#cameron has been having an off screen breakdown because i don’t know what to do with her

[eliotquillon]

the no reason coda fic i’m working on is giving me the vapours so have a cut snippet of a scene between foreman and wilson

“Send Cameron home,” Wilson says, and for a moment Foreman thinks that it’s a bad phone connection, that he must be mishearing him. Then he decides to get a grip.

“What?” he asks. “I can’t do that. Chase needs her in the ER. And I’m not her superior.”

“Technically, though, I am,” Wilson says, “so if she doesn’t listen to you, tell her it’s coming from me. Make sure she’s gone home by the time I get there. It’s a four hour drive, but I’ll step on it.”

“You don’t want to her to treat him?” Foreman frowns; he’s sure if he looked in a mirror, his eyebrows would be raising with confusion. “Is this some kind of personal—“

“No, it isn’t,” Wilson interrupts; he sounds irritated, like he’s at the end of his tether, and Foreman can relate to that, at least. “I like Dr Cameron. I think she’s a great doctor, and if House fired her tomorrow I’d be up in his office holding him hostage until he either rehired her again or brained me with his damn cane. Hell, that’s more or less what I did last time. But I’ve seen her try to break bad news to patients, and I’m not going to have the patience for that today. If something goes wrong—“ he coughs, like he’s trying to cover the sound of his voice cracking, and clears his throat. “Look, I like Cameron. I do. I want to keep liking Cameron, which is why you need to send her home.”

[michaels-blackhat]

thoughts on evil Forrest 😈

We are going to start out by apologizing. This is very very late. I’m sure when you sent this ask, you meant it to be in the same joking tone that I approach all of my other propaganda posts. Sadly, this is actually going to be a deep dive into a few Evil Forrest related things, including the moment I feel they changed directions, the perfect wasted build-up, and the implications of the change/how it then negatively impacted the story. As I’m sure you already know, by being on my blog at all, I don’t think the story was good to begin with, so we are going to focus on the weird hoops they made themselves jump through to make that story still work. Additionally, I am only going to mention once, right now, how much of a waste it was to not have Forrest ‘fall for his mark’ and complete one of my absolute favorite tropes. Honestly, I think “because I want it” is a completely valid reason to like Evil Forrest. But, the question was “Thoughts on Evil Forrest” and these thoughts have been developing for over a year and a half. So, I apologize in advance.

The majority of this is under a cut, with highlights in the abstract. If no one wants to read this, I understand completely. Go ahead, skip it.

Note: it pains me greatly to not actually have full sources for this essay. Just know that in my heart I am using proper APA citations, I just absolutely do not feel like digging through tweets to find sources to properly cite.

Abstract:

Previous research indicates that Roswell New Mexico has a history of repeating excuses to explain mid-season changes to plots. This essay explores how those excuses are not only loads of crap, but how they hinder the show’s ability to tell a coherent story, misuse the multiple-plot structure to enhance the themes being explored, and lead to decisions that mean the show continuously goes over budget. This also means that characters are not used to their full potential and has led to what some fans consider to be “out of character” behaviors. While these behaviors are not universally agreed on, evidence can be shown that these behaviors directly contradict emotionally important character arc/plot points in the show.

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitment because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

The concept of Evil Forrest has been with the fandom as early as New York Comic Con (NYCC) in 2019, when it was revealed that Alex had a new “blue-haired love interest”. Speculation abounded within the fandom, with some people, including the author, going “yeah, he’s evil” while others rejoiced in the concept of Alex having a loving partner. Speculation increased as fans discussed Tyler Blackburn’s seeming disinterest in his new love interest, prompting some once again to scream “EVIL” at the top of their lungs to anyone who would listen. Very little was revealed, beyond the fact that the new character would show up somewhere around episode 3 of the second season.

Episode 2.04 aired with some commenting on how he barely interacted with Alex- prompting more evil speculation- and others excited to see the characters interact more. The character appears again in 2.06, where he invites Alex to dubious spoken word poetry (which Alex attends); 2.08, where they have a paintball date and go to The Wild Pony; 2.10, where the two are seen writing together briefly at the beginning of the episode; and 2.13, where Alex performs his song at open mic night, tells Forrest his relationship with the person in the song was long over, and they kiss. Forrest was not revealed to be evil during season 2.

Amidst the season airing, Word of God via Twitter post announced that yes, Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, though not the main villain, but it was changed as filming progressed.

The Word of God Twitter post revealed that Forrest had originally been planned as a villain, but they decided that they could not make their “blue-haired gay man” a villain. This mirrors a similar situation and excuse used the previous season, where the character of Jenna Cameron was originally planned to work with Jesse Manes against the aliens, before it was changed because they just “loved Riley [the actress] too much”. Both of these examples occurred while already filming and reflect on a larger problem with the show. Though not the topic of this essay, it is important to note that both characters are white, both in the show and by virtue of being played by white actors. The fact that they couldn’t be villains for one reason or another is not a courtesy extended to the male villains who are all the most visibly brown, and thus ‘other’, members of the cast.

This also highlights the fact that, via Twitter, it has been revealed two other times that occurrences that were reported in season 1 also occurred in season 2. During the airing of episode 1.02, it was revealed that the single best build-up of tension in the show- when Alex walks to the Airstream not saying a word to Michael after a dramatic declaration- happened because one actor was sick at the time and they had to go back and film the kisses later. At the point of airing for episode 2.08, it was revealed that one of the actors were sick and unable to film a kissing scene. Allegedly, this caused the writers to retool the entire scene and deviate from the plan to make that subplot about Coming Out. The execution of this subplot will be explored later in this essay.

