I'M MAKIN' A MOVIE, and I need YOUR HELP!!!

[Kazansky]

That's right, you heard me-- A MOVIE. Not one of those 30 min long downloadables. A real 1 hr. long featurelength comedy film. It's for my class project, and my cast will be my classmates. Now, I already have the idea, but I have some things lacking.

THE STORY: The student is fed up with the abusive rule of the new principal, in particular the new sanction imposed on people who continue to have recess inside the classrooms. In some bizarre twist of fate, the principal laughingly decides to let the student government run the school for exactly one week to see if conditions improve.

WHAT I NEED-

THE TURNOVER TO THE PROVISIONAL GOV'T: How is it supposed to happen that the principal, being of sound mind and body, decides to turn over his school to a bunch of teenagers?!

COUNTER-REVOLUTION: The provisional government will suck, so a bunch of students and Citizens Army Cadets rise up against them to battle them with slingshots, sticks, fireworks and every sort of concievable weapon that a teenager can muster that doesn't kill anybody. How does this come into play?

THE CHEERLEADERS: I hate them. I wanna make fun of 'em. Any suggestions??

[Black.Ice]

Hmmm... I know this isn't what you asked for, but being into film make sure you split your movie into the following 3 parts:

Part 1: Introduction
.... Which Leads to a "Big Event"
Part 2: Rising Conflict
.... Which leads to a "Climax".
Part 3: Conclusion

The problem with home made movies is that they have good ideas, but jump all over the place. Follow that skeletal structure, and it'll make it "watchable". If I get ideas, I'll let you know.

[Kazansky]

What I really need is material for jokes. Can someone pleeease help me?!

[Spdstr]

Hmm... You HATE cheerleaders you say? Well, you could always make em kissups to the principle, but also make them ALL REALLY KLUTZY. Like they're doing a pyramid and then you say to the girl on top that she's fat and she gets mad and the whole pyramid falls over (better have people that know how to fall without getting hurt though.

Member,
~ Spdstr

[Schwitzer]

THE TURNOVER TO THE PROVISIONAL GOV'T: How is it supposed to happen that the principal, being of sound mind and body, decides to turn over his school to a bunch of teenagers?!
The principle, growing increasingly annoyed with the students screaming that he's unfair, offers them a chance to show that they can do a better job. He fully expects the "provisional government" to have no control and to fail miserably, in which case he can take over the chaos and do the rhetorical, "There, ya see? Now shut up."

COUNTER-REVOLUTION: The provisional government will suck, so a bunch of students and Citizens Army Cadets rise up against them to battle them with slingshots, sticks, fireworks and every sort of concievable weapon that a teenager can muster that doesn't kill anybody. How does this come into play?
Umm... at the start of the movie you can probably have it so the provisional government is a mess and that things are eventuating exactly how the principal intended. Then you need some turning point whereby the government undergoes some sort of change and becomes extremely effective, whereby the principal realises his play is coming apart and tries to launch it back into chaos, maybe?

THE CHEERLEADERS: I hate them. I wanna make fun of 'em. Any suggestions??
Cheer, cheer! Yell, yell! Who cares who wins? We're all going to hell!
An army of shallow, image-obsessive bimboes is always a popular way to slander cheerleaders.
"But Katie, what are you doing? Don't you know that if you don't always put makeup on before leaving the house no boys will ever look at you? You know what you need? You need a make-over!" *squeals* :P

[EdvardMunch]

One hour ain't feature length...

You say the provisional government will suck and will be overthrown? Then it's possible the provisional government is made up of kiss asses to the Principal, and so the Principal is letting kids he trusts take over as a PR stunt ("See? I can be nice" is the Principle's rationale).

Another option is that the Principal gets into an accident (something hilarious I'm sure) and is left in a hospital bed or in a coma or something. Normally, the vice-principal would take over, but due to the budget cuts (another aspect of school life to mock), there isn't one. Instead, the school charter states that the student govt is to take over. The cheerleaders, meanwhile, will serve every form of pep event, not just sports. They will cheer on the Principle, the student government for replacing the Principle, the lunch menu, the budget cuts, etc.

It might also be fun if it turns out the cheerleaders are only acting stupid, and they're actually a legion of super-geniuses who have always planned to overthrow the school government. They'll attempt to seize power during the student riots, and will succeed. It would be a fun way to end the movie, with the cheerleaders issuing their new edicts over the intercom.

If you put the Principle into a coma, you might have fun with soap opera-esque coma fantasies. Have him give a kid detention and the kid screams out NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! and acts all melodramatic.

I can't really think of any decent jokes... here's one about an English test:
- Our hero is told to read a short passage of a story, which spans several pages. Next, s/he is faced with questions like "What is the significance of Paul's shoe? (Hint: It has to do with George's F-Bomb earlier in the story)" "Q. Why did Sarah eat her own liver? A. She was hungry." "Relate the incest cannibalism scene to a similar experience in your life."
(EDIT: Another joke!)
- The cheerleaders stand in the hall, watching the riots and getting ready to take control of the school.
Cheerleader 1: Hey! This is just like...
Cheerleader 2: Animal Farm?
Cheerleader 1: I was going to say the Russian revolution, but Animal Farm works too!

