I was only eleven years old when my parents bought me my first video camera for Christmas. It was just a basic camera, but I wanted to make movies with my friends so I could be like the older kids in my neighborhood that made movies too. Being fans of the videogame “Goldeneye 007”, the movies my friends and I made were often about James Bond saving the world from one incompetent villain after the next. After a few years of making the same movies, the older kids and I decided to go in a new direction with a movie about 1920s gangsters. It told the story of a failed assassination by a mob boss and his struggle to keep his gang together amidst threats from other gangs and defections by his own men. The movie, entitled “The Grahamfather” (after the popular mobster movie “The Godfather” and my friend Graham, who played the mob boss) was our best movie and the only one to generate a true sequel. However, the sequel saw several characters get killed off as the actors that played them left the neighborhood for college and other callings in life.
Several years later, I found myself in college and feeling the need to make movies again. After watching the Grahamfather, I decided to go about making the third and final installment in the series. However, after my attempts to round up members of the original cast provided me with only the help of my brother, I was left wondering if a new Grahamfather movie was even possible. It was then that I realized that not only was it possible, but the possibilities were practically endless. Instead of listening to the older kids from before, I was given the freedom to create a new story, introduce new characters, and give the series a proper sendoff. With a script now written and new kids in the neighborhood willing to work on the movie, all that’s left is to film it and create another chapter in the series that keeps on giving.
Word Count: 342
The Point: Sometimes picking up the pieces and reflecting on the past allows new stories to be told.
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I like where you are headed in this story. I was imagining to visually represent "Goldeneye", you could shoot digital shots in POV and do a sort of stop motion to make it look like you are in the game. Its hard for me to explain but ask me in class if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteI really like that you are talking about the different chapters of your life, I think you sum that up really well with the last line. You are also describing how you came full circle in many ways, you went college ready for new experiences yet you still wanted to hold on to your interests from when you were younger. You may want to start out with a description of Goldeneye so that the reader starts thinking about movies in general without being told exactly what he/she is about to read. just a thought!
ReplyDeleteI personally think that its very intereseting how you want to tell the stories and being nostalgic at the same time. But If I were you I would describe the story further and try to put different analogies in terms of goldeneye or the godfather. I think this would be interesting.
ReplyDeleteShow rather than tell more in the beginning. Think of your description of this time (getting the camera and making the early movies) like a poem. Build the narrative tension. Perhaps describe the bossy nature of the older kids and capture the despair turned to liberation when you wanted to remake the movie.
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