Thursday, April 10, 2008

Scriptwriting 101 "Aristotle's Poetics"

This is something I stumbled on, looking for theory for writing good screenplays.
I remember hearing Matt McDuffey, (the professor in the class that I tried to take twice, and never finished) talk about Aristotle's poetics being at least part of the foundation for good storytelling.
Here you will have it in audio format to glean what you can from one of the great masters, truly he must have been a great orator to gather the masses as he did.

So the question that begs to be asked is:

What can I get from Aristotle to help me with my zombie script?
I will look for that answer with you if you are curious.


Aristotle's poetics here

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Some interesting things you'll find out there

Flexibility and good listening skills, keys to any long term success in the social world.
With unlimited information at our fingertips, many spend their time complaining about someone or some company or... whatever.
Then even more who will read and watch and listen to the complainers because they are doing something, publicly.
The anonymity of global society on the web is changing the way we treat each other, and yet the power of wiki has proven that the truth is important to all.
Therefore I find it difficult to take sides, rather I look for bits of value in every opinion.
Of course I have found some exceptions, here for example are segments from two sides of an argument with value in each message. If you are starting something then you as the social leader, drawing attention by just saying something or starting something, be it posting a video, or starting a business. people will always want to share their opinion.

I say let them, and you will find the bits of wisdom, right there on your screen. Even if they don't like you there is some helpful advice in their message. Swallow it with some humble pie.
So I'm trying to wrap my head around all this theory while surfing through digg, and newsvine and some others I enjoy and find this very interesting topic on marketing and the film industry squeezing every dollar it can from the product of entertainment. Really the burger king or 7eleven is going to pay top dollar to sell those cups shaped like Ironman's head, propaganda obviously to attach the emotional connection of the film with their place of business.(opinion again but well, it's a blog.)


An excerpt from a few inputs and comments on digg.com

EXPOSE: Your "clever" marketing tricks have no effect on me
Written by Anthony Burch

You know what moviegoers really love? Mystery and quality. Look at Cloverfield – after that first teaser hit the Internet, everyone was freaking out about what the movie could be. Might it be an adaptation of the game Rampage? Another Godzilla remake? Will the entire movie be done in one continuous shot?

The trailer was appetizing, yet left many unanswered questions. It looked cool, but we were also confused: that is what makes a great viral marketing campaign. The Cloverfield campaign respected the ability of the viewer/potential ticket-buyer to use their imagination and try to suss out what the film might be about. It piqued our interest, and then left us free to pursue or deny that interest; it didn’t just

thrust a bunch of irrelevant websites from the universe of the movie at us and and continually demand that we be interested. It didn’t beg, and it didn’t assume we’d be stupid enough to buy a bunch of force-fed marketing b----t just because it danced around in a funny costume or pretended to be a political campaign for a fictional character: it was sleek, it was mysterious, and it was intelligent.

So, if you must indulge in some sort of clever, viral marketing campaign, that oughtta be your template.



Later in a response to one of the comments another digger, calling himself Joe:

Get this:

Some people LIKE viral marketing. Did you know that? Some people actually appreciate the fact that creativity is coming back into the media. Some people respect the fact that an advertisement doesn't have to be flashing on a web page, or printed on the side of a bus.

Sometimes an advertisement can be a game. Or a story. Or anything.

C'mon, man. What did creativity ever do to YOU?


This is what we need to remember:
Why do people watch commercials on youtube?
Because many people enjoy good creative marketing, even just for entertainment.
It's okay to be marketing, just be creative and entertaining when you do it.