Day 1 Assignment

[Keith Nixon]

Idea 1:

A. Contained Environment: A private island off the coast of Bermuda Island

B. Contained Characters: Directors of Horror Films

C. Difficult Situation: The Directors are trapped on the private island by a wealthy psychopathic who forces them to suffer the same fate as the characters in their films.

D. Reason for the Containment: The 1,000,000 dollar Horror Film Festival Grand Prize.

Idea 2:

A. Contained Environment: A secluded lake with a cabin

B. Contained Characters: Old college friends

C. Difficult Situation: They accidentally kill a man in self-defense and dispose of the body.

D. Reason for the Containment: Friends getting together for a reunion at their old stomping ground.

Idea 3:

A. Contained Environment: A Historically Black College in rural Mississippi.

B. Contained Characters: Black Students & Exchange Students

C. Difficult Situation: Hell Night and a Haunted Campus

D. Reason for the Containment: Last Night of Pledging & First Night of Fraternity Life

Idea 4:

A. Contained Environment: Cab

B. Contained Characters: Husband, Wife & Cab Driver

C. Difficult Situation: Wife is ready to give birth.

D. Reason for the Containment: Couple rushes to the hospital to give birth.

Idea 5:

A. Contained Environment: A home in Chicago

B. Contained Characters: Husband, New Wife, Estranged Daughter, Husband, and kids

C. Difficult Situation: Father and Daughter Estranged but are forced to come together for the holidays.

D. Reason for the Containment: Snowed in for the holidays.

[Monica Arisman]

Idea 1:

A. Contained Environment: Campsite New Mexico desert.

B. Contained Characters: Native American woman and her Shaman

C. Difficult Situation: They venture into the New Mexico desert to summons the Star People to heal her only to discover a mysterious force prevents their communication — what could it be?

D. Reason for the Containment: She has cancer and wants the Star People to heal her.

Idea 2:

A. Contained Environment: Terrorist cave

B. Contained Characters: A terrorist and a conductor of a symphony.

C. Difficult Situation: A gifted female conductor is kidnapped by terrorists that govern her war torn country and she must convince her captor to let her go.

D. Reason for Containment: She is a threat to the terrorists that govern her country and her religion.

Idea 3:

A. Contained Environment: A house.

B. Contained Characters: A woman and her ex-boyfriend.

C. Difficult Situation: An ex-boyfriend breaks into his ex-girlfriend’s home, drunk and high, she tries to escape but he corners her in a room and leaves her barely alive.

D. Reason for Containment: She has to learn to live as a paraplegic.

Idea 4:

A. Contained Environment: Archeological dig or museum.

B. Contained Characters: Two archeologists – one man and one woman.

C. Difficult Situation: Two archeologists are brought in to identify and catalogue recently discovered Nazi artefacts including clues that suggest Hitler may still be alive.

D. Reason for Containment: War breaks out and each side wants the elixer that has given Hitler eternal life.

Idea 5:

A. Contained Environment: Mountain hiking path.

B. Contained Character: Hiker and an injured alien.

C. Difficult Situation: A hiker comes across an alien who has his leg trapped in a bear trap.

D. Reason for Containment: The hiker helps the alien but they must stay hidden as the government is looking for the alien and they must wait until the alien’s people can retrieve him.

[Hope McPherson]

Hope’s Guidelines for BAREFOOT

(Note, I think this is our lesson 1, right? The other — with our five concepts — was the pre-lesson.)

What I learned: I chose a film that was pretty typical but was really surprised once I broke it down with how many individuals were in the shots, as well as the untold numbers behind the scenes. With the vaccines now available and the country wading out of the pandemic, I’m certain the filmmakers will start to loosen some things up. BUT those characters cost money. The extras were perhaps volunteers, but they still cost money and time for the production. This lesson put that front and center for me.

Part one

I generated all five ideas to be contained, but my second idea would be the simplest of all to use for this course (and as a spec script once complete).

A) One location: a college campus closed for Christmas break (i.e., very, very few people there).

B) The idea is simple: A kidnapping that’s escape plan has fallen apart. Yes, pitchable, for sure.

C) Unique that it’s at Christmas, with an heiress who turns out to be a badass.

Part two

BAREFOOT

As produced

A. People

· Leads: Daisy and Jay; hospital staff: Dr. Bertleman, Jay’s father and mother

· Supporting roles: two nurses, four psych patients; loan shark and two goons; Jay’s brother/groom and his bride

B. Stunts

· Jay is attacked a few times by goons and must escape.

· Lots of stunt driving while he and Daisy are running from the law.

· Daisy runs a bus into a brick wall.

C. Extras

· Psych hospital patients.

· Crowded strip joint, with dancers.

· Wedding rehearsal dinner with lots of people; wedding guests in church and at reception, including a live band.

· Country fair filled with fairgoers; a family with kids at a campground.

