the last sentence of “The Uterine Plague”
holds the most interest for me. However, the premise is “The
Children on Men” so it seems that comparisons would be made.

“Survivors” seems like exactly the right idea for this kind of
project. No difference than “The Uterine Plague” really. Various
tales of surviving, desperation and hope with a different overall
reason.

I like “The Geriatrics” - not the title, but the logline. I don’t
see how this could lend itself to several different units around
the world but I see a lot of potential in that story.

“Going Viral” is essentially the same as “The Uterine Plague” and
“Survivors” substituting one “issue” for the others. I have a
problem only with “regain control of the planet”. No one currently
has control over the planet so regaining that control by
individual groups all over the world doesn’t work for me.

My thought is if a unique “issue” can be worked out the premise of
“The Uterine Plague” and “Survivors” could work for this type of
movie.
 
directorik said:
“The Organ Lottery” and “The Cure” are exactly the same. [X
Number] of people waiting for something. The loglines lead me to
wonder how interesting a movie would be that is essentially about
people waiting for something to happen.
Click to expand...

What I would say (in defence of both these ideas) is that just because they're waiting for something to happen doesn't take away from the drama. I think both have massive potential as we witness the build up to the announcement and then the fall out. What would you do if you got the cure but your wife didn't? How do people express fear, nervousness, relief? The same with The Organ Lottery. I apologise if I've sold them badly with the loglines, but they're just meant to be rough guidelines. Obviously once we know which avenue we're going down we'll iron out the finer details.

For this type of project the last sentence of “The Uterine Plague”
holds the most interest for me. However, the premise is “The
Children on Men” so it seems that comparisons would be made.
Click to expand...

Yep we realised about The Children of Men connection and were duely concerned. This is one that I'm inclined to pass on, for that reason, to be honest.

“Survivors” seems like exactly the right idea for this kind of
project. No difference than “The Uterine Plague” really. Various
tales of surviving, desperation and hope with a different overall
reason.
Click to expand...

Survivors originates from the earliest idea that we had and I think for that reason it's the obvious one to do. It's easy to get different strands and tie them together. The thing that makes me prefer The Organ Lottery or The Cure is that I think we have a chance to do something really, really good. It's possibly a slightly bigger gamble, but I'm inclined to roll the dice on this one.

I like “The Geriatrics” - not the title, but the logline. I don’t
see how this could lend itself to several different units around
the world but I see a lot of potential in that story.
Click to expand...

I would like to take this moment to apologise to Mr.Murdock for underselling his logline with the glib title...

“Going Viral” is essentially the same as “The Uterine Plague” and
“Survivors” substituting one “issue” for the others. I have a
problem only with “regain control of the planet”. No one currently
has control over the planet so regaining that control by
individual groups all over the world doesn’t work for me.

My thought is if a unique “issue” can be worked out the premise of
“The Uterine Plague” and “Survivors” could work for this type of
movie.
Click to expand...

What I would say is that they're all pretty much the same basic premise. Stripped down to the bare essentials the only differences are that in The Cure the world is on the brink of collapse, in Survivors, Going Viral and The Uterine Plague the world has collapsed and in The Organ Lottery and The Geriatrics only a specific group of people's worlds are collapsing.

All of these are 'end of the world' films in one way or another and that's because we kind of settled on that as the easiest way to unite a global premise.

As for coming up with a unique issue, I don't know. As has been pointed out at the top of this page there's nothing unique about the loglines that we've come up with, but they feel pretty unique. I think we could spend another month brainstorming and there would still be issues with originality. We've got to be thinking creatively and practically: what would we like to do and what can we do.

Personally I'm leaning towards the human drama elements of these stories for several reasons. Firstly I think that there will be quality control issues with the special effects. I know that I can't produce the same standard of zombie movie as someone who has experience with the genre. But on a human level? I think it evens the playing field. Secondly I think it subverts the expectations. If I was to see that an internet forum were teaming up to make a community film my first thought would be 'horror' and my second 'zombies'. I think it could potentially be an amazing selling point to come up with something that is unique to this type of project. And thirdly I think that we could end up with a touching and affecting film, possibly on a different level to your typical end of the world movie.

I don't want to sound like I'm justifying a pre-decision because I really want the maximum input from everyone here. If people have new ideas that we haven't discussed then it would be great to sound them out asap. I am by no means wedded to any particular idea and I don't think anyone else is either. I think the next step from here is a treatment/storyboard phase (potentially with more than one of the themes if no consensus can be reached) so that if people have a vision for how they'd do their thread then it can be properly transmitted.

But for now, thank you directorik and everyone else for the feedback! :)
 
BTW The Uterine Plague idea is exactly what happens in Vonnegut's Galapagos. Basically everyone dies except for a few people stranded in the Galapagos Islands and they evolve over millions of years to become peguin like. So I guess it isn't the same but the disease in the book doesn't kill anyone, it just prevents women from having children.
 
Hmmm... I think the rendering of the world infertile crops up from time to time in film and literature...

Unless we were to put a very unique spin on the uterine plague, I would be reluctant to run with that idea, especially given the fact that the adaptation of Children of Men is still quite recent and any film touching on the same areas is likely to draw comparison...

And I way prefer Wrath of the Octogenerians... shame... :)
 
directorik said:
...

“Going Viral” is essentially the same as “The Uterine Plague” and
“Survivors” substituting one “issue” for the others. I have a
problem only with “regain control of the planet”. No one currently
has control over the planet so regaining that control by
individual groups all over the world doesn’t work for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, not much thought went into it. I just sat down and threw something out at random. Only spent a couple of minutes on it, and the whole "planet" thing was spur of the moment.

I had no idea it would make it into a poll. It was meant to spark debate and perpetuate brainstorming.
 
VPTurner said:
I had no idea it would make it into a poll. It was meant to spark debate and perpetuate brainstorming.
Click to expand...

That's what the poll is doing! :yes:

This poll is by no means the be all end all, it's just to give an indication of which way the wind of preference is blowing...
 
I like the ideas where people are waiting to see if they'll be allowed to live or not. I think you could go in so many directions with that and every one would be thinking something different and have their own spin to put on it. So yeah, I voted for the vaccine one, 'cause I prefer that idea over the organ one, even though they are, as has been said, pretty similar.

These ideas are all way better than anything I could come up with, so I'm already impressed :D
 
I voted for the "organ donor" concept because I like the diverse dramatic possibilities presented for a non-zombie film (which I initially feared would happen - personal bias). And it would still allow for a little bit of simulated gore for those so inclined to do those types of effects. It was also had more distance from recent films than the others. That is an important bit for me making the festival circuit more possible on the back end.
 
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