Blakes7 April 2001

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70 participants
295 discussions

Recasting again
by Caveatemptor1＠aol.com 10 Apr '01

10 Apr '01

<< Drool? Me? No, no, no - we speak of the Alan Rickman in the hushed tones of reverence; no drooling allowed. >> Who is Alan Rickman??? Thanks

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Recasting again
by J MacQueen 10 Apr '01

10 Apr '01

>Who is Alan Rickman??? I left this, Caveatemptor1(a)aol.com's actual question, off the previous post. Let the moral be: don't post after a late lunch until you've actually digested it. I think. Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Recasting again
by J MacQueen 10 Apr '01

10 Apr '01

>From: Caveatemptor1(a)aol.com ><< Drool? Me? No, no, no - we speak of the Alan Rickman in the hushed tones >of reverence; no drooling allowed. >> Well, go on, Mistral, give details in a suitably hushed and reverent manner... Regards Joanne "Brother Deeta, all you stand for Endangered on your way to Vandor See the hatred in her eyes Come through all the friendly lies And even this is no surprise Maybe your faith in Man it dies" --Filk fragment _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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writer and director
by Alison Page 10 Apr '01

10 Apr '01

Interestingly I've been discussing the question of division of responsibility between director and writer with various real-life writers and editors over the past couple of weeks. The input of actors is also important of course, particularly in the B7 world, which changed so much under so many influences, over the four seasons. One interesting issue which has come up is the difference the traditions of UK/Europe and America (sorry, don't know about Australia/nz). It is my feeling that the British tradition emphasises dialogue much more, coming as it does on a strong and high status theatrical tradition. This has changed quite a bit over the past thirty years, with greater emphasis nowadays on telling a story through visual cues as well as dialogue (cf 'Trainspotting') , but obviously B7 comes well before this time. An American script editor I was talking to (by email) yesterday, said to me that he felt the British tradition was as he put it 'proscenium oriented', which has advantages and disadvantages. I think the advantages are that the strong emphasis on dialogue forces strong characterization, and a drive towards wit. On the other hand (as we can see in B7) it may damage the credibility of the action sequences, as insufficient thought is given to developing them. I thought you might be interested in this comment that he made, too, which I think illuminates an interesting aspect of the B7 style. >>>I don't think one should leave the choreography or staging or blocking entirely up to the director. Most directors will appreciate a solidly blocked, staged and choreographed action sequence. Done well, this saves them a ton of work. They don't want you doing their work, but they do want you to do yours, and this includes writing a filmable scene in which actions and behaviors are clearly articulated. A director may choose not to use your design, but usually only when they see a better way when on the set, which often happens. If you are describing action, movement and behavior as it unfolds temporally on the screen, you'll have to do some design to ensure that it can indeed be performed and filmed. You'll have to think about that and reflect what you think in your writing. The last thing you want is a scene that's devoid of any consideration of choreography or staging, <<< I think this is a potential defect of the B7 style, the lack of choreographing of action sequences. And perhaps it is because nobody - not writer, director or actor, is taking sufficient responsibility to define it. Here's another comment, from a different email. >>>a play, whether written for exhibition on the bigscreen, television, or the stage, must possess some theatrical qualities. Many scripts I evaluate lack theatrical qualities, which degrades their overall value and effect. In many ways, the frame of the film is like the opening of a proscenium stage. For example, in theater, entrances and exits are important to scene beginnings and endings, and are often used to signal a beginning or an ending. Yet I see scripts all the time that end on the last word of the last speech, with no indication of what happens thereafter. In most cases, this is mistaken; few scenes end on the last word of dialogue, there's almost always something that occurs after the last word has been spoken -- a character reacts with a look, a character exits, two characters embrace, and so on.<<< Whereas here, I think he is talking about a virtue which B7 does have in abundance, a marked theatric quality, with (often) good scene resolution. I'm sorry this is a long post, but I thought this might be of interest to some people Alison ********************************************************************** This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the system manager. This footnote also confirms that this email message has been swept by MIMEsweeper for the presence of computer viruses. www.mimesweeper.com **********************************************************************

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Re: [B7L] Writer and Director
by Alison Page 10 Apr '01

10 Apr '01

Tavia said - >One thing I wonder is if there's a difference between UK and Europe here. >I'm supremely unknowledgeable in this area, but I've seen a lot of European >films which are incredibly visual and fairly low on dialogue. oops yes, you are absolutely right. It was reflex to lump Britain in with Europe on this, just because I tend to on everything, but in fact I guess the traditions are quite different, in terms of film. TV I don't really know. A

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Re: [B7L] Recasting again
by J MacQueen 09 Apr '01

09 Apr '01

>From: Jacqueline Thijsen <jacqueline.lyst(a)jthijsen.demon.nl> >Servalan: Hmm, tough one. Brigitte Nielsen comes close for sheer self >possession, but not for style. On the evidence of the second Cave of the Golden Rose movie, I can only agree... >Avon: Alan Rickman. <evil grin> Oh dear, Mistral will be drowning us in drool at any moment! And Jacqueline, did you really want the entire Lyst to be imagining Vila carolling "Are you free?" to Avon and Blake? Be a nice opportunity for Blake to make a speech about freedom, though... Regards Joanne _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] Mission to Destiny-- another thought
by Jenny Kaye 09 Apr '01