The last occurrence revealed via Twitter also revealed larger issues within the show: lack of planning and poor budgeting. During the airing of season 1, Tyler Blackburn was needed for an extra episode beyond his contracted 10. A full explanation was never given, but speculation about poor planning and to fill in because Heather Hemmens had to miss one of her 10 episodes due to scheduling conflicts for another project. During the airing of season 2, yet another tweet came out saying they made a mistake and Tyler would once again be in an additional episode. No explanations beyond “a mistake” were given, though once again speculation occurred. It is the opinion of the author that this was due to changing plot points over halfway through writing, while episodes were already in production. It has been speculated by some that these changes occurred during the writing of 2.08, which was being finished/pre-production was occurring roughly around the time of NYCC 2019.

Previous Literature:

A brief look at different theories of plots and subplots

Many people have written on the subject of plotting, for novels and screen alike. The author is more familiar with film writing than tv, but a lot of the concepts carry over. Largely, the B- and C- (and D- and E-… etc) plots should reinforce the theme of the A-plot. This can be through the use of a negative example, where the antithesis of the theme is explored to reinforce the theme presented by the A plot, or through other examples of the theme, generally on a small scale.

A movie example of this would be Hidden Figures (2016), where the A-plot explores how race and gender impact the main character (Katherine Johnson) in her new job. The B-plots explore the other characters navigating the same concepts in different settings and ways- learning a new skill as to not become obsolete and breaking boundaries there (Dorothy Vaugn) and being the first black woman to complete a specific degree program and the fight it took to get there (Mary Jackson). A TV example that utilizes this concept of plot and theme is the 911 shows. Each of the rescues in a given episode will directly relate to the overall theme of the episode and the overall plot for the focus character. This example is extremely blunt. It does not use any tools to hide the connection, to the point you can often guess the outcome for that A-plot fairly quickly.

This is not the only way to explore themes within visual media. Moonlight (2016) looks at three timestamps in the life of Chiron. Each timestamp has a plot even if they feel more like individual scenes or moments rather than plots as some are more used to in films. Each time stamp deals with rejection, isolation, connection, and acceptance in different ways. So while there is no clear A-, B-, or C-Plot, each time stamp works as their own A-Plot to explore the themes in a variety of ways, particularly by starting out in a place of rejection and moving to acceptance or a place of connection to isolation.

Please note that there are many ways to write multiple plots, there are just two examples.

While there are flaws within season 1 of RNM, overall the themes stayed consistent throughout the season, mainly the theme of alienation. The theme threads through the Alien’s isolation/alienation from humanity which is particularly seen through Michael’s unwillingness to participate and Isobel’s over participation. There is Rosa’s isolation from others, how her friendship with “Isobel” ended up compounding her existing alienation from her support system due to her mental illness and coping mechanisms. We see how Max and Liz couldn’t make connections. This theme presented itself over and over in season 1. While this essay is not an exploration of the breakdown of themes in season 2, it should be noted that there were some threads that followed throughout the season. The theme of mothers/motherhood was woven throughout season 2, with some elements more effective than others. Please contact the author for additional thoughts on Helena Ortecho and revenge plots.

One of the largest problems within season 2 was the sheer number of plots jammed into the season. These plot threads often ended up hindering the effectiveness of the themes and made the coherence of the season suffer. Additionally, a lot of them were convoluted and difficult to follow.

Thesis:

Essentially, season 2 was a mess. To look at it holistically is almost an exercise in futility. Either you grow angry about the dropped plots and premises, you hand wave them off, or you fill them in for yourself. Instead, this essay proposes to look at individual elements to explain why Forrest should have stayed evil.

We first meet Forrest in 2.04 when he is introduced on the Long Family Farm, which we later learn was the location where our past alien protagonists had their final standoff. He’s introduced. He’s largely just there. The audience learns he has more of a history with Michael. In 2.06, we meet him again with his dog Buffy (note: poor Buffy has not been seen again and we miss a chunky queen). There’s mild flirting, Alex is invited to an open mic night, which he attends. For the purpose of this essay, the author’s thoughts on the poetry will not be expressed. Readers can take a guess.

It is after this point that the author speculates the Decision was made. This choice to make Forrest not evil- paired with the aforementioned ‘can’t kiss, someone’s sick’- impacted the plot. We have Alex have a scene with his father- which the author believes could have been pushed to a different episode- and then have Alex go on a date and then not kiss Forrest at the end of the night. Here, the audience sees Forrest hit Alex in the leg, allegedly not knowing he had lost his leg despite ‘looking him up’, which parallels the shot to the leg that happens to Charlie. Besides wasting this ABSOLUTELY TEXTBOOK SET UP WTF, it also takes Alex away from the main plot and then forces a new plot for him. Up to this point, Alex’s plot was discovering more about the crash and his family’s involvement. Turning Alex’s date from a setup for evil Forrest to a Coming Out story adds yet another plot thread to a packed season. It is also the author’s thought that this is where the convoluted kidnapping plot comes in. With Forrest already in 2.10 for a moment, a plot where Alex is evil has Forrest attack him for Deep Sky rather than Jesse abduct him for a piece of alien glass Alex was going to give him anyway and then for Flint to abduct Alex from Jesse. It’s messy. In a bad way. Evil Forrest would have been a cleaner set up: no taking back a piece of alien glass Alex gave to Michael in a touching moment. No double abduction. Instead, there is only Forrest, who Alex trusts, breaking that trust to take him as leverage over Michael.