D. Wardrobe

· Jay and Daisy nominal outfits, although Daisy wears borrowed strippers’ clothes for a time. Both must dress formally for the wedding, as do his parents, the bridal couple, and all the wedding guests.

E. Hair and makeup

· Nothing too special.

F. Kids and animals

· Two or three sleeping kids in one scene; no animals.

G. Quarantine

· A small city of people in quarantine.

Following COVID-19 guidelines

A. People

· Leads: Daisy and Jay remain

· Supporting roles: Keeping Dr. Bertleman and Jay’s parents still seems nec., but the loan shark could be via phone and the goons’ presence can be shown through tension. Not sure the brother’s wedding is nec.

B. Stunts

· Jay’s attacks could be offscreen.

· Eliminate the v visible cross-country drive, and drop Daisy ramming the wall.

C. Extras

· Psych hospital patients.

· Show the protagonists leaving the strip joint rather than have scenes in two locations inside.

· Eliminating the wedding gets rid of A LOT of extras and the band.

· The country fair could be a road-side stand to get to the goal for the characters.

D. Wardrobe

· No change, but eliminating the wedding means no more expensive formal wear.

E. Hair and makeup

· No change.

F. Kids and animals

· Eliminate the kids, who don’t do anything anyway.

G. Quarantine

· Now, while still need people in quarantine, the number would be significantly less.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Hope McPherson.

[Mark Hawk]

Mark’s Guidelines for THE MIDNIGHT SKY

What I learned in this assignment is that just because a potential story doesn’t fit the COVID contained model does not mean that the story shouldn’t be told.

ASSIGNMENT PART 1:

Using the COVID guidelines helped to realize that two of the projects couldn’t be contained because of large numbers of animals or children. One of the projects could be a contained short story, leaving two potential projects. The exercise did not make me want to discard the stories that were eliminated, only that they didn’t really fid the COVID contained model.

All that’s left is to decide which story idea to work on.

ASSIGNMENT PART 2:

TITLE: The Midnight Sky

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People: 2 actors for flashback scenes, 2 actors in the Arctic, 5 actors on Aether spacecraft, 1 actor in crashed aircraft, multiple actors in holograph scenes on Aether spacecraft.

B. Stunts: Spacewalk scene with explosions, snowmobile travel across Arctic to weather station, motorhome and snowmobile sinking into the ice, walking in arctic and digging shelters.

C. Extras: Evacuation scene at Barbeau Observatory, flashback scenes involving presentation to a lecture hall at CalTech and reception.

D. Wardrobe: Arctic gear on earth, astronaut gear for crew of Aether spacecraft, semi-formal attire for flashback scenes.

E. Hair and Make Up: Negligible, except for flashback scenes and arctic travel (ice in beard, wind-chilled skin.

F. Kids and Animals: One of the actors in the Arctic is a child, wolves at aircraft crash site.

G. Quarantine: Large number of extras for the evacuation of Barbeau Observatory and flashback scenes, along with actors for flashback scenes. Large number of actors in holograph scenes on board Aether spacecraft.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: Eliminate actor in crashed aircraft. Consider reducing number of holograph scenes.

B. Stunts: Eliminate stunts and use tension.

C. Extras: Eliminate evacuation scene and use tension. Eliminate flashback scenes involving extras.

D. Wardrobe: Fine as-is.

E. Hair and Make Up: Fine as-is.

F. Kids and Animals: Consider minimal use of child, perhaps using her as a ghost or image that distracts.

G. Quarantine: Removing stunts, extras, and additional actors limits the need for large quarantine. Eliminating evacuation and flashback scenes reduces the number of locations. Most of the arctic scenes might be able to be done on a soundstage. Consider reducing number of holograph scenes.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Mark Hawk. Reason: Missed a couple of scenes

[Madeleine Vessel]

Idea 1

A. Contained Movie Environment: A funeral parlor

B. Contained Characters: Mourners (Family & Friends)

C. Difficult Situation: Deceased was murdered

D. Reason for containment: Rosary vigil

Idea 2

A. Contained Movie Environment: Line Cabin

B. Contained Characters: A man and a woman

C. Difficult Situation: Two people trapped together whose relationship is stormy.

D. Reason for containment: Blizzard

Idea 3

A. Contained Movie Environment: Rowboat on a Lake

B. Contained Characters: Three people whose lives have hit rock bottom.

C. Difficult Situation: A maniac on a big inboard boat threatening them.

D. Reason for containment: The man in the inboard boat is a bully with a grudge against one of the people on the boat.

Idea 4

A. Contained Movie Environment: Neighborhood swimming pool

B. Contained Characters: A paranoid schizophrenic and a swimming pool manager

C. Difficult Situation: He’s off his medication and is afraid he will hurt someone.

D. Reason for containment: Afraid of the fire fighters there to help him, the mentally ill man has taken the pool manager hostage.

