Cucalorus Response

I thought Cucalorus this year was amazing! I was extremely impressed not only with the variety of attendees, and with the film selection, but also with the pure sense of community that has developed around the event. The first thing that I noticed about this year was how normal the area has seems to view a film festival. It is a wonderful thing to know that my school town supports Cucalorus so much. I mean, I never thought I was going to see ‘regular’ people at a festival like that. There were older women with their grandchildren at one showing, and business executive looking men at another. I guess it is easy to assume that the only people who go are the ones that are film buffs.

That said, I will get on to the screenings I attended. I first went to a documentary called Viva la Coopertiva! It was about the start of the Hispanic Credit Union in North Carolina. I learned about the struggles of a minority group to start an organization owned within the peoples’ community. The second film I saw was called 24 Days. It was a narrative based on actual events in which a son is kidnapped and put up for ransom. Eventually he is tortured to death. The shots were beautiful and the story was moving. I thought it was a wonderful combination of complex character development, and a solid, fast-paced story style. Next I attended a series of dance shorts. Some were certainly better than others. I saw quite a few problems in the production line of some of them. I realized that they were experimental in some aspects, but I was still disappointed in the lack of commitment to fully incorporating a theme or motif into the final message of the film; some of the styles or effects just didn’t come across very well in the final products. My fourth screening was VERY different as far as tone because it was a kid’s movie called Labarynthus. It was a German fiction narrative based on a story about a boy who finds a strange video game. The effects were AMAZING!!! I was captivated by the amount of time it must have taken to make the effects look as good as they did. Beyond that, the film was just mediocre. The story reminded me a little of others I have seen, and some of the humor was a little foreign to the audience, although that could literally be a foreign issue if the jokes were encountering cultural barriers. Finally, I went to the Love Shorts at Level 5. I loved almost all of them. They were simple concepts for the most part, but were sold well in their design, visuals, and portrayal. I would say that this was a great programming decision on the festivals part because it was a nice block on which to end the festival experience.

In the end all I can say is that I loved the experience of this festival! I learned things that I never expected or meant. I left every screening wishing my schedule would have allowed me to just stay there all day and hop from place to place. Maybe next year that is exactly what I will do. I would love to have a Pegasaurus Pass next year and get into all the extra events, and meet all the film makers… who knows… maybe next year I will even BE a filmmaker there to enjoy the festival into which my film was accepted.

Outline, 3 Act Structure, and Script #1

Outline

Dance-o-Matic

The story begins when an overly inquisitive man stops to examine a strange large box, that says “Dance-o-Matic” on the side, and simply has a note stuck to the top warning any passersby “Do not push this button”. The problem is that the man is too curious and he pushes the button. The next thing that happens is the machine slaps a mind control helmet on top of him, and the man is then forced to dance in the style of any music the machine plays. Then, after a while of dancing, another man walks by the box. The dancing man gets the second man’s attention, and hands the second man a note that simply says “Help! Can’t stop… it’s box!” Eventually the second man realizes that the dancing man needs help. He first tries to pull the helmet off the other man’s head, and then quickly realizes that it won’t come off and the box must be the answer. After that, the second man starts to beat the box with any objects he can find. The objects become ever more ludicrous, until he finally straps explosives to the box, and it all explodes around them. The problem is solved when the dust settles from the explosion, the box has stopped playing music, and the man who was dancing throws off the mind control helmet, walks over to the machine, replaces a new strongly worded note on the top of the box, and then gives the box a nice hard kick.

3 Act Structure Plotline

·      Act 1

o   Exposition

§  Main Character –

§  Dramatic Premise – A man finds a box that turns out to be a dance mind-control

o   Inciting Incident – When the man pushes the button, and the machine slaps the brain control helmet on him.

o   Plot Point #1 – The dancing man enlists the help of the second man in stopping the Dance-o-Matic from its rhythmic mind control.

·      Act 2

o   Obstacles – The second man must find a way to shut this metal contraption down by any means necessary, but the box seems indestructible.

o   First Culmination – After many attempts to fix this problem by hand the second man sighs and proceeds to up the stakes with his choices of materials with which to open/destroy this box.

o   Midpoint – The second man begins to grab bigger and more powerful solutions to hit the box.

·      Act 3

o   Climax – This would be when the second man starts to grab VERY poserful things to hit the box (Jackhammer and C4)

o   Denouement – The brief time period after the C4 has been ignited, and the dancing man walks over to the box, takes off his helmet, and kicks the Dance-o-Matic.

DANCE-O-MATIC

Written by

J’aime Davies

Created by

J’aime Davies

Character List

MAN #1

MAN #2

MAN #3

A metal box with a painted “Dance-o-Matic” logo on the side and top sits in the middle of a white expanse. There are no other distinguishing factors about the box other than a play button on the top face, and a note stuck above the button that reads “DO NOT press this button!”

MAN #1, texting on his phone, walks past the box. MAN #1 stops, puts his phone away, reads the note, and begins to examine the box.

After a few seconds of touching the box MAN #1 begins to tap his foot. MAN #1 stops touching the box and so too stops the tapping. This happens a couple more times as his head bobs, and his fingers start to snap. He puts together that the box is what causes the dancing. He is then tempted to push the button.

Hesitant at first, and slowly more persistent MAN #1 covers his eyes and presses the button. Mechanical arms come out of the box, and slam a mind control helmet on MAN #1’s head.

The side of the box lights up with a dance style, and MAN #1 breaks into whatever dance style is on the sides, and he cannot stop himself.

MAN #2 walks onto the scene, wearing headphones, and oblivious to the box. MAN #1 moonwalks past MAN #2, grabs MAN #2’s shirt and gets his attention. MAN #1 tosses a note to MAN #2. MAN #2 reads the note, which says, “Help! Can’t stop. It’s the box!”

MAN #2 runs after MAN #1 and tries to rip the helmet off. The helmet is too tightly strapped so

MAN #2 walks over to the box. MAN #2 presses the play button a few times, but nothing happens.

MAN #1 continues to dance in the foreground while we see MAN #2 in the background trying various pulling methods to open the box.

MAN #2 kicks the box and it changes the genre of dance to Salsa. MAN #1 assumes a ballroom dancing position and begins salsa dancing around the box. MAN #1 grabs MAN #2 and starts to Salsa with him. MAN #2 pulls away

MAN #2 grabs a sledgehammer, and jackhammer. He dents the box, and damages it, but MAN #! Keeps dancing.

MAN #2 straps C4 to the box and blows it up. This explosion is enough that it stops the Dance-o-Matic.

MAN #1 stops dancing takes off the helmet and throws it to the ground. MAN #1 walks back up to the box, grabs the original note from the top of the box, writes something on it, and slaps it back onto the top of the box.

The note now reads, “No, really! Trust me, DO NOT press this button!”

MAN #1 kicks the box in a fit of comical triumph.

Blackout

MAN #3 is standing in front of the box. The machine shutters back to life in a glitch-like fashion. The lights flicker back on, and just as MAN #3 is about to push the button MAN #1 runs into frame, and tackles him.

Blackout

Credits

MAN #1 dances and interacts with the credits as they roll by.

Fade to black

Character Bios and Treatment

Working title: Dance-O-Matic

Character Bios

Considering this is a very isolated event we do not really dive to far into the characteristics of these characters. We also are not really inclined to become intrigued with the backgrounds and histories of the characters. Their personalities are what will be predominately portrayed through the action of the scene.

Dance-o-Matic

Just a box that, when someone pushes its button, will slap a helmet on the person and make them dance continuously.

Man #1

Man in his mid twenties. All we can gather from his character is information based on what he is wearing, and his body language. He seems to be young and hip. Wearing clothing that would suggest he is outgoing, and fun.

Man #2

Looks to be shyer. He wears glasses, and is holding either a book, or multiple books in his hands. His clothes are certainly more sophisticated in appearance than Man #1.

Man #3

Only on set for a matter of seconds, but he is wearing a jogging suit, and has ear buds in his ears as if he was jogging.

Treatment

We first see a metal box with a painted “Dance-o-Matic” logo on the side and top. There are no other distinguishing factors about the box other than a play button on the top face, and a note stuck above the button that reads “DO NOT press this button!” A man, texting on his phone, walks into frame and past the box. As he is almost past the box he notices it and he stops. He puts his phone away, reads the note, and begins to examine the box.

At first nothing happens, but after a few seconds of touching the box the man’s foot begins to tap. He stops touching the box and so too stops the tapping. This happens a couple more times as his head bobs, and his fingers start to snap. He puts together that the box is what causes the dancing. He is then tempted to push the button. Hesitant at first, and slowly more persistent he eventually covers his eyes and presses the button.

Mechanical arms come out of the box, and slam what looks like a mind control helmet on the man. We get a zoomed angle of the box and see the sides light up with a dance style. The man breaks into whatever dance style is on the sides, and he cannot stop himself. He is now a slave to the box. After a few styles another man, seemingly oblivious to the box walks into frame. Man #1 moonwalks past Man #2, grabs his shirt and gets his attention. Man #1 tosses a note to Man #2. Man #2 reads the note, which says, “Help! Can’t stop. It’s the box!”

At this point Man #1 looks tired, and is starting to slump in his movements. Man #2 runs after Man #1 and tries to rip the helmet off, but while he pulls, the dancing man continues to move. The helmet is too tightly strapped so Man #2 walks over to the box and examines it. He presses the play button a few times, but nothing happens. Man #1 continues to dance in the foreground while we see Man #2 in the background trying various pulling methods to open the box.

Man #2 kicks the box and it changes the genre of dance to Salsa. Man #1 assumes a ballroom dancing position and begins salsa dancing around the box. At one point he grabs Man #2 and starts to Salsa with him. Man #2 pulls away and eventually works his way up to grabbing a sledge hammer, and jackhammer. He dents the box, and damages it enough that it finally conks out, and shuts down. Man #1 stops dancing takes off the helmet and throws it to the ground. Man #1 walks back up to the box, grabs the original note from the top of the box, writes something on it, and slaps it back onto the top of the box. We see that he has simply made it now read, “No, really! Trust me, DO NOT press this button!” He then kicks the box in a fit of comical triumph.

Blackout

The scene fades back in and another man is standing in front of the box. The machine shutters back to life in a glitch-like fashion. The lights flicker back on, and just as the third man is about to push the button Man #1 runs into frame, and tackles him.

Blackout

The credits will be a playful arrangement of either just Man #1, or the first two men dancing and interacting with the credits as they roll by, but it will be presented most likely with black titles in the same white non-descript room as the main storyline.

Fade to black