09 Apr '01

Harriet wrote: >Jenny wrote: >>The "Ortega." Since Holmes, Boucher and Nation are all so smart at >>working >>in subtexts like the Aftermath thing or the Gan as sex-killer thing that >>Fiona mentioned in her last post, it would have to have been named after >>Jose Ortega y Gasset. > >Oh... I always thought it was something to do with Daniel Ortega. Since one was a socialist and one was a fascist, and we should "treat these two imposters just the same," perhaps he meant both.... Jenny _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Mission to Destiny-- another thought
by Jenny Kaye 09 Apr '01

09 Apr '01

The "Ortega." Since Holmes, Boucher and Nation are all so smart at working in subtexts like the Aftermath thing or the Gan as sex-killer thing that Fiona mentioned in her last post, it would have to have been named after Jose Ortega y Gasset. According to Encyclopedia.com: (1883-1955) Spanish essayist and philosopher. He studied in Germany and was influenced by neo-Kantian thought. He called his philosophy the metaphysics of vital reason, and he sought to establish the ultimate reality in which all else was rooted.... But it was with The Revolt of the Masses (1929, tr. 1932) that Ortega gained international fame. He held that unless the masses can be directed by an intellectual minority, chaos will result. Relevant to the discussion on Mission to Destiny, and how when they found the crew they were all asleep, and then they were wandering around making up complicated explanations until Avon started providing answers? Jenny _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

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Re: [B7L] who shot who
by Alison Page 09 Apr '01

09 Apr '01

Iain W said - >If we look at series instead of individuals there is a steady increase in >killing (as the plots got thinner ;-/): >Series 1 - 15 >Series 2 - 25 >Series 3 - 39 >Series 4 - 55 Now that is a very striking statistic, thanks for doing the work to compile it. It might equally plausibly be as the plots get grimmer, or as the people get more desparate. >I haven't counted up the villans kills >yet (or the single show guests). I'd be interested to see what that looks like. >Also - lots of people get killed by the >gang in series one and two when they are blowing up various installations - >but these are hard to count. I think big anonymous kills by the heroes or by the baddies, have more impact on the audience than the writers probably thought. But I know you can't count 'em very well Thanks anyway Alison

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Fwd: Re: [B7L] Mission to Destiny (was Terry Nation as Writer)
by Kanna Ophelia 09 Apr '01

09 Apr '01

And again... <sigh> Forwarded Message: > ----- > <wail> I object! > > > Thing is, Agatha Christie is actually not that great a writer, and as a > > result comes up with impossibly convoluted plots. > > Now, now, "Orient Express" is not a fair example. (I'll admit that one is crap, > although it made a fun movie. I believe she wrote the outrageous solution on a > dare, anyway.) > > Agatha Christie's *detective story* plots, when you break them down, are > sometimes unexpectedly simple. The beauty of them is that she is very good at > distracting you from that fact, so that, no matter how many times Miss Marple > or Poirot or whoever says that in cases of murder they generally look to the > husband or wife, or look to where the money is going, you forget to do so > yourself... And her other talent is for playing against your own expectations > of the genre, so that the murderer is often someone not generally considered to > be on the list of suspects. > > Against the admittedly convulted "Death in the Clouds/Air" and its ilk, you > have to set the skilful simplicity of, say, "Crooked House," "The Murder of > Roger Akroyd," "Murder in Mespopotamia," "Endless Night" or, damn, blanked out > on it name, the one with the poison pen letters... > > As for her writing... I honestly think she's underrated. Her grammar was > sometimes a little off, she repeated words, but her writing has a vivid, > concise quality that many "better" writers can't achieve, and her dialogue and > humour is wonderfully observed. I particularly like the way Poirot becomes more > Gallic whenever he doesn't want people to pay too much close attention to > whatver sneaky thing he's doing/saying... And she doesn't roll around > gratuituously in violence or police procedure, which are my major quibbles with > the crime genre. > > As for the solutions - it's a cute convention, and highly in accord with > Poirot's character. :) > > Of course, her thrillers suck... > > In a way, Nation's > > "Occam's Razor" line seems to be almost a way of having a go at that-- a > > sort of way of saying "only idiots come up with solutions that complex..." > > :). > > But, actually, Christie follows the Occam's Razor approach (which I'm grateful > for the explanation for) quite often, she's just an expert at red herrings. > > ObB7 - um, I *liked* MtD, probably becuase I *am* fond of the genre, although I > found Avon's interaction with Sara a touch troubling... That's just a vaguely > remembered impression, I'd have to see it again to figure out why it rang > wanring bells in my mind - there was something, not as blatant as the Pella > stuff, but enough to bother me. But then, I'm one of the very few B7 fen who > neither fancy nor identify with the anal retentive <swallows rest of sentence > in terror at rabid Avon fen.> Give me Vila any day... > > Or Soolin, but that goes without saying. :) > > XXX Kanna-Ophelia > Femmeslash: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/femmeslash > The Pokeslash Playground: www.tvheaven.pokemon.com > Diversion Tactics: > www.geocities.com/diversiontactics > --------------------------------------------- > This message was sent using One.Net's Mail Man. > http://mailman.one.net.au --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using One.Net's Mail Man. http://mailman.one.net.au

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Blakes7 April 2001