Idea 5

A. Contained Movie Environment: Auto Wrecking Yard

B. Contained Characters: An auto wrecker, a young woman, and a ghost

C. Difficult Situation: Only the young woman sees the ghost. She wants to be free. The woman has to convince the mechanic to break down the car the ghost died in before it’s hauled away.

D. Reason for containment: The ghost is there because she died in a car wreck. The woman is there because she is taking care of the auto wreckers horses. The auto wrecker is there because he has a deadline to meet to finish disassembling the cars.

[Madeleine Vessel]

Madeleine Vessel’s Guidelines for Flightplan

Assignment Part 1: Select Your Project

What I learned doing this assignment is there’s a difference between contained and COVID contained. I also learned that many already released movies could have been produced using COVID containment guidelines. Very cool!

I narrowed my original five ideas to one, using COVID containment criteria.

My main focus was on the need for the story to be unique and to be pitchable in one or two sentences. I also looked for few characters, simple sets, and minimal use of extras, animals and children.

Assignment Part II: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid guidelines.

I chose to adjust Flightplan (2005), starring Jodie Foster. This movie is pretty contained already in terms of number of locations. Still, changes could be made to make it conform to COVID criteria.

Here’s what I found.

TITLE: Flightplan

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People. 28 cast members.

B. Stunts. No stunts. But explosions at the end of the movie.

C. Extras. Over 300 extras: passengers on the plane, people in the airport terminal, people in the airport after debarking.

D. Wardrobe. Light wardrobe choices. light wardrobe choices. Only those that an actor could put on themselves, without attention from a wardrobe person.

E. Hair and Makeup. Minimal and easy to apply.

F. Kids and Animals. Three child actors. No animals.

G. Quarantine – No quarantine.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People. Remains the same.

B. Stunts. Remain the same.

C. Extras. Eliminate 150 extras by shooting the terminal scenes before and after the plane and the seated passenger scenes at the same time.

D. Wardrobe. Remains the same.

E. Hair and makeup left to the individual actors and extras themselves.

F. Kids and Animals. Remains the same. But shooting would need to do all child scenes after the same quarantining.

G. Quarantine. Construct plane set before shooting, using workers who have quarantined 2 weeks before the build. Quarantine crew and actors two weeks before shooting. Quarantine extras 2 weeks before terminal and plane scenes.

[Deleted User]

Bob Colley Guidelines for Rocky

What I learned doing this assignment is I shouldn’t try to create a box and fit a story into it but rather write a great story and put it in a box.

PART 1: Select Your Project

All are contained, can be pitched, some are weak ideas and a couple bother me because they seem familiar (could have seen it in a Twilight Zone episode forty years ago.)

PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines

TITLE: Rocky

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People – over 50

B. Stunts – fight scenes

C. Extras – area, announcers, many one liners

D. Wardrobe – street, suits, boxing gear

E. Hair and Make Up – Apollo flashy, cuts, bruises

F. Kids and Animals – dog, turtles

G. Quarantine – Tons of locations

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People – Announcers off screen, reduce locations to arena, training area, apartment

B. Stunts – all the fight scenes shot at once

C. Extras – Could TPB it and have crew acting in some scenes

D. Wardrobe – tone Apollo down, stuck with Sly’s mug

E. Hair and Make Up – Lose cuts and blood and work with sweat

F. Kids and Animals – lose the dog, use rubber ducks

G. Quarantine – At an arena – ring center, training gym in one corner, apartment in another

[Randy Weaver]

Randy Weaver: Part one: Guidelines for: “Options for Living”

What I learned during this assignment: Our new reality can still result in creative movies

ASSIGNMENT PART 1: Title:”Options for Living”

• A a contained story.: On an Island

• B. You can write a pitch in one or two sentences.: An adopted young woman accidently “discovers” her biological family. The real nightmares begin.

• C. There is something unique about it.: In discovering her biological family, a desired hope becomes a reality nightmare with no escape on an island near a mainland.

ASSIGNMENT PART 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines

2. Pick a movie that is outside the Covid Guidelines and give us your thoughts on how they could make it in the current production environment.

TITLE: Passenger

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People: Passengers on a plane, passengers at the terminal, passengers at the hospital

B. Stunts: Plane burning on the beach, plane in a large terminal:

C. Extras: at the terminal and on the beach,

D. Wardrobe: simple every day, good as is

E. Hair and Make Up; everyday

F. Kids and Animals: one dog

G. Quarantine: Many people in airport and plane scenes

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: Can be made into a dream sequence

B. Stunts: Same dream sequence by characters

C. Extras: Not needed

D. Wardrobe: simple everyday

E. Hair and Make Up: simple everyday

F. Kids and Animals: one dog still needed

G. Quarantine: location at man’s residence and nearby rail station or therapy sessions in one building with dream sequences included

• This reply was modified 3 years, 11 months ago by  Randy Weaver.

