The week started, as it tends to, with Monday, and Game Design 2: Electric Boogaloo (I promise not to use that joke anymore ... okay once, maybe twice more, tops). Given that Game Design 1 was one of my favourite classes so far, as it gave me a chance to showcase my main talents (design, writing), I was excited. After the usual about the syllabus, we got down to what it means to work your fingers to the bone and your soul to the brink for your craft: we played a board game. The game was called "Alhambra" which translates roughly to "fortress". The game was about buying small pieces of property in order to craft a large estate. After playing the game, we had a series of analytical questions to answer on it. In all seriousness, I love breaking games down and examining their mechanics, so I was happy to see that this was the kind of thing we were starting out with. I've since completed my PowerPoint for Thursday's presentation, and am happy with my results. Here is a sample.
What I would have done differently pt.2
- Simplified rule-set for beginners (e.g. Pandemic's difficulty levels). We almost gave up before starting when faced with the full rule sheet. Had there not been an assignment, we would have never picked this up for ourselves.
- Give greater weight to the wall designing mechanic. The winner of the game ended up with 126 points, only 12-15 of which were attributed to the longest section of wall that he had built. It made what we felt was the point of the game feel very shallow.
My Wednesdays consist of one tutorial, so I had that day off this week. It would have been animation. Oh, the things I would have moved in that class! Animations occurring left and right, up and down, and some horrifying combination of the four, given the 3D nature of Maya. Oh...we'll get into my relationship with Maya next week.
Thursday was my first animation lecture. After more syllabus stuff, we launched into a very detailed discussion of shots and framing, leading to our storyboarding assignment. It doesn't look too difficult. It was also very helpful for Friday's class (most likely a lot more on that in just a second). After that was GDW, and the less said about that, the better.
Finally came Friday, which was undoubtedly the highlight of my week (keeping in mind I spent all of Monday's class playing a board game). Friday was film making, and I knew as soon as I saw the syllabus that this was going to be where my mind could take sanctuary after all week and not only enjoy some long-forgotten cinema, but also do what it's good at peacefully. During class we watched a string of YouTube videos that showcased the earliest works of photography and film, and also discussed at length the requirements for the course.
Within an hour or so, I had completed the first assignment, which was to either adapt roughly two minutes of an existing work into a two page screenplay, or to just create two pages of an original work (the assignment was basically just an exercise in the screenwriting software). I adapted a short story that I had written previously, entitled "One More Day", about a guy working the graveyard shift at a supermarket when the married woman whom he has a borderline unhealthy attraction to walks in. In the original story, there was no dialogue, which made the friction between the two more subtle. I don't know why but as soon as I put words into the main character's mouth, he turned into a fairly creepy stalker, far beyond the stoic nature of the original character (although the biggest shift towards creepy was probably the paragraph of action before the scene cuts to the parking lot). Below is a sample of both, using the same scene.
Original Story
She walked up to him, a bag of flour in hand, her black hair hanging loosely over her pale face, and her dark sunglasses hiding her gaze. She turned her head shyly to the floor as she silently passed Max her purchase, and slipped some change out of her purse. Max’s arms worked on their own as he envisioned Marilyn, baking some sort of treat to brighten up his day, but was snapped out of his comfort by the sterile beep of the scanner. Without looking at him, Marilyn handed him her coins, and walked off with her bounty before Max could make her change, the opportunity to touch her hand, however briefly, snatched from him in an instant. Max watched as she walked away, wondering when he would be fortunate enough for her to once again provide a moment of solace in his otherwise tortuous schedule. She exited the store, returning to her life devoid of Max, all at once forgetting the encounter that had meant so much to him.
Screenplay
INT.SPEND-TO-SAVE.NIGHT
MAX stands at the cash register inside the empty
Spend-To-Save, reading a magazine. He looks up at the clock,
which slowly ticks past 9:30 pm. The bell above the door
rings and hard shoes can be heard walking across the tile
floor. MARILYN walks up and places a bag of flour on the
check-out counter.
MAX
"Hey, Marilyn. Nice night out,
isn’t it?"
Marilyn smiles weakly, shifting her gaze around the store,
trying not to make eye contact.
MAX
"So, what are you up to tonight?
Something fun?"
MARILYN
"Baking."
Marilyn points to the bag of flour.
MAX
"Oh, that’s great, you know, that’s
really, really ... great."
Marilyn smiles again, shifting her weight, clearly
uncomfortable and trying to avoid conversation.
MAX
"Alrighty then."
Max scans the bag of flour and types some keys on the cash
register.
MAX
"That’ll be $2.49."
Marilyn reaches into her purse and pulls out a small wallet,
from which she takes a five-dollar bill. She places it on
the counter, picks up the bag of flour, and as Max picks up
the bill, begins to walk away.
MAX
"Hey, wait! You forgot your
change!"
MARILYN
"It’s fine..."
MAX
"Oh, well, okay then."
The store is silent except for the sound of Marilyn’s shoes
as she walks towards the door.
MAX
"Good night... Marilyn."
The door closes as Marilyn leaves. Max takes some change out
of his pocket and deposits it into the cash register. He
holds onto Marilyn’s bill, running his thumb along its face.
He cups the bill in both hands and brings it up to his face.
He breathes in calmly, but deeply, closing his eyes. He
drops the bill, and lowers his head onto the counter,
placing his hands over his head. He lifts his head just
enough to see the clock, which now reads 9:33. He sighs, and
lowers it again. I'm probably going to make some minor changes here and there before I hand it in, especially once Professor Lock talks to us on Friday about the ins and outs of the program. Overall though, I'm quite happy with how it turned out, and I think I'd be interested in continuing it's development.
Also, of course, I created this blog! Snazzy, am I right? I think the black background really goes well with my shirt.
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