This is the documentation of a "letsmakeamovie" workshop as part of the movie programme called Free Cinema on Tilos Radio Hungary.
Participants of the 5th edition: 09/07/2009
Editors: Killa Köllő (Trillian), Yvonne Kerekgyarto
Regular guest: Csaba Toth
Current guest, expert: Zoltan Gergely
DJ: Turiszt
Growing up in a zombie film
In this edition, we have discussed the least elaborated concept: as a result of swine flu experimentation that went haywire, a new mutant virus starts turn its victims into zombies. At the beginning we started to think in terms of a hospital's research institute. Since zombie films are characterized by a certain social reflection according to our experts, the character of the Hungarian prime minister convalescing at the hospital would have had been able to strengthen these reflections.
The idea of a children's hospital also emerged: the disease infects the adults first, who then terrorize children. A situation resembling that of the Lord of the Flies evolves: some children grows up meanwhile, which has fatal consequences, because they also become endangered by the virus. The small team splits up, the alliance is over. On the one hand, the character of the adult would appear as an enemy, since he is responsible for the virus getting out of control. On the other hand, the entirety of the adult world, of which the children stand on the eve, would also appear as the enemy.
Thus, the theme of the film would be growing up, that is indicated by the menstruation or the change of voice (e.g. a girl is having a shower, we see blood dropping into the tub, then on the next screen, the girl is already a zombie). Everyone has a bound to this process, that's why the film can address anyone. Eventually we've decided that the scene should rather be a camp in Csilleberc instead of the original idea of the Matra. Csilleberc is ideal in many ways: the ex pioneer camp, the reactor of the University of Technology, not to mention the campus of the BME (Budapest University of Technology), also offering spate of opportunitites. Breaking with basing our concept on foreign elements, these down-to-earth scenes appears more credible, thus emphasizing the absurdity of the story.
We have brought on some of the ideas discussed in earlier editions:
Bujtor or John Doe?
The stuporous and lethargic bank administrator spends her life with monotonous drudgery and following Tibor, her ex-boyfriend on the iWiW (Hungarian Facebook) fanatically. However, the blowzy girl and her boring little world have proven to be attractive for Laszlo, the security guard of the bank. But the girl is all abroad about appealing to anybody.
But one day, everything is changing when four strangers attempt to rob the bank. Laszlo is hurt by the baddies, but Hajnalka, when they try to take her hostage, unfolds her unbeknown side: instead of giving way to despair, she vanquishes her attacker, and she walks her chalk with the swag, and she starts her dolce vita with Laszlo, in Italy.
We have pondered over which actors and actresses would get the hang of our characters, or who would be the best choices for them. It can help a lot during the process of the creative work to compose the cast in our heads by known actors. It is even easier to instruct a hobbyist actor by mentioning a famous actor instead of everlasting descriptions of the character. An actor of a strong character can even compensate for the flaws of the script. This is the main reasons for featuring stars, of course along with the hope for maximizing the profit.
Female Games
Hanna, daughter of an environmentalist mother and an engine-driver father, a 27 years old schoolmistress is preparing for her wedding. She receives an innocent message on the day of her hen night, which brings her to grief due to a misunderstanding. According to the original idea, she would arrive at the hen night through completing a line of tasks, but due to a misunderstood message, a robber starts to chase her. Everything is O.K. with the first steps (key cutter, mailbox, restaurant), but when she has to identify and take a photo on a strange subject, instead of the garbagemen in a terrible state, she catches some pictures on a robbery through a nearby shop-window, showing the face of the delinquent distinctly.
Practically, this last idea can be considered as the female version of The Game.
Noted down by: Ili Puskas
