Machinima/Screenplay

After watching some machinima and reading movie scripts from the Godfather and Lawrence of Arabia, I have begun to formulate a few possible ideas for my machinima. First, I would like to talk about a few inspiring items I read and saw. In the Godfather, I found that the descriptions of characters emotions to be very helpful in visualizing the scene. In an exchange between the Don and another character asking for a favor, just reading the descriptions of what each was doing, and their emotions built a sense of suspense in me. When I write my script I want to make sure that I note the characters facial expressions and tone of voice to make sure that the actors properly convey the vision of the scene in my head to the audience.
I also was able to draw some useful ideas from the machinima that I watched. I watched a few episodes from the computer girl series that we watched in class. In those, the dialogue was more the focus than visuals. I thought that the creators did a very good job in emulating real life camera shots by switching back a forth during dialogue. Something I noticed was that some shots eliminated the constant switch back and forth between characters during dialogue by having both the characters in frame. I thought this was a good way of reducing the amount of work, while still maintaining the quality of the film. In addition to computer girl, I also watched a couple episodes from series that featured Halo as the game used to film in. A few of these episodes had some action in them, and I thought that it got a bit confusing trying to follow what was going on, because some characters looked very similar. I would remedy this by making sure that if I had a lot of motion or action going on during a scene, the characters involved would be very distinguishable.
A few ideas I have for machinima would probably be more dialogue focused than action focused. I would like to look at Darryl’s dad during the darker days when Darryl was missing. I would have sort of a monologue with the father’s character while he viewed the world with a depressed mindset. I would include a shot of him in a dark room with trash all around laying on the couch with the glow of the television set lighting his face up. He might provide his thoughts on the news and current situations, as well as perhaps a flashback to his days in the Navy. I think it could be interesting to have his father as a Vietnam veteran and perhaps have the loss of his son bring back some memories of losing a buddy during the war. I would also like to have a close up shot of his unshaven face as maybe an introduction. I would end the story with Marcus and his parents bringing Darryl’s father the news about his son, and hint and the upward shot his life takes from there.