Implications:

Now, Alex has two plots (Tripp & Coming Out). The Coming Out plot is largely ineffective, as they are only relevant to scenes with Forrest and have the undercurrent of there only being a certain acceptable way to be out. This could have been used for Alex to discover his comfort levels, mirroring Isobel’s self discovery, but there was not enough screen time for that. Additionally, Isobel’s coming out story was about her allowing herself the freedom to explore. Alex’s story was about the freedom to… act like this dude wanted him to. Alex’s internalized homophobia played out often in the series but it was also informed by the violence he experienced at Jesse’s hands and the literal hate crime he and his high school boyfriend experienced. With that in mind, the “kissing to piss off bigots” line comes off poorly. This is a character who experienced what a pissed off bigot could do- reluctance to kiss in public is not the same as not being out. There is more to be said on this topic, but as it is not actually the focus of the essay, it will be put on hold. To surmise: Alex’s coming out is attempted to be framed as being himself, but it is actually the conformity to someone else’s ideals. It does not work as an antithetical to Isobel’s story, as the framing indicates that the conformity/right was to be out contradicts Isobel’s theme.

Further Research:

MAKE FORREST EVIL YOU COWARDS

Author Acknowledgements:

The author of this paper acknowledges that the show took some strides to mend this problem. However, once again no consensus could be found on whether Forrest was a low-level member of Deep Sky and thus just allowed to fuck off on a bus, or his job was recruitement because he did a piss poor job of making Alex not join.

[lastsonlost]

Oh gasps, I'm shocked.

Who would have thunk it?

The story:

Updated with Sunday figures: In the wake of Terminator: Dark Fate’s failure at the B.O., and Paramount’s recent decision to make Beverly Cops 4 for Netflix, we have the further breakdown of cinema IP in Sony’s Charlie’s Angels reboot, which is tanking with a God-awful $8.6M domestic opening, $27.9M worldwide (from 26 markets), 3 Stars on Screen Engine-Comscore’s PostTrak, and a B+ Cinemascore.

The Elizabeth Banks-directed-written and produced pic is also opening in 27 offshore markets,

China being one where it’s also bombing,

with a $7.8M 3-day take in third place behind No. 1 local title Somewhere Winter ($13.1M).

All of this is primed to further spur a WTF reaction and anxiety among film development executives in town in regards to what the hell exactly works in this have-and-have-not era of the theatrical marketplace. Many will make the hasty generalization that old, dusty IP doesn’t work, or is now deemed too risky when it’s not a superhero project. However, moviemaking is an art, not a science, and annoying as it might sound, good movies float to the top, and this Charlie’s Angels reboot didn’t have the goods going back to its script.

<Maybe somebody should have been working on a good story instead of pushing an agenda.

We’re going to break down for you what went wrong in another graph, but we don’t want to bury the success of Disney’s release of Fox’s James Mangold-directed Ford v Ferrari, which looks to be coming in at $31.5M, well ahead of the $20M+ many were seeing, with an awesome A+ CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars and a 68% definite recommend on Screen Engine/Comscore’s PostTrak. After a franchise-laden summer which buried originals, now an original pic is sticking it to the IP.

When it comes to the bombing of Charlie’s Angels, the takeaway is this is what happens when you have IP, but there’s no reason for telling the story.

In the walk-up to developing Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, and in the wake of its near $1 billion success, a fever broke out at the Culver City lot in the post-Amy Pascal era to reboot former Sony franchises or extend them, i.e. Zombieland: Double Tap (well over $103M at the global B.O. now), the upcoming Bad Boys 3, and, of course, Spider-Man, the latter electrified by Disney’s Marvel. Development studio executives define their being by getting films greenlit, and whenever that happens, it’s 90% of the job.

And the pressure is on to fill a 10-12 picture annual slate in a world where Disney vacuums up all the best IP. A third Charlie’s Angels with McG directing and Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu starring, wasn’t made immediately after the second chapter, 2003’s Full Throttle, as the sequel turned out to be 29% more expensive than the 2000 original at $120M, and also made less worldwide, $259.1M to $264.1M. With Elizabeth Banks coming off her hot feature directorial debut with Universal’s Pitch Perfect 2 (which over-indexed in its stateside opening at the B.O., going from $50M projections to $69.2M, and finaled global at $287.1M); after she expressed interest in September 2015 in taking on a Charlie’s Angels reboot with a modern feminist spin, there was no question in Sony’s mind that the project should move forward.

<Yeah Sony, how's that working out for you? You think they would have learned their lesson...

Guess not.

Back to the story.....

However, there were script problems, I hear, that could never be resolved. A few months after Banks boarded, Evan Spiliotopoulos came on to write. By the time cast was assembled in July 2018, Banks had penned the latest draft off a script by Jay Basu (The Girl in the Spider’s Web), and earlier drafts by Craig Mazin and Semi Chellas. Andrea Giannetti oversaw the project on the lot. However, I hear that the script for Charlie’s Angels didn’t really attract top talent, i.e. Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone and Margot Robbie (a trio that would have potentially jazzed up business). Hence, why the production opted to go with largely a fresh face cast outside of Kristen Stewart. While we overwrite that stars mean nothing at the box office, they do, sometimes, when it comes to propping IP, and unfortunately and arguably, no one in Middle America knows who British actress Ella Balinska is, and they’ve only became recently acquainted with Naomi Scott from Disney’s Aladdin and Lionsgate’s Power Rangers. Stewart, who is hysterical in the movie and even needed more funny bits, is in a different place in her career professionally, publicly, and privately. It’s unfair to think that she could delver her Twilight fans now.

