waiguoren the dianying 2

bob - Sounds pretty lonely. Anywho part of the buzz that comes from art is the shared experience of it. The breaking down of barriers. The realization that this "thing" affects others in a similar way at least insofar as it causes the same tears, laughter, discomfort, excitement etc. I don't imagine solipsists make very good artists.

By the way this is the sort or dialogue that might be interesting for the film. Of course it would have to be translated into Mandarin and reherased. I concieve of this movie of ours as being loosely scripted with loads of room for improvisation. Something like a good English class.

Tigerman - bob wrote: I concieve of this movie of ours as being loosely scripted with loads of room for improvisation. Something like a good English class.

Or like a good Grateful Dead concert.

Tetsuo - So does the Taipei Idiots movie actually exist? Or is this all just hypothetical?

Screaming Jesus - I have the perfect opening.

NEWS REPORT: White guy is led into police station, hiding his face under his coat. Police lead him past protesters who pelt him with eggs. They are all beautiful young women.

"It's not what it looks like!" he protests. "It's not like that at all!" The camera zooms in, then goes all fuzzy in a flashback.

AIRPORT: Scenes of same white guy leaving airport, checking into hostel, applying for buxiban jobs....

to be continued! (maybe)

bob - Tetsuo - I am not certain that hypothetical is exactly the right word. Delusional, phantasmagorical.....

Screaming Jesus - I like the way you think. However it must be remembered that this is a "no budget" movie we are making and as such the logistics will need to be kept to a minimum. In fact I was thinking this afternoon about scrapping exteriors all together and just lighting one interior space really well.

From what I know about story telling what you need basically is a few compelling characters thrown into some conflict with each other, nature or themselves. This conflict drives the story and the story drives the dialogue. If we can put together some characters and then give them an interesting goal or conflict then action and dialogue should flow from that.

So if anyone has any ideas for an interesting scenario... I was thinking that perhaps they could be sitting down to hash out a translation of some short stories or something. Of course the translations would have been done ahead of time. Anyway what we need is good convo. Perhaps the same thing could be done inside a car as a the "parcticipants" head toward some fateful destination or other.

We could make a thread out of writing the script.

Tigerman - I've no ideas for the script... however, if you wish to get some money, just have showings of the movie in a decent sized place. Advertise them as free admittance... lock the doors after everyone is inside and then charge people to get out when the movie is over.
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Slartibartfast - Will there be some spooky twist at the end like the 6th Sense ? The foreigner can turn to be not an American. They'd never expect that.

Xpet - bob wrote: In fact I was thinking this afternoon about scrapping exteriors all together and just lighting one interior space really well.


Yes, good, I like it, very symbolistic indeed. Scrap the exterior, scrutinize the interior. As it's a no-budget project, why not make it a monologue by some lone translator talking to himself while doing those thrilling short stories, meandering off now and then in all sorts of maybe unplanned directions, all well lighted of course! I have an old lamp I could loan you for free. Xpet.

Xpet - Slartibartfast wrote:
The foreigner can turn to be not an American. They'd never expect that.

Vicious plot, gotta love it!

Screaming Jesus - I know! It could be a 12-step group, "foreigners anonymous!" where we tell each other how we try to overcome our problem (being foreigners). That would let it take place in one nicely-lit room.

bob - I admit that I am powerless over bignosedness and turn my will and my life over to five thousand years of Chinese history and all of the wisdom, truth and beauty that entails.

I think Jesus will be coming up for co-writing credits soon.

P.S. Iris and friends. Yes I am bob. The guy you met this evening. There is little doubt in my mind that your lovely countenances would be exceptionaly well recieved if and when we ever figure out what we are doing here.

bob - Do you know how sometimes you get an idea, or somebody gives you one, and the more you think about it the more brilliant it in fact appears. Well, I am having one of those moments just now, Thank you Jesus!

O.K. lets assume for discusion sake that we are making this film for a Taiwanese audience and our purpose is to make something unique, suprising, thoughtful, multi-dimensional, nuanced, dialogue driven...
Could there be anything much better than the idea Jesus came up with(not certain that he was serious actually but that doesn't matter). We could easily come up with loads of insightful, sometimes sincere, sometimes tongue in cheek dialogue. The twelve steps would give structure to the film and at the same time introduce Taiwanese people to concepts that I know would be interesting to them. If each character did one step with commentary from his Taiwanese sponsor we could cover an enormous amount of territory and introduce enough characters to keep the whole thing fresh.

Most Taiwanese I think are just as tired as us of the stereotypical view of both westerners and themselves. This would give us an opportunity to demonstrate that we actually understand and feel this culture and at the same time poke a bit of warm hearted fun both at ourselves and at them.

I'll be honest this started as a bit of a joke. I just wanted to see what kind of creativite impulses I could stir up. Actually now though this seems at least remotely feasible in the real world.

Tigerman - I think its a spectacular idea, and I think Screaming Jesus' approach is brilliant. I just wonder if the Taiwanese are familiar with the concept of the twelve-step reform process... if they are not, that part might fly right over their heads.

bob - Exactly. It will be a challenge to introduce the 12 step concept particularly within the context of a farce. I wonder though, does it make any difference if the audience comes away with a clear understanding of the traditional twelve step process? Perhaps some curiosity would be enough.

If someone could post the twelve steps that would be terrific. We haven't covered cut and paste and the institute yet and they need to be re-written and translated.

Perhaps the film could begin with a little scroll by that tells the story of little billy or somebody struggling with his big ego and tendency to criticize each and everything he encounters. Tell the story of how uncontrollable his life becomes as he alienates more and more people and becomes so lonely and despaerate that he begins to contemplate suicide.

Then along comes his salvation in the form of the Dali Lama's "Art of Happiness" which is given to him by a woman who later becomes his mentor in B A (bignose annonymous).

Cut to meeting room. Participants slowly wander in, mingle a bit ( I almost said chit chat!) and eventually take there seats in front of a big mirror. The camera would face the mirror as well so the entire thing would be shot with each of us able to see ourselves and the rest of the group simultaneously. Under the mirror and off frame we could put some cliff notes. Everybody gets one stage to discusss and, in a break from AA procedure, his/her speech is followed by a commentary from his sponsor.