Thursday, October 06, 2005

I should be studying, or partying, or sleeping ...

but here i am sitting under the stars in a courtyard at 2:35 AM on one of the last warm nights of the year writing a script for a short film !

what gives?

I recently realized that it's been a while since I laughed. I mean, really really really laughed. Like the kind where you are loud, holding your belly, slapping your hands on the floor, with not a care for anyone around you. Well, not any more. The moxie's back, baby.

It happened last thursday [and it's saying something about the workload here that it takes Me until now to post - kinda like smoking that post-coital cigarette at breakfast :)] at a pub. I am the film chair for my cohort and what that means in non-GSB-speak is that I need to rally the troops to make a 6-minute movie and a 30-second commercial. So, I send out surveys, emails etc soliciting support, and I ask anyone interested in creative brainstorming, the Los Creativos as we'll call them henceforth, to stop by for a drink after class.

I actually got responses!, and there we were, the motley few. And boy, did we get creative ! We were shown the previous year's movies during our LOE trips earlier this month, and we didn't want to do what people usually did - make a spoof of a movie or a TV show. The one chance we get with this movie, we want to do our own thing. We started with a very original idea (kinda my idea *wink* *wink*). The Los Creativos vetted it, broke it down, added to it, and we now have a better very original idea. At least we think so.

Then, we started to talk about the situations we can put in there and the jokes and it was like wow. Picture these MBA types in a basement pub suddenly acting out the parts, walking, hand-waving, laughing. It was a trip. I took some back-of-the-book notes and filed the rest of the things in my head. Bounced the idea off my cohort peeps at parties thursday night and friday and got a good response. Sat down yesterday at lunch with a fellow Creativo and in like an hour we had the script written down. No kisses in our story, though, only KISS - Keep It Simple, Stupid. The outline of the script fits on one handwritten page.

Had a concept review session today with some of last year's stud-muffin film chairs and I got to say it was a great response. They loved our 2-minute spiel ! It was pretty cool to hear, made me really glad that I ran for film chair. I don't know, I think it's the satisfaction of seeing the work we're putting in amount to something interesting. I had a chance to talk with some more cohort-mates about the movie this evening and they are excited too, which is doubly awesomely awesome.

Next step, which is what I'm engaged in right now, is to actually break it down scene-by-scene and write a real 'script'. This stuff's taking time. I actually feel like a movie director though :-) I'm seeing what I want the movie to look like, and putting down stuff like: Against a white background with thick black lines ...

The not-so-fun-but-well-maybe-i-dunno part of this role is that it's a management exercise of incredible proportions. The first week or so, there weren't many signs of visible enthusiasm towards the movie. It recognize it was my fault at some levels because I didn't jump on the thing right away and get cracking and rounding up people to do different things- I'm not used to working like that. It was also because we got hit with classes and the time demands on everyone are just too much. There was this one day when I was walking home thinking if I had gotten into something way over my head. But, I thought back to how/why I had been successful in similar situations in the past, and I realized that people will buy in and come along for two reasons - they need to feel that they are part of something good, and I'd need to establish some credibility for my role as the one directing the effort. I guess we are farther along on the former than the latter, but I'm working on it.

I have to say I can't wait for the school to see our movie. That would be something wow.

OK, I'm outta here folks. Tomorrow at 9 AM, my life may just be about to change. I signed up for Procrastination Workgroup run by University Health Services :-) Now, if only I can get to that meeting on time.

'noches.

PS: about that post-coital cigarette thing - i recently read it someplace and had to use it :-)
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1 Comments:

Blogger PowerYogi said...

wow, a 6-minute film? that's a good enough reason to apply to chicago gsb! do u have any ex-filmmakers in ur cohort?
Anonymous | 10.06.05 - 5:32 pm | #

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ok, maybe no need to get so carried away got a hard reality check today - it's not all fun and games. lots and lots of work, not helped by the fact that we actually have no ex-filmmakers in our cohort.

but you should apply to the GSB - and the film is definitely a plus !
poweryogi | 10.06.05 - 7:00 pm | #

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Could you share the movie with us so that we can view it as well? I’m sure a lot of it will be GSB specific but it’s funny how similar people’s experiences are at different business schools.
KV | Homepage | 10.07.05 - 4:17 am | #

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Yeah, sure is a lot of work if to make a quality 6 minute film. even though 6 minutes doesn't seem too long, you could be editing 2 hours of footage to get those 6 minutes! KV is right, you should show it to us once it's made, wonder why the past films haven't been made public, would be good publicity for the school.
Anonymous | 10.07.05 - 4:01 pm | #

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Has anyone heard about this cool moviemaking thing going on at other schools?
Anonymous | 10.07.05 - 4:03 pm | #

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KV/anon,
the movies are actually meant for GSB internal showing only. i think part of the reason is that if they were available for public viewing, and someone took offense at something they saw (but it was an internal GSB humor thing), it might actually reflect badly on the school. but there's no ban on my watching my copy with friends !
poweryogi | 10.08.05 - 11:33 am | #

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i hope i am among ur "friends" then!
anon | 10.10.05 - 12:53 am | #

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Send it to me then if you can't share it in your blog
KV | Homepage | 10.10.05 - 7:51 pm | #

19 November, 2005 03:04  

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