I wrote this after this morning's message. May it affect you as it affected me.
Criminal's Death
The winds sweep cold across the hill
Noon draws quickly near
A man is hung in public shame
Let all who pass by see and fear
Three criminals strung up high
Come out and see their fate
Agony binds their limbs in pain
The crowds hurl stones and hate
Does no one feel pity for them?
Tried and guilty as they are?
Thieves and blasphemers all
For them, death is not far
High noon has come at long last
But dark spreads instead of light
As if the earth itself protests
When it's people mock and spite
Shall we leave this awful place?
Leave these criminals to die in peace?
Let us turn our eyes away
Before the crows begin to feast
But wait! The one in the center speaks!
And what he says, can it be true?
The words come low but ring out
"Father God, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Then he cries out in pain and suffering
As His spirit leaves this space
He has died, and with his death
The world seems a poorer place
Then the entire universe screams in pain
As the earth itself begins to shake
The wind begins to cry in grief
And the rocks their silence break
And so it becomes painfully clear
The center man was free of guilt
Perfect, blameless, the Son of God
Saving the world as He was killed
Jesus Christ, ruler of this world
Crucfied as a common thief
But even death could not hold Him
And he rose again from grief
Ressurected, ascended to on high
King over this world forever more
Saved me by his sacrifice and death
He holds my heart, my life, my soul
Being a blog of writerly ramblings and jotted notes “For what is said is forgotten in time, but that which is written endures"
March 11, 2012
March 10, 2012
Of Characters and Collaboration
Well, today I break my alliteration. Notice the C's instead of S's?
But that's not why you're reading... (I don't know, maybe it is). You're reading to find out about characters! Well, here they come!
When I and my fellow conspirators were brainstorming about this project, we wanted to make sure everyone was as involved and excited as the director and producer were. Not only does this mean less work for us (he he), but it means we aren't working with actors and crew who'd rather not be there. That gets old real quick, let me tell you.
So! What do we do? Seeing as this is a character-driven story, we decided to let each actor have a major hand in their own characters! Breggo wrote up this nifty character sheet with a score or so of questions which helped each actor peg down the kind of person they wanted to play. And hey, if someone's asking to play the bad guy (he'd been the good guy for the past three or so movies), by all means!
So, what sort of characters did we come up with?
1. Fengrid, an apprentice hunter. Recently returned from a journey in the lands beyond, he comes back to find his former master dead on his own hearth. Vowing vengeance, he sets out to bring his killer to justice. But his path will take him places he never expected. For 'justice' is not what it seems in these woods.
2. Adelyn, an apprentice hunter. When she finds her new master dead, she is immediately suspicious of Fengrid, and her suspicions seem to be verified when she finds that he has disappeared. Determined to find him, she sets out on his trail. But soon she finds that just as she is tracking Fengrid, so someone appears to be tracking her.
3. Jarl, the Marshall of the forest. The voice and hand of the law in the forest, Jarl continually finds his efforts to bring justice to evildoers hampered by the strict code of the law he upholds. And so he takes up the mask of a vigilante, dealing out to criminals their just deserts. But the code was put in place for a reason, and the power that comes from dealing outside of it soon turns him to even darker decisions.
4. Carldon, a young scamp and thief. An orphan whose brother is off patrolling the forest border. Left without a family, Carldon has been forced to take care of himself. His thievery, however, is mostly allowed, since he always pays... with small piles of feathers. Despite his faults, none know the paths of the forest and the quickest ways better than him.
5. The Lady of Glencott dale. Currently unnamed, this mysterious lady lives alone in a ramshackle hut and is known for not being known. No one ventures near her for reasons not exactly understood, but greatly feared. Except for Carldon, who has been seen trespassing with apparent impunity on the circle of forest she claims. Legend claims, however, that she talks to herself or her teapots, and that, of course, is fair enough reason to stay well away.
Well, those be the cast of characters we plan on bringing to life sometime this summer! And that concludes this short series on the necessary ingredients of a good film. But this film still has a while to go, so there'll be more info popping up here, including, of course, the name of the series... which we still haven't figured out...
