This character is yet to be cast. If you're interested please get in touch. These notes are rough and will be tidied up as the character develops within the script and further as an actor fleshes them out.
Mid to late 20s. Mark is an ex-boyfriend of Sarah's. Her University relationship, he is the person she's been with longest to date. At the start of the first episode he has just told Sarah (and Paul and others) that he is engaged. He doesn't play a big role in the first episode, but his engagement party is an important part of the story.
This character is open to development and his own storylines. They don't have to be about his relationship with Sarah, in fact it would be better if they weren't.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Short Tales character sketch- Gareth
This character has been cast. These notes are rough and will be tidied up as the character develops within the script and further as an actor fleshes them out.
Mid 20s. Gareth is a bit like a younger version of Paul, they worked together for a while and became friends. Gareth is actually quite happy in his current job, though he does feel bad that he seems to be the only one of his group of friends who has job satisfaction.
Paul sometimes wonders if Gareth and Sarah would be suited for each other, and wavers between playing matchmaker and leaving well enough alone. Gareth, if he absolutely couldn't avoid the subject, would admit that he thinks he's far too geeky for a girl as hot as Sarah and she'd never think of him that way.
So obviously they're going to sleep together.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Mid 20s. Gareth is a bit like a younger version of Paul, they worked together for a while and became friends. Gareth is actually quite happy in his current job, though he does feel bad that he seems to be the only one of his group of friends who has job satisfaction.
Paul sometimes wonders if Gareth and Sarah would be suited for each other, and wavers between playing matchmaker and leaving well enough alone. Gareth, if he absolutely couldn't avoid the subject, would admit that he thinks he's far too geeky for a girl as hot as Sarah and she'd never think of him that way.
So obviously they're going to sleep together.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Short Tales character sketch- Sarah
This character is yet to be cast. If you're interested please get in touch. These notes are rough and will be tidied up as the character develops within the script and further as an actor fleshes them out.
Early to mid 20s. Sarah is the younger sister of one of Paul's exes, Julie. They got on well when he was seeing her sister and stayed in touch, on and off, until Sarah came to Manchester to study. Secretly (she won't even admit it to herself) Sarah would like Paul and Julie to get back together because she's afraid their friendship might slowly die otherwise.
Sarah has a history of picking the wrong men, often because she has an aversion to taking advice. She has just started her first job and is discovering how dull employment can be.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Early to mid 20s. Sarah is the younger sister of one of Paul's exes, Julie. They got on well when he was seeing her sister and stayed in touch, on and off, until Sarah came to Manchester to study. Secretly (she won't even admit it to herself) Sarah would like Paul and Julie to get back together because she's afraid their friendship might slowly die otherwise.
Sarah has a history of picking the wrong men, often because she has an aversion to taking advice. She has just started her first job and is discovering how dull employment can be.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Short Tales character sketch- Paul
This character is yet to be cast. If you're interested please get in touch. These notes are rough and will be tidied up as the character develops within the script and further as an actor fleshes them out.
Early to mid 30s. Paul works in IT and embodies some of the geek cliches. His house is a mess, but it does hold a large collection of consumer electronics. He's stagnating in his current job, but has yet to do anything about moving on.
Good natured but directionless, Paul always tries to do/say the right thing but feels he's not as wise as he wishes he were. Keeps insisting that his relationship with Sarah is just so she can introduce him to her hot friends, though it's obvious there's a lot of (platonic) love in it.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Early to mid 30s. Paul works in IT and embodies some of the geek cliches. His house is a mess, but it does hold a large collection of consumer electronics. He's stagnating in his current job, but has yet to do anything about moving on.
Good natured but directionless, Paul always tries to do/say the right thing but feels he's not as wise as he wishes he were. Keeps insisting that his relationship with Sarah is just so she can introduce him to her hot friends, though it's obvious there's a lot of (platonic) love in it.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Short Tales- format and names
I'm going to make production of Spinneyhead's next project as interactive as possible. Until I set up forums and stuff the interactivity will be handled through this blog. I'm going to set up an overall label for Short Tales and secondary labels for character sketches, writing, production issues and any other areas that crop up. Please leave suggestions and start conversations in the comments of the relevant post. There will still be a fair amount of work done by email and by getting together. Please don't leave your emails in the comment thread, but get in touch with me and I'll add you in to messages.
