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Help Get Me Started

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cmnervegna

I want to write and film a simple short story. But i need help with the hardest part (well for me at least) and that is "An Idea". If you guys can help pitch in ideas for a movie. And answers are welcome. I can edit to fit my needs.
Thanks to everyone who helps.
 
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Using the letters as inspiration, what about having the letters delivered to one another using a messenger service where they read them aloud (dramatically, acting the part of the letter writer) to each recipient?

Use the subplot of the female messenger falling in love with the male letter writer where she begins to thwart his attempts, rewriting the letters to his intended in order to break them apart, and then going after him herself. Or vice versa. Turn it into a classic love triangle.

I can already see the dramatic letter reading playing out on their front porches. :lol:
 
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VPTurner said:
Using the letters as inspiration, what about having the letters delivered to one another using a messenger service where they read them aloud (dramatically, acting the part of the letter writer) to each recipient?

Use the subplot of the female messenger falling in love with the male letter writer where she begins to thwart his attempts, rewriting the letters to his intended in order to break them apart, and then going after him herself. Or vice versa. Turn it into a classic love triangle.

I can already see the dramatic letter reading playing out on their front porches. :lol:
Click to expand...

Did not think of anything like that. I am really considering that option. hmm.. Thanks alot. :lol:
 
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Here is some thought fodder.. just some new ideas to think about..

The story is about the CONTENT of the letters played against the CONTEXT in which they are written. The conflict of the story is between the TEXT of the letters and the actual REALITY in which the letter is being read and written. They could start out truthful, but as each person grows and changes over time, the letters become a "fantasy" that neither can fulfill..

INT. SMOKY PUNK MUSIC CLUB N.Y.C - NIGHT
JANE is bashing the drums at 120BPM in a One Two beat that drives the other teens in the band to a frenzy of energy and subsurface violence..

JOHN (V.O.)
Dear Jane,
I was so please to hear about your continuing the classical music training. You would not believe the sonic garbage that all our old friends are now listening too. When I am at long last reunited with my dear love, we shall play a Chopin duet... (blah blah blah)

INT. TEEN BOYS BED ROOM
JOHN, is browsing porn sites on the internet ...

JANE(V.O.)
Beloved John,
I have longed for your caress, but alas our love must wait, I know that in your virtue, you are able to maintain our shared vow of chastity, it is only through KNOWING of your purity of thought and body that I am able to resists the temptations of the flesh.. (blah blah blah)

Of course John and Jane are reunited, as there true selves, not the fantasy of the letters, the people in the letters are so unrecognizable and neither one KNOWS that the other is the letter writer .... the discovery of the truth is both sweet and bitter..


You could reverse this, and have the letters raw and passionate, but the two youths become a nun and priest (or cultural equivalents)
 
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Cool idea Wheat.

I would have them sell themselves as what we see they are not back and forth for a few excerpts of letters (or any form of written communication), then cross their paths in person in some horribly awkward way. (Ideally so though they really have much in common, they are also both liars and vessels of painful self reflection for each other, even to the point of some face to face co-denial for diginity's sake and the rubble from which they rebuild themselves through each other.)

-Thanks-
 
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Right buddy,
It would be fun to see them ALMOST meet in their true skins.. one or two close calls early on.. where it would be funny and just awkward to face themselves, but by the time they have fully developed the fantasy, the meeting in real life is too painful, too many lies, but maybe they get past it.. who knows.. not my story ;)
 
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I dig the DiVinci code idea Buddy.. thats just cool.

A couple of high school math geeks falling in love, then torn apart by their fathers differing sides in a clandestine cyberwar, one is called back to Mother Russia, the other to DC... their families know the danger of having computers in the home, hence the need for old fashioned letters, but since there is a war on, the need for code..
 
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Yes Wheatgrinder. Thank you all so very much. Already started planning my script. I just need to figure out how to put all of that into a short film. Is it possible. I dont want to over drag a short film.
 
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Cmnervenga,

Since you have an idea, this is late (and might be obvious, sound crazy, not work for you, not work for everyone, not work for anyone, and it isn’t the best, only or scientific way to do things) , but for what it’s worth, it’s just something I do and will share for the sake of ideas in general.