What's next, you ask? Well, Breggo's working on the script, we've a few more names to figure out, and I've got some concept sketches I've got to dash off here soon. Maybe I'll put a few up here! Until next time, then;
Farjag
But that's not why you're reading... (I don't know, maybe it is). You're reading to find out about characters! Well, here they come!
When I and my fellow conspirators were brainstorming about this project, we wanted to make sure everyone was as involved and excited as the director and producer were. Not only does this mean less work for us (he he), but it means we aren't working with actors and crew who'd rather not be there. That gets old real quick, let me tell you.
So! What do we do? Seeing as this is a character-driven story, we decided to let each actor have a major hand in their own characters! Breggo wrote up this nifty character sheet with a score or so of questions which helped each actor peg down the kind of person they wanted to play. And hey, if someone's asking to play the bad guy (he'd been the good guy for the past three or so movies), by all means!
So, what sort of characters did we come up with?
1. Fengrid, an apprentice hunter. Recently returned from a journey in the lands beyond, he comes back to find his former master dead on his own hearth. Vowing vengeance, he sets out to bring his killer to justice. But his path will take him places he never expected. For 'justice' is not what it seems in these woods.
2. Adelyn, an apprentice hunter. When she finds her new master dead, she is immediately suspicious of Fengrid, and her suspicions seem to be verified when she finds that he has disappeared. Determined to find him, she sets out on his trail. But soon she finds that just as she is tracking Fengrid, so someone appears to be tracking her.
3. Jarl, the Marshall of the forest. The voice and hand of the law in the forest, Jarl continually finds his efforts to bring justice to evildoers hampered by the strict code of the law he upholds. And so he takes up the mask of a vigilante, dealing out to criminals their just deserts. But the code was put in place for a reason, and the power that comes from dealing outside of it soon turns him to even darker decisions.
4. Carldon, a young scamp and thief. An orphan whose brother is off patrolling the forest border. Left without a family, Carldon has been forced to take care of himself. His thievery, however, is mostly allowed, since he always pays... with small piles of feathers. Despite his faults, none know the paths of the forest and the quickest ways better than him.
5. The Lady of Glencott dale. Currently unnamed, this mysterious lady lives alone in a ramshackle hut and is known for not being known. No one ventures near her for reasons not exactly understood, but greatly feared. Except for Carldon, who has been seen trespassing with apparent impunity on the circle of forest she claims. Legend claims, however, that she talks to herself or her teapots, and that, of course, is fair enough reason to stay well away.
Well, those be the cast of characters we plan on bringing to life sometime this summer! And that concludes this short series on the necessary ingredients of a good film. But this film still has a while to go, so there'll be more info popping up here, including, of course, the name of the series... which we still haven't figured out...
What's next, you ask? Well, Breggo's working on the script, we've a few more names to figure out, and I've got some concept sketches I've got to dash off here soon. Maybe I'll put a few up here! Until next time, then;
Farjag
March 8, 2012
Of Story and Setting
So, we got the structure and script last post; now story and setting!
Now, I have trouble writing scripts, (Just yesterday me and Breggo agreed to transfer scriptwriting responsibilities), for the simple reason that I find it hard to connect on an emotional level with a format that doesn't really allow a lot of room for moments of silence, eyebrow raises, withering glares, etc. I just find the formatting constricting. I can direct a movie, produce a movie, or act in a movie, but I just can't write the script. It's annoying, trust me.