[Mark Lynch]

What I learned doing this assignment:
Thoughtful, creative solutions can overcome any obstacles.

Marc Lynch Guidelines for The Expendables

Marc Lynch Assignment Part 1: Select Your Project

A. It can be done as a contained story.
All of my ideas can be done as a contained story. However, except for one, there are too many secondary characters. I would have to find a way to scale them down so as to not be too much of an ensemble.

B. Can I write a pitch in one or two sentences.
This has always been a problem for me but I will have to work smarter to achieve that goal.

C. There is something unique about it.
I tend to pick “unusual off the wall” projects but I think I have one that is set in a unique environment and competing tones to match.

Marc Lynch Assignment Part 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines.

Title: The Expendables

AS THEY DID IT:

A. Large Ensemble cast
B. Elaborate stunts with lots of explosions, gunplay, and car chases.
C. No Extras in the traditional sense (walking in the background) but there were lots of adversaries, minions working for the antagonist.
D. Lots of matching wardrobe for the minions. The ensemble cast wore simple military tattered clothes.
E. Hair and Makeup to a bare minimum literally an all-male cast.

F. No Kids or Animals
G. The Ensemble cast would have their own trailers. The minions would be housed in an in/outdoor base camp.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. The large ensemble cast, of established actor “stars” is part of the pitch. However, the cast of ten could have been taken down to five. Or film the cast in different sections of the shooting schedule for Covid protection.
B. The shooting schedule for all stunts would be done at the beginning of the project.
C. The minions working for the antagonist: say 20 real-life actors and the rest to make it look like 100 could be CGI.
D. Ensemble cast can do their own wardrobe. The minions would have minimum care due to the CGI for all the other minions.
E. The entire cast would do their own hair and makeup and only to have a final check by the department head.
G. All personal do Covid testing. The ensemble cast have separate trailers. Minions stay six feet apart at base camp with masks.

[Micah Delhauer]

MICAH’S GUIDELINES FOR BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA

Selecting project: separating the practical from the impractical ideas was pretty quick and easy using the guidelines set forth in the lesson. I may change my choice, but for now I think it’s pretty clear.

TITLE: BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People – Dracula, Jonathon, Mina, Lucy, Van Helsing, Lucy’s three suitors, Dracula’s brides, various bit parts

B. Stunts – horse riding and falling

C. Extras – many townspeople, Londoners, gypsies, sailors, asylum inmates, etc.

D. Wardrobe – elaborate 18^th century costumes, including formalwear and extravagant dresses

E. Hair and Make Up – monster prosthetics, vampire teeth, corpse makeup, wigs and period hair.

F. Kids and Animals – one infant, one child, multiple dogs, rats, horses

G. Quarantine – large cast and crew, many extras for various sequences in multiple locations

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People – combine suitors into one character, combine brides into one character, minimize and combine bit parts

B. Stunts – imply all horse riding but keep off camera; eliminate falls

C. Extras – eliminate all scenes in crowds, imply additional people with audio

D. Wardrobe – simplify formalwear, change fancy gowns into simple but elegant dresses

E. Hair and Make Up – remove monster prosthetics

F. Kids and Animals – imply infant off screen, remove child, remove dogs and rats, use stock footage and mockups for horses

G. Quarantine – no need for extras; reduced cast and day-players as well as locations due to lack of crowd scenes; no need for animal handlers or child guardians/tutors; simplify wardrobe to avoid need for costumer; minimize specialized and lengthy makeup appliances and omit prosthetic appliances

What I learned from doing this assignment is how many seemingly small components quickly call for more people on set.

[Monica Arisman]

SUBJECT: Monica’s Guidelines for NEXT

What I learned doing this assignment is that understanding what makes a contained movie means you can make any movie a contained movie.

PART TWO

TITLE: NEXT

A. People: Eight actors throughout the movie. Large extras as FBI agents, SWAT teams, casino surveillance, FBI surveillance, road crews, dock crews, not to mention all the casino goers.

B. Stunts: Car chases, foot chases, toppling over the water tower, multiple takes on scenes where he is running through all possible outcomes

C. Extras: So many as stated above.

D. Wardrobe: Evening wear for his stage performance, plain clothes, SWAT gear, bullet proof vests, road crew vests

E. Hair and Make up: Blood on bodies, bullet holes in foreheads

F. Kids and Animals: About six kids and horses where Jennifer Biel’s character works.

G. Quarantine: Would have been a nightmare – large amount of extras, animals, kids, stunts throughout the movie.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: Could have had one bad guy and him talking on the phone to the rest of the bad guys. He could have assembled the bomb himself. The surveillance teams could have been smaller. Didn’t need the ex-boyfriend showing up. Peter Falk character didn’t need to be there.

