A is for AMBITION

 

Ambition. It's a word that gets thrown around a lot in the filmmaking community. In many ways, we now live in a world where audiences have seen the same basic stories again and again, with different plottings, characters and motivations.

This was something that became abundantly clear a few years ago when I was writing, trying to find a truly original idea that had never been seen before. And you begin to realise that I couldn't, I could just provide an interesting take on one of the basic seven stories.

 

 

These are:

 

Overcoming the Monster

 

Hero learns of a great evil threatening the land, and sets out to destroy it.

 

 

Rags to Riches

 

Surrounded by dark forces who suppress and ridicule him, the Hero slowly blossoms into a mature figure who ultimately gets riches, a kingdom, and the perfect mate.

 

 

The Quest

 

Hero learns of a great MacGuffin that he desperately wants to find, and sets out to find it, often with companions.

 

 

Voyage and Return

 

Hero heads off into a magic land with crazy rules, ultimately triumphs over the madness and returns home far more mature than when he set out.

 

 

Comedy

 

Hero and Heroine are destined to get together, but a dark force is preventing them from doing so; the story conspires to make the dark force repent, and suddenly the Hero and Heroine are free to get together. This is part of a cascade of effects that shows everyone for who they really are, and allows two or more other relationships to correctly form.

 

 

Tragedy

 

The flip side of the Overcoming the Monster plot. Our protagonist character is the Villain, but we get to watch him slowly spiral down into darkness before he's finally defeated, freeing the land from his evil influence.

 

 

Rebirth

As with the Tragedy plot, but our protagonist manages to realize his error before it's too late, and does a Heel-Face Turn to avoid inevitable defeat.

 

So then, we have a script that tries to break the mould, however much it may have been done in the past. So what can make the film different? Ambition. It's ambition that elevates certain films beyond a story and into an interesting piece of filmmaking for viewers. An example off the top of my head is Lord of the Rings. A book that's been read by millions, yet because of the ambition of a small town Kiwi director and his team, the project became as huge as it is today. Harry Potter. Nothing has ever been attempted on a scale like that before. 8 consecutive movies in a series with a consistent narrative. However, these are blockbusters. Let's think smaller.

 

 

A perfect example here, though still fairly big compared to the Rite - is Gareth Edwards' Monsters. A feature film made for only £100k - guerilla style with a micro crew and only two actors. Did that stop them though? No. He used every single opportunity that presented itself to him to make the film grander in scale than it initially appeared. And then he did his own visual effects on a computer. The documentary on the Blu Ray is fascinating, and I would recommend it to anyone to watch for the sheer ambition of the director and his team.

 

So what was th e pay off? Well, the film was a huge success both financially and critically. And studios were so impressed by this small English director with high amibitions that they gave him "Godzilla" - which was also just released to huge acclaim and enormous box office. And because of this, he's just been offered to do the new Star Wars film.

 

Obviously, I'm not comparing The Rite of Rosemary to Godzilla and Star Wars - but its the concept, of ambition and pushing yourself and the team further than you believe you can go - to make a final product that people won't believe was made for the budget they had.

 

 

So we're going to try and be as ambitious as we possibly can for this film. A way we have done this is to adapt the script around the resources we have. Look at our beautiful location. When we secured it, you start to think about how the production values of the film can be raised by adapting it to the story. Recently, we made a decision as a team which I wish I could share with you all, but sadly I can't - as it revolves around the ending. We saw an opportunity, and we knew that it would be better for the film if we pulled it off. It's not as simple as saying that though. Then you have to consider logistics. Is it possible. Is it safe. What if it rains.

 

But our driving force is ambition. We promised audiences a great and compelling film. So let's give them that. Let's aim for the sky with our tiny budget. Let's make a film bigger than a short film of this scale should be. That's what makes it memorable. That's what will get the film noticed.

 

 

Ambition.