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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board  /  The August 2021 OWC  /  Orientation - OWC
Posted by: Don, August 20th, 2021, 8:38pm
Orientation by Azriel Levy & Harold Cohen - Please allow us to be the first to welcome you to The Samuel Friedman Company.  Short, Comedy, Mockumentary
Posted by: Robert Timsah, August 21st, 2021, 11:38am; Reply: 1
The writing is good, vivid, and highly creative, but the idea I guess was a bit straight-froward for me, and a thick read. For some reason I just did not enjoy the ride, but I wanted to. I did chuckle at the automated male voice. Be curious what others think! Good effort with a creativity and imagination I'd be proud of. Keep at it.
Posted by: Grandma Bear, August 21st, 2021, 3:06pm; Reply: 2
Well, Yom the Yak stole this show IMO. This one is definitely the most creative one of the bunch so far. At times the very darkest type of humor delivered by Yom the Yak.

I was a bit confused at times though. I guess the animated stuff made it more so. I applaud your creativity here, but wish it had been just a tad easier to follow.  :)
Posted by: AnthonyCawood, August 21st, 2021, 4:32pm; Reply: 3
The animated sequence took me out of this, for some reason I just don't associate mockumentary and animation together... and then Panzer tanks in 1919 took me further out due to me being a pedant ;-)

And then a talking Yak, which is funny, but again I'm not getting mockumentary at all really... funny though.

Well, it would be funny if it weren't for the subject matter, which I guess is the point.

In two minds in this one, certainly made me think.
Posted by: Gary in Houston, August 21st, 2021, 5:11pm; Reply: 4
This one was completely off the walls for me.  The humor was very dark, I mean, completely blotting out Mr. Sun kind of dark.  I can see where people are going to either think this is genius or be horrified.

I'm in the camp where I think it is pretty much genius, but that it is genius in the form of something other than a mockumentary.  I'm not sure how you would really classify this. But this definitely grabs your attention.

Good writing skills on display.  Best of luck with it.
Posted by: Pleb, August 22nd, 2021, 6:39am; Reply: 5
First one I've read and that was erm, unexpected.

Nice writing, obviously very creative, but unfortunately I found it really hard to follow.

Didn't get many laughs from me either (other than the automated voice) but maybe it just went over my head I don't know.

Still, well done and good luck.
Posted by: JEStaats, August 22nd, 2021, 4:48pm; Reply: 6
This was a challenging read for me. Never understood who Z.B. was or was supposed to be. I honestly didn't find it to be humorous either. Way too dark material for comedic fodder. All in all a very strange piece right from the get go. Interesting approach for a title page too. I almost called you out for have an 11 page entry until I realized what it was.

I applaud your creativity with this entry. Certainly a different mix of style - good work, writer.
Posted by: Warren, August 23rd, 2021, 7:53pm; Reply: 7
Hi writer,

Good craftsmanship on display, the writing flowed well and I saw everything you wanted me to.

That was dark, right up my alley :)

Pushing the limits of a mockumentory, but it just slips in in my books.

It's not going to be for everyone but I enjoyed it and enjoyed the dark humour.

Nice one.

All the best.
Posted by: mmmarnie, August 24th, 2021, 9:35pm; Reply: 8
Wow...this is super creative. I didn't really get a mockumentary vibe though. That being said, I really liked the animation part. There is an awful lot going on, it was kind of sensory overload for the page count. I didn't get all of it. But whoever wrote this has an incredible imagination...and a dark sense of humor. LOL. Impressive but for me fell short on the genre.
Posted by: khamanna, August 25th, 2021, 6:53pm; Reply: 9
ahaha, dark and fun

A lot of work went into this one.

I don't know what to suggest, it's an itsy bitsy much for me. I think it would be much more interesting to watch it instead of reading.

But the dark humor worked, so I did laugh and enjoyed it. In fact it's in my top two and I read 7 I thikn so far.
Posted by: LC, August 25th, 2021, 9:37pm; Reply: 10
Can't say I laughed, but I was enthralled - perhaps 'absorbed' is a better word.

Vividly constructed, but some of those visuals (despite being exposed to them throughout my lifetime) are pretty hard to take, especially set against the absurdist animation in an attempt to counter the grim?

This read more as satirical cautionary tale to me than mockumentary - lest we forget.
It still qualifies imho, though some might argue it skirts the brief. Might it have worked better as straight mockumentary if it dealt with neo-nazis alone? I dunno, maybe that was the point.

I couldn't get my head around who Z.B. was, but I see I'm not alone - thanks, Mark - thought it was just me.

I think interweaving humour with such a dark part of history is a big ask. You had a big task ahead of you.
Honestly, I think you were always going to come up against the problem (with me, at least) of wanting to look away.

I give you top marks for being Inventive, creative, and providing us with a visual bonanza, so well done there!

Posted by: Zack, August 26th, 2021, 12:18pm; Reply: 11
This one is wacky, weird, and creative. Super dark, too. ;D

Definitely pushes the limits of the challenge with the animation bit. Lol

There is clearly a lot more going on beneath the surface here. Feels like I need to read it again to get a better idea of what the Hell is going on here.

No issues with the writing. Humor is dark, but effective IMO.

Great effort here. :)
Posted by: Mr. Blonde, August 26th, 2021, 10:42pm; Reply: 12
I think I get what you were going for, here. The Mockumentary aspect (like, a weird, alternate history, in place of talking heads) seemed to mostly be contained to your act 2. If this is two writers, it explains the fact that this feels like two stories jammed together. The torture stuff shows up briefly, then takes a back seat until the very end. Still, I was along for the ride, though it certainly had its problems.
Posted by: Zack, August 30th, 2021, 10:49am; Reply: 13
Thanks for all the reads and reviews. I'm extremely proud of what Sean and I were able to accomplish with this script. A little bummed at the reception, but that's just me being a bitch, as usual. :P

On a surface level, Z.B. is the gas that was used by the Nazis to kill Jews in the extermination camps. However, Z.B. is also meant to be the embodiment of all the "normal/rational" Germans who went along with Nazi ideology out of fear that they would be targeted as well. It's really fucked up...

Anyways, we clearly missed the mark here. But I've got no regrets. :) Thanks again for the reads.
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