This first production post is to raise two important issues- format of episodes and the little matter of a name.
For internet episodes the big constraint is file size. Based upon the experience of compressing for Memory, I think I could produce ten minute episodes and still have them at a suitable quality whilst staying small enough to fit under Revver's maximum size limit (100mb). However, I also remember reading that the average length of a YouTube video is in the region of two and a half minutes, suggesting that aiming at shorter attention spans works better.
Another, offline, factor I've been considering is the lengths of tv shows. I'm not looking at producing half hour episodes, but fifteen minutes would slot easily into many stations schedules. I'm thinking of marketing the first episode as a pilot, showing a local station like Channel M what we can do with nothing and seeing if they'll fund us to give them something for the late evening.
So I'm writing a fifteen minute script. The first draft is a mere nine pages, which roughly equates to nine minutes, but I wrote it before I started thinking of fifteen minute episodes. However, fifteen minutes is a bit long to compress well for the internet. So I'm thinking of splitting one fifteen minute episode into three five minute acts which each serve as webisodes.
Naming is a big deal. This project is currently called "Short Tales About Love and Sex". It's a working title and really, really needs changing before broadcast. Single word titles are popular- Coupling, Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld (though the last two were named for their central character and we can't do that with this project as it's going to involve an ever changing group of characters). I don't think anything longer than three words is going to work, and if we do go for a phrase rather than a word, it has to sum up some key theme of the series- Men Behaving Badly is the best example I can think of for this.
Of course, it'll be hard to name the series until you know a bit more about it. At the moment I know the most about what I want to do with it and the themes I want to explore, and I can't think of a name. So I'm not expecting miracles from you. I'll post the first draft script and some character sketches and you might begin to get some ideas.
Here's to working together.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
This first production post is to raise two important issues- format of episodes and the little matter of a name.
For internet episodes the big constraint is file size. Based upon the experience of compressing for Memory, I think I could produce ten minute episodes and still have them at a suitable quality whilst staying small enough to fit under Revver's maximum size limit (100mb). However, I also remember reading that the average length of a YouTube video is in the region of two and a half minutes, suggesting that aiming at shorter attention spans works better.
Another, offline, factor I've been considering is the lengths of tv shows. I'm not looking at producing half hour episodes, but fifteen minutes would slot easily into many stations schedules. I'm thinking of marketing the first episode as a pilot, showing a local station like Channel M what we can do with nothing and seeing if they'll fund us to give them something for the late evening.
So I'm writing a fifteen minute script. The first draft is a mere nine pages, which roughly equates to nine minutes, but I wrote it before I started thinking of fifteen minute episodes. However, fifteen minutes is a bit long to compress well for the internet. So I'm thinking of splitting one fifteen minute episode into three five minute acts which each serve as webisodes.
Naming is a big deal. This project is currently called "Short Tales About Love and Sex". It's a working title and really, really needs changing before broadcast. Single word titles are popular- Coupling, Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld (though the last two were named for their central character and we can't do that with this project as it's going to involve an ever changing group of characters). I don't think anything longer than three words is going to work, and if we do go for a phrase rather than a word, it has to sum up some key theme of the series- Men Behaving Badly is the best example I can think of for this.
Of course, it'll be hard to name the series until you know a bit more about it. At the moment I know the most about what I want to do with it and the themes I want to explore, and I can't think of a name. So I'm not expecting miracles from you. I'll post the first draft script and some character sketches and you might begin to get some ideas.
Here's to working together.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Backyard FX - Stunt fighting
Indymogul does a regular vidcast on low budget film making. This week- stunt fighting.
Where did I put my nunchuks?
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Where did I put my nunchuks?
