HACK the movie

jenningsp

jenningsp

Well-known member
hello fellow filmmakers.
all right. well. I'm going to make a movie.
it will be feature length.
it will be my first.
i am 18
i plan on shooting sometime next year.
i have made a few shorts before but nothing with any narrative. more explorations of an idea, concept, genre and theme.
i have no formal training at all, i am a high-school graduate. this is more of a learning experience for me than anything else. i have no expectations that this will get a film print but here's hoping :)
i plan on writing, directing, cinematographering (not a word but it should be), editing and some of the score.

that's my introduction.

here's my opinion;

story is king
second is acting
third audio and score
fourth picture

third and fourth are probably equal but someone will sit through a **** looking film if the audio is good, no-one will sit through a good looking film if the audio is terrible.

so for the film to be even half decent, i need to get the script right

the film;

it's called HACK - it's a working title.

it's a neo-noir visually stylized black comedy with British dry whit

two jaded reporters looking for a story, an arrogant idol, an overbearing editor,
an alcoholic detective, a series of brutal murders and a man waking up with blood on his shirt.

some of the archetypes are clichéd and predictable but i think it suits the style and genre of the piece.

i've got in my head the basic outline of the entire story. i actually wrote it down once but i can't find it. i've written about 10 pages but am not happy with the dialogue. this is a dialogue piece, very character driven.

i plan to finnish the script sometime soon.
my current environment doesn't really allow for me to be film centric. i did however apply to film school so this may change or it might not.

for those of you who are interested, i have posted a short story i wrote to give a sense of my style. it is just a rough draft of something i did in an afternoon. be nice :)
i live in australia, so if the geological references are wrong, please forgive me.

this thread is suppose to provide some sort of motivation for me to complete the script even if it never actually gets made.

thanks for listening.
patrick
 
Oliver Trompsky and the magical flute


The year was 1992. After coming back from the Texas Cattle Wrangling and Alpaca Farmers Expo, I was in the area of Maine, headed north to escape the seas of plaid and lime green polo shirts. When at one of my three hundred mile pit-stops, I received some correspondence stock from my super.

It strongly suggested that I report on the International Dentists Conference held in Maine. Not my usual gig, being a sports writer, but I was the only lackey within the state area. Being the savant multi talented journalist that I was, I took it upon myself to make the most of this challenge. Besides there were some issues with the last hotel bill.

We had been obliged to make minimal coverage of the event, they had taken out some advertisements the previous month and it was part of the conditional investment. I would have to drive east in the morn.

6am, disheveled, unshaven, hung-over. Time to start work. It was a three-hour drive, the conference started at eleven. I had time to have a shower. I woke up, got out of the shower and headed for the great east coast.

Maine was dull, grey, not at all what I expected. Though it could all be an elaborate ruse. The happy triangles of conspiracy could jump out at any moment. I had to stay vigilant. These people weren’t complacent about such thing as contempt in their town, I’d seen it on television.

The shrimp was adequate at this holding area. It had a two-drink minimum. The scotch had a nice malt, the beer tasted like watered down urethra and after a few shot of tequila the lemons didn’t seem half bad.

After leaving the social club. I thought it necessary to actually attend the event. I grabbed my recording devices out of the trunk of my beautiful Chevy and moseyed on down to the convention center.

The venue for this was a four start diner of a hotel. Bus boys yes, but no valet. When entering the lobby I noticed the A4 pages with arrows leading to the conference. No press tent in sight. I might actually have to sit through this thing and not just steal some other poor shmucks notes.

I had to catch the elevator. Nice enough, the bulbs could have been ten watts lower though. A man entered at the fifth floor. He was wearing the same shoes as me. He thought this confirmation that we were of the same tribe. Dreading the terror of the fast coming apparent conversation, that would last the next few minutes through to the 34th, I had to do something counter offensive. He opened his mouth looking at me in that dopey expression. I was drunk, my reflexes were too slow. I’d missed my chance.

“You hear for the conference?”
My god, I might end up having to sit next to this guy.
“Yeah.”
“What practice are you with?”
Not wanting this guy to ever track me down or have to explain why I was here, I remember saying something like.
“Memphis local, I dabble in a bit of orthodontic surgery though as well.”
“Elvis country, glad to see it represented. It’s quite the trip you’ve made. Did you get the last memo in time?”
Intrigued I replied.
“Nah, I don’t think so. I’ve spent the last few days on the road.”