Had she done Charlie’s Angels promptly in the swell of the Twilight whirlwind (like Snow White and the Huntsmen) then maybe it would have popped.

But she has largely been dormant from popcorn wide releases for the last seven years since 2012’s Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, busy excelling and wowing in specialty awards season and festival fare like Clouds of Sils Maria, Still Alice, and this year’s Seberg, to name a few. Stewart needed to be paired with equal or bigger-name actresses.

was a one quadrant movie, eyed at women 13-39, especially given its lack of action scenes, and wisely limited their exposure to what I hear is 50%, with co-finance partners 2.0 Entertainment and Perfect World. Sony claims the budget is $48M net; we’ve heard in the mid $50Ms. Tax incentives were taken in the pic’s Berlin and Hamburg shoots. Perhaps Sony should have spent more, because Charlie’s Angels biggest problem is that it has very low-octane, we’ve-seen-it-all-before action scenes. Heck, there’s more action in a 1980s Chuck Norris movie. After watching Charlie’s Angels earlier this week, I put the first two McG movies on Netflix, and it was like watching Star Wars in comparison to this reboot, with his sharp production design, camera movements, unique action, and comedy set pieces, and, of course, the first movie blasted Sam Rockwell out of a cannon. Understand that the first two movies in the series were able to compete and hold their own in an action space where, yes, Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious (the first two films came out in 2001 and 2003) also thrived. Mission and Fast sequels distinguish themselves on multiple 10-minute action sequences that we’ve never seen before on screen; it doesn’t matter who the villain is. This Charlie’s Angels doesn’t have that. And not even a super-duper hit song “Don’t Call Me Angel” for the movie from Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, and Lana Del Ray can trigger lines at the multiplex; the music video clocking over 116M views on YouTube, per entertainment social media monitor RelishMix.

Some will claim that Banks’ version was never intended to emulate the meat and potatoes version of McG’s films; that this version was expected to be more comedic, and more feminist. Unfortunately, after McG set the table here with the franchise as an action film, you can’t reverse it. You can only outdo him. And with a franchise movie like Charlie’s Angels, you can’t make it for a one quadrant audience.

The film arrived on tracking with a $12M-$13M start, and really never budged, but sank. That means marketing didn’t work. I heard that a $100M global P&A was first planned on Charlie’s Angels, with the studio now reducing that overall cost greatly to around $50M and pulling back on expensive ads. Another hurdle in activating the young girl demo is that much of the pic’s cast isn’t on social media. RelishMix says that Banks is the social media star with over 6.6M followers across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, with Scott counting 3.4M.

Sony kept pushing Charlie’s Angels, which in hindsight means there were development issues. In May 2017, a release date was announced for June 7, 2019. When the cast was locked down in July 2018, Charlie’s got moved to Sept. 27, 2019. In October 2018 when Warners pushed Wonder Woman 1984 from the first weekend in November to summer, Charlie‘s took over the autumn spot, which was the same exact place the original 2000 opened. However, when Terminator: Dark Fate moved onto the same first weekend in November, Charlie‘s relocated to this weekend as they vied for a China release which they ultimately got.

Charlie’s Angels drew a 66% female crowd, split between 36% over 25 and 30% under 25. But both demos respectively graded it low at 68% and 79%, with men at 35% giving it a 68% grade on PostTrak. Diversity breakdown was 52% Caucasian, 21% Hispanic, 14% Asian/Other, & 13% African American. Charlie’s Angels best markets were on the coasts and big cities. But again, nothing to brag about in Friday’s $3.2M gross, which includes $900K from Thursday and Wednesday previews.

Says RelishMix, which also foresaw this disaster approaching on social media chatter, “Angels is the latest example in a ‘woke’ effort to reboot a franchise that many were not all that interested in to start with. In fact, many references to the 2000 version get a call-out as a reason this one doesn’t seem to compare – whether it’s the cast or the action teased from the film.

And, as observed with other recent films, some action/adventure, unfortunately fans say they’re steering clear of this one because of its ‘girl power’ messaging.”

[tommyoboe]

MANCHESTER - PART TEN.

I have to say that Sunday is going well: a picture frame and flowers have been bought; I purchased puff pastry on my morning walk (although no artichokes, so a bit of a letdown); and I played and recorded the whole first movement of the Strauss Oboe Concerto.

Now aside from all those disgustingly middle class things, what I am really happy about is the latter. Only a week ago there was no way I could achieve a full run through of the most demanding oboe concerto for stamina.

And although I was shattered on completion, I did it. And it feels good.

What also feels good is that this week I am achieving true productivity in a healthy way. I have found morning walks partly the key to this success, being mindless for some time and waking up my body in a stress free way, seeing people that are not frozen on a screen and taking in sunlight in this freezing weather.

More little things have contributed to a comparably relaxed week to the previous one, in which I was curled up in a ball feeling trapped in my room on a couple of occasions. These have included receiving dark chocolate buttons from my wonderful nephew Frankie; copious amounts of quiz shows; Skyping family members and Cameron; a trip to Longbois Bakery in nearby Levenshulme for a delightful chocolate orange and hazelnut slice; making warm hearty food and listening to the insightful Menkind podcast. I have connected with this series on several levels and it has provided a true feeling of happiness and being one of many people feeling ordinary things.

