You can do it, Pia.  I know you can!!!

As long as someone throws a punch, kick or slap.

Excuses, excuses...

I've been trying to come up with something too, but it's especially tough because unlike other owcs, the theme of this one doesn't really steer you in any particular direction.  Just not sure how to integrate the donkey kong thing.

Quoted from Ryan1 Just not sure how to integrate the donkey kong thing.

I think the Donkey Kong thing only means full on action. Doesn't have to do anything with the game...or a donkey...or Kong.  

Exactly.  No Donkey Kong involved.  It's basically someone saying they're gonna fuck you up based on something you did.

Like, if VA came out and told Bert he's a fucking wussy, Bert may come back by saying, "Oh it's on now VA...it's on like Donkey Kong!"

And then they fight, throw slaps, punches, and kicks, and you've got your OWC script.

Sorry if this is somewhat off-topic, but I've been wondering...and *have* to know.  

Jeff, is that *really* your real hair?  Seriously?  

That aside, I think any competition situation would count for this OWC's criteria.  No violence inherently required - just a serious grudge match, in some form.

I wish it was my real hair!!!!  

No, it's a big old furry hat.  Maybe I should clip it and glue the fibers onto my head, though...

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films Without a powerful theme that brings two opposing forces into conflict...there's no story in an action film and it's just arbitary action..fighting, swordsplay, guns, car chases...it's irrelevant really. The better it's done the better the film is, I suppose, but it's inherently meaningless.

It's interesting.  I've been thinking about this section from Paul Schrader's essay "Notes on Film Noir" a lot lately:

Quoted from Paul Schrader The fundamental reason for film noir’s neglect, however, is the fact that it depends more on choreography than sociology, and American critics have always been slow on the uptake when it comes to visual style. Like its protagonists, film noir is more interested in style than theme; whereas American critics have been traditionally more interested in theme than style. American film critics have always been sociologists first and scientists second: film is important as it relates to large masses, and if a film goes awry it is often because the theme has been somehow “violated” by the style. Film noir operates on opposite principles: the theme is hidden in the style, and bogus themes are often haunted (“middle class values are best”) which contradict the style. Although, I believe, style determines the theme in every film, it was easier for sociological critics to discuss the themes of the western and gangster film apart from stylistic analysis than it was to do for film noir.

I actually think that one could potentially make this argument for action filmmaking as well.  Not that it would cover all or even most action films.  But I think we do have to make room in our consideration of film artistry for more types of sensationalism than character-driven drama and for more types of thematic development than plot-driven arcs.  Are John Woo's balletic gunfights really categorically inferior to, say, Mike Nichol's wonderful, protracted arguments?  Even, if I may be so bold, to Fellini's infectious circus sequences?  The true action filmmaker creates beauty in action as surely as the true romance filmmaker creates beauty in romance.

...maybe.  My deliberations on this point are not yet complete.

My point is, I guess, that "meaning" is a difficult thing to define.  If a film gets my adrenaline going, doesn't it have meaning?

Most noir films (as much as it's possible to define it...no-one has managed it up till now) tend to deal with very strong themes...usually dark themes about jealousy, alienation, violence in a world that is seen as completely corrupt.

In fact, reading Schrader's notes:

http://i.mtime.com/Noir/blog/1433838/

Seemingly, he's not saying that noir is about style over theme as such, he's just commenting that US critics have missed the themes because of the films style...when a film has an accepted style..like a western, they concentrate on just the story/themes...with noir the style is so overpowering that they tend to miss the underlying quality of the stories.

I think this is the crux of the matter:

"Although, I believe, style determines the theme in every film, it was easier for sociological critics to discuss the themes of the western and gangster film apart from stylistic analysis than it was to do for film noir. "

It's more of a criticism of the critics reception to the films than it is a discussion of the lack of theme in them.

I don't agree with him that style creates theme, it's more the other way...or possibly not related at all. You could discuss the same theme in a completely different style.

I also don't really understand what he's saying about noir presenting artisitc solutions to sociological problems...sounds like gobbledegook to me and I don't see any evidence of that in the genre at all to be honest.

I take your point about the different types of film, although John Woo tends to deal with themes of loyalty in a violent, chaotic world..there's depth beneath the action...action needs people to care about the characters to make it effective, like any other story.

For me, unless there is a strong purpose to the story, no amount of action can stop me from being bored. This happened in Inception, in Transformers 2 and in many other recent action films...if I don't care about what the characters are trying to accomplish, no amount of technical wizardy can compensate.

But yes...I think a gun battle scene can be as "artisitc" as a deep conversation scene (maybe more so cinematically speaking) and action films can be as good as anything else if done right.

Obviously this started by me saying that I'd not got my script right, so it was a waste of time and not worth writing. Any quality it would have in its present form would be purely executional...how well I filmed and edited it....so I could no longer be bothered physically writing it!

^^  Agree with everything you say, really.

I've always had a soft spot for action films which predisposes me to seek out worth in them, individually and as a genre.  I do think there is generally less attention paid to theme in them by the filmmakers.  I just think that to disregard action films, or more specifically action scenes, as a way of getting at theme is silly...even if they're "nothing but" action.  Not suggesting, though, that that's what you were doing.

And yeah, understand what you mean about not bothering to finish the script, too.  If I ever start writing a big sequence and realize that there's no real reason for it to be happening, I generally scrap what I've written and start again.  Unfortunately the same can not to be said for Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio.  Did you SEE Pirates 4?  What a coupla assholes!  ...that may not be related to my original point.

I'm done...yes, you heard that correctly, I am not waiting until the final night to throw something together.  Instead, I threw it together yesterday.

There are so many deep rooted themes taking place in this short, it's amazing.  I went for 1 main theme per page, and a total of 3 sub themes overall.

I attempted this with ZERO dialogue and only 1 Antag and 3 Protags.  The Antag is a dog and the 3 Protags are a blade of grass, a leaf, and an old piece of drift wood.

I hope you guys enjoy it.  I haven't been this excited about a script since No Meat.

How's everyone else doing?  Is Bert in?  VA, where you at?

Im done!

Wrote it yesterday and submitted yesterday.

Warts and all to say the least. And I went into it with no clear idea were it was going to go either. I Had a few thin ideas floating around and the last one that popped in my head I went with.

But with my crazy work schedule I had no choice. No real chance to give hard thought on this one. Hope people can enjoy it! :]

Good job, Hugh.  At least we'll have a few entries.

Now...if we can only get Pia and VA to participate...

Thanks Dreamscale.

My advice to PIA and VA is just wing it. At least its SOMETHING.

And who knows, you roll the dice and it may turn out to be decent.

And even if its not at least you put in the effort. That in itself is cool IMO.