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Post by jacobj on Dec 17, 2023 19:54:05 GMT -7
I hope everyone enjoyed watching Victims! This was probably the most difficult film I've ever written for the studio, especially given it contains subject matter that's hard to explain, especially since I'm not black or a PoC. Regardless, I felt like I had a message to share and a story that went with this film, so hopefully, I was able to balance both as best I can.
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Post by jacobj on Dec 18, 2023 19:02:41 GMT -7
Initial thoughts: The box office is irrelevant, I’m just happy that the film did well with critics. On to Madeline!
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Post by meiradtako on Dec 20, 2023 3:30:18 GMT -7
After reading the Top 10 with Sherman J. Pearson, i just realized that this community (is it the right word to call jt?) Have been going for years, i was still in the tenth (or early eleventh) grade when i join this after being obsessed playing HMS and now im in the last year of my college.
I hope this community keep going strong in years to come!
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Post by jacobj on Dec 20, 2023 11:26:57 GMT -7
After reading the Top 10 with Sherman J. Pearson, i just realized that this community (is it the right word to call jt?) Have been going for years, i was still in the tenth (or early eleventh) grade when i join this after being obsessed playing HMS and now im in the last year of my college. I hope this community keep going strong in years to come! That's insane. I've been at it since senior year of high school. Now I'm a college graduate hoping to publish my own works at some point! |
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Post by wyattallen on Dec 21, 2023 20:34:44 GMT -7
Even though the reviews for The Untitled Paul Nichols Project are quite positive and I'm really happy it could return a profit, (I was scared I was going on a bad run after Ruthersville) I really wanted to reach out for this one as I feel like I need your help.
How could I have turned this movie from decent to great?
I probably could have / should have played more into the meta-ness but it honestly wasn't my main focus on this one. I wanted to portray a lonely man who feels a bit disconnected to the people around him, wanting to be really good at something to get the recognition he always wanted but never really got from other people. I wanted the main character to drift more and more into his dream world, replacing his reality. The real writing and the craft to go along with it turns into an afterthought for the protagonist.
How could I have explored those themes better?
A lot of my movies got criticized for not creating an emotional connection to the main character, this has been a recurring point in the reviews to my movies. And even though I would say I made a lot of progress since my debut season on here, I still think it's something I'm pretty bad at.
How can I create depth to my stories and characters to get the viewer/reader emotionally invested?
Just to clarify I'm not questioning the reviews. The opposite is the case, they are pretty much a reflection of what I think of my movies too. It's just frustrating for me because I want to be a really good writer, but I feel like I'm falling short again and again and I honestly don't know how to turn it around.
If any of you has any thoughts on that please let me know, I'm thankful for every response. Also Merry Christmas to everyone!
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Post by John Malone on Dec 21, 2023 21:02:11 GMT -7
Even though the reviews for The Untitled Paul Nichols Project are quite positive and I'm really happy it could return a profit, (I was scared I was going on a bad run after Ruthersville) I really wanted to reach out for this one as I feel like I need your help. How could I have turned this movie from decent to great? I probably could have / should have played more into the meta-ness but it honestly wasn't my main focus on this one. I wanted to portray a lonely man who feels a bit disconnected to the people around him, wanting to be really good at something to get the recognition he always wanted but never really got from other people. I wanted the main character to drift more and more into his dream world, replacing his reality. The real writing and the craft to go along with it turns into an afterthought for the protagonist. How could I have explored those themes better? A lot of my movies got criticized for not creating an emotional connection to the main character, this has been a recurring point in the reviews to my movies. And even though I would say I made a lot of progress since my debut season on here, I still think it's something I'm pretty bad at. How can I create depth to my stories and characters to get the viewer/reader emotionally invested? Just to clarify I'm not questioning the reviews. The opposite is the case, they are pretty much a reflection of what I think of my movies too. It's just frustrating for me because I want to be a really good writer, but I feel like I'm falling short again and again and I honestly don't know how to turn it around. If any of you has any thoughts on that please let me know, I'm thankful for every response. Also Merry Christmas to everyone!
I liked the film a lot, but if I have to kind of think of things I would try to improve to take it up to that next level, here's what I came up with:
I think you could have played more with the juxtaposition between the main character's reality and dream world. I think a bit more specificity in each world could have helped a little bit, and I think you could have pushed them a bit further apart and each world a bit more extreme and unique from each other. I also think that it may have made the ending better if we had another scene or two to explore the aftermath of his actions further (in both reality and his created dream world).
I actually thought that your main character here was a lot easier to connect with than some of your previous main characters. I think everyone has wanted to be noticed for the things they enjoy doing (writing for your character here). So even though he ends up being not so relatable by the end, he has wants and needs that we can all relate to. I think you nailed all that with your main character in this one. I would have liked to see a bit more of his relationship with Haley Lu Richardson's character though (even if it only goes further in his head).