Last week was my worst in the whole pandemic. That is a bold statement, but I can’t think of any others where my mental health was at such a decline. The levels of mood swings were severe, where I would have an excellent practice session and then think about something else that I needed to do requiring the assistance of others and have a breakdown over asking them. I am actually laughing as I write this but I don’t blame myself as it is a deep hole that you can’t see out of. One day someone will give you an answer you can’t accept, but hearing basically the same thing reworded from another person is sometimes all that’s needed. This seems to vary on each occasion.

Part of the way I know what to write in this blog is from a ‘Line A Day’ notebook I gifted myself over Christmas, with space to write a summary of each day’s events over the next five years. So I’m looking at one entry from my bad week and it says:

‘Horrible overhang from yesterday. This led to a down day but still one where I Skyped Dad and talked TV/gender, sent off two applications for funding, cleaned a fair portion of the house and scraped reeds. House of Games, The Office and Wandavision intertwined nicely.’

I do so much! It is true that it will never be enough, but looking back now I appreciate that I work hard and am deservedly being rewarded in many ways for that. And this week I have made even more time to fit things in that I enjoy, which has been beneficial. I have come away thinking, right, that’s how I want to lead my lockdown life. I know things will go back to a form of crazy later in the year but if I can take some of this balance I have gained from the last few weeks, I’ll be really happy.

I had a great performance slot to my deputy heads of department last Friday, with neither of them having much to critique on my performance of a Schumann Romance. What they did point out was constructive and inspiring, and most of all made me look forward to the next time I play to others. I love that in music people spot so many different things, however experienced they are. It is such a wonderful spectrum.

Classes resume next week following this half term, so it will be interesting to see if productivity and balance reigns supreme. I’m sure it will, because I am in control of it. Such a cliché (gross) but like many clichés pretty truthful.

Tonight I shall speak at length with my boy Cameron of lovely future things; I shall treat myself to some more wax melts and chicken and chorizo ragu left over from last night and watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Ah, what nice thoughts.

[redspiderling]

Let’s talk music

The importance of music in film is immeasurable, and I’m not going to pretend that it’s possible to make a blog post that can adequately explain the level of nuisance, meaning and character that can be expressed through music and sound, and significantly add to the storytelling process and the viewing experience. 

Just watch Lindsey Ellis describe an excellent example of sound design from Mad Max: Fury Road to get a small idea of what can be done (skip to 8:26 for a quick breakdown of a specific scene if you can’t watch the entire thing, although it is pretty interesting!):

Let’s just say half a movie is in the music and sound, and leave it at that.

Having said that, I have to sadly acknowledge the fact that, more often than not, Hollywood productions treat music like a decorative element, much like most other storytelling tools, which of course in turn produces unmemorable films. 

Well, there is the insane story behind Avatar’s soundtrack. You know, the film that cost 237 million dollars and spent probably half of that on an “alien” sounding collection of tracks, created by a gigantic team of musicians and scientists who attempted to write music inspired by the cultures and traditions of nations and tribes all over the world, only to have James Cameron say it sounds “too alien” and basically westernise the multicultural new sounds he himself had ordered. 

But I’m getting off track here. In complete contrast to the insane amount of world building (and eventual world wrecking) that Cameron worked on for years in order to write the script for Avatar, the creative minds behind the Infinity Saga, the 2 sets of bros, writers and directors, probably never even existed in the same room together during the pre-production of the films ( seriously, has anyone ever seen the M&Ms and the Russos on screen at the same time?), let alone manage to weave together complex stories involving dozens of characters. I mean at this point I think they made those films by cutting pieces of story here and there and sticking them together with UHU. Kinda like a ransom note, but in film form.

With that in mind, we can safely assume that the musical side of the films (IW and Endgame) was probably an issue that was handed off to an intern at some point. But having already concluded that these films are horrible, why do I care?

I care, because they set up nothing. I care because the MCU has produced 2 dozen films and there isn’t a single character with a recognisable soundtrack. You know how the Empire in Star Wars has a theme? How the Shire in LOTR has a theme? How Hedwig, the owl that represents the magical world in Harry Potter, has a theme? 

Off the top of your head, what’s Iron Man’s theme?

There is a soundtrack for Avengers Assemble, but there isn’t any sort of sound, or music, that represents the ideas these characters stand for, let alone the characters themselves. And again, why do I care?

I care because we’re getting a Black Widow movie after Natasha has had appeared in 9 separate films, after we’ve been told that she’s gone forever, and whatever unlucky soul gets the inconceivable task of coming up with music and sound that represents her now, is in deep shit because they have absolutely nothing to work on.

Do you know what’s even worse? There’s added difficulties they need to deal with, just because they’re writing music for a female superhero. Can you think of a female sound in superhero movies?

You’re thinking of Wonder Woman, aren’t you? Well, do you know what Hans Zimmer, the composer for Wonder Woman, said about writing music for her?

One thing that has bugged me forever is that our superhero movies are so masculine and male generated. I wanted Wonder Woman to be… I wanted the music to be full of more female…  I wanted a banshee wail, like you’ve never heard before.