[Schwitzer]

Actually, I quite like Edvard's ideas. I'd run with them, if I were you.

[Dezzick]

Have the cheerleaders wear mini skirts as well, things about 24-6 inches long. :smirk:

[hammocksleeper]

Amateurs shouldn't be making hour-long films....you wouldn't want to sit through a bad film for that long, would you? Plus it's difficult todo. But if that's your assignment then good luck. :)

[Black.Ice]

Amateurs shouldn't be making hour-long films....you wouldn't want to sit through a bad film for that long, would you? Plus it's difficult todo. But if that's your assignment then good luck. :)
That's why I gave him an outline.

You know Kazansky, I hope you do well. But I think it may turn out to be slightly stupid. I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I just haven't seen one good student developed hour-long film.

Let me know what kind of comedy you're going for? Slapstick or the ironic, diologue comedy. I'll come up with a few jokes for you.

[EdvardMunch]

Who cares about the reputation of student filmmaking? Every film has a fair chance for success or failure.

The play is the thing. Take the time to write a good script, ask around for critiques, come up with something you like, and then don't let anyone change any part of your script (not even the teacher. My 11th grade history teacher once told me to dumb down a script I wrote for a class skit. I ignored him and the skit turned out fine). The movie itself is simply an extension of the script, and most movies suck because they have crappy scripts. Serve no master but your own ambition. You are not doomed to failure.

[Kazansky]

Thanks guys. By the way, I've already started making a script. Only the first page, though. Oh, and the actor playing the student body president really talks like this-- so it's gonna be hilarious. People laugh whenever he opens his mouth in real life. We are still debating over the issue of whether he has a mental disease or not because he calls flowers "sweetypusses" and trees "anus" ergh... go figure.

SCENE 1: Scatman’s victory

Narrator: Hi. My name is George. I’m just a regular student in this school. I try to get along with people, and they try to get along with me. That’s what this school is all about—community. We make each other laugh, we help each other out, and some of us just don’t care. We’re very diversified. You would agree with me if you went to my school.

As a student body, we’re united, we think as a whole. We also like to laugh as a whole. And another thing about us—we don’t really give as much importance to school matters as the teachers actually think we do. This is exactly what happened at president Scatman’s election. No, I did not stutter, his name is SCATMAN. That’s right, the guy who’s walking up the podium right now with that big stupid grin on his face. Ohhh no… I think he’s gonna start talking…

Scatman: Hello everybody!
All: HI SCATMAN!!! (laughter)
Scatman: WOW, I can’t believe that I actually won the election, there were so many candidates that I was going against!
All: WOW!!!
Scatman: And there were so many people asking for a speech… they all wanted to hear me talk, am I that popular? WOW.
All: WOW!!!
Scatman: I thought I was going to lose to that candidate named “Batista”. WOW.
All: WOW!!!
Scatman: Anyway, I’m the president, so I get to do stuff like anything that I want to, and be happy all the time! WOW.
All: WOW!!!
Scatman: So as president, I’m going to give you all flowers and butterflies!
(cricket chirp)
Scatman: WOW!!
All: WOW!!!

Narrator: And THAT was our president. A week after the start of the election, his opponents in the polls didn’t even want to campaign any more because they wanted him to win, just for laughs!

(It sucks, don't it. I'll be putting most of your ideas in, don't worry.)

[bluemicrobyte]

Alright heres my advice:


Treat it as a normall essay - make drafts, revisions, feel free to cut scenes, or add them as needed.
Pay close attention to technical details such as lighting, sound quality, basic theater rules such as don't upstage people, etc.
DONT SHAKE THE CAMERA
As I said before, treat it like an essay - in fact a good way to start would be to write an "hour long" essay and then film it. Either way, make revisions and make sure you re-arrange the clips so they are perfect.
bloopers are good :P
hmm what else........definately make sure you have good lighting, angles, etc.

I'll post more as I think of it.

[Kazansky]

Thanks, bmb. Oh, ah... one significant problem... we can only use university grounds for the filming. Last year they allowed us to use areas outside the school. Someone ended up getting fucked. Oh well...

[Demon_Child]

Well, there goes the Blair Witch Project type of film idea.

[Kazansky]

That was my original plan. Winner last year was also a horror flick.

[bluemicrobyte]

Thanks, bmb. Oh, ah... one significant problem... we can only use university grounds for the filming. Last year they allowed us to use areas outside the school. Someone ended up getting fucked. Oh well...so? none of my guidelines involved going off campus

[Kamikazie190]

I'm sure theres a back room somewhere you can use for some kinda 'secret revolutionary meeting'. Also, bottle rockets make excellent teenage weapons assuming you know what your doing (AKA give at least 30 ft from your target and expect it to go 30 feet in either direction).

Alot of school humor is usually just making fun of something stupid that someone slips or having the same thing said about someone over and over again.

Also, your president sounds like my class president. Make sure he has glasses, never stops talking, and takes every joke seriously. Also make sure he has no friends, save one like him. Then you'll have my class president.

Some teachers or classes also make good humor. I have a band teacher who is as crazy as the students, a mad scientist type of chem teacher who goes overboard with everything, and a drunkard computers/careers teacher.

[Kazansky]

Our chem teacher is 4 feet tall. :D