One thing many writers
struggle with is too much exposition. I can be guilty of doing so, especially
while writing a screenplay where, in order to get subtext or background details out, it easily translates to too much tedious dialogue.
Many years ago (in the
early 90's) when I took a screenwriting course at the University of Toronto, I
was given an interesting exercise to address this issue. Our teacher challenged
us to write several scenes or a short film without using any dialogue. None. Zero
words spoken. Everything had to been
'seen' not 'said'.
Surprisingly, I enjoyed
this challenge. So for my assignment I
wrote a vampire love story that took place over the course of 900 years. It was
a lot of fun to write and I was able to weave my love for historical settings
throughout. I received an excellent mark
for it and my instructor wrote, "I can visualize the whole thing as you
wrote it. Hope you get to put it on screen some day." That comment
inspired me to make it into a short film. The problem was that it would be a costly film to make, with all the
exterior locations and the various time periods. So I tried applying for grants
and getting some funding for it, but anyone reading the script said the same
thing: "Great script but it's too expensive to shoot. It can't be
made."
I then gave up any hope
of making my short film, until a couple of years later when I purchased my
first digital still camera (Kodak DC290). Digital photography was still in its
infancy but I loved the joys of not having to be limited to 36 pictures per
roll and previewing and deleting right away. One fine day I was at a Renaissance
festival, taking many pictures, when a talented singer named Heather Dale appeared
on a nearby stage singing olde fashioned songs.
The combination of her music with the images I had just taken hit me
with inspiration. I would make my short film with just stills and music. It had
been done in the 60's with a French film called "Le Jette" but I
wouldn't be limited by cost of photo development and could do a 20 minute film
without repeating a picture. This camera had great manual exposure control for
night time shoots and I could use Photoshop to recreate the past.
So over the next two
years I shot over 3000 still photos throughout the streets of downtown Toronto
and various other locations. My friend Kirk Teeple composed the music for it to
help tell the story and brought in a colleague to do vocals (still no words)
and add medieval instruments. Ironically, that colleague was Heather Dale, who,
unbeknownst to her, two years earlier helped to inspire the idea.
When completed it was
entitled "First Light" and it screened in festivals all over the
world. Won some awards, too.
Not too bad for a film
that I was told couldn't be made.
It is exactly 10 years
since I completed "First Light" and since it's no longer doing the
festival circuit I've posted it on YouTube for everyone to enjoy.
Here it is: a
900-year-old love story told entirely with still photos and no dialogue or
narration.
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