More Delays & Structure Plan

I won't be able to work on OTSS 2 until next Thursday, which is the last day of my screenwriting class. I have two short screenplays to write from now until then, so my attention is on that for the moment.

As I work on the other screenplays, it gives me more ideas and experience to make OTSS 2 better, which makes me happy. I am now considering all 3 OTSS films to be a single story, and the structure will likely follow as such (instead of 3 separate stand alone films). I suppose the term 'sequel' is a little misleading here. OTSS will be act 1, Delusion will be act 2, and part 3 will be act 3. (For the record I have already titled part 3, but I don't want to reveal it yet.) Ultimately, the story will be watchable in it's entirety as an hour long semi-feature. I will also probably edit them together into a single film sometime (as a separate, bonus download).

The trickiness of releasing the acts separately will be that Delusion may not have a clean resolution. I suppose it's not really a big deal since it's meant to be watched as a whole anyways. And since it is a short, I don't need extraneous subplot to fill in the gaps, and just focus on the core story.

I'm really excited about this production. My only worry is if I will be able to get any crew members at all. We will see!

Those Bastards!

Last night I saw Revenge of the Sith. I was sad. Not because of the movie, though, I loved it very much. There was a plot point in there that I was planning to use for OTSS 3. It was almost exactly how I was going to do it. Now the trouble is, do I keep it, or change it? It was really a major part of the plot (of OTSS 3), so changing it would mean changing the entire story around. I wouldn't have cared if it were some obscure film, but this is friggin Star Wars. Everybody and their grandmother will think that I stole it from ROTS.

Though it's not an entirely original concept on its own, I really liked it and it worked well within the story. I don't think I will rework it, but I will probably try to change it just a bit, and disguise it somehow.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid and it's not really a big deal.

Soon

I haven't been able to work on the treatment due to other things. Fortunately things are wrapping up, and I'll be able to get this done very soon! Two nights ago I did some massive brainstorming and came up with a lot of solutions for the plotholes. Exciting. Strangely, I have an outline for OTSS 3 practically complete, but the second half of OTSS 2 still remains a mystery. My goal is to solve this mystery within the week. :)

I've been worrying about how I'm going to acquire animators and modellers for this. I don't think advertising on the internet (machinima.com and the like) will do much. I plan to make printed advertisements and post them at schools. However, that may not work either because it's summer...

I did plan to do some of it myself, but that would mean I have to spend time learning new programs. And it won't be as good as someone who does it specifically. I had planned to use motion capture for OTSS 3 but if I cannot acquire good animators, I may have to go with it for OTSS 2 as well. That will probably cost a lot of money... money I don't have.

Purpose

What are my goals with OTSS 2?

To simply continue the story? Bump up the action? Make it as deep and complicated as I can? Totally head off in a new direction?

I think I want parts of all of the above. Obviously the plot and characters are a priority. The action scenes formulate in my head in between coming up with plot and character. As I go further and further, I sometimes wonder if I'm straying too much. By wanting to focus on the plot and characters so much, I tend to lose out on the events of OTSS 1 and lack continuity. By thinking up ambitious action scenes, I wonder what the focus of the picture actually is. The perfect film would have both of these elements equally, but most, if not all films, usually focus on one or the other. And those that attempt both usually fail.

Perfect explanation ofwhy I need two sequels. By focusing on the plot and character on the second film, I can clear the way for the heavy action in the third film. That's not to say that the third film will be action only - the biggest plot points will probably be saved for the third film. I suppose that's why this is taking so long: I really need to flesh out the backstory and the events of parts two and three in order to complete any one version.

I really want to take the audience on a ride. In the movie world, there aren't a lot of things that equal the experience of watching a damn good character-driven film. Simply put, it's addicting. This is the basic idea of what I wanted for OTSS 2. OTSS 1 provided an interesting set up for the rest of the story. Not from a plot point of view, but from a character point of view. I don't want to spoil anything, but what goes on and what doesn't go on between these characters gives many rich options to where the story can go.

What I have written so far seems a little too basic within those options, and I hope to explore the more original ideas within them as I continue writing.

Often as I write I feel trapped. Trapped by my own story. I've killed off everyone in OTSS 1 except for the protagonist. This really requires that I make up all new characters, with the only link to the first story being Andy. One of the greatest things about a sequel or a trilogy/episodic saga are (in my opinion) the recurrence of characters. Not necessarily the world, the technology, etc., but the individual. For me it's just magic. It works, regardless of where the story takes us. We've grown familiar with the characters, and we're ready to follow them on this new journey.

Unfortunately, most people will never be happy with what the filmmaker puts out, because they have their own vision and expectation of what the film will be. The goal, I suppose, is to avoid that. Make the film so good and realistic in terms of character, that the audience accepts it for what it is.

Some of the coolest things with trilogies are the introduction of characters. For me, a brief introduction, or a subtle mention of the character in one part, then the real introduction as a main character in the next part, is for some reason extremely satisfying. Especially if we're left intrigued by his first introduction. It may not be original, but you get the idea:

In part one, the hero hears of the great legend who saved the universe 50 years ago and is inspired by him... in part two, the legend shows u p and joins the hero's cause to save the universe once more.

These kind of things are what I mean by trapping myself with the story... by killing off everyone in part one, I cannot let the characters drive the plot - they're all dead.

Can I use that to my advantage?

Ahh.