And that’s Hans Zimmer talking. By all accounts a musical genius who was working for DC, meaning he only had to deal with sloppiness from the directors and the studio, not with deliberate attempts to sabotage the stories of female heroes because reasons. Btw when I talk about sloppiness I’m referring to the idiots who made him write WW’s theme for Batman vs Superman. A film in which Diana was a mock-up of a character, not about Patty Jenkins and the amazing, even if not entirely successful, attempt of that creative team to make a coherent story in music and sound for Diana in the WW movie.

So now that you have all that information, and after what we know about the change in composers in Black Widow, don’t you, as well, feel cheated? Not just because, clearly, the burden placed on that team to make something worthwhile is insane, but also because we have been served third-rate content for years, even though these people have the resources and the minds to make miracles.

I wouldn’t want to leave you in such a pessimistic note. There are positives to take from this. Women now do have a sound in superhero films (and Hans Zimmer is actually a pretty cool guy who gave the job of making music for Wonder Woman to women). I can hear hints of that electrical string that gave an edge to Wonder Woman’s theme in the music from the Black Widow trailer for example. Things are getting better, it’s just that the task that falls on the shoulders of these people, to salvage a decade’s worth of storytelling, is a heavy task, truly. Although I think, if there’s a person out there who will try their damndest to make it possible for the Black Widow movie to have a musical story to tell, it’s Scarlett.

P.S.: Black Panther is excluded from this mess because that film had an excellent soundtrack (it’s almost like when a composer and a director work together the film has good music), but at this point Black Panther is the exception in so many things in the MCU, it basically just proves the rule.

[connorparry42794]

April 16th 2020

We have been in quarantine for a few weeks now.  I’m pretty sure I am losing my mind.  I had a full on breakdown the other day.  I was so bored, walking around the house with nothing to do.  I had the day off from both jobs, and needed some entertainment.  I begged Cameron and Arrianna to play a game with me and they told me “no”, and I lost my shit.  I don’t know how they do it.  Neither of them or my mom are working.  Yet, they sit around all day looking at the same tv screens without moving.  They sleep all day, stay up all night, and eat nonstop.  I continue to have both jobs during this, and I STILL can’t cope with not being able to see my friends or going out on the weekends.  Maybe we are all just built different, maybe they can handle doing nothing, or maybe (and this is what I truly think) their depression is so bad that they don’t even notice it.  I’ve been trying to keep myself as busy as I can to try and stay sane, because I know that I’m prone to spiral down if I don’t keep myself busy.  This quarantine is making it difficult for me though.  

We have to wear masks at both my jobs now, enforced by the governor.  The masks we are provided are just old cut up T-shirts.  They proved no protection from anything.  It’s all just a show for the public, just another example showing it doesn’t matter what top healthcare professionals are saying, everything is for the image.  The masks aren’t there to protect us workers or the populace, just to keep us calm.  The same can be said for the gloves I've been forced to wear for the last few weeks now.  One pair of gloves for the whole shift, despite how many different peoples hands I touch during the shift.  It’s not about protection, it’s about the idea of protection.

Josh and I have been on rocky water.  He is such an unusual character and I will admit that he annoys me, but there's a certain part of me that just can’t help but feel bad for him, maybe that’s why I continue to give him my attention, or maybe I really do have feelings for him.  I haven’t decided yet.  His latest antic really pissed me off though.  A few days ago, I woke up with a  sore throat.  Not thinking anything about it, I messaged him about it.  He asked how I was feeling and what else was wrong.  Thinking he was just concerned about me, I mentioned how my back was sore as well.  Then he recalled how I felt warm the other day when we were together.  I agreed that perhaps I was coming down with something.  He immediately went to his job and told his boss that I wasn't feeling well and that me and him had broken self isolation rules to hangout a few days prior.  He was sent home from work, and the bank asked me to get tested for Covid-19.  If I didn’t get tested then the whole bank was in risk of being shut down.  As annoyed as I was that Josh did what he did, I got “tested”.  I didn't want to be the reason a bunch of people lost their job during these times.  I called the doctors office and answered a few questionnaires and then had to wait for a video chat with a nurse.  Only for them to say I didn't need to be tested because my symptoms weren’t consistent with that of coronavirus.  So that was a fun stressful day.  The kicker being that after all was said and done, and Josh was able to go back to work, he texted me asking if we could hangout later this week.  He truly is clueless sometimes.

A welcome addition to my life right now is Mike.  I started talking to him on grindr (I know).  We immediately hit it off.  We have so much in common including video games, books, our hobbies, and our general attitudes and perspectives on life.  I’m not sure what he thinks of me, our interaction so far has been completely platonic, which I’m content with, but I also wouldn't mind pursuing something further in the future, if it felt right for both of us.  I’m not going to try and think too much about it, especially since it will be a while before we actually get to hang out in person because of this quarantine.  For now, he is a welcome distraction.

This is all I can think of to talk about.  If I think of more I’ll just make a new post or something.  Hopefully I will continue this in the future.  There’s something therapeutic about putting your thoughts down in words.

-Connor

[sirengenerator]

tabby and van

a writing piece about some not-quite-ocs who have been living in my brain lately. they’re from a story that has lived in my brain which has been titled murk! in my bad playlist for it. they aren’t main characters, but i do like them quite a bit.

some quick introductions:

tabitha “tabby” reynolds: a 10th grade girl currently dealing with too much shit for her to handle.

vana “van” quinto: a baby lesbian who sells her dad’s weed underneath the bleachers at school. one of tabitha’s only friends.

quick warning for discussion of an unwanted teenage pregnancy and vague allusions to an off-screen character’s suicide.