B. Stunts: Cut the car chase. Use tension and subterfuge instead.

C. Extras: After his stage performance he doesn’t have to go through the casino – find another way out. Too many cops chasing him. Keep to the two main FBI agents until the climax. Don’t need the helicopter. Instead of having Las Vegas, Flagstaff, AZ, and Los Angeles as locations, place the movie in Los Angeles. The bad guys want to blow up LA anyway. Cut the dock workers and have the bad guy or two already have the bomb.

D. Wardrobe: Is ok.

E. Hair and Make up: Still need the blood.

F. Kids and Animals: These could be cut. Re-tool the scene between Cage and Biel and have her show him pictures of where she works. Have FaceTime with the birthday boy kid. This will eliminate the need for them to travel to Flagstaff to deliver a present to one of the kids.

G. Quarantine: Reduce locations, stunts and remove the kids and horses. Use more off screen work for the bad guys and FBI surveillance. Moving the main location to LA eliminates the casino surveillance, the casino goers, etc.

[Lisa Tuvalo]

Assignment Part 1:

I decided to go with my bed and breakfast idea. It would be a small cast. Simple wardrobe and hair. No need for extras. The stunts could possibly be necessary for things going wrong to my characters. Plus, I can rely on sound effects, etc.

Assignment Part 2:

I realized that I had misunderstood this assignment after I had finished watching “A Quiet Place,” but it did help me see how a contained movie can be done. The children were essential to the story. There were only two extras. I didn’t realize there were so many stunts until after I watched the credits, but they were important. There was one predominant creature.

[Michael Masurkevitch]

Idea 1: Harlequin VR

A couple stays in their apartment during a pandemic (except when he leaves for work) when<font face=”inherit”> the girlfriend begins a love affair over virtual reality, and enters a </font>destructive<font face=”inherit”> cycle to find herself.</font>

A. Contained Environment:

The VR stadium, the apartment, a bridge over a river, and her friends’ house

B. Contained Characters:

Sam, Jason (her boyfriend) Marcello (her online lover) and her friends Sar and Rah

C. Difficult Situation:

Sam falls in love over the internet, but lives with her boyfriend.

D. Reason for the Containment:

Post-Pandemic, the work is online and so is the dating.

Idea 2: Whitewater

A company’s top executive team is sent on a team building exercise to go white water rafting, and when the guide dies they decide to power through to show corporate the results. Lost in the forest with only camping gear and their raft, skeletons and Old Wounds, new feelings and drama, emerge as they try to handle their new crisis.

A. Contained Environment:

A river, a raft, and a couple camping spots

B. Contained Characters:

A group of corporate executives, and the guide

C. Difficult Situation:

Wealthy, pampered urbanites trying to survive extreme conditions. High-powered narcissists being forced to work together for survival

D. Reason for the Containment:

Trapped in the wild and no idea how to leave

Idea 3: Captain’s Log

An entitled and sometimes bumbling female captain trying to deal with the misogyny of her grim, veteran oldschool first officer, the voracious sexual appetite of her pansexual chief-engineer, the depression and suicidal tendencies of her gunner, and the ship’s doctors’ split personality syndrome, tries to get her ship – low on fuel and supplies – to a safe planet in unknown deep space.

A. Contained Environment:

spaceship

B. Contained Characters:

The crew

C. Difficult Situation:

Oxygen and supplies running low, and technical/survival issues, are bad enough without the bickering of ridiculous crewmates

D. Reason for the Containment:

Cant find the nearest habitable planet.

(Maybe at somepoint we find one and go from there though)

Idea 4: Homestead

A little girl living with her parents on a homestead in the woods hasn’t had much contact with the world, and is fascinated when a stranger, wounded, stumbles into their land. But the stranger, and her parents, are more than they seem, and the stranger brings a conflict that will change her life

A. Contained Environment:

A homestead in the woods

B. Contained Characters:

The girl, her parents, the stranger – and some sort of villains, at the end

C. Difficult Situation:

Figuring out how to defend the homestead, figuring out who to trust and understanding who her parents are

D. Reason for the Containment:

The homestead is the safest place to survive, and to defend against the coming threat

Idea 5: Therapist

A tortured killer becomes obsessed with a celebrity tv therapist and kidnaps him, dragging him to an isolated cabin, and alternately tortures him and tries to get the therapist to save them

A. Contained Environment:

Isolated cabin

B. Contained Characters:

Therapist and killer, plus

C. Difficult Situation:

Will the therapist save the killer’s soul, or die of torture, or develop stockholm syndrome feelings for the killer. Will the killer overcome his evil and save the therapist, or give in to darkness and kill the therapist?

D. Reason for the Containment:

If they leave the killer will be found/therapist can’t leave.