All in all, The Untitled Paul Nichols Project is one of my favorites of your filmography, but hopefully my thoughts above can help with future projects. And Merry Christmas to you as well (more of a Festivus man myself though)!
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Post by H.G. Hansen on Dec 21, 2023 21:02:31 GMT -7
Even though the reviews for The Untitled Paul Nichols Project are quite positive and I'm really happy it could return a profit, (I was scared I was going on a bad run after Ruthersville) I really wanted to reach out for this one as I feel like I need your help. How could I have turned this movie from decent to great? I probably could have / should have played more into the meta-ness but it honestly wasn't my main focus on this one. I wanted to portray a lonely man who feels a bit disconnected to the people around him, wanting to be really good at something to get the recognition he always wanted but never really got from other people. I wanted the main character to drift more and more into his dream world, replacing his reality. The real writing and the craft to go along with it turns into an afterthought for the protagonist. How could I have explored those themes better? A lot of my movies got criticized for not creating an emotional connection to the main character, this has been a recurring point in the reviews to my movies. And even though I would say I made a lot of progress since my debut season on here, I still think it's something I'm pretty bad at. How can I create depth to my stories and characters to get the viewer/reader emotionally invested? Just to clarify I'm not questioning the reviews. The opposite is the case, they are pretty much a reflection of what I think of my movies too. It's just frustrating for me because I want to be a really good writer, but I feel like I'm falling short again and again and I honestly don't know how to turn it around. If any of you has any thoughts on that please let me know, I'm thankful for every response. Also Merry Christmas to everyone! Bro, I don't remember what your film is about but I'll give it a once over to give you my brutally honest, brass tax, right hand on the Bible other hand up, "nothing but the truth, the whole truth, swear to God" of opinion. But my advice (whatever it's worth nowadays) to your writing, just keep working on it, man. There are exercises you can do to help it out. Maybe write about something that happened to you and build from it. Doesn't have to be the 110% genuine article but just something to help you connect to it better. Just my take... |
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Post by wyattallen on Dec 21, 2023 22:30:28 GMT -7
Even though the reviews for The Untitled Paul Nichols Project are quite positive and I'm really happy it could return a profit, (I was scared I was going on a bad run after Ruthersville) I really wanted to reach out for this one as I feel like I need your help. How could I have turned this movie from decent to great? I probably could have / should have played more into the meta-ness but it honestly wasn't my main focus on this one. I wanted to portray a lonely man who feels a bit disconnected to the people around him, wanting to be really good at something to get the recognition he always wanted but never really got from other people. I wanted the main character to drift more and more into his dream world, replacing his reality. The real writing and the craft to go along with it turns into an afterthought for the protagonist. How could I have explored those themes better? A lot of my movies got criticized for not creating an emotional connection to the main character, this has been a recurring point in the reviews to my movies. And even though I would say I made a lot of progress since my debut season on here, I still think it's something I'm pretty bad at. How can I create depth to my stories and characters to get the viewer/reader emotionally invested? Just to clarify I'm not questioning the reviews. The opposite is the case, they are pretty much a reflection of what I think of my movies too. It's just frustrating for me because I want to be a really good writer, but I feel like I'm falling short again and again and I honestly don't know how to turn it around. If any of you has any thoughts on that please let me know, I'm thankful for every response. Also Merry Christmas to everyone!
I liked the film a lot, but if I have to kind of think of things I would try to improve to take it up to that next level, here's what I came up with:
I think you could have played more with the juxtaposition between the main character's reality and dream world. I think a bit more specificity in each world could have helped a little bit, and I think you could have pushed them a bit further apart and each world a bit more extreme and unique from each other. I also think that it may have made the ending better if we had another scene or two to explore the aftermath of his actions further (in both reality and his created dream world).
I actually thought that your main character here was a lot easier to connect with than some of your previous main characters. I think everyone has wanted to be noticed for the things they enjoy doing (writing for your character here). So even though he ends up being not so relatable by the end, he has wants and needs that we can all relate to. I think you nailed all that with your main character in this one. I would have liked to see a bit more of his relationship with Haley Lu Richardson's character though (even if it only goes further in his head).
All in all, The Untitled Paul Nichols Project is one of my favorites of your filmography, but hopefully my thoughts above can help with future projects. And Merry Christmas to you as well (more of a Festivus man myself though)!
