One last bit before I'm off....

Hat Trick contacted me about recording an opening message for the film. I am not going to do it. I keep thinking of all the work I've put into this over these last months. All the stress I put myself under to make something that spiraled out of control and turned into something I dislike. I dislike the way it is written, I dislike the actors, I am frustrated at how much crap I had to go through just to get a result I am truly disappointed with. I haven't seen it, but I don't need to. Even if it ends up being the best film in the world…everything I wanted, everything I created, everything I wrote is gone. I have absolutely no connection to this thing. Surely my ideas helped shape it, but it is no longer shaped like anything I want to be involved with. What is in my head, what I envisioned for this...just didn't happen.

I put out nearly six months of constant effort, constant work, constant fighting because I thought I was going to see what I saw in my head. Hear what I heard in my head. But things do not work that way, life doesn't work that way. I don't want to have an argument about the dialogue, or about the actors, or about Bryony. These actors are not my characters. They don't sound like my characters; they don't look like my characters. They don't say things my characters would say. But the truth is they are not MY characters. They are OUR characters, and I have no business acting like they belong to me. I have no right to act as if they've been taken from me. But I DO feel that way. I really, really, really, really do.

I am disappointed, and that is the end of it. My opinion is my opinion, and I am not going to argue with anyone about anything. I'm done, it's over.


I am not blaming anyone. I'm not blaming Bryony, I'm not blaming Mitch, I'm not blaming myself. And I'm not ANGRY about it either, I'm just diasppointed. It's been a good experience that I've learned from and I really have nothing to be mad about in the end.

All I am saying is that what I hoped would happen did not, so therefore no one will be seeing or hearing anything from me on Thursday.






So, in conclusion,

Everyone have superfuntimes at the screening and whatnots...
Anddd....I appreciate this opportunity, and thanks and...I've met some super cool people that I hope I can work with in the future.

If any of you ever need me, you've got my email. Hit me up.

Love Fo' Realz,

Alex.

It's a shame that you are going, especially when the forum has become so positive again.

The thing is you haven't seen what we've done yet. You are unfair to say you dislike the actors. It is not a comic book film, there is no set outline for how the characters to look except for Kelly's outfit when she bumps into Abbey outside the tube station.

How do you know if the actors don't sound like your characters? The audition script is very different to the piece we shot the other day. If the characters don't sound like your characters then that is down to the script, not the actors.

You say you don't want an argument, so why bother posting? And why bother saying you don't like this/that?

We've all worked hard, and hopefully everyone will see this on thursday.

Now then now then then now now then then now...
There's an axiom I've heard which I'll paraphrase as I can't remember it verbatim...
'There are three versions of every film; the version you write, the version you shoot and the version you edit, and they're all very different'
You end up looking at what you started with and what you actually end up with, they're never the same.

i dont think this was ever gona be anyone's film. everyone contributes and in some kind of butterfly effect we end up with a big ball of various inputs that makes something unique.
the film is its own film!
:O
im not sure i even understand that statement.. but i always thought this is how it would work out and im glad it doesnt have too much influence from one person or one group of people. its better this way. and it looks awesome.
the actors were perfect.

it's its own film! :O :O
that should be the tagline heh

Good on you, Alexis

I'm sorry you feel so dissappointed, Alexis. I myself in a way feel like the film is totally different from what I had imagined at the start of all this. The film in my mind was some kind of cross between the Sweded films in Be Kind Rewind and the film made in Son Of Rambow, with some zombies thrown in. What has been created over the last few months has been a million times better than anything I had imagined thanks to the dedication and talent of all the MANY people who've had input into this project. From the script to the filming to the editing to the acting. All far outweighed what I ever expected. Everyone has worked to their best ability, something which I don't think I ever expected.

I don't think what a writer writes is ever going to be totally translated onto the screen. The actors, location, cinematography, voice inflection, direction, and editing (and so on) is all going to change what is made at the end of it all. I think one of the things which made the scriptwriting process so painful for all involved is that every tiny detail got worried over, and at the end of it all, the reality is that is has to be filmed SOMEWHERE, and with actual human beings, and that the vision of the writers was never going to be fully realised if only because we don't have a budget to create things from scratch as specified by the writers. If anything I feel like too much was perhaps written, and too much pressure put on the writers to button down each and every moment of the film, (something I never intended, or realised was happening). Whereas the reality of making this, making do with whatever we can get, and film, called for less scripted direction perhaps.

In any case, this is all academic, as the script is done now, the filming has begun, and we have created something which is greater than the sum of it's parts, in my opinion. Of course, were I to try to do something like this again (or if anyone else does), I would take the many lessons learned throughout this project and learn from them! But as they say, hindsight is 20/20. As it is, I am amazed and happy at what we have made at this point in the production, more so than I ever expected to be.


Meh long post.

Surely if something is UGC it can NEVER be true to any one person's image of it? I can understand it would be disappointing to put in so much work and not recognise it, but isn't the whole object of a film that's being put together out of work coming from all over the world that it's a hybrid of everyone's ideas?

That said, i only discovered this even existed a week before the shoot, and by then the script was written so i don't have a particular attachement to "my idea" of how it should be. Zombies are always going to be tricky as everyone has their idea of what a "real zombie" would be, you can never please everyone. The first thing i do as a zombie in the film is scream and in my head zombies don't do that, but hopefully it's still going to look amazing. I'm sure that if you put 6 months of solid work in, even if the characters you envisioned are gone, the final product will have evolved from them in the first place. This has come, in some way at least, from work you did and surely you will want to see it?

I don't care if i get cut out completely, i'll still want to see it as it's something i have been involved in and worked on, and i'm really proud of the small part i've played.

ZombieJesus wrote: The first thing i do as a zombie in the film is scream

Wait...



what?

Last time i remember... we didn't have screaming zombies.

Scream, roar, yell, it works in the scene. It's more that i'm making a loud noise when to me the most a zombie does is moan softly.

Don't let me start a fight over the script though, wait til thursday and see as i had nowt to do with the script, (i'm just a zombie for about 5 seconds!) so i don't know all the ins and outs of what kind of zombies we should have. I haven't see the shot itself but since i was there i feel qualified to say it should look amazing.

Zombiejesus= legend

Zombie Jesus is not a legend. He's real. What's more he visited me in a dream and taught me the secret of eternal life. I can't give away too much but it's all to do with delicious brains.

the scream part it awesome i just saw it. u did a way better job than i would have done
thanks for popping up last minute heh

Thank God, having only seen it first person, and as it was shot as opposed to edited you get no idea how it will actually look. I have an image of it in my head but as lots of people seem to be finding out, that's rarely how things end up.

Why can't it be thursdau already!?!?!?!

I've seen it as well, and i love it.






don't worry it's almost thusday. And don't get all mad at me. I'm in the USA so i can't even be NEAR the screening.


*pouts in a corner*

I get chills every time I see the characters in action during the past two "Bryony Makes A Zombie Movie" webisodes. Of course, I'm not entirely happy with the script, but I'm damn proud of what I've seen so far with the filming. Personally, I think every actor is perfect for the characters we've created. Every single one of them.

My only regret right now is that it may be months and months before I can see a finished scene. Perhaps someone can bootleg something for a lowly writer?

Again, for the record, I'm a very happy boy.

Be Well,
Shane