The Action Scene

Lights, Camera... Action?

I've been taking some time to script out some of the more intricate action scenes from the miniseries finale, Episode 6.

Episode 6 has always been a series of action scenes linked together by the narrative established by the previous 5 episodes. The first 5 episodes are meant to explain Rhett's evolution from Derek to Soundtrack and the motivations of his band for staying with him. While Derek Rhett is the main character for episodes 1-5, Soundtrack is the main character of Episode 6.

Most action scenes are typically written and choreographed by, well, a stunt/fight choreographer. Here in Dustin Bell land, I try to do things as cheaply and cut-cornerly as possible.

I've had the songs for the final episode picked out for some time. I've even had action scenes that synched up to those songs envisioned in my head for some time. But I have been finding it extremely difficult to put pen-to-paper and make these scenes more than just a vision. I've been encountering problems in making these scenes seem fluid, essential and entertaining.

I've gotten about ten pages of action scenes worked out for the final episode. Though the vision for the final fight had always been on top of two city sky-scrappers - the realities of shooting a scene like that began to sink in and I had to think of possible alternatives. The only alternative that I really liked was a showdown at a small airport (which just happens to exist in Oro-Medonte!), but I couldn't find a way to incorporate the shot that sets off the epilogue of the series. What I'm left with is two good ideas for the final fight, one with creative flaws and one with production flaws. There's a solution somewhere in the middle of this problem.

I've been running through episode titles for Episode 6. There's a few I really liked;

i. We Stand On Guard (For Thee); This is the main one I liked. One, it's the last phrase in "O' Canada" which I think would make an awesome title. Two, it describes the destination Derek's arrived at in his rivalry with Danielle Parsons. Three, the first episode title is "For Whom the Bell Tolls", which was taken from both an Ernest Hemmingway novel and a 17th century poem by John Donne, which ends in "For Thee". Finally, the pronoun in the title is "We", which doesn't just refer to Derek, but to Riley, Cain, Eddie and Steele who have taken on Derek's cause and given him the encouragement he needs to succeed.

ii. We Stand On Guard; For all the same reasons I liked number one, except that it's shorter and carries the more connotative and ambiguous meaning that Derek has merely become a super hero who will protect... all things that need protecting. It's the less political title of the two.

iii. For Thee; Again, the last words of "O' Canada", the last words of John Donne's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and a reference to why Derek fights. This episode finds Derek in the center of a hornet's test to rescue Eve. Though Derek will eventually fight for preservation of what is Canada, it is Eve who sets him down this path and thus the entire series has been from Derek to Eve, "For Thee".

Send me your input on which one you like the most, or any other title suggestions you may have!

I mentioned above that I've already picked out the songs I'd like to use for Episode 6, regardless of its title, and just to satisfy your curiosity, I'd like to list them;

Tegan and Sara - The Con (The Con, 2007)
Moneen - Don't Ever Tell Locke What He Can't Do (The Red Tree, 2006)
Metric - Gold, Guns, Girls (Fantasies, 2009)
Matthew Good Band - Indestructible (Underdogs, 1997)
The Constantines - On to You (Shines a Light, 2003)
Wintersleep - The Archeologist (Welcome to the Night Sky, 2007)

and maybe
Joel Plaskett - Extraordinary (Truthfully, Truthfully, 2003)

Hope that's enough to interest you in what Episode 6, and in a sense, the whole miniseries will shape out to be. I can't express enough how excited I am to tackle Episode 6 in its entirety, but for now, I'll continue with Episode 5 and give you updates whenever I can.

I had a pretty lousy day today, but it was Monday, so what can you expect? Here's a link to a cheesey band who doesn't realize it's not 1980 anymore - but that doesn't mean the song isn't awesome and relevant to my optimism. Except its a crappy live version - so DEAL WITH IT.

Peace and love ya'll.

The Watchmaker

It's already August 9th; the table read for Episode 3 is this coming Saturday and this week is all about getting that prepared.

I'll be reviewing the script tomorrow through Tuesday, getting final numbers for attendance and then getting prepared for the dinner itself later in the week. Believe it or not this is going to be a ... long week.

I've been filming a bit more for Rogers TV recently. Saw the Barrie Baycats beat Kitchener and move on to the Intercounty Baseball Semi-Finals. Also did a Celebrate the County shoot in Heritage Park. Apparently Barrie has a small Carribana festival, and a steele drum band was playing in the park. It's actually quite a nice area and depending on how the footage is edited, you might see one of the better-kept areas of Barrie. I believe it's on Saturdays at 5pm on Rogers TV, which is channels 10 and 53 on cable. Barrie OHL starts up soon too, and I think there would be something challenging about filming hockey, so I'm excited to be signing up for that. Plus, it gets me into every Barrie Colts home game this season.

I've been writing Episode 5 lately, and have been wrestling with the idea of combining Episodes 5 and 6 together. I'm not confidant that I have enough material to actually make a 45 page script for Episode 6, but I'm sure that overlapping the plots of both would come out to longer than 45 minutes. It's actually been quite the dilemma that hasn't exactly been resolved.

Episode 5 is coming along great so far. It's the first opportunity I've had to characterize Danielle 'Lidless' Parsons as a tragic villain. I had always intended to her to be ruthless, yet sympathetic. Furthermore, the 'plot' of the show has always been about her political machinations, which are revealed in Episode 5. Though it's fun to write, there's also some critical thinking that has to go into this script that isn't exactly present in its predecessors.

Been doing some local travelling lately; was up in the Blue Mountains last weekend and managed to catch the sunrise from a particularly nice view. Was also doing some very-local sight-seeing at the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport, located in Oro-Medonte. I mention these because I think there's a lot of potential in showing the natural resources of this area in the show. Though there's plenty of shows filmed in and around this area, very few shows take place here. I think it would be fun to try and incorporate the Blue Mountains into the narrative of the show somehow, maybe further down the line, just to have an excuse to go out and film there.

I had intended to have August be my big month for blogging, but in full compliance with the law of economics, as a recently laid-off individual, I enjoy spending money I don't have on things I don't need. This involves a lot of unproductive days. I'll do my best to get a full eight blogs out over the next 23 days and see if I can't make that goal of having August be the most productive month for the blog.

Think that's gonna wrap things up for tonight. Hope you all had good weekends despite the return of the wet weather.