                                                             -

“I don’t wanna be a mom.” Tabby’s head rests in Van’s lap. “I really, really don’t wanna be a mom.”

Van runs her fingers through Tabby’s hair. “It’s a little late for that, isn’t it?” her eyes glance down to Tabby’s swollen belly. “You’ll be fine, babe.”

Empty words. Tabby’s grown pretty familiar with them, lately. This nightmarish rollercoaster seems to have ushered in a truly astonishing number of people whose only words of advice are it’ll be okay and you’ll make the best of it or, sometimes, I hope it all goes well for you.

“I’m too young to be a mom,” she replies. “All I have to help me are my grandparents—and they’re bastards for making me keep it. I don’t even—I can’t even rely on Cameron to help me anymore, for obvious reasons, and—” she stops. “God, what am I doing?”

“Beats me,” says Van. Her dark eyes are sort of half-lidded as she meets Tabby’s gaze, and for a second Tabby thinks—she really is so cute.

Cute is the right word, because Van isn’t beautiful or pretty. She’s fifteen, and she’s got a round nose and mild eczema and she keeps wearing T-shirts with lesbian slurs on them under a hideous jean jacket to make a point. She doesn’t seem to shave anything on her body except for her head, and she only seems to do that when she’s having emotional breakdowns. Her bedroom is in a basement and she’s perfectly content with just sitting here, running her hands through the hair of a pregnant girl and offering empty advice to problems she’ll never understand.

“Why are you still dealing with me?” asks Tabby. Van takes a moment with that question.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she shrugs. “You’re my friend, I guess. I like talking to you.”

“That’s bullshit. We weren’t even friends before I was pregnant.”

“And aren’t you so glad that we’re all buddy-buddy now?” Her smile is lazy. “I dunno, Tabby. I felt bad for you. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

“It’s what I suspected—”

“I felt bad for you, and then I didn’t, because you seem capable enough. And I figured I was in pretty deep at that point, so might as well solidify godfather status.”

“You don’t wanna be the godmother?” Tabby snorts.

“Hell no. That’s stupid. I wanna get your kid involved in mob violence and shit. Maybe give a few cinematic speeches.”

The conversation lulls for a moment. Tabby lifts a hand to barely touch Van’s chin.

“Is it because you’re into me? Like, romantically?”

Van blows air out of her nose. “You know, Tabby, not every lesbian falls for every girl who shows them attention. That’s a negative stereotype that you’ve got no business accusing me of,” she says. “That said, yeah. It’s been pretty dope, getting to know you, but I’m not getting my hopes up.”

“Then why are you staying?”

“Because I like you,” says Van, “and I’ll be here for you.”

“You say that now, but just wait,” Tabby says. “I’m gonna have this kid, and I’m going to be miserable because my grandma’s going to guilt me into dropping out and becoming a teenage housewife, and you’ll get real tired of me coming to you to complain.”

“Nah,” says Van. “You’ll be a teenage housewife, and I’ll visit you after school everyday so you don’t get lonely and commit homicide against the elderly.”

“Really?”

“Definitely,” says Van. “I’ll give you the report on Luke and Mads whenever I can, and I’ll help you study for the SAT and stuff, and I’ll teach the kid its first swear words. As long as you’ll have me, tabby cat, I’ll be there.”

Oh, man.

Tabby thinks about Cameron.

He was a good boyfriend. A good, solid boyfriend. He would have been a good dad, too, if he had only let himself be one. He used to call her honey girl, and he would let her wear his junior-varsity baseball jacket, and he would take her to see movies and wrap his arm around her shoulders.

And he’s gone now, and Tabby has a million different conflicting emotions about what he did and why he did it, but she supposes it doesn’t matter now. What matters now is Van, who suddenly looks very handsome in the dim lamplight.

“Hey,” says Tabby, “kiss me.”

Van’s absentminded stroking of her hair slows to a stop. “You serious?” she says.

“Yeah, I think so.”

A few seconds pass as Van seems to weigh the options. “You know that I—” she sighs, “I can’t replace your boyfriend, tabby cat. I’m not Cameron, I’m just me.”

“I know that.” Tabby says, though she isn’t totally sure that it makes a difference. Van might be anyone, right now. Tabby just needs someone, anyone at all.

(And whether or not she’d be happier with Van as that someone remains to be seen.)

“Alright, just had to clarify,” Van says, before shifting. “I need you to sit up, if you want this to happen.”

Tabby sits up (it’s gotten more difficult with the bump, which is awful, but she manages) and slides herself downward so that she can sit in Van’s lap. Van rests a hand on her cheek.

The kiss is nice—Van is good at it. Maybe even better than expected, though Tabby doesn’t know at all what she expected.

Soon enough it blends into other kisses, and Van’s tongue makes an appearance here and there. It’s hard not to make the comparison to Cameron—

(he was all tongue, and it was annoying sometimes, but sometimes it was charming. Like a puppy eager to meet its owner.)

—but Tabby tries not to. Tabby just tries to enjoy Van. Tries to sink into another place, where there are no babies or late-boyfriends or disappointed grandparents.

Just Van.

[peterjcameron]

The Non-Artist’s Guide To Storyboarding Marketing Videos

We’ve all been there before.

You’ve got a great idea.  This lead gen video is going to be the next Dropbox success story.

You talk to your video team.  You write the script.  Everyone is excited.  You shoot the video.  World-domination, an IPO and/or a promotion are mere frames away.  You launch the video.  That upload click has never felt so good.

