This blog is great says Gordon Brown

Well almost

At the NESTA conference the PM said the real opportunity right now is for business to work with creative people. Also that "new ideas are the key to the future of Britain".

So there has never been a better time to do that crazy film idea or odd story telling initiative in whatever form. It is now or never. If anyone says different then tell them Gordon said it was okay.

New ideas - a whole day of it!

On Tuesday I'll be at the NESTA conference - with speakers such as Tim Berners-Lee, Bob Geldof and David Puttnam. It's a change to discuss and hear about new ideas. So obviously had to go. If anyone is going, or is around the South Bank then let me know - I'll be checking emails. Could be afterwards as I'm in town until 7:30.

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Story graph - a new idea to me

Bruce Block loves graphs.

I didn't. But now I do.

Above would be a typical 'action film' graph. A series of escalating sequences that build up the tension and action over time, perhaps with a couple of peaks for a pre-credit sequence in a James Bond style and an extra twisty bit at the end. And I guess that is why I didn't initially value this idea. Because it seemed simple and showed us things we already knew. So what is the point.

But then I found myself analysing my own new script with it. This is an episodic story. But straight away I could see that my episodes weren't in the best order - the graph was flat. And there wasn't enough of a through story to tie them together. Luckily I'm still very much at the planning stage. So it's the right time for bold changes.

It's also a great tool for talking through ideas and plots with co-writers, producers or potential financiers. It is a way to see the flow of the film. Other notes and key plot points can be added as required. Here is my current graph. Obviously its not really for showing at this stage but you can see how I added some extra stuff on there.



Would it work for you? I can't yet recommend it at this early stage. But I say - think on about it. Try it. Or at least have it in your tool kit of new ideas.

Who is Bruce Block and why is he drawing pictures of me?

Over the weekend I went (with fellow Bournemouth film maker Andy Marsh) to a talk by Bruce Block.

One does not always relish getting up at 6am on Saturday but new ideas have to be sought out as one learnt recently.

Bruce does a talk on visual structure. More details on his ideas to follow. Generally I come out in favour of recommending his lecture and he also has a book. But boiled down he is challenging film makers and directors to apply and consider an over riding arc of visual techniques that runs through the whole film, just as scriptwriters have narrative structures and character arcs that run through the whole story.

The reason? So that just as writers, once they have a solid structure, always know where they are going - so directors will now always know where to place the camera and what it should be focusing on.

As I said more to come. For now, a prologue, Bruce's career. He teaches as USC, he lectures around the world and he also producers and advises on films. He was producer on 'The Holiday' but also helped on Stuart Little, Father of the Bride and What Women Want.

For those that say they are too busy teaching to make their own films I say look at Bruce.
For those that are working and say that they are too busy to mentor others I say look at Bruce.

He is a theory guy and a practical guy. In fact he warns of the dangers of over analysing and too much theory with a killer line - dissecting something nearly always kills it. So be life givers, keep writing new things.

Image of discarded acetate sheets - he ploughs through them - this is after 1 hour.
Technorati Tags:bruce block,films,visual structure.

On TV 1.0

See my friends Chris and Pete talk about their no budget short Small Town Folk - and producer Adam talk about local film making. Ironically I was busy doing that interview at Dailymotion so couldn't be interviewed by them! For shame.

Here is the link which is up for a while - http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/realmedia/politicsshow/south/bb/politicsshow_16x9_bb.ram

Start 13 mins in.

When is a big idea not a big idea?

Is an idea right or wrong? Is it big or small?

Is the structure of Memento (as a completely random example) a big new idea, or a small one? That's what a lot of people ask us to discuss. To bring big new ideas. But the problem, but also the good news around this issue is - this needs to be looked at from a different perspective.

You can only judge the amount of meaningthat an idea has to you.

How much meaning or relevance does it have for you? That is the only way to measure a new idea. How much does it mean to you? How much impact does it have - to you? The new feature in multimap. Is it a radical idea, a big idea, a great idea. We cannot say. But if it changes the way you like to use it - then its a good idea. If it changes how you live your life (somehow!) then it's a great idea.

In other words, if you like it, go for it. It's great!

Where do ideas come from? Other clip.

Novelist Amy Tan digs deep into the creative process, journeying through her childhood and family history and into the worlds of physics and chance, looking for hints of where her own creativity comes from. It's a wild ride with a surprise ending.

Although a novelist she also did an uncredited rewrite on The Replacement Killers at the request of Mira Sorvino.



Amy says that in her writing uncertainty is key. But I wonder, in scriptwriting, if the opposite is true. That we are tasked by the audience to lift the contrast of life - to make grey shades more defined, maybe even black and white.

Technorati Tags:amy tan,creativity,Ted.

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New ideas - always a good idea - says the aristocracy

In 1958 Lady Lewisham said how new ideas were the country's best asset - and that the kids were alright. Some things never change. Lady Lewisham is Barbara Cartland's daughter, Princess Diana's stepmum and is a member of the board at Harrods. Make of that what you will.

Technorati Tags:Lady Spencer,Archive film,royals.

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Learning stuff - me clever

So what have I been doing? Where have I been? And does anyone care?

Well they should - damn you! And here is why. I've been learning things and seeing other people learning things.

For a start I spent a full day at the Dailymotion office seeing what the guys there are up to and how they work. I interviewed them on video about the pace of change and how easy it is to fall behind. The video will be on-line in a few weeks time. The rushes are looking fascinating.

They talked about how, today, standing still means that effectively you are going backwards. In the fast paced world they live in, the video web world, we can see that is true. But perhaps we can all see that, in all of our lives. So how do we cope with that? The answer would seem to be simple. It's as simple as keeping your eye out for new ideas and new things going on. The hard part is getting yourself in the position where having your eyes open means that they might actually see something interesting.

Sitting around at home isn't a good place.

But a better example was right under my nose on that very shoot. Helping me out was Stuart Arnott from The Red Planet. Now Stuart is a top producer himself. He doesn't need to come down and help me out. He has better things to do. But in fact Stuart himself has realised that getting out and about, seeing what other people do, how they work - that is a 'better thing to do'. Working with other people, shadowing them is a good place to learn new ideas.

We probably all know the story that Google suggests its staff spend 20% of their time on self development and new ideas.

Do we all do the same? And keep that up? So todays new ideas for film makers is - get yourself in places where you can find more new ideas!

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On Saturday I will be at a seminar by Bruce Block talking about The Visual Story - so expect some insights from that soon. It's about structure, for directors - so a bridge between writing and directing. Maybe see you there.