But even though that's the case, I can still pitch a good story. And we need a good story, because with the rather strict structure we have to follow, (keeping the episodes small enough so they won't take up a lot of time or actors) there needs to be a very clear plot line and character arcs. Because when you cut down on scale, special effects, even time, all that matters is the characters. If the audience doesn't connect with the characters, or they are too flat, or never change, then the project is a failure. (Box-office flop! :P)
So what are we left with? A character-driven story set somewhere quiet. It's a lot like a design project in my classes, you are given certain requirements and restrictions and have to create a solution that solves all problems and does not go beyond the limits. And there's one final restriction; bad guy minions. Now this may seem to fall under the "Not too many extras" category, it's a little more complicated than that. Because what are minions for? Being beat up by the heroes. Which means you need a lot. And unless you mask them, you can't use the same actors over and over again. And how many movies have the generic "Black-masked ninja minions"? Too many. A few of ours, to be perfectly honest. So we must create a villain without minions. Tricky. But that's where designing comes in. To paraphrase a good friend of mine, "Use the restrictions to your advantage." In other words "Think outside the box, then use the box."
I mean, how many villains do you know who don't have some sort of minions? Not many. And that's what makes this story special. Because we are left with a villain who must turn the heroes on each other to accomplish his goal. And that's pretty cool, if you ask me.
So, what's our plot? To summarize (Without spoilers!):
When a revered master hunter is found dead in his home, suspicion falls on his former apprentice. To prove his innocence, he sets out on the trail of the mysterious vigilante he knows is responsible. But when he finally catches up to his prey, he finds something he did not expect.
So now that we have a plot, we need a place to put it, a setting for our story. Well, we know we need to keep extras down, as well as sets simple. Now I don't know about you, but nothing is easier to film in than the woods. No worries about anything being in the shot that's not supposed to be there, there's nothing to set-up, and you can move a stone's throw down the trail and film an entirely different scene. So, we came up with a great Forest, whose folk live in on small farms scattered throughout. This creates a loosely tied society, where there are no towns, but perhaps a market, no taverns, but perhaps a watering hole. It also allows for a character interaction that works quite well in episode form. The heroes meet one person in the woods, he helps them out, then can disappear for a while before coming back. It's not like some shows you see where some random person (who's supposedly been living in town all this time) pops up for one episode, then vanishes without a trace (even though he never left town). When the people are scattered around a huge forest, it's less likely they'll meet up often.
Of course, this begs the question, who exactly lives in this great Forest? What characters shall we meet in this tale? Well, that comes next time! Try not to die of anxiety in the meantime :)
Now, I have trouble writing scripts, (Just yesterday me and Breggo agreed to transfer scriptwriting responsibilities), for the simple reason that I find it hard to connect on an emotional level with a format that doesn't really allow a lot of room for moments of silence, eyebrow raises, withering glares, etc. I just find the formatting constricting. I can direct a movie, produce a movie, or act in a movie, but I just can't write the script. It's annoying, trust me.
But even though that's the case, I can still pitch a good story. And we need a good story, because with the rather strict structure we have to follow, (keeping the episodes small enough so they won't take up a lot of time or actors) there needs to be a very clear plot line and character arcs. Because when you cut down on scale, special effects, even time, all that matters is the characters. If the audience doesn't connect with the characters, or they are too flat, or never change, then the project is a failure. (Box-office flop! :P)
So what are we left with? A character-driven story set somewhere quiet. It's a lot like a design project in my classes, you are given certain requirements and restrictions and have to create a solution that solves all problems and does not go beyond the limits. And there's one final restriction; bad guy minions. Now this may seem to fall under the "Not too many extras" category, it's a little more complicated than that. Because what are minions for? Being beat up by the heroes. Which means you need a lot. And unless you mask them, you can't use the same actors over and over again. And how many movies have the generic "Black-masked ninja minions"? Too many. A few of ours, to be perfectly honest. So we must create a villain without minions. Tricky. But that's where designing comes in. To paraphrase a good friend of mine, "Use the restrictions to your advantage." In other words "Think outside the box, then use the box."
I mean, how many villains do you know who don't have some sort of minions? Not many. And that's what makes this story special. Because we are left with a villain who must turn the heroes on each other to accomplish his goal. And that's pretty cool, if you ask me.
So, what's our plot? To summarize (Without spoilers!):
When a revered master hunter is found dead in his home, suspicion falls on his former apprentice. To prove his innocence, he sets out on the trail of the mysterious vigilante he knows is responsible. But when he finally catches up to his prey, he finds something he did not expect.