…

Then the crickets start.  And when you watch the video you realize… “this is nothing like what I had in mind!!”

What gives?

Shoulda made a storyboard.

Some people think a storyboard has got to be a Pixar-level work of art in and of itself.  Or that you’ve got to be able to draw or be creative to make a good storyboard.  That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Here’s a simple process we use to make storyboards so there’s less of a chance of botching production.

It’s Got To Start As An Outline

Storyboards (unfortunately) aren’t magic.  If you don’t know what you’re going to say, there’s no saving it.

There are a few common outlines you can use to get started.  Here are two every video marketer should have in their tool belt:

1. Hero’s Journey

Here’s a link to a free Google Doc template that spells this out.

Stories from Star Wars to Dropbox’s legendary explainer have harnessed this framework to make high-growth videos.

It goes like this:

Meet the Hero, Bob.

Bob has got a problem.

He tried this, that, and the other thing and they didn’t work.

Then he found the solution which works like this __________.

Bob got this sweet, positively emotional pay-off + call to action.

2. Problem, Agitate, Solve

Check out this link for the Google Doc template

Cheesy infomercials have made BILLIONS with this framework.

The idea is when there’s a pressing problem you don’t want to let up on the pain, but keep pressing forward so it’s clear how much they need your solution.

Here’s a breakdown:

Do you have this problem?

Here are the things making your problem worse.

This solution focuses explicitly on your big problem.

Customer testimonials or proof.

Benefit recap and call to action.

Choose Your Software

My software of choice is Google Presentation.  One because it’s free, but two because it’s familiar and has almost zero roadblocks to getting started.

If you’ve got some paper, a cell phone camera/scanner and a Google account you’re ready to go.

Here’s a helpful, free slide template you can use. Or if you like to do the pencil-to-paper method, here are a few printable word docs.

If you’re looking to get a bit more fancy you can take a look at StoryboardThat.

Highlight Your Critical Frames

Inside a two minute video you may not have a ton of scenes, but there will always be a few critical frames.

Every marketing storyboard should have frames for:

Opener

Problem Statement

How the Solution works ← Often the most critical to storyboard.

Call to action ← This is a close second in terms of storyboard need.

Frame 1 – The Opener

The main goal in the first frame is to create a sense of mystery.  If you’re working on a lead gen video, this is doubly important since a visitor is normally trading their contact info to scratch the itch of their curiosity.

Frame 2 – Problem Statement

This is the frame that should get your viewer’s head nodding (or qualify out the ones who shouldn’t be watching anyway).  If you have any dark or depressing frames, this is where they’ll go.

Frame 3 – How Your Solution Works

My favorite frame of all.  This is where your marketing chops come into play.  You can shave major time off an explanation with a well-thought-out solution frame.  Binge watch the explanation section of some late night infomercials to see this one done exceptionally well.

Frame 4 – Call To Action

Without this you might as well go home.  This is a nitty gritty frame, with the most important factor being clarity.  Is your URL easy to read?  Did viewers see where to click?  Does your info stay on screen long enough?

One important note: some frames are important to script well but don’t really need their own storyboard.  For example, benefit statements are critical to a script, but as long as your wording is right, your imagery may not be as essential.

Doodle Your Frames

Nearly every video I make starts as a doodle.  Ironically, I can’t draw but it doesn’t take complicated images to get the idea across.  My go-to images?  Stick figures for people, and labeled rectangles for objects.

Some of the keys you’re going for are:

Positioning.  Show the artist or videographer how the scene needs to be setup.

Timing.  Get across how the audio is going to be timed against the visual.

Transitions.  How much info is too much in your scenes?  When should you cut?  Pay attention to how your scenes are flowing into each other or if it feels like they’re not changing for a long period of time.

Do A Dry Run

The main value of storyboards is being able to run through your script and feel how your video is going to go BEFORE you’ve spent the time and money on production.

So fire up your script, pull out your key frames and do a dry run.  This is the step where the heaviest tweaking and revisions will come in and by doing it at the storyboard stage you’ll be saving yourself time and money.

John Lasseter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer puts it well.

“I will never let something go into production unless it is working fantastic in that version with the still drawings. Because no matter all the great animation you can do will never save a bad story. We will work and rework and rework and rework these reels — sometimes thirty times before we let it go into production.”

Go Forth And Storyboard!

While it seems like a little more work upfront, dropping in a storyboard step can save major time in production.  

If you have any tips of your own, please share them below!

Updated in 2017: A Visual Storyboarding Template

Lance talks quite a bit about using visual aids in your storyboarding, and we couldn’t agree more. So we decided to make our own internal storyboarding template available for everyone.

The first page is a quick instructional guide on how to lay out your shots, and what to use all these fancy little boxes for:

Page two is the important one though, as you can print as many copies of this blank storyboarding template as you need to lay out all of your shots!

This simple but powerful tool is incredibly important, whether you are filming your own videos in-house, or working with an agency on your creatives. Storyboarding each scene in your video allows you to ‘see’ the shots before you start setting up, and saves time and confusion when you’re ready to film. Even a simple, stick-figure storyboard goes a long way to making better video. Download the template and get started!

The post The Non-Artist’s Guide To Storyboarding Marketing Videos appeared first on Vidyard.

from Peter Cameron Business Consultant http://www.vidyard.com/blog/the-non-artists-guide-to-storyboarding-marketing-videos/