Aaron! Haven't seen you post in a while. Hope all's well, mang.
Not to speak for Shawn, but, we all know that we can trace back similarities of any one movie to another. There's nothing original under the sun, only execution changes it.
Just my two!
The Rook Moves - a Shawn Nelson film
- Thread starter Shawn Philip Nelson
- Start date
Aaron! Haven't seen you post in a while. Hope all's well, mang.
Not to speak for Shawn, but, we all know that we can trace back similarities of any one movie to another. There's nothing original under the sun, only execution changes it.
Just my two!
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
A big thanks to everyone who voted me in! This was my 5th DVXUser fest and the only one I've even placed in!
Now a little BTS on the writing process for any interested. I wrote this concept after a certain day. I learned my wife Chantelle had never played chess in her life. Meanwhile my brother Josiah, 9 years old, is a wizz at it. She babysits him and my younger brother Judah every Monday and this one particular Monday I suggested that Josiah teach her chess. I later learned they played 12 consecutive games for like 8 hours straight! This image inspired me. Somewhere in there I got the idea of a kid playing chess with his sister and the twist of a psychologist watching him play chess by himself, because it was all in his own mind. I was going to shoot it, that was the concept. Just two beats: bro & sis play chess, reveal that the kid is playing by himself. But I wasn't happy ending on that, so I wrote a "3rd act" so to speak wherein I wanted to suggest that perhaps he was actually spending time with her and that it was the psychologist who was wrong. I then directed Dr Michael Friedrichs (who played the Doctor and is incidentally, a real professional Psychologist) and he pulled it off.
My point being that what I wanted to do with this short was to ask the question of whether the dead miss us as much as we miss them, whether grief is shared across the divide. I don't know the answer, but I wonder it and so I had my character need that question more than anything. I'm glad I pushed my story from a mere gimick to that third magical beat and I hope that some of what I was trying to convey came across. "Do you miss me as much as I miss you?" ... "I have a lot of new friends, none of them are you."
Thanks guys for being a great audience.
Now a little BTS on the writing process for any interested. I wrote this concept after a certain day. I learned my wife Chantelle had never played chess in her life. Meanwhile my brother Josiah, 9 years old, is a wizz at it. She babysits him and my younger brother Judah every Monday and this one particular Monday I suggested that Josiah teach her chess. I later learned they played 12 consecutive games for like 8 hours straight! This image inspired me. Somewhere in there I got the idea of a kid playing chess with his sister and the twist of a psychologist watching him play chess by himself, because it was all in his own mind. I was going to shoot it, that was the concept. Just two beats: bro & sis play chess, reveal that the kid is playing by himself. But I wasn't happy ending on that, so I wrote a "3rd act" so to speak wherein I wanted to suggest that perhaps he was actually spending time with her and that it was the psychologist who was wrong. I then directed Dr Michael Friedrichs (who played the Doctor and is incidentally, a real professional Psychologist) and he pulled it off.
My point being that what I wanted to do with this short was to ask the question of whether the dead miss us as much as we miss them, whether grief is shared across the divide. I don't know the answer, but I wonder it and so I had my character need that question more than anything. I'm glad I pushed my story from a mere gimick to that third magical beat and I hope that some of what I was trying to convey came across. "Do you miss me as much as I miss you?" ... "I have a lot of new friends, none of them are you."
Thanks guys for being a great audience.
Alan H. Chang
Veteran
Woohoo!
Shawn Philip Nelson
Veteran
Alan your contribution was tremendous!!!! This short would be nothing without you, thank you so much
Alan H. Chang
Veteran
Shawn, I'm really grateful in working on The Rook Moves, and even more for placing in the top 3! Rarely do I contribute much in DVXFests, except for LarryR's "Lessons" in WestFest and HuyVu's "Ultimate Betrayal" in BetrayalFest, I have to give due to where all the inspiration and support comes from. Much thanks to RyanF, BradS, LarryR, and BrandonR for bumping that thread of mine in the Collaboration section (I owe you guys!). I would have been piled underneath all those threads if it wasn't for them.
By far your best work yet that I've seen here.