He proceeded to explain that some mix up meant the company, the co-op had advertised through, sent a reporter out to cover the event. We’d have to save face and put on a puppet till we were sure he’d gone.

I decided to continue this façade for a while longer. Besides that shrimp wasn’t settling to well, I’d have to sit for a few hours anyway.

The 34th. Floors of brown and grey. A press sign in desk was out the front of double doors leading to the salvation of a seat. The doors opened revealing the most horrible of sights, a plethora of lime green polo shirts. My mind recoiled in fear. We look positions at the back. My new guide had explained this would take a while.

After an hour or so of talk about the different methods for root canals, there was the definite sound of a lock. Some one had locked us into the room. A man in lime green approached the front podium.
“It seems that the intruder never showed”
Excitement was rising in the room. There were loud murmurs coming from groups of lime.

They started to talk about root canals again, I started to tune out again, but this time I’m sure they were talking about how to give as much pain to the patient as possible. I was sure of it. They moved onto extraction of teeth and how not to be afraid to convince the patient that it is necessary to climb on top of them, or use a knee to get the right leverage. Some had been doing this but while they were under anesthesia, it’s what’s known as phantom bruising, but new studies proved that ¾ of patients will allow you to put them through extra pain with little persuasion.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. All these bastards were sadistic ****s. They guy next to me commented, “oh ****, I’ve got to try that sometime” elbowing me in approval. This went on for the next couple of minutes and then the presentation seemed to finish. They all stood up, I followed suit.

Some of them walked to the other side of the room. The majority of them seemed to be lime so I stayed with the others. The air was getting thick. The lime ones were all doing nitrous in the corner laughing their heads off. Damn nitrous dope fiends I thought. There must have been a slow leak as the rest of us started to feel it’s effects.

I tried to escape but they’d already formed a circle. Getting out of here without being noticed would be difficult. I made my way to what seemed to be an emergency exit before turning to see them dancing around a sacrificed lamb. One of them was shouting something about Lucifer?

As much fun as these crazy cats were to be around, I could wait no longer to make my exit. The vibrations I was getting were to hard to ignore. I feared if I did not take leave soon, there would be some kind of consequence. Perhaps the man would get involved. I thought it best to make haste.

I didn’t want to know what was happening next. They’d booked the room for six hours. That’s the last time I would go to a registered state practitioner. I needed a drink.



P J JENNINGS
 
thanks guys. yeah I'm saving up for a DVX plus a Letus35
i'll need some other equipment as-well though, like lighting and shoulder mount.
the first step towards this is to get a job. YAY!!!
 
well here's an update.

i got accepted into film school. i still don't have a job. oh well.
i'll have access to some really good equipment this year... pro lights, pro camera (DVX100's!!!) and lots of really keen people to help me.

i took a hiatus from writing recently. if you could call it that. i just haven't done anything. i'm starting to write again. i will get this script done!
some of the scenes are really cool. but a lot aren't.

so basically the plan is to shoot a series of scenes from my script throughout the year. maybe even the entire thing! then use those as a promotional thingy to get proper funding. and shoot it with real actors and real film. that's the plan anyway.

i start the 3 year production course next week.
 
Even the short story is a good read. I like the idea there and could see it developing into a good feature.

Reminds me of H.S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing...
 
thanks. i had just watched it the day before writing this. i loved the whole "gonzo" style of it and wanted to try out something similar. i had also been up for 2 days. maybe i was channeling his insanity.
i don't think there's enough in it for a feature, i could expand it but it would end up being way to similar to fear and loathing.
 
well here is another update....

i bought my own camera... it's a canon HV20 (HDV 1080p25). i'm pretty happy with it. i also bought a LETUS35A but there's a vinyetting issue i'm trying to fix. next on my list is an external monitor, rails and a followfocus. after that i'm pretty much set for equipment.

after playing with the camera for while. i would be happy to make a feature film on it. the footage looks amazing.

about "Hack"... i haven't finished writing it yet... i feel bad about that because i promised myself i would finnish it within the month about 3 times :(

i've made a few shorts this year in my film course. none of which i'm happy with. everything is really amateur. i guess i'm learning but still, i'd like for them to be better.

i was planning on shooting a few scenes from 'Hack' for my major production this year, but i decided to make something else for the time being. 'Hack' is not ready yet. what i am making is a pilot for a sit-com. hopefully it turns out a lot better that my other shorts.

i guess that's it for now. 'Hack' will be done within the month!!! I promise...
i hope to shoot it over the christmas holidays.

catch ya later
patrick
 
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