[Michael Masurkevitch]

Michael Masurkevitch – Covid Guidelines to “Hottub Time Machine”

What I learned from this assignment: is that when you remove things like Stunts, extras and wardrobe choices, sometimes it involves losing scenes/production value – but this can be made up by supplanting more layers or emotions instead

TITLE: Hottub Time Machine

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People

The three adult friends: their child-selves in the mirror; the young boy; his father; bar patrons; ski patrol; extras at a party; a random woman and a random ‘magic man’

B. Stunts

Some flips on skis, a fight scene

C. Extras

at the bar, on the ski hill, in the halls of the ski chalet

D. Wardrobe

normal except the one scene where they see themselves as their youth-selves in the mirror

E. Hair and Make Up

limited

F. Kids and Animals

no kids: one squirrel

G. Quarantine

only a few locations at the ski resort but several outside of it. Unsure if built a set for the ski chalet/village or used an existing one

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People

Adjust the through line to have more dynamic between the friends, so you can cut out some of the extras: bring the boys’ mom in earlier for more of a character to create new scenes: lose either the bar-stuff or the ski-patrol stuff and make the one you keep more key to storyline/have more people in it.

B. Stunts

Not enough to justify all of them: so lose the skiing and have conversations on a chairlift instead. Lose the fight and just show the setup, and the guy beaten up at the end (or lose the fist-fight and make it verbal

C. Extras

If you lose the bar-scene that cleans up most of them. Have the chalet be less of a hotel-chalet-village and a bit smaller/more remote, or suggest its’ popularity is dwindling, and you no longer need extras in the hall.

Consider losing the “child selves’ extras or atleast shooting them in front of a green screen, separately, and fading/editing them in.

D. Wardrobe

not too bad. maybe have characters bring their own 80s wardrobe that they used to wear, that could be hilarious

E. Hair and Make Up

not too bad. some bruising on one character- maybe lose the bruising and have it be a verbal dressing-down?

F. Kids and Animals

Squirrel could be removed and have it be an actor instead – although the squirrel being animatronic, could have been prepped pre-shoot and operated by a single animatronics specialiast I think?

G. Quarantine

Could have lost a couple scenes in locations pre and post hottub (like a scene in a hospital, could have been finding the guy at his house), having most of it take place in a “ski village” is useful as this can be your quarantined film-village too

[Frank Kim]

Frank’s Guidelines for “Burn After Reading”

Assignment 1: Select Your Project

I evaluated my ideas based on the guidelines of: A.) it can be done as a contained story, B.) I can write the pitch in one or two sentences, C.) there is something unique about it. By doing so, I noticed that all of them were derivatives of movies I’d seen before. Three of them were overtly rip-offs, so I ended up picking the most original of my five. I can see that by judging any contained story idea I have against these three criteria, I can immediately get a sense of what is original and what is not.

Assignment 2: Adjust a Pre-COVID Movie to COVID Guidelines

TITLE: Burn After Reading

AS THEY DID IT:

A.) People – a main cast of about a dozen characters.

B.) Stunts – a character getting punched in the face, a character getting shot in the face, a foot chase, and a fight that goes from indoors to outdoors.

C.) Extras – more than two dozen ancillary and background actors for CIA headquarters scenes, party scenes, and crowds in exterior shots.

D.) Wardrobe – business suits and ties for CIA operatives, gym clothes, casual modern attire, raincoats.

E.) Hair and Makeup – makeup for Frances McDormand’s character since she likes to look pretty. Some funny but contemporary hairstyles for Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

F.) Kids and Animals – no kids or animals are featured in this movie.

G.) Quarantine – there are large amounts of extras in this movie.

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION OF THIS MOVIE

A.) People – main cast only includes Frances McDormand’s character, Richard Jenkins’ character, and John Malkovich’s character. Bookend scenes of movie show only the CIA boss played by J. K. Simmons, and the CIA analyst that is in his office.

B.) Stunts – keep the fight at the end. Get rid of the other stunts.

C.) Extras – don’t show the party scene or any of the exterior scenes.

D.) Wardrobe – keep as is but have actors bring their own wardrobe.

E.) Hair and Makeup – have actors do their own. Men can go au naturale.

F.) Kids and Animals – none needed.

G.) Quarantine – by restricting the number of actors, the locations, and getting rid of all the extras, quarantine is more manageable.

Assignment 3: What I Learned From Doing This Assignment Is…

I learned that the three evaluation questions can help me determine which idea of mine is good and which are derivative. By going through the COVID guideline adjustments, I could see a sprawling story like Burn After Reading can be distilled down to a core plotline that is the most intriguing.

[Michael Davis]

Idea 1:

A. Contained Environment: A secluded island

B. Contained Characters: Two women, 3 men

C. Difficult situation: Demons try to kill everyone

D. Reason for containment: The island serves as a prison/hideaway

Idea 2:

A. Contained Environment: Space ship

B. Contained Characters: Science team, mother and daughter(6)

C. Difficult Situation: Alien Fued Trying to enslave or kill all inhabitants

D. Reason for containment: Can’t make a return trip home, old-world dying or dead

Idea 3:

A. Contained Environment: Hell

B. Contained Characters: Three people Two men, one woman, one boy(19)

C. Difficult situation: Must cross the vastness of hell to reach the Elysian Fields, death encounter with the Demon King.

