Hothouse Week 2: Writing and Rewriting

After a hectic two-day schedule at the NFB in Montreal I booked it back to Toronto and got started with story revisions. I’ve been fussing with my boards for nearly a week and have finally found something that’s close to working.

The seventh edition of Hothouse requires the filmmakers to write to the theme “Here be Dragons” which references mysterious uncharted waters as marked on ancient maps. I took the chance to explore a lonesome man’s missed opportunity in a story familiar to anyone longing to connect in a sprawling urban setting. What is it that makes us so frightened of each other? Why is it so hard to say “hello”?

With 10 specially commissioned music tracks, we were asked to select one that would marry well with our story and explain why. To help brainstorm I went through each track jotting descriptive words and phrases that came to mind as I listened to the music. Some are a bit silly (FF7 and RPGs? I’m clearly a huge nerd!), but the point of the exercise was to get the creative juices flowing. In the end I chose Track 2 for the images it conjured and later found that it was composed by an indie band from Montreal called Pop Winds. They’re very nice fellows by the way. We all went out for dumplings!

Since then I’ve boarded out rough ideas and built a structure from which I will continue to work, late into the night. Then I roll over to my bed and start up again the next day. Working with the NFB is like living in a magic fantasy art world where you're inspired to reach  beyond your best and everyone's there to help each other through it.