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Saturday, September 01, 2007
FROM SMILERS TO GUTBUSTERS – SCRIPTING FOR COMEDY
FROM SMILERS TO GUTBUSTERS – SCRIPTING FOR COMEDY
A 10wk course beginning 2 October 2007
Beginning with the question ‘What is humour?’ this course will cover the techniques and skills for crafting comedy material for broadcast, performance and publication. We will also look at industry requirements and finding markets for your comedy writing.
o The nature of comedy, what makes people laugh and why
o Comedy writing techniques
o One-liners and sketches for radio, TV and performance
o Stand-up material
o Sourcing markets for comedy material
For more information contact:
Courses for the Public, Ellen Wilkinson Building, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Tel: 0161-275 3275
e-mail: cce.reception@manchester.ac.uk
Web: www.manchester.ac.uk/coursespublic
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
One week film challenge
Toshiba have offered to give me a laptop to review for a week or two. The details haven't been finalised yet, but I hope to get it later this month. They've said I can test it in any non-destructive way I can think of, so I'm going to see how good it is for making movies.
The challenge is to plan, shoot, edit and release a short film in a week, with as much work as possible done on the laptop. We'll start by batting around a few ideas now so I can put together a rough script or treatment for the start of the week. Work on the script over an evening, shoot stuff the next couple of days and then edit it all together.
I don't know when I'll be getting the laptop, and it may turn up at short notice, so I can't say when I'll be doing this. If you're interested, would like to be involved and/or can seed the project with ideas of what you'd like to shoot, please get in touch.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
The challenge is to plan, shoot, edit and release a short film in a week, with as much work as possible done on the laptop. We'll start by batting around a few ideas now so I can put together a rough script or treatment for the start of the week. Work on the script over an evening, shoot stuff the next couple of days and then edit it all together.
I don't know when I'll be getting the laptop, and it may turn up at short notice, so I can't say when I'll be doing this. If you're interested, would like to be involved and/or can seed the project with ideas of what you'd like to shoot, please get in touch.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Bluescreen
Today, I noticed some YouTube videos on Chromakey (Blue / Green Screen)
The tutorial can be found Here
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
The tutorial can be found Here
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Saturday, July 28, 2007
"Without you I'm only me."
Screenwriter Ken Levine breaks down the modern romantic comedy formula.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Be sure to include five block comedy scenes. Zany sequences that generally involve destruction, humiliation, emasculation, dogs, and toilets. If they were making SOME LIKE IT HOT today Joe E. Brown would be giving Jack Lemmon a bikini wax. THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH would be Ben-Gay in Marilyn Monroe's panties.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Friday, July 27, 2007
Memory - Part 5
The finale. Hannah learns the truth about her father's death, and is faced with a terrible choice.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Monday, July 23, 2007
Memory - Part 4
Delayed due to my being away from the relevant pc over the weekend. Episode 4 of Memory.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Friday, July 20, 2007
Memory- Episode 4 delayed
Episode 4 of Memory will be uploaded on Monday or Tuesday of next week. I apologise for this, but I am away from the computer holding all the necessary files for a few days.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Friday, July 13, 2007
Memory- on location in the Green Building
Memory- on location in the Green Building
Originally uploaded by spinneyhead.
Part of a photo set from the day we shot in the Green Building. Mary prepares for the final scene.
The rest of the set is here. Tim also has two sets of photos, of filming and of the Green Building location.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Friday, July 06, 2007
Episode 2 of Memory is now online. Hannah brings her friend George in to do some research, and more secrets are revealed.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
Friday, June 29, 2007
Memory - Part 1
Part one of the five part series is now online. The remaining episodes will be released every Friday for the next four weeks.
This is our first piece of narrative video, please tell us what you think and ask any questions arising. We look forward to hearing from you.
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead, Memory
Monday, June 25, 2007
Earth shattering kabooms
Detonation Films provide effects footage of gunshots and explosions, ready for chroma keying and other methods of compositing. Some of them are free, some charged for.
via Indy Mogul
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
via Indy Mogul
Technorati tag: Video, Spinneyhead
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