D. Reason for Containment: Accidental imprisonment for all eternity

Idea 4:

A. Contained Environment: Island

B. Contained Characters: One God, Five men, Two women, demons

C. Difficult situation: A curse that will kill a God, who needs the aid of seven humans

D. Reason for Containment: Magic, battle hidden from the world of men, no outside interference.

Idea 5:

A. Contained Environment: Forest

B. Contained Characters: Two brothers, a wizard, otherworldly creatures

C. Difficult situation: Must repel Demon Horde that invades the homeland

D. Reason for containment: Cursed unable to leave the forest of enchantment

[C Holmes]

“Secret Treasure” by C A Holmes

Contained Environment Movie Assignment #1

A. One Contained Main Location, Hut on Beach with adjacent Wooded area, (plus two establishing stock video shots: Old Theatre, Pirate Sloop)

B. Contained Characters: 3 Friends, who’ve lost everything they love in life, bond together to survive. (2 small parts: Pirates who play artistic & historic mythic selves, 3 non-speaking Dream characters: the person each friend misses most)

C. The most desperate friend insists now is the time to hunt for buried pirate treasure, based on a myth it resides in the vicinity, so must ‘belong to them’. The others try to stop him, but he insists. To humor him, they go along with his ‘insanity’ fearing he’ll kill himself if they don’t.

D. Reason for Containment: They’re broke, lost, dejected, rejected. Two of them live in a hut on the beach, the other in the basement of an abandoned Theatre where someone he loved once sang. They don’t know how to start their lives over again. Digging for treasure creates a mythic world where dream, myth, history, and a new reality weaves together a ‘Secret Treasure’

[Anna Elias]

Contained Movie – Assign #1

What I learned doing this assignment: I actually had a lot of fun thinking of contained ideas – and across multiple genres, though I found that sci-fi was not as easy to generate for me as some of the horror/thriller ideas. Overall, I had less trouble coming up with them than first thought.

ASSIGNMENT:

1. Determine which of my 5 ideas can easily fit COVID guidelines. Don’t list ideas, just the experience of evaluating them.

4 of my 5 ideas would work well based on these guidelines. The fifth crosses two time periods, which is okay, but would require too many extras in both. The other 4 all meet the core:

A. Can be done as a contained story

B. Can write a pitch in 1-2 sentences

C. There is something unique

2. Pick a movie outside the COVID guidelines and share thoughts on how it could be made in current production environment. Use the following:

1. Pick a movie outside the COVID guidelines and share thoughts on how it could be made in current production environment. I deliberately tried something bigger, just to expand and exercise my “muscles” of protocol for future contained ideas:

TITLE: Hunger Games

As they did it —

A. People: Katniss and Peeta + 10 more tributes, Gale, Haymitch, Cinna, Effie, Game Master, TV Host Flick, Pres. Snow, hordes of extras as Citizens

B. Stunts: Tons in practice and in the games themselves

C. Extras: Tons

D. Wardrobe: Tons, Fancy, multiple costume changes

E. Hair/Make-up: Fancy and plain, blood effects, sweat, grime, heavy costume

F. Kids/Animals: Very few

G. Quarantine: Tons of people

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: 12 tributes + Effie & Cinna; Haymitch, Pres. Snow, Game Maker, Flick and more = individual, seen on TV or monitors

B. Stunts: Only in games

C. Extras: Limited – in District 12, on TV w/Flick

D. Wardrobe: Limited – few fancy costumes, mostly tribute uniforms

E. Hair/Make-up: Basic for tributes, some blood F/X, Only fancy for Effie and Flick

F. Kids/Animals: No kids. Few animals

G. Quarantine: The 12 Tributes plus Effie, Cinna and Gale. The others could be alone, recorded remotely

[Rachelle Storti]

Part 1: Select Project

I have three that can easily fit Covid guidelines. One about a truck driver; that would be easiest of all. Another “trapped in the basement” situation. The third I was kind of married to the idea of having a kid and a wolf in it. I could cut them, but it might break my heart a little. The evaluation process helped me to see what was easiest to keep contained. I was able to pitch all five of my original ideas in 1-2 sentences which was really fun. They are all unique stories, but the process of fitting them to Covid guidelines made them even more different than anything I have ever seen before.

Part 2: Adjust a Produced Movie to Covid Guidelines

I don’t know why I had such a hard time with this one. Before the class started I was doing it to every single movie I watched and now that it’s been assigned I couldn’t pull a single one. I know I’m making it harder than it needs to be.

[DiDi Hendley]

I’ve struggled to figure out anything here. I’m simply out of my depth. Best of luck to you all.

