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Mar. 29:
I am Number Four movie review
By Tracy Au
This movie is based on a book by Pitticus Lore (pseudonym
for James Frye and Jobie Hughes.) The
movie is written by Smallville writers/ producers Alfred Gough and Miles
Millar and Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer/ producer Marti Noxon. If you are a fan of those TV shows, you will
enjoy this movie.
The story is about John Smith (Alex Pettyfer) who looks like
a human, but is really an alien from the planet Lorien. He is one of handful of alien children who
was sent to Earth to survive from being hunted down by the Mogadorians who want
to kill all of them. They kill in order,
and John is number four. John’s guardian
Henri (Timothy Olyphant) watches and protects John from them.
This movie is average because it was kind of slow in the
story pacing. John enrolls in school and
meets his love interest Sarah (Dianna Agron), the geek Sam (Callan McAuliffe),
and the jerks like Mark (Jake Abel.)
Besides school, they show scenes of the Mongodorian Commander (Kevin
Durand) and a teenage girl (Theresa Palmer) tracking John.
There are a couple of good surprises in learning who the
teenage girl and what the dog that John found really is. The best part of the movie are the special
effects and the big fight scene with John, the teenage girl, the Mongodorians,
and the monster they brought with them.
There is an uplifting ending and a potential for a sequel.
Question:
Have you ever prepared for something very much and worked very hard?
You know like study for a big test, prepared for a job interview,
applied for college? After you do the test, job interview, send in the
college application, you then start worrying about it?
Like:
"I hope I got enough questions right to pass", "I hoped they thought I
was a good fit for the job", and "I hope they accept me into college."
I'm sure we all have.
Script pitch:
I'm bringing up that question because, here is something I haven't done
in awhile: sent a script for a producer to read. In Jan. 2013, I read
a newspaper article
about this TV show and it mentioned the production company.
I pitched to them and the producer said send it in. However, I was really busy with work and I didn't want to rush to send The Vertex Fighter script in like the first time I did it back in 2009. So I kind of took my time and it's not until Mar. 2013, I sent it in.
The things I had to do to make sure the script was perfect:
1. I saw the Borealis TV movie which had some MMA in it.
2. I wrote and analyzed it here:
3. I read EPL 2013 Writer in Residence Omar Mouallem's feedback on my Rain script.
4. I read EPL 2011 Writer in Residence Marty Chan's notes on Fighter, and actually applied it by typing it into the script.
5. I read EPL 2010 Writer in Residence Chris Craddock's notes on Fighter, and applied it into the script.
6. I also got my co-worker K's feedback on Rain.
I was going to wait for Omar's Rain feedback where he reads Part 3 and 4, but I decided that this script has been as good as it's going to get. So I sent it
in.
Writing:
That's another good thing about writing out your worries. You can
actually see it. Now I'm reading over what I wrote, and it just made me
think how prepared I was.
So
when you're nervous about a job interview, list all the things you did
to prepare for it, regarding you're researching the company before it
and memorizing answers to potential questions they will ask.
Apr. 1 Quill and Quire: Have you ever heard of this magazine before? I was reading an article in the Edmonton Journal about the author Saleema Nawaz and her new book called Bone and Bread. It mentioned she was on the cover of this magazine.
It's
"Canada's magazine of book news and reviews." It has book reviews of
all kinds of books like novels, poetry, and food/drinks, etc. There's
even a Job Board there.
Short story contest: I found this in the Globe and Mail on
Jan. 22, 2013. The publisher House of Anansi created this short story
contest. The applicants have to write a short story by using songs
from Broken Social Scene's cd You Forgot It in People as a title
or theme of the story. The top 13 stories will be published on Jun.8 as
an e-book and the top 3 will also get cash prizes and VIP passes to
A&C's Field Trip Music and Arts Festival.
I
had cut it out thinking I could write a short story for it, but I
didn't because I was really busy with work. Also I'm not really
interested in writing short stories, and more into writing scripts.
Writer's block:
I might as well add that I have writer's block. In Feb., I was really
busy with work. Then in Mar. it kind of lightened up a bit. Then I
decided to pick up more hours and work because I didn't want to go
home. Maybe it's the winter time, and I am inside, reading the
newspaper and watching TV. If it was the summer, I would be going out
more.
I hope that by writing about TV production could get me excited and write something.
Micro-Budget Production Program: I found this in the Edmonton Journal
on Mar.1, 2013. "Telefilm Canada says 8
emerging filmmakers will receive up to $120,000 each." It's to produce
their first feature-length film. The budget can't exceed $250,000.
Telefilm executive director Carolle Brabant wants to encourage production and distribution.
Alberta Film Studios: I found this article in the Edmonton Journal
on Jan. 25, 2013 by Elizabeth Whithey. It mentioned the Alberta Film
Studios. I checked out the site and it listed credits of all the TV
shows and movies it filmed there like the Jessica Alba and Dane Cook
movie called Good Luck Chuck, the horror movie Ginger Snaps Back, and the kids show Mentors.
Incredible Story Studio: What I didn't know was that the kids TV show Incredible Story Studio was
filmed there. I loved that show when I was in jr. high school. It's
where tweens (11-14 yr olds) write a short story, and the TV show
produces it. I did submit a story to them when I was like 15 yrs in
2001 and then the show got cancelled in 2002.
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