Your Input on Story Idea

I am currently writing a screenplay called, "The Olduvai Theory". I plan to produce it into and independent video to be played on cable access and local film/video festivals. This is a non-profit effort and just for the purpose of both personal gratification and sending a message about a possible global catastrophe regarding the decline of oil production. What I would like to know from fellow ATS/BTSers is if you were watching a movie about this, what would you like to see happen? What would the conclusion be and what are some of your ideas?

The story revolves around a small family who is in the struggles of a pre-oil crash - a world on the verge of breakdown. The story involves a global agenda of so-called terrorists designing plans to bring down America or a collaberation of conspiratists involved in US government to make this happen. The ending in reality would not be all that happy, but I am wondering your thoughts on how to shed a positive light on this.

I think it would be cool to show that the people in the world that built their homes using wind power and solar energy, and vehicles that run on hydrogen, ethanol or electricity, come out ahead of the game. That would probably be a logical scenario, plus it would send a message that we should start preparing NOW.....

I have been involved in independent film for over a decade now, 6 feature films, and 2 shorts, in everything from acting to pre and post production and if I can be of any assistance drop me a U2U, I'd be glad to help you in any way I can. It pays off sometimes though, I just picked up "Best Actor" at the Wild Rose Film Festival and another film I co-starred in won the Aeigis Award in 1997. Good Luck man, it's a hard row to hoe.
DO NOT SELL YOUR FILM TO SUB ROSA Distributors!!!

magickalworld,

I agree. A part of the video has a scene where the main character is introduced to a type of backwoods living by our standards. This side character is aware of alternative tech and there is some dialog about alternatives to fossil fuels. Got you covered on this one. The storyline on this happens when the main character bails out of his aircraft (C-17 cargo plane during the onslaught of an attack or conspiracy on the US over oil). He drops into a rural country-side where he takes refuge in a farmhouse overnight. The wife and children are home and take him in for a time and the scene changes his opinion on the real reasons for the downfall of society - oil depletion and the hinderance of alternatives. I think this screenplay will be decent and I am trying to include a lot of issues with a good moral story from beginning to end. If you have questions I would be willing to share parts of it.

[edit on 10-11-2004 by ben91069]

id like to see the realisation of suddenley not being able to put fuel in your car,boat lawnmower etc set in.
Watching all those people come to terms with the fact that theyve taken oil for granted for so many years.
Also watching the inovators of electric solar powered vehicles rise up to become superstars of the new "no oil" future would be intresting!
Im a real big car fan so thats the angle im looking at it from!
Good luck,hope it works out!
Regards.

Im not sure how you would do this in a movie, but I think it would be really great if when the sh@t started to hit the fan, there were people all over the world who have seen what is to come through enlightenment/ or spirituality banding together and trying to help the rest of the world survive through love and understanding of our world. some people would be scared of letting love into their lives from these people and they would perish so that a new and a lasting peace would spread to those few who survived by loving and trusting in each other.

Also 1 thing that never seems to be addressed in any of the "hollywood" crappola disaster movies......if there really was huge earthquakes, or storms or planetary changes......what would happen to all those big powerful nuclear weapons and other such forms of military tech? would the computer systems they run survive if there was no electricity to power them? And what would happen if all the safegaurds surrounding these kind of weapons were all of a sudden shutdown or taken away becuase of nature?

Man i could keep typing for a millenia with all the crazy lil ideas in my head now. I hope you find some great inspiration and ideas from your thread my friend, and could you let me know when your movie is complete? I would pay whatever you asked for a non hollywood and independant movie like this. all the best:>

Building on Radiant Obsidian's idea....It would be cool to see that suddenly, with the oil all gone, Israel and the Palestine nations stopping all the fighting and forming a friendship, and side by side helping to lead the world into an new oiless era....The U.S suddenly deciding to pull all troops from the Mid-East, because, let's face it, it's all over oil.....

Originally posted by ben91069 What I would like to know from fellow ATS/BTSers is if you were watching a movie about this, what would you like to see happen? What would the conclusion be and what are some of your ideas?

The story revolves around a small family who is in the struggles of a pre-oil crash - a world on the verge of breakdown. The story involves a global agenda of so-called terrorists designing plans to bring down America or a collaberation of conspiratists involved in US government to make this happen. The ending in reality would not be all that happy, but I am wondering your thoughts on how to shed a positive light on this.