First off I'm really glad that you liked it. I think with his created dream world part I didn't want to go too much out there with it. My initial idea was to keep them pretty close together to maybe even keep the viewer guessing on what is real and what not. But in retrospective, especially in the later parts of the movie I should have gone a bit more "extreme" in his dream world, making it really stand out from the reality and maybe even showing how disconnected Paul is from the real world. I see how that would have worked better than what I ended up with. I feel like I have problems with finding a good ending, this time is no difference either. It definitely is a bit rushed and could have used a scene or two more this time. In the end I was running a bit out of ideas. Good to hear that you feel like I am getting better with the connection to the main character. I'm trying to really work on it with my latest projects. Definitely should have added more to the relationship to Richardson's character. Thank you very much for your response, this does help a lot. I actually had to google what Festivus is, Seinfeld isn't that big from where I'm from |
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Post by wyattallen on Dec 21, 2023 22:32:16 GMT -7
Even though the reviews for The Untitled Paul Nichols Project are quite positive and I'm really happy it could return a profit, (I was scared I was going on a bad run after Ruthersville) I really wanted to reach out for this one as I feel like I need your help. How could I have turned this movie from decent to great? I probably could have / should have played more into the meta-ness but it honestly wasn't my main focus on this one. I wanted to portray a lonely man who feels a bit disconnected to the people around him, wanting to be really good at something to get the recognition he always wanted but never really got from other people. I wanted the main character to drift more and more into his dream world, replacing his reality. The real writing and the craft to go along with it turns into an afterthought for the protagonist. How could I have explored those themes better? A lot of my movies got criticized for not creating an emotional connection to the main character, this has been a recurring point in the reviews to my movies. And even though I would say I made a lot of progress since my debut season on here, I still think it's something I'm pretty bad at. How can I create depth to my stories and characters to get the viewer/reader emotionally invested? Just to clarify I'm not questioning the reviews. The opposite is the case, they are pretty much a reflection of what I think of my movies too. It's just frustrating for me because I want to be a really good writer, but I feel like I'm falling short again and again and I honestly don't know how to turn it around. If any of you has any thoughts on that please let me know, I'm thankful for every response. Also Merry Christmas to everyone! Bro, I don't remember what your film is about but I'll give it a once over to give you my brutally honest, brass tax, right hand on the Bible other hand up, "nothing but the truth, the whole truth, swear to God" of opinion. But my advice (whatever it's worth nowadays) to your writing, just keep working on it, man. There are exercises you can do to help it out. Maybe write about something that happened to you and build from it. Doesn't have to be the 110% genuine article but just something to help you connect to it better. Just my take... Thanks for the response! I think this is the direction that I'm already going with this one and also with the projects I'm currently working on. Way more based on personal experiences and feelings than the movies that I've started out with I would say I personally connect pretty much to the main character, but I just feel like I'm having problems really expressing it to the viewer. Writing more definitely helps but I just felt like I needed some input on what points to really focus on to get better. |
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Post by H.G. Hansen on Dec 21, 2023 22:45:42 GMT -7
Bro, I don't remember what your film is about but I'll give it a once over to give you my brutally honest, brass tax, right hand on the Bible other hand up, "nothing but the truth, the whole truth, swear to God" of opinion. But my advice (whatever it's worth nowadays) to your writing, just keep working on it, man. There are exercises you can do to help it out. Maybe write about something that happened to you and build from it. Doesn't have to be the 110% genuine article but just something to help you connect to it better. Just my take... Thanks for the response! I think this is the direction that I'm already going with this one and also with the projects I'm currently working on. Way more based on personal experiences and feelings than the movies that I've started out with I would say I personally connect pretty much to the main character, but I just feel like I'm having problems really expressing it to the viewer. Writing more definitely helps but I just felt like I needed some input on what points to really focus on to get better. You want someone to give you notes or at least their critique, I'm always happy to read and give my opinion to someone free of charge. (Mostly due to my undying love of story tho) |
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Post by Jimmy Ellis on Dec 24, 2023 1:47:57 GMT -7
QUESTION:
I loved writing Thorne, loved being in the pirate world. My question is would you guys rather see a sequel of Thorne with his new crew, or a totally new pirate story?
Not saying either will happen but which would you rather
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Post by THE REAL LON CHARLES on Dec 24, 2023 7:12:05 GMT -7
QUESTION: I loved writing Thorne, loved being in the pirate world. My question is would you guys rather see a sequel of Thorne with his new crew, or a totally new pirate story? Not saying either will happen but which would you rather My vote would definitely be for Hardy's Thorne to return rather than some new pirates. He's a great character. |
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Post by Jimmy Ellis on Dec 24, 2023 13:38:04 GMT -7
I did enjoy creating Thorne barclay
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Post by jacobj on Dec 31, 2023 10:57:30 GMT -7
How fitting that the last film of 2023 also happens to be my last film of the season. Hope everyone is enjoying Madeline!
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Post by joshcollins on Dec 31, 2023 17:22:18 GMT -7
I think it was Chad Taylor that wrote or co-wrote Duke Nukem. That critic said it reminded them of Last Action Hero and when I read through it again I can't unsee it lol. Was it loosely inspired by Last Action Hero, or were they just seeing a totally different movie? 😂
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