So now that we have a plot, we need a place to put it, a setting for our story. Well, we know we need to keep extras down, as well as sets simple. Now I don't know about you, but nothing is easier to film in than the woods. No worries about anything being in the shot that's not supposed to be there, there's nothing to set-up, and you can move a stone's throw down the trail and film an entirely different scene. So, we came up with a great Forest, whose folk live in on small farms scattered throughout. This creates a loosely tied society, where there are no towns, but perhaps a market, no taverns, but perhaps a watering hole. It also allows for a character interaction that works quite well in episode form. The heroes meet one person in the woods, he helps them out, then can disappear for a while before coming back. It's not like some shows you see where some random person (who's supposedly been living in town all this time) pops up for one episode, then vanishes without a trace (even though he never left town). When the people are scattered around a huge forest, it's less likely they'll meet up often.
Of course, this begs the question, who exactly lives in this great Forest? What characters shall we meet in this tale? Well, that comes next time! Try not to die of anxiety in the meantime :)
March 6, 2012
Snippets of a Story- March
Because we all know I need an excuse to post...
It's Snippets of a Story! Thanks again to Katie, at Whisperings of the Pen, for the marvelous idea of giving us all an excuse to tease our readers!
But enough of my blithering. You want ze snippets. These are from Feather and Fang, which I was writing last night, and coincidentally, thinking about posting a snippet(s) from!
It's Snippets of a Story! Thanks again to Katie, at Whisperings of the Pen, for the marvelous idea of giving us all an excuse to tease our readers!
But enough of my blithering. You want ze snippets. These are from Feather and Fang, which I was writing last night, and coincidentally, thinking about posting a snippet(s) from!
* * *
Daegless snarled as he watched flames leap ever higher from the burning barn. His sweep of terror and fire had now reached from the Shardberg Cliffs to Havenport on the eastern Thunderfell coast. Homestead after homestead, village after village had felt his black fist. A swathe of darkness had followed in his wake, a trail of burnt homes and wasted farms. The name of the tiger-scourge had reached the furthest corners of the north provinces, and fear followed close behind it.
* * *
The freeborn’s eyes flitted open slowly. He felt pain all over. Especially in his head. He groaned, and heard movement nearby. He looked up into a dappled light, frowning.
“Where am I?” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.
“Under the Loneoak,” spoke a clear voice to his left.
The speaker moved into his field of vision, a young woman holding a wooden bowl. She looked quizzically down at him. “How are you doing?”
The freeborn frowned. Something was wrong. How did he get here? His mind seemed empty for some reason. He was… who was he?
A low growl sounded in his throat as he found he could not even remember his own name. He tried harder, gritting his teeth, but there was nothing. His gaze focused on the girl kneeling over him.
“Who am I?” he asked, suddenly suspicious of this strange female.
The girl raised an eyebrow. “I beg pardon?”
The freeborn sat up with a snarl as his arm shot out to grasp her by the throat. The bowl clattered to the ground, spilling its contents on the grass.
“I said… who am I?”
The girl choked on his grip, pulling at his hands. “What… kind of… a question… is that?”
“My name!” growled the freeborn, squeezing a little harder.
“Dae… Daegless!” the girl gasped.
The freeborn let her drop, breathing heavily. Pain shot through his body and he slumped back. A tear formed in one eye. The name meant nothing. He could remember nothing. The girl had scrambled back, holding her throat and grimacing.
“Daegless… what’s going on?”
The freeborn… Daegless… turned on his side, curling up into a tight ball. It was awful. There were no memories in his mind, nothing. He had no recollection of anything! And the pain, it sparked and flared all along his body, but especially in his head. Pain had come to fill the gap left by whatever memories he had had.
March 5, 2012
Of Celluloid, Scripts and Structure
Well, some of ya'll might know, and some of ya'll might not, but, in addition to being a writer, I do a great deal of dabbling in directing. As of right now, I am one credits song and some cg shots away from finishing my current movie (which I happen to have been working on for two years now), so it's time to start a new one!