Seriously, I wouldn't watch it -- and I'll give you the two reasons why it's unappealing (and you can ignore it if you like.)

1) Life is pretty sad already. I don't enjoy watching things that only add to the stress.

2) We become the stories we tell ourselves. If you tell a story that has no happy ending; no success, then you are telling the culture as a whole that there is no purpose in life and no purpose in trying to find good solutions or partial solutions or new solutions because it's all going to fall apart in horrible wars.

I feel this is wrong. I think that stories that show us being able to resolve difficult problems form patterns for people to think about. Instead of shutting us into "can't do" boxes (the easy answer) I look for things that show us we "can do" and we can move further.

Sounds pretty interesting! I think it would be more effective if you concentrated more on the individual human side of this disaster and not the big world wide disaster. It would also be nice to see the ingenuity of man come into play.

optimus fett says:

id like to see the realisation of suddenley not being able to put fuel
in your car,boat lawnmower etc set in.

Watching all those people come to terms with the fact that theyve
taken oil for granted for so many years.

skychief:

I think it would be more effective if you concentrated more on the
individual human side of this disaster and not the big world wide
disaster. It would also be nice to see the ingenuity of man come into
play.

The story begins and ends in a sort of shanty town where between the
main female role and her daughter, she relays the triumphs and hardships
of going through the collapse - quite possibly one of the most difficult
transitions mankind may have to deal with. Like any good movie, the
human aspect is a necessity. Primarily the story revolves around the
lives of ordinary people, but some scenes will be added enough so to
show the larger picture. As to how society will cope after-the-fact
regarding alternatives; I do not know. I imagine an entire movie
could be made about that, but I am leaning on setting up the ending to
leave it to the viewers imagination and to offer a shred of hope in light
of what may happen.


Byrd says:

If you tell a story that has no happy ending; no success, then you are
telling the culture as a whole that there is no purpose in life and no
purpose in trying to find good solutions or partial solutions or new
solutions because it's all going to fall apart in horrible wars.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and I respect that. One of the
hurdles I have read writers reveal is that they struggle with a good
story. There are a million different possibilites of what to write, not
including the style of writing and other factors. I have found myself
asking the question, should I scrap this and create something else that
a different audience would like? The point is, that some people will
enjoy it and some won't - you cannot please everyone all the time. Even
critics may enjoy it as they sometimes are entertained by what they hate,
like some Howard Stern listeners.

You are correct in your own opinions that you see things in a way
that says negativity breeds negativity. You seem to believe that if
we aren't always shown the positive outcome of something that people
will tend to get discouraged and give up. Some people probably do so.
Life, however, is not about winning all the time. We all meet our ends,
so to speak, and there is nothing we can do about it. Perhaps we need
to see that without oil, that life can still have meaning and a purpose,
just like it did for most of civilization. The oil age is only a recent
thing and people did just fine without it. We do have one advantage
that our ancestors did not have - and that is technology. So you see
I am not trying to paint a picture of doom and gloom, but one of a hard
change that we would all have in order to live more harmoniously with
one another and the world.

I agree Ben.....And some of the biggest movies haven't had happy endings....Remember "Planet of the Apes", when Charlton Heston finds the head of the Statue of Liberty on the beach and realizes that mankind has pretty much destroyed itself in war? That was jolting!! How about "Soylent Green". when they find out that "soylent green" is people at the end? And one of my favorite horror movies, "Night of the Living Dead", where the guy survives all the zombies, only to get shot by the cops at the end? Point being, sometimes the ending is more effective when there isn't a happy ending! And personally, I think that your movie would be better with an unhappy ending because I'm guessing it's supposed to be a wake-up call to the world that this could happen if we don't change our ways.....

Why do it for no profit? You ought to at least try to recover your investments in this film.

How about a movie with many twists to the plot, something like the whole family ends up having to resort to riding bicycles since the world's oil supply is drying up, and then tremors and earthquakes increase and are found due to man's having drawn all of the oil out of the ground, resulting in instability of the infrastructure of the earth.

And one day little Johnny and his sister Susie are riding their bikes and the earth opens up and they find themselves in the midst of a subterranian world. And they discover from the creatures who populate this place that they hold the key secret to an unthought of alterative energy source.