Imagine taking a deck of word association cards and throwing them down one by one on a table in front of you.

Let the raw loose elements you have in mind (props, character, emotion, locations, notions) be those cards.

Throw them down with force, and with the fearless conviction of there being no right or wrong:


Letter!
Sweater!
Better!
Love!


Think sideways with the elements in a row like an equation:


Love + Letter + Write + Read + Send + Words etc = ??????


List what is manifested and ask what might be a title/concept:
(*I usually do it with title/concept but it can be anything.)


Dear World, ?
Sincerely Yours ?


Think in word play or duality of meaning:


Envelope ?
Stationary ?
Post Haste ?
If only I’d letter ? (This is the title I was after.)
4 letter words ?
Four letter or worse. ?
Till death do us party ???
(Obvious wedding vow association, but if it manifests, let it.)


If something “clicks”, it might have, need or prompt a little description:


Post Script, Post Script, Post Script, Post Script!
(A story about the P.S. of a letter that details what a writer will do after he
finishes and mails a script about a post office.)


Riff off ideas and/or engage in “What if..” scenarios:
(Kind of riffing off VP’s idea + "What if…")


“Wheel chair bound and recovering, a young woman sends herself
love letters written to the mailman she is secretly enamored with .”


Set phasers to ‘Cornball as all hell’ and slap a title on it:


“Wheel chair bound and recovering, a young woman sends
herself love letters written to the mailman she is secretly
enamored with .”- Stand and Deliver


Kick it around (change it, refine it, go big, go small, go nuts) until it works for you:


1. “A young woman sends herself love letters written to the
mailman she is secretly enamored with .” - Zip Code of The Heart


2. “While sending herself love letters written to the mailman
she is secretly enamored with, a mix up forces a shy government
secretary to turn covert special agent in order to save the man she
loves and avoid a breech of national security”- Top Secret Admirer



There is no wrong or right or good or bad (Unless you count Stand and Deliver lol) , there are really only cards in a deck (each as important as the last, each as meaningless the next) hitting the table until you find the Ace Of Spades you want, the Queen of Hearts you need, or The Joker you know will be there every time if you keep reshuffling.


-Thanks-
 
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If you're stuck for inspiration just pick up a newspaper or go on a conspiracy discussion board. Dozens of ideas. Adapt a Philip K Dick story. I have a thing for adapting fairytales to modern life too...
 
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Imagine taking a deck of word association cards and throwing them down one by one on a table in front of you.
Click to expand...

You could literally do this, or make a simple 'plot generator' computer program.

HERO wants to GOAL. BADDIE wants to stop them. WHAT'S AT STAKE? Will the HERO reach the goal before TIME LIMIT?
Click to expand...

Make five decks of cards.

HERO

GOAL

BADDIE

STAKE

TIME LIMIT
Click to expand...
*

Sure it won't work every time but it might get you thinking.
 
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Yeah cards or a plot generator thing would be great too, I’m personally more into engaging the process mentally and in written form, so the blank page enemy is made a friend to invoke creativity.

Now and then I can get my concept in a flash, like you say “Fairytale” and my head says:

“Speed meets the Divinci Code by way of Hans Christian Anderson -when a nut job plants an explosive device and gives police clues formed from fairytales”

Final location: ‘Happily Ever After’ book store
Plot: Thriller.
Title: Once upon a time bomb.

The idea of several decks of cards is the ultimate goal, but I need to seriously power up on knowledge before I can juggle that much at once and spit it all back out as one useful cohesive unit. Maybe someday.

-Thanks-
 
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X meets Y by way of Z is another good formula. A great way for people in 'the industry' to get an immediate hook on what you're saying.

The logline for Star Wars was Lord of The Rings in Space.

First idea that come into my head:

One flew Over the Cuckoos Nest meets Pi the Movie when a Maths Genius is locked up in a secret psychological prison half a mile under NYC.

*

Or try this, there are a few online:

http://www.archetypewriting.com/muse/generators/plot.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_generator
 
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Hi!
In my opinion you can make a short story film using advice of any screen writing consultant. I have awareness about “ezscreenwriting” they provides screenplay help, story consultant, how to write a script, how to write a movie, scriptwriting consultation, professional screen write. I think you can get the right advice with them.
 
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