[Betsy Cramb]

What I learned from doing this lesson:

I just don’t have much time so I will have to do these assignments when time permits.

First Part:

That my 5 ideas had some merit but I also thought of a sixth idea that may be better suited to a contained script.

I also realized that it will take a bit of work to write the ‘pitch’ in one or two sentences. I tend to be long-winded and write a whole page for the pitch!

And, of my 6 (since I added one) ideas, I think I am leaning towards two of them as my favorites, as most original and could best be made into a contained movie. The sixth one keeps grabbing my attention so that may be the one to develop further.

Second Part:

Watch a movie that was made Pre-Covid and adapt it to the Covid Guidelines.

Watched “The Imitation Game” with Benedict Cumberbatch (?) – and after watching it, I figured out how they could have told the same story without set changes and kept him as the central figure. The cast could be cut down to about 10 key characters without extras– no special make-up needed. Clothing was working clothes at the time (World War II era) and sets would be pretty simple to design so they wouldn’t need much changing. Biggest thing would be there wouldn’t be flashbacks to his early days in a “public” school and he would have just had his memories. This could have been achieved by having him or the leading woman reading from his diary without showing the earlier scenes. I think this movie was compelling in the way it told the story and that same story could have been told just keeping everyone at the “Radio Factory.” (Decoding the code called the Enigma from start to finish, fascinating!)

They were spies basically working for the English government and that would have been reason enough to hold everyone at the factory, without having them go out or to other accommodations. You could have assumed that they were all housed and fed on the site.

[Anthea Piscarik]

Idea One:

A. Contained Environment: Hotel and nearby small restaurant

B, Contained Characters: Assassin and Co-conspirator; restaurant owner and assistant; assassin’s killer

C: Difficult Situation: Assassin wants OUT of the business on her latest assignment and plans to sabotage it. Restaurant owner recognizes her from window of restaurant and at hotel.

D: Reason for Containment: Story takes place in 24 hour period. A day in the life situation with the clock ticking for assassin’s assingment while she’s being trailed by someone who knows her plan to sabotage the assignment.

Idea Two:

A. Contained Environment: Bomb shelter

B: Contained Characters: Teen from 1955; Teen from 2015; Two Priests; Two friends of Teen from 2015; One five-year-old

C: Difficult Situation: Teen from 1955 only appears to teen from 2015.

D: Reason for Containment: Bomb Shelter, completed preserved from 1955. is the meeting ground between the two teens, one from 1955 and the other sixty years later.

Idea Three:

A: Contained Environment: Butcher shop; house in NYC; small lounge

B; Contained Characters: Butcher, his mom, single woman, Butcher’s friend, Butcher’s cousin and wife; Butcher’s aunt

C: Difficult situation: Butcher is lonely and not finding a love interest or even a companion.

D: Reason for Containment: Create a person world that shows his lonely existence.

Idea Four:

A: Contained Environment: Prison; law firm; apartment; coffee shop

B: Contained Characters: Former heroin addict prisoner, priest, SIster of prisoner; mother of victim; friend of prisoner; detective

C: Difficult Situation: Heroin addict kills prominent lawyer brother-in-law and faces death penalty.

D: Reason for Containment: Protagonist in jail and faces death penalty.

Idea Five:

A: Contained Environment: Library

B: Contained Characters: Librarian, Psychopath, Librarian’s Friend

C: Difficult Siutation: Killer has Librarian’s phone and cut off all computers.

D: Reason for Containment: Library closed. She was the last one there.

[Rita Adewole]

1) Rita’s choice of contained movie

I have chosen my movie choise based on a restricted number of actors and restriction to one location until the end when cops arrive, make up negligible, no stunts, monster in the house type

Contained environment – Grandma’s home

Contained characters – Grandma and Granddaughter plus killer

Difficult situation – A blood thirst ritualist who can’t leave or stop until his ritual is complete

Reason for containment – Girl on a weekend visit with Grandma

Rita – Guidelines for The Island

TITLE: The Island

AS THEY DID IT:

A. People: two main, multiple supporting and extras

B. Stunts: helicopters/ on the run from the hospital

C. Extras: various patients/doctors

D. Wardrobe: all wear white

E. Hair and Make Up: Negligible

F. Kids and Animals: n/a

G. Quarantine: Have large amount of extras in patients/hospital/the search crew

COVID GUIDELINE VERSION:

A. People: two main and supporting characters, patients communicate through video call so fewer gatherings .

B. Stunts: delay escape from the facility until the end of the movie, scrap search party, helicopters, shooting etc.

C. Extras:delay escape from the facility until the end of the movie, patient meets their insurer inside the facility

D. Wardrobe: Fine as is

E. Hair and Make Up: Fine as is

F. Kids and Animals:n/a

G. Quarantine:m removing stunts, extras, search party, scrap their travels outside of the facility and meeting their insurer.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 10 months ago by  Rita Adewole.