~ ONE JOURNEY ~

~ There is only one journey: going inside yourself. ~
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Dirty Dancing and the importance of packaging ~ Thursday, March 16, 2006

"Dirty Dancing" was on the channels yesterday (i.e. one of the movie network channels), so I watched it. Very interesting indeed. Though it had felt formulaic in the past--and IMO it has its flaws--it also hit every one of the turning points and a goodly number of the setting and scene structure posts that are outlined in the screenplay books. So, one argues, no wonder it was a hit. But I imagine that there are also many screenplays that hit all those points, but in which the chemistry between the actors, or some other factor just causes it to fall flat as a film.

Still, it's kind of cool to see how such a diverse range of films still end up conforming to the three act (or sometimes the five act) structure. Fascinating.

And, a brief demonstration of the importance of packaging:

http://www.transbuddha.com/mediaHolder.php?id=909

(hopefully the link will work)

Tom sent this to me a few weeks ago and it gave me a chuckle. Very well done, IMO. "The Shining" as a romantic comedy and heartwarming tale. How very interesting!

I'm feeling like I'm on the verge of getting a cold today (sneezy, achy and a little bit of a cough), which is rather frustrating, since I had great plans to go out walking. I may yet do it and hope that the cold holds off. But I'd want to do it from the house somehow--so that there's somewhere to turn back to if I end up feeling too crappy to continue to where I plan to go...

If that makes sense.

I've made some notes about the screenplay. But it's all pretty vague yet. I'm kind of looking forward to plunging into all this planning and stuff, getting the scenes hammered out and so on. I think it will be kind of cool to feel like the writing is the final stage. Though I have jotted down sequences of dialogue as well. The plot has me a little stymied, but I'm hoping it will come.

The Regency's plot also has me stymied, but hopefully something will break through with that as well. Sheesh!
::Posted by Anduril Elessar @ 9:11 AM::::
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