Fortunately I realized this not long after I started OTSS 2. Otherwise I think the story would have been a giant mess at this point. I think the story will keep everyone on their toes. I don't think many people will be expecting the story to go off in the direction I'm planning... or at least I hope this is the case.

I write as if I have thousands of fans... obviously I don't, but it keeps me going. :)
Back to the treatment...

History of OTSS

I've decided to keep a production journal of my productions from now on. This way I'll be able to look back and remember everything I did, especially since I have a terrible memory. I think I will also make this public after each film's release, so that other people may read and learn from it. Perhaps if I can write it in such a way that does not reveal too much about the film, I can make it public before release... but we'll see. I will try to update on a daily basis, or at least every day that sees production. I should be taking this time to actually work on the film, but I know I will thank myself later for having written this.

A brief history about Only The Strong Survive and how the sequel came to be. It all started on a trip to New York, December 2003. On that trip I was in the planning stages of editing my Max Payne 2 tribute (on paper). This was still early in my decision to pursue film. I haven't shot anything besides a silly home movie done with friends that never got finished. I've done two trailers before this time, a Matrix Revolutions fan trailer and a Max Payne tribute. I knew I wanted to do the Max Payne 2 tribute very early on. I considered the first two trailers to be practice for the Max Payne 2 tribute, because I wanted this one to be amazing. I wanted to blow people away with it.

Only The Strong Survive was originally concieved of as a live action Matrix fan film. As a huge fan of the Matrix trilogy, I was very disappointed in the quality of the fan films avaliable on the subject. Instead of complaining about it, I wanted to take action into my own hands and make a film I wanted to see. I was such a newbie then; I knew absolutely nothing about film. And yet there I was, imagining an ambitious action blockbuster and expecting to do it with no crew, no actors, no budget, no experience, and no knowledge.

Fortunately, I reconsidered. So as I was working on a shot list for the Max Payne 2 tribute in New York, something clicked. Realizing that the Max Payne games were very much influenced by the slow motion techniques of John Woo and the Matrix films, and realizing that I had set up action scenes with an external camera for my Max Payne tribute, I put two and two together. I realized that I can use the game engine in that fashion to create the film that I wanted. I had already planned to do some impressive action shots for the Max Payne 2 tribute, and so I thought, all I had to do write a script, and make the entire film in that fashion.

Around the same time, Rockstar Games announced a modding contest for Max Payne 2, with a machinima category. Machinima? What's that? I read the description and realized that it was exactly what I was planning to do: a movie shot in the game engine. Worried that I might not win or be considered due to copyright issues, I quickly changed the idea from a Matrix fan film to an original idea. Thus, Only The Strong Survive was born.

Then I discovered machinima.com. I had seen the old Quake movies back in the day, but I hadn't realized they still existed. I had no clue there was an entire community doing this stuff. I was very excited, but a little afraid - now I had an audience for my film beyond the undersized Max Payne community. I met Ricky Grove through the forums of machinima.com, explained my plans, and met him in person a month or so later. That's when I felt the project become much bigger than what I had planned. In terms of scope, the film itself always remained the same. But the idea of it, the plot, and the characters, just grew on their own.

The final line of OTSS was there from the beginning ("I'm going to find the Organization..."), but the entire end sequence was changed to better suit a sequel (and to make more sense).

The very, very first version of OTSS (that no one has seen) had Andy and Ryan as brothers. Brown and Andy go through the chase, and corner the target in the apartment. The target reveals himself as Andy's brother. Andy has to choose between shooting his brother, Ryan, or shooting his partner, Brown, who wanted to shoot Ryan regardless of blood ties. Though I think it was a decent idea, it lacked the depth to go any further and I could not come up with a decent ending.

In the first complete version of the script, I liked it much more but there wasn't much conflict. The standoff happens as it is in the final film. At the climax of the standoff, Brown and Ryan reveal that Andy was set up because he asked too many questions and knew too much. There was no "test". As they explain what's going on, Andy becomes infuriated and shoots Ryan before he can react. Brown fires on Andy, and they have a short, violent battle. Andy kills Brown, and Andy vows vengeance on the Organization for brainwashing his partner and best friend.

You can see how the ideas evolved into what it is now.

During the standoff Brown and Ryan explain everything about the Organization and what they do. Later in production, we decided to cut this line out and make it more mysterious, and save the explanation for the sequel. I'm glad we did, because it was not a very good description.

Much of what changed for the final version of the script came through in rewrites and rehearsal sessions with the actors, including the idea of the "test". With the rewrites, there was now much more character and purpose for revenge. It was never as ingenious as I wanted it to be, but overall I liked the script very much, and it all worked.

I had such a great time during production that it was almost certain that I wanted to do the sequel. To be honest, the trilogy was a random idea, but as I began thinking of scenarios, I realized that I needed two more films to tell the story. Unless I wanted to do a feature length production, but I wasn't ready for that. I'm still not. Shortly after the release of OTSS, I began brainstorming for ideas for the next installment. I asked many people what they thought would happen in the sequel, but I didn't get much input.

I've been brainstorming ideas to this very day. Although I've started the treatment three months ago, I still don't have anything set in stone. I have a very rough idea of the beginning, middle, and end for both parts 2 and 3, but the details remain unclear. I hope to have the treatment done in two weeks so that the script can be written and we can start production this summer. Maybe I should stop hoping and start doing, but unfortunately I have like 10 other things I need to take care of.