Script/Machinima Discussion

The three Machinama’s I ended up watching all the way through were Secret Lives, Addiction, and The Fixer. All three of these films were quite different. The Secret Lives seemed to play off of the TV show, The Secret Life of the American Teen. I didn’t enjoy it very much because the dialogue was not very well written, but it was a good example of using setting to convey ideas. Also it showed the use of school scenes, which could be helpful in our Machinimas. Addiction was a good example of overlaying voice on top of scenes in which the person isn’t actually talking. This is an interesting concept to think about using. I thought The Fixer was the most well-done film. The plot was interesting, but it seems it was borrowed from a real movie anyway. Beside that, it was interesting and the use of action was good.

I really enjoyed reading through a couple of the scripts. Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a movie I have always enjoyed in the past and so reading the script made re-realize just how brilliant it is. I also enjoyed reading the scripts for Godfather I and II. I haven’t seen the movies but I have always wanted to. In some of the other classics, such as Casablanca and Some Like It Hot, it was also interesting to be reminded that why those movies were classics was because of their brilliant scripts. The movies themselves are very simply done, but they have amazing dialogue and simplistic but intrinsic stage movement.

Reading scripts has always been enjoyable for me because I wrote a couple in high school, for one-act play festivals. I have also participated in various stage productions, so I have seen all that goes into interpreting scripts. This experience reading movie scripts combined with my previous experiences gives some idea of what kind of script would be best for this situation. For this situation where we all have little knowledge of the functions of Second Life and the programs we will be using, a script that focuses heavily on dialogue or monologue, rather than movement and camera angles is ideal.

I think this can be used to our advantage. The types of films that center on dialogue are usually character-based, rather than plot-based. This means that the script should incorporate more character development than action. It is of course necessary to also include plot and action, but for our purposed, a character-based script should be used. Some ideas I have: a couple scenes in which Marcus meets the Severe Haircut lady after she is released and they have some sort of interaction. This would show how the characters have changed once the tables have turned. Also, maybe a situation in which Marcus is grown up and one of his kids goes through a similar experience, showing that social change is slow, etc.