exciting.
So. Joe wants me to tell people my idea and get feedback. But I don't want to... so I'll blog it instead.
I'm moving in about three months, and I have to get rid of the piano I've had since I was about six or seven. And I REALLY like it.
SO. The piece is about a piano, but the piano is a sort of metaphor for everything being left behind... memories, etc.
The piano is the centerpiece of the story. I want to show sort of the development and "life" of the piano... I want to somehow show a little kid playing, then have a teenager-sort-of person who can actually play playing it. I also want to have different items and music on top of the piano... starting with little kid kind of things and really easy beginners music all the way to things like cell phones. car keys, and really difficult music.
I want there to be cuts between shots of things like that - people at the piano, things on the piano - and actual shots of the piano being played, with piano music going along with it.
The problem: Joe wants words. I don't. I think it would be awkward and rough. And I don't know what the words should be (Joe wants me to interview my parents about the piano and about me playing it when I was little. I don't like that idea that much).
So I have to figure out the sound and what I'm doing for it.
At the end of the piece, I want to have a shot of the piano in an empty room, and if the timing works out, have a shot of movers coming in to move the piano and taking it away. The final shot will probably empty corner of the room where the piano was, probably during the morning so you can see the shadows and light coming in from the window and stuff... it'll look cool.
That's the basic idea.
Any comments or suggestions of any kind, good or bad, are incredibley appreciated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I like your stuff a lot. Sorry Joe, i dont think an interview would work, but i do think some dialougue is necessary. How about people talking to people while the exist with the piano. Little kid nagging "i want to play now"; Kid who's really good stops abruptly to catch up with a girl "hey hold on" You, or a parent touchinng the keys and saying "i'm really going to miss this thing", and someone responding, conversationally. I think that you are setting a mood of melancholy, and it needs some life breathed (is that a word?) into it. That means people moving- living- around the piano, and dialogue with what the piano means at its center. If any of this makes sense to you, try to encorporate it. Good luck!
i like the idea, i think you could make this a very emotional piece if you dont want dialogue then you need to know what kinds of emotions the actor would have to be conveying which may be more difficult than incorporating a bit of dialogue. If the music played throughout has the ups and downs that capture emotion then it would give the piano life.
I too see the great potential of this piece. Showing how over time, this family has grown around this piano, interacting with it in different ways will allow the audience to recognize the underlying connection they have with this artifact, in turn seeing the poignancy of leaving it behind. As far as the "sound" issue it became apparent to me right away that the potential for meaning here goes beyond interviews and dialogue--what about music? Why shouldn't we hear this story from the POV of the piano itself and thus use the tone / sounds of the piano to show a change in mood. This isn't to say that "dialogue" on the part of the humans couldn't be used as well. At this point you've pretty much heard all the arguments so all you have to do is make the decision ...Good Luck!
i'm tottally stalking your blog/eavesdropping/busting in on on a convo but i agree with "oli." You should have background dialouge to suit the different times of a kids life that interrupt/preface/intercut/give background to the piano "patricia its time for dance! (w/ keys jingling in bkground and actor in a leotard playing piano, maybe rose in her gymnastics outfit) "need to practice" I don' wanna! I wanna play outside/meet ____/watch Rugrats/Pete and Pete/Clarissa Explains it all" , car screeching up "Julia's here" "I'll be back by 11/1am/3am" , sound of mom making dinner/cookies, sis watching TV, maybe a shot of kid passing piano on morning of 1st day of school, coming home disheveled & dropping her bag next to the piano, making a snack & coming over to practice, another shot of kid dresseed for the beach in the summer, leaving for vacation shot, ect. One shot of the piano getting run into/tipped over/accidentally scratched (wear and tear). you clarinet, or just reeds on top of it (practicing jelousy? a clarinet/guitar/piano triangle? :) ) shot w/ a camera on top of the piano. you could also do background music to fit the times (toddler music -> n*sync/backstreet boys/spice girls ("hey turn that off i need to practice!" or a shot of you playing along with it when bored? - rock music - jazz music - classical, to fit mood and music being practiced.
"Any comments or suggestions of any kind, good or bad, are incredibley appreciated." hope this falls under "good/bad" and not in an unmentioned 3rd category. :D
c u tomorrow
-Mer
Post a Comment