I will actually not be directing this particular one, my good friend Breggo will, (He's the one who cowrote the Soldier's Words song with me), so I fall into my common role of Producer. Which basically means I'm responsible for making sure everything gets done and can be done. We don't have a castle? We'll build one! We don't have a waterfall? Switch it to a quiet pond.
However, I also happen to be the scriptwriter on this one. Which is tricky. Why? Because I am not a scriptwriter. I am a novel writer. Script formatting annoys me. In fact, even though I am writing in the script in a slightly organized way, I am absconding the usual formatting for my own invention, which basically reads like parts of the Old English Pilgrim's Progress. You know, where they have:
Christian: bla bla bla
Faithful: bla bla bla
Chris: bla bla bla
Faith: bla bla bla
Anyways... that's pretty close to how I'm doing it. Because, in the end, it really doesn't matter how the paper is set up, as long as the story is told well and comes across the right way. So, before I can even set about writing the script, we have to have a good story. But before we get that, we have to have a structure. Because not only does it have to be a good story, but we have to be able to tell it well. And that means we get a few practical limitations.
1. We have to be able to film most (if not all), in camera. Special effects and computer graphics can be done, but for a no-budget film... yea. It becomes hard to find free stuff there.
2. We have to have enough actors. When your extras are under twenty, you can't do a full-scale battle. Well, you can... but it won't look good. (Trust me, I speak from experience)
3. We have to have good locations. We don't have the luxury of Peter Jackson to be able to go to New Zealand. Which means any locations 1) need to be close and 2) have to look semi-realistic without too much modification. We can't exactly build Helm's Deep in the back woods.
4. We have to keep the time requirements down. Most of our actors are at least in high school if not college, probably have a part time job, and definitely have a family who takes first precedence. If we can do it just as well in a shorter time, then don't do it
So, what are we left with? A short movie, with minimal actors, minimal locations, and nothing too spectacular. And after much debate and discussion, me and Breggo think we have the answer. A series of short episodes focusing around four or five main characters, all set out in the woods. And because we can, and we love to, it's set in a middle ages period. Bring out the swords, baby!
What's next? The story! But that's coming next post. Hold onto your seats till then, folks!
Farjag, Producer/Scriptwriter
I will actually not be directing this particular one, my good friend Breggo will, (He's the one who cowrote the Soldier's Words song with me), so I fall into my common role of Producer. Which basically means I'm responsible for making sure everything gets done and can be done. We don't have a castle? We'll build one! We don't have a waterfall? Switch it to a quiet pond.
However, I also happen to be the scriptwriter on this one. Which is tricky. Why? Because I am not a scriptwriter. I am a novel writer. Script formatting annoys me. In fact, even though I am writing in the script in a slightly organized way, I am absconding the usual formatting for my own invention, which basically reads like parts of the Old English Pilgrim's Progress. You know, where they have:
Christian: bla bla bla
Faithful: bla bla bla
Chris: bla bla bla
Faith: bla bla bla
Anyways... that's pretty close to how I'm doing it. Because, in the end, it really doesn't matter how the paper is set up, as long as the story is told well and comes across the right way. So, before I can even set about writing the script, we have to have a good story. But before we get that, we have to have a structure. Because not only does it have to be a good story, but we have to be able to tell it well. And that means we get a few practical limitations.
1. We have to be able to film most (if not all), in camera. Special effects and computer graphics can be done, but for a no-budget film... yea. It becomes hard to find free stuff there.
2. We have to have enough actors. When your extras are under twenty, you can't do a full-scale battle. Well, you can... but it won't look good. (Trust me, I speak from experience)
3. We have to have good locations. We don't have the luxury of Peter Jackson to be able to go to New Zealand. Which means any locations 1) need to be close and 2) have to look semi-realistic without too much modification. We can't exactly build Helm's Deep in the back woods.
4. We have to keep the time requirements down. Most of our actors are at least in high school if not college, probably have a part time job, and definitely have a family who takes first precedence. If we can do it just as well in a shorter time, then don't do it
So, what are we left with? A short movie, with minimal actors, minimal locations, and nothing too spectacular. And after much debate and discussion, me and Breggo think we have the answer. A series of short episodes focusing around four or five main characters, all set out in the woods. And because we can, and we love to, it's set in a middle ages period. Bring out the swords, baby!
What's next? The story! But that's coming next post. Hold onto your seats till then, folks!
Farjag, Producer/Scriptwriter
March 2, 2012
In Which I Discover European Rock
Seem like music has been the topic of the week lately. So I thought I'd do a post on how I entered the current chapter of my musical life and broadened my musical repertoire considerably.
So, ya'll know I like books. I mean, I write them. But I like them reading them too, of course. And given the opportunity, I will talk about those I have read to no end. So, it should come as no surprise that I am part of Literary Discussion Group, which, of course, discuses literature.
Anyways, sometime in January of last year, the book we chose to discuss next was J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion. Led by the incomparable Mrs. B, we debated and dissected everything from Finwe to the Fall of Numenor, and everything in between. Favorite characters were voted on (Turin Turambar got my vote), favorite tales discussed, and favorite moments revisited. But towards the end music was brought up, and Mrs. B. mentioned that she had found a band that wrote Silmarillion-inspired music. The only problem was, they were rather hard-core rock.
Naturally, I looked them up as soon as I got home. Thus I discovered Blind Guardian, a speed-metal/rock band whose epic themes and soaring lyrics caught my attention just as much as the crazy guitar soloing. And when they focused on just the former two... perfect:
So what did I do? What any sensible music-lover does. I created a Pandora station. And was immediately introduced to the wonderful world of European epic rock. Blind Guardian has a male singer, but I soon found Within Temptation, a band with a female singer who took my appreciation of epic to an entirely new level.
And then I discoverd the pièce de résistance.... a Swedish band known as Sabaton. The first song I heard by them was about D-day. The next about U-boats. The next about the bombing of Hiroshima. The next about the battle of Midway. And I was hooked. Not only were their lyrics about honor, and glory, and sacrifice, and courage, but there were these wonderful references to mythology and a unique contrast of heaven and hell. And top it all, they have an entire album inspired by Sun Tzu's Art of War.
In a world where most of today's pop music is hardly worthy of the name 'music' and full of less-than-savory references and questionable subject matter, it's refreshing to hear music that has depth and meaning.
So, ya'll know I like books. I mean, I write them. But I like them reading them too, of course. And given the opportunity, I will talk about those I have read to no end. So, it should come as no surprise that I am part of Literary Discussion Group, which, of course, discuses literature.
Anyways, sometime in January of last year, the book we chose to discuss next was J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion. Led by the incomparable Mrs. B, we debated and dissected everything from Finwe to the Fall of Numenor, and everything in between. Favorite characters were voted on (Turin Turambar got my vote), favorite tales discussed, and favorite moments revisited. But towards the end music was brought up, and Mrs. B. mentioned that she had found a band that wrote Silmarillion-inspired music. The only problem was, they were rather hard-core rock.
Naturally, I looked them up as soon as I got home. Thus I discovered Blind Guardian, a speed-metal/rock band whose epic themes and soaring lyrics caught my attention just as much as the crazy guitar soloing. And when they focused on just the former two... perfect:
So what did I do? What any sensible music-lover does. I created a Pandora station. And was immediately introduced to the wonderful world of European epic rock. Blind Guardian has a male singer, but I soon found Within Temptation, a band with a female singer who took my appreciation of epic to an entirely new level.
And then I discoverd the pièce de résistance.... a Swedish band known as Sabaton. The first song I heard by them was about D-day. The next about U-boats. The next about the bombing of Hiroshima. The next about the battle of Midway. And I was hooked. Not only were their lyrics about honor, and glory, and sacrifice, and courage, but there were these wonderful references to mythology and a unique contrast of heaven and hell. And top it all, they have an entire album inspired by Sun Tzu's Art of War.
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