We Are Deeply Grateful

a merry merry and happy happy to our readers behind the looking glass

Let me just say that the noctos nation is preparing its end of the year lists but you'll have to bear with us because there are still 6 days left and we're still contemplating the fact if we gonna stick with the traditional format.

So in the meanwhile one got to eat and drink and puke and receive toys and more talisker and dvds. Let the wild turkey go and thanks for that and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome noctos guts.

SHITHAPPENS!

OH MY GOD, it already made the Urban Dictionary, wOOOOt snakesonzeplane omg1!§ go joshfriedman&!$!&

We still want that petition!

Damn, in regards to this post, Pete's even looking more scary right now:

NOW


THEN:

All they care about is my big dick because I'm the centaur

Not everyone thinks having no class is funny,
and a fool is an outcast when he outlasts his money.
I dress like an old man but so what and Lord knows,
I love little babies and I cry at award shows.
It's nice to hear the sad songs played on the piano,
I'm a fan of the fine arts and John Gailliano

Vertex is still so goddam fun on a friday afternoon, although Buck may not totally agree.

Also best of luck to the mighty fine Yoni Wolf who couldn't really convince us last night due to his illness but thanks for that try and hope to see you back in shape.

SNAKES ON A PLANE!

Oh my god, it's Snakes on a Plane, check here for pics !

Samuel L. Jackson:
That’s the only reason I took the job: I read the title.

Don't write action scenes. Write suspense scenes that require action to resolve.

Hey good thoughts on why sex scenes are mostly boring in movies (yeah off course not when it concerns that other kind of cinema Billy):

Ahem. No, this is probably because, personally, I find the situation of two people who want to sleep together but don't or can't far more interesting a story dynamic than consumation. This is an odd admission, but for me almost all film sex scenes are boring as dirt. The conflict is (at least for this scene) closed, so we're going to muck around in soft-focus denoument for five minutes? If the the entire thrust of storytelling is conflict, and both characters want the same thing (to have ze sex) ... you get my point. The only interest in a film sex scene is when chemistry trumps structure.

And there's even more good John Rogers advice about how to write interesting action scenes (plus a good analysis of why The Matrix works, check the post):

Tossing aside all the bigger philosophy, here's my attack: make sure every action sequence has a separate goal within the sequence which might legitimately suceed or fail with derailing the movie. Slap a little suspense beat down as your seed, then let your action sequence arrive from the a.) circumstances surrounding the goal or b.) choices of the character.

You can stop reading now, if you just take this away: Don't write action sequences. Write suspense sequences that require action to resolve.

Moving on, and this was beaten into me by the nice Hong Kong humans I've worked with: every action sequence has its own internal three act structure. Objective, complication, resolution. And not only that, but the complication needs to be something which forces a choice on the character, not just a complication in physical circumstances.

It is valid for the complication to be "the odds suddenly become impossible" if a.) the odds are indeed im-goddam-possible in the context of the movie so far and b.) the way the protagonist overcomes these odds is illustrative of the character.

Want Something Badly

Pretty good article by Lisa St Aubin de Terán on the why and needs for a screenplay structure:

Edward Mabley, however, stood out like a beacon and distilled what a film script is into: "Somebody wants something badly and is having trouble getting it." That is the formula and this is the recipe: take a protagonist an audience will care about, take an antagonist; make something happen to the protagonist within the first 5-15 minutes of the movie which turns his or her life upside down. Give the protagonist a quest and make him or her set off in search of the thing they want. After as much conflict as possible, he or she either finds what they wanted (Hollywood ending) or they find something worth more than that to them: they find what they need in "a moment of truth". Following a pattern through Greek myths and the Commedia dell'Arte to the present day, there are three acts: a beginning, a middle and an end.

Without needing to read through the 25 annotated volumes of Frazer's Golden Bough, Joseph Campbell's description and analysis of the hero's journey in his The Hero with a Thousand Faces is probably the most useful aid to writing for film. If you've ever wondered why blockbusters mesmerise their audiences, read it and see: the makers of those blockbusters have. Once the several stages of the hero's journey have been identified, you will recognise them time and again both on the screen and in fiction. Fairytales and folk tales alike all follow the same stages. Films like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom follow them as though by rote. Subliminally, audiences know what a story is, they know what they expect and they know when it fails to deliver.

...

Armed with the above information, it should be possible for any fiction writer to write a good script. Yet again, this is not the case. Firstly, scripts are Darwinian: they evolve. Secondly, quite apart from obvious things like never saying what the viewer can see, only writers with a visual mind, an ear for dialogue, a feeling for drama, impeccable timing and the ability to keep recognising their mistakes will be able to write a good one.

...

To the inevitable question: "Why should there be such a rigid structure?" the answer lies within the formula. Every action must have a reaction. The script is endlessly manipulative. If it works, we will laugh and cry, hope and fear in all the appropriate places as we are steered through two hours of vicarious passion. It is a feat of engineering. And getting to the moment of truth is a craft. Although some screenwriters are naturally gifted, it's always a craft in which 99% is perspiration and 1% is inspiration.

Oh My God, Luis Guzman is an a$$hole!

Yes that's right, Luis Guzman, the actor who's done so many great things proves to be a real bastard. Just watch for yourselves kiddies, it's almost not funny. This is a behind-the-scenes clip from the set of Waiting, the first film by the young and upcoming director Rob Mckittrick. You can read the whole story on Mckittricks blog as well but just watch the clip, it's says more than enough.

I am going to post a link to a behind-the-scenes clip of Luis Guzman being an absolute bastard to me...

Worth Leaving Town

Cheers senor Nicolas, the little child was sure happy with that bottle and those dvds. We'll make sure to sip and nip to your good health tonight. Start believing in that Good old Cocorosie Friday fellas. Nazdrovje.