Author's Choice

I got this idea for an entry because I was reading some Manga...

Okay, in all honesty it was some Hentai...

But I came to a realization...

WE get to CHOOSE what our movie is about!!!

Here's what I mean:

Okay, say we've got a movie about people trying to make a movie.

(Not the most original premise for a film around, but if you're like me, that's what your life IS, lol.)

So what do you want your film to be? Action, Thriller, Comedy, Sex Comedy, Drama?

THAT is where your focus is.

I read this Hentai about a girl who works in the Manga industry. It's a Manga about writing Manga... BUT...

Being Hentai, it wants to be about SEX.

So... The way the author set it up, he had a woman stressed by her job, who really needed to get laid...

Then he has this lower-level flunky who is into this woman come and get intimate with her.

Now, if you're doing an Hentai about someone doing a Hentai, it's easy to make it about finishing the Hentaia...

But...

A Hentai is about forbidden sex... So whatever the setup is, it's really about SEX.

So the fact that the Main Character is a woman working in Hentai is really about setting up her "class" in the hierarchy of Japanese society, so that when she has sex with an "underling" it feels "forbidden".

But THAT is what the Hentai is about: The sex.

The author wanterd to create a lot of scenes having to do with the physical intimacy of sex. So he/she created this setup around trying to produce a Hentai, but what the story is REALLY about is this woman getting laid!

The point I'm trying to make is this: Your movie is about what YOU want it to be about. It doesn't matter what your setup is, if you want your movie to be about sex, you simply linger longer on the sexual aspects of your movie. If you want it to be about action, you linger longer on the action of your story and spend less time on the other aspects of the rest of your story's setup.

The point is: WRITE THE STORY YOU WANT TO WRITE.

Just because you're movie is about a guy tring to make a movie, that doesn't mean your movie HAS TO be about the filmmaking processs. It can be a love story between the leading actors... It can be a tale of valor between the director and the producer... It can be an ensemble comedy about all the different personality types it takes to make a movie...

What you choose to highlight is what your film is about.

So figure out what you enjoy writing, and make THAT what your film focuses on.

:)