And then mom and dad, in the meantime, find some of their clothing at the entrance of the giant crevasse and realize they must find their children, and embark on a journey into the earth to rescue them.

Fortunately dad is an experienced spelunker and geophysicist who knows his stuff and mom is a well endowed scantily clad hystronic screamer who'll make every twist and turn of the story tillitating.

And after overcoming numerous obstacles and taking huge risks, the whole family manages to return to the surface of the earth, and a big tremor causes the crevasse to close up and seal off the creatures below forever.

Then the father shares the secret with everyone and saves the world, and becomes a hero!

p.s. is it possible there are grants available you could apply for to help fund this project?

A good twist to the story might be about how corporations and governments have hidden the existence of a perpetual motion machine for years and years. You might could somehow work that in for a happier ending. Have someone in your story manage to find this out or actually find some really old man who has already has a pepetual motion machine going somewhere.
Jus' brainstorming here...lol

Wow, aWoman.....I think you could be a writer with your imagination you have. I had to re-read your post a time or two to understand where you are coming from. The ideas you have is definitely a different twist and I appreciate your input. I do have a few surprises, although not as over-the-top as the ones you presented. The main difficulty is I do not want to stray too far into science fiction or ideas that would take a lot of time to develop into being believeable. Any idea could be made to seem real, although I am trying to convey a sense of gritty realism here without going too far. I do, however, wish to show a spiritual side of the story towards the end, which could be classified as fiction depending on how you look at it - possibly a saving maricle or something, but I am still working on the particulars.

Moving on, recouping the investment would be fine, but one of the goals of this project; which I am obsessed with, is to do it on a shoestring budget while creating the look of a big investment. The technology available today makes this possible. Follow the link below for an independent short called, "The405". The producers claim it was made for around $300, but reviewing the equipment used in the making came out to over a $10,000 investment in hardware and software. I am already finding effects solutions for free or close to it, as this is one of the goals. Yes, there are grants available for the Arts to work on writing, books, documentaries, etc. After all is said and done, however, I wish this to be a personal expression from me and whomever involved to the audience, free of charge (the best things in life seem to be free). My gratification is; personal creativity and making an emotional or intellectual impact on peoples minds.

405themovie.com

If possible look for a private investor, one that you can get along with for a couple of years preferably. If you look for grant money or mainstream producers, you are going to sacrifice alot of personal message for PC. You can advertise but be very careful as the SEC has some pretty strict regulations for people seeking funding, but careful wording in advertisment can go along way. The days of Post Production facilities are comming thankfully to a an end for the independent film makers, two pieces of software I'd highly reccomend are Adobe Premiere and Adobe Audition, between the two of them your post production and editing should be a snap. A friend of mine who has directed a couple of features and I have a running debate between Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro, but he does all his linear editing on a MAC.
I would never advocate something so rash as to violate copyright laws and obtaining these ridiculously expensive pieces of software through file sharing applications, but I hear you could find copies of them on Kazaa... I know one actor that found a copy of Maya CGI software there

Again, I wish to thank everyone in the thread for the suggestions - they have really got me thinking about many possibilities.

Twitchy, thanks for the U2U's. I will be sure to view the links to those productions you were involved in ASAP.

So far as editing, I do have the software for that and it works very well, although I know Premiere has a lot of features I could drool over. As for Kazaa and P2P software - believe me I have learned my lesson on downloads paying the price of reinstalling Windows many times. The primary solution I am working on right now is compositing. I have some software which claims it cannot do it, but I think I have found a way it can, although it would be meticulous in that I would have to hand generate moving mattes to the foreground images - which may or may not be that bad if the scenes aren't too lengthy. I have yet to make a test run of the technique as of yet.

Thanks again everyone. I will keep checking back - keep up the great ideas!

This is an interesting thread but it has little to do with "Fragile Earth" other than the topic of the project at hand. I'm going to move this to "Movies" tomorrow but will leave it here for now so that members will know where to look for it.

You will get a kick out of this little tid bit.. I tried it and now have a good 15 seconds of my kids light saber fighting in my living room lol...
nickyguides.digital-digest.com...

Thanks Intrepid. I wasn't sure the right forum to post this, but because of the theme of oil depletion and it's affects on the environment, I thought people interested in earth environmental issues would have some related